It’s true, the 12 Days of Christmas and the 8 Days of Hanukkah and the 7 Days of Kwanzaa and the 7 Days of Saturnalia may be over and done with but hang your pretty little head in sorrow no more cuz we’re here to help lift ya out of yr post-holidays daze and post-Times Square ball–drop funk by bringing you a brand new holiday celebrating the Six New Writers Of The Deli (a/k/a SNWOTD) for which we’ll be breaking out the Deli Meats and Cheeses Advent Calendar for a six day celebration (hell make it seven or even eight days seeing as our already existing writers count too!) so tell your boss yr gonna need all of next week off…
Ariya, Veronica, and Marisa
…cuz starting today on this the Holy Day of 1/5/25 in honour of our six-count-‘em-six new music journalistic contributors who’ll be lighting the way forward with their bright, shiny prose pulling a sleigh full of emerging independent music reviews and interviews to be found on this very blog it means that the Deli will be guaranteed to slay six times as hard as before (hard to believe it’s even possible!) moving into the year 2025 AD, a year which just happens to mark The Deli’s 20th year of existence so hang on tight cuz it’s gonna be quite a freakin’ ride…
Cristi, Emma, and Piper
…and in the meantime you can check out the Gang of Six’s self-provided bios below (pictured above!) alongside a couple fave-rave recent tracks selected by each, followed by a self-bio by veteran Deli contributor Willa (well into her second year as a scribe here but never properly introduced!) who herself assembled/wrote up the bios below not to mention soliciting the writers themselves…
…to which we say mazel tov to the virtually overnight quadrupling of our writing staff and truly it’s gonna be a whole new era for the Deli Mag (Deli 3.0 if you will, with Deli 1.0 being the print magazine era and Deli 2.0 being the past 4+ years since yours truly revived the blog and launched the Instagram page in earnest) coasting gracefully into our third decade of existence so take a number cuz very soon we’ll be serving up some piping-hot fresh-sliced music criticism, commentary and documentation which in fact has already begun… –Jason Lee (senior editor)
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Firstly, meet Ariya & peep two of her fave NYC music releases of 2024. Born and raised in Las Vegas, NV, Ariya is a NYC based writer with a passion for prose, niche shoegaze, and third wave coffee. She spends her free time attending shows, doing yoga, and learning about esoteric knowledge. Ariya is delighted to be apart of The Deli Mag and marry her two biggest romances: music and writing.
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New team member alert pt 2 – Meet Veronica & some of her fave NYC music releases of 2024! Veronica Anaya (she/her) is a New York City-based artist with a passion for storytelling through music, film, and theater. A dedicated music writer, using her writing to connect fans and artist through interviews and more. Whether it’s a classic indie rock concert, a punk show, or an experimental performance in a DIY venue, Veronica will be there. If she’s not at a show, she’ll likely have her headphones on, or crafting her next piece for The Deli Mag.
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Our third brunette new hire, by coincidence only —> Here’s Marisa & a couple of her fave NYC music releases of 2024! Marisa is a music journalist from Dallas, TX. She writes for music magazines, produces @lippsservicepod, manages indie-rock duo @whoislecharme , and documents the DIY scene in NYC. She loves music, going to shows, meeting new people & bringing people together, and having interesting conversations, especially with artists. She also loves her Kitty Ma, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Hot Cheetos.
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Our next new addition to the team (& a couple of her fave NYC-based music releases of the year): Cristi is a Colombian-American writer (music-poetry-screenwriting-filmmaker) & dancer training at Peridance while marketing her coming of age feature script, “Angel” and writing for rock journals. She loves performing original music at open-mics in NYC and hyper fixating on artists she discovered at local shows, aka listening to their songs on repeat till she is sick of them <3 !
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Nextly, we welcome Emma to the team & a couple of her fave NYC based music releases of 2024!! Emma Hug 🫶 Rosenstein is a New York City based music journalist. Rosenstein works with both local and touring bands in New York, specializing in interviews. She found a passion for understanding the specifics that go into creating music and the inner workings of a band, then sharing those stories with the public. Her portfolio includes The Dandy Warhols, Bikini Kill, Lake Street Dive, and Medium Build. In her free time Rosenstein collects rare literature from the 1950s, studies tenement architecture, and attends shows with her friends. Catch her at concerts with her notebook in the back row! 🎧🤘
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Lastly but not leastly, Piper Toohey Olsen is a songwriter and a writer-writer living in the borough of Queens. Last year Piper released an EP which includes “I was searching for the absolute, turns out it doesn’t exist,” “it makes me miss Montana when I smell the morning dew,” and the title track “thank you for the love you gave me I am gonna keep it” (the title track) which just from the length and highly evocative quality of the song titles you can tell they were born to be a music journalist as well.
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Bonus round! Willa has been with The Deli for 1.5 yrs but she never got a post so here’s that (and some of her fave NYC music releases of 2024). Willa is a musician, writer, and publicist from LA & NYC who loves going out to shows, throwing events (that may or may not include mud wrestling), and playing shows with her band November Girl. She loves the DIY scene in NYC and loves being able to participate as a writer and now editor for The Deli Mag.