Though fans that complain about rap deviating from its roots often come across as old curmudgeons, those contemporary emcees who practice vintage rap don’t seem to ever go out of style. Take BK rapper Latasha Alcindor (aka LA)’s latest track, "Revoke Thee," for example. Over a jazzy instrumental with attitude, LA delivers hard-hitting lyrics in varied flows that could very well have been blasted out of the boomboxes of yesterday. Like her ballsy predecessors Lauryn Hill and Queen Latifah, she also exudes a great deal of swagger in her lyrics. With "Revoke Thee," and its accompanying video (streaming below), LA has proven she is an emcee to watch, and a crucial one at that. She has a an LP due out in February. – Henry Solotaroff-Webber

A gentle sweetness emerges within the deeply resonant female vocals on “Abalone,” the preview track (streaming below) from Brooklyn-based Softspot’s forthcoming album “Clearing.”  While open guitar chords provide counter-melody and the simple bass line drives its rhythmic center, a churning percussive track underneath parallels the same mysterious wonderment of penultimate Kate Bush/Hounds Of Love track “Running Up That Hill.”  Harmony vocals appear at crucial points within the emotional arc, dreamily elongating end of line words. At over five minutes in length, there is plenty of room for extended instrumental passages featuring bright guitar figures, deeper bass only transactions and swelling synths.  An extended outro features an angular time signature that ultimately gives way to a beat-less ambience. This is an outstanding track from a full album set for a February release on Arrowhawk Records.  The band will appear live at Union Pool on 1/22 as part of the (le) poisson rouge presents series with Alpenglow and Norwegian Arms. – Dave Cromwell

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

Genre bending duo April+VISTA bring an eclectic modernist approach to traditional soul sounds. With electronically chopped R&B drum beats and soaring soul vocals, the duo brings to life what they call “FutureSoul”. Amidst the group’s slow grooves and passionate lyrics are touchingly restrained ballads like “Touch”. Check out April+VISTA’s latest EP, “Note to Self”.

Dams of the West describes itself as “the bad boy of British tennis” and “probably fifth-wave ska but maybe neo-no soul”. But it’s best defined as the solo project of Chris Tomson of Vampire Weekend. That band’s world pop tendencies are audible in the project’s repertoire, with flecks of Leonard Cohen and Reel Big Fish thrown in for flavor. On February 24, the band will release the album Youngish American, a collection of songs produced by Patrick Carney of the Black Keys. It will include the songs “Death Wish” (streaming) and “Tell the Truth”, for which there are music videos directed respectively by Emily Tomson and Edward Bursch. In March, Tomson will perform as Dams of the West at SXSW in Austin. While rumors of a 2017 Vampire Weekend album are in the air, nothing’s set in stone. – Will Sisskind