Brahms (who are fortuately NOT an orchestral alt-rock band inspired by the classic German composer) might be new to the scene, but they seem to have their act together, with a series of great shows planned opening for great bands (including Telepathe, Boy Crisis, Body Language, Javelin and Lemonade!) in very cool venues (Glasslands twice, Santos and Mercury within about two months…) At a closer look we do see that Cale Parks is one of the band members – actually… at an even closer look this is exactly the same live band that plays with Cale Parks! Probably Eric Lyle Lodwick project? Anyway, it looks like these guys are getting quite a lot of buzz. Electro-pop music lovers might want to head to Glasslands on January 22 to check them out.

Hailing from varied locales, including Seoul and Reykjavik, Sunny Kim (vocals), Trevor Dunn (bass, vocals), Ches Smith (drums), Hilmar Jensson (guitar), and Erik Deutsch (keyboards) have relocated to Brooklyn to form Mad Love. The quintet bestows mad love to unconventional piano melodies, crunching guitars, and floating vocals on the dozen tracks of their recently released “White With Foam.” Striking and strong, “Absence and Noise” melts into catching bass lines which underscore the evocative interplay between Kim and Dunn’s airy voices. Howling vocals take over the metal riffs and quick tempo of “Dirty,” while “Art of Denial" settles into a grungy groove overlain by ghostly keyboards. “White With Foam” is not as light and frothy as the title would suggest, instead the cut is heavy with dark distortion and uncanny unpredictability. – Meijin Bruttomesso

The Volunteers are a Williamsburg based rock’n’roll party band that’s been around for quite some time and has entertained many NYC party people. They recently changed their name to Bones Howell + the Volunteers (which may become just Bones Howell in the future) and released a new EP with a party at Don Pedros on January 8. Their music is recommended for those who like tho rock in a light hearted kind of way. Enjoy this fun video from some time ago. 

It doesn’t happen very often that a NON all star band plays its first show in a sold out Bowery Ballroom. This is the case of Cavemen, a brand new musical project born from two members of Brooklyn band The Subjects. However, we can’t really say that they sold out the Bowery, as on January 24 they are opening for Glass Ghost and White Rabbits… but still, this could be well interpreted as a sign from God! The band’s sound, reminiscent of a more psychedelic version of Bell and Sebastian or The Shins, definitely has appeal and potential. Simple song with beautiful melodies – that’s really all you need sometimes. Check out these guys’ demo here.

P.S. By the way, we have our own name for this kind of music here at The Deli: we call it "Mellow Core". Here’s a list of the Best Mellow Core Artists in NYC.

Raised in Branson, MO and Louisville, KY, Dawn Landes is a Brooklyn Resident with a playful approach to rootsy music. Her third full-length album will be available January 19 on Cooking Vinyl. In support of the album’s U.K. release, Landes recently completed European tours with Okkervil River and Elvis Perkins. Don’t Miss the January 22 show at the Mercury Lounge.

Destiny and Autry from Midnight Masses met while living in Atlanta, where they started a band called Shock Cinema. Destiny and Autry knew Miyuki from when he toured with his old band The’ Rogers Sisters. They knew Danny and Jason from Trail Of Dead, and reconnected’ with them when Destiny and Autry moved to New York. Destiny met Eric through his’ roommate who was in Dragons of Zynth. They all met through bands or in bars. – Read Gina Alioto’s interview with the band here.

New York City’s most revered art collective centered around a man by the name of Andy Warhol. Set in a drug-infused laboratory — his 1960s dream studio The Factory — and culminating in the Exploding Plastic Inevitable multimedia events, Warhol and his ilk transformed the subcultural landscape in ways still difficult to comprehend. But if Warhol was the general of this amphetamine army, his front line soldiers were The Velvet Underground and Nico. – Read Joe Coscarelli’s article about Indie Rock and Contemporary art in NYC here. – In the picture, Titus Andronicus at the Whitney Museum (from brooklynvegan, photo by Leia Jospe)

If dreamy Alt-Folk (as we call it) and rabbit ears are your cup of tea, you’ll have to go to Cameo Gallery in Williamsburg on January 22 to check out Sticklips, led by a smooth voiced young lady who goes under the pseudonym Little Girl Blue. The band’s sound blends acoustic, sometimes jazzy lullabies a la Suzanne Vega with dreamy atmospheric background noises. Exactly what we need after two stressfull days spent dealing with the chaos generated by our server giving up on us. If you go to the show, please DEMAND the rabbit ears, they are like part of the package at this point.

Brooklyn’s Cruel Black Dove mash shoegazer, goth and industrial influences into a personal, sultry indie rock sound. The band – around since 2007 – will release their sophomore EP "The Myth and the Sum" with a show at Mercury on 01.14. Beginning in 2010, the band is planning more dates nationally and internationally in support of the release.

Boy Genius will release a new version of their single "Blame Love" (featured in the upcoming new album "Staggering") on January 26, 2010, via Greenpop Recordings – you can preview it here. Brooklyn Vegan said about their music: "Boy Genius are definitely within the indiepop realm but not too sugary, not too precious, relying on well-crafted melodies and gentle, mostly-acoustic instrumentation to carry the songs…Boy Genius deserve more attention than they’ve gotten, hopefully that will come soon." Boy Genius also announced dates for a Eest Coast tour mostly happening between the end of January and the Beginning of February. You can catch them live at Fort Useless in Brooklyn on 01.09.

Deli Readers,

The Year End Polls are bringing in a lot of traffic and our server provider doesn’t like that – they suspended our account for a few hours because of eccessive load on their server’s CPU. We tweaked the site’s settings on our end and hopefully we won’t have this problem again.

Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience!

Paolo
www.thedelimagazine.com

Democracy loving peoples,

The last phase of our exhausting Year End Best of NYC vote has begun – each one of you can now let us know what their favorite emerging NYC band of 2009 is. Don’t miss this opportunity to change the world! – Hey, maybe this year for the first time an African American artist will win our contest???

VOTE HERE!
***Poll closes on January 15***
 

As you should all know by now, the winner of the Composite Chart (the one including votes from Jury, Deli Writers and Deli Readers) will get the cover of The Deli’s Spring issue + prizes from our sponsors including free studio and mastering time, audio plug ins, music store vouchers, musical instrument insurance etc.

The 2nd and 3rd artists will also be rewarded with a smaller picture on that issue’s cover + some prizes from our sponsors. All bands in the list on the right will get a writeup in that issue as well.

But what about the Readers’ Polls winners? There you go:

POOL OF PRIZES FOR THE TOP 3 BANDS IN THE READERS’ POLL

1. 12 hours of free recording studio
2. 6 free mastered songs
3. 4 Audio Plug Ins
4. $150 in vouchers for local Guitar Store
5. Full print feature on The Deli (winner only)
6. Artist of the Month Banner on The Deli’s website for 2 weeks (winner only)

Have fun!

The Deli’s Staff