Having uprooted from Maine and made their way west to San Francisco (a city the band call “a place full of creativity”), Guy Fox have been unveiling their own brand of vivid indie pop to a new audience of receptive Californians. Powered by tidy guitar lines and pretty piano chords, the band’s lush and joyous arrangements are punctuated by trumpets, trombones plus other assorted treats. See them at Rickshaw Shop with Ash Reiter, tonight (02.22) – Dean Van Nguyen
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Celestial Shore announces debut EP, shares “Valerie” + plays 285 Kent on 02.24
We had the opportunity to enjoy Celestial Shore‘s geeky pop madness live when they opened for Ava Luna during the launch party of our Winter 2012 issue about one year ago. The band operates along disorientating lines, juxtaposing gorgeous harmonies reminiscent of The Beach Boys’ "Pet Sounds" to inconceivable bursts of baroque math-prog madness. The streaming single "Valerie" – from the band upcoming album, to be released in April – is yet another example of this band’s quirky talent, and almost matches their masterpiece track, "Pals" – hopefully also to be included in the upcoming release. Celestial Shores’ quirky pop – as long as the crazyness doesn’t get out of hand – is one of the best new expression of a fun avant-pop genre that has been flourishing among nonconfirmist college students since the late 80s, and that has in Ween, They Might Be Giants and Beck its most illustrious predecessors. Don’t miss their show at 285 Kent on February 24.
We added this song to The Deli curated Soundcloud playlist of Best NYC songs by emerging NYC artists – check it out!
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Interview with Rude Cab Driver: DC Deli’s Band of the Month (February)
Maryland based hard indie rockers Rude Cab Driver came together in early 2012 under an unusual/unique situation- a show was booked by their now drummer, but the rest of the band didn’t exist yet. Now, the punk-tinged trio has a plethora of tracks under their belt, and an evergrowing fanbase that pushed them to the top of our recent poll making them our Band of the Month. We wanted to find out more about Jeremy Sigel (guitar/vocals,) John Mayhew (bass/backup vocals,) and Francisco Leonard Estrada (drums,) so we got a hold of couple of them. Here they tell us about group house band practices, DC pride, and German nuns. Now onto the interview…
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NYC Songwriters on the rise: Loren Benjamin
Picking up where Elton John left off, Loren Benjamin is re-tooling the piano as the melodic lead is was meant to be. From covering ‘Human’ (The Killers) to a huge reception at this year’s CMJ Fest, the 23 year old is set to take off. And you have to respect any man trying to write our generation’s ‘Tiny Dancer.’
Currently recording his debut album under the direction of Grammy award-winning producer Steve Jordan, expect the piano man to come out swinging when he releases his full-length this Spring, and check out his performance last month from Highline Ballroom here. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)
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Album review: Man Bear – Infinity Cat (EP)
(Photo by Layne Haley)
Lo-fi: pretentious calculated choice or economic necessity? When someone says, “Because that’s how __________ did it,” you know you’re dealing with the former. When someone says, “I have no idea what I’m doing,” that’s a sign of honesty, simplicity, and little money.
Man Bear’s latest EP, Infinity Cat, is riddled with economic necessity, a condition that doesn’t bode well for fashion endorsements. In fact, listening to Man Bear, it’s obvious the band doesn’t bode well for fashion anything. But it all makes for great songwriting and a real, gritty-sounding recording.
Continuing to fly the tattered banner of Midwest punk rock, Kansas City’s Man Bear lets it rip with five solid tracks of shredded melodic anthems. Vocals are nearly lost in the mix, guitars are distorted within an inch of their lives, and someone might have bumped a keyboard, then let it play the same loop for the first three songs. And through all the power and noise, a strand of pop sensibility threads the three-piece outfit together.
The favorable comparisons to The Replacements, Soul Asylum, Buffalo Tom, and Superchunk are inevitable, but in no way diminish the sermon Man Bear preaches. Paul Westerberg would be spinning in his grave, bright green with jealousy, if he didn’t have the bad sense to still be alive.
Don’t think because Infinity Cat chooses heart over production that Man Bear doesn’t try. They pack their short songs with tons of hooks and tight rhythms. The backward guitar solo in the tragi-ballad “A Girl I Once Knew” and the pulsing cowbell in “All Goes Down” are nice touches. Man Bear tries all right; they just don’t try to please everyone.
Infinity Cat probably won’t usher in a new-wave of mid-paced, rootsy punk rock. Too unfashionable, too risky, and too bad, because the near absence of any type of rock—punk or otherwise—has made albums like Infinity Cat more crucial than ever.
Man Bear will be performing at The Brick on Saturday, March 2. The band was recently featured on KC Live on KSHB-TV 41 (see below), and was also named the winner of The Deli’s open submission poll for Best Kansas City Emerging Artist of 2012.
–-Steven M. Garcia
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Steven is guitarist and lead vocalist for Kansas City power pop trio Deco Auto. He also makes a deliciously angry salsa. |
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Album review: Bloodbirds – Psychic Surgery
Bloodbirds’ latest release, Psychic Surgery, takes no prisoners as it roars across a hyperdistorted punk psychedelic landscape. At times, the album oozes with a raw and spastic energy similar to that of Nirvana’s Bleach. Other times, it meanders down swirling passages of thickly affected instrumentation. Either way, it is truly impressive how much pleasantly overbearing noise is conjured up by this three-piece group, consisting of Mike and Brooke Tuley (of Ad Astra Arkestra fame) and Anna St. Louis.
Driven by what seems like more guitars than Billy Corgan could count on both hands and feet, this album is fuzzy, buzzy, yet well executed. Underneath the torrent of distortion, the solid beat and bass combination of Tuley and St. Louis keeps things grounded and moving along, while paying close attention to not clash with the siren of guitars wailing above them. And although the material does get a tad formulaic at times, it is a damn solid formula: chaos noise incarnate loosely trapped within the parameters of pop structure.
“Bad Animal” sticks out for me. The intro fools the listener a bit with 26 seconds of Bob Seger-esque guitar noodling before launching into an all-out sonic blitz. Reminiscent of early Queens of the Stone Age, it is a furious four minutes of song, almost too saturated at times with antagonistically distorted guitars, but nicely counterpointed by the stripped-down, daydream verses. Being one of the more straightforward and less meandering efforts on the album, it packs a blow worth noting.
“Patterned Sky” prominently features restful female vocals and flexes the psychedelic and dreamy muscles that Bloodbirds has to offer. The main guitar finds itself clean, verbed to almost surf rock in a way. This track gets in and out pretty quick and provides a nice breather to the otherwise resonant assault.
Perhaps some of the album’s most interesting guitar work is featured on its title track. All too often guitarists in this genre can get inane or annoying when trying to fill time with random effect noise. Tuley avoids that pitfall in “Psychic Surgery,” putting together a solid and dynamic performance. With what I assume is at least a handful of effects, he coaxes his guitar through a variety of emotions in a nice compact instrumental section. From wailing to pouting to singing to just random robotic musings, it is clear that Tuley is very aware, in control, and discreet with this performance.
The album ends with a bombardment of riffs called “Time Battle.” This song screams like someone beating the shit out of a banshee. It may just be the perfect summation of the rest of the record. There is just enough breath to the verses to make you think you might have some chance of keeping your eardrums intact, but all hope of avoiding the dreaded rrrriiiinnnggg in your ears while trying to fall asleep at night is lost once the vocals give way to the cavalcade of searing guitars. It is a fierce bitch slap to the face, the perfect way to finish off the sonically engorged LP.
All in all, Psychic Surgery will make your audiologist incredibly pissed at you. Bloodbirds do not hold anything back. There is no mute button left on any track in the final mix. If their live show is anything as powerful as this record is, I would suggest earplugs inside earmuffs inside an old deep sea diver’s helmet for protection. Or chance it. Bloodbirds would be a wonderful thing to go deaf to.
Bloodbirds was recently selected to play Ink’s Middle of the Map Fest, which is curated by The Record Machine and runs from Thursday, April 4 to Saturday, April 6. Details on schedules and venues will be forthcoming.
–-Zach Hodson
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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. He is also in Dolls on Fire and Drew Black & Dirty Electric, as well as contributing to various other Kansas City-based music, comedy, and art projects. |
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New single: “Wonderful Daze” by Chocolate Wurms
The #1 in under- underground Kansas City trash pop meets an indie art rapper scientist of lyricism in this laid-back groove single with a purpose. I had actually quite literally just dusted off an older Chocolate Velvet CD from the early 2000s the other day to give it a spin when I saw on Twitter (which is both CV’s and Wurm’s social media of choice) that this collaboration had happened. Having also known, worked with, and been a fan of Wurm’s for many years, I was certainly intrigued what this seemingly odd duo would come up with. After listening, the pairing makes perfect sense.
For the most part, the beat is super chilled out, almost sounds like something you’d hear on a TLC record. It’s a groove you can easily throw on and sit back, sip a drink of whatever color liquor you prefer, and just enjoy.
Wurm handles the verses with his usual deft and quick-spit rap stylings. Whereas I don’t listen to rap enough to have a developed ear to understand everything he is saying, the pace and intensity of his vocalization provides a nice contrast to the silky track beneath. The hook is supplied by Chocolate Velvet and features spaced-out, dual-octave, half-sung/half-spoken vocals that have been a staple of his sound for almost a decade.
Thematically, this song is a celebration of making art for art’s sake. This idea is by no means a new one, but this duo is able to paint a new shade on it that keeps it from being just another starving artist anthem.
Got no money in the bank, I know where I stand
Summertime comes and I soak up a tan
If you want to make music, don’t call it a brand
Wurms made of chocolate never made a cent
I admire the fact they finish up the song at a swift and enjoyable three minutes and nineteen seconds. It is just enough to make their point with passion and get out the door without beating the listener over the head with a monotony of holier-than-thou excess. It does exactly what pop music should do, leaves you wanting more. I certainly hope they do just that.
Chocolate Wurms is the combination of the main creative forces behind Chocolate Velvet and Wurm & the Madness. “Wonderful Daze” is its debut single.
–-Zach Hodson
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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. He is also in Dolls on Fire and Drew Black & Dirty Electric, as well as contributing to various other Kansas City-based music, comedy, and art projects. |
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Album review: The Great Vehicle – The People’s Cathedral of Wavelengths (EP)
Described as “a guided tour of performance, technical, and philosophical minutiae,” The Great Vehicle’s The People’s Cathedral of Wavelengths journeys down an experimental and rock-infused path to deliver a fresh sound that help gives the “progressive” genre a good reputation.
The People’s Cathedral of Wavelengths opens abruptly with “Bald Chemist,” a track that sets the dynamic and progressive tone for the rest ofthe EP. A guitar solo about two-thirds of the way in provides a throwback feeling reminiscent of early/mid-’90s rock, but in the best way possible. “Touched in the Head,” a proclaimed “disparate mismatched junk glued together with industrial-strength adhesive—in the best way possible,” builds upon itself with ascending and descending scales and an introductory riff that supposedly has been in the works for years. “Swan Meat (Slight Reduction)” closes out the EP on a strong note. Though there is an overarching heavy guitar sound throughout all of The People’s Cathedral of Wavelengths, the song has a contagious tempo and beat that makes it the most catchy track of them all. Strong percussion coupled with some random hollering from “an unknown preacher from an unknown cable channel” that the band tossed into the mix make “Swan Meat” a favorite on the EP.
It can be a rare case to find progressive rock songs that are less than 10 minutes long and actually “progress” from start to finish. The Great Vehicle does a great job at keeping listeners’ attention in their tracks and giving them a beat to dance to.
The Great Vehicle is composed of Mason Fann, bass; Gregg Todt, drums; and Troy Van Horn, guitar. The People’s Cathedral of Wavelengths is the band’s first EP, released January 22 and recorded at Sandusky Sound Co by Erik Voeks. The six-track EP can be purchased and downloaded at Bandcamp. Also on this site, the band gives fan some added insight by sharing the backstories to all the songs.
–Alex Peak
| Alex Peak is a magazine designer by day and a music listener by night. To her, stumbling across great new music is even better than finding a $10 bill floating around in the laundry. |
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Modern Rivals play Pianos on 03.06
Ah… defenestration. There’s nothing like it! Actually, I had to look this one up. It seems it’s the act of throwing someone out the window – it often applies to kings or other people in power. For Modern Rivals‘ latest, ‘Sea Legs EP,’ this is exactly what seems to be on ultra-literate singer Erick Lee’s mind these days. The record mixes these intrigues with groove-backed confetti and lots of charm. See the sun-soaked quintet when they play Pianos on March 6. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)
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Anders & Kendall celebrate release of “Wild Chorus” at Rockwood – 02.24
You might remember Brooklyn-based Kendall Meade from Sparklehorse and Mascott, and Anders Parker from Varnaline as well as the Woody Guthrie project New Multitudes. The two are now band mates in Anders & Kendall, a new, rather mellow, and tastefully produced rootsy pop effort. The band just released their debut album "Wild Chorus" with a free show at Rockwood Music Hall on February 24. Check out the video of single "We’re on Fire."
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From the NYC Open Blog: Alex Vans’ new video + live at Spike Hill on 02.22
DC/NYC based powerpop band Alex Vans has just put out their official video for their new single "Chase the Night." The song, which powerpopaholic calls "a mixing of old influences skillfully into something fresh" is a three minute whirlwind narrating a night of debauchery and music in a Bushwick loft. It debuted live at Pianos on the lower east side a few weeks ago to a packed house and can now be found on youtube and alexvansmusic.com. See Alex Vans live at Spike Hill on February 22. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here). The Deli’s NYC Open Blog is powered by The Music Building.
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Localpalooza at VA’s Empire on Sun. 2/24
This Sunday 2/24, Springfield VA’s Empire will be hosting Localpalooza that will showcase an array of alt entertainment. The all ages mini fest will consist of 7 bands including Arkestry (self-described as a blues rock band that doesn’t suck), Take This To Heart (metalcore from Stafford), Bachs of Rock (NoVA heavy metal), The Richie Ray Project (melodic hip hop from Woodbridge), Geppettos Wood, The Carter Louthian Band, Were Only Livin Free, and End Of Silence (NoVA alt metal.)
Show starts @ 6 PM at the Empire and is $10. For tickets, email Julian Earle.