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Austin Issue #5 Volume #4 Spring 2015
www.thedelimagazine.com
SXSW 2015 Issue
R o g e r S e l l e rs b e s t e m e r g i n g a r t is t s / c o u p l e s i n r o c k
austin’s hidden club secrets
the deli
sonic treatsabout fromthe your everything nycmusic music scene scene
Austin Issue #5 Vol. #4 Spring 2015 thedelimag.com
Note from the Editor Well you picked this up—so it must have grabbed your attention. But what is The Deli exactly? Answer: It is a website that covers local artists in 13 music scenes, with dedicated blogs, plus a quarterly print magazine about emerging acts in NYC. Once a year, however, we publish a special SXSW edition. To do this, we draw on some of the very best bands playing at this year’s festival from the scenes we cover. Subsequently, however, we hope you’ll keep up with us online after SXSW ends, as we’re always on the lookout for new artists and releases. In other words... LMK! Brian Chidester, Editor Paolo De Gregorio Charles Newman Editor: Brian CHidester executive Editor: quang d. tran graphic designer: Kaz Yabe (www.kazyabe.com) Cover illustration: j.P. Peer (www.jpeerart.com) local editors: Jason Behrends Q.D. Tran Michelle Bacon Juan Rodriguez Terra James-Jura Jordannah Elizabeth Travis Leipzig Paul Jordan Talbot Natan Press Roxy Morrison Dan McMahon Trevor Talley Courtney Chalapenko Editor In Chief: Founder:
Ken Partridge Broke MC Ben Apatoff Kayla Hay Michael Colavita Brandy Crowe Sammie Spector Jake Saunders H.M. Kauffman Adam Smith Sam Kogon Benjamin Toledo Colette Pomerleau
Contributing Writers:
Interns:
Maylis Personnaz
Leora Mandel
The Deli Magazine is a trademark of The Deli Magazine, LLC, Brooklyn & Mother West, NYC. All contents ©2015 The Deli Magazine. All rights reserved.
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Why Music Fans Read TheDeliMag.com Unlike most major music blogs, which post the same news/tunes about the more popular bands, The Deli purposefully ignores established artists, focusing instead, with its grass roots presence in 13 North American scenes, on talented up and coming artists before they get picked up by those same sites.
Why Musicians Read TheDeliMag.com Musicians read The Deli to keep up to date with what’s happening in their scene, but also because of the opportunities The Deli gives them to play festivals like CMJ and SXSW. Thousands of musicians subscribe to The Deli’s unique charts organized by genre and region, which provide a thorough database of each music scene in the US.
For Advertisers If you are interested in being part of what The Deli does in print (in NYC and Austin) and/or online (in 13 regional scenes) please contact paolo.dg@thedelimag.com.
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A Brief Guide to the Rest of Austin By Trevor Talley
If math is a real thing, you’re either on 6th Street in Austin at SXSW right now whilst reading this, or you’re not. Them’s the facts... straight to you from your friends at The Deli. Austin, however, is a big place, which, these days, stretches far beyond the booze and vomit of the city’s main entertainment district. There are simply too many nightclubs even for us locals to see, much less anyone who is only here for a wild week in mid-March, but what the hell! Let’s give it a shot! Below are The Deli’s Top Ten off-thebeaten path clubs that we think you should check out before leaving SXSW this year.
Trailer Space
1401 RoseWood Ave. Any location that has blue underwear prominently framed to its wall, good pizza next door, and an honest-to-god Area 51 arcade cabinet amongst its many fine public offerings, must automatically make the cut. Trailer Space, though, is far more than just a spot with
Trailer Space
classic video games and the venerable East Side Pies next-door. First off, it’s a record store, and it’s also a music venue soaked in the spirit of ‘90s Austin. By that I mean that they seriously care about local music and creating an authentic experience. (They also carry VHS tapes.) The shows here too are curated, played and attended by real-deal Austin DIYheads who, well, love pizza.
The Little Longhorn Saloon
5434 Burnet Rd. Country music is good. At least old school country, which is what Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon—with its tiny church steeple—maintains in spades. On the far north side of town, this joint has been here forever, where it kinda just keeps doing its thing no matter what else is happening in the city around it. At heart, Ginny’s is an authentic Texas honky-tonk—from the Wurlitzer and mini-Christmas tree by the door, to the folks guzzling cheap beer by a rusted 1940s pickup in the back, to the giant portrait of the saloon’s namesake, set next to a sign which reads: “Ginny Says: No Fussin’, No Cussin’, No Hasslin’, No Wresslin’.” More Merle Haggard than Florida Georgia Line (and especially non-Nashville), Sundays here boast a chance at playing the most Texan game ever invented: Chicken Shit Bingo. Live chickens shit on an outsized bingo board. You win when the shit lands on just the right set of numbers. It’s the most fun you’ll ever have cheering for a live creature to poop. the deli Spring 2015 Austin
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Plush
617 Red River St Plush is the biggest secret on the most popular nightclub strip in town. And, as far as Austin’s hip-hop and EDM scene goes, Plush is homebase. The musicians that play here are very often on-par with the best in the world. The atmosphere and decorations are unpretentious and simple in the front room; there’s killer graffiti in the back; and at any given moment you’ll probably find a good half-dozen or so of Austin’s finest beatmakers improvising their little heads off somewhere in the bar.
Plush
Whip In
1950 South IH35 For a while, it seemed like every time you stepped foot in Austin’s combo beer store / bar / brewery / music venue / Indian restaurant, the whole thing was arranged differently. Whatever layout this ideal “holing up” spot chooses, its ever-rotating cast of musicians remains unpredictable in the best way imaginable. Being right off I-35, it’s not very hard to find, and the Gujarati-style Indian food—especially the chutneyslathered Whip-Indianized Nachos and Panaanis (think panini + naan bread)— makes for a low-brow raga junket, Austin-style. 10
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Vinyl
There’s a secret bar in town called Vinyl and we have to be a little careful here— the good folks that run this place don’t want it turning into a not-so-secret spot. That’s cool by us, because part of the appeal of Vinyl is in the finding out about it, which requires pushing through what looks like a wall (but is actually a false door) just off 6th Street. Step through and find yourself walking down a black hallway covered in graffiti stencils (get a close-up glimpse of local cat Jason Eatherly’s ubiquitous “queen in gas mask” design), beyond which you’ll shove a heavy curtain aside and step into a small room with a bar. Vinyl is Austin’s best place to see skilled DJs in a town full of such characters, and last time I was here, four DJs sat swapping laptops and tag-teaming the decks
Longhorn Caverns
Vinyl (Shhhhhhh)
to play each other tracks whilst gazing at Akira on a sheet duct-taped to the wall. It was, to put it plainly, the shit.
MoHA
Last time I went to the Museum of Human Achievement, the incredible Exploded Drawing electronic music collective threw a party that had a guy playing music with controlled bizarre visuals on a busted old tube TV, replete with beats by some of the weirdest emerging acts in the whole state. Booze mixed with local hibiscus soda was free with admission and an insane projection system lazer-mapped images onto 3D objects that were scattered around the performance area. This space is outright bonkers. But there’s a hitch: It’s a semi-secret venue. In fact, I might get in trouble for even mentioning it here. Because of that, we’re not going to tell you how to get there, but I will say that if you ask around you should be able to find someone who knows the way, and you should probably hang out with that person for the entire SXSW, because they know their shit. (PS, we hope you guys at MoHA can forgive this breach in etiquette for even mentioning you. We love the venue! And a list of best spots in Austin is just not complete without ye.) 12
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Marble Falls, TX Sadly for y’all out-of-towners, it doesn’t look like the Longhorn Caverns will be opening its doors during SXSW. That’s probably the right choice to be honest. Plastic pint cups and a raucous festival attitude just wouldn’t fit at what is undeniably both the Austin area’s most gorgeous and most unique venue. If you couldn’t guess from the name, Longhorn Caverns is an actual cave, stalagmites and all. And though they don’t hold shows too often, when they do, the good folks runnin’ this hollow put out chairs and wire up the space for concerts that, by all accounts, are unmissable. Bonnie Prince Billy played here not too far back; they once somehow got a grand piano down in this spot for a jazz concert too. With any luck, the spirit of primitivism will soon reveal some lost
cave paintings, then there’ll be, like, world peace.
Gruene Hall 1281 Gruene Rd
Gruene Hall
Technically, this ain’t in Austin, but it is one of the best venues in the Austinarea music scene, and the hill country is kinda one big family. How to get there? Head an hour south on I-35 and spend a day on the banks of the lazy Guadalupe River (which we Austinites use for drunk tubing purposes). Surely the jewel of this old-world Texan town is Gruene Hall, a big-ass (6000 square feet) wooden-floored room with a stage at one end and a bar. It’s been a place to boot-scoot and get boozed since 1878 (also a place for badger fights at one point in the weird past), and since those old days it’s been a spot for the very best country musicians, including legends like Lyle Lovett and the Hill Country’s native son Willie Nelson, not to mention emerging acts like Hayes Carll and Hurray for the Riff Raff.
The Vortex and Butterfly Bar
2307 Manor Rd. A classy wood-floored bar with a grand piano, Vortex is an outdoor venue with 14
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a huge lawn and chill patio where a theater company puts on locally-written plays. Sounds pretentious, but it isn’t. In fact, this hybrid venue is one of the most straightforwardly enjoyable spots in the town, and it also happens to throw together one of the better SXSW line-ups of emerging bands you’ll see all week. The patio and giant lawn are also a haven of relaxation in the middle of the city. To do anything but relax here would be very un-Dude like, and downright against the unspoken code of Austin chillness.
Badlands 1203 Chicon
Badlands
Badlands is pretty new on the bar scene, as are many in the 12th and Chicon area, but the people running this hot doggery/ bar are mostly old school Austinites. Their venue also has that OG Austin spirit running through it. Performances are exceptionally genre-inclusive— a concept Austin has always proudly embraced, with everything from folk to comedy to punk and metal. It’s become quite queer-friendly in recent times too. And the hotdogs. Oh the hotdogs! Any place you can get baked beans, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms and a fried egg on a weiner, while also listening to local music and getting drunk, is a place of unabashed quality. d
Recommended Shows in Central Venues
sam outlaw
Holy Mountain WED 3/18
Continental Club
Anthony D’Amato The Mastersons
TUE 3/17
Scott H. Biram, Luke Winslow King, Banditos , Bobby Bare, Jr. , JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, Waco Brothers
Thu 3/19
Suzy Bogguss , Kelly Willis, Dale Watson , T Bird & the Breaks
fri 3/20
WED 3/18
Lindsay Lowend & Jonah Baseball
Scott H. Biram, Waco Brothers, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound, , The Stray Birds Bobby Bare Jr.
sat 3/21
Lifted Bells, Young Statues, Self Defense Family
Thu 3/19
The Stray Birds, Chuck Prophet, Jackie Greene
fri 3/20
Chuck Prophet, Jackie greene Waco brothers
Vulcan Gas Company ,
Hotel Vegas
Parish
wed 3/18
Flash Boys, Pleasers, The Wolf, Breakout, Birdcloud , The Bad Lovers, Hidden Ritual, Dirty Fences
THU 3/19
Loteria, Ditch Witch, Dirty Fences, The Bad Lovers, Sheer Mag, Sarah Bethe Nelson 16
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tue 3/17
Gina Chavez , The Rocketboys Uncle Lucius, Pompeii, Max Frost, League of Extraordinary Gz
wed 3/18
Weyes Blood, Institute, Uniform, Noveller, Pharmakon
sat 3/21
Sego
Prinze George , Sam Outlaw , Ultimate Painting , Dear Boy , Olivver the Kid , Nova Rockafeller
Lindi Ortega, John Langford, Bill Carter
Guy Blakeslee, Celestial Shore Juan Wauters
THU 3/19 fri 3/20
sat 3/21
fri 3/20
, Quiet Life,
BØRNS, Odesza Big Data ,
THU 3/19
LOLAWOLF
, Delta Spirit
, The Districts
fri 3/20
Bee Caves , Avid Dancer, Milo Greene
sat 3/21
Julianna Barwick, Prince Rama, Turbo Fruits
,
,
ho
omeboy sandman
francisco the man
The North Door Francisco The Man , River City Extension, Kevin Devine , Dustin Kensrue , Hard Girls Ruby The Hatchet The Shrine
, Castle,
wed 3/18
Freedom Fry
THU 3/19
Ruby Jane
, Holiday Mountain
Akina Adderley & The Vintage Playboys, THE NIGHTOWLS , Con Brio , Soul Track Mind , Foot Patrol
Red Eyed Fly tue 3/17
Kay Odyssey, Shilpa Ray
Barcelona
wed 3/18
BEGINNERS , Alex Winston , Wildling, The Karma Killers , Machineheart, Talk in Tongues
THU 3/19
Northern American , MovingPanoramas, Dana Falconberry , My Jerusalem, Quiet Company , Black Pistol Fire
sat 3/21
Public Access T.V., Sick Feeling
Cheer Up Charlie’s
TUE 3/17 EPROM
WED 3/18
Taso, The Era Footwork Crew
Thu 3/19
Braille, Avalon Emerson
fri 3/20
Ezrakh, Vaneck (Fiinesse), Dougie F
Empire Control Room & Garage TUE 3/17
TUE 3/17
Bitter Birds , Sweet Spirit, Dead Leaf Echo , The Sour Notes , Population Unknown
Ruby Jane
WED 3/18
fri 3/20
Shivery Shakes
sat 3/21
,
sat 3/21
Phantoms, Ho99o9
The Dodos
, Magic Giant, ELEL
Ross Cooper, Jason Adamo Band Sean McConnell, Sam Hunt
fri 3/20
sat 3/21
THU 3/19
lolawolf
Palm Door
THU 3/19
fri 3/20
alex winston
, SPEAK, Marmalakes
THU 3/19 Grabbitz
Benedek, Brogan Bentley, Ras G, Samiyam
sat 3/21
, Deerhoof,
Bottoms, Kin4life, Butterscotch, AVAN LAVA
Brogan bentley, Benedek, Homeboy Sandman , VÉRITÉ, Cathedrals, Alex Winston, Tunji Ige, ASTR
celebrates all TuneCore Artists playing at SXSW in 2015.
A New Wave of Rock Couples Talk Love in the Spotlight and Life on the Road
Written by Kenneth Partridge / Illustration by Kaz Yabe
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Although 1994’s Speed is only the third-most enlightening Keanu Reeves film—after the first Matrix and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure—it contains at least one nugget of wisdom: “Relationships that start under intense circumstances... they never last.” The line comes via Sandra Bullock—right after she and Keanu escape a bus rigged with explosives, amidst talk of life-or-death scenarios involving bombs and freeways. But her words could just as easily apply to rock ‘n’ roll. By The Deli’s count, there’s no shortage today of emerging acts that boast romantic couples as a key element of artistic interplay. Brooklyn’s Ex Cop, Minneapolis’s Lowest Pair and Austin’s own Ume are three such bands playing SXSW this year. Brooklyn indie darlings, Porches, are perhaps the best-known “couples band” on the current club circuit, while PA’s Slingshot Dakota, Seattle’s Perfume Genius, L.A.’s Peaking Lights, Chicago’s Houses and NYC’s Blood Orange and Phantom Posse have made in-house romance wellknown to fans and critics alike. Nu-electro icon Washed Out features his wife in the live band. Done correctly, writing and performing music with other people constitutes a heavy-duty emotional investment—the artistic equivalent of doing battle with a deranged Dennis Hopper. There’s little in the
way of scientific data, but anecdotal evidence suggests that few couples are able to stay bandmates and lovers for any length of time. Rock history is littered with amorous pairs that couldn’t go the distance. There’s Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac), Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood (again, the Mac), Christine and John McVie (Mac attack, part III), Jack and Meg White (the White Stripes), John Doe and Exene Cervenka (X), Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal (No Doubt), and Stuart Murdoch and Isobel Campbell (Belle and Sebastian), to name but a few. To what extent the rigors of rock were responsible for these breakups is a question only the involved parties can answer. Still, it seems reasonable to assume that two accountants or dental hygienists have a better shot at lasting love than do a couple of crazy guitar players. Or do they? Some musicians have, in fact, beat the odds. Take Naomi Almquist and Kenny Grimm, the duo behind rising Maryland synth-pop act Prinze George. They’ve stuck with each other through major youngadult life decisions and a move to Brooklyn and back—not to mention a string of acclaimed singles, including the Hype Machine hit “Victor,” which has wracked up more than 500,000 plays. Prinze George
formed in Prince
celebrates all TuneCore Artists playing at SXSW in 2015.
George’s Country, Maryland, where Almquist and Grimm met as adolescents. The year was 2002, and Almquist, then 12, was hanging out with 16-year-old Grimm’s younger brother, Erik. Kenny apparently decided to play his guitar bare-chested on the Grimm family couch, and Almquist couldn’t help but notice. There was an instant attraction, she tells The Deli, but it was “definitely one-sided, because of the awkwardness of the age difference.” “There are massive cognitive differences,” Almquist says, “between a 12-year-old and a 16-year-old.” She notes that both had a lot of living to do and were “lucky to have been able to have experiences outside of our relationship before we got together, especially considering how long we’ve known each other.” They reconnected 10 years later, right around Christmastime. Almquist was on break from her senior year at the University of Chicago when Grimm moved back home after graduating from Boston’s Berklee School of Music. He was looking to start a band—she has a hell of a voice. Before long, Almquist opted to forego grad school in favor of making music with that shirtless strummer she’d crushed on a decade earlier. “The beginning of our creative relationship and romantic rela20
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Prinze George
Prinze George live at the Flatstock stage (Convention Ctr.) FRI 3/20, 4pm.
tionship happened simultaneously,” Almquist says. “Everything changed quickly and we both just expected everything to work out.” They moved in together immediately and never looked back. Their first collaboration came in the form of a Maryland rock band called Kin Heads. Prinze George was just a side thing—a mingling of his electro-pop compositions and her words and voice—but by the time they resolved to move to New York City, it had become their chief artistic pursuit. They say it brought them closer “We had to see it through,” she reflects, “because we knew that New York was exactly where we belonged at that time for our music.” Another band that’s achieved a
seamless integration of romantic and creative pursuits is Crushed Out—a Brooklyn roots-punk duo comprising Franklin Hoier on guitar and Moselle Spiller on drums. They’re married now, but when they started performing together in 2007, they were boyfriend and girlfriend. As Hoier tells The Deli, he never worried that playing Jack to Moselle’s Meg would lead to a White Stripes-style ending of their love affair. Now that they’re hitched, Hoier says, “not much has changed.” Their biggest troubles have to do with hassles of the music business. Marriage is “just another level of commitment.” By 2012, Crushed Out selfreleased the excellent Want to Give, and last year, they returned with a sophomore effort, Teeth— another stomping set of surfy, soulful, rockabilly-inflected ga-
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rage nuggets. Song titles include “True Love” and “Two Lovebirds,” and the lyrics are just about what you’d expect. “I feel that no matter how you try to write it will always be a bit autobiographical,” Hoier says. “I like how John Lennon said something like, ‘I write about what I know, and that’s Yoko and me.’ I like to write songs that are questions or observations rather than ‘confessional’ or message songs.” Almquist too says that being onehalf of a happy couple doesn’t trump being one-third of Prinze George, a group that also incorporates the ideas of drummer Isabelle De Leon and aims to write honest songs, without restriction. One song that is about her and Grimm is the recent single “Upswing,” a sweeping New Wave anthem that arrived in January, just before the trio hit the studio to begin work on its full-length. Lyrics such as, “When the miles extend / When I can’t pretend anymore,” play like an us-againstthe-world pledge made by two hopeful lovers, which is what it is—kind of. “‘Upswing’ is a song about the contrasts of life,” Almquist insists. “We had just gotten bedbugs in NYC—gotten totally screwed over by our roommate and by landlords. We wrote that song to remind ourselves that life is a continuum, a single movement where
Shannon Esper—leaders of the icy-cool NYC indie-pop band the Echo Friendly—know well.
the victories and defeats and inbetweens could never exist without each other.” “Sometimes, it’s us against the world,” she concludes, “and sometimes, it’s us against each other. Sometimes, it’s us-againstourselves. We are constantly prevailing in one respect and failing in another, but we keep living.” Failing, prevailing and living: Three words Jake Rabinbach and
Last May, when the band dropped its debut, the perfectly titled Love Panic, press bios described Rabinbach and Esper as an “offand-on couple.” That was easy enough to believe. Listening to “Same Mistakes,” their smoldering dream-pop ballad featured on the first season of HBO’s Girls, is akin to eavesdropping on a couple of wounded 20-something screw-ups comparing emotional scars over afternoon beers. Love Panic has nine more songs just like that. The guitars glisten one second and turn hazy and fuzzy the next, much like the emotions Rabinbach and Esper go back and forth exploring. As it turns out, the press bios weren’t lying, but they have become outdated. When the Echo Friendly came together in 2010, Rabinbach says, he and Esper
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out on the table. “I was nervous about it,” he says, “but also... I was deliberately using them to communicate with her about difficult feelings.” The gambit paid off. He and Esper made a brilliant breakup record that just might lead to an uplifting sequel. Not even the mighty Fleetwood Mac was able to pull that off.
really were “on again, off again.” They’d only known each other for a “rocky” year, having worked together on the film Open Five, and their first batch of songs—ones with titles like “Worried,” “Panic,” and “Fucking Around”—were reflections of where they were. Some of the lyrics come straight from G-Chat transcripts. But here’s the surprise ending: It all worked out, and last November, they got married.
is a unique The Echo Friendly case, though, and Rabinbach doesn’t recommend that all exes form bands together. But hearing him share his story is enough to make one question Sandra Bullock’s Speed theory of dating. “I think weathering hard emotional conflicts in any situation brings people closer together,” Rabinbach concludes. “The fact that we wanted to spend all our time together, even when we were broken up, probably helped us reach the conclusion that we wanted to spend our lives together.” d
“Guess we haven’t updated our bio yet,” Rabinbach says. So how did two people who sounded so elegantly conflicted come together in holy matrimony? It’s far too complicated a question to answer via email interview, but those miserable Love Panic songs may have helped. When Rabinbach started writing tunes for him and Esper to sing, he wanted to clear the air and get everything
The echo friendly
celebrates all TuneCore Artists playing at SXSW in 2015.
Cover Story
Austin’s Roger Sellers Puts the Primitive Back In the Modern By Brian Chidester 26
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If Western primitivism seems anachronistic, its opposite—sanity—has proven soporific. For try as we might to reform our deep fantasy with all things indigenous, its appeal as lifestyle continues to inspire, especially where artists are concerned.
form in an instant into lyrical soundscapes filled with wonder; there’s talking everywhere on the record. By this description, it should be a mess—but it isn’t. Sellers’ many influences have also begun to blur, an extraordinary feat for so young an artist.
Austin songwriter/performer Roger Sellers has titled his latest album Primitives, and just as artistic forebears like Blake, Thoreau and Gauguin, he seems to’ve found inspiration in the tribal and the arcane.
Around the same time, he began playing live the material that would eventually make up Primitives (2014). Sellers had previously worked with a revolving set of guest artists and band members, but for Primitives, he worked alone. Many of the songs, says the artist, were written and performed four and five years before the album was actually released.
“It was influenced,” says Sellers, “by simple repetitions, triple type drumming and raw emotion—not to mention I recorded all of it in my bedroom, so I wasn’t really using the best modern technology.” The album has recently caught the attention of some in the media who’ve struggled to categorize it succinctly. It also landed Sellers a spot on this year’s official SXSW bill. Originally from Houston, his earliest work was labeled “roots,” though the artist’s eponymous debut, released in 2010, bears the distinct influence of indie-folk experimenters such as Iron & Wine, Bonnie Prince Billy, and most especially, Sufjan Stevens. 17 tracks long, Sellers threw in everything but the kitchen sink.
“Waves” is its centerpiece, a pounding rhythmic number, with soaring vocals and what sounds like a chorus of marimbas. Lyrics such as, “I know there’s something else, something else/And I know that you’d be there for me,” are dreamy and optimistic, almost like an extended jingle from some recent Disney TV commercial. Yet Sellers abstracts the cheesiness so that all those feel-good clusters of chords flutter around like high poetry in a vernacular vein.
Opener “Months” starts straightforward and serene, then dips incongruously into a kind of Philip Glass-like raga, finishing with a serenely-plucked piano round straight out of the Pet Sounds playbook. Soft ocean sound-effects ease the transitions, which roll right into track two— ”Eeeeee”—a short interlude that sounds like Olivia Tremor Control, minus the barrage of sound effects.
Elsewhere, “Spectrolite” could be an ode to Wall of Sound production genius Phil Spector, but it more just sounds like Sellers, albeit with a thunderous overuse of the tympani drums. “Lates” hints at what Washed Out might sound like if he suddenly eschewed techno beats in favor of raw, unabashed sincerity. However, “there’s really no equation to it at this point,” Sellers reflects succinctly, offering little else that might help pin-down his work.
2011’s Moments album is even looser, yet strangely more refined. Melodies form quickly then fall away; instrumental interludes that threaten to go nowhere trans-
Alas, it’s us writers who need to speak when listening to the emotional atavisms of modern sound, proving once more what primitives we remain! d
Roger Sellers live at the Flatstock stage (Convention Ctr.) FRI 3/20, 5pm.
Best Emerging Artists 2015 (from Our 12 US Scenes) AUSTIN
Löwin BOSTON + NEW ENGLAND
Dark rodeo CHICAGO
zaramela 28
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Löwin’s Sara Houser is the hipster incarnation of a young Chrissie Hynde—albeit with blonde hair. Her hairsuit male trio evokes sweet Rilo Kiley-esque indie-pop with hints of alt-rock stylists Paramore. The combination shimmers on the dreamy rockers like “Lobo,” where Houser’s innocent swoon pairs perfectly with the band’s clash of guitars and tribal rhythms, showcasing the ATX scene with gravitas.
Surprise winner of New England’s year end poll, Dark Rodeo (from Boston) display a knack for intricate songcraft. One part punk, two parts math rock, and 100% ear-catching, the lyrical themes and punky sneer are matched incongruously to guitar tones often associated with roots music. The strange brew bodes well for a band destined to make headway throughout 2015.
Chicago’s Zaramela is a funk/jam collective that prides itself on producing their own records—not an easy task when you’ve got a dozen musicians involved. Bringing the party with them wherever they go, the group combines tight live performances with sheer songwriting talent, which has earned comparisons to mainstays such as Kids These Days, the Roots and Earth Wind and Fire.
About The Deli’s Poll for Emerging Artists
Each year, around this time, The Deli hosts several local polls for Emerging Local Artists. They are the result of a complex system based mainly on the opinions of a local jury comprised of professionals working with emerging bands on a daily basis. These include local venue talent buyers, music bloggers and radio hosts, plus our own Deli writers and the readers themselves. When calculated in this way, we feel confident that the magazine can continue to highlight the very best from the contemporary talent pool, just as we did with past breakout acts like Foxygen, Vampire Weekend, Local Natives, Lucius, Grizzly Bear, Chairlift, Girls, Baths and many more.
DC AREA
Typefighter KANSAS CITY
bummer LOS ANGELES
dorothy
Typefighter released “The End of Everything” in early 2014 to critical acclaim. Their tight live show also made them one of DC’s must-see bands. Combining fuzz-folk with garage-pop, the combo’s energetic, catchy songs are reminiscent of mid-’90s bands like the Rentals and Imperial Teen, whose heavily-distorted guitars melted everything into a hazedout bliss. We await Typefighter’s next move with bated breath. Kansas City’s Bummer plays a brand of primordial garage-punk that has recently gained traction in the region. 2014’s Milk EP showcases their pounding rhythms, gratifying hooks and crunchy guitar sound as resolutely as any of the band’s wild local club gigs. Bigger venues should quickly follow. (Michelle Bacon)
With jubilant choruses and footstomping riffs, L.A.’s Dorothy throws a modern twist into their classic rock stew, via powerful lead vocals that suggest the rock anthem’s best days may yet be ahead. The band have been regularly selling out local venues and large theaters—a good indication that their musical journey has only just begun. celebrates all TuneCore Artists playing at SXSW in 2015.
Best Emerging Artists 2015 (from Our 12 US Scenes) NASHVILLE
elel NYC
porches PHILADELPHIA
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Looks like 2015 is gonna be a good year for ELEL . The 8-member ensemble has an upcoming debut album on Mom + Pop Records and a host of live dates on the horizon. While the rest of us were satisfied with their infectious, world-flavored pop single “40 Watt,” the band has promised its new material will obliterate. Bring it.
Matching jangly Danelectro to his 20-something baritone voice, Aaron Maine of Porches transcends musical boundaries with deceptively simple alacrity. Pairing relatable, homespun lyrics about cigarettes and sweaty summer nights with some of the most satisfying minor to major chord changes on the indie scene, Porches have skyrocketed to artistic maturity and underground fame. (Sam Kogon)
Sheer Mag’s earthy brand of garagepunk flows effortlessly over bassthumping / drum-slapping looseness. Add catchy guitar licks that step up for raw tight solos and Christina Halladay’s feisty vocal chops and you’ve got a recipe for success. (Michael Colavita)
celebrates all TuneCore Artists playing at SXSW in 2015.
PORTLAND
The Domestics seemed to materialize out of nowhere in early 2014, having released one of the best albums in recent Portland history. It hasn’t gone unnoticed. Through and through, the band’s sweet musicality and soul-crushingly beautiful indiefolk endear them to a world fast spiraling out of control.
the domestics SAN FRANCISCO
down and outlaws TORONTO
teenage kicks
San Francisco’s Down and Outlaws boast a tense, soulful, and, above all, raw brand of garage-blues. Recalling the Doors (minus the Hammond B3) or, at times, the Misfits, the band’s “Backwards from the Dead” LP of 2014 was a practical showcase for lead singer Peter Danzig’s powerful vocals, which burst full throttle like a bat out of hell. (Jordannah Elizabeth)
Blood is thicker than water when it comes to Teenage Kicks. Over the past decade, brothers Peter and Jeff Helvoort have honed their back-tobasics rock sound via a series of EPs and 7” records. A new full length album (“Spoils of Youth”) bursts with alternative anthems like “Brooklyn Bridge” and “Shit-eater,” whose charmed aggression may finally take the rectal temperature of a long-stagnant rock scene, and prove there’s life after all. (Roxy Morrison)
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Emerging Artists 2015 I Electro
al lover
lydia ainsworth
tei shi
Photo: John Michael Fulton
Ryn Weaver - From debut track “Octahate”—which gathered over a million plays on Soundcloud—to the ethereal “Promises,” Ryn Weaver possesses a perfect balance of catchiness, lyricism and edge—the latter at least in part ascribable to the contribution of Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos. We’re happy to report that Weaver can deliver live too. Tei Shi - Tei Shi’s fall 2014 single “Bassically” is at once catchy and sensual, if less feral than her earliest work. It remains to be seen, however, if she can transfer the energy to stage performances. If so she’s got a legit shot at making the jump from internet darling to real world superstar. Genevieve - Genevieve—formerly of Company of Thieves—has reinvented herself as a solo artist equipped with vibrant red hair and an aggressive 32
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Photo
noise-pop sound not present in her former nom de plume. Keep an eye out for Genevieve’s debut EP, “Show Your Colors,” later this year.
Lydia Ainsworth - Emerging Toronto electro artist Lydia Ainsworth has an enviable musical vocabulary, touching on everything from Enyaesque vocal abstractions, to orchestral soundtracks with lush strings and clangy industrial effects. Recent album ‘‘Right from Real Part I” sees Ainsworth inching ever closer to bringing these elements into perfect harmony. Al Lover
- Anything San Franciscobased DJ/mixologist Al Lover touches turns to gold. His 2014 release, “Sacred Drugs,” is a psych-rock mixtape that weaves deep jungle and guitar shredding into something of a shamanistic trip. Warning: Once down the rabbit hole... the way back is not so easily found.
celebrates all TuneCore Artists playing at SXSW in 2015.
ryn weaver
marian hill
o: Danny Lane
Marian Hill
- Producer Jeremy Lloyd and singer Samantha Gongol befriended during theater class at Haverford Middle School. They went their separate ways for college, but soon found their way back, forming electro-soul outfit Marian Hill, whose polished debut LP “Sway” landed them a robust audience right out of the box. (H.M. Kauffman)
genevieve 2014 singles “Take Me Back.”
Keeper
- Paperwhite’s dandy brand of electro-pop conjures visions of breezy summer days in the 1980s, when pale-skinned cokeheads sat around pebbled beaches somewhere in remote Europe, and dancy but thoughtful hits accompanied them in their oblivion. Right. So then it’s no wonder that Paperwhite named one of their
- Vocal group Keeper is three Austin chicks whose collaborative efforts, in concert with a variety of ATX beatmakers, is the audio equivalent of the “eat local” movement in food. Yet it’s one thing to source sounds from the home team, quite another to end up with a unique vision; in this case, Keeper floats freely between twtichy dubstep, pop and old school R&B, blurring some of the hard lines between electropop and EDM.
TOP electro EMERGING ARTISTs
The Deli’s charts: thedelimag.com/charts
Paperwhite
1) Halsey 2) Ryn Weaver 3) Giraffage 4) RL Grime 5) Lo-Fang 6) WET 7) Maceo plex 8) Kyary Pamyu Pamyu 9) Griz 10) Dawn Golden 11) Mystery Skulls 12) Shura 13) Tei Shi 14) Hundred Waters 15) Astr 16) Great Good Fine Ok 17) Ghost Loft 18) Night Riots 19) Buscabulla 20) Tourist
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Emerging Artists 2015 I Indie Pop the parlour tricks
luke sweeney Girlpool - Girlpool’s minimalist gui-
tar/bass ditties come with a catchy twist. Sincere expressionism and tightly woven vocals give the songs their poignancy. Lyrics like, “If I told you I loved you/Would you take it the wrong way?” leave the listener with a feeling of both shared experience and emotional voyeurism. (Michael Colavita)
Wild Ones
- Wild Ones rereleased their debut album “Keep It Safe” recently on Topshelf Records. It remains a sweetly synthetic affair, perfectly suited to cross-country summer excursions and backyard pool parties alike. Slower tunes like “18 Mile Island” showcase intricate guitar solos over breezy soundscapes that befit optimistic couplets like, “Make believing is the only thing I do.” Crystalline electronic looping on tracks such as “Row” and the title track bode well for the LP’s second look-see. (Brandy Crowe)
Luke Sweeney - Luke Sweeney’s 2014 debut LP, “Adventure: Us,” is
TOP indie pop EMERGING ARTISTs
saccarine retro-pop with subtle hints of psychedelia. “Open Those Savage Eyes” rolls backwards tape loops over a late ‘60s-style Kinks stomper. Elsewhere, “Miss You” sounds like a new cut by the dormant Lilys, showcasing Sweeney’s droll humor and bristling with charm.
Parlour Tricks - NYC’s Parlour Tricks—a recent Bar/None signee—is one of those rare acts that gets better with age. And they are not that old. The band’s stylish brand of pop has in Lily Claire’s sultry vocals (and looks) a weapon of mass attraction, whilst the numerous musicians that accompany her have mastered the art of instrumental restraint, crucial to the pop genre. Alvvays
- For those feeling betrayed by Best Coast’s new Americana direction, check out Toronto’s Alvvays (two “v”s), who play a well-crafted brand of power-pop that benefits from lead singer Molly Rankin’s open melodies and slightly blue overtones. The Deli’s charts: thedelimag.com/charts
1) The Front Bottoms 2) Allah-Las 3) The Colourist 4) Coin 5) Todays Hits 6) Vancouver Sleep Clinic 7) Tropics 8) Satellite Stories 9) On an On 10) Alex G 11) Dresses 12) Into It. Over It. 13) Arkells 14) Motopony 15) Social Club 16) Honeyblood 17) Los Campesinos 18) CRUISR 19) A Great Big Pile of Leaves 20) San Fermin
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Emerging Artists 2015 I Psych Rock lazyeyes
all them witches Photo: Alysse Gafkjen
Quilt - Quilt is a new Boston act with a classically ‘60s psych sound. The band released two drastically different EPs in 2014—“Quilt in Marfa,” filled with slow-building crescendos and sudden releases, and the aptly titled “Acoustic Quilt,” which shows off their penchant for strangely intricate landscapes of sound and even weirder lyrical intonations. With one Tiny Desk Concert under their belt, Quilt seems bound to keep the buzz going in 2015. Dead Leaf Echo - Brooklyn’s Dead Leaf Echo have so thoroughly revived the ethereal atmospheres of shoegaze and ‘90s dream pop that their upcoming debut LP, “Thought and Language,” will be mixed by legendary 4AD producer John Fryer. Talk in Tongues - “Still Don’t Seem to Care,” the debut single by psychrockers Talk in Tongues, fills the senses with lysergic guitar leads, swirly vocals and tribal rhythms that both pulse and drift like a bedroom version of early ‘90s Lush. The band’s live show promises even more tantalizing atmospheres, integrating dream-pop and ‘80s new wave to equally trippy results. 36
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Live at Flatstock Stage (Conv. Ctr) on 3/20, 4:45pm
All Them Witches
- Dubbed “pshychodelta,” All Them Witches has experienced tremendous growth this year thanks to heavy touring and September’s release of second LP, “Lightning at the Door.” Their fuzzheavy sound combines grunge and prog-rock with a Southern spin that makes them the distinct product of Nashville.
Sunflower Bean - Brooklyn’s buzzworthy trio Sunflower Bean pits brightly colored psychedelia against brooding vocals, which lets their brief repertoire unfold naturally. All three members strike impressive on-stage poses too, giving Sunflower’s special brand of hippy-punk a welcome dose of sex appeal. (Jake Saunders) Julia Shapiro - Seattle’s nu-psych
sage Julia Shapiro weaves cautionary tales of boredom and over-partying to her band’s head-spinning mix of Mazzy Star-like drone and early Cure guitar glissando. Shapiro’s deep alto vocals ground Chastity Belt’s postpunk atmospherics, especially on the bleakly heartfelt “Black Sail,” whose refrain of “We are so small” gives
celebrates all TuneCore Artists playing at SXSW in 2015.
paperhaus
quilt
sunflower bean voice to all the outsiders in the world. (Adam Smith)
Paperhaus - DC’s Paperhaus is a centrifuge in the local DIY scene, helping book both local bands and national touring acts at their own house venue, called (what else?) the Paperhaus. For their first LP— released earlier this year—the band threw a party at the 9:30 Club, where they headlined an all local lineup that ended up celebrating the greater history of DC punk, as well as its druggier forebear: garage-psych. Moon Duo - Ripley Johnson (of Wooden Shjips) and Sanae Yamada’s
latest band, Moon Duo, made a big splash in the Portland psych pool with the release of 2012’s “Circles.” At its core, their music remains dark, with fuzz-driven guitar rock layered in swirling synths, soft vocals and weird electronic samples. Despite being just two, Moon Duo creates an immense world of sound.
Lazyeyes - Caught somewhere
between shoegaze and ‘80s indie, Brooklyn’s Lazyeyes recently released a new EP, the appropriately titled “New Year.” It boasts the perfect balance of Smiths-like dandyism and expansive guitar noise, and has made the band a favorite on the trippier fringes of NYC’s underground.
TOP psych rock/pop EMERGING ARTISTs
The Deli’s charts: thedelimag.com/charts
1) Alvvays 2) Moon Duo 3) Ex Cops 4) The Soft Moon 5) Nothing 6) Bleached 7) Snowmine 8) Whirr 9) Young Summer 10) Earthless 11) White Fence 12) Amen Dunes 13) Ruby the Hatchet 14) Sleepy Sun 15) HTRK 16) Morgan Delt 17) Big Black Delta 18) Creepoid 19) Sun Araw 20) Cool Ghouls
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Emerging Artists 2015 I Punk/Garage twin peaks
summer cannibals Photo: Pooneh Ghana
Heeney - Influenced by pre-mainstream grunge, Brooklyn’s Heeney has evolved an exctiting blend of grunge, post-punk and power-pop that marries tasteful melodicism to heavy-handed poetics. Look out for a debut album slated for this summer. (Paolo De Gregorio) Hundred Visions - Garage rock
should feel effortless. Guitar, drums, bass—that be it. Local trio Hundred Visions pair it down to one great big rush of scruffy guitars, distorted vocals and caveman beats. Their new cut, “You’re Gonna Cut Me Loose,” is equal parts garage stomper and trippy mess. Hi! Ho! Let’s GO!
Twin Peaks
- Twin Peaks is at the center of Chicago’s garage scene. 2014 saw them release their biggest album to date, “Wild Onion,” via Grand Jury Records. Single “I Found a New Way” showcases the four piece’s penchant for Rolling Stones-like swagger, which took them rather swiftly from small basements and dinky clubs to touring the globe.
Chandos - Boston’s Chandos released their debut LP, “Rats in Your
Bed,” in 2015. Featuring dirty guitars and tight, grizzly breakdowns—with subtle hints of math-rock—the band makes an oddly addictive musical match out of former cultural enemies. Indeed, in the age of online streaming, punk-rock and prog are never more than a click apart.
Summer
Cannibals - With remarkable consistency, Summer Cannibals’ explosive debut album was recently followed by an EP—”Make You Better”—that showcases the band’s earnest indie brand of songwriting perfectly. Repeated plays make the cold, rainy days less burdensome. (Benjamin Toledo)
Gal Pals - L.A. just got itself a big ol’ gift from the city of Austin when rocker pair Gal Pals made the jump further west. The group’s stripped-down, upenergy summer pop is a good bit punk, with added doses of bubblegum and fun. As it turns out, Cali is just the right setting for their modern beach party, which matches lazer-bright clothes to wild blasts of guitar-and-drums-andnothin’-else pop music.
TOP punk/garage EMERGING ARTISTs
The Deli’s charts: thedelimag.com/charts
1) Hanni El Khatib 2) The Menzingers 3) Screaming Females 4) Fat White Family 5) Metz 6) The Julie Ruin 7) The Coathangers 8) Chastity Belt 9) JEFF the Brotherhood 10) The Pack AD 11) Le Butcherettes 12) Protomartyr 13) Mischief Brew 14) Beach Slangabney park 15) The Eeries 16) White Reaper 17) Froth 18) Perfect Pussy 19) Polvo 20) Japanther
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Emerging Artists 2015 I Indie Rock
sun club Sego
mitski Photo: Htat Htut
- Combining psychedelic
rock, shoegaze and dubstep, Sego’s trippy blend is often intoxicating on their first EP, “Wicked Youth.” Catchy melodies and engaging lyrics, however, keep the naval-gazing in check. (Kayla Hay)
Cold Fronts - Cold Fronts have a
knack for energetic grooves. A dual guitar front alternates freely between chunky power chords and slick runs, while the tightly-connected rhythm section propels things into perpetual motion. Lyrics like “The ego is a hard thing to relax/But it’s so easy to feed” tap into youthful exuberance, making each anthem ready-made for max crowd pleasure. (Mike Colavita)
Sun Club - Baltimore’s Sun Club
released “Dad Claps at the Mom Prom” in January 2014, then hit the road for a six week national tour, culminating with a slot at the Silopanna Music Festival in Annapolis, MD, which was headlined by the Flaming Lips and Dashboard Confessional. Full of bouncy, indie fun, the LP continues to be a summer favorite for underground mavens and those who dream of warmer days ahead.
TOP indie EMERGING ARTISTs
Mitski - On her third album, “Bury Me
at Makeout Creek,” Brooklyn songwriter Mitski shows a multi-faceted talent and double-sided musicality: riot grrrl at one end—sensual crooner on the other. Poetry shines, while an instinctive, youthful angst rejects any hint of conventionality. (Paolo De Gregorio)
Francisco the Man
- Riverside (CA)’s Francisco the Man plays a particular brand of late ‘90s indie that marries catchy hooks with driving rhythmic anthems. Recalling, at times, the Libertines and Sloan, the upbeat “Progress”—Francisco’s first single from their debut LP “Loose Ends”— landed them several afternoon slots during this past summer’s festival circuit. Their future continues to look bright. (Wear shades.)
Lodro - Brooklyn trio Lodro sounds like a band with dark intentions. It doesn’t hurt that they look like a dodgy bunch of “Pulp Fiction” rejects, as well, finding inspiration in the darkest corners of retro post-punk. Alas, their two-song debut EP is easily the best imaginary B-film soundtrack we’ve heard in some time. The Deli’s charts: thedelimag.com/charts
1) Colleen Green 2) Viet Cong 3) Cherry Glazerr 4) Pity Sex 5) Bass Drum of Death 6) Mini Mansions 7) Pianos Become the Teeth 8) Soft Swells 9) Rubblebucket 10) Vessels 11) Dead Sara 12) Speedy Ortiz 13) Patterns 14) Inventions 15) Gardens and Villa 16) Adult Jazz 17) Eagulls 18) Nurses 19) Ought 20) Diamond Rugs
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Emerging Artists 2015 I Roots/Songwriters
ballroom thieves Ballroom Thieves - New England’s Ballroom Thieves bring an impressive vocal range to their classic folk-rock sound. From intimate harmonies to piercing wildman shouts, songs like 2013’s “Down By the River” are a fine representation of how, in just three minutes, a band can both shock you and caress you with robust intimacy. Blackfoot Gypsies - Nashville’s Blackfoot Gypsies have grown from a two-piece to a quartet and in the process became a garage blues behemoth. Be sure to catch them live where Matthew Paige’s lead vocals sometimes sound as if he took a huff of helium before hitting the stage. And yet... the man is the very definition of swagger. The Prettiots - Full of fun, energy, and fiery style, all-girl NYC trio the Prettiots have crossed just about every indie critic’s radar this year. Their coy brand of folk-pop blends feminist edge with a burlesque sensability due, in 40
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kevin garrett no small part, to Kay Kasperhauser’s cabaret-style ukulele and sinister grin. (Sammie Spector)
Jack + Eliza - Jack + Eliza have been chums since childhood, which goes a long way towards explaining the warmth of their two-way harmonies. The Brooklyn duo’s retro electric guitar interplay is a fine showcase for its male/female vocal blend, which recalls, at times, the delicacy of late ’60s Beach Boys balladry. Kevin Garrett - With a voice that
should only grace angels, NYC songwriter Kevin Garrett is bound to charm any sensitive soul looking for a reason to shed a tear or two. Just pick any of his sparse, soul-infused love songs and be instantly whisked away to loveland. But remember to bring a box of kleenex. Ye’ve been warned.
Ormonde - Seattle’s Ormonde are harbingers of a new era in ambient folk. Bridging beautiful tales of lost agrar-
celebrates all TuneCore Artists playing at SXSW in 2015.
the prettiots
jack + eliza ian edens with hopeful odes to a better future, singer Anna-Lynne Williams soothes each track by way of her Beth Gibbons-like delivery. On “Beach,” Robert Gomez stacks layers of reverbdrenched Rhodes piano and Farfisa organ, which sound like they’ve been salvaged from a dusty attic. Rhythmic loops pulse as modal beds of organ
and guitar whisk us away to western fantasyland. (Adam Smith)
Sam Outlaw - L.A.’s Sam Outlaw plays a gentle brand of Americana built on the classics. Yet he exudes a distinctly modern melancholia and longing via ballads that lean heavily on intimate pedal steel and female backing vocals.
TOP roots/songwriters EMERGING ARTISTs
The Deli’s charts: thedelimag.com/charts
1) Tobias Jesso Jr. 2) Kat Edmonson 3) Lady Lamb the Beekeeper 4) Jamestown Revival 5) The Unthanks 6) The Last Bison 7) Jessica Pratt 8) Steve Gunn 9) Arum Rae 10) Oh Honey 11) Ryley Walker 12) Kevin Morby 13) Mimicking Birds 14) Hiss Golden Messenger 15) Ages and Ages 16) Blake Mills 17) Neulore 18) Family and Friends 19) Andrew Combs 20) Mree
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Emerging Artists 2015 I Soul + Hip-Hop jc brooks
nova rockafeller Alex Wiley
- Alex Wiley may not look like your typical emerging star but he is one of the hottest musicians in contemporary Chicago. Recently named amongst HuffPo’s top 25 artists you need to hear in 2015, Riley’s earliest hip-hop/soul anthems recall the mellow flow of Bone Thugs and Harmony, minus the gangsta theatrics. Newer cuts are more straightforward though no less menacing.
JC Brooks - JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound nearly perfected neosoul with the firey rhythm tracks and emotionally charged lead vocals of 2011’s stunning debut “Want More.” Plumbing old school stylists from Wilson Pickett to Al Green, 2013’s “Howl” LP once more placed the Uptown Sound at the top of the critical heap. Son Little - Son Little, a.k.a. Aaron Livingston, has already worked with such accomplished artists as the Roots and rjd2. Now his rip-roaring brand of neo-soul takes center stage. “The River,” from Son’s 2014 debut EP, sim42
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alex wiley
mers with passion and sexual energy, employing an old gospely metaphor, ala the great Sam Cooke. (Mike Colavita)
Madison Ward - Madison Ward is a vocal stylist that has commanded recent attention from the indie press for his serenely soulful yet ardent and impassioned yelps. Mother Ruth Ward plays guitar effortlessly in Madison’s band, the Mama Bear, highlighting the deep family connection that comes through with each song. (Michelle Bacon) Mick Jenkins - Mick Jenkins (aka Jayson Jenkins) caught a bit of national attention in 2014 with his mixtape “The Water(s).” Therein, the emcee took the concept of H20 as the essence of life and extended it through poetic couplets that are equal parts angst and life-affirmating. Jenkins’ beats are so complex at times that it’s utterly maddening. The artist’s thought-provoking lyrics, however, keep things firmly rooted. Nova Rockafeller
of
Edmonton-born,
- The work Jamaica-raised
celebrates all TuneCore Artists playing at SXSW in 2015.
and LA-based Nova Rockafeller is as diverse as her storied pedagogy. Vacillating between hard raps and soaring pop hooks, the artist’s ever-expanding roster of collaborators includes Chest Rockwell, DJ Nobody and Justin Warfield. Rockafeller’s far-out expressionism rides an almost Bjork-like backing track on “Problem,” where she boasts, “Schizophrenic like Syd Barrett/ Long gone/Edgar Allen Hoe screaming Reynolds/I’m on 1.” (BrokeMc)
Your Old Droog - Coney Island rapper Your Old Droog takes his
moniker from the Russian word for friend. Though, of course, it’s probably best identified with Alex and his band of thugs (or “droogs”) in Stanley Kubrik’s “A Clockwork Orange.” In fact, the NYC emcee’s work is decidedly retro. But Droog overcomes easy typecasting by way of masterly rhyme patterns and sardonic wordplay. In “Porno for Pyros,” from the “Kinison” EP, Droog defies the retracters with couplets like, “Back in the line of fire/Sayin’ my style’s dated is like sayin’ wine has expired.” Cheers to that. (BrokeMc)
TOP hip-hop/alt soul/r&b EMERGING ARTISTs
The Deli’s charts: thedelimag.com/charts
1) King Louie 2) Sammy Adams 3) Until The Ribbon Breaks 4) THEESatisfaction 5) Kelela 6) Ratking 7) Open Mike Eagle 8) Rone 9) Yonas 10) Doomtree 11) Lil Reese 12) Blu. 13) Del the Funky Homosapien 14) Boombox 15) Blu and Exile 16) Darondo 17) Alice Smith 18) Patrick Sweany 19) Hail Mary Mallon 20) Nick Hakim
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Austin
Chicago
The Way Down Wanderers (alt country)
Skyline
(blues rock)
Kansas City
Los Angeles
Kangaroo Knife Fight (alt rock)
New England
Grundlefunk (funk)
Little Galaxies (indie pop)
NYC
Mermaid in China (synth pop)
the deli Spring 2015 Austin
footwerk (hip-hop/soul)
Nashville
Wings of Apollo (alt rock)
Philadelphia
Jeremy&The Harlequins
Portland
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DC Area
(revival rock)
San Francisco
David Brookings (rootsy pop)
Ben Kessle (songwriter)
Toronto
Sun K
(folk pop)
celebrates all TuneCore Artists playing at SXSW in 2015.
Toys at The Deli’s Synth Space Synth Space - March 19-21 - Austin Convention Center Toys! Who said they are just for kids? Like toys, synths are colorful, intriguing, even addictive. Or, in one word: inspiring. Here are a few of the many toys you’ll be able to see and hear at our first ever SXSW Synth Space Expo. Created with the “Less Is More” motto in mind, the Volca series consists of three separate compact analog synths (Keys, Bass and Beats), featuring Korg’s legendary big sound, minus the bulky dimensions. Volca Keys—a three-voice lead synth—borrows the filter section of the legendary miniKORG700S (1974), adding delay effect for extra sonic flourishes. On top of that, you also get a sequencer, a self-tuning function and MIDI in.
Novation Bass Station This little fella looks like a gadget synth but packs an incredible amount of goods: ten synthesizer engines (including sampled, editable drums), eight high quality effects, multiple routable LFO’s, built in sequencers, 4-track tape feature and Midi/USB connectivity. Its playful interface has the power to bring out the child in any musician. A bunch of creative, lego-style accessories that attach to its knobs allow you to create pitch 46
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Korg Volca Keys Notwithstanding its size, the Novation Bass Station II is a fully featured analog synth optimized for bass sounds, though capable of delivering much more than that. Two oscillators plus a third suboscillator, two distinct filters (“Acid” and “Classic,” designed by Christ Huggett of vintage synths Wasp and Oscar fame), and a fully analog effect section will get any sound designer’s creative juices flowing. Dedicated controls for all major parameters and pattern based step sequencer are nice extras.
Teenage Engineering OP-1 bend levers and other rudimental looking but absolutely mind-blowing effects.
Other synths you’ll find at The Deli’s Synth Space
Moog Sub Phatty
Roland System 1
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Dave Smith Instruments Mopho
Arturia Minibrute
Star Pedals at the Stompbox Exhibit Stompbox Exhibit - March 19-21 - Convention Center The Deli’s Stompbox Exhibit is the biggest expo of guitar pedals in the US (and probably the world). There will be close to 200 pedals by over 30 manufacturers at the Austin Convention Center from March 19 to March 21 (from 11 am to 6 pm). Bring your guitar and try them all in the headphones!
T-Rex Replay Box The Replay Box is a clean, straightforward, studio-like sounding delay pedal in a small enclosure. Tap tempo functionality is integrated by a switch for dotted eight and triplet options, while stereo ins and outs allow for flexible routing. Hard to believe all this fits in such a small box!
Strymon Deco
The Deco is a mad scientist of an effect, capable of tackling a whole host of vintage mid-century analog tape tones. The “Tape Saturation” switch gives you a set-it-and-forget-it, always-on tape character, while the “Doubletracker” one triggers more experimental effects. Functionality is endless, including tape chorus and flange tones that were originally created by mastermind engineers and reel-to-reel tape decks in very early recording studios.
Whirlpool The Bomb
DOD Boneshaker
Designed by Whirlpool’s owner Michael Laiacona— one of the masterminds behind the original line of MXR pedals—the Bomb is designed to tickle the front-end of your tube amp. It’s especially good with single-coils, bringing out all the little nuances and upperrange harmonic distortion, while leaving the low-end intact. This is a pedal that works well at the beginning of a chain (as an “always-on” overdrive) or at the end of a long signal path to bring out the upper frequencies.
Designed by Black Arts Toneworks, the Boneshaker is a unique distortion pedal that excels with extendedrange guitars, or bass—anything heavy, loud and low. The 3-band parametric EQ that drives its gain allows to sculpt guitar tones from the fine tuned to the insane. The Depth knob controls the overall low frequency “growl,” matching the range of your instrument. It was thought for metal players, but it might just be as inspiring for “unsubtle” experimenters. the deli Spring 2015 Austin
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The Stompbox Exhibit’s Essential Accessories Stompbox Exhibit - March 19-21, 11am - 6pm Austin Convention Center It wouldn’t be so much fun to have a few hundred guitar pedals in a room without any way to try them. This is why here at The Deli we need to thank the sponsors that provide the various tools necessary to allow the Stompbox Exhibit’s visitors to be able to actually “hear” these pedals.
Washburn Guitars & Basses
You are all invited to bring your own guitar to our exhibit, but should you fail to do so, a selection of beautiful Washburn six strings—and one bass—will be available for you. Feel free to try more than one of them! Guitars need strings and California-based Dunlop (also a pedal manufacturer) will kindly provide 100 sets of their nickel wound guitar strings—some of them to be given out for free during the exhibit. These strings offer a unique recipe of smooth highs, focused mids and defined lows, long life and a balanced string-to-string response for any style.
AKG Headphones
Dunlop Strings
Austrian manufacturer AKG makes some of the most sought after high-end studio microphones and headphones. They will be providing a pair of their K99 headphones for each one of the display pedalboards at our Stompbox Exhibit and Synth Space. The K99 provide a natural, uncolored sound, ideal for project studios.
Cables are an essential link between all the compo-
George L’s nents involved in any audio set-up, and Nashville-based Cables George L’s transparent sounding high-end guitar cables
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are the first choice of many pro guitarists. On top of that, George L’s created the first high-end cable that doesn’t require stripping or soldering, easily allowing any musician to customize its size or create it from scratch.
THE BOMB
AMERICAN BOOST! This power house of a pedal couldn’t be simpler, one knob dials your volume boost from 1 to 11, which takes you from a gentle increase in volume and gain, for those subtle acoustic solos, all the way to eleven giving you as much boost as you can handle! Give your pedal board some horsepower and you’ll never look back!
26 dB of clean American boost.
Read about pedals on delicious-audio.com!
Delay
Try all these pedals (and hundreds more) at The Deli’s Stompbopx Exhibit, hosted by the SXSW Gear Expo (Convention Center March 19-21). It’s FREE!
Red Panda Lab Raster
• Digital delay with a pitch shifter integrated into the feedback loop. • It delivers a wide range of sounds including harmonized delays, reverse delays, chorus, arpeggios, infinite descents... • Knob responses are carefully tuned for exploration of self-oscillation and feedback.
Malekko Ekko 616 Dark • Dark sounding analog delay with external modulation, an optional buffer, and internal level pot. • Creates a much heavier and muted delay sound than most traditional analog delays. • Modulation adds chorusing and vibrato options.
Fairfield Circuitry Meet Maude • A delay that imparts a dark and tape-like character to your sound. • Modulation switch applies light or heavy random wow-and-flutter effect. • Compression switch gives extra dynamic solutions.
Looper TC Electronic Ditto
• A “less is more” kind of looper, unique in its simplicity. • Intuitive, tons of fun, and doesn’t break the bank. • 5 minutes of looping time, Undo/Redo function to help build songs, unlimited overdubs.
Reverb Neunaber Wet Stereo Reverb
• Simple yet versatile, an “organic” reverb and doesn’t cover your sound. • May be re-programmed via USB with free software (PC or Mac). • Instantly switch between 4 different programmable effects (each with 2 presets) using the optional ExP Controller.
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Fuzz
Big Ear n.y.c. Woodcutter
• A recreation of a certain 308-loaded Kalamazoo classic. • Excellent low-end and clarity. • Extremely quiet.
ScreaminFX 1948 Fuzz
• Thick hand-matched germanium fuzz pedal with a custom bias. • Internal impedance matching means it works well with other pedals on the board such as wah wahs. • Maintains stage presence even when the fuzz is backed off with a buffer and internal gain booster stage.
SolidGoldFx Imperial Fuzz • A variation of the classic 4-stage muff circuits built around a fine tuned, buffer friendly JFET preamp. • 3-position toggle allows for a finer degree of control over the midrange content.
Escape Plan Psycho Andy Deluxe
• An overdrive/distortion feeding into ’60s style velcro fuzz triggered by separate footswitches. • Fuzz section features a variable scoop section.
Outlaw FIVE O’CLOCK FUZZ
Dunlop MXR Sub Machine Fuzz • Combines vintage tones from the La Machine Fuzz with a growling suboctave circuit. • The sub-octave signal can be run straight into the fuzz or alongside the fuzz for a split-channel effect.
Rainger FX Dr. Freakenstein’s Dwarf
• Extreme full-on fuzz in a mini package with built-in noise gate and Hi/Lo intensity button. • Harmonic overtones controlled by knob or unique foot-controlled pressure pad.
• A mini fuzz pedal delivering rich sustain with crisp attack and subtle compression. • Perfect for recreating ’70s style lead tones or heavy altsounds of the ’80s and ’90s.
Overdrive/Distortion
Wampler Plexi Drive
• A pedal inspired to the sound of Plexi era Marshall amps. • Active 3 band EQ, bass and bright switches allow deep tonal control and cabinet emulation. • A separate mid-focused pregain boost helps push leads into overdrive.
ProCo Fat Rat
McSystem NKM Dynamic Drive
• Gives a choice between the original or a new MOSFET clipping circuit (smoother upper midrange). • Stock/Fat switch lets you enhance the low-res frequency response. • Support 18 volts for extra headroom. • Socketed op-amp lets you switch the chip.
• Two separate level and gain knobs controlled by two footswitches. • V-Switch technology gives you access to two gain settings depending on how hard you stomp. • The other switch (Alternate) allows you to boost or cut the volume.
Hot Mods Green Meanie TS-9 Mod • Gives this classic a new EQ range, a boost in the mids, while cleaning up the low end. • “Extremist” version lets you swap the op-amp IC chip allowing customization of the pedal.
Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini • Since it inspired a million other pedals you may as well find a little spot for a mini version of the original.
Amzel Cheshire Cat
• A non-conventional analog distortion that allows a wide range of innovative adjustments. • A high-quality filter grants control over frequency and resonance. • Accent knob allows fine-tuning of attack and sustain.
Mod Kits DIY The Aggressor • A high gain distortion pedal kit for you to build. • Delivers a chunky, contemporary distortion, rich with pitch harmonics.
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Modulation
F-Pedals Phazevibe Eddie Kramer Series
• A unique, fully analog take on the phaser effect. • Through its 3 selectable modes its creates effects similar to Univibe, Wha-wha Vibe and Leslie.
Whirlwind Orange Box Phaser
MOOG MF Chorus
• A simple one knob phaser: it’s all in the chewy, transparent sound. • An improvement on the original MXR Phase 90 (with which it shares the designer).
• Flexible BBD based time modulation pedal. • Mix switch shifts it into an ultra-thick, swirling analog chorus. • Mono and stereo output modes.
Strymon OB.1
Seymour Duncan Vise Grip
Dynamics
Mooer Yellow Comp • A tiny optical compressor pedal. • Quiet, transparent, and affordable.
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• Studio quality optical compression ranging from subtle and transparent to vintage squash. • Saves space on your board by combining compressor, clean boost, and treble booster. • Integrated foot-switchable Clean, Treble and Mid boost.
• Studio-grade compressor with blend knob to add in the original signal. • Valoume knob can add as boost, and High/Full/Mid switch add color to the tone.
Pitch
Bass
T-Rex Quint Machine
• Octave up, octave down, and 5th up, each with its own volume. • Replicates organ, synth or 12-string sound.
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Eden i90 Chorus
• A chorus designed specifically for bass. • Low Cut control allows you to adjust where in your sound chorus is applied.
Darkglass Microtubes B3K
• Delivers defined and powerful saturation in an intuitive format. • Grunt Switch sets the amount of low frequency content to saturate. • Attack Switch sets the amount of treble content to saturate.