Nashville

Sammy Stewart & HORSEFINGER at Melrose Billiards 2/10/10

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For anyone who hasn’t witnessed a Sam Stewart performance since he cut his hair, shaved off his beard and revamped his band, you missed quite the show on Wednesday night at Melrose. After a brief acoustic set by Simon Kerr, Sam was joined by his new band, Horsefinger, as they opened up the stage for the recent group, Colorfeels, and Nashville staples The Hollywood Ten and Evan P. Donohue. With the addition of Horsefinger to Stewart’s setup, old fans can tell he is already moving in a different but more intentional direction with his music. While Stewart remains on guitar, Horsefinger thickens the bluesy, folk-rock sound with Ben Ford (of the Hollywood Ten) on rhythm guitar, Clint Wilson (formerly of Darla Farmer, Max and the Wild Things and Frank the Fuck Out) on drums, and Graham Knight (the only member of Sammy’s original entourage) on bass. With an understanding of the incestuous tendency of Nashville musicians to frequently form new bands with friends who play in other bands that play together all the time, it’s surprising – and somewhat disappointing – that Stewart’s new ensemble didn’t come together sooner.

It was during songs such as "Better Off Dead" and "Windshield" where Stewart and Horsefinger definitely demonstrated the different musical influences that each of the band members contributes. There was a fairly noticeable presence of the Big-Band, deranged Darla Farmer style and the raw, intentional grooves that The Hollywood Ten always seem to slip into. "Better Off Dead" was a dark, circusy number that would have been appropriate to hear as Alice tumbled down the rabbit hole, rather than the musical accompaniment to the smokey air and smacking pool balls ever so prominent at Melrose Billiards. Few songs could enhance the character of that establishment; this one did. The next song, "Windshield", was particularly memorable because it was oddly reminiscent of Franz Ferdinand’s "Take Me Out." As it turned out, this was the audience favorite, evidenced by the girl who sprung up from her spot laying down on the pool table and then began dancing wildly. In her defense, the choppy guitar riffs and thumping kick drum, paired with Stewart’s occasional screams and broken wails, made the song pretty irresistible.

So if you weren’t there on Wednesday, check him out this February 25th at The End. With a name like HORSEFINGER, how could he disappoint? – Erin Manning

Nashville

Cheer Up Charlie Daniels New-ish Album – Live in ’79

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So Cheer Up Charlie Daniels‘ album has been out since November of ’09, which means we’re a little late in discovering it. My bad. But this album is great, and you need to listen to it. It’s as if they filled up a bag with 10 or 12 different genres of music and blindly picked them out, one by one, making a song for each selection. You can twist to "Back in Time", you can swing to "Bunsen Burner Baby Blues", or you can lounge beachside while listening to "Murray". Check out their multi-colored vinyl, titled Live in ’79, for the (somewhat) most recent music Nashville has to offer. Plus there’s a robot on the cover! – Fletcher Watson

Philadelphia

Blood Feathers Get Enchanted Under the Sea at 2424 Studio Feb. 13

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Even though we try our damndest to forget, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. This year instead of staying home alone watching bloodbath horror movies or taking your honey out to an overpriced prix fix bring yourself over to the first ever Enchantment Under the Sea dance party at 2424 Studios. That’s right, Back to the Future style baby! We can’t promise that there will be a clock tower or Delorean, but you can dance like Marty McFly to the rock ‘n roll sounds of the Blood Feathers. With their string of shows at Johnny Brenda’s over, the best thing for their 60’s and 70’s style tunes is to play at an adult prom. What more could you want from a band, Blood Feathers offers catchy harmonies and sparkley melodies that you can sing along to. So break out your 80’s gear, we know those scrunchies are still around, and come on out to Studio 2424 for a great time. Studio 2424, 2424 E. York St., 9pm, $10 Stag/$15 Couples, 21+ myspace.com/bloodfeathersrockandrollband – Meaghan McCafferty

 

 
Philadelphia

TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb Inciting Revolution at KFN Feb. 12

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Am I drunk? I mean, I don’t think I am. I may be, it’s been kind of hard to tell lately. Anyway, that’s not really the point. The point is that I should be. I’ve been listening to TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb, and man do I wish there was a saloon around. I guess my Mad Dog and player piano will have to suffice. But if I had any sense and a snowplow, I would get myself to Kung Fu Necktie tonight to check out the whiskey-soaked ramblings of TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb. This folk rock trio with their dueling guitar and banjo and blitzed-out drums create high-voltage laments like they could detonate any second. Their rustic debut EP, The Hinterlands EP, brims with energy behind Dan Bruskewicz glass-chewing growl reminiscent of Mr. Waits. I know many aspiring crooners who’ve spent years mangling themselves for a voice like that, and all they got was lung cancer. I guess if you’ve got it, you’ve just got it. The trio is rounded out by utility player Joshua Willis and Dan Martino on the skins. The bill will also include Deepak Mantena’s Junk Culture, Brooklyn’s woozy rocking The Silent League and uber-hyped blog heroes Phantogram. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 8pm, $10, 21+ myspace.com/kongandthebomb – Adam G.

 
New England

Interview with Mikey Holland of Mikey French Fries

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mikey

Mikey French Fries recently served up an enigmatic set at the Middle East Upstairs opening for Drug Rug.  The band fills the stage both literally and figuratively with an energy that the audience can’t help but find contagious.  The set was a refreshing mix of upbeat and somber tunes with elements of both pop and folk rock undertones.  Mikey Holland (Mean Creek, Movers and Shakers), frontman of the group was nice enough to sit down for a little interview. Be sure to check out his solo set at the Plough and Stars February 18.

Deli: What was your inspiration for forming Mikey French Fries?

Mikey Holland: The inspiration for starting the band is also the ideology of the band. It’s all about friends and fun. I’m so fortunate so have so many wonderfully talented friends who make time in their busy schedule to back up my little honky-tonk rock ‘n’ roll band. But the main thing is just spontaneous fun. You go to a show of ours and you will see a lot of smiling faces on stage and some "Oh shit, when did that change?" kind of looks

–Read the full interview by Sheen Dorci HERE

NYC

Deli Party with Glass Ghost, Flotilla, Naked Hearts Tonight! $10, 19+

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Don’t miss the Deli’s 21st issue party tonight at The Studio at Webster!

Glass Ghost – the band gracing our latest issue’s cover – will be headlining the bill. The Brooklyn based duo’s sparse, trippy, enigmatic and subduedly subversive sound conquered the Deli NYC editorial staff’s ears.

A slew of 5 other emerging local bands are opening, including NYC/Monteral’s Flotilla and other orchestral-ish acts like The Loom and Miracles of Modern Science. Echostream and Naked Hearts will contribute with electronic fluorishes and indie rockness respectively.

Here’s the schedule:

Doors at 7.20 – $10, 19+
7.30 The Loom
8.15 Echostream
9.00 Miracles of Modern Science
9.45 Naked Hearts
10.30 Flotilla
11.15 Glass Ghost

Webster Hall is at 125 E 11th Street in Mahnattan

P.S. Apologies for the quick flier… we are still recovering from the insane amount of work related to our Year End Polls!

Chicago

Linear Views

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Like a tortured replica of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Syllable Section present a warped and damaged brand of pop. Their debut album, Linear Views, sounds like a demonic, drug induced, ‘60’s pop binge played in reverse, or perhaps a traditional pop tune cut-up, taped back together, and then looped. What ever it is, this psychedelic mess, the listener is taken on a journey that changes them and they are never really the same.

Vocalist Mathew Marquardt makes Kevin Barnes look sane as he places his falsetto whine on tracks about “Normalcy”, loneliness, mood changes, and other craziness. You will feel like you have heard pieces of this before, but never be able to zero in on melody or rhythm. There is beauty in these tracks, but it is being repeatedly strangled to death. The Syllable Section is both traumatic and enjoyable.

Austin

Closer Look at Manikin; Show 2/13

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Manikin is one of several current bands emerging in the nascent Austin post-punk/new wave revivalist scene. Their rhythm section gravitates toward classic punk 130 bpm grooves. However, Manikin’s overall sound evokes a sense of nostalgia for late 70’s British music scene when punk had evolved to embrace a more experimental style, complex arrangements and primitive melodic elements. It’s no wonder then that frontman Alfie sites as a major influence the seminal Siouxsie & the Banshees.

After three previous albums almost entirely in a classic punk vein, Manikin’s incipient post-punk charm is displayed on their latest 2009 LP Stop the Sirens. Alfie’s effective but not affected use of telephone distortion voice effects as well as the introduction of trumpeter Bill Jeffery’s frantic brass melodies splashed like cold water across the irreverent face of songs such as "Leaders" and "Perfect Pictures" widen the style gap between 2005’s Still and last year’s Sirens. The post-punk aesthetic is rounded out by Alfie’s occasionally melodic, occasionally discordant guitar. The synthy, stuttering guitar riff on "Fumes" would sit well in any song from the Stranglers’ 1979 classic "Raven." Drummer Alyse periodically moves away from the stiff rhythmic confines of punk purity. "Perfect Pictures" serves up a fast rolling tom-snare call-and-response reminiscent of Killing Joke that props up the hollow vocal harmony between Alyse and Alfie. Manikin throw down a tight and invigorating live performance of past and current songs that fans of classic punk and early post-punk/new wave alike will enjoy.

–London Ferguson

[Ed.: You can catch Mankin this Saturday night at The Parlor, and again during SXSW at Beerland, March 17th…] 

NYC

Elastic No No Band plays Anti Folk Fest at Side Walk Cafe on 02.17

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Justin Remer and his Elastic Nono Band could be considered a little bit like the NYC Antifolk scene’s own Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention – for the unstoppable productivity, for the cluttered arrangements, for flirting with absurdity and ridiculousness, for an uncontrollable urge to mix up the genres, even for the preference for what we will call graphics with some sort of "expressionist" vibe to them. Of course you’ll find a lot more folk, country, rockabilly and silly jokes (and no jamming at all) in the Nono Band’s latest double CD entitled "Fustercluck" – an effort that succeeds once again in being funnier than Bright Eyes (this has been the band’s mission since 2004). The punk element that theoretically should belong to any antifolk artist (but which doesn’t in a majority of cases) is replaced in the Elastic Nono Band’s music by a "Weenesque" repulsion for the idea of seriously conveying feelings through music – now that’s definitely something that goes against folk music’s clichés. Mr. Renerwill play The Anti Folk festival at The Side Walk Café (the East Village AntiFolk hub that for some reason rejects our magazines 9 times out of ten – no, we’re not bitter…) on 02.17.

Philadelphia

Weekend Warrior, February 12 – 14

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If you don’t know Jack Rose, it might help to know that he had been a part of music here in Philly for well over a decade. A virtuoso on the twelve-string, his curiously Eastern-tinged folk and blues experiments have lit up the Thrill Jockey roster for quite some time now. Sadly, he passed on last year from a heart attack, much too early at the age of 38. But the only thing left to do is celebrate the man and his legacy in any way possible! In the case of the folks over at the Latvian Society, they have a huge show set up, not only as a means of commemorating his life, but also his forthcoming, posthumous album Luck in the Valley. As well as some really heavy-hitters (Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth), there’s the wispy folk stylings of Espers‘ Meg Baird, who will be joined onstage with guitarist Chris Forsythe, Megajam Booze Band, and many, many more. It’s a real event, one you’d be insane to miss. The Latvian Society of Philadelphia, 531 N. 7th Street, 7 pm, $18, 21+ myspace.com/jackrosekensington
 
Other places to go now that you can…
 
Johnny Brenda’s (1201 N. Frankford Ave.) FRI Philly Opry w/ Birdie Busch, Scott Pryor, Esposito Bandito and Sneaky Cheese, SAT Ghetto Songbird
Kung Fu Necktie (1250 N. Front St.) FRI Brown Recluse, SAT TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb
The Fire (412 W. Girard Ave.) FRI Toy Soldiers, The Great Unknown, Orbit To Leslie, The Circadian Rhythms, SAT Slo-Mo, The Hustle, Spinning Leaves, SUN A Tribute to "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" w/ Cheers Elephant, Oso, Canadian Invasion, Toy Soldiers and more.
North Star Bar (2639 Poplar St.) FRI Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, SAT Patterns

The Khyber (56 S. 2nd St.) FRI Big Terrible, SAT Welcome to My Face and 722, SUN McRad, The Boils, Necktie

M Room (12 W. Girard Ave.) SAT Biodiesel and Sonic Spank, SUN Liz Fullerton and Johnny Miles
 
Tritone (1508 South St.) SAT Sgt. Sass, Homophones

2424 Studios (2424 E. York St.) SAT Enchantment Under The Sea Dance w/ Blood Feathers

 
Philadelphia

Rumpelstiltskin Grinder Ready to Destroy at North Star Bar Feb. 12

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Living For Death, Destroying The Rest has been an epic album for old school metal revivalists Rumpelstiltskin Grinder. It helped make them the headliner of this year’s Philly Thrash Fest, and was recently named one of the top metal albums of last year by metalsucks.net. And since they just announced tour dates with the likes of DRI, Obituary, and Deceased, it looks like 2010 is shaping to be a fine year for them. But before they hit the road their going to hit North Star Bar tonight for an old school metal show that will have your head banging and your arms flailing. North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., 9pm, $10, 21+ myspace.com/rumpelstiltskingrinder – Bill McThrill