Remants, the latest album from Cambridge/Boston’s The Living Sleep, is one of the most calming, beautiful collections of sounds I’ve heard all year. The tracks that incorporate viola and cello are the most impressive, reminding me of a more modern, less-stuffy version of chamber music--something you’ll actually want to listen to for more than twenty seconds.

The piano melodies are wonderfully arranged throughout the entire record, each played more delicately and deliberately than the last. When accompanied by the strings (ex: “The Last Serenade”), the result is a soothing composition capable of dissolving even the most stressful of days.

For updates about The Living Sleep, check out their Facebook page.

-Dan McMahon (@dmcmhn)
Photo credit: Adem Dayıoğlu

I was always told that the standard release date for music is supposed to be a Tuesday--who came up with that? And why? Anyway, I just saw an article in Rolling Stone today that said the “global standard” will now be Fridays, so this post won’t stand-out so much. In fact--I’d say this is cutting-edge. You heard it here first--The Deli New England is paving the way for Friday release coverage.
On that note,  “No Moon”, the title track (and first single) from Doug Wartman’s new album is--for lack of a more profound phrase--a beautiful piece of music. The guitar work sounds like Nick Drake if he played Explosions in the Sky--definitely a very soothing listen. I was most impressed by the “strings” that are played throughout the piece. I was surprised to learn that the cello-like sound is actually a bowed guitar, which I find very unique. This effect, coupled with well-timed dynamic shifts, adds intensity and a bit of tension to the music as well. Overall, I’d say Wartman is damn good at writing a complex piece of music and I’m excited to hear what the rest of his album sounds like.
The record comes out April 10 via Eye Design Records and will be celebrated at O’Brien’s in Allston, along with guests Ghosts of Sailors at Sea and Sand Reckoner.

For more information, check out Doug's Facebook page. Updates about the release show can be found here.
-Dan McMahon (@dmcmhn)
Album Art: Lynne Wartman

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

You know when you're at a house-show in DC, for a "DIT" festival, and you run into that special someone? That someone who plays some sort of custom-looking 6-string with flatwounds as a bass (when he's not on the pedal steel) in a band with a killer cellist? It's one of those "at first sight" things you hear about from the motion pictures. 

Ahren Buchheister isn't the only member of Pompeii Graffiti, Pony Bones (the band I saw at The Paperhaus on that glorious day), or Black Rhinoceros, but he's the common factor that binds this Annapolis supergroup, like (dare I say it?) heartstrings, together in this lovely video. Ahren himself is on lead vox and guitar. Fret not, Ahren, I dig you "not only for your music skills."

But they are, like, a huge deal. Happy Valentine's Deli readers! --Natan Press