A consummate blend of rock ‘n roll and psychedelia with a touch of new wave and soul, Brooklyn-based Blackbells, Ben Rice (vocals/guitar), Anthony Stella (guitar/vocals), Seth Bulkin (bass), and Austin Schumacher (drums) adopt the best of both classic and indie sounds to create a refreshing style of rock. Their self-titled, self-released EP features four tracks of great craftsmanship and quality. Ringing remnants of the British-invasion and rock standards fuse with infectious choruses, polished vocals, driving backbeats, and bluesy tinges on the freewheeling “This Is Home,” cathartic “High Healer,” seductive “Young Again,” and echoing and impassioned “Before the Flood.” Consistently producing new material, Blackbells offer a new twist on their set for each performance, and their upcoming releases and shows are sure to keep the good thing they have going, going. – Read Meiojin Bruttomesso’s interview with the band here.

Here’s the first Delicate Steve video, Featuring Dirty Projectors’ Nat Baldwin. We covered Delicate Steve a bunch of times, check out this recent Delicious Audio interview about recording his debut album.

The namesake of the garage rock/power-pop combo The Tyler Trudeau Attempt lives in Brooklyn, but to make the video for "These Are Dark Times," Trudeau and filmmaker Anthony Giordanella hung around in the post-industrial grimescape adjacent to downtown New Haven, CT, the Attempt’s ancestral hometown. "…Dark Times" is the A-side to The Tyler Trudeau Attempt’s new 7" single via February Records (also available as a digital download here). Meanwhile, "Hey Turdo!," culling 15 highlights from several years’ worth of bands led by Trudeau (including lo-fi hyper-cult fave Women’s Basketball), is available as a free download from the Attempt’s Bandcamp site. Several New York and Connecticut shows are on the horizon, including Jan. 5 at Spike Hill. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here).

Brooklyn’s Liturgy sparks an interesting debate for the ardent black metal fan to lament over; can a band who openly and wholeheartedly disregards black metal’s trademarked norms yet punishes ears with a similar array of blistering elements passed down from the genre’s elite really be considered black metal? Surely this discussion is bound to go the distance, but rest assured this fresh-faced as opposed to corpse-painted troupe will be too occupied transcending their abominable aural assault through opaque intervals of twin guitar tremolo runs to care about looking the part. Adorned with an unintelligible bestial shriek that fits the music perfectly and solidified with an octopus-esque percussive performance that whirls at breakneck velocity and never misses a beat, this collection of volatile metallic shredding gives props to Burzum, Darkthrone, and Ulver while implementing smidgens of hipster influence within its classically cacophonic crackles and bastardized buzzing to keep the haters hating and the vibe raw, yet maintain a global scope (“Track 7”) which permits an escape from their frosty forest to peruse the vast metal landscape for inspiration before making their solemn sojourn back to the wild. – Mike Sos

The seven piece Portland group AgesandAges has announced the release of their debut album, "Alright You Restless", February 15th 2011 on Knitting Factory Records. Produced by Kevin Robinson (Viva Voice, Blue Giant) at Amorelphonics in Portland in 8 days, the album was performed almost entirely live with 7 voices sung into one microphone. The result is a dream-filled interpretation of campfire pop songs. Started in early 2009 by Tim Perry, of previous Portland rock band Pseudosix, AgesandAges’ live show is a perfect combination of musicians with heartfelt talent and symbiosis interaction of vocal ability. Check them out live at Mississippi Studios on 12.03.

Formed by brothers Billy drums and Mike bass, noise rock tandem known as Unstoppable Death Machines has just released their first video, which is recommend for the non faint of heart. Yeah there is a lot of swearing here, but dudes, in our experience every single person in the world over 16 years of age swears more or less occasionaly so… hopefully none of our readers will feel offended. And if you do, blame it on the Unstoppables, not The Deli! We are nice guys!!!
The band is currently on a small tour in the east coast, New Yorkers will be able to check them out on 12.11 at Union Pool.

Sometimes you can guess a band’s sound just from their name – and "The Pink Snowflakes" is a name that screams "Psych Rock Madness" – a little bit like "The Dukes of Stratospheres". These Portland based guys’ psychedelia is reminiscent of early Flaming Lips, with an added and welcome lo-fi component. They’ll be playing at Ash Street Saloon on 12.13 – it promises to be a fun show…

Since Leo from Kanine Records is very good at finding promising emerging local bands (he discovered Grizzly Bear, Surfer Blood and Chairlift among many others), it’s always interesting to see who is playing his label’s shows. On December 3rd Kanine will celebrate the holiday season with in house, folk-punk band We Are Country Mice, ethereal psych poppers Dream Diary, celebrated indie rockers Grooms, and lo fi combo Xray Eyeballs, a band we’ve never covered before, and which sounds a little like a punkier version of Crystal Stilts, we are digging their myspace songs, so check them out.

On December 4th, current Deli Artist of the month Danny Ross headlines at the Mercury Lounge for the third time after a summer residency at Piano’s. In true DIY fashion Ross and his band go toe to toe with major label heavy weights, on the sheer support of their organically grown fan base. With its 9-piece horn section, the band will be playing to support the latest record “One Way”, an album inspired by the great conceptual albums of rock history, and which offers a pay-what-you-want pricing. Danny Ross and his band have played CMJ and SXSW, garnering them plenty of national media coverage; jump aboard and help Danny Ross ride the wave of growing press and enthusiastic fans to rock stardom! Ross Plays the Mercury Lounge this Saturday at 9pm sharp. – Alex Borsody

Deli followers should be aware by now that we are not exactly obsessed with the "classic rock" genre, but when a band is really good at something you’ve got to give them credit. Also, it must be said that the beauty of classic rock – a little bit like Motown records from the 70s – is that it creates opportunities to socialize with people who might not be into our beloved "indie" music (here we often refer to these guys as "civilians"). Well, dudes, Brooklyn’s own The Wild Deer could be the key to opening the door to that cute guy/girl who didn’t get your Dirty Projectors/Animal Collective mix tape – because they are really good at this "classic rock" thing. They are so good we can’t really pinpoint what band they sound like… it’s bluesy rock, that unfolds exactly like you expect it to, guitar solos included, but what takes it to the next level is singer Ed Fingerling’s perfect rock’n’roll voice, with his deep, husky tone somewhat reminiscent of Joe Strummer. So, the dating opportunity is for Saturday 12.04 at the Lakeside Lounge in the LES (corner of Houston and Clinton). Good Luck!

Jessica Dye and her band, Lightfoot, have recently released an aurally stunning EP titled, “People (Who Throw Kisses) Are Hopelessly Lazy.”  The title alone should be sufficient to let you know that this is an album of heartbreak; each nostalgically tinted track wavering between sadness and resentment.  Still, there’s a quality to Dye’s singing (her voice a very moving middle ground between Stevie Nicks and Jenny Lewis) that leaves you feeling just a tiny bit empowered in spite of the obvious emotional scars that are recounted within the lyrics.

Lucky for you, Lightfoot is staying busy this week!  Catch them on December 2nd at The Velvet Lounge in D.C. (DOORS 7:30PM/SHOW 9PM/21+/$8) or on December 4^th at The Point in Fells in Baltimore (9:00PM). – Jarrett

Lightfoot- Will Uncoil When from Brett Vaughn on Vimeo.

Holy wow, DC’s True Womanhood have done it again. They’ve just unveiled their latest single, "The Grey Man", an experimental journey of a track morphed through complex and intricate instrumentation. Singer/guitarist Thomas Redmond describes the creation process: "This time we ran the vocals through the malfunctioning tape delay and replaced the guitars with melotron strings and samples from an old tack piano." Mind blown.

And expect even more brilliant compositions in the near future as TW has announced a new series of music they are working on titled REEL TOO REAL. They’ve gotten their hands on a vintage reel to reel machine, and of course they will continue to blow minds with what’ll come out of that. Super excited to hear what they’ve got coming, and we’ll of course keep you posted here. –Dawn

The Grey Man by truewomanhood