We often say that for bands to last there needs to be a strong bonds between band mates, and The Echo Friendly is a peculiar example in this regard: a break up didn’t prevent Jake Rabinbach (guitar, vocals) and Shannon Esper (vocals) from keeping making music together, and the result is an album that chronicles this complex relationship, where attraction, musical chemestry and relationship troubles team up to create what we can only imagine being a rather messy situation. These guys should be asked to write the soundtrack for HBO’s TV series "Girls" – wait a minute, that actually happened already! Rarely music is created without struggle, and accepting this as part of the creative process is one of the secrets of creative longevity – and maybe also protracted love and/or friendship. Check out The Echo Friendly’s latest single "Fuck it and Whatever" and see them live at Glasslands on 11.21.

Post-punk is back in full force nowadays, and Brooklyn trio The Black Black – with their muscular, driving, dark, and relentless sound – offer a rather uncompromising version of it.  They released their debut album ‘Boogie Nights’ yesterday (11.11) and in support of it, they’re playing a record release show at Cake Shop tomorrow (11.13).  Money Fire Records label mates Low Fat Getting High (punky-ish as well, but in a more 90s kind of way) will also celebrate the release of their self-titled LP. On he bill also Dead Stars and Seattle’s Iska Dhaaf. Listen to TBB’s new album’s single ‘Until Death Do Us Party’ below.  It’s a bass-driven, energetic, punk rock teleport to the late 1970s when post-punk really exploded. They’re not wildly experimental, but rather straight and to the point. After all, isn’t that how punk rock should be? – Michael Haskoor (@Tweetskoor)

We added these songs to The Deli’s playlist of Best punk rock/slacker rock songs by emerging NYC artists – check it out!

We became acquainted with one girl band Idgy Dean (aka Lindsay Sanwald) a few years ago, when she played our NYC B.E.A.F. (Best of Emerging Artists Fest) at now defunct venue Public Assembly. We now realize Lindsay doesn’t actually belong here in NYC. Her new single "The Indian Squirrel Dance," from the full length "Ominous Harminous, scheduled for a January release, is an edgy, tribal track drenched in desert rock aesthetics and featuring weird religious chanting – not exactly your typical NYC music features. But it’s the song’s video that erases any doubts regarding the fact that Idgy Dean should live a nomadic life, far from the city’s anguishing buildings, like some kind of sensual, musical animal, that reveals itself to curious fans at will, semi-naked, and then disappears mysteriously after a song or two. She sure looks comfortable in that environment, and her music perfectly works in it. She’d just have to figure out where to plug her guitar amp… Don’t miss her at Brooklyn Bazaar when she opens for Javelin.

Quite surprisingly, in the last decade Soul music has become one of the most experimented genres in NYC and beyond. Snubbed by most of the creative musicians for decades, Soul is now, probably for the first time, something that’s not immediately associated with mainstream. Raised in London and currently based in NYC, Oyinda is an emerging Nigerian soul singer songwriter and producer who is pushing the genre’s envelop in a very personal, dark, borderline experimental direction. Single "What Still Remains" (streaming) features a sparse but bold production, where buzzy, at times distorted synths challenge her impressive vocals in volume, building a moody atmosphere that defies the genre’s redemptive tendencies. Don’t miss her show at Baby’s All Right on Saturday 11.15 with Tei Shi and Yumi Zouma.