Baltimore Raindeer‘s latest EP ‘You Look Smashing‘ (released this past January) is a truly original and quirky work of lighthearted indie pop with influences ranging from 60’s psychedelia to dream pop, filtered through a very personal musical lens. Recently the band has landed a series of festival gigs, including one at Scapescape this past weekend and at NYC’s Northside Fest tomorrow (06.11). Check out single "This is Rock’n’Roll," which is not really Rock’n’Roll, but it’s nonetheless a lot of fun.

We love it when we stumble upon completely unknown artists with some truly beautiful music (and videos) – that’s what The Deli is here for! Norwegian artist OKAY KAYA (now based in NYC) hit the ground running earlier this year when she released this truly touching video for single ‘Damn, Gravity’ (produced by Rodaidh McDonald of The xx fame), and, shortly later, toured the US in support of Tobias Jesso Jr. The Scandinavian songwriter has three songs up on her Soundcloud page, all featuring a very sparse, drumless dream folk sound. She’ll be performing at this year’s Northside festival with a show at Cameo opening for Deli favorites Fort Lean and Caveman, tomorrow June 11.

We added this song to The Deli’s playlist of Best mellow songs by emerging NYC artists – check it out!

NYC’s Vaughn PM follows Kendrick Lamar’s example and makes a party track about substance abuse with "Don’t Fail Us / The Stories." In the video, art imitates life when what starts out as a regular party with drinking games and good times devolves into a fatal zombie encounter. After Vaugh vomits up a cavalcade of polaroids, the pace of the track and the video shifts gears and he spirals down the dark well of his past. He raps, “I know you always slippin on the details, truth be told, time slips when you gettin refills.” We’ve all been there. His art captures the feeling well.

This artist submitted music for coverage here.

Active since the late aughts, indie collective Ava Luna precipitated NYC’s soul revival of the 2010s. From that hub of DIY creativity that is Bushwick’s Silent Barn, the band’s fourth LP, Infinite House, continues their homage to variety and experimentation. Atonal guitars undulate behind doo-wop harmonies to form an audio puzzle so mesmerizingly inconceivable that it borders on the sublime. With five uncompromisingly forward-thinking albums and a Deli cover of under their belts, Ava Luna has become an absolute pillar of the Brooklyn underground. The band’s drummer Julien Fader recently sat down to answer a few questions in our Delicious Audio interview (link below). By the way, if you are in the mood for some good live music, you can catch them tonight (06.09) at Aviv.

LINK: Interview with Ava Luna about gear and the creative process.

Saturday opened with an overcast morning that blossomed into balmy summer weather for downtown Pasadena — with an expected turnout of over 50,000 the conditions were perfect for this year’s Make Music Festival. Parking was ample and spread out: structures capped event parking at $20, and streetsmart locals snagged meters on Raymond Ave. and others. Food and drink were plenty with specialty trucks lining major streets. Every café, restaurant, and pub had all hands on deck to offer a cornucopia of tastes from lobster rolls to microbrews and milk tea. Six main stages were raised mere blocks away from each other and nearly two dozen venues dotted around them, delivering folk and punk and alt rock and blues. With pop-up shops on every other curbside, and even good vibes from security and the boys in blue, any SoCal music fan would have wondered: why aren’t more cities getting in on Make Music?

But if you were holed up last weekend, don’t worry — The Deli got down and dirty in the press pit to bring you photos of some great acts throughout the day. Beach balls and sunburn aside, Old Pasadena lined up some of the best performances of Make Music’s history, and we are grateful to have covered it.

Check out more photos from the show here. – Ryan Mo

NYC has a long and rich tradition of noise making that spans from the Velvet Underground’s ‘White Light White Heat" to Sonic Youth’s dissonant noise rock stylings. This is not music that easily find its way in the media (mainstream or not), so those interested in a taste of what this scene has to offer shouldn’t miss the opportunity offered by the Experimental x Noise Northside showcase on Thursday 06.11 at Aviv, featuring five of NYC’s best and most uncompromising cacophony worshippers – including legendary electro-drone veterans Excepter, who are actually one of the least noisy band on the bill. Advice to the audience: this music has eardrum melting powers – bring earplugs! Here’s a quick sampler for ya.