This Old Ghost, who submitted their music for consideration digitally here a few weeks ago, plays Americana tinged, pleasantly melodic folk-rock featuring harmonized boy/girl vocals and sudden heavy openings, like in their latest EP "Island of Violent lovers" first track "This Lifeboat", where the pretty atmosphere of the verse gets almost "violated" by a chorus that flirts with prog-rock. Being the indie maniacs we are, we prefer the less prog-rocky tracks like the traditional folk rock tune "Attack on the Settlers Cabin" (streaming below), which slowly builds in tension and brings back some good 90s rock vibes. This is a group of guys who can write good songs and, judging from their busy live schedule, also know how to entertain when on stage. Check them out at Pianos on 12.07 or at Rockwood on 12.16.

Fun show at The Living Room on Saturday December 10 with 2 NYC artists we are very familiar with (Psychobuildings and Team Genius, who recently signed with Paper Garden Records) and 2 other ones we haven’t covered as much (or at all for that matter), Cultfever and Swear & Shake.
Cultfever – in the picture – is an electro-pop duo featuring Tamara Jafar’s semi-breathy vocals and J. Peter Durniak’s multi-faceted arrangements. The band released their debut album in October and should have a video ready soon. The track streaming below, entitled "knewyouwell", is our favorite from the record and has the potential to cure – at least temporarily – your Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Swear and Shake will provide a folky break with their Americana tinged rock songs, bringing to the stage instruments foreign to the other bands on the bill, like acoustic guitars and harmonicas. Oh and if you are always on the look for a female voice to fall in love with (like us) you’ll have to give this band a listen – Kari Spieler is her name, see track streaming below.

Lots going on in December for Radical Dads, one of Brooklyn’s most buzzed about bands from the rather new pool of artists intent in instilling new life into the indie guitar sound of the 90s. The trio will open for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah on December 07 at Webster Hall, and then celebrate their 2nd CD’s release party at Cake Shop on the 5th. And if that wasn’t enough, the day after they’ll be playing the Brooklyn Vegan holiday party at BK night bazaar. No tracks from the new album are available as far as we can tell, apart from the rather lo-fi Pursesnatchers remix of the song Little Tomb streaming below.

Radical Dads – Little Tomb (Pursesnatchers Remix)
 

I’m not sure if long running trip-soul NYC band Mudville is still active, but their lead singer Marilyn Carino‘s solo record "Little Genius" keeps faith to that project’s sound – it looks like the other half of Mudville (producer Ben Rubin) is also involved to some extent in this record. Marilyn’s soulful alto takes us for a mesmerizing ride through mostly downtempo, dark tunes with electronic fluorishes, whose natural listening environment is any space suitable for love making. Her show at the small but pretty East Village bar/venue DROM might present you with a great opportunity to set the "right" atmosphere with your (hopefully not too shallow) date.

We just realized that Alex Winston released this video for the song "Velvet Elvis" back in August, but it doesn’t look like her team did anything to promote it, at least in the US – no trace of it on the major music blogs like Stereogum, Prefix and Pitchfork. We thought our readers might enjoy it. There is also a similarly titled EP out, probably promotion is about to start as we speak?

It’s never a bad time to have our ears wrapped in a gorgeously atmospheric shoegaze-pop sound. Field Mouse‘s video "You Guys Are Gonna Wake Up My Mom" adds a very appropriate visual component to the band’s single, by playing with lead singer Rachel Browne’s pale, porcelain complexion, stylishly cut dark hair (with one carefully placed feathery blonde streak) and full ruby red lips. The lead singer’s features are treated with various blurring effects and filters, in a way comparable to what the band does on a sonic level to the song’s melody and sounds: reverbered vocals and layers of guitars bring back to mind iconic 90’s dream-pop band "Lush". Multiple images of her, the band and select footage (buildings, flames) all contribute to a visually psychedelic presentation, conveying an overall feeling of uplift and beauty. "Fall asleep – you might just feel brand new," Rachel sings. "I should know, I do the same thing too" she adds with lovely clarity. What’s not to like? – See Field Mouse at the Big Snow Buffalo Lodge (new Brooklyn performance space) on December 22. – Dave Cromwell

Berklee is known for pushing out a certain type of musician. The school is usually associated with the jazz-influenced, folk set you’ve heard in graduates like Julienne Dweck and Jen Hirsch. With Emily Greene however, something different found its way through the guitar and voice lessons. Unlike her peers, Greene’s songs work their way through to you on a much more visceral level, not unlike the how the ladies from Lucius do it, Emily’s old college roommates and go-to collaborators. In performance, ideas are thrown together and batted around until they work themselves into a frenzy. Broadcast through Emily’s powerhouse pipes and washed down with her intimate lyrical range, her shows are not a typical classroom experience. Come out and see what I mean when Emily supports Malaysian artist Yuna at SOB’s on Dec 11th. – Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)

When they released their new video for "Jerk" three days ago, New Jersey based Stephie Coplan & the Pedestrians made a pact with the Devil that if it hit 3,000 views they would buy him a bottle of champaign. They are now less than 1k hits away from committing a mortal sin (since – as you certainly know – "Thy shall not buy the Devil a bottle of French wine" is the 11th "lost" commandment). But you can’t blame this entirely on the Prince of Darkness’ appreciation for bubbly goodness. Inspired by the (super-awesome) show Mad Men, and directed by the expert hand of David Dutton (who did "Internet Killed the Video Star" by The Limousines) this is a great video for a great pop-rock song. Also, Stephie – who likes to flirt with nerdiness in her press pictures – showcases here a more aggressive side, and a series of hairstyles and slightly provocative outfits which will surely trigger a certain amount of impure thoughts among the non affiliated to the Tea Party movement. The band’s CD release show is going to be on 1/21/12 at Rockwood Music Hall, and we are already wondering what dress Stephie will wear for the occasion.

The musical landscape of Car on the Moon is breezy, soulful and stripped down. Somewhere in the center of a Venn diagram of blues, folk, Americana, chamber pop, and singer-songwriter-acoustic, you’d find the sounds that most clearly captivate Elias and his partner-in-crime/percussionist Danny Festa. With Orling’s carefully parsed melodies, and Fest’s understated playing, the songs have a quiet reverence about them, but with enough drive and instrumental diversity (banjos, ukuleles, all the percussion instruments that can fit in a barn in upstate NY) to keep the party going. – Read Charlie Davis’ interview with the band here. The band will be playing Union Hall on December 14.

Formed in NYC in 2010, after playing a handful of well-received shows at Mercury Lounge, The Cake Shop, and Cameo Gallery, droney and somewhat emotional indie rockers The Archive headed to Chinatown’s Mavericks Studio this spring to record their debut album. Working with producer Bobby Lurie (The Billy Nayer Show), engineer Allen Farmelo (Talk Normal, Glenn Kotche), and mixer Karl Derfler (Tom Waits, No Doubt, Roky Erickson). The song “Disarm” (streaming below) is a taste of The Archive’s debut record, expected to be released early next year. The band will be playing Pianos on December 18 with Oh My Blackbird, The Ravages and The End Men. – (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.