Brooklyn's Friend Roulette sounds like an indie band formed by an established and constantly high Hollywood movie soundtrack composer. The band's instrumentation ranges from your regular electric guitars and drums to strings and other instruments quite foreign to the pop tradition like bass clarinet and EWI. Their music favors not exactly uplifting atmospheres ranging from the melancholic to the downright tense, but pop melodies lie in there, between the guitar and violin drones and the clarinet arabesques. Their sound is rather unique and their live shows very enjoyable, and that's why we decided to book them for our Deli UN/OFF party in Austin next week on March 15 at Rusty's (8pm). The band has recently released the first single "Earthrise" (streaming below) from the album "I'm Sorry You Hit Your Head," out in April on Goodnight Records.
The Deli will be in Austin on March 15 with a two stage night party hosted at Austin's legendary gay bar Rusty's. Great lineup of artists and even greater list of Special Guests who will be announced shortly. See here for more info + band links!
DETAILS ABOUT THIS SHOW + STREAMING
COMPILATION OF ALL 14 BANDS HERE.
It took us a couple of weeks to come up with a title for this Deli official CMJ show. On Wednesday October 17 at The Living Room we'll have a fair amount of orchestral instruments on stage, from You Bred Raptors'? frantic cello to Cuddle Magic's gentle winds and xylophone, without forgetting the sparse piano lines ofDoe Paoro and Starlight Girls' retro flute. But even though all these instruments are borrowed from the classical tradition, all the artists on this bill have a forward looking, at times even experimental attitude. This is why in the end we settled with the label "Post-Chestral", which is a term we are happy to notice nobody used before - at least not since Google was invented! This of course implies that we are either geniuses or terrible-new-word creators...
Early that evening we'll have the noir chamber pop ofFriend Roulette , In One Wind's orchestrated experimentations, and DT Rotbot intricate post-rock. Later at night we'll be enterteined by the cinematic and atmospheric music of Industries of the Blind followed by cheerful Philadelphia based collective Dangerous Ponies. (in the picture, Cuddle Magic and You Bred Raptors).
There’s a perfectly hummable sentiment somewhere in Friend Roulette’s “Sailing Song” that keeps working its way back to the surface, but only after first progressing through all manner of uneven meter changes, brass fanfare and incidental thematic adventure. At times stepping boldly into a space usually exclusive to the imagination of score composers like Danny Elfman, the group essentially writes baroque pop pieces for an imagined Brechtian musical, casting its talented singers/songwriters Julia Tepper and Matthew Meade as the show’s unlikely protagonists. They will be performing at Bushwick's Delinquency next Friday (9.14). Meanwhile, read Mike Levine's interview with the band here.
From the moment the ear buds dock and Friend Roulette’s ‘Sailing Song’ came up; I found I was already climbing mountains and working my way across unfamiliar canyons. There’s a perfectly hummable sentiment somewhere in this song that keeps working its way back to the surface, but only after first progressing through all manner of uneven meter changes, brass fanfare and incidental thematic adventure. At times stepping boldly into a space usually exclusive to the imagination of score composers like Danny Elfman, the group essentially writes Baroque pop pieces for an imagined Brechtian musical, casting its talented singer/songwriters Julia Tepper and Matthew Meade as the show’s unlikely protagonists.
After moving through so much landscape, you might think it reasonable that you’d eventually get a good idea about how this band operates. But the more I listen to Roulette, the less sure I am of where the genre’s fault lines are drawn. And it doesn’t help that the vocals are surrounded by generous portions of airy synth playing and legato violin bowing. So I’ve concluded one should only expect to approach the band’s after-hours sound while sifting through a thick haze of fog and mystery. Like an old Noir film, Friend Roulette never gives away the plot, but the distinct pleasure of discovering their dreamy Cabaret texture is enough to keep your ears duly occupied during the journey. - Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)
This band submitted their music for review digitally here.
