Dicey Hollow is the new project of resilient, East London to Brooklyn transplant, Petter Ericson Stakee and, as the Facebook page states, “his friends”. The man was half of NYC’s duo country rock Alberta Cross. As it always happens after an important separation, Petter had a chance to reinvent himself – in this case musically – which led to the project’s upcoming EP “Dicey Hallow”. From it, he recently unveiled “Howl At The Moon” (streaming) a song filled with long, twangy guitar solos accompanied by Stakee’s calm and steadfast voice. Alberta Cross will be performing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 14th. – Lauren Schechter
Braeves co-headline TuneCore event at Living Room on 08.19 with mysterious guest
Braeves, a NYC based indie pop band that made it into our most recent list of "Best of NYC Emerging Artists," will be co-headlining an event organized by TuneCore, a popular platform that supports emerging bands with services like distribution and publishing. This past June the band released a mellow new single entitled ‘Silver Streets,’ streaming below, that highlights their melodic talent and nostalgic tendencies. The show, scheduled for Wednesday August 19 at Williamsburg’s The Living Room, will also see performances by a yet to be announced, mysterious headliner, and by New Jersery based indie pop-punk outfit 18th & Addison and NY native DJ/producer Matt FX.
NYC Prog Afrobeat band People’s Champs prepares sophomore album
It’s been four long years since Brooklyn’s progressive soul and afrobeat supergroup People’s Champs released their debut self-titled EP. Since then, the eight-piece ensemble have spent more than two years constructing their first full-length record, recorded between Converse Rubber Track Studio and a wide array of local basements and bedrooms. The yet-to-be-titled LP, scheduled to drop this fall, is an ambitious nine-track release produced by Rubblebucket’s Ian Hersey. Nearly a year ago, People’s Champs premiered the first glimpse of the forthcoming record, "Humanity (Fun Secret Mix)," a psychedelic funk joint where synths and horns collide in hip-shaking harmony. Their newest offering, "Hostages," is a tropical, sun-kissed vamp that melds the groovy, electro-workouts of William Onyeabor with Little Dragon’s striking soul experiments. – Angel E. Fraden
The Conquerors sign with High Dive Records
Michelle is editor of The Deli KC and plays in bands.
DC hard rockers Night Streets to play The Black Cat, 9/2
Taking cues from such legends as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, Nights Streets crank out loud, high-octane rock on every track. With vocals on par with Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson, crashing cymbals, and crunchy guitar bridges, this is the kind of music you go crazy listening to, locking yourself in your garage with a baseball bat and your mom’s expensive vases. They’re playing third in the lineup at The Black Cat on 9/2. Doors at 7:30, $12 for an awesome show. -Jonathan Goodwin
Indie pop rock trio The Duskwhales play the Rock & Roll Hotel, 9/19
Rocking their way up from Manassas to DC’s best venues, The Duskwhales captivate their listeners with their relentless energy and dazzling rhythms. Fun beats and an uncanny ability to mix blues rock roots with pop and indie overtones makes them a formidable act to behold. Pooling influences from a diverse array of musicians, from Vampire Weekend to Jack White to The Doors, listening to their recent self-titled LP is akin to giving the brain a vacation. They’ll bring their high-buzz performance to the Rock & Roll Hotel on 9/19. 21+ and $8. -Jonathan Goodwin
Gravepunk duo Band Aparte plays Echo Park Rising tomorrow
From down the end of Los Angeles, the barebones gravepunk duo Band Aparte strips down and combines elements of gothic rock, synthpunk, and beachy lo-fi as macabré appreciation simmers in the gut of the city.
Vocalist Brian Mendoza effortlessly channels Joy Division and Nick Cave, crooning into a death bouquet with his shirt unbuttoned. But he’s not doing it to imitate Morrissey’s aesthetic — Band Aparte’s shows are fast and fierce, and the crowd works up a sweat at every venue they play. Josh Hensley’s psychotic textures gnaw and bite at the ears, from sharp velcro fuzz to buoyant modulations that pair with relentless drum machine beats like deliriants to narcotics. It’s a dangerous mixture that has crushed nights alongside Cruelty Code, Roses, Ghost Noise, and Terminal A.
Find Band Aparte this Saturday at Echo Park Rising — playing 4:30pm at Lot 1 Café. Listen to their eponymous track from their EP "Enter" below. – Ryan Mo
Q&A with Wild Ones about gear and creative process – “Heatwave” EP out now
Led by Danielle Sullivan’s gentle and compassionate voice, Portland’s indie pop outfit Wild Ones sounds anything but wild, although they do enjoy experimenting with sounds, which – in a sense – is kind of wild! Their music has the ability to sound at once warmly intimate and somewhat cerebral. This is must be the product of the fusion of the creative minds and talents of Danielle and keyboardist Thomas Himes. Our sister blog Delicious Audio asked them a few questions about their gear and compositional process. Link to the interview below. The band just released a new EP entitled "Heatwave," they’ll be playing Mississippi Studio tonight (08.14).
LINK: Delicious Audio’s Interview with Wild Ones.
We added this song to The Deli’s playlist of Best songs by emerging Portland artists – check it out!
Garage rockers SCULLY playing Bowery Ballroom on August 29th
Formed after the splintering of Oakland based garage group… The Splinters, SCULLY is a Brooklyn-based psych-punk garage group with an infectious lo-fi sound. Considering that three of the four members from The Splinters are involved in the group, in addition to Burgers from NYC band The Numerators, it’s no surprise that the two have a similar sound. "Deny," the first of three tracks available on the "SCULLY / Las Rosas Tour Split" release (streaming below), is a boisterous garage rock anthem with an in-your-face punk attitude. The tempo of the release gets progressively slower from there, with the second track, "Dana," providing a laid-back yet unmistakably punk-influenced sound, and the third track, "Mother’s Sighin’," closing the release with an ominous melody, threaded with a single two-and-a-half minute guitar lick. The group’s next release is due out on August 17th, a single entitled "Don’t Want That," which will be out on vinyl (available for pre-order here) as well as on bandcamp. The band will also be performing on August 29th at the Bowery Ballroom. – Patrick Wolff
Connecticut singer/songwriter Jesse Terry celebrates EP release at Rockwood on August 18th
As he shows on the airy Americana track “Let The Blue Skies Go To Your Head” (streaming below) from his sophomore release ‘Empty Seat On A Plane,’ New York/Connecticut singer/songwriter Jesse Terry understands the pure comfort that music could provide. Reassuring a worried lover that “The engine’s warm, he’s waiting for you” with his sweet voice and gentle strums, the Berklee College of Music-trained musician assuages doubts but never disingenuously; his vivid lyrics (including “carnival rides” and “halogen lights”) and surprising instrumentation (a drum-clasped interlude towards the end) make sure the song is movingly true. Jesse Terry will celebrate the release of his latest EP (apparently titled ‘The Calm and the Storm’) at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 3 on Tuesday August 18th. – Zach Weg
A Deli Video Premiere: Toot Sweet’s “Stations” + live at Bowery Electric on 08.21
In Toot Sweet’s new video for “Stations,” a multi-faceted romantic conflict between land and sea, past and present, away and home, takes place in accordion funk outfit. The track is a slow moving, dramatic opus of stop-and-go. Double bass backing and oozing accordion chords bolster frontlady Mary Spencer Knapp’s vocals as they build up and burst and build up again throughout. The video, directed by Knapp and Rod Morata, opens with Knapp awakening in her bed to find ghostly pirate figures, whom she follows out the door on a seafaring voyage, which dances between the past and present, the living and the dead. As she steps through her sliding glass door to the outside, the color video transforms into an old-timey, granular black and white vaudevillian film visual, and we’re taken on a trip through time. Choral backings come in and out before a clean guitar replaces every other instrument beneath Knapp’s singing, creating a tremendous hollowness in the background, and highlighting her vocal power. Dramatic swells as grandiose as the ocean itself occur in the chorus, as Knapp hopelessly, heartily laments, “Do you know the way home from here? It’s getting dark and I’m afraid of fear.” A girl, an accordion, the ocean, and the past are intertwined to make a powerful visual accompaniment to a uniquely theatrical track. You can see Toot Sweet live at The Bowery Electric on August 21. – JP Basileo
Museyroom readies album “Pearly Whites” + plays at Knitting Factory 08.16
Noisy and dreamy at once, Brooklyn/Philly trio Museyroom hits a soft spot with their nostalgic flavored, evocative music. The band’s roots go way back to 2003, or rather the end of middle school when guitarist and singer, Jack Donavon started playing with multi-instrumentalist Ben Cohen. The duo became a proper band later on when they found their drummer in Matt Coppola. According to the group’s Facebook page, Museyroom’s forthcoming album “Pearly Whites” is promised to be “a dense and harrowing work of rare quality.” Although this brought a smile to our faces, we sure found their music good enough to be highlighted in this blog. Check out their dream soaked, 2009 self-titled EP and – if you dig it – don’t miss their show at The Knitting Factory on August 16th. – Lauren Schechter