Listening to lo-fi folk duo Over Nights, I’m reminded of something: I have yet to go camping this summer. This group’s lush soundscape of banjos and front porch vocal harmonies is all it takes to remind me that I should be spending the waning days of the season outdoors. Like the first track ‘Broken Cabins’ (streaming) off latest EP ‘The Broken EP,’ where singer Russel Efros discusses ghosts in the walls, and memories of the wilderness.
The group has just played their first show but promises more dates later this August. See them before the weather turrns gets cold again. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

This band submitted their music for coverage here.

Lucius has been keeping us waiting for their debut album for way too long, but we can finally see that day on the horizon of time. The band just released the first single from upcoming debut LP "Wildewoman," entitled "Hey, Doreen" (streaming below, you can download it for free here). On the second half of 2013 the band is planning on taking their live show (without any doubt one of the best in town) all over the world, through an intense schedule of live performances all over North America and Europe. The only NYC show in the list – at Music Hall of Williamsburg on 08.14 – is sold out.

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

At 25 years old, Lora Faye is already at a crossroads with her sound,and she still hasn’t released her debut EP yet. Born and raised on country, Lora began playing music that Pop Montreal describes as: “Edith Piaf meets country.” The singer claims to now be on a diet of a complex variety of genres, sounding more like a female Tom Waitsthan another June Carter Cash. In our interview, Lora Faye answers some questions in preparation for her debut EP, “Waltzes.” – Read Sam Kogon’s interview here.

Orchestral poppers Walking Shapes, fresh off a July Pianos residency, just unveiled the video for single "Keep" – the single is streaming below, check out the video here – nudity alert if you are at the office! The band will be playing at The Knitting Factory  on September 3.

Tox and Guest, a confessional avant-folk group from Columbia University, is a love affair between two fabulous singers (Jon Perkins, Emilie Schattman), and a trumpeter (Corey Dansereau) that makes them sound larger than life. The band exists in life’s magic hours, from the sensual ‘Dawn,’ opening debut EP ‘Pixelated,’ to the unhurried march of closing track ‘Scatter,’ theirs is a diaphanous sound. Rather than imposing realized feelings through their lush but simple orchestrations, Tox and Guest leave the listener with a series of impressions. For a band that hadn’t played together prior to recording this EP, ‘Pixelated’ is an unlikely surprise, and well worth giving a quiet moment to. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

This band submitted their music for coverage here.

If the soul of wit is brevity, then the best word to describe Iotide would be "intense." Maybe we’re being a bit too reductive, but mysterious Brooklyn project Iotide almost sounds like an ideal synthesis of two IDM giants: Boards of Canada and Flying Lotus. With the ominous, memory-inducing tendencies of the former, and the capricious, yet groovy passages of the latter, the music explores places that feel invigoratingly novel. You won’t forget it anytime soon. – Jack McGovern

Slow Warm Death, a trash rock’n’roll band with perhaps one or two oddly held religious convictions, have released a self-titled LP in March with all the makings of the hard rock orgy you’ve always wanted to participate in.

Primarily a loud and blazing bar rock quartet, the band’s not afraid to throw some thrash around either in tracks like ‘Kill You,’ or Arctic Monkeys stylebritrock on ‘Blood,’ and in surprisingly moving distorted ballad, ‘Blood 2.’ Check them out on Bandcamp, as it looks like their limited edition cassette (only 100 released) is already sold out. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

This band submitted their music for coverage here.

The summer of 2013 might well be remembered as a very dreamy one in the NYC scene, considering the seemingly unlimited supply of dream pop, dream folk, shoegazer, psych rock and glo-fi records we get handled digitally. Last but not least here comes the sophomore MINKS album "Tides End", out today, and created by the frontman/songwriter Sonny Kilfoyle in some sort of self-confinment in the East End of Long Island. Is reality in NYC really so grim for musicians? At least,  music like this makes it less grim for music fans!

Check out the video for single "Margot" below, which kind of screams: "Not really interested in going back to Brooklyn."

Goste could be that missing link between humans and machines we’ve all been waiting for. A one man band mixing dizzying electronic loops with soothing, plaintive alt-folk, Goste places a foot in several worlds at once. An unlikely destination a little reminiscent of The Books, and a little of Beth Orton, new EP ‘unlearn/relearn’ highlights these disparate worlds with a remixer’s sensibility for knob twirling. Especially last track ‘To Pretend’ (streaming) where singer Tamsin Wilson (from Deli Record of the Month band Wilsen) adds a mystical ebullience over otherwise schitzoid electronics. Unlike anything we’ve heard all year, listen with headphones and be prepared to hear things a little differently from now on. The band is playing tonight at Leftfield on Ludlow St. "south" – sorry we couldn’t warn you any earlier… – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

This artist submitted their music for coverage here. – We added this song to The Deli’s playlist of Best songs by emerging NYC artists – check it out!

You all should know by now how much we like Foxygen. Their drummer Shaun Fleming – who has recently relocated to NYC from LA but keeps a foot in both shoes – has just released a preview single from upcoming album "My Friend Fish," which he wrote and recorded in his (shared) Manhattan flat after moving in earlier this year.

We never know what to expect from side projects, but in this case we can say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, which is something Shaun should take as a huge compliment. "Hymn" (streaming below) is a soft waltz borrowed from the early 60s and mischievously screwed up with occasional missing beats, psychedelic breaks, and a radical change at minute 2, when it suddenly becomes some kind of tense rock’n’roller a la’ Helter Skelter. What stands out most of all though are Shaun’s vocals, which – as far as character goes – rival Foxygen Sam France’s ones. That’s good news folks, because singers able to be bold in a cool way are getting rare these days.

Diane Coffee is a promising act, and hopefully Shaun will find the time to grow it into a full fledged band – Diane Coffee so far performed live once in Brooklyn in June.

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

With music that soothes, and lyrics that cut, singer-songwriter Jeremy Current is taking his North Carolina roots and transplanting them up here in Brooklyn.

From the sleepy harmonies in the country-soaked ‘Go Up North,’ to the Appalachian Trail blazed through ‘Will You Be’ from his last full-length ‘Dark Land of the Sun,’ Current brings a wealth of Americana to his song catalog. But through all his travels and world-weariness, his self-assured voice rises above it all. See him when he comes back up to Brooklyn for more dates to be announced this fall. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

With a cool, detached sound that keeps the hooks coming, Invisible Days play groovy tunes that navigate with ease through areas as diverse as shoegaze, indie pop, and even funk – this limited to the rhythm section. The band has recently resurfaced with a new 2 song single and a video for the song "Needles" – streaming below. Their smokey vocals are soothing and ecstatic, and their melodies – as British people say – are spot on. As the dog days of summer linger on, Invisible Days paradoxically provide the perfect soundtrack to that almost visible phenomenon that is the NYC heat. – Jack McGovern

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