NJ’s indie pop-rock group Socratic just released their 3rd full-length record titled "Socratic (The Album)." The release was produced by drummer Thomas Stratton at Soundwaves Studios in Union, NJ. The record has received praise from fans new and old as well as publications like Absolutepunk.net and The Interlude. This is the follow up to the Mark Hoppus produced "Spread The Rumors" LP. The band has also released a brand new video directed by Seiichi Daimo of Music1nfocus Productions of their first single "Curtain Call", streaming here. The new record can be purchased at "pay what you wish" rate here. – (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 and APS Mastering.

New Jersey melllow-indie-pop group The Ugly Club has recently announced they will be doing a tour down to SXSW this March. The band has confirmed a show at The National Underground in Nashville, TN on March 10th and Super Happy Fun Land in Houston, TX on March 13th, with more dates and SXSW plans TBA. The band has also released 2 live, in-studio music videos of new songs off their upcoming album (here’s one). The performances were shot live at Soundwaves Studios in Union, NJ with videographer Seiichi Daimo of Music1nfocus Productions. The audio is cut from one live take. A bonus video and other releases can be found on the band’s youtube channel. – (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 and APS Mastering.

We are getting there folks! We just uploaded the full list of artists nominated for our Best of LA 2011 Poll for Emerging Artists. It’s in the right column on this same page and also HERE, where you can actually vote. Some bands in the list were selected through a submission process and some others were picked by our jury of local scene-makers, who could freely choose 3 bands each in order of preference. Points were already assigned to each band according to how well they did in the selection process. Now the readers’ and fans’ votes will also influence the final chart. Each vote will count!

The Deli’s Staff

We highlighted this new Brooklyn band Motive a few weeks ago in the Indie Rock submission results for our Best of NYC Poll. Filter just debuted their video of the single "Nobody Loves Me", streaming below. There’s also a rather fitting spoof version of it dedicated to Mitt Romney, the man 75% of Republican voters and 100% of the rest of the human beings don’t seem to love. Well, that’s ALMOST nobody I guess…

I recently heard somebody saying how one of the reasons why unemployment is so high these days is that we are all doing a lot more DIY than we used to: from accounting software to Ikea furniture assembling, the occasional odd job has become a form of entertainment. This is obviously an extremely valid point when applied to indie music, in an age where almost all records are at least partially recorded at home, and recording studios are struggling. Porcelain Raft extended this concept also to their music video, which was directed by bearded band leader Remiddi himself – who obviously knows what he’s doing in both sonic and visual realms. The band just released their debut album "Strange Weekend" on Secretly Canadian and is about to begin a US tour.

We receive a lot of video submissions, and this one from NYC band Water Knot caught our eye. The four piece, whose sound is epic and dark, has crafted a psychedelic video for their new song “Big Brother”. The band is currently working on a new album, check out their new video below. – Amanda Dissinger

The Deli’s December “Record of the Month” Hot Holy Mess will perform at Rock Shop on January 26th with Brooklyn bands Sky White Tiger and Railbird. The psych-folk four piece is celebrating the release of their first 45rpm single “Red Wild Eye”. Sharing the stage will be fellow Brooklyn band Sky White Tiger (pictured + video streaming below), which was formed in 2009 when five friends previously active in Polyphonic Spree and Rufus Wainwright decided to band together.

The two bands will be supported by experimental-pop buzz band Railbird (single streaming below), which has been performing all over the city lately, and is also scheduled to play with The Young Unknowns at Glasslands on Feb. 5th. Check out more info about the Rock Shop show (and all three bands) here. – Amanda Dissinger

Among the many peculiarities of NYC’s music, 22 year old Bri Arden is one of the reasons it’s so hard to make any reasonable attempt at pinning down our city’s music sound convincing. The Americana singer/songwriter looks and sounds like she just flew in from Texas, but Arden was in fact born right here in downtown NYC. Listening to songs from her second record "Awake," like barnburner ‘Mr. Anonymous’ or the wispy ‘Wherever You Go,’ your first impression might be of an alt-country singer filed somewhere between Carrie Underwood or Lady Antebellum. She has an unassuming and relaxed charm usually associated with the bible belt heartland that young female country singers call home, so she’s something of an anomaly here in our neck of the woods. Arden’s latest record was fashioned while majoring in Gender Studies at Columbia University, and on it you’re going to hear a lot more talk about boys than about the kind of female relationships she writes about in some detail on her blog. I know I shouldn’t stereotype philanthropic feminists (she also gives much of her time to causes like orphanages and AIDS charities), I guess I just wasn’t expecting Arden to sound so relatable and well…vulnerable with her gifts. Most of her record deals in the working out of complex girl-meets-world emotions ranging from lovestruck longing to lovestruck heartache and similar lovestruck emotional negotiations. Arden’s material construct a bridge I didn’t know existed between country soul and urban power-pop. The urban cowgirl shows off a side of things I didn’t see coming out of NYC, but it’s good to know Muskogee doesn’t have anything on Manhattan. – Mike Levine

We are getting there folks! We just uploaded the full list of artists nominated for our Best of SF Bay Area 2011 Poll for Emerging Artists. It’s in the right column on this same page and also HERE, where you can actually vote. Some bands in the list were selected through a submission process and some others were picked by our jury of local scene-makers, who could freely choose 3 bands each in order of preference. Points were already assigned to each band according to how well they did in the selection process. Now the readers’ and fans’ votes will also influence the final chart. Each vote will count!

The Deli’s Staff

Space rock appears to be coming back in a big way, and bands like Brooklyn’s White Hills are at the forefront of this movement. Their latest album "Frying on this Rock," (scheduled for release on March 20th) is a riff-heavy tour-de-force of epic psychedelia. The album was recorded by legendary NYC producer Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Brian Eno, Swans, Herbie Hancock, Boredoms) and features five jam-heavy tracks, with "I Write a Thousand Letters (Pulp on Bone)" clocking in at nearly 12 minues in length. That song presents clever use of distant conversational voices contributing to dreamlike texture as it weaves through industrial sounding guitars and a hypnotic drum patterns. Subsequent cuts emphasize sonorous power chords, rhapsodic guitar solos and and swirling synth tones. The band will be debuting tracks from the new album live at The Mercury Lounge on January 24. Special guests MOFO, which feature ex-members of A Place To Bury Strangers, will also be playing that night. – Dave Cromwell