With fuzzy chords and a sound that rivals the roar of a V8 american muscle car Them Animals sounds like the kind of band that makes your friends dingy basement party feel like the best place you’ve ever been. The guitars power through creating an infectious garage rock melody tinged with a touch of blues and vocals that have been drenched in distortion. The chorus of their recent release, Losing Feeling (streaming below), burns mighty like a track doused in gasoline and set ablaze making you want to sway and jump around, bringing a pinch of unpredictable chaos to the otherwise very tight and controlled melodic party. Listen to Them Animals below and catch them live at Velvet Lounge on August 17. – Adriana S. Ballester

Who said a beautiful melody is necessary to create a great song? SOFI TUKKER‘s’s gone viral single Drinkee (brand new video below) features a one-note melodic phrase repeated over and over pretty much from the beginning to the end of the song – and we’ll never get tired of it! The Brooklyn based duo just unveiled their debut EP ‘Soft Animals,’ which comprises all their singles to date, plus electro ballad ‘Moon Tattoo,’ and also announced a bunch of summer dates in Europe and the US – the local date at Baby’s All Right on July 30th is already sold out. We recently asked them a few questions about their creative process, check out the link below. 

Delicious Audio Interview with SOFI TUKKER about synths and their creative process.

In recent years dream pop has become a big part of the "NYC sound" – probably only second to garage rock. Although Brooklyn-based quartet Uni Ika Ai, founded by Lucius’ Peter Lalish and Toebow’s Maia Friedman’s, can surely be categorized under the dream pop umbrella, they have the merit to steer clear from the genre’s canonized influences (Cocteau Twins, Mazzy Star and Broadcast). In “Make You Better,” the band’s first single, Friedman’s voice draws an airy, slow melody over a glittering musical background where guitars and keyboards merge into each other, like colors do in paintings by the Impressionists. Baroque and classical elements emerge here and there, and new layers come to the surface or are exhausted as the song progresses. Their debut album, Keeping A Golden Bullseye In The Corner of My Mind will be released in mid October. Uni Ika Ai will begin a residency at C’Mon Everybody on July 13th.

Even when singing about being “bored to death” or “sick in bed,” Queens-based band, Thin Lear has the ability to sound light and carefree. Even “seven days without sleep” seem like a walk in the park – a testament to endurance, surely a handy quality for any independent musician! In the Thin Lear EP Matt Longo – the man and voice behind the baroque-pop project – creates waves of nostalgia, supported by tastefully restrained melodies and his gentle voice. The record (the project’s fourth release since 2011) makes endearing references to New York City and single “Second Nature” (streaming) uses light, yet dynamic instrumentation along with subtle calipso influences.  You can catch him at Pianos tomorrow (July 9th). – Madeleine Grossman