Shenandoah Ableman has the rare ability to turn any genre into sexy time. Comfortable singing in front of styles ranging from German cabaret to doo wop, her quintet Shenandoah and the Night are bringing sexy back… one sultry style at a time. The band’s new self-titled debut EP showcases this sensuality with deep confidence, but the best way to really feel the heat is to see the band live. Along with Melati Malay, Electric Child, Beast Make Bomb, Yankee Bang Bang and 5 hours of other up and coming female fronted NYC emerging bands, Shenandoah and the Night will be playing as part of the Deli’s Best of NYC Fest May 28 at Spike Hill – this will also double as their EP release party. Their next show isn’t scheduled until July, so show some love and come on out. – Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)

Tuesday’s show at Mercury Lounge might be just what you need to get distracted from this unexpected, S.A.D. syndrome inducing week of dreadful weather. Project Jenny, Project Jan and Murder Mystery (pictured), two of the most unapologetically upbeat and fun NYC pop bands, will perform at the best sounding LES venue and then share a trip through the east coast for 3 dates tour. Murder Mystery will also perform at 3rd Ward’s 5th year anniversary party on May 21 at 4 pm.

Mp3: Murder Mystery – Problems

"Verisimilitude" is what Brooklyn’s Dead Leaf Echo calls their soon to be released EP of high profile remixes. Allowing other noteworthy musicians to re-imagine some of their more well know tracks, the results are creative and dynamic. The Elika mix of "Half Truth" emphasizes a sparse industrial percussion track with rising and falling background vocals, and features an added phrase at the end – “it’s calling out to me – so silent you can see – you tore apart, tore apart – you went through my heart”. “Woogathering” Mark Van Hoen remix opens sans any percussion at all, focusing on a buzzing background while lead vocals are pushed through a similarly buzzy filter. Clean, clock-meter percussion and pulsing synths create further audio motion for the listener. "Half Truth" Spry! remix rises from the misty depths as synth lines trade playfully with cut up and repeated vocal snips. "Act of Truth" Rx Gibbs falling away dub mix presents a full on wall of background vocals with driving percussion front and center. Slithery bass guitar creates an alternate motion while vocals faded in and out of the mix join with rushing synth pads. The EP will be relased on May 31st on Custom Made records, and the band play a release party at Pianos on May 19. – Dave Cromwell

It’s been a long time coming. The East Coast / West Coast / Dirty South rivalry in the hip hop game has been a tool of media sensationalism and a catalyst for violence for long enough. The time has come for the styles to merge, the characteristics defining each area code bleeding into each other generating an era of hip hop where artists are finally celebrated for their individual skill and artistry. Max Burgundy is one of these prospectors braving the new frontier. From his West-coast delivery and pronunciation you would never imagine that he was born in the Bronx and now lives in Brooklyn. However, his East-coast beats bump with a levity that sets them apart from the scores of “hard” beats prevailing in the NYC scene. He’s like the missing member of Living Legends transplanted to the birthplace of the art, his deep baritone calling out to the masses to join him in the march towards global unification. He rocked Arlene’s Grocery last week, check out his twitter profile for upcoming gigs.

Mp3: Max Burgundy – "Hey Love"

Click on the cover image (or here) to get to the pdf file – it’s The Deli’s Best of NYC issue!

This week is the week before the week of Memorial Day Weekend Vacation. So, you know what that means, right? It means you’ve totally forgotten about this week and you need plans, that’s what it means.

But fret not, loyal Deli reader. Alex Vans will be at Velvet Lounge with The Go and the Brooklyn-based, Arcade Fire-esque art rock band, My Other Friend on Tuesday, the 17th. I recognize that there were a lot of nouns in that sentence, so let’s recap:

Alex Vans
My Other Friend
The Go

Tuesday, 5/17 7:30 PM
Velvet Lounge
$8

This is going to be a great show to see in the intimacy of Velvet Lounge, so be there!

–Jarrett