Having already established themselves as heavyweight psych-rock contenders, Brooklyn’s Naam are about to release their new EP "The Ballad of the Starchild" with an ambitious scope that further enhances their claim to the "Psych-est Band in NYC" title. "Sentry of Skies" blends unadorned acoustic and mournfully bended electric guitars with a folky tale of being lost in space. The full band emerges halfway through, propelling the track to its psyched-out conclusion. "Lands Unknown" pulses along on rubbery guitar figures and keyboard chords as bass and drums keep a steady pace for the sonic fireworks soon to explode over top, while "History’s Son" introduces mystical percussive elements to an acid-trance groove, serving as a shamanistic bridge to the EP’s thematic centerpiece "The Starchild." At nearly 11 minutes in length, this ambitous tour-de-force rides on a sinuey bassline, allowing crunching guitar chords and thunder-crack drums to throttle the center of your mind. Organ textures fill in open spaces when needed, creating a sonic hybrid that melds elements of bands like The Doors and Pink Floyd with the bombast of Black Sabbath. – Dave Cromwell

Jean-Philip Grobler rejects the idea that he is a synth-pop artist, citing his equal use of electronic and non-electronic instrumentation to support the claim. There are prominent piano chords, wandering guitar riffs and the odd sax solo littered throughout his sound, but with programmed beats providing the heartbeat and earthly synths bringing the soul, the NYC based South African – who releases music under the moniker St. Lucia – does create instrumentals of great electronic beauty. The comparisons to Temper Trap and Empire of the Sun are appropriate, but to my ear, Peter Gabriel is the most fitting comparison. A wonderful thing, I’m sure you’ll agree. St. Lucia is heading towards an important couple of weeks, with a show at Terminal 5 opening for The Shins and then a European tour which will take him to the UK and Paris. – Read Dean Van Nguyen interview with St. Lucia here.

Emerging Brooklyn based indie rock quartet Water Knot landed a slot at Bonnaroo 2012, and will therefore join Radiohead, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Beach Boys, Bon Iver and many more high profile artists at this year edition of one of the most popular summer fests. Water Knot was selected through the Sonicbids’ Road To Roo Contest, congrats guys!

Alabama raised Allison and Catherine Pierce (aka The Pierces) have made their mark on the New York music scene for over a decade. Managing the ups and downs of a professional musical career in the era the record industry collapsed has been no easy task, but these talented ladies have done so with impressive class and resourcefulness. With four albums now under their belt, their latest "You and I" (out in March) is garnering them the amount attention they deserve. Deli contributor Dave Cromwell has been catching up with the blonde half of the duo, Catherine. – Read the interview here.

Riding the wave of what can be dubbed as the "nu-funk movement," CT based Kung Fu have a been tearing up NYC’s Brooklyn Bowl every Monday in April for their weekly residency appropriately dubbed, "The Bowl Sessions." On April 16th, installment two kicked off with sounds by Sonic Spank and Biodiesel. The latter featured the thumping live electronic beats of drumming legendry Johnny Rabb and Brothers Past bassist Clay Parnell. Kung Fu took the stage for a powerful funk dance party with highlights including a take on Weather Report’s “Teen Town" – with Weather Report’s own bassist Victor Bailey, who stayed on stage for a raging take on Billy Cobham’s “Red Baron,” also featuring Rabb. Next, the super group welcomed Dopapod drummer Neal “Fro” Evans on Jeff Beck’s “Come Dancing.” Just when fans thought Kung Fu had pulled out the last of their heavy hitting guests, The Heavy Pets guitarist Jeff Lloyd joined the band for a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Black Man". – Alex Borsody

Light Asylum took an awful long time to release their debut full length (we first blogged about them exactly 2 years ago), but this doesn’t mean that the project didn’t make progress in the meantime. These days, a great live show can serves an emerging artist better than a great album, and the band’s intense performances, driven by the commanding presence and voice of lead singer Shannon Funchess, have allowed the duo to impose itself as one of the most successful Brooklyn based electro-goth acts. Light Asylum will be celebrating the release of their debut album "Shallow Tears" (under Mexican Summer) on May 03 with a show at Le Poisson Rouge. You can stream the first single below.

Psychobuildings often sounds like a mix between Prince and 80s new wave (in the best possible way) and their new single “Baby Cops” is no exception. The band, fronted by Peter LaBier, just released a seriously grooving new single off of their forthcoming June EP “Hearts”. You can listen to it and download it here, and see it performed live at the new Williamsburg venue Delinquency on May 24. – Amanda Dissinger

Mp3: Psychobuildings – Baby Cops

NJ’s alt rockers Those Mockingbirds released their album “Fa Sol La” just this past January, but that didn’t slow down their creative process. The band is already releasing a new single, “The Difference Between Love and Addiction,” (streaming below) in anticipation of a forthcoming album. The track contrasts light vocal male-female interplay with crunching guitars and minor keys. Welcoming the new tune, the band will kick off a tour on April 30 at Montclair State University. Stay tuned for upcoming tour dates and check out the band’s site for all related news. – Meijin Bruttomesso

The L Mag’s yearly appointment with their "8 [NYC] Bands You Need to Hear" issue is always perceived as some kind of "test" here at The Deli. The question we ask ourselves when we are about to check out this section is – of course: "Did they pick bands we never covered?"

In previous editions, the music editors of the biweekly entertainment magazine did find some local gems we had regretfully ignored or missed. But this year we feel particularly good about the outcome, since it turns out that we covered 7 out of the 8 highlighted artists – and the only missing one (Evi Antonio) was at least mentioned in a recent blurb related to a live show he played.

Here’s a very self-referential list of coverage we did for the top 8!

Field Mouse 
These guys won our Artist of the Month poll ages ago (was that 2010?) – they sounded quite different at the time… they were #36 in our latest year end poll for emerging NYC bands.

Ski Lodge
They placed 6th in our latest Best of NYC Emerging Artists Poll. Recent interview here.

Daytona 
Covered in February 2012

Black Marble 
Covered earlier in April

Starlight Girls 
Covered big time in print and online, we also booked them twice. Deli Artist of the Month in 2011. Recent interview here. They placed in 19th position in our latest year end poll for emerging NYC bands.

Plates of Cake 
Covered a couple of times in the last year

Ravens & Chimes 
We’ve been covering these guys for at least 3-4 years: they were The Deli Readers’ Best Band of 2010, and got this feature in print because of it.

"Honorable Mentions"
We hit Robin Bacior, Old Monk and Hunters (current Deli Album of the Month), but missed The Immaculates, Island Twins and Trailblazer, which we will check out soon!

Of the bands we never heard, we were mostly impressed with Island Twins – This is why we gave them the picture on top of this blurb and the streaming song below.

The Deli’s Staff

Brooklyn based The Well-Informed sounds a little like The Beatles did in their late years’ least experimental moments. The band on April 1st released a 3 song EP which could have easily been included in the "White Album" (under Paul McCartney’s name). Of course, even the least experimental songs by The Beatles had some truly imaginative arrangements and beautiful melodies, elements that are not missing from this record. Needless to say that these songs have the potential to be enjoyed by a multitude of people. You can see The Well-Informed live at Rock Shop in Gowanus on May 11.

New Beard released a substantial debut EP ("Moment of Peace") late in 2011, and in June is set to release an album full of the kind of dreamlike touches and dramatic flourishes at home with the Brooklyn-based artist leading this project, Ben Wigler. Not content with repeating itself, the band has stripped bare many of the dense sounds heard on the EP and has gone for a clean and lush atmospheric. The quartet showcases an enormous bag of tricks, and the orchestration has expanded to flutes, strings, tuba and the many manner of ways that express the kind of dreamy sadness Ben Wigler has made his own. To promote the upcoming release, New Beard is premiering this free Mp3 of the song "Doom"(Featuring Gustav Ejstes of Dungen), which you can download below. Don’t miss their show at Bowery Electric on May 5. – Mike Levine

Mp3 – New Beard: "Doom" (Featuring Gustav Ejstes of Dungen)

Cindy Lou Gooden (formerly Very Fresh) is back with a new EP! ‘Kitsch Tapes‘ is a stripped-down, acoustic detour of sorts (CLG sometimes plays and often records with a louder, more abrasive band), commemorative of a prolific summer of songwriting in which several months were spent traveling around the country and crashing with friends in NYC, LA, and various parts of New England. It draws on some perennial influences: Stephen Malkmus and early Dirty Projectors. Everybody says it sounds like Liz Phair even though she says doesn’t really listen to her. Cindy Lou will be playing solo at Big Snow Buffalo Lodge on May 15th for Permanent Wave NYC’s Hollaback! Benefit. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here). The Deli’s NYC Open Blog is powered by The Music Building.