We highlighted NYC guitarist Kevin Serra’s project Cloud Seeding a few years ago when he released this track with Marissa Nadler. Kevin has been working at his own pace on new material, using this outlet to showcase vocalists he admires (at this stage the list includes also Nadine Carina, Greg Hatem of Heart of Hearts, Sara Syms and Kris English). Even though Cloud Seeding isn’t not committed to a specific signature sound or style, new track Mirage, featuring Alexa Wilding (pictuerd), confirms Serra’s preference for dreamy atmospheres with a strong melody, in this case immersed in a backdrop referencing spaghetti western soundtracks. This same collaboration is working on another single to be released later in the year.

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

Shilpa Ray has one of those voices that is simultaneously haunting and beautiful, like Nick Cave (whose label she is signed to) or Tom Waits. Her music does not cower or sneer in the face of darkness, as some of my favorite contemporary musicians do: it is mature, valuing the truth over appearing hip, and jaded. And that complexity is equally striking in her lyrics. The music has some seriously hard-hitting lines of the kind that will make you re-evaluate your life (and what, if I can be so pretentious as to ask, is the point of creating and experiencing art if it is not to change ourselves?). On "I Is What I Is," she sings, "America’s got talent to seduce you to reduce yourself/America’s got talent to seduce you to reduce everybody else." It’s that ability to get to the heart of the matter – on a sonic and thematic level- that makes her music so effective.

LINK: John McGovern’s Interview with Shilpa Ray.

By design, Baby Alpaca is more than just a band name: it’s a whole aesthetic for the Brooklyn-based musician and fashion designer Chris Kittrell. His slow-burn ballads and simple pop songs have a romantic, airy feeling, but his bigger message is a striving adventure story. Softly-sung baritone vocals that sometimes channel James Blake, cover sparse guitars or keyboards, while he sings about believing in his own potential even if others don’t.

LINKS: Bianca Seidman’s Interview with Baby Alpaca

New York City’s Stargazy will be releasing their second EP "The Fashion" on May 27, and currently previews two tracks from that record on Soundcloud. “Golden Hour” (streaming) soars with utopian nostalgia, creating a sonic dreamscape that deftly fuses 80’s era romanticism with the 90’s penchant for reverberated shimmer. A modernized hybrid sound that takes the drama of Tears For Fears and incorporates elements more associated with a band like Galaxie 500. “The Fashion” builds around quickly strummed acoustic guitar, adding layers of extended electric notes and soaring passionate vocals. Scathing lyrics accuse how “you got the soul to be what’s in fashion, but your soul’s for sale.” Their next show is April 30th at Baby’s All Right, followed by their EP Release show on May 16th at Rough Trade. – Dave Cromwell

The Veda Rays‘ new single "Waiting for Teeth to Show" is proof of what can happen when a band takes its time to develop its sound and songwriting – a rare occurrence these days, in this city in particular. Channeling in part the noir, epic atmospheres of early Depeche Mode post-Vince-Clarke-departure, in part the romanticism of Duran Duran at their creative peak "Rio", this is an extremely well written, performed and produced song that bodes well for the band’s upcoming full length release, scheduled for later in 2014. You can get a preview of the new songs tonight at Death By Audio, where they share the stage with Heaven’s Gate, LostBoy?, Heeney & Sunflower Bean.

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

Young Heel is one of the latest Brooklyn additions to the recent "Alt Soul" wave, consisting mostly in a Caucasian, slightly cerebral reinterpretion of soul-pop music in ways that are alternatively quirky or super chilled, but consistently electronic. Young Heel definitely belongs to the "chilled" side of things, with their tempos constantly in the 80-90 BPM range, and atmospheres that – notwithstanding an overall darkness of sound and rather abstract lyrics – are more than appropriate for love making, something that more than one classic soul-pop artists from the 70s/80s claimed as their mission. Some kind of tragic, pre-farewell love making then, something bound to generate one of the most complex combination of emotions a human being can experience. Young Heel will play live at Glasslands on May 30.

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

We stumbled upon Big Data‘s name yesterday while blogging about Tiny Victories, the two electronic bands will share the Baby’s All Right stage on May 8. A closer look at this project reveals that it’s a creative outlet of Brooklyn producer Alan Wilkis, who seems to borrow the modus operanding of Massive Attack and other record releasing electronic producers, consisting in creating the songs’ arrangements and letting pro vocalists sing. This being said, Big Data’s selection of vocalist seems a little limited, since in debut EP "1.0" all the 4 tracks – including streaming single "Dangerous" – feature Rochester, NY based Joywave behind the mic, indicated as a "guest."  Big Data is about to play a string of shows in the NY and CA areas, and we are not sure if Joywave will join the live show – I guess we’ll find out on the 8th.

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

Ramona Lisa is the project of Chairlift front lady Caroline Polachek. She just unveiled this video for a single much more melodic than the one we blogged about a few weeks ago, although still miles away from the 80s inspired pop sound of her main band. Debut album "Arcadia" will be released by Terrible Records on April 29th, and from the preview tracks on Soundcloud it promises to be sonically all over the map. If you are a fan, don’t miss the release party at Baby’s All Right on April 28.

A band committed to piercing eardrums, shattering bones and making music fans love the blues all over again, Brooklyn trio STRNGRS seem to take after Jack White and The Raconteurs but with darker turns and heavier pits. They’re set to play good ole Arlene’s Grocery this Friday (4/25) and plan on letting it all out, after being hard at work on new tunes.  Listen below to the wailing guitar and harmonica solos in their uptempo blues-rock track “Outta My Mind,” from their last EP titled "Magic Boy" and keep an ear to the ground for their next release, coming soon. – Michael Haskoor (@Tweetskoor) 

Ted McGrath, former member of now defunct NYC noise rock band These Are Powers, is the brainfather of The Flag, an electronic project recently highlighted by The L Magazine that blends the darkest post punk attitude and sound (think a mix of Wire and Throbbing Gristle) with modern lo-fi textures and occasional EDM elements. The 2011 recordings gathered under the title "Wear The Vest Of Wealth" sound like an exploration in style, ranging from semi-improvised horror tracks to droney, industrial songs with the resemblance of a pop structure, with the addition of various instrumental tracks – always rather gloomy – contributing to the overall suicidal mood. The more recent single "Alpha 60 Punch Out" (streaming) displays a tenuous ray of poppiness, which allows the track to more effectively breathe thanks to the introduction of more musical moments of release, in an otherwise constantly tense atmosphere. One could see a possible evolution towards an even more melodic future in the recent cover of Peter Gabriel’s "No Self Control," if it didn’t get literally decimated through lo-fi effects and a bizarre arrangement that can be described as borderline nihilist. Stimulating music for those who don’t fear depression.

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

Self described "sad-grl-electro-pop-sister-duo" Verdigirl recently relocated from CT to Chelsea, Manhattan to pursue their electro-pop dream. Considering the theme of single "Feeling Nervous" (video streaming below) the ladies actually seem born to live in the Big Apple, since they obvsouly have an inclination for being overly self analytical and a little neurotic – which by the way is probably one of the reasons why this city is so prolific artistically. The tune is a well produced, melancholic, mid tempo synth-pop ballad full of tasteful blippy textures and recurring layers of violin and cello (the sisters’ main instruments). If you are feeling too happy, or just want to check out a new interesting local band, go to the Rock Shop tomorrow 04.24 to see them live.

It’s always fun to go through The L Magazine’s yearly appointment with the "8 NYC Bands You Need to Hear." We won’t deny that we see this list like some sort of test for us, to see how many of those artists we covered already and how many we missed.

This year we did pretty well – as usual actually – with 6 hits and 2 misses. We abundantly covered in this blog and in our magazine Slothrust (Artist of the Month some time last year), Gondola, YVETTE (Deli NYC Record of the Month back in May 2011), Porches (Record of the Month a few months ago), WET (also a Record of the Month last year and 3rd best emerging NYC band in our latest Year End Poll), and Teen Girl Scientist Monthly (NYC Artist of the Month some time in 2012). So 5 out of 6 were not only covered but also rewarded with our semi-prestigius titles! A self-pat on the back is due right here, right now.

We totally missed in the blog post punk minimalists The Flag and electro rapper Cities Aviv, although our new – and rad – live listings section picked them up here and here. We’ll cover both these artists soon with dedicated posts.