On Friday 12/30, Drive-By Truckers will be on there 2nd night of a 3 night residency at the 9:30 Club. And on this night they will be joined by the ever-rising Baltimore based americana-rockers J Roddy Walston and The Business! And the 9:30 Club wants to make sure that happens, so we’ve got a couple passes to give away! Just email us here by 5 PM on Thursday 12/29 and let us know your fav song by J Roddy Walston and the Business. (Please include your first and last name.) The winner will be chosen at random and emailed back.

Tickets are going fast (one night sold out already at time of publishing,) but you can still get them here. For now, check out their video for "Used to Did" from their album Hail Mega Boys, below.

The Ludlow Thieves is a rather new and rather impressive NYC based folk rock trio whose songs, ranging from the uplifting and energetic to the intimate and pensive, work very well as a soundtrack to our impending winter holidays. These guys have already gotten some impressive song placement on a couple of TV shows, and will be releasing their debut record at Mercury Lounge on January 6. Check out a preview of it here.

There’s an interesting all-NYC-based-bands rock show this Thursday 12/22 at Pianos featuring Deli NYC favorites Ambassadors and Clouder, Brooklyn’s Desert Sharks, and singer/songwriter Eli Orling from Brooklyn based Car on the Moon.  

Ambassadors is a band with serious potential. They craft short catchy yet rockin’ tracks with strong melodies and hooks. Made up of brothers Casey and Sam Harris, their childhood friend Noah Feldshuh and drummer Adam Levin, the band has been making headlines since their conception in 2008, playing exciting R&B-infused indie rock shows around the city. Their most recent release is the “Unconsolable” single and their full length is due out early next year.

Brooklyn’s Clouder has been sweeping the scene with their psychedelic influenced indie rock music. The five piece was recently nominated for the NYC Deli band of the month and with the lead of singer Eric Gilstrap, have been building their fan base, wowing audiences and press outlets like CMJ and Hype Machine . They have just finished recording a full length album. 

Desert Sharks (in the picture) is a 4 piece all girl rock band that forges instantly hummable songs drenched in surf rock and punk influences. Their latest release is a 4 song EP available for download on their bandcamp.

Brooklyn’s Eli Orling is the lead singer of multi-instrumental indie folk quartet Car on the Moon. He releases solo music that is both intimate and honest, touching upon issues of love, loss and everyday relationships with a bluesy rock’n’roll tinge.

Streaming below is the song ‘The Pines’ from Aaron Thompson‘s latest release, "Vessel EP". More raw and ambitious than his eponymous debut album, "Vessel EP" was recorded in five days this past summer at the Empress of Sound Studio in Washington, DC (where he was based). Thompson has recently moved to Brooklyn and will be performing in at Pianos on February 10, 2012. – (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 and APS Mastering.

Remember when Tyson had that rant where he talked about how great he was and how he wanted to eat your babies? Ever wanted to hear that sample sliced up and laced into a slammin beat? Well look no further, your prayers have been answered on the track “Supreme” by Keon Supreme. Despite his questionable taste in cover art, Be Still’s selection of tasteful modern beats are slathered with a natural buttery flow reminiscent of K-OS. There are a couple gems on this album; “(R)Evolution” is a Kanye-worthy beat, and Keon’s delivery is confident and optimistic. It’s hard to spout inspiration raps without being preachy and overly didactic, but he does it well. Though relatively new to the scene, Keon has been busy churning out material and honing his skills. As long as he maintains his current trajectory, he’ll find his audiences increasingly reluctant to “Be Still.” – brokeMC

The boys of psych-pop duo USF have reason to celebrate this season, with two releases in the running for KEXP’s year-end best-of poll, a new collaboration receiving critical praise, and several recent performances under their belts. Nearly a year after its release in January, their Jamaica Plain EP, rife with danceable beats, humming synths and swooping string loops, drew crowds to The Comet and The Neptune over the past month. A newly released track that saw USF team up with former Deli Band of the Month, Witch Gardens, has also been attracting attention. “I’m Not Dead, I’m Having Fun” combines USF’s typically out-there synth-play with Witch Gardens’ singsong vocals for a spacey tune defiant of mortality. USF will cap an eventful year on Dec. 29 with their first ever show at Neumo’s, along with Glitterbang, Vox Mod and DJ Self-Actualized.

Doors: 8 p.m.

Tickets: $7

-Kate Shepherd

Two Lights, upon first glance, is just another trio of (rather) cute boys who play music that makes many girls swoon. However, if you give them a second glance – and a listen – you’ll realize that the catchy pop songs crafted by these NYU students have the magical power to obliterate wintery thoughts – something a helluva lot of people desperately need in December. The band started in Maine with two brothers, Abner and Harper Willis and their childhood friend Ryan Gross, as the three musicians played songs about high school, love and growing older. The band then ended up at NYU and released their first single “Summer” in September 2011. Since then, they have added a drummer, Benny Brown, as well as garnered praise for their tracks on Consequence of Sound, Verbicide Magazine and CMJ.
Their bittersweet, sugary indie pop songs tie the future of careers and relationships with the past of high school and teen angst. Their debut EP will be released in early 2012 followed by a series of U.S. tour dates. – Amanda Dissinger

When Brooklyn based artist Doe Paoro will play Pianos on January 3rd there will be demons in the room. The artist describes the kind of music she plays as “ghost soul”, i.e. “a sound that echoes the resurrection of a choir of ghosts who haven’t completely detached from the human experience”. We’ll add that those ghosts have a beautiful and soulful voice. Doe Paoro – fronted by Sonia Kreitzer, who used to sing in the Brooklyn collective Sonia’s Party – will play tracks from her first album, "Slow to Love," which will be released in early 2012. Her music has garnered comparisons to artists like Lykke Li and James Blake and also features classical influences the singer was exposed to through her classical training. In the meantime, enjoy her first single "Can’t Leave you", streaming here, or this cover of Future Islands’ “Little Dreamers”. – Amanda Dissinger

Deli Band of the Month Ivan and Alyosha will be using their folk pop catalogue to do more than entertain tonight, as they play an opening slot for the Mountain Goats at The Troubadour in Los Angeles. The bands are both showcasing their tunes in a fundraising benefit for the Invisible Children movement, which aims to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony’s rebel war, and to help restore peace in central Africa. The band released a cover of Jackson Browne’s "Rebel Jesus" in the lead-up to the event. Ivan and Alyosha toured extensively this year, traveling throughout Canada and the U.S. before making plans to record a full-length follow-up to this year’s Fathers Be Kind. With an acoustic demo of their new song, "Be Your Man", getting play online, the buzz around this Seattle duo should ensure they draw a crowd tonight – for a good cause.

-Kate Shepherd

The Stepkids capture all the glitter and gold of classic seventies funk, R&B and soul music with such expertise that their recently released self-titled debut album could pass for a rediscovered lost recording from that era. With their own personalities stamped all over their work, the band channels the spirit of Earth Wind & Fire, Sly Stone, Todd Rundgren and dozens of others. The Connecticut and NYC-based three piece will play The Knitting Factory in Williamsburg on December 14 and then embark on an Australian tour. – Read Dean Van Nguyen’s feature on the band here.