We stumbled upon Brooklyn artist Aerial East through the listings of Hypnocraft’s upcoming event at the Manhattan Inn on 12.17 (a Joni Mitchell tribute night featuring NYC artists). We immediately enjoyed the project’s intimate songs, intense and sparse to the point of sounding ghostly. But were literally blown way by this video for single "FOG," where passion, madness, love, death and sex coexist in the most heart wrenching way. Check out also single "It Doesn’t Matter," from earlier this year. We also just found out that she recently shared the Mercury Lounge’s stage with Deli favorite, like-minded ghostly lady Okay Kaya.

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

Last night’s birthday bash for Dirty Laundry TV’s Michael Grodner was pretty epic, confimed by The Deli’s guest photographer David Foley. Read his first-hand account of the performances at Harvard & Stone and find more pictures on @TheDeliLA!

"Deep Fields felt like an electronic river of synth leading to a waterfall of whammy bar. You could tell the band members were enjoying being on stage together, and this translated into an uplifting wall of sound.

Colleen Green was like strawberry bubblegum, but with a bite. She had a very laid-back yet punkish vibe.

The Abigails were like raw molasses: down home rockabillies singing about love and death. Their lead singer was super expressive and entertaining, and I can’t remember a song that didn’t have a guitar solo."

We got into the Bootleg Theater for Miya Folick‘s EP release party thinking it’d be a pretty intimate gig. Some people trailed in as the sound guy checked levels with his iPad, but it looked sparse. No one was staking claim to the tables in front of the bar stage.

Then, five minutes before the set, a flash mob fashionably swarmed out of the theater end. It was lit.

Shannon Lay of Feels started the night with songs from her solo debut Holy Heartache while Alaska Reid (Alyeska) traded banter and set fire with her newest single "Medicine River". Miya Folick’s performance, enhanced with the visuals of Vinyl Williams, drew a crowd so tight the photographers could barely move around. Lena Fayre‘s ethereal voice drew the night to a close with songs from her summer EP "Is There Only One?" Shoutout to Liv Marsico (Liphemra) for spinning in-between sets (we did cry), and we think we caught a glimpse of Jeremy Katz (Froth, HOTT MT)? That was tight.

Check our Instagram @TheDeliLA for more pictures from the show, and catch Miya again at The Satellite on December 17th for a benefit show with Mereki and Madi Diaz! – Ryan Mo, photo: Michelle McCausland

Birthmark, aka Brooklyn musician Nate Kinsella, will be celebrating the release of album "How You Look When You’re Falling Down" at Brooklyn’s Rough Trade on Sunday, December 13. The band’s special one-night-only lineup will feature a heck of a lot of high profile guests, including Matt Bauder (Arcade Fire, Iron and Wine), Chris Hainey (Maps & Atlases), Olivia De Prato & Victor Lowrie (Mivos Quartet), Justin Frye (PC Worship, Skeletons), Cory Bracken (Real Adult, Ashcan Orchestra, Iktus Percussion), Diego Clare, Peter Hess (World/Inferno Friendship Society, Asphalt Orchestra), Sam Kulik (Skeletons), and Jordan McLean (Antibalas, Iron and Wine). Wow, talk about name dropping! But besides that, the two preview singles from the album sound very intriguing indeed: Birthmark offers a compelling mash of electro, orchestral pop, afrobeat, and conceptual rock a la Brian Eno. We are enjoying streaming track "Find Yourself," but check out also "Suit of Armor" which lacks the awesome tenor sax section, but features interesting middle eastern strings and a tighter, tenser beat.

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

Lower East Side’s Mercury Lounge is an important venue for emerging NYC bands, because it represents a trampoline towards other more prestigious Bowery Presents live show "opportunities." Sell it out, and it may unlock Rough Trade’s stage a couple of months later (ask Lewis Del Mar about it, he ALSO sold out the W’burg venue this past Tuesday, by the way). On the flip side, if your band’s draw is poor or unsatisfying, you may have a hard time getting booked there again. So… those are the rules of the game, and four super talented emerging NYC artists will face those odds on December 10, in a 100% local bill, something of a rarity at Mercury. We covered in this blog several times alt folksters Big Thief, soulful songwriter Nick Hakim, and orchestral pop quintet Pavo Pavo. We never covered Sam Evian (pictured), the new solo project of Sam Owen of Celesital Shore, but that very band graced the cover of our mag a couple of issues ago. The material we have access to for his solo project (limited to the song "Cherry Tree," streaming below) explores a ballad sound that, flirting with pop, blues and psychedelia at once, is reminiscent of that intense masterpiece that is The Beatles’ "Abbey Road." Don’t miss this show, great opportunity to catch four great emerging locals in one night.

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