Brooklyn via Austin one-man-(electro)-band Neon Indian will return this fall with a new release entitled "Era Extraña", an album entirely written in an efficiency apartment in Helsinki. Alan Palomo is sharing the single "Fallout" with us at www.neonindian.com – in exchange for our email address. Era Extraña, is the follow-up to the 2009 debut Psychic Chasms, which created well deserved waves of buzz in the music blogosphere and beyond. The record is reported to have a darker sound that (quoting the press release) "tosses somewhere between an 8-bit shoegaze record and peering through the fence of a teenage apocalypse drive-in flick." I don’t think we could have come up with a description as intriguing…

NYC’s Savoire Adoire entertained us for quite some time with deliciously well crafted synth pop gems, and we are intrigued to hear that the band’s singer is releasing a solo EP under the DEIDRE moniker. The two songs available for streaming feature a very playful approach, that borderlines bubble-gum pop in the EP single "Classic Girl". The simple arrangement is enriched by interesting production touches, ranging from B52’s inspired naughty keyboard stabs, to atmospheric, heavily effected twangy guitars, and other electronic textural elements. The EP "Curious Parcels" will be released on August 2, don’t miss DEIDRE’s release party at Pete’s Candy Store on July 28 with other entertaining NYC based bands Starlight Girls, Wavebreaker and Little Anchor.

 

What do you get when you combine Arcade fire, Balkan Beat box, Antibalas and Tom Waits’ band together? Captain Planet? Folk Voltron? Well, sort of… The Sway Machinery is a border-crossing five-piece containing a member from each of these landmark bands. Equal parts baroque-pop songwriters and folk music curators, this band takes the Jewish tradition of Cantorial singing and attaches it to a swinging brass section with Ivory Coast percussion holding it all down. It’s something you’re not likely to find at many synagogues, but luckily they’ve found a home here in Brooklyn. The band comes back from Mali where their new LP was just recorded earlier this year (The House of Friendly Ghosts, Vol. 1 off JDub) to play at 92YTribeca on August 2nd. Make sure and come early to see my favorite ethnomusicologist/DJ Awesome Tapes from Africa begin your overseas journey before the band takes the stage at 9pm. – Mike Levine

NYC via Philly MC Nyle‘s new project is blowing eardrums and popping eyeballs. His “TRAILER” mixtape, named from the infamous Brooklyn Trailer Park where he lived during much of the album’s production, is both an aural as well as a visual gem. Not content just to bang in your headphones, Nyle has built a visual accompaniment so that when you DJ your next dorm room party with YouTube, you’ll be able to fullscreen the vids for full visual "pimpocity". The raps are solid, the beats are properly ferocious, the guest spots are noteworthy, and the visuals are mesmerizing! More at nyleraps.com! – BrokeMC

Exitmusic isn’t exactly what you would call an "in your face" indie band – quite the opposite. Drawing inspiration from the uber-dreamy atmospheres of Cocteau Twins and the lynchian semi-nightmares of other 4AD bands from the 90s like Cranes and This Mortal Coil, this duo of Brooklynites crafts what on record sounds like some of the best psych pop we heard in a while (although Lia Ices – on the cover of our 25th issue – and also signed to Secretly Canadian, is The Deli’s reigning queen in that category). In this digital track, drenched in reverb and suggestive lyrics, we also hear some Twin Sister elements in the vocals. We’ll have the opportunity to check these guys live at Pianos, where they are holding a residency. The next show is on July 26 – recommended to all the shoegazer maniacs out there.

 

Hit snooze. The Sleepwalkas have crafted a somnambulist’s wet dream. The primarily loop-based beats on this album are hot and fresh out of the oven with a flavor recalling many a late-90s and early 00’s summer jam. The lyricism, which shines in its positivity and candor, is full of that MC bravado established by the originators of the artform. Guest appearances by local superstars Homeboy Sandman and Sadat X add extra spice, and are further augmented by a ferocious verse from ex-Sleepwalka Vexed-Lo. The Sleepwalkas exemplify that dreaming big is just the first step towards living large. – BrokeMc

There is something terribly wrong with calling Meaghan Burke a songwriter. Like vodka, the more you question the effects, the blurrier they become. Meaghan Burke is not an artist whose musically over-educated past is a primer for making marketable pop music. Her sound embraces the odd nuances contained in love affairs with free improvisation, lingering music school sadism, a career geographically split between New York and the Vienna intelligentsia.
Meaghan sings jazzy, approachable melodies over cello accompaniments that channel every possible incarnation of Western music all at once. It’s impossibly beautiful but in no way forgiving. Her fingers race in preparation of cadenzas and the orchestration seems totally unrelated to what pours out of her mouth. And then even in moments where one might be so inclined to say, finally: "Yes, OK! She is a songwriter! This part has been pretty for almost a minute…" But then, when you listen closely to what she’s actually singing about, with this voice of hers like an oven, crackling with past lives on newspaper, burning, and, well, it’s not ok. Because what she’s created is too personal, too direct and unusual to claim she’s a songwriter – which sounds categorically absurd but it’s true – it’s like she’s a songwriter, imploded. She’ll sing about anything; bed bugs, the Gowanus, even boyfriends – but look, seriously, it just doesn’t sound right. She squeals and bleeps intermittently like suddenly we’re in a car. Her timing is too dark and immense and she can’t play at this coffeehouse… And then she’ll do this thing where she starts to sing in German. – You can see/hear Meaghan next at Sidewalk Cafe on August 12th @ 9pm.  – Valerie Kuehne

Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, VHS or BETA is now based in Brooklyn. The band’s intricate sound, which combines elements of rock, house and disco, and their name, inspired to obsolete video tape formats, are a welcome addition to the NYC electronic scene. Here’s some band history directly from Wikipedia: "Their self-released debut EP Le Funk found some success on the charts, but the band became better known in the wake of the 2004 album Night on Fire. After two and half years of touring, VHS or Beta recorded 2007’s Bring on the Comets in Asheville, NC, marking a slight change in direction towards a more straightforward pop sound, achieved without sacrificing their trademark dance sensibility. […] The band’s third album "Diamond and Death" is scheduled for September 2011 release."
VHS or BETA have two upcoming shows in NYC: Cameo Gallery in W’burg on 08.05 and The Studio at Webster Hall on 08.25.

Jay Giampietro, of Daylight’s for The Birds (a psych band we liked) is about to release his debut EP "Breezes" with new group Mighty Moon. This five-tracker is a solid  dream-folk debut. Songs like Vampire Plans and Love Ocean, possess a carefree spirit and are seriously tempting us to call in sick and take a train to Rockaway Beach. Our favorite track though is Pretend – embedded here – which channels the intensity of Leonard Cohen and the melodic openings reminiscent of Robin Hitchcock’s acoustic masterpiece "I Often Dream of Trains". Mighty Moon will perform their first live show at The Delancey on July 31. – Madi Silvers

Musical troupe/trio, Fan-Tan welcome this week with the release of their new single "1989". Although the Williamsburg-ers don’t plan to drop their full-length until the air begins to cool, Fan-Tan fans out there can preview the impending album’s single down here and on their bandcamp profile page. Mixing vintage, new wave influences with a modern twist, the single’s sound resembles a sophisticated alloy of late Roxy Music meets Echo and The Bunnymen meets The Cure – aren’t these 3 of your favorite bands ever? – Madi Silvers