You may remember the bombardment of year end lists and polls that dominated the social media stratosphere a couple months ago. Of course we at the DC Deli were a part of the chaos, and in that time, more than several local scene experts (mostly venue bookers and journalists) came to us with similar praise for the band that would become our Best Emerging Band of 2012. And that band is the surf garage rockers Shark Week. We wanted to find out more about the quartet comprised of Ryan, Danielle, Dan and Al. We got a hold of singer/guitarist Ryan Hunter Mitchell who tells us about fooseball tournament prizes, recording in Puerto Rico, and performing at Sweetlife Festival this year! Click here for the interview…
Shark Week will be headed off to SxSW in the coming days, so catch them at their send off show this Friday March 8th at the Rock and Roll Hotel. They will be shooting a live video and premiering a new single! Joining them are DC’s dance rock outfit Dance For the Dying, Balitmore’s psyche rockers The Flying Eyes, and new DC punk band Joy Buttons. Doors are at 8 PM and it’s only $10. –Dawn
Check out this awesome video for their song "Baby Maybe" released just this week.
Sometimes it takes the weight of a good song to appreciate the gravity of a particular injustice. For Starred‘s latest release, ‘Mayday,’ you’re left screaming at your youtube window wondering why these kinds of things happen. Convicted as part of the Memphis Three, Damien Echols was charged with killing three children in a Satanic ritual nearly thirty years ago, before being pardoned in 2011 after DNA evidence proved otherwise. Directed by Aaron Brown (Focus Creeps), the video for ‘Mayday’ highlights Damien’s story with interview footage placed over a haunting tune that’ll leave you with many questions. Such as… what’s next for Starred? Check out the band’s inclusion on Pendu Sound’s record store day release this April 20th. Also listen to the single from last year "Cemetery," streaming below. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)
This might be hard to believe, but if anything… Not Blood Paint’s latest 5 song mini-LP (some looong tracks in there, and some short ones too!) shows the band in an even fouler spirit than their last. This isn’t to say you need to worry about angry fist throwing in mosh pits at their upcoming album release show at the Collapsible Hole. If anything, the new record displays the group as more melodically centered, harmonically grounded rock songsters than I’ve heard from them yet. But the sentiment has turned from cynicism to heated anger in tracks like album closer ‘Taking Root,’ the admonishing ‘Don’t Wanna Talk About It,’ and even the creepy Frankie Valli harmonies of ‘Family First.’ This is a group increasingly concerned about humanity’s issues. But no matter the wretched shape of our society, it’s a comfort to hear how closely knit this band is. See them live at the Collapsible Hole on Friday, March 8, and check out their Bandcamp to stream ‘Calm Down’. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)
The Deli will be in Austin on March 15 with a two stage night party hosted at Austin’s legendary gay bar Rusty’s. Great lineup of artists and even greater list of Special Guests who will be announced shortly. See here for more info + band links!
2013 is shaping up to be another very fine vintage for local music, with several quality releases already available and a slew of eagerly-anticipated albums coming soon to fine retailers and Bandcamp pages near you. Add to this list Glow, the third EP (and first since 2010) from The Blackbird Revue. Husband-and-wife team Jacob and Danielle Prestidge have established themselves as purveyors of an ear-pleasing sound that combines Americana, folk, country, and indie pop in various layers, and their vocal harmonies continue to astonish and devastate. Glow shows the twosome, with the help of several skilled musicians, bringing these skills to the listener in fine form.
The lead track, “When You Are Mine,” shows The Blackbird Revue at the height of its harmonic powers. Those of you who have taken singing lessons or been involved in choral music for any number of years will understand this: both Jacob and Danielle show great ability at singing over the notes. Coming at the music from above gives the vocals an airy, lilting quality during the softer moments at the beginning of this song (and throughout the EP), but the second half sees the tempo change from a gentle breeze to a howling gale, lifting the listener up and carrying said listener on a Thelma and Louise-esque ride straight over the cliff …
… where the title track awaits to catch you and cradle you in its gentle comfort. Glow paints a lyrical landscape with such verses as “fade / our sunsoaked yesterdays / to sepias and grays,” with the intertwined voices alternating in the roles of both palette and canvas. “Winter Rest” is the most pop-sensible track of the four, with undeniable hooks that make toe-tapping a near certainty. The EP concludes with “Lone Swan,” a winsome ballad that offers an encouraging word and a shoulder to lean on for someone whose burden has grown heavy (“this world is cruel this world is kind / and sometimes love is hard to find / so if you need to clear your mind / take the keys and take your time”).
When you listen to Glow, you hear music that pleases with its honesty and directness, but the notes that spring from your speakers don’t tell the entire story. Listening to Danielle and Jacob work together, harmonize together, and just be together, you realize that they have … something … indefinable, yet unmistakable. This isn’t just a musical duo, and this isn’t just a married couple. This is a union of two spirits and souls that complement each other perfectly as no other could. The underlying intensity and obvious passion shine brightly throughout this 14-minute love letter from the Blackbird Revue.
I hope someday we all get to experience that same glow.
Michael Byars may or may not be pickling things at this moment. It’s possible that he’s already had four or five bottles of Mountain Dew by now. There’s a chance that he is at a hookah bar somewhere. You may say he’s a dreamer. But most of all, he spells pretty well and he works for free, so we let him write stuff for us sometimes.
The ACBs return with a rapid and manic compilation of mentally unstable orchestrations masquerading as two-minute pop songs. Extremely compact arrangements treat fluff like a four-letter word as the Kansas City foursome cruises through thirteen tracks in roughly 30 minutes.Seriously, only two tracks on this album crest the three-minute mark. Often they halt suddenly without cause or warning, which actually works well within the scope of Little Leaves, as each song almost serves like a poetic prelude into the following one.
The music is mostly driven by the pretty-boy sounding guitars, all cleaned up and ready to be taken home to meet your mom. Occasionally, they are allowed to dance with the distortion pedal which provides just enough 5 o’clock shadow to thicken the sonic landscape. The rhythm section and additional instrumentation are solidly envisioned and executed, rarely providing more than just the perfect amount of foundation, dynamics, and drive. Lead vocalist Konnor Ervin vocalizes with an unsure innocence, often coming across like a preteen Ben Gibbard or Connor Oberst just on the verge of hitting puberty. At times it is hard to tell if he is unwilling to commit to the idiosyncrasies of his voice, but in the scope of the whole record, the vocal performance becomes a sporadic, almost neurotic force of dynamics and mystery.
Thematically, Little Leaves is deliciously sinister. Under the sheen of ‘60s go-go girl guitars and booty-shaking beats, there are real issues being thrown around here. While other smiley pop songs are out pining over girls and living up the good life, these tracks are popping Xanax and cutting themselves. They know exactly how many times they can hit their heads on the wall before they pass out. It is an extremely interesting and impressive contrast of style and substance. Not too many bands can be so musically joyful and thematically self destructive at the same time.
The album kicks off with “All Over,” a perfect candidate for the background music to that montage from your favorite romantic comedy where the guy and girl desperately scramble to try to get over each other (only to later realize at the height of some sort of arbitrary “emergency” that they are destined to be together). But just as you are preparing yourself for a quiet and reserved collection of introspective lullabies, the album rushes through a handful of more straightforward pocket-sized burners, most effective being “Oceans.” Almost channeling the more recent work of The Get Up Kids, this song features some of the best usage of additional instrumentation on the record, slowly slipping into just enough sonic cacophony to separate it from the rest of the bunch.
“Underweight,” with its fraught longing and simplicity, seems like a cathartic demo that didn’t quite make the final cut for consideration on Pinkerton. Just a super gorgeous slice of sorrow.
(lyrics transcribed the best these musician ears can understand)
When we go up state
I won’t search for you I promise
Up till now I’ve been honest
I’m probably gonna find you there
I don’t want to be trapped under my weight
I don’t want to be trapped underweight and hated
“Xanies” is another stand-out effort. It is a terrific microcosm of the whole album: a funky and dancey track on the surface, yet under the veneer actually more morose than the one-eyed dog from the saddest late-night Sarah McLachlan soundtracked commercial you’ve ever seen.
The ACBs have taken great strides to keep their often bubble gum sound heavily saturated with bittersweet layers of modern living. Overall, these thirteen tracks brilliantly sucker punch the gut with a deep neurosis full of anti-depressants and coping mechanisms, yet remain pleasant and bouncy enough on the surface to engage the casual radio listener. We’ve been anxiously awaiting this sophomore effort for quite some time. Safe to say, this beautiful collection of reality-sodden pop gems exceeds all expectations.
Little Leaves will officially be released this Tuesday, but The ACBs will celebrate the release of the vinyl on Saturday, March 9, at Vinyl Renaissance on 39th St. This free, all-ages show will kick off at 1:00 pm with The People, She’s A Keeper at 1:45, and The ACBs at 2:30. The ACBs will also be performing at Ink’s Middle of the Map Fest from April 4-6. Specific set times and venues TBA.
–-Zach Hodson
Zach Hodson is a monster. He once stole a grilled cheese sandwich from a 4-year-old girl at her birthday party. He will only juggle if you pay him. I hear he punched Slimer right in his fat, green face. He knows the secrets to free energy, but refuses to release them until "Saved by the Bell: Fortysomethings" begins production.
Vuvuzela doesn’t play it safe – their quirky chamber-rock is an "all-in" kind of thing. And by "all" here we mean any musical element you can conceive, ranging from celestial harp parts to dissonant rock assaults. Music is obviously a super-fun playground for these talented musicians, who have the ability to juggle a wide range of influences while create what could be described as an orchestral (and therefore more complex) version of the "split personality pop" previously nailed by B52s and Sugarcubes. The female muse here is harpist Stephanie Babirak, whose gentle melodic presence emerges on occasion… but in most cases gets carelessly abused by her three band mates’ more violent musical instincts. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable collection of insane monster-songs that – against all odds – function flawlessly. – Mike Levine recently interview the band here.
Here’s the new video by one of the most original (and awesome) NYC bands, Buke and Gase, who graced the cover of our summer 2009 NYC issue. A band Pitchfork has a hard time giving a "best new music" tag to, because [the critic’s] "ears just get worn out by all the airless staccato, longing for more open chords or smooth continuous tones". That is such a wonderfully irrelevant statement, I’m sure this guy would have said something similar after listening to Sonic Youth’s "Daydream Nation" – only referred to the dissonance and darkness rather than the staccato – or even, say, the debut album by Television: "I get tired of all the genius guitar parts and incredible songs, my ears long for some dissonance and mediocrity just for the sake of variety". And this is why we don’t really do negative reviews here at The Deli: because they are just opinions in the end, and more often than not stupid sounding ones. Check out "general Dome streaming below in the form of a (new) video which was premiered on… ahem… Pitchfork.
Queens based Juan Wauters – frontman of The Beets – is about to release his first solo album. Faithful to his signature lo-fi garage-pop sound, in the preview single ("Sanity," streaming below) the guitarist/vocalist from Queens offers a more acoustic and direct approach, but not necessarily less fuzzy. Wauters released 500 copies of the record, and will play a few shows in the local NYC area, including the Mercucy Lounge on March 3rd and The Bowery Ballroom on March 8th. However The Beets will be back in full swing later in the year, having already a show booked at Death By Audio on May 04.
DC indie band Lorelei have just released a new video and will be all over the DMV this weekend capping off a short east coast tour. Check out this video for the amazingly melodic track "Hole Punch" off their Fall 2012 release Enterprising Sidewalks, and then check them out live on these dates/venues:
3/1 Baltimore- Club K w/ Dead Leaf Echo & Bad Liquor Pond.
3/2 DC- Velvet Lounge w/Dead Leaf Echo & Royal Shoals.
4/5 DC – Comet Ping Pong w/Sea Lions and Golden Grrrls
First off, I can’t be the only one who finds this band’s name hilarious, can I? But Sensual Harassment’s moniker isn’t all that drew us in. We’ve written about them before; their music reincarnating disco into the new body of indie electro pop makes for a unique sound of nostalgic guilty pleasure. They’ve released a new EP “Escape From Alpha Draconis” featuring the single “Make Me Human Again” which could very well be mistaken for something released over 30 years ago. They’re hitting the road next week, starting in Philly on the 6th, and making their way south until they reach Austin for SXSW. – Lucille Sherman
Alt-Folk balladeer Sam Amidon (not to be confused with fictional character Sam I Am) is gearing up for the coming of his new album “Bright Sunny South” with the release of the first track “My Old Friend.” The album will be the fourth full-length recording for the Vermont native and New York resident, who croons with a Nick Drake tone, which is especially noticeable in the track’s frenetic plucking matched against his sullen vocals. The album was recorded in London, and shows off some of Amidon’s multi-instrumentalist skills on banjo, fiddle, and piano, in addition to his acoustic guitar. “Bright Sunny South” will be released on May 14th. – Devon Antonetti
