Painted Zeros is a Brooklyn trio devising (rather) lo-fi songs that strike a happy medium between the clean, dreamy sound of dream-pop and the hyper-effected one of shoegazer, without outruling the occasional bursts of feedback-based noise. The band will be celebrating the release of their debut full length "Floriography" at Shea Stadium on 10.30, a few weeks before embarking on a tour with another local trio, Slight, who play a catchy brand of garage pop. Check out the two singles available for streaming from Painted Zeros’ album, below. Their most popular single from their debut EP Svalbard, entitled "Polar Night," can be found here.

Brooklyn indie pop trio Mainland just unveiled this video for single "Outcast," which depicts the familiar two-boys-after-one-girl teenage drama. We fell in the emotinal trap band and director set up for us, reminiscing of our first romantic attempts in our teen years, with all their mixed signals, misunderstandings, and consistently disappointed dreams. But, suddenly, we wondered if – in the age of texting, Facebook and dating sites – this is still an accurate representation of how teens struggle for love. Which made us wonder… is the pursuit of love, in this day and age, and in most cases, becoming too boring to inspire a music video – or a movie, or a book? If so, let’s take the opportunity to enjoy the good, vintage vibes brought by this song/video combo, and remember (with bleary eyes) our first crush, and how mind blowing it was to fall in love for the first time. Hopefully she’s not on Facebook. 

Today, Florist have shared the full stream for their new EP "Holdly," out October 30th on Double Double Whammy.  The band plays minimalistic, super sparse melodic folk, led by Emily Sprague’s subdued vocals, whose delicate whispering is matched by her band mates’ gentle accompaniment. No wonder the original nucleus of the band originates from the Catskills, where silence actually exists. In relentlessly noisy NYC, Florist’s music is as close as you can get to silence. Or rather, it’s silence’s pretty sounding cousin. The band will leave for a two week tour on November 3rd.

One of Toronto’s bands on the rise (it’s not an accident that they are on our chart of Top 15 emerging local artists) HIGHS play a rhythmic, bouncy version of ambient pop-rock, inundated with beautiful harmonies and a playful rhythm section. In their debut, self titled EP HIGHS consistently utilizes a high energy, mellow vibe to bring the fun, blending in a soca beat to bring the danceability that can keep a room pulsating. Opening track Summer Dress (streaming) does that to perfection. Third song “Harvest” – on the other hand – introduces a slower beat, a soft atmosphere and a great build, and acts as a pace break between the other faster songs, emphasizing the space and harmonies and functioning as a beautiful centerpiece to the EP. If you’re looking to maintain a summertime frame of mind into the upcoming winter, these songs are the perfect soundtrack. – Cody Wright

Screw Spotify and Pandora’s automatic discovery algorhythms, that are supposed to find the next band you are bound to like – they never work for us, NEVER! Plus, you can’t even tell them you only want to listen to NYC artists – ugh… The only thing that works here at The Deli is to parse relentlessly through the listings of small local venues like Palisades, Shea Stadium, Cake Shop, Rockwood, The Living Room… at time also Baby’s All Right and the Mercury Lounge. In the latter’s listing we found a really interesting local band called Pollens. They are a quartet with an LP entitled "Brighten and Break" released back in 2012 and a sophomore album ("+=+=+=+=") out earlier this year. Single "Helping Hand’ (streaming) from their debut, is an avant-pop gem, featuring looped harminizing vocals, an arrangement growing in intensity, and a vocal melody that’s as cerebral as it is catchy – and vaguely reminiscent of all time NYC favorites Buke and Gase. The band has grown experimental with the years, and the sophomore record, more electronic, cerebral and textural, rarely gives in to pure melody, emphasizing instead angular drum patterns and quirky arrangements. See them live at The Mercury Lounge on 11.13.

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

In the late ’70s, Chandra, the daughter of eminent conceptual, NYC based artist Dennis Oppenheim, showed considerable promise as a songwriter and performer since the age of seven. This inspired New York noisemakers The Model Citizens to approach the young prodigy and become her backing band. An EP entitled "Transportation" was released in 1980, when Chandra was 12, by ON / GOGO Recordsthe, the band’s own label. It has since become a long-lost cult classic. Fast forward 35 years, and Cantor Records, together with Rain Boots, decided to reissue the four-song EP with the addition of four unreleased songs by The Chandra Dimension (her touring band comprised entirely of teenagers). Chandra will be performing live at Rough Trade on November 14, in an adult version of… herself.