We’ve been toying around with the idea of a "NYC Trip Hop Revival" couple of times already in the last couple of months – in particular for this – but, before we do it again, it should be stressed that many of the trip hop bands of the ’90s sounded actually more like "trip soul with hip hop beats" than anything: for example, Portishead’s or even Morcheeba’s lead singers never even tried rapping. Brand new NYC quintet The Mighty Jones inserts itself in this innovative musical wave by marrying the edgy electronic arrangements of the former with the more melodic and soulful vocals of the latter. The group will be celebrating the release of their debut album "Gone Long" with a show at Union Pool this coming Saturday December 12.05. Check out single "Rumblepack," streaming below.

Indie rock lovers with (democratic) socialist tendencies might want to visit The Living Room on Saturday December 5th, to witness a Bernie Sanders fundraiser featuring an interesting bill of local electric acts sharing psychedelic and noise rock tendencies. Headlining the show will be recently regrouped noise-gazers Weed Hounds (pictured – and yes, "noisegazer" is accepted as a genre by Last.fm). Their single "Heather W" from last year’s self titled album, has the perfect balance of fuzz, dissonance, reverb and melody, and deserves a spot in our playlist featuring the best psych/shoegazer songs by emerging NYC artists – check it out!

One of the openers will be self defined "sad-core" collective World of Darkness, a brand new NYC band that released an interesting debut two song EP this past April.  Single "Back in My College Bed" (streaming below) refreshes our memories about the good days when slacker rock turned more mature, melodic, and lyrical. Their second single Your Roots is a blue, electric ballad that supports the "sad-core" claim. These two bands will be joined on stage also by dream poppers Gingerlys and noise purveyors Warcries (featuring members of Advaeta).

Bushwick born, Staten Island raised Michael Alan Alien grew up throwing art parties in the 90s. Before Wu-Tang was the empire it is now, they were just a bunch of friendly faces in a cloud of smoke on his guest list. ODB’s passing weighed heavily on the world’s Hip Hop community, and Michael Alan Alien is one of the many still holding the torch and spreading the light of one of Rap’s most brazen innovators. Considering ODB “the Van Gogh of Hip Hop,” Michael texted Miss Jones and linked with ODB’s brother Ramsey Jones and created a live tribute at Printed Matter which culminated in a 27 track limited edition tribute album featuring Mike’s mom and dad, The Residents, O.D.B., Treasure Hunt, Bonglestar, Tommy Ramone, Vasdeferens, and others. It’s a tripped out, punk rap, noise exploration of the undersung genius of the Big Baby Jesus. Each CD is hand made by Michael Alan Alien and is a piece of collectible art itself. Get your hands on one here. – BrokeMc

Rock and pop music are fun, but nothing can fire up a party as much as Rock’n’Roll, so if you are back from a quiet Thanksgiving holiday and feel like partying on a Monday night, you may want to head to the Cake Shop, where rockabillers Shiro & The Raw Dogs will be brginging the sound off the rebellious late ’50s. Active since 2013, the group has two singles under their belt. This year’s "My Baby’s Bad" is propelled by frantic, borderline tribal percussions and an incendiary combination of electric guitars and vocals.

With the exception of TV on the Radio and a few other artists, soul musicians have taken longer than the indie ones to update their genre’s sound to the new creative possibilities opened by the bedroom studio technology. This is probably due to the fact that soul artists are for the most part extraneous to the DIY ethos that’s been feeding indie rock since the punk revolution. This year, NYC duo Lewis Del Mar has been making up some time in this regard, releasing three noteworthy, self-produced singles that soon found their way on the top of music aggregators, gathering hundreds of thousand of plays in less than 6 months. Blending soulful vocals with imaginative, dark arrangements, the band flirts with indie and industrial, forging a sound that’s at once imaginative and accessible, and featuring a mid tempo inclination that allows space for both vocals and creative programming to coexist. Their latest single "Waves" (we blogged about it here) was released a month ago and it’s already their most popular to date. Check out their first single "Loud(y)" and don’t miss their show headlining Rough Trade on December 2nd – a gig they earned by selling Mercury Lounge during their debut show in September.

If you are fascinated with the idea of parallel worlds, you should immerse yourself in the music of Brooklyn’s (via Colombia) duo Salt Cathedral (the band will perform live at Rough Trade on December 19th). Their gently impressionistic arrangements and celestial atmospheres, combined with Juliana Ronderos’ angelic voice and melodies, might transport you to the closest thing to the seventh heaven you’ve ever experienced – or at least a dancey version of it. We asked Juliana a few questions about the band’s creative process, check out the link below.

Delicious Audio: Salt Cathedral and the Creative Process

Talent is talent, but when presented in a sloppy shape, it becomes contagiously charming, and an adorable band name can only boost that perception. This is the lesson we have learned today via Brooklyn’s quintet Flower Girl, who play some kind of lo-fi twangy pop and have been around for longer than we expected (their debut album was out in 2013). Their latest, sophomore LP, entitled Okie Dokie Howdy Doody came out in the summer of 2015 and it’s a very solid, uber-amiable work, full of delicate melodies and qurky moments, that re-elaborates the disorderly genius of Syd Barret and the (early) Beta Band, marrying it with the not-so-traditional approach to… traditional American music of Neil Young and late Camper Van Beethoven. Based on an odd time signature, opening single "Scary Drive" (streaming) is a scruffy, limpy alt-country number a la’ Beck that will make you crack a smile – which is always priceless. Following track "A Platypus" starts as a plodding blues but gradually accelerates in ways only The Feelies could conceive, slowly morphing into a delirious slacker rock tune. Third song Eat Worms flirts again with blues but develops in a gentle, idyllic melody reminiscent of the Flaming Lips at their most tear-inducing – although the lyrics "come to terms/eat that worm that’s feeding you" might conflict with a weeping mood. The remarkable variety of the twelve tracks, with textural ballads like "Romantic Mood" juxtaposed to punkish numbers like "Stop Starin’," doesn’t mine the band’s identity, rooted in an "anything goes" attitude that’s refreshingly unpretentious. 

Flower girl will be performing live at Palisades on December 2nd and at Alphaville on December 11th.

We’ve been following Eddie Front‘s Ivana Carrescia (ex Ivana XL) for a considerable amount of time (check out a 2009 interview over here). She spends her time writing beautiful but mostly sad songs, and has developed a unique style that blends the melancholic crooning of the pre-rock’n’roll ’50s with ambient music and dream folk. Hopefully her upcoming album "Marina" – her debut full length – will put this talented singer songwriter in front of a bigger audience, although in this country – sadly – not many people can appreciate music that it’s not upbeat. That’s when Europe comes handy. Check out preview single "Goldie" below, and if you are in the mood for a quiet night, don’t miss her show at Palisades on November 25.

We had the chance to talk about Gabi Jimeno a bunch of time already, since she’s the drummer of dream pop Brooklyn band Balancer – a very impressive drummer for that matter. We never covered her solo project Ela Minus though, which also deserves attention. Recently nominated one of the "Queens of the South-American Indie" by this webiste, Ela Minus offers minimalistic synthpop, at times resembling a less dramatic version of Bjork, at others filtering through an electro filter Gabi’s homeland musical influences , like in the first single "Jamaica" (from of her upcoming "First Words" EP) based on what sounds like a Bossanova drum pattern, enriched by a delicate melody and harmonies that are at once pretty and edgy. The Deli NYC is premiering here the second single from that EP, entitled "Kiddo," a sparser, more experimental track, in which Gabi’s soprano reaches sky high altitudes with a melody as vague as it is haunting. Look out for the third single to be released in the next few weeks.

For us here at The Deli, it’s always a great feeling to see an early Deli NYC Record of the Month artist keeping at it with great new releases. Alice Cohen was rewarded with the highest Deli honor (short of being on the cover of the mag) back in 2008, thanks to this gem of a record, full of references to many of our favorite new wave bands. Since then she kept releasing her dark and mysterious records (five to date), all dwelling in a world reminiscent of the darkest days of The Cure, the lush melodicism of Cocteau Twins and the tense experiments of Wire – "Walking Up Walls" being the most experimental of the bunch. Her latest albums, which for some reason we overlooked, showcase an exciting songwriting and production growth. 2015’s "Into The Grey Salons" confirms Alice as a musician full of ideas, both in the sonic and melodi departments. If you dig her music, don’t miss a rare live appearance at Union Pool on December 1st.

Hailing from New Jersey, and armed with a seemingly unlimited supply of fuzz, reverb, and catchy melodies, Sunshine & The Rain‘s Ashley Anderson and Justin Angelo Morey form one of the noisiest married couples of the current NYC scene. Rediscovering the "three chords songs buried in distortion" sound of early Velvet Underground and The Jesus and Mary Chain, the duo lets Ashley’s airy pop melodies float on top of what sounds like (deliciously) organized sonic mayhem. On December 6th, Sunshine & the Rain will be opening for legendary band Rocket from the Tombs (not to be confused with Rocket from the Cripts), a Cleveland band whose debanding, back in the late ’70s, gave birth to Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys. 

It would be interesting to know how many bands are born in NYC every day on average – and how many of them are bedroom based electronic pop project. Here’s one for you fresh off the oven, but with well known "ingredients": 2001 is the band of Benjamin Lazar Davis and Joan Wasser (of Joan As Police Woman!). The duo met each other after separate trips to Africa, and almost naturally ended up writing songs inspired by the music of the Ba-Benzele Pygmy people from the Central African Republic (all we know is that they sound nothing like The Strokes). "I fell in love with these cycles, played by one person alternating quickly between singing and playing the one note flute" Lazar says. The results, filtered through a contemporary and entirely Western electronic instrumentation is quite mesmerizing. Check out single "Broke Me in Two" below – and expect a new single out soon.

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