Intimate shows in living room (or other comfortable small spaces not strictly set up to host live music) are gaining steam these days – and not only in NYC. In Brooklyn, Hypnocraft has booked several shows for series held at the cozy (as in charmingly small) Manhattan Inn restaurant in Greenpoint. Gone are the old-school pianists entertaining diners with watered down cover songs, replaced by respected local artists like Sam Cohen and Shilpa Ray playing songs from their original repertoire. Crowds are often so reverent you can hear a pin drop. Hypno’s second series is called “The Hum.” Its mission, says founder Rachael Pazdan, “is to connect a diverse community of women making music in New York City.” Those words couldn’t fall on deaf ears here at The Deli, therefore, we decided to sponsor these events!

On The Hum’s first night this upcoming Monday (10.05) half a dozen of talented local ladies will grace the stage of the Manhattan Inn – we are particularly excited because the majority of them has received generous coverage in this very blog. Being a collaborative night, the performances are organized in couples: accomplished singer-songwriter Larkin Grimm (previously a member of Dirty Projectors) will perform together with drummer Lia Simone (ex drummer for The Butcherettes and Gothic Tropic). Mercurial singer and composer Alena Spanger of Tiny Hazard (a band we celebrated in 2013 with a "Deli NYC Video of the Month") will surely try something quirky during her shared performance with dreamy folksinger Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief. After them, we should expect some electronic instruments on stage, when Nandi Rose Plunkett of Half Waif and Johanna Cranitch of White Prism will join forces (and their beautiful voices) to entertain us. 

Hear each artist’s own music in the playlist below, and don’t miss their creative interaction on Monday October 05 at the Manhattan Inn – we’ll be there!

A shoegaze band can adopt usually one of two schools of sound; either the overbearingly fuzzed out and effectually mind blowing guitars that convey soothing melodies over punkish rhythms, or the slowed down and aerial space tones and powerful astronomical vocals of Cocteau Twins. But a band like Brooklyn-via-Long-Island’s Weed Hounds is able to pull off both sounds rather well. Their first proper self titled full-length dropped last year (following a couple of singles, a split 7” with Dude Japan, and an impressive demo cassette), and it’s a well versed, well thought-out act of harshly heavy tones juxtaposed against breathtaking reliefs, all arranged in pleasing succession, so as never to let one end of the spectrum take over entirely. A line is drawn between weighty fuzz choruses and extremely airy verses, interwoven with Laura Catalano’s celestial vocals, which penetrate in heightened beauty, sometimes echoing the radiating reverbed guitar highs, and sometimes gorgeously contrasting the pummeling force of swirling delayed fuzz. The band will be performing at the upcoming CMJ Music Marathon on October 14 at the Acheron. –JP Basileo

Brainchild of singer Haleh Gafori and drummer Matt Kilmer, NYC’s duo The Mast in the recent past has been developing their dream pop in a growingly electronic direction. The project has always been centered around Haleh’s ethereal vocals and airy melodies and Matt’s jungly, intricate beats (mostly performed live), but the guitar that was resting on the singer’s shoulder has been replaced by an electronic toy and an iPad, while the drummer’s set up has changed radically, losing almost entirely the traditional drums, replaced by an intriguing hybrid featuring a mix of synths, tablets and exotic percussions. We thought this band would be perfect for our series of Q&A related to gear and the creative process.

The Mast interview about gear, recording and the creative process.

The fascination of the NYC scene with the garage rock sound is long lasting and probably indestructible – you can blame The Ramones. Brooklyn’s The Britanys, who recently expanded their line up from power trio to… almighty quartet (?), are one of the most fun recent expressions of a genre that blends grating guitars with simple melodies and oodles of attitude. They just released this new single entitled ‘City Boys,’ and will be performing at our very own Garage/Slacker Rock CMJ Stage on October 15 at Muchmore’s. Check out the full schedule of The Deli’s CMJ 2015 shows here. – Photo by Rachel Cabitt

At a recent "Blah Blah Basement Bugout" party in a LES hookah bar, Chinatown Hip Hop group Blahsum struggled, like most musicians with a sound too big for the room they are playing, to get their audio under control. Ironically, it worked for them. Squeals of feedback complimented distorted vocals over a live band of bass, guitar, and live MPC.  As the young crowd bounced around them, they hammered through a set with sounds that vacillated between Minor Threat and Public Enemy. With lines like "I’m sick to my stomach, the shit that they come up with, I wish somebody told it like it is," and track names like "New Guernica," the distortion only added to the package.  This coming Sunday (09.27.2015) at Leftfield the band will celebrate the release of “DEM02.”  Doors are at 2pm, it’s free, and the 11 artists on the bill will rattle the bones of Hip Hop as they mercilessly deconstruct it.  The Deli is proud to premier their new video for “New Guernica” – read our Q&A vith the band here. -BrokeMc

Garage rock is a genre that some might find a little trite, but when approached the right way it can still blow minds. Like this song/video combo for single ‘Behind The Mouth’ by NYC scene mainstay Rich Guerzon and his band Broken Guru, a great track featuring an impressive overall production, in particular on the guitars – which have just the right amount of dissonance – and the vocals. The video well reflects the inclinations of the the genre: simple, tense, and kinda claustrophobic. We found them while browsing through our Garage Rock NYC charts – they currently sit in 10th position.

Mixing a distinct melodic flair with the sonic bombast of new techno, NYC emerging EDM artist Julia Govor pushes dancing and fun to the very edge, reveling in hallucinogenic textures that suggest not sleeping is its own form of dreaming. Julia will be performing on November 5 at Output within the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival. Check out her break out single "A Regret," cooked up in collaboration with London based DJ Rashid Ajami.  – Brian Chidester

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

BAEB RXXTH’s first single “Gutter” blew up their Soundcloud page with over 15K hits. Now, with the release of “STRP,” the duo, consisting of vocalist Nasimiyu and co-producer Devon C. Johnson, once again aim their Trap pedigree directly at your hips. Nasimiyu, who won critical acclaim in 2014 from Vogue, Nylon, Afropunk, and SPIN for her solo project “Dirt,” pairs silky vocals with playfully clever lyrics while Devon C Johnson conjures 808-laced production that thumps with a diamond veneer just south of saccharinity. Hot on the spiked heels of NY Fashion Week, “STRP” demands the industry to “Take it off: your apathy, your suit of armor… I wanna see what’s beneath your fashion sense.” Their album OMW is out 11/13.

Here it is folks, the full schedule of The Deli’s CMJ Music Marathon 2015 Showcases!

Bigger version of the poster here.

The Deli NYC’s staff.

Let’s say it, most incarnations of R’n’B are annoyingly and shamelessly commercial. But those forms distort the depth of the genre’s core, which is soul music, whose roots have nothing to do with pleasing everybody in the most superficial way possible. When soul music meets talent interested in digging a little deeper and trying something new, the result is often surprisingly beautiful music – think about the trip hop wave of the 90’s (Massive Attack in particular) or the early TV on the Radio records. Brooklyn based duo Eda Wolf offer a similar musical recipe, and even though their songs would benefit from a tighter production, they have the moving intensity and edge of those classic records. Check out single "Slow Speed below.

Female vocals are rarely associated with the Emo genre, but things seem to be a-changing (maybe that’s one of the reasons why Emo-influenced music is slowly becoming more interesting to our ears). On the footstep of bands like Tigers Jaw and Candy Hearts, Brooklyn’s 5-piece melodic punk outfit Great Woods have recently released their sophomore EP titled ‘Demo,’ which portrays a young band with a lot of potential. Although the band’s dueling co-vocals may be the highlight, the songs’ structure and songwriting is nothing to disregard. Emo is certainly not the only genre referenced: we hear Elvis Costello’s elegant melodies in "Straight as and Arrow," while "The Hammer" is a ballad that indulges in spacious, almost ambient atmopshpeheres. Great Woods will play a show at Muchmore’s on October 12. -Michael Haskoor (@Tweetskoor) 

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

Mixing ’70s funk with yacht rock and modern indie-soul sounds like a Pandora station gone haywire. It works for NYC’s The Rooks, who share a moniker with the ’90s power-pop quartet from Connecticut. Garth Taylor’s silky tenor recalls Frank Ocean and D’Angelo (on faster material), while the band plays tight like session men, freaky like their own thing. The Rooks recently released a new EP entitled "Wires" and will be performing at The Deli’s CMJ Roots Stage at Rockwood on 10.14. –  Brian Chidester