Milk Machine will be celebrating the release of their new full-length album, Bees on the Vine, at Red Palace on May 7. You can be reasonably certain that this will be the only rock record release in D.C. this month that prominently features tuba bass lines, accordion riffs, and soaring trumpet melodies.

The amazing thing about the sound emanating from Bees on the Vine is how Milk Machine is able to take the instrumentation of a traditional polka band and squeeze out dramatic, legitimitely rocking songs. The songs often carry the edge of a New Orleans funeral march in a very "This is a great show to drink whiskey at!" sort of way. So, come prepared.  

Red Palace, Doors @ 9:00, Show @ 10:00, $8

-Jarrett

New Moods is Billy Jones’ new band (besides booking Pianos, Billy played in several NYC indie bands including drone rockers Other Passengers). Started as a duo and currently a quartet, they play a brand of edgy dance-rock that’s at times reminiscent of dark and claustrophobic British bands from the 80s, like very early Simple Minds, The Cure or the more recent Clinic, although the newer single "Playtime" (embedded here) seems to abandon these new wave influences for a more modern tribal-electro sound. Brooklyn Vegan booked them for one of his many SXSW shows and they just landed a rather high profile gig opening for Gang Gang Dance at The Music Hall of Williamsburg on May 4. If you like "serious" party music, this might well be a show you don’t want to miss.

Mp3: New Moods – Playtime

This Sunday things are gonna get epic up at the Merriweather Post Pavillion during the Sweetlife Festival with the Strokes and Crystal Castles and all that going on. Sharing the stage with them are some great locals, so get there early to check them out.

Like Modern Man, a DC based rock band that just got started last year and recently put out their debut EP (out in April according to their site.) Check out some of their fresh analog rock & roll anthems below.

And DC’s rockers U.S. Royalty will be joining them, a band that other bloggers have compared to the Strokes. If you missed our interview with them earlier in the year, you can check it out here. Recently, DC experimental duo Bluebrain remixed their track "Equestrian" from their debut album Mirrors that was released back in January. Check out the stellar result here.

Sweetgreen announced that the set times will be posted on their site on 4/28 so stay tuned for that. Maybe they’ll reveal the other local bands that apparently will be gigging in the VIP tent area, which is still top secret. (*Fort Knox Five just announced they’ll be doing a DJ set in the tent about 10 minutes ago!) Party.

Our early April DC Deli Artist of the month Flo Anito, a DC based pop songwriter, recently tuned us into her latest music video for the song "Uh-Oh." Directed by Francisco Campos-Lopez, they kept it truly at home by filming it at the Capital City Diner, and then premiered it at a gig she had at the Rock & Roll Hotel back in December. Recently however, the track was one of the 5 finalists chosen in Cosmo Radio’s Breaking the Band contest and has been getting regular plays on Sirius. Check out the video below!

In 2010, This Frontier Needs Heroes used Kickstarter donations from their fans to fund their follow up album. They decided to leave the studio for a more intimate approach and recorded in an old school house in Wassaic, NY, with engineer Justin Pizzoferrato (MV & EE, Dinosaur Jr., Thurston Moore). THE FUTURE, out May 10, 2011 on their newly formed label HEROIC ENDEAVOURS RECORDS, has new songs about all of their rambling experiences including new visions about space, family, heroes, history, and dogs. THE FUTURE also includes album art in 3D and will be shipped with 3D glasses! It is available NOW for Pre-order in CD, DIGITAL, and VINYL at BANDCAMP. – (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.

Formed less than 2 years ago, Union Street Preservation Society is one of the most followed bands of the NYC’s folk and roots revival. Mixing bluegrass with folk, old-time, blues and early jazz, the quintet is a crossroads for five diverse musicians to celebrate and build upon the American roots tradition. Their spirited vocal harmonies and runaway-train instrumentals breathe fire and soul into timeless standards, spirituals and honky-tonk anthems, emphasizing the freshness of their original tunes. Whether performing in a bar or on a barge, the Union Street Preservation Society radiates an authentic energy, ensuring a vibrant night of fun. They are just about to release their debut EP. On April 29 the band will be playing at Sullivan Hall in the West Village for the 40th birthday of the legendary Connecticut country band Max Creek.

Brooklyn alt rockers Alberta Cross came in at 89 on The Deli’s latest Best of NYC Emerging Artists poll (the full results can be seen here). This seems like a deserved achievement considering that they have played festivals all over the country: Coachella, Bonnaroo (also this year), Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, to name a few, and that they have an upcoming residency at The Satellite in LA. The band was born when Swedish-born Petter Ericson Stakee (the vocals and guitar) and Londoner Terry Wolfers (bass) met in a London bar. The move from London to New York City–as well as the addition of guitarist Sam Kearney, drummer Austin Beede and keyboardist Alec Higgins–influenced Alberta Cross’ new material, evolving the sound in the current direction. Drummer Austin Beede describes their music as “rock with a hint of everything,” citing the band’s collective and individual varied musical interests (from Bob Dylan to Stevie Wonder, Depeche Mode to Nick Cave, Air to Led Zeppelin). We detect a Southern rock twang, pounding beats, and heartfelt elements of folk on their most recent album, “Broken Side of Time.” The quintet’s single, “Leave Us and Forgive Us,” epitomizes the band’s haunting melodies that intoxicate hard-hitting drums, and notable tracks, slide-guitar-ridden “ATX,” dark title-track, “Broken Side of Time,” and menacing “City Walls” reaffirm Alberta Cross’s growing recognition on an international level. If you can afford it you’ll be able to see these guys opening for the Dave Matthews Band on June 24 in Atlantic City NJ. – Leah Tribbett + Meijin Bruttomesso

Caged Animals, a relatively new project by Soft Black frontman Vincent Cacchione, creates music that is poppy and infectious, yet slightly unsettling under the surface. The songs weave atmospheric flourishes with electronic quirks, pitch-shifted and distorted vocals, and catchy hooks. Although Caged Animals could easily be described as “chill-wave” for its bedroom-recording aesthetic and penchant for synth lines and electronic drums, there’s more to the music then that. Cacchione isn’t afraid to venture into the odd psychedelic landscape here and there, and some of the songs sound almost alien, haunting the listener with otherworldly vocals and odd, discordant bits of noise. Check out “The Way It Feels to Be Hunted” (embedded here) to get an idea. Caged Animals create some forward-thinking pop music, and will hopefully be released into the wild to find a wider audience in the near future. – Bill Dvorak

Karen Rockower‘s creepy, dreamy rock band bills up with powerpop indie rockers Diehard and friends from CT Ovlov for a co-ed night of bromance at the Cake Shop on April 27th. Doors at 8pm, show starts at 9pm. $7 cover. Here’s some press:
“Finally. An indie rock band who doesn’t drench their songs in so much reverb that it covers up the lack of songwriting abilities. Diehard, a fairly new 4-piece out of Brooklyn, is actually bringing the old beloved sounds of the 90s rock back to us with just enough pop flavor to make them become one our favorite new discoveries.” – BeatCrave.
"Rockower, is so far from a normal singer songwriter, that she’s practically in a class all by herself. She takes the solo artist template, crumbles it up, and sets it on fire." – The POP! Stereo
(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. 

The Nico Blues is a NJ/NYC based rock band that sound a little bit as if Oasis (and at times Blur) were born in Seattle in the mid 90s instead of the UK – which is a way to say that they write good pop songs with great harmonies and then drench them in grungy distorted guitars. The band has just released this video and will be performing at Arlene’s Grocery on May 3 and at Party Expo on May 5.

This video by Jonka is probably too cute to please the hipster in you, but there’s something refreshing about the lack of pretension, without mentioning the catchiness of the tune, slightly reminiscent of Nik Kershaw – one of my favorite pop stars when I was a teenager, who unfortunately "let the sun (of stardom) get down on him" – if you don’t get this sentence just listen to his most famous single.

In a crowded market of loop-based, one-man-band type artists, Mira Cook does things a little differently. With a child-like curiosity, she adds whatever ingredients to her stew she has handy, whether it’s her new drum machine, a well-placed dulcimer, or any number of interesting vocal machinations. Her playful perspective comes to life whether she’s dreaming of traveling to India or discussing the many seeds inside watermelons (way too many if you ask me).
Mira Cook is an artist for the kid in all of us. So be prepared to come away from her shows seeing things a little differently.
She’s beginning a free residency at Piano’s Upstairs Lounge on May 8. It’s anyone’s guess what beatboxes/sounds/dulcimers she’ll show up with… so get over there and be part of the fun. – Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)