Brooklyn’s retro electronic duo The Fantastic Plastics aren’t nearly nerdy enough to sound like Devo, though we appreciate their obsession with the visual side of that band. They treat Devo the way Warhol treated Campbell’s Soup – like a brand. Sure, Devo was once anarchical and dangerous, but now they’re not. There’s something cheeky about Fantastic Plastics, especially having this cute pixie chick run around in dresses shaped like Devo helmets. Their cool eye for urbanism and design blends a love of kitsch with a hatred for commercialism. You can see them live at Pianos this Saturday 09.12, when they’ll be celebrating the release of their new EP entitled "Devolver" – look out for a video installation and a "graphic novel." – Brian Chidester

Brooklyn Wildlife’s Summer Festival continues its cavalcade of independent artist world domination tonight at Bizarre Bar Bushwick. Tonight’s event, #4 out of 11, features "wonderment, spectacle, fantasy, and amazeballzness!!!! Live projection set, Hip Hop, nude poetry, Burlesque, Acoustic Folk, Performance Art, and more." With 13 artists representing all five boroughs including Norm Oddwon (video Streaming), Shoshana Tampaxxx, and Terminal Intrusion, It’s hard to think what more orchestrator Parnhashnakovsky could cram into a single night. The only way to find out is to show up — preferably in fishnets. – Broke MC

Brooklyn’s Honduras play the attitude card big time on this new video for single "Paralyzed," off their debut album "Rituals," scheduled for a September 25 release. We are digging the tense sound and tribal but uptempo post punk atmospheres, reminiscent of a mix of Joy Division and The Feelies, and the well produced succession of clean/quiet and loud/distorted section – that’s what rock’n’roll is all about! Lead singer Pat Philips’ vocals have also grown in confidence, which is a huge asset for an emerging indie band with big ambitions. See the band live at Shea Stadium on 09.16.

Always exciting to see a young Brooklyn band grow! We premiered talented mellow poppers Bodies Be Rivers‘ first video a few months ago, and we just stumbled upon their new one for "Decay," which is a pretty darn good song (edgy too!). This is a particularly welcome surprise because we had already booked the act for our upcoming CMJ show, and seeing them this active is a great sign – two videos in a few months is not an easy thing to pull off for anybody! Come see them at The Living Room on Saturday October 17.

In our restless quest for the best possible artists to book for our upcoming CMJ shows, we stumbled upon NYC based duo Elysian Fields, who have been around for a while (1995!) and lately have been busy working on a new album – and also on opening a new venue! On their website’s "news" page we noticed this 2014 video for single "Channeling" – which we somehow missed at the time – and instantly fell in love with it. Directed by visionary illustrator/cartoonist Steven Mertens, this is a psych pop gem with imaginative, top notch production and a subtle but also moving alternation of tension and release moments. Lead singer Jennifer Charles’ incredibly seductive vocals are supported by melodies that are catchy and edgy at once. This is what we call a great song – and it made our week. 

New York City garage rock/girl-group Baby Shakes showcase the release of their second full length album “Starry Eyes” with the single (and accompanying video) “Summer Sun.” Though the warm days will soon give way to autumn, we can hang on just a bit longer by taking in this perfect slice of Coney Island atmosphere. Beach time fun is fully on display in both video and song, which captures the Ramones’ “Rockaway Beach” vibe with Ronnie Spector vocal harmonies. The three front-ladies make a solid case that brunettes are just as much fun as blondes at the shore. The band is currently on a European tour taking them through Ireland and Scandinavia, with a hometown show to surely follow that. –Dave Cromwell

The Summer 2015 issue of The Deli NYC is up in the clouds!

READ IT HERE!

The real thing will hit the streets of NYC on September 10.

The Deli’s Staff

On August 28, Brooklyn’s Infinity Girl will release their debut full length album “Harm” on TopShelfRecords. The first single “Young” shows an incremental shifting towards pop music, that moves away from the loose jam sound previously explored on their 2012 EP “Just Like Lovers.” The track comes on at a quicker pace, but lyrical verses are clearer, allowing for snippets of vocal hooks to take a deeper hold. Nods to My Bloody Valentine’s “Loveless” era can still be found in the metallic pitch-bended welded shearing sound that emerge within the mix. The poppier elements owe more to the development of a song structure with a lighter overall feel. A band like The Pains of Being Pure at Heart successfully blended romantic compositions and teen angst lyrics with harsher guitar sounds, and Infinity Girl appear to be taking a similar route. However, dense layers still emerge within this track, keeping the essential feel more dreamgaze than twee. More singles from the upcoming album can be found here. The band will play a live show next at Shea Stadium on 9/2 then head to Massachusetts for a show on 9/5. – Dave Cromwell

We were literally entranced by OKAY KAYA‘s video for "Damn, Gravity," when she unveiled it earlier this year. The Norwegian, NYC based songwriter obviously knows how to make simple melodies and images become larger than life, through her intense delivery and evocative lyrics. She’s prooving that once again with her new video for single "Clenched Teeth," entirely shot in Tokyo. Wondering when she’ll be playing NYC next…

Braeves, a NYC based indie pop band that made it into our most recent list of "Best of NYC Emerging Artists," will be co-headlining an event organized by TuneCore, a popular platform that supports emerging bands with services like distribution and publishing. This past June the band released a mellow new single entitled ‘Silver Streets,’ streaming below, that highlights their melodic talent and nostalgic tendencies. The show, scheduled for Wednesday August 19 at Williamsburg’s The Living Room, will also see performances by a yet to be announced, mysterious headliner, and by New Jersery based indie pop-punk outfit 18th & Addison and NY native DJ/producer Matt FX. 

It’s been four long years since Brooklyn’s progressive soul and afrobeat supergroup People’s Champs released their debut self-titled EP. Since then, the eight-piece ensemble have spent more than two years constructing their first full-length record, recorded between Converse Rubber Track Studio and a wide array of local basements and bedrooms. The yet-to-be-titled LP, scheduled to drop this fall, is an ambitious nine-track release produced by Rubblebucket’s Ian Hersey. Nearly a year ago, People’s Champs premiered the first glimpse of the forthcoming record, "Humanity (Fun Secret Mix)," a psychedelic funk joint where synths and horns collide in hip-shaking harmony. Their newest offering, "Hostages," is a tropical, sun-kissed vamp that melds the groovy, electro-workouts of William Onyeabor with Little Dragon’s striking soul experiments. – Angel E. Fraden

Led by Danielle Sullivan’s gentle and compassionate voice, Portland’s indie pop outfit Wild Ones sounds anything but wild, although they do enjoy experimenting with sounds, which – in a sense – is kind of wild! Their music has the ability to sound at once warmly intimate and somewhat cerebral. This is must be the product of the fusion of the creative minds and talents of Danielle and keyboardist Thomas Himes. Our sister blog Delicious Audio asked them a few questions about their gear and compositional process. Link to the interview below. The band just released a new EP entitled "Heatwave," they’ll be playing Mississippi Studio tonight (08.14).

LINK: Delicious Audio’s Interview with Wild Ones.

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