Singer-songwriter Nick Hakim‘s sophomore EP "Where Will We Go Pt.2" (released on his own label Earseed Records) is a carefully crafted nod to the soul kings – Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix and Al Green. The 23-year-old says he formed his sound while studying at Berklee College of Music. "Lift Me Up" is a perfect example, with a melodic core expressed by Hakim’s hauntingly beautiful vocals, sparse keys and honest lyrics.

LINKS: Read Brescia Mascheretti’s interview with Nick Hakim.

Even when out of fashion, Rock’n’Roll played the good old way has never stopped being fun, and way too many critics announced its death for purposes that seem more self-promotional than analytical. They were mistaking change for death – a common misjudgment old, tired people tend to do. Yes, Rock’n’Roll keeps changing, like anything else in life, and change is death and rebirth at once. Brooklyn’s Sun Ladders – formed in 2012 by Rob Hampton (ex bassist in Band of Horses) – is pretty explicit about wanting to "resurrect" the genre. The title-track of their debut EP – aptly named "Rock’n’Roll is Dead" – is a relentless blues-rock assault augmented by Hampton’s accusatory, tense vocals ("I’ve read in the paper, it’s on the billboards it’s what the man on the TV says. We don’t need no guitars or no bass drums we can bury them in the ground"), that resolves in a quieter bridge invoking a rebirth ritual ("We’ll ask the spirits to raise you back from the grave. Build you an altar and put you back in your rightful place"). More than a ritual, to get its health back Rock’n’Roll simply needs more songs like this one. See Sun Ladders live at Pianos on Saturday October 11 during the CBGB’s Music Fest.

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

NYC quartet Crush Distance seems to have everything in place to be a potential next big thing: young and confident, the boys play catchy indie rock/pop featuring the right amount of dirt and attitude. The effort might come across as a little over-produced for those into genres that are more direct and DIY, but we are pretty sure a video/song combo like the one streaming below (titled ‘Kerosene’) can get many industry insider quite excited. They are playing tomorrow 10.08 at Pianos within the CBGB’s Music Fest with like minded (and also NYC based) melodic rockers Born Cages. 

Nobody can underestimate the importance of CBGB’s for the NYC music scene, and this year The Deli decided to take part in the festival that carries the venerable club’s name with a bill of bands that rock in vintage ways. This show will also be our 40th issue’s launch party!!

Check this out and do not miss! Here’s the link to the CBGB’s Festival, and here are the details of our show.

THE DELI’s 1st CBGB’S FEST SHOW!
Friday 10.10, Pianos, $10, 21+  

11:10 THE VEEVEES

10:20 JEREMY & THE HARLEQUINS

9:30 IMMIGRANT UNION (Brent from the Dandy Wharols)

8:40 HEAVY GLOW (Album Release)

7:50 HIGH WAISTED

7:00 BABY ACID

NYC’s The VeeVees recently added lead vocalist Sophia Urista to what was formerly a White Stripes/Kills/Black Keys-style act. With her vocal power, now its founding members, Garrett Cillo (guitar/vocals) and Andrea Belfiore (drums), can take things in the more epic direction of, say, Cream or Led Zepplin. (No shit?) If nothing else, Urista’s addition creates more sex appeal and a deeper leap into the belly of the blues – don’t miss their explosive live show at The Deli’s Revival Stage at CBGB Music Fest on Friday 10.10 – more info here. – by Dave Cromwell, photo by Dennis Manuel.

Brooklyn trio Glass Gang employ heavy drones and cavernous reverb to create a lo-fi sound both spacious and ambient. Think of the experiments of Mum, with a dollop of shoegaze and a horror movie soundtrack fetish, and you’re getting close. They just released this new single ‘Lower,’ which adds an element of soufulness to the package. See the band live at The Deli’s official CMJ show at Pianos on October 24. – photo by Taylor Antisdel

Master rhyme blaster Rabbi Darkside drops a new video for his collaboration with DJ Rob Swift entitled “You and I and The Moon” from his 2013 album Prospect Avenue. Directed, produced, and edited by Tafadzwa M. Chiriga, the video is a noir-ish throwback to Weimar Cinema. Low light, high grain, and a minimal spooky performance by Darkside make for a luminary experience. The track is an interesting departure from the classic boom bap for which Rabbi D is known. Its solitary extended verse is more of a narrative meditation. As it progressively escalates, harmonious overdubs add an unsettling urgency to this hip hop haunt of dark self-discovery. DJ Rob Swift’s virtuosic scratches conjure a chilling winter wind to perfectly conclude this quixotic escapade. – BrokeMc

Milk Carton Kids have always been the kind of band you haven’t heard right until you’ve seen them live. Known as much for their banter between their songs, as for the banter between Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan’s harmonious voices and flat-picking steel guitars, the duo were nominated for a Grammy last year for their record ‘The Ash & Clay’ because of this crazy ability to make you laugh one moment and tear up unexpectedly the next. Now with fellow folk artist and Grammy nominee Sarah Jarosz, the two groups are mixing contemporary folk, Americana and roots music together into a frothy new concoction, and they’re serving it to you live at the historic 92Y on October 18th. Join them there so you don’t have to sit through the Grammies again next year. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets), photo Matthew Shelter

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

Notwithstanding the borough’s permanently rising rents and their dim earning prospects, psychedelic artists keep moving to Brooklyn at a record setting rate – even though pot isn’t legal over here just yet! Tacoma’s Watermelon Sugar belongs to this category, and The Deli is happy to welcome them to this land of musical dreams! The band plays a rocking brand of psych rock that references at once the "out there" pioneers of the late Sixties and the poppier British bands of the late Eighties, with an abrasive guitar based sound that’s reminiscent of the early Flaming Lips records. Their self titled debut EP doesn’t have one "meh" song in it. Go check them out at Glasslands when they headline the October 26 show.

God bless Other Music for keeping the "relevant Manhattan record store" chapter alive in the new millennium. For those unaware, Other Music apparently enjoys being invested in semi-extinct and incredibly-hard-to-keep-solvent businesses: i.e, they also have a record label. As you may expect from people who deal with records on a daily basis, they sign some interesting bands. The latest addition to their roster is called "Invisible Familiars," a New York based project led by singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jared Samuel, who played with variety of NYC artists (most recently The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger and Cibo Matto). The band released two singles from the upcoming album, the intriguingly sparse, almost ballad ‘Clever Devil’ (streaming here) and a more electric blueasy number entitled ‘Digger’s Invitation.’ You can check out Invisible Familiars at Glasslands tomorrow (10.03, with Deli darlings People Get Ready) or at Union Pool during the CMJ Music Marathon on 10.23.

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

Adam Cohen had been performing solo long before forming The Morning Sea, a group he founded with college friend and producer Tony Long, intent in revisiting and often updating the various aspects of traditional American music. In their seven song EP ‘Strange Captive,’ the band offers songs that are often fast paced, but never lose the intensity of the best folk music, nor shy away from occasionally pushing the rootsy envelop in interesting new direction. Take "Talk Yourself Down" for example (streaming): its country-ish sound is only an appearance: the song itself has nothing traditional to it, it could have been written by Radiohead during the ‘OK Computer’ years. ‘Bit My Tongue‘ is a similar experiment, but flirting with desert rock and spaghetti western aesthetics.

LINK: read Rebecca Blandon interview with The Morning Sea.