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Deli Sneak Peak: Squirrel Flower

Singer-Songwriter Ella Williams, under the moniker Squirrel Flower, is releasing a new album Early Winter Songs for Middle America this Saturday 3/21. She was kind enough to give us a little sneak peak of the album, filled with tastefully short and dreamy songs. Early Winter Songs is a clear and deliberate portrait of Williams’ time in Iowa while attending Grinnell College, before returning to Massachusetts. It sounds damn cold there, I’ll just leave it at that. Mostly a solo electric guitar and her voice, Williams mixes in sparse field recordings that allude to the stark setting that inspired these songs. Lyrically, her style is poigniantly honest and authentic, never cluttering the meaning with strained analogies, just honest observations. It’s an impressive debut, and we’re thrilled that she’s back around Boston. Check out the haunting mostly a'capella track “I Won’t Walk Inside,”  it vividly illustrates the setting that inspired these songs.  You can also stream the charming tune "What Was That," or download the album here after 3/21.  - Paul Jordan Talbot




Dr. Neanderthal Celebrates Women's Day With An Experimental Cover of Annie Lennox's "No More I Love You's"

 

"I always like it when a male artist covers female songs and female artists cover male songs, it's always fun" says Chang Won Chang, known by his musical moniker Dr. Neanderthal. Just a month after dropping his sophomore EP, Dr. Neanderthal is back to honor women around the world. Reconstructing "No More I Love You's" bright 90's pop ballad for a hushed and abstract take. With echoes and falsettos included, the doctor has made the track all his own.

On Choosing "No More I Love You's:" I guess I covered the song because I always loved the song and always wanted to cover it.

On His Sophomore EP "Body:" I felt like this was the first EP where I used a lot more instruments, like the human body... there's less computing.

The Sound of "Body:"  It sounds like bodies of water, mountains...very earthy, like rocks and dirt. Like visiting Patagonia.

Fave Track: "We Are Stardust." It was inspired by scientist Carl Sagan. He said we are all made of stardust - like from the cosmic bang. So I wanted it to sound like stars.

On Self-Indulgence: I also really like "Where Do Our Bodies Go." It's a bit self-indulgent (laughs) but I do like a three minute guitar solo, so it's cool. (laughs)

Check out Dr. Neanderthal's "No More I Love Yous" Cover and EP "Body" below. --Sade A Spence

 





Deli Premier: Diana DeMuth's "Albuquerque" Sneak Peak

A product of woody Concord, MA, Diana DeMuth’s dark voice croons over funky but varied instrumentals on her new track “Act like a Stranger.” With both a voice and lyrical wisdom that sound beyond her years, DeMuth’s new record is packed with the classic themes of a young songwriter; the joys of love, traveling, the pains of love, traveling again, and the ever poignant nod to your home town. “Act Like a Stranger” breaks away from the mostly acoustic record “Albuquerque” with an energetic percussion intro and bright back up vocals out of some early 60’s pop tune. She’s already a force to be reckoned with solo, but Alain Mallet’s production props her up while never out-shining that voice. Some singers blow your hair back with their power, but I prefer those like DeMuth, smoothly pulling you in for a closer listen. Her new album Albuquerque will be coming out later this month on March 17th, be sure to keep an ear out for it. - Paul Jordan Talbot

Photo by Chris Macken





Modern Melancholy with Caterwaulrus

If his music is anything to go by, Caterwaulrus is probably a nice dude to kick it with. He seems like he could be the kind that'd show up to a hang with some flowers he picked on his walk over, just for you, but who'd also be willing to tell you that he feels a bit weird about killing something pretty. That feeling of sunshine and good days with an underlying soft gloom just drips from the sound on songwriter's newest album, the just-released "Songs that Go Nowhere." That title is a bit misleading, but also a bit of the truth- these songs do float around like gentle clouds, but they're also dense and complex and there's nothing ambiguous about the way they hone in on their target tone. The album is laced with looping vocals all reverb-ed out to blissfulness, little electronic touches and pieces of beats, all of which melds together with no element ever threatening to overwhelm the rest of the track. And, despite the expansive warmth and haze in the sound, the sounds collectively bely the underlying subject of the tracks on the album, which almost all speak of Caterwaulrus' melancholy. Lyrics like "I'm so fucking picky and I over think god damn everything," or "I'm a synesthetic skeptic slowly snoozing with regret, it's not quite what mom expected" reveal a mind that is a bit worried and not always happy with itself, though it'd like to be, and that thought tunnels through the whole album. But, it's delivered in such a poppy (albeit highly experimental pop), major-key fashion, buried deep within the summer smile that is the overriding tone, that you barely notice that these aren't songs about having a good day at all. It's a modern feeling buried in a modern sound, and if you have enjoyed artists like Toro y Moi in the recent past, you might find Caterwaulrus a good fit for your modern moods. Give it a go below, and float through your own contemporary, confusing life with a friend in your ear who understands.





New Walking Sticks video for "You Got What You Wanted"

The Walking Sticks give us what we want (I had to), premiering a new video for "You Got What You Wanted" on DCist today. Made on an iphone, it features what looks to be a single shot walk through a snow-covered wood with the snow falling. The creative minds of The Walking Sticks have managed to turn the otherwise dreary and upsetting weather into something beautiful and mystical. Thank you.

The song itself is pretty sexy. Like Portishead sexy, where the sex is kind of angry/frustrated/despairing sex (because, in this case, it seems, the sex is too addictive to escape). The music does not share the sexy gloom of a "Wandering Star" however. A beautiful organ leads the pretty sounds that fall about it like soft white snowflakes. The track, like the video, is filled with brightness, and Chelsea Lee's crystal voice. "Can't stop loving the high" indeed. --Natan Press

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