Since their formation, Baltimore's Solar Temple Suicides have slowly been perfecting their own brand of drugged out, spacey haze. They preach long and tall effects-laiden, psychedelic lessons culled from ancient Yajurvedas of transformation and trial by fire, thrust from the sun to the outer edges of the universe. Their unabashed space rock tendencies and hallucinatory walls of sound drive their high volume live shows. Not fitting neatly into any extant mold, Solar Temple Suicides gather their influences together to form their own nebula.

This Saturday, STS held a release party at the Hexagon in Baltimore for their debut LP, Sentinels of the Heliosphere. It was self-recorded and produced at Studio 14 in the winter and spring of 2010, and released December 14th on Sleepy Records, with an east coast tour to follow in early 2011.

The Silver Liners of D.C. have just released a great new self-titled EP.  They currently have one song, "Runnin' Through My Head" avaiable as a free download here!  Expect tracks full of well-produced pop-rock hooks that might be the only thing that can possibly get the most annoying of the Christmas songs out of your head this holiday.  If you're in New York City celebrating the New Year, stick around and check the band out at Union Hall in Brooklyn on January 9.  If not, then stay tuned to The Deli for more show updates in 2011!  (There's a rumor about a Black Cat show in January...) - Jarrett

The Silver Liners - Just Like The Rest from The Silver Liners on Vimeo.

With the release of their debut album, MIRRORS, Washington D.C.-based U.S. Royalty delivers on capturing the volatility and explosiveness that define their live performances. Early comparisons have been made to Local Natives, The Black Keys, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, and early Kings of Leon.

"With this record we wanted to present a body of work, a complete thought," says singer John Thornley.  To achieve this, the band wrote and rewrote songs for a year, demoing and dissecting while on the road and at home.  John continues, "Because we traveled for about a year and a half before we recorded the album, there is definitely a travel vibe to the record."

In March 2010, the band teamed up with engineer Gus Oberg (The Strokes, Albert Hammond Jr., Bloc Party) and Justin Long to begin recording the album.  The band recently released the first single off the album, "Equestrian," and set a release date for the debut album, January 25th 2011.

Catch U.S. Royalty live at the 9:30 Club on Dec. 17.

Equestrian by usroyalty

 What do Baltimore's Future Islands have in common with Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Costner, and Ben Affleck? The film The Company Men, where the Future Islands have some heavily featured tracks! It'll be released nationally in theaters on Jan. 21 (though press release had stated Dec. 10), so keep your ears alert if you catch the film.

Future Islands have recently wrapped up a marathon year of touring on top of a hefty release schedule.  One full-length, an EP, and two singles later, the band is taking a brief break this holiday season to relax and start working on next year's forthcoming LP.  Expect the band to hit the road again in February!

Future Islands - In Evening Air from Beard Wizard on Vimeo.

I would imagine that Dead Mechanical would cringe to hear me describe their newest album, Addict Rhythms, as a "throwback" to 1990's era underground pop-punk.  But, when you first play this record, that's exactly what you think.  And, for me, that made me instantly excited.  However, as I listened to Addict Ryhthms a few more times, it began to take on a life outside of The Jawbreaker Era from which it may have been born.  It began to sound like this record had been crafted as if the pop-punk anthems of the 1990's had never really gone away, leaving these songs as a natural progression of the genre into the cultural realities of today.  Dead Mechanical manages to convey this feeling on a record that is well crafted and arranged, but produced low-fi enough to still carry the energy of a live show.  Their songs are catchy and melodic, but with edges that are just rough enough to let you know that they mean business.  

Their song, "Last show," depicts the final show of a band that may or may not be fictional from the perspective of an adoring fan.  The feeling of loss is expressed openly, but the song doesn't sound like a lamentation, it sounds like a celebration.  You can't help but feel like this is somehow a metaphor for an entire genre or scene of music, ending and beginning, but always filled with vigor and life.

Addict Rhythms is at its best during anthemic choruses that challenge a generation at risk of losing its identity to re-take control of their lives.  You can really feel this on "Sidewalks," a song that surrounds a lyrical portrait of voiceless and unappreciated youth with a resoundingly optimistic refrain:  "You can hit the sidewalks early," a call to arms for the weary to pick themselves up by the bootstraps and start going somewhere.

If you're in need of picking up, the first place you should head is to Traffic Street Records to pick up Addict Rhythms. -Jarrett