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 Best of NYC Year End Poll: Last few days to submit
NYC Bands,
If you missed the window to subscribe for free to our Best of NYC Year End Poll for emerging artists, we’d like to remind you that you can still submit through SonicBids for a $5 fee HERE (FYI this is the only instance in which we charge bands for something, due to the massive amount of times it takes us to listen to thousands of submissions).
As you may know, the winner of the poll will be featured on the cover of our spring 2012 issue and each nominee will have a blurb and possibly a picture in that same issue.
Also, signing up through both the free submission and the SonicBids one increases your chances to be selected simply because the artists in the two lists will go through different filtering processes. Submissions will close on December 23.
Check out last year’s results here, and the linked Best of NYC 2011 issue here.
The Deli’s Staff.
Ivan and Alyosha Play L.A. for Child Soldier Benefit
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
Weekly Feature: The Stepkids play The Knit on January 14 + tour Australia
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.
Weekly Feature: Outernational play Bowery Electric on 12.26
Outspoken and outstanding, the ensemble of NYC based musicians known as Outernational reaches out to reggae, ska, punk, dub, polka, mariachi, hip-hop, and world music, to implement their “radical vision for the future of a world without borders,” a stance that has continued to blossom since their first EP, “Eyes on Fire” and only becomes stronger as the band’s grabbing music and message recruit fans and followers. After playing on of The Deli’s CMJ show in October, the band – which will release atheir debut full length in early 2012 – will again entartain their NYC fans with a show at Bowery Electric on December 26. – Read Meijin Bruttomesso Q&A with the band here.
The Majorleans release “Deli powered” single + play Mercury on 12.20
It’s always rewarding when we see results coming out of something we initiated, isn’t it? NYC rockers The Majorleans won our Artist of the Month Poll a few months ago, and with it they won some free studio time at Grand Street Recording, which they used to record this new single called "Hard Enough" (streaming below). Well done band and studio people! Go check out these guys at The Mercury Lounge on December 20.
Royal Baths move to NYC + announce release of “Better Luck Next Life”
What’s about NYC that attracts dark and droney indie bands? Is it its cold and dark winter? Or maybe (more likely) Lou Reed and Sonic Youth’s legacy? Royal Baths, after signing with Brooklyn based label Kanine, took a leap from one side of the country (San Fran) to the other, and The Deli is happy to welcome them to the Big Apple. Paying homage to various psych-rock and new wave icons like Syd Barret, Joy Division, Spacemen 3 and at time even Jefferson Airplane, their music – notwithstanding an underpinning melodic element – ranges from the seriously depressed to the invasively distorted, overall always keeping in line with tasteful lo-fi aesthetics.
MP3: Royal Baths – "Darling Divine"
Interview with Pressure Theif: DC Deli’s Band of the Month (December)
DC’s experimental trip-hop project Pressure Theif is the sole creation of Geoff Simons who likes to "wail on a mic and bang out chords on a guitar." And he does it well- with a discography of 4 EPs put out this year alone! No wonder he was our most recent poll winner for Band/Artist of the month. Relatively new to the scene as a solo project, we wanted to find out more about Pressure Theif, so we got in touch with Geoff who tells us about love for his hometown, seeing the Pixies, and his first band- 2214. Onto the interview…
Pressure Theif just released his 4th EP, The Tourist, which you can check out below.
Bands Bring Holiday Spirit to The Crocodile Tonight
The Crocodile will play host to a lineup of local indie bands for a holiday cover show tonight, featuring the talents of Kris Orlowski, Eternal Fair, Exohxo, the First Times and Elk and Boar. Advocate for the everyman, Orlowski has taken to the stage around town following the late November release of his newest four-song album, Warsaw. The EP builds on the songwriting of last year’s full-length, Happiness is Waiting, which succeeded two previous albums (including a Christmas album to mark last year’s holiday season). Orlowski will apply his skills to some holiday classics again this evening, and is set to play a sold-out show at the Neptune on Jan. 4, along with Allen Stone.
Jingle Bell Indie Rock Holiday Cover Show
Doors: 8 p.m.
Tickets: $10
21+
-Kate Shepherd
Dinowalrus premiers track from upcoming album “Best Behavior”
Dinowalrus – a Brooklyn band with a great name indeed – just announced the release of their sophomore release, scheduled for March 2003 on Kanine, and shared with the public a preview track ("What Now", streaming below) which discloses more fluid sonics and an increased focus on songwriting. The band’s new sound seems to leave behind the harsh and sometimes quirky psychedelic experimentation of their beginnings and find inspiration instead in the British psych-pop wave of the late 80s.
Xray Eyeballs announce sophomore album + play Mercury on 01.02
Brainchild of guitarist O.J. San Felipe and bassist Carly Rabalais – also involved in garage rock juggernaut Golden Triangle – NYC’s psych-fuzz champions Xray Eyeballs aren’t wasting any time. After releasing their debut album on Kanine Records in April this year, the band just announced the release of their sophomore full length scheduled for next February. Now that’s how you keep the buzz going – one release per year! Unaware fans of The Jesus & Mary Chain and Crystal Stilts are invited to check these guys out at Mercury Lounge on January 2nd … Streaming here the "Sundae" single they released in August.
JP & The Gilberts and Alex Battle – DIY CD release party on 12.16
JP & the Gilberts, a Brooklyn’s up-and-coming alt-country outfit, will "challenge" veteran NYC folkster Alex Battles during the release party of their album "Introducing… JP & the Gilberts" on Friday, December 16 at their own Brooklyn basement turned DIY venue, called The Rad Pad. Battles, who also hosts the Johnny Cash Birthday Bash and the Brooklyn Country Music Festival, will also be releasing not one, not two but FOUR albums of original music he recorded in 2011. All four albums will be available in a handmade ‘manila folder set’ at the release. RSVP through the band website for the address! – (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.