Tomboy is a NYC duo that offers a rather personal and stripped down take on the industrial-pop genre, even though the term "pop" is a little stretched here, since the band’s material, to date, never really unleashes pop music’s signature "big chorus," preferring instead to keep the melodic tension chained. Their approach is quite minimalistic and measured, with rarely more than two parts overlapping with each other, which opens up a lot of space for Sarah Aument’s strong and somewhat Bjorkesque vocals.  "Roll Out," (streaming, video here) is the first single/video from their self-titled EP, released earlier in April, and moves from a dark, edgy industrial-dance verse towards a more open and traditional chorus. "Moths," on the other end, is a moody midtempo built on on a web of percussive samples and sudden synth slashes. Kudos to director Maria Burns fur the uber stylish, just released video, streaming below.

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

Isadora’s latest, the "Predators EP", strikes a fine balance between their song’s underlying dreaminess, and an unapologetic ebullience featured on later tracks. The songs are reliably catchy throughout, but some, such as "Barcelona" (streaming) will knock you sideways. In this song, the hook comes early, a brief and sticky piano phrase wrapped tightly in a snare and shaker groove. The song’s chorus, conversely, develops more gradually. The first pass at it is fleeting, hinting at this section’s later flourish and then reengaging the listener with the piano refrain, this time waist deep in wailing guitar. "Option A," another strong cut from the EP, also plays on this dynamic, gradually raising the temperature to degrees below soaring, expertly lapsing into a calmer pocket, before a final anthemic relapse. Catch Isadora 12/7 at Glasslands. – Emilio Herce

Few rock albums have been at once as daring and fun as Devo’s debut "Q: Are We Not Men?" and we are always ecstatic when we hear exciting new local music referencing the band that managed to make Ohio glamorous (at least for a year or two). The NYC scene doesn’t need any more glamor, but it sure can use a record like Future Punx‘s new EP "I’m So Inspired." The record represents a rather drastic change for the band: compared to their previous, more experimental and droney releases, more attention was shifted towards arrangements, melody and structure, i.e. production. On our favorite track "Plus Side," a web of funky guitars and farfisas creates an intriguing post-punk setting, letting singer Chris Pickering’s deadpan tenor tie together the various elements with a few well picked notes. Opener "I’m so inspired" and third track "Forgive the Doubt" confirm the flirtations with both the post punk of the early ’80s and funk music, with the latter providing the most memorable chorus of the EP. Closing track "See You in the Future" doubles the fun with keyboard madness, teutonic angularity and bizarre call and response vocals reminiscent of early The Stranglers – another stellar band of the ’80s that’s criminally under-referenced in today’s pervasive ’80s revival. Thank you Future Punx, this was a nice Christmas present! – Photo by Josefina Lagos

With New Year’s Eve around the corner, it’s time to look around for some mindless party tunes, and the two blond ladies in FEVERHIGH provide us with a good candidate with single "That’s So Typical," released earlier this year. More recent single "All Work"  (streaming below) wins our preference though, blending tropical infused lounge with a brand of ’80s electro-pop reminiscent of – dare we say – Bananarama and their joyous group singing. The duo recently played Pianos and Glasslands, check out the videos of the two singles here.

Like all true rockers, we tend to react pretty badly to Christmas music – we were particularly devastated by Bob Dylan’s obscene Christmas album released a few years ago. But there are always exceptions, and the song streaming below, by Brooklyn chanteuse Maya Solovey, is one of them. "In the Bleak Midwinter" is a late 19th century poem by the English poet Christina Rossetti, which was then made into a Christmas carol in the early 20th century. What we like about Maya’s version is that it takes it back to what it was originally: a poem about Christmas, rather than a carol – we actually wonder if the author ever meant for it to become a carol! The song is the opening track of the songwriter’s latest release, entitled "Midwinter: On Christmas Eve," which features many of the classic Christmas tunes in a super stripped down, sleigh bell-free version. This bare bone treatment highlights Maya’s beautifully expressive soprano, and allows for a new appreciation of melodies and lirycs almost all of us know by heart. 

It would be interesting to know how many people move in and out of NYC every year – hundreds of thousands we guess? This is a city that fuels all sorts of dreams only to crush them the minute you stop believing. In its scene, where new bands are born and not so old ones die on an hourly basis, the artists that manage to stick around for longer than a few years become the true pillar of the musical community. The same can be said for a venue that consistently promotes quality local acts like Glasslands. As you know, the Williamsburg spot will be closing its doors at the end of 2014, and, looking at its last few weeks of calendar, we couldn’t help but notice the Tuesday 12.23 bill, which features four quality local artists that we covered abundantly for years and that have earned the title of "NYC scene pillars." We are referring to psych folk collective Backwords (in the picture, playing Glasslands a few years ago), maudit rock songwriter Shilpa Ray, Economy Punk (ex Xray Eyeballs‘) and Dragons of Zynth, an indie soul act that has been around at least since we started this blog (that was 2005) and that occasionally comes back when you least expect it. Definitely a good opportunity to say goodbye to this legendary but short lived venue, and meet some familiar faces.

We stumbled upon Brooklyn Pale Lights‘ bandcamp profile and got tangled up with their charming and jangly indie pop. The band released two records in 2014, a full length entitled "Before There Were Pictures" and – a few weeks ago – the "Fourteen Storise Tall" EP, which takes their music to new peaks, featuring songwriting reminiscent of bands that touched our hearts in different eras, like Lloyd Cole & the Commotions and Belle and Sebastian. From what we heard, the EP’s title track (streaming below) is the band best song to date, check it out below. – photo by Timothy Krause

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

A lot of musicians wonder what it takes to get their band’s LP reviewed on Pitchfork – and some (maybe) even just to have a song posted on The Deli’s blog. The truth might be disappointing for many: music critics and bloggers constantly search for music they like, and that’s what they highlight, but they also miss a ton of stuff, because there’s just too much music to deal with out there – which by the way explains why having proper PR backing is important. Also, a record that gets a 7 from a reviewer might get a 4 or a 9 from another from the same publication, so the "random taste" factor is substantial. This being said, while OK records find both fans and detractors in the music reviewing community, really good ones always seem to build some consensus. This seems to be the case for Brooklyn’s punk pop quartet Chumped (a band we covered for the first time almost exactly one year ago), whose new album "Teenage Retirement" recently got a really good review from Pitchfork. The record belongs squarely to the "90s resurgence" wave that in recent years has been inspiring many in the Brooklyn’s DIY community of musicians, but it stands out from most other releases for consistency of the songwriting – always something quite rare to find. Check out track opener "December is the Longest Month" below, and don’t miss what promises to be an incredibly packed show at tiny Acheron on December 30.

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

Tomorrow, December 16, Boston Indie Rockers Elephants will be releasing their latest full-length album, "Strange Waves." The release comes about a year and a half after their self-titled first record. Their sophomore offering shows a lot more musical control, while still holding tight to their lo-fi preferences. It seems the band has finally found their sound (spoiler alert: lots of fuzzy guitars) and has figured exactly how to project it. The record has a great flow to it–all of the songs are very cohesive and compliment each other nicely. I was able to check a preview of the album and I particularly drawn to the fifth track, “Moving Pictures.” The song has a Dinosaur Jr.-ish feel with great guitar riffs and a smooth vocal performance from singer Lauren Garant. You can find some of these elements also in "The Turtles Were Right," the first single unveiled by the band, streaming below.

For updates about future shows and other band news, check out Elephants’ Facebook page. – Dan McMahon

There seems to be no end to the number of quality, undiscovered electronic NYC artists. Basic Shapes is a Brooklyn based trio that’s not that new (their older Soundcloud tracks date back from 2010) but that has recently reached maturity with a series of singles that show improved production and songwriting. Notwithstanding an unnecessarily long intro (yes, like most people buried by music submissions, we prefer songs that get to the point right away) single "Weird Kids" features a super cool, intricate web of electronic sounds that flirt with funk and big beat influences. While this track sports a seductive male tenor, a lot of the band’s recent material features vocals by Brooke Morrison. Their previous single "Stand Still" is one of them. The band is currently in the studio finishing up an album due for an early 2015 release. You can catch them live at Cake Shop on January 9th.

Monday is traditionally the day when small venues experiment with new "untested" artists they like, in particular just before Christmas, when there aren’t a lot of bigger acts touring. So from The Deli’s perspective it’s definitely an interesting day. Today we stumbled upon NYC’s Soft Fangs (aka John Lutkevich, pictured) and his sleepy lo-fi. He will be playing Baby’s All Right tonight (12.15) with sophisticated pop songwriter (and sporadic Deli contributor) Sam Kogon, opening for shoegazer pop trio Heaven. Check out their music below.

With their icy new electro-dance single ‘Stick Tie Lock Tether’ Folding Legs are certainly contributing to the "Europeanization" of the NYC sound. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering that singer Katharina Stenbeck and guitarist Chris Cerny hail respectively from Sweden and Austira. With her elegantly minimal and slightly alienating melodies, Katharina channels the melodic maturity of a Siouxie Sioux from the "Suprestition" years, while the electronic backdrop (a new development for a band that got us used to a more electric sound) recycles elements of the European electronic pop-goth movement of the 80s – think Pet Shop Boys and early Depeche Mode. The brand new video streaming below adds an extra, visual element of dark decadence that links directly to the materic European expressionism of the early 20th century.

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