It’s rare to find music that’s incredibly intense and creative at once, maybe because musicians interested in intensity tend to stick with traditional genres, while those attracted by originality often settle for "quirky fun," or are too cerebral to let things get emotional. But 21 year old NYC songwriter Elliot Moss is getting a lot of buzz with self-produced songs that are both moody and sonically interesting. His breakout single "Slip," with its bare edginess and vocoded vocals, almost comes across as a soulful, updated version of Laurie Anderson’s "O Superman," while other preview singles from the artist’s upcoming album (due later in the year) showcase busier programmed landscapes, and a soul singer with seriously sulky inclinations. Check out "Best Light" below, and don’t miss Elliot’s upcoming show at Baby’s All Right on 04.29.

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

Operating like a production collective, WIN WIN started as a duo in Baltimore, where Alex Epton (aka xxx¢hange) and Chris Devlin first met growing up in the early 90s. After their move to NYC in 2006, DJ/video artist Ghostdad (Ryan Sciaino) joined the party. WIN WIN in various combinations has produced music, visuals, or live shows for Prince Rama, Porter Robinson, The Kills, Peaches among others. The trio’s music explores the sonic possibilities given by electronic music within a psychedelic context, constantly pulled between pop and experimental extremes. They released three singles this year from their upcoming album, to be released later in the year, you can stream two of them below.

The Teen Age have been active for quite some time in the Brooklyn scene, but their mix of Punk and traditional American Rock hasn’t lost any of its power and attitude. They recently teamed up with Brooklyn’s Old Flame Records to release a new digital single entitled "Low Cunning," streaming below. They will be celebrating this release tomorrow (April 7th) at Brooklyn’s Shea Stadium.

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

Brooklyn via North Carolina Psych Rock band KDH, who recently made our list of best emerging NYC artists of 2014 is about to release ‘Piedmont Rose,’ their sophomore album, following the limited edition 2013 cassette ‘Kill Devil Hill.’ Their sound blends influences ranging from early Pink Floyd to southern rock, and adapts them to ever changing musical ideas, which makes both records refreshingly multi-faceted. They’ll be celebrating the new release at Union Pool on Friday April 17.

Referencing the extraordinarily sophisticated and catchy soul-pop of Hall & Oates, recent Brooklyn transplant (via Minneapolis) Strange Names have found a way to inject new life in the ’80s revival. The band just released a video for single "Ricochet" (streaming) that perfectly recreates the minimalistic style of the early MTV years, minus the almost inevitable cheesy stumbles of that era’s productions. The song, performances, and production are rather impressive. If these guys can pull off what we see here in a live setting, they are going to have some fun years ahead. We can find that out on April 8th at The Mercury Lounge, or at any of the other three NYC live shows they have scheduled in the next few weeks. Strange Names’s full length album is scheduled for a May release on Frenchkiss Records.

The Hype Machine is particularly good at highlighting electronic tracks by emerging artists, and there are a lot of acts out there that managed to get close to the top of their charts at some point. But climbing those charts twice is no easy feat, and automatically excludes those who pull it off from the dreaded "one hit wonder" category. Just about a year ago, the cosmic synth pop of NYC’s The Landing went viral through hypem.com with debut single ‘Anxiety’. Today, the brand new single ‘Then Comes the Wonder’ (streaming) actually reached #1 on that same site. Congrats are due to the (one man)  band, who recently made the list of our Best Emerging NYC Artists of 2014. You can catch The Landing live at The Knit on April 17th.

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

After lending his creative juices to (great) bands Apollo Sunshine and Yellowbirds, Brooklyn songwriter, musician and producer  Sam Cohen decided it was time to go solo. The Deli has always been a fan of his bands’ records, (Yellowbirds’ "The Color" was The Deli NYC’s Record of the Month back in 2011), with their influences ranging from vintage pop to ’60s psychedelia. What we hear from his solo debut "Cool It" doesn’t disappoint, so we decided to ask Sam a few questions about his creative process, the making of records, and his relationship with the Muses. – Read the Q&A on our Delicious Audio (a Deli blog focused on guitar pedals and recording).

An impressionist of sound, Brooklyn’s Rioux plays a brand of electronica that’s as translucent as a Monet painting. Following his ‘Here Comes Now’ LP last year, Rioux is announcing the release of the ‘Evolver’ EP this spring, a record made between his hometown Detroit and New York City. The record is presented as a life cycle in miniature, exploring metamorphosis and the various states of being in the evolving human experience. Rioux will be playing an intimate premiere of the new material with the live band at Union Pool on 04.08. Stream the EP’s first single "Unfeel", below.

In a musical landscape where electronic pop seem to have become a bedroom hobby that rarely translates live, Brooklyn’s Avan Lava stands out as the exception that confirms the rule. The trio of Ian Pai, Le Chev and TC Milan expands on stage to include several frantic musicians and a noteworthy light show, pulled off in a remarkable DIY fashion. Musically, rather than wooing the old guard of Brooklyn hipsters, the band seem to "pursue" the new wave of party goers that’s been pricing them out of Williamsburg: if you prefer upbeat fun and catchy melodies to moody experimentation, this is the Brooklyn band for you. Avan Lava is releasing their new EP "Make it Real" today and will celebrate it with a show at Bowery Ballroom on April 4th. Check out single "Leave it All Behind," streaming below.

Some people buy some records just because they like their cover art. NYC’s Slap Bracelets‘ debut EP "The Wendigo" might not inspire that kind of impulse, but once you break through the cover art "barrier" (hopefully there’s a good story behind it) you’ll be rewarded with a delicate and beautifully crafted electro-pop single with new wave overtones, and an almost shoegazey development in the second half of the song. The single in question is the EP’s title track, streaming below.

This artist submitted music for coverage here.

Lost Boy ?’s debut LP due March 31, "Canned," is a collection of old favorites and soon-to-be-hits that marries clever riffs with playful, creative ambition. Sandwiched between “Hollywood’s” relentlessly catchy riffs and “Hemorrhage’s” disaffected vocals (courtesy of Luke Chiarutinni) you’ll find 11 tracks of perfectly unpolished, irreverent pop goodness. Davey Jones’s bedroom project-turned-band scatters doses of seriousness around the record but still manages to approach it all with refreshing levity. Although Jones has upgraded his recording quality infinitely from his earlier recordings, he kept a crafty, lo-fi approach, with delightfully messy leads and chirpy vocals permeating the majority of the record. "Canned" proves that, for Lost Boy ?, not taking themselves seriously is serious business. See them live at Shea Stadium on 04.18 for the record release party. – Michael Sosnick

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

In art, there’s a fine line between terrible and genius, and it’s mostly defined by taste – but to a certain extent also experience. When you make the choice to get bombarded on a daily basis by music submissions, when you stumble upon something that sounds truly different you can’t help but take notice. Hailing from Queens, NYC, Macula Dog produces heavily… insane music, probably inspired by bizarre experimental bands like The Residents, Pere Ubu and who knows what other obscure weird records. Refreshingly though, these guys aren’t just experimental for the sake of being experimental: their songs are very well produced, and there is a recognizable style unifying their repertoire. We’ll spare you from describing them, just take a listen to "Jungle Swingers" below, or go see them at one of the many upcoming live shows they have scheduled in NYC (list here), and open up your mind!