Seattle-based outfit, Night Beats, will kick of the last leg of a North American tour – bookended by appearances in Austin – on March 14. The band's first performance at this year’s SXSW will be a homecoming of sorts. Its two founding members, lead singer Danny Lee Blackwell and drummer James Traeger (from Dallas and Austin, respectively) will be returning to their home state for the event. The progressive R&B act, a trio since the addition of bassist Tarek Wegner, have been furnishing the Seattle scene with their perplexing brand of garage-soul since 2009. Their self-titled, full-length debut is characterized by undulating bass lines, underscored by scratching, squealing guitar and alternately trembling and deafening vocals. Released last June, the album features textured and psychedelically informed instrumentation, interspersed by Blackwell’s yelps and howls, and his single, twangy guitar is reminiscent of Trouble in Mind label-mate Ty Segall’s lo-fi surf rock. The result is a resurrection of the ghosts of psyche bands past that transcends the decades since the ‘60s as effectively as any other contemporary revivalists. Night Beats will wrap up a 40-date stretch at the Austin Psych Festival on April 27.
The Deli for the second year will be in Austin during the unmentionable festival (we probably could mention it in this context, but at this point we really don't want to...) with a printed magazine!
The issue will be mostly focused on the best unofficial shows and The Deli's favorite emerging artists in the 11 scenes we cover.
The SXSW-bound Craft Spells will be partnering up with Brooklyn-based indie pop band, the Drums, for a spring tour. Shamelessly retro and unabashedly catchy, the Seattle-based band has produced a full-length album and two EPs of buoyant pop tunes as indebted to Morrissey’s melancholia as they are to the synth-happy songsmiths that they so resemble. Craft Spells pair lighthearted and nostalgic instrumentation with frontman Justin Vallesteros’ whispery utterances, and the combination makes for dreamy soundscapes reminiscent of Vallesteros’ native California. Their first full-length album, Idle Labor, captures the dichotomy in 11 tracks. “Party Talk“ walks the line between dreamy and visceral, with airy melodies and hauntingly morose vocals squaring off against toe-tapping synthetic beats and decidedly party-ready guitar lines. Originally a one-man project, the addition of Jack Doyle Smith, Peter Michel and Javier Suarez adds layers of pulsing rhythms and humming guitars. Stoked by effusive online coverage and approval, the band’s success has taken them overseas on international tours, moving from bedroom recording sessions to headlining slots in a matter just a few years.After six appearances at the Austin festival, the latest Deli Band of the Month will kick off a 19-date tour on April 21 that will take them across the U.S. and Canada. Craft Spells will wrap the tour at this year's Sasquatch! Music Festival in George, WA.
This year The Deli is in Austin during the unmentionable festival with a 2 stage party onThursday March 15 (that's tonight!)at the Gypsy Lounge in the East Side!
Awesome dancey bands on the outdoors stage will tempt the audience to some wild booty shakin' action, while indoors fantastic rock and alt folk acts will alternatively punch you and sooth your soul. Check this lineup out and (if you are going to be in Austin) do not miss! -
This is a free event (no badge required) but please RSVP here to get priority access.
After two EPs, both released in 2009, Seattle sextet Sweet Secrets saw their first full-length album hit the shelves of local record stores back in December. The 12-track deep Color Force is a collection of easy-to-digest indie pop tunes that often hint at an underlying, folky sensibility. Standout numbers include the understated, but stirring opener, “Air Travel”, and slow-burning foot-tapper “Pinhole Camera”, both of which have been getting spins on KEXP. The record is accessible, without being conventional – a testament to Sweet Secrets’ ability to craft songs that are at once appealing to the masses, while maintaining every bit of credibility they’ve accrued since their formation in 2008. Frontman Roger Lloyd’s voice anchors tracks like “Evidence of Good Times”, with Eleni Romano’s pristine backing vocals and Corrina MacFarlane’s subtle violin accenting a rich bed of instrumentation. The band markets themselves as the purveyors of music for smart, sexy individuals, and for the most part, this album delivers the goods. Sweet Secrets will be playing a benefit concert for Planned Parenthood at the Sunset Tavern this Sunday, along with former Deli band of the month, NoRey, and the Volcano Diary.
Seattle natives Us on Roofs, the Cat From Hue, and the Mission Orange will take the stage at The Crocodile on Feb. 29 for an all ages show. The evening should end the month on a high note, promising a danceable combination of shoegaze and psych rock to get fans young and not-quite-as-young moving to some yet to be released tunes. Hey, it's not every year you get 366 days to party – why not spend the extra night taking in some local favorites?
On their upcoming 7” EP KILL KILL KILL, Vacant Fever offer up electro-psych tunes with as much thrust and raw energy as any dance floor- or house party-tested albums out there. Due for release on March 6, its throbbing bass and gritty, fuzz-heavy guitarplay offer the ideal backdrop for a symphony of breathy vocals and Bolan-esque sighs. Striking somewhere between Silversun Pickups and the Rapture’s dance punk, the duo of Daniel Michael Miller and Leon Spinx deal in simple but infectious melodies that sound at once firmly grounded in a postmodern reality, and like a transmission from another planet. Despite the buzzing modernity and detachment that some of the EP’s five tracks might suggest, their authors say “inside all of us, a fire still burns, and intimacy is incredibly alive” – reason enough to get to know Vacant Fever better.
Amid shaky reverberations, melancholy crooning and eerie whistles, Bill Campbell, or Thee Midnight Creep, delivers his signature gothically-inflected gospel on his latest release. I Lie Like a Dog at Your Feet is an album that can stand up to the works of the great shiver-inducing wordsmiths; Campbell’s brand of woozy folk is as macabre as any Edgar Allan Poe creation. Minimalist auto-harp accompaniment allows his stirring vocals, suggestive of a soul tormented, to take listeners hostage in a world of brocade, gnarled trees and perpetual dusk. The aptly named opener “Codeine” pairs heady instrumentation with woebegone lyrics that sound like they were uttered in a long empty hallway. The song, and the album, act as an auditory narcotic – hypnotic, calming and, ultimately, hard to let go. But don’t take our word for it – Thee Midnight Creep will be performing live on KEXP at 8 p.m. on February 18.
Chicago results HERE.
DC Area results HERE.
Nashville results HERE.
New England results HERE.
NYC results HERE.
Philly results HERE.
Portland results HERE.
SF Bay Area results HERE.
