Making music is an act of devotion for Seattle’s Subaqueous, who brings the mysteries of the subconscious to light in his second full-length album "Immerge". Working with a variety of guest artists from vocalists to udu players, Subaqueous creates fluid downtempo electronica inhabited by tribal drums, deep grooves and vagrant melodies. Using gypsy scales and the blues to create an enigmatic vibe, "Immerge" evokes an inner journey through trance-inducing basslines that roll beneath a heavy beauty.

A staple of the NYC scene with his ambient collective Aarktica, Jon DeRosa – when solo – croons with a resonant bariton and raconteur draw reminiscent of a less dramatic Nick Cave. The current Brooklynite and New Jersey native will celebrate the release of his full-length solo debut “A Wolf In Preacher’s Clothes” on June 3rd at Rockwood Music Hall. Unlike in some of his previous endeavors, Jon is bringing out his finely tuned vocals, emerging more and more as a singer-songwriter with songs like “Who Decides?” – one of the album’s more upbeat fixtures. The album is marked by an orchestral pop production, where each tune explores a diverse sound structure including, alternatively, layered accordions, piano,  steel guitar, strings and horns. Stand out songs like “Teenage Goths” and “Birds of Brooklyn” will intrigue fans of Beirut.

A rounded artist who isn’t happy to stick with one formula, Jon DeRosa is somewhat of a musical enigma, taking inspiration from his diverse background and branding everything he produces with a sense of old world wisdom. – Devon Antonetti

Port St. Willow is the solo work of Brooklyn singer-songwriter Nick Principe. Even though Principe heads the band himself, Port St. Willow’s music takes on grandiosity much fuller than the lone musician. The band’s recent full- length debut “Holiday,” recorded in Portland, Oregon, where Principe was previously based, plays more like one long dream, with ambient vocal whispers and ethereal melodies bleeding into each other like one long song. Tracks like “Amawalk” and Five Give Two Five” stand out with sounds of echoes in a howling wind, both chilling and soporific. Port St. Willow is performing around New York this summer, with an upcoming show at Spike Hill in Brooklyn on June 14. – Devon Antonetti

Surely few things are more provocative, in a NYC scene dominated by the humble lo-fi attitude, than a frontman who sees himself in grandiose terms. An actual descendant of German knights, Neon Legion (the project of Phillip Kressin) approaches rock in the same serious terms as Classical music, which Phillip studied while going to school abroad in England.

While it may be hard to hear some of these ideas initially, spend some time with Kressin, and you’ll hear an ambitious take on historical events with the capacity to conjure even some of Goethe’s metaphysics (yes, I went there). The man’s take on world events is unsettling and, combined with his penchant for tense atmospheres, places this music within the tradition of the dark, angular Teutonic culture.

Neon Legion’s latest ‘La Revolución, ‘ takes on these subjects with aplomb in haunting tracks like Empire’ and ‘Time to Feed.’ See the German knight himself when he returns from his tour of Argentina. – Neon Legion submitted their music to The Deli digitally here. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets), photo by Shervin Lainez