Deli’s senior designer Ursula Viglietta deserves a medal for going days without sleep to curate ART + ARCHITECTURE 2011 at Gowanus Ballroom – the best event I have attended all year in Brooklyn. The event’s opening night was this past Friday and the turnout was amazing. Gowanus Ballroom is a 12,000-square-foot space beneath 50-foot cathedral ceilings with a 4,000-square-foot mezzanine overlooking the lower gallery. In 2010, Josh Young of Serett Metal retooled the space as a working space for artists.
This event had massive Burning Man worthy installations, and a complete lineup of bluegrass/old-time bands, the event combined the relevancy of an indie art with the honest fun of a bluegrass festival.

The installations included a tree house and a cozy area of wooden igloos put together with chicken wire. I caught a great old time jazz band called Apocolypse 5 and Dime (pictured) which played old jazzy tunes with the tuba bumping the bass line, the fiddler player is incredibly melodic, and the horn section truly sets the band apart. Other great NYC bands that played included Yula and the Extended Family and Morgan O’Kane (photo below).

The show will be up throughout this week, with a closing party on Saturday the 15th. Saturday’s lineup brings in music – amongst others – by Melody Allegra Berger, Union Street Preservation Society. More info about the show here. – Alex Borsody

Although No Surrender is billed as an alt-rap group, there isn’t much actual rapping done on their upcoming LP “Medicine Babies.” There’s a lot of crooning, and some emphatic chanting, and some good-natured wailing, but if you’re expecting typical 16s of staccato bravado, you best pick another battle. That being said, this album is still a triumph. Its primarily electro vibe is peppered with nuances of new-wave and shoegaze. Guest appearances by Costanza Francavilla and TVOTR’s Tunde Adebimpe function as critical reinforcements to this otherwise bumpalistic mission. Building on the critical success of their first release and a headlining spot at this year’s Sonar Festival in Spain, No Surrender is in a strategic position to win the war. “Medicine Babies” will be yours in June, 2011. – BrokeMC

So, it may not be goodbye forever, but this Friday, DC’s rock quartet [velvet] will take to the Black Cat mainstage for the last time as a whole, with drummer Udi Farber returning to his home country. Formed back in 1995, “the Simpsons of indie rock” Joe Brewer (vox, guitar), Joe Calvarese (guitar, vox), Andrew Walker (bass), and Udi have built a discography of 4 albums on the label Signal to Noise, achieved a following of loyal listeners, and critical appraise for their live performances up and down the east coast and all over the DMV. Check out a recent live video of [velvet] performing this past March.

And come early to check out the DC based rock/soul band The Honeyguns (their Black Cat debut), and the epic rock sounds of The Chance. Doors @9. $10

Awaken the Bloody Valentine in you! San Fran’s Young Prisms just released a new song+video combo that’s as shoegazer as it gets. The band is kicking off their US tours with The Fresh & Onlys and Crocodiles on April 13. The band is promoting their recent release "Friends For Now", out on NYC’s Kanine Records

Here is how The Death Set crew introduced us to their new video – as we don’t get the exact meaning of this blurb we decided to opt for a quick copy and paste operation. All we know is that both song and the video are a lot of fun:

"We wanted to throw a party on our roof so we invited our friends and a bunch of party ingredients. It all worked until we made too much ruckas and apparently knocked “art” off the wall of the douche bag downstairs. Now this guy’s “art” was his “Transformers the Movie” poster and of course threatened to sue and asked if I had “music video insurance”. And of course I have insurance right? Health insurance, dental insurance, music video insurance, insurance on deez nuts and but, all of the above pffff. Just like one of the causes of the economic crisis, hell I got insurance for my insurance… Anyways so we just took the party to our tiny ass apartment and had a time. Reminds me of that game we played as kids where you spin around till you blackout. So this song is the second single off our new LP “Michel Poiccard” on Ninja Tune “We Are Going Anywhere Man."

Currently touring Europe, The Death Set will be back in NY with a show at Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, on April 29. The video was directed by Evan Wunsch.

Here in NYC most peeps covering the "scene" (us included) love to get into these weird sounding and obscure bands, as if sounding different was the only important thing for a new musical project. Well, it’s not. There’s something extremely satisfying and even refreshing in discovering a new act that plays rather traditional songs and does it exceptionally well – Ursa Minor is such act. Sounding like a marriage between Tom Petty, early Tori Amos and The Pretenders, Ursa Minor’s songs are instant pop-rock gratification with an americana twist. Michelle Casillas’ stunning, present vocals complete the picture drawing beautiful melodies and confidently playing different "roles" in different tracks. Even though the cover of Ursa Minor’s upcoming record "Showface" depicts Michelle in front of the Empire State Building, this is a record we’ll enjoy best during our next car trips getting us outta here… Check out Ursa Minor live at The Living Room on April 14, or at their CD release party at Joe’s Pub on May 24.

We keep highlighting each one of the NYC artists that made our Best of NYC Emerging Artists 2010 list.

Taurus, hailing from several musical US cities, now resides in Brooklyn where they live and breathe music together. On their EP, “Cannon Falls Forever,” unexpected twists on swelling modulations keep the ear guessing on “Born a Lion,” hypnotic guitar strums and smooth vocals come together on the peaceful “Love Would Bury You,” and, a gentle introduction on “Carolina” transforms into a swirl of reverb and distortion. Taurus plays The Deli’s “B.E.A.F. (Best Emerging Artists Fest) 2010” fest on May 27 at Spike Hill. More details about the fest will be announced soon. – Meijin Bruttomesso

 

As you may know we mostly focus on emerging NYC bands here at The Deli but… as every single music blog in the world is talking about these two releases, it’s our duty to let you know about it – although you already know about it so it’s kind of pointless. But here you go! You can stream TVOTR’s full album (which is also a film) here, and Vivian Girls’ new release here.

In Miwa Gemini‘s music we hear elements as disparate as the stylized, intense atmospheres of The Doors, Chris Garneau’s playful, whispered pop experiments, and late Tom Waits’ decadent sonic carnival. The female element of Miwa’s delicate, magical soprano defies all comparisons, contributing to a sound that’s quite unique in today’s overcrowded music scene. The NYC based artists will be releasing her third full length album, "Fantastic Lies of Grizzly Rose", on May 31, and tour the East coast in June.

Miwa Gemini – Goodnight Trail

Since releasing their self-titled debut in 2007, Boston’s The Grownup Noise have evolved into a rousing power-folk outfit who’ve shared stages with everyone from comedian Patton Owalt to fellow avant-baroque musicians like Dresden Doll Amanda Palmer and acclaimed Canadian barnstormers Rock Plaza Central. Fast forward several years and various enriching personal pursuits, and the band is finally gearing up for its playful follow up "This Time with Feeling", set for release in early May. To celebrate the release of their new record, the band will be performing a series of shows in New England and NY – the next one will be at The Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain, MA, on April 16. For other dates see here.

Hands down, Brian Hurd (aka Daddy Long Legs) is the best blues harmonica player this writer has ever seen or heard. His playing is so pummeling and soulful it just saws you in half. In this first of a multi-part video series, Brian discusses his history, and plays a stripped-down rail-riding Guthrie-esque set at Guvnor’s Vintage Thrift store in Park Slope. The series’ 2nd episode will be filmed on Thursday 04.14 at Bowery Electric, where he’ll surround himself with a full band that sounds as if it stumbled out of CBGB’s in its heyday. Most importantly, the band will allow Brian to ditch the guitar, two-hand that harp, and rip the roof clean off. Bowery Electric, 327 Bowery at 2nd St. Thursday 4/ 14 @ 9pm. – See the video and interview with Brian Hurd here.

Sonny Smith began singing while a patient at Warm Springs Foundation Hospital in Texas, to amuse the other patients. Quasi-mystical with a tendency to write about new-agey subjects such as hypnotherapy, extrasensory perception, fortune tellers, palm readers and channelers Smith has been given his own genre by the press as ‘pop supernaturalism’ – we would add "quirky" and "folky" to that description. He was released from Warm Springs in the care of his brother and wife, Ryan Browne and Tahlia Harbour who soon became his backing band. Later, at the Canyon Manor Rehabilitation Center north of San Francisco, he met Kelley Stoltz who became the Sunsets’ permanent drummer. On and off the four of them lived out of a Browne’s Toyota van for the next three years, playing with a revolving cast of musicians. They embarked on a triple album in late 2009 but a hurricane hit the coastal studio they were recording in and most of the tapes were destroyed as well as their equipment. What’s left is the record they just released: "Hit After Hit". See Sonny and the Sunsets live at The New Parish in Oakland on April 21.