According to his biography, Andrew Keoghan’s second album "Every Orchid Offering" – due for release later in the year – is the "product of two years of writing and recording between Auckland (New Zealand) and New York, where Keoghan relocated in 2013." Since the write up makes it sound as if he was going back and forth on a monthly basis or so, we couldn’t resist the temptation to check out the average cost of a JFK-Auckland flight – ouch! It’s a 26+ hour trip (or 2+ days if you want to save $6-700 bucks), and if you ever dared to go through that torture, Andrew’s music would definitely be a soothingly helpful soundtrack for it: his songs unravel calmly, alsmost sleepingly, with the various instruments patiently building a sparse sonic web, complemented by melodies that push the boundaries of gentleness. The new record is presented as "a series of vignettes and short stories, some autobiographical, others imagined, but always very personal." You can stream his well received debut here. Check the first single "Stuck in Melodies" from the new album below. Andrew Keoghan will be performing at Rough Trade tonight (01.14) with instrumental NYC composer Frank LoCrasto.

argonaut&wasp, a smooth soul-dance duo we covered first about a month ago, just released a new single entitled "The Sneeze" – you can stream it below. The track is the first one of a series of new singles to be released from now until the summer, when it will finally be possible to hear the band’s music in its more appropriate environment: the beach. You may argue that the title of this single is actually rather wintery… well, not necessarily; it could refer to that peculiar and bizarre sneeze doctors refer to as "photic sneeze reflex" – also referred to as "sun sneezing," a condition that – according to Wikipedia – "affects 18-35% of the population (including yours truly), but whose exact mechanism of action is not well understood."

It’s time to tackle the ALT ROCK category of our open submissions for the 2015 edition of our Best of NYC Poll for emerging artists – you can see the results we published so far here.

ALT ROCK/POWER POP 

Total submissions in this category: 21

Jurors: Jason Behrends (The Deli Chicago), Jordannah Elizabeth (The Deli SF) PDG (The Deli NYC).

Artists qualified to the next stage (i.e. the Readers’ Poll, starting around 01.20):

1. The Chordaes – 7.66 (out of 10)

A just over one year old group of "Manhattan-born friends" (take that, Brooklyn hipster-immigrants, these guys are real New York, New Yorkers!), The Chordaes’ music features elegant melodies, measured arrangements and a rather mellow approach, and may be best described as Alt Pop than Alt Rock – although the latter is the category they submitted for. But this doesn’t really change the fact that this is a group of young and talented musicians with noteworthy songwriting chops, and a vocalist that can touch hearts in ways reminiscent of unforgotten NYC hero Jeff Buckley. Check out their single "Touch The Ground" and see them live at Rockwood Music Hall on January 30th.

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2. PSYCHOBABY – 7.5

The brainchild of fiery Brooklyn based singer songwriter Juliet Garrett and guitarist Godfrey Furchtgott, Psychobaby only released one song out at this (very early) stage of its career, but a song that – paired with an imaginative and well shot low budget video – bodes very well for the band’s future. Sonic references to the riot grrl sound of the ’90s are tempered by the lack of slacking: the band’s sound is focused, Garret can sing, and the songwriting seems more inspired by artists from previous decades, like, for example, The Pretenders or even Exene Cervenka’s X. Having attitude, character and a good song+video combo is a great start for an emerging band; Psychobaby’s next challenges are prolificity, consistency of songwriting and a building killer live show. You can see the band live at Bowery Electric on February 13th.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS (rating above 7):

Mustardmind, Justin Baron, Warn The Duke, Sketchy, Bloody Your Hands.

More open submission results coming soon!

The Deli’s Folks

"I wanna do Passport. I wanna do Passport."

The harmonics and bass loops of "Looking Glass Reprise" drowned out Sam Farzin’s cries, and he relented. Christmas lights and butcher paper cutouts shuddered with each strum. The nondescript DIY space VLHS —cousin to recording house/makeshift venue The Palisades— has been a musical hub for Pomona and the greater Inland Empire for four years running. On Sunday night, over 40 warm bodies packed themselves inside the walls, resting on the half-pipe, offering bud and new friendships as the tremors of Media Jeweler rattled their skulls.

The atmosphere was loose, and it smelled like Red Forman’s basement.

Earlier, Jack Connor of opening band hit me, Harold joked about his goatee before burning a hole in our stomachs faster than you can say Rafa’s Tacos. DOCKS frontman Ranier Tinkelenberg broke a string, but still slayed the crowd with Jack’s honeyblonde Tele. Winter Break (ex- Summer Vacation) let out the most luscious screams as Mark Chen and Aaron Kovac gazed into each other’s eyes. And to top it off, Hillary Chillton spoiled us at the end of the night with a new song (as of now un-named), going overtime with closer "Sad Dad/Rad Dad".

Everyone knew the lyrics by heart. And everyone sang. Long live VLHS. – Ryan Mo