Brooklyn’s electro-rock collective Leverage Models keeps surprising us with quality edgy music and visuals – check out their new video for "Night Falls on General Assembly" below – if you don’t get it, find the explanation here. The band – whose debut album got what could be called an "Almost Best New Music" Pitchfork review – is scheduled to headline The Deli’s Northside/B.E.A.F. Fest Electronic Stage on June 14 with Psychic Twin, Zula, Twintapes and WOLVVES among others.

Split between NYC and Boston, Handsome Ghost is a brand new electro-pop project that was born when songwriter Tim Noyes (presumably on the right in the picture) decided to delete his Tinder account and give the musical dream a serious shot – pictured, the moment when Tim let one of his Tinder dates know about his decision (we would have dropped her for the unfashionable fur anyway). He left the glamour of internet dating for a studio in Vermont and came out with a record. On April 22, after more than a year since the beginning of the creative process, Handsome Ghost’s first single, "Blood Stutter" (streaming below) was premiered by Popmatters through a Spotify playlist curated by Noyes, featuring also tracks by some of his favorite artists (we gladly found Deli cover band Lucius and St. Vincent in it). Since then the song (or compilation, or both) went viral, and "Blood Stutter" got 75k plays in just two weeks, which by any standards is an awful lot for a new band.

Check out the melanchonic, futuristic track, and Tim vocoded (or auto-tuned?) vocals below and – if you dig – follow the hype to Cameo’s Gallery for the band’s first Brooklyn show on 05.09.

Formed in 2012 by frontman Matt Stevenson, Spires brings uncommonly groovy beats to the Brooklyn psych rock scene. For a young band that has only officially released two songs, they’ve got a lot of accomplishments under their (likely fringed) belts. Spires has played big venues like Irving Plaza and Bowery Ballroom, they toured alongside UK buzz act TOY, they’re amassing a following in England, and they performed a late-April gig with UK-based The Horrors at House of Vans. In the interview we are linking to under this blurb, the band promised a new release in 2014. While waiting, you can see them live at The Wick in Brooklyn on May 15.

LINK: Corinne Bagish’s interview with Spires

Bellwether is one of the newer Long Island Based Pop-Punk bands that’s spreading like a wildfire. The name Bellwether literally means the lead sheep in a flock, chosen by the band to indicate their commitment to differentiate themselves from the mundane sound and egotistical vibe that they feel a lot of today’s Pop-Punkers display. This attitude can be heard in their latest EP “After Reflection” – dropped in February – entirely acoustic (quite rare for the genre), and they’ve been launching themselves forward ever since, playing with bands like I Am The Avalanche and finding inspiration in high school year favorites like Taking Back Sunday. Their vibrant guitar riffs paired with frontman Desmond Zantua’s catchy and well-suited vocals make Bellwether a band to keep an ear on. New Yorkers in a mood for a trip out of town can check them out live on May 18 at Bradley Beach within the Skate & Surf Festival at the Asbury Park Oceanfront.

LINK: Michaels Haskoor’s interview with Bellwether

Truthers is a brand new psychedelic project involving members from Phone Tag / DIIV and Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk. The band played one of its first live show at Brooklyn Bazaar on May 3rd opening for Pictureplane. The only song available online – "Calm Canaries," streaming below – is a purposefully chaotic mish-mash of genres from lo- fi to garage, dream pop and even ambient, and features a melody that fearlessly – and at times almost aimlessly – climbs through higher and higher falsetto notes. They’ll be performing againat Silent Barn on May 17.

Anyone concerned with the state of rock and roll should maybe shut up and check out Brooklyn based duo Nancy. Rock doesn’t get much more earnest, or flat-out bold than these guys – nothing but unadulterated attitude in every strum of their barebones, no-nonsense bangers. A glorious combination of punk-infused driving rhythms and punchy singing that calls to mind the likes of The Ramones, Bad Brains, The Misfits, and maybe even Meatloaf, make Nancy a force that you can’t fight. You’ll be unknowingly nodding in satisfied agreement, or wiling out entirely while they bridge the rock-n-roll gap between then and now. – JP Basileo

Most bands could take a lesson from Dog Society: no matter how long you wait between records, it’s never too late to get back together and make a new album. After a 19 year hiatus, Dog Society in the next few days 2012 released a follow-up LP to their 1993 record ‘Test Your Own Eyes’ – which was released under Atlantic Record’s wing. ‘Emerge’ is a catchy, droning, jangly thing that puts the band right back where they belong: wIth buzzing mellotrons (‘Pink Sun’), epic rock (‘A Good Friend’) and meandering acoustic jams (‘Aleja’). Fans of the group will hear the Beatlesque harmonies the group got them used to, but the band isn’t stuck in a time capsule either. There are places here Dog Society has never gone before: like the psychedelic madness of ‘Spaceboots,’ or the Jovi-inspired anthem ‘Daymare.’ Listen to track ‘Salt’ below, and stay tuned for new record ‘In The Shade’ dropping later this year. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

This band submitted their music for coverage here.

"Sleep No More" (playing at Manhattan’s McKittrick Hotel) is an immersive theatrical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, taking place inside a five or six storey building, where actors interact with the audience, which is (almost entirely) free to choose where to go or who to follow. That’s where atmospheric electronic duo Young Magic, on Thursday May 6th, will be celebrating the release party of their sophomre full length "Breathing Statues." It sounds like the perfect ambiance for a band whose music constantly flirts with mystery. The show will be at the Manderley Bar and it’s open to the public so it’s a great opportunity to check out an event that promises to be different. Check out the new single ‘Holographic,’ streaming below.

When we first played "Pity Party" by SLAVVE – a new Brooklyn via Florida duo involving ex members of Surfer Blood and Weird Wives – our mind(s) traveled back in time to the days when Swiss trio The Young Gods was rocking our world with cascades of (sampled) electric guitars and and magnetic, desperately epic vocals. Even though these NYC punks (from what we can tell) don’t use electronics, the comparison kind of works, at least musically. SLAVVE is all in sonically and emotionally, and even though their music sounds like a violent storm, it still maintains a musicality that makes all this turbolent tension enjoyable. Their debut, self titled EP will be out in late June.

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

Brooklyn’s power-fuzz group rad dreams is a testament to the numbing power of a good array of effects pedals. The quartet seems to take its melodic roots in folk, and its tonal roots in Black Sabbath and The Pixies, turning genre on its head, and re-imagining convention. Heavy on the fuzz, and soothing in vocal harmonies, they paint pictures of static beauty against sludgy and hazy backdrops, creating a nuclear comfort for the agitated soul. Their cool, nervous vocals tell you it’s okay to be ill at ease, either with self or the world, or both. Catch them at Glasslands on May 14th with Blood Red Shoes, and Radkey. (Please go see them and take a picture we can use for this post since we can’t find any). – JP Basileo

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

Weird music is good for the soul (at least for ours), in particular when it’s well crafted, so we can’t really pass the opportunity to highlight Jerry Paper, a Brooklyn based musical freak we found out through Ava Luna (a band featured on the cover The Deli’s Winter 2012 issue), and the bands they picked for the latest issue of 1.21 GIGAWATTS, a neat, free Brooklyn based magazine that highlights a lot of good local bands, mostly within garage, indie and psych genres. Back to Jerry though. This guy’s music sounds like Brian Eno’s brain buried under an overdove of mushrooms, which is interesting and paradoxical, since Brian Eno is probably the most coldly rational songwriter in the history of pop music. Tonight (May 5th) Jerry is playing a show at Silent Barn’s paradoxically named room Pleasure Jail (a place where, apparently, you can live if you wish so). It may be worth checking him out.

Producer/songwriter Dom P releases alternative electronic music under the amusingly clever name Like Herding Cats. Their self-titled debut EP was released at the end of last year, presenting a uniquely creative sequence of tracks. “Lift” moves at an easy breezy pace, dropping in the kind of minor chord changes made popular by bands like The Cure. While the percussion points towards early New Wave era drum-machine simplicity, the overall spaciousness of the tracks has a more modern feel. Vocals are presented in a deep baritone, evoking Peter Murphy’s work with both Bauhaus and his subsequent solo work. “Touch” pairs warm synth patterns with mechanical cymbals and tinkling descending keyboard lines. The mood is gentle and dreamy, like early Depeche Mode, or The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt, with whom the band shares a pensive lightheartedness. “Rich Girls” (streaming) builds around a calypso rhythm, shifting the emphasis on guitar and the bright percussive fills associated with that genre. Though a specific date has not been revealed yet, the band states that a live showcase is coming soon here in NYC, and to stay tuned for details. –Dave Cromwell

This band submitted their music for coverage here.