Was 2014 a good year for the emerging NYC bands? Did the local scene produce new, exciting acts and records? A look back at The Deli NYC’s records of the month of the past year should shed some light about the health of the local scene:

January 2014 – Porches – "Slow Dance in the Cosmos"

February 2014: Cloud Becomes Your Hand – "Rock or Cakes"

March 2014: Frankie Cosmos – Zentropy

April 2014: Passenger Peru: Self Titled

May 2014: Skull Practitioners – "st1 – tape"

June 2014: Cantina – "Horizons EP"

July 2014: Baked – "Debt"

August 2014: Crying – "Get Olde"

September 2014: Buscabulla – "Kitsune‘"

October 2014: Zula – "This Hopeful"

November 2014: Mitski – "bury me at makeout creek"

December 2014: Future Punx – "I’m So Inspired"

Enjoy!

The Deli NYC

If you are not a fan of sweaty and chaotic New Year’s Eve parties, or if you’d like to take it easy in the early evening hours, Rockwood Music Hall has put together a very civilized – but extremely enjoyable – early show for the last day of 2014: Elizabeth & the Catapult (pictured) and Dear Georgiana are the brainchildren of two of the most talented NYC based female songwriters. and will take the stage of Rockwood 2, in that order, starting at 8pm on December 31.  Check out these two catchy and lush singles from their recent albums.

Even if you are not into listening to rock’n’roll on a daily basis, it’s hard to deny that – at least in a live setting – it’s still the best party music of’em all. Well, if on New Year’s Eve your goal is to party hard, then we recommend you look into the Grand Victory’s December 31 show, because it promises to be a ton of fun, thanks to an all local lineup or rock’n’rollers. Headlined by Bushwick’s surf/punk/rock machines The Nuclears (a band propelled by the drums of The Deli’s distribution coordinator Kevin Blatchford) and by Briana Layon and the Boys‘ heavy blues (and sexy moves), the bill will also feature the return of NYC’s The Everyothers, a band we interviewed back in 2008 and we thought had disbanded forever. Opening acts include Pale Moon Gang and The Flies. Be there, and rock until you drop! Check out tracks by The Nuclears and Briana Layon & the Boys (also pictured) below.

My first exposure to Sean Eldon was an acoustic set at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, where we shared the stage a month or two ago. That was the first time I heard his song “I Never Heard Such Fuck” (streaming below). I didn’t know what to think at first, but I kept finding my self singing it, so you imagine my excitement when I heard the EP "Pulmones!" had been released. Partially a result of personal experiences with cancer in the family, the EP balances the anger, confusion, and bitterness of life’s far too real surprises. Punk in energy, psychedelic in imagination, Eldon has found a cool niche for himself. Manic sounding with honest, often colloquial lyrics, Pulmones! illustrates the painful growth a fresh Boston voice. Check out the EP here. All proceeds form the EP go to the American Cancer Society. Don’t miss Sean’s upcoming show at TT The Bear’s in Cambridge on January 11. – Paul Jordan Talbot

This past Friday, I was able to check out Magic Man’s sold-out holiday party at the Sinclair in Cambridge, MA. Despite the fact that Magic Man have achieved some serious success this past year (playing Boston Calling, having their first headlining tour, getting signed to Columbia records), I still consider them a local band and will probably forever) be compelled to write reviews of their shows. This is a band that always manages to put on great live performances, and Friday night certainly was no exception – they seemed particularly excited to be playing a show near their hometown. Dressed in coordinated red and white shirts (and accompanied by a drum kit decked-out in Christmas lights), the band was prepared to embrace the holiday party vibe. Lead singer Alex Caplow did a great job working the crowd, inviting the everyone to sing along on multiple songs. Throughout the entire set, I don’t think I saw the smile leave his face, or the faces of anyone else in attendance. The band even threw in a cover of “All I Want for Christmas is You”, augmented by the massive bass lines and pure on-stage joy that come standard with every Magic Man concert. – Dan McMahon (@dmcmhn)

Salt Cathedral’s latest EP, "Oom Velt," is a richly textured, futuristic affair. Made up of swirly, intertwined parts, close inspection reveals an openness to symmetry too. At its heart, each song is centered around the breathless vocals of Juliana Ronderos, who shape-shifts as she mesmerizes. We chatted up drummer Tommy Hartman recently, who brought us up to speed on how the band got their sound. 

Read Emilio Herce interview with Salt Cathedral.
We added this song to The Deli’s playlist of Best mellow pop songs by emerging NYC artists – check it out!

Brooklyn’s duo BLKKATHY inserts itself in the tradition of moody, psych and DIY influenced soul music coined by TV on the Radio’s first EP, and takes it to an extreme level of introversion and self-absorption – qualities that almost fight with the nature of this genre. In their most popular single "Dem Bones" (streaming) Kate Faust sounds as if she was singing to herself, without an audience, mumbling about some skinny girl who’s taller than her: "I can see why you don’t want me, she’s so skinny…". The melody is almost just a draft, but catchy nonetheless, and the minimal electronic arrangement perfectly complements her whispers. The duo has caught the attention of the talent scouts at Pianos, who booked them for a three week residency starting on December 30.

For those who, like us, enjoy the power of emotions but cannot be asked to sit through two hours of a romantic drama (unless it’s a British recreation of a novel by Jane Austen), this new video for "Toledo" by Brooklyn’s Glass Elephant might work as a concentrated, extremely well executed, 4 minutes shot of cathartic and sob-inducing love-related rollercoaster. It’s got all the essential soul stirring qualities of a Hollywood flick without the unnecessary baggage, thanks to Russ Flynn’s tormented lyrics and the band’s evocative music, that team up to exude longing and describe the often unresolvable complications of love. The video’s beatiful imagery greatly contributes to magnify these emotions, emplyoing at times the overlapping images technique borrowed from TV series’ True Detective stunning intro. Check out the Glass Elephant’s new, self-titled EP here.

NYC’s Teen Girl Scientist Monthly coined a new genre to describe their upbeat, energetic music: "pop stomp" (why not "stomp pop"? It sounds better…) Here at The Deli we are fans of the band’s fast paced pick-me-up single “Summer Skin”, which feels like a well needed shot of unpretentious rock’n’roll, something kind of rare in our tense and often angry rock scene. The Brooklyn band has a super fun live show that has the potential to get even the laziest of humans out of their seats for some frantic dancing. That’s why they are asked to play Rockwood Music Hall on a Saturday – in this case January 3, 2015. – Robert Frezza

Vomitface formed to improve the local music scene. The trio’s brand of self-proclaimed “black-surf” (to which we’d add “grungy, sludgy rock goodness”) comes across searingly in its new, self-titled EP. The noisy provocateurs, who recently played one of The Deli’s B.E.A.F. shows, has just landed a January 2015 residency at Cake Shop. We had the chance to ask Jered Micah (vocals/guitar), Keller McDivitt (bass) and Preemta Singh (drums) about origins, passions, and why they do what they do.

Read Michael Haskoor Interview with Vomitface.

To all of the faithful Deli readers, I apologize for the tardiness of this post, but between recovering from Sunday’s Boston Music Awards festivities and wrestling with some website issues, I have been unable to publish this article until now. I suppose the delay was a good thing though, because my head is finally clear enough to type out a few sentences about all that went down (or didn’t go down) at the annual Boston music scene celebration. I struggled a bit in deciding the angle that I would take for this piece, considering most people just give a rote list of winners, peppered with a few choice adjectives. I’ve chosen to forego that list (you can find it on The Boston Globe or BMA website anyway), opting instead to give a one-sentence recap of the ceremonies, followed by a far more entertaining account of the best performance of the evening.   

The recap: I wasn’t surprised by too much at the awards (Will Dailey and Bad Rabbits receiving more hardware was hardly a shocker), but I was excited to see The Sinclair take home Best Live Music Venue honors.

The story: The highlight of the night for me was Tigerman WOAH’s performance. They were slated to play one of the last sets of the evening, so I figured the BMA organizers and the Revere Hotel were anticipating the rowdy, awesome debauchery that comes standard with all Tigerman gigs, but I guess I was assuming too much. Halfway into their set, the Revere pulled the plug on the band due to numerous people throwing beers up, down and all around the stage. At least I think that was the reason–maybe they didn’t approve of everyone in the room shouting all of the lyrics to Tigerman’s songs? Apparently something about Tigerman’s genuine intensity, and the raucous enthusiasm and revelry that accompany their shows, didn’t align with the polished aesthetic of the hotel. Regardless, the band seemed to be having a good time at the show, passing around a bottle of bourbon among themselves and any audience member within arm’s reach of the stage.

Even with the abrupt stop their set, two things are indisputable: Tigerman always puts on one heck of a performance, and the BMA committee knows how to throw one heck of a party. – Dan McMahon (@dmcmhn), photoby Natasha Moustache @iamMoustache

Brooklyn’s hardcore up-and-comers Sick Feeling are an authentic love child of the NYHC scene, sharing similarities to Fucked Up with an even more agonizing vocal edge from singer Jesse Miller-Gordon. They’ve just released a brand new punk single titled ‘The Americans’ paired with a meme lyric video directed by Nick Ace – you can watch it below. It’s the band’s second single from their forthcoming LP titled ‘Suburban Myth’ due out on January 20th via Collect Records. With such an aggressive approach, it’s no wonder that former Thursday’s Geoff Rickly (owner of Collect) took interest in their sound almost immediately. Claiming that they’re “the sound of American nostalgia being turned inside out,” Sick Feeling cling to their message of acceptance of young angst and growing pains as being totally normal. – Michael Haskoor (@Tweetskoor)