Thursday, May 7, 2009

Deli Magazine Show @ Southpaw

Hello from Minneapolis, where I have just arrived to some beautiful weather (suck it New York!)! Last night I had the privilege of attending one of the Deli Magazine Best of NYC Festival shows at South Paw in Brooklyn. It was a pretty phenomenal line-up, I have to say. While I missed most of the first act, Mia Riddle, I liked the little bit that I heard. Gotta love girl-powered folk rock. I'm sad that I didn't get to see more of them, but I'm sure I'll be seeing them around.
City Song [mp3] - (iTunes)

Next up was KaiserCartel, who I am unwittingly seeing twice in 4 days in two different cities. They're the real thing. What I mean by that is that they sound just as beautiful live (if not more) than on their recordings. Those harmonies literally gave me chills. Plus they seem like really down-to-earth, cool people (for their last song they got off the stage and came into the audience to "look into our eyes"). Even completely unplugged and wandering the audience, they sounded spectacular.
Okay [mp3] - (iTunes)

After KaiserCartel was April Smith and the Great Picture Show. I was blown away by her powerful voice and I loved her playful music. It seemed to me like she really had a lot of fun writing and performing it, and her music combined all sorts of genre and time period influences - jazz, waltz, showtunes (seriously, this girl should be on Broadway, I can totally see her in Chicago or something), pop, doo-wop, and more. Plus I really like her style and she seems like a really sweet girl.

The last act I managed to catch (I wanted to stick around for Lowry but it was just too late and I had to get up super early for my flight to Minneapolis) was Elizabeth & the Catapult, who have just come out with their first full-length, label-backed album, Taller Children. On a total tangent, if you google them, their extension on CD baby is "eatcatapult," which makes me giggle. But back to the show. Elizabeth is adorable. Her smile totally lights up the room and she her voice always sounds at ease. She seemed really grateful to be there. She even baked the audience cookies (though they were gone by the time she announced this so I missed out on that... sadness...). And I love Taller Children. It really resonates with me right now, as I am entering the adult world (and dreading it). I think most people can really relate to being in this stage of life that is really a duality. The music reflects this as it alternates between youthful/playful and serious/sober/nostalgic. Check back soon for an exclusive interview with the band!

More pictures HERE.

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