And by the by, if you have not seen Les Savy Fav before, I feel that there is a tremendous void living within you that, though you may not know what it is, exists as a tiny voice or ache screaming for the wild antics of Tim Harrington thrusting himself into and onto the crowd, stripping down to his skivvies, and climbing buildings and trees whilst accurately howling every word in every song.  I saw them at the "Green Fest" in Chicago a month ago, and during a madcap run through the crowd, he hugged a friend of mine who was wearing a RISD shirt (Harrington’s alma mater) and handed said friend a broken half of sunglasses.  It made my friend’s night (Hey, Jon Fernandez!).  Plenty of local acts abound, see them all and use sunscreen.

Tonight at the Rendezvous Strong Killings are ripping through their new album "Annals of Animals."  This Seattle three-piece play an incendiary set, be there at 10 for the festivities.  Hounds of the Wild Hunt and Boom City open.

Annals of Animals by StrongKillings

Having cut their teeth in various bands, both together and apart, Kal and long-time creative partner Alex Toth form the nucleus of Rubblebucket. The duo have been collaborating for eight years now. Having first met at the University of Vermont, they began touring and recording together in bands of all shapes and sizes. A super-group, of sorts, Alex decided to create Rubblebucket by approaching musicians he considered to be the best he had worked with. "Alex is really good at making things happen and when he had the idea for Rubblebucket he started pulling together the best musicians he knew," says Kal. – Read Dean Van Nguyen’s interview with the band here.

T-dot transplant and microphone monster Eternia is set to rock the 7th annual Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival this Saturday July 16th. Eternia has been hustling her signature hot spit for over seven years with a menacing determination. Her most recent album “At Last” released on Fat Beats Records is critically acclaimed on the underground scene, and you’ll find her name in the top five of most people’s favorite female MCs list. Her and formidable style is best experienced live, and since she’ll be sharing the stage with the likes of Q-tip, Artifacts, and Camp Lo, this Saturday’s show will be an amazing experience. -=bMC

Only Son’s second and latest record is “Searchlight.” The band is just the latest chapter in Dishel’s rich artistic history that includes notoriety as a teenage underground graffiti celebrity, time spent as a guitarist for the Moldy Peaches, and success fronting a previous solo project, Stipplicon. Most recently, he’s ventured into standup comedy. These activities further emphasize the point that it’s impossible (and undesirable) to try and pin this songwriter down simply by listening to the music (at least not before you search MySpace for his hip-hop project, Jack Beats Bruno). Only Son’s music holds up beautifully on its own and the ever-growing collection of DIY music videos on the band’s website expands the picture with a healthy dose of humor, but the band is just one aspect of this highly creative artist. – Read Ben Krieger interview with Jack Dishel here.

Joyful Brooklyn lo-fi-ers I’m Turning Into are releasing their debut full length, ‘Parcels of Marbles’, on Friday, July 15. It can be downloaded for free on their Bandcamp profile between July 12-17th. The band is taking this opportunity to also re-release a remastered version of their 2009 EP "Theep". Release show for ‘Parcels of Marbles’ is this Friday, 7/15, at Monster Island Basement with Dinosaur Feathers, Shark?, Sweet Tooth. 11pm door, 12 show, $5 – sweet, fun bill!  – (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.

W.M.D. DuBois and Rude Humanist are the two MCs who helm raucous electro-funk outfit Deathrow Tull. Their combined energy onstage is rumored to cause blackouts at unprepared venues, and get oftren reluctant New Yorkers to get temporarily over their fear of dancing. It’s only later on that they realize that they may have said something awesome as well: “I got lost in the heart of a riot with a sling shot slanging rocks at Goliath. He’s a ticked-off minute man, sick of being small time, looking for God, but the mirror had him cross-eyed. Got promoted and he learned the boss lied. Earned his wings and turned into a fall guy.” For more of such rhymes and some fun hip hop time, don’t miss the show at South Paw on July 17th – the band will be opening for New Orleans’ own Mad Conductor.

The Unnatural Helpers have been banging around Seattle for a few years now as the perennial hobbyhorse of singer / drummer / songwriter / sole consistent member Dean Whitmore, who has also spent time with such Seattle outfits as the Intelligence, Welcome and Dipers.  Despite the myriad lineup changes over the years, the band has managed to retain and expand on its original sound in a steady and cohesive way – anyone who has witnessed the live show over the years will be well familiar with the band’s taut, muscular guitar-rock, driven by Whitmore’s whip-tight drumming and usually caustic, often self-deprecating vocals.  Oh, and the songs are always short.  Very short.
 
No words should be wasted listing off the dozen or so people that have passed through the ranks, and even as this is being typed it remains impossible to guess at who all is playing in the current lineup of the band, so let’s just agree to focus on the folks that played on the record.  Guitar and sporadic vocal duties are held down by Andrew Greager (Scraps, Popular Shapes) and Johnnie Heinz, while Andrew Sullivan (The Trashies) provides swaggering bass lines throughout, as well as some guitar and the occasional backing vocal.  All the way through Whitmore’s half sung / half shouted vocals and lashing drums seem to be racing the rest of the instruments to end of the song.
 
UNNATURAL HELPERS

07/20 – Seattle, WA – Funhouse !
07/21 – Portland, OR – The Know
07/22 – Oakland, CA – The New Parish #
07/23 – Fullerton, CA – Burger Records ^
07/24 – San Diego, CA – Eleven Bar ^
07/25 – Los Angeles, CA – Dark Horse Saloon ^
07/26 – San Pedro, CA – TBD ^
07/27 – Palm Springs, CA – Dillon Roadhouse ^
07/28 – San Francisco, CA – Hemlock ^ *
07/29 – Davis, CA – House party at the Hub ^
 
! – w/ Tit Pig
# – 1-2-3-4 Go! Anniversary Fest
^ – w/ Uzi Rash
* – w/ Eat Skull
 

Unnatural Helpers – Sunshine / Pretty Girls by hardlyartrecords

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are proud to introduce you to our latest creature: The Deli Seattle! It was just about time!!!

The Deli’s Staff

Coming in at number 14 on the Best Emerging Artists of 2010 poll (the full results can be seen here), Ava Luna mixes the sounds of uplifting gospel music with electro-pop seamlessly, leaving you unable to help dancing along to songs like "Clips" (boasting lyrics like "I always knew you were a dangerous one, and you might just make me lose my cool"). Their Services EP is available for download for only $2 here, containing four songs ("Clips," "Cement Lunch," "Past the Barbary" and "Won’t You Be Mine"). L Magazine termed them "the most immediately engaging and smart music" currently coming from New York due to Ava Luna’s fresh and invigorating tunes, all of which possess and almost instantaneous magnetic appeal. The music of Ava Luna is toe-tapping at the very least, get-up-and-dance-immediately at its very best.

The Forms kicked off a west coast / deep south tour yesterday, and took the opportunity to launch their new video for "Fire to the Ground", the single off of their latest EP "Derealization" featuring guest vocals by The National’s Matt Beringer.

Cults are getting all sorts of buzz with this new video pretty much every major music blog is currently streaming. This pushed the band to the 2nd position in our Web Buzz Charts (left column in this page, full NYC charts here). The band is in 10th position in our popularity charts.