Hey NYC bands and artists, 

There aren’t many entities out there fostering emerging bands and artists, so we thought you may find this interesting.

WeWork’s Creator Awards is looking for innovative musical performers (solo or groups) based in the NYC Area.  You can apply to one of three categories including the Performing Arts award, for entertainers and groups with a unique perspective.  

The Performing arts winner will take home $72,000 and take the stage at the Creator Awards Nashville in September.  

Apply HERE before July 20 for a chance to win funding.   

WeWork’s Creator Awards is a celebration of the performers, makers, do-gooders, and mavericks making a difference.  

While most acts take years to develop a mature sound and build a fan base, some stars seem to be born within a matter of weeks. This appears to be the case for Brooklyn born avant-soul-pop singer King Princess, who released her debut EP "1950" earlier in 2018 and is about to play two sold out shows at Elsewhere’s Rooftop tonight and tomorrow (June 25-26). The first artist signed to Mark Ronson’s label Zelig, King Princess is also a producer and multi-instrumentalist with a deep musical background, and, judging from her kinky videos, an inclination towards subtle provocation that can only generate intrigue among music fans.

Folk rock up and comer Ricky Lewis has announced he will be taking up residency at Pianos throughout the month of June. The former Dear Lions singer kicked off his residency one Thursday June 7 and will continue his slew of performances for the remaining Thursdays in June, the full schedule can be found here.

Lewis also confirmed with The Deli that he is preparing to release his debut full length record later this summer, with his first single “Gauntlet In The Sun” gaining steady traction on Stereogum and Paste. The album was produced by Rod Sherwood (Au Revoir Simone) and mixed by Alex Lipsen (Phosphorescent, Kurt Vile). If “Gauntlet” is any indication of things to come, the album is sure to be an intense roots record for the summer. – Mackenzie Cummings-Grady

In this new age of bedroom pop and DIY everything, Georgia’s band Triathalon, who recently resettled in NYC, offers a sound all its own, blending elements as varied as soul, pop, jazz, and electro. Attempting to label their music proves challenging – and that’s part of the plan, since they state that they "work towards a sound that can’t easily be defined.” Thriathalon’s first two EP sounded like rather unfocused takes on anything within the indie realm, from dream pop to slacker rock. Third LP Online, released earlier in 2018, sounds like music made by a different band altogether: the production is more mature, the sound more focused, and a newfound passion for soul seems to have shuffled the band’s sonic cards. “Hard to Move” is reminiscent of a lo-fi, synthed version of Michael Jackson’s “Blame it on the Boogie,” while “3” is backed with a thumping bass verse that cleverly transitions to a jazz-inspired keyboard interlude. This is a band with lots of potential, check them out live on June 18th at  Brooklyn Steel. – Lily Crandall

If there’s a turn of phrase we kind of detest here at The Deli is "taking the scene by storm." It’s one of those generic prefab sentences that ring insincere. But then again, sometimes, some bands do that – kind of rare, but it happens, right? And sometimes, on a hot day like today, being lazy is kind of inevitable. So… yes! Brooklyn’s Bodega are taking the NYC scene by storm with their blend of post-punk and pop and their super-fun live shows. That, and their somewhat familiar name, are the main reasons why they are on the cover of the new, spring 2018 issue of The Deli! 

The issue, our 54th NYC one, is now up online and you can read it here.

It’s an issue linked to the biggest event for musicians we’ve ever organized, which will host a Stompbox Exhibit, a Synth Expo and a Vintage Guitar Exchange in a Bushwick art gallery called Absurd Conclave – hope to see you there!

The Folks at The Deli NYC

Where much live band Hip Hop too often falls prey to the Jazzmatazz school of composition, Poetic Thrust utilizes inventive musicianship to distinguish themselves.  Sumptuous soundscapes provide lift and shimmy to MCs Yoh the Shaolin and ENxVE the Nameless Vagrant’s virtuosic lyricism.  It would be remiss to consider the group devoid of jazz influence altogether.  However, rather than falling into the easy trap of “writing samples” where many groups merely affect the loop style of early Hip Hop production, Poetic Thrust creates music worth sampling.  You can sample their most recent WATER ep here. – BrokeMc

Demanding NYC indie rock fans who are struggling to find original, fun, and entertaining new bands should go check out Cloud Becomes Your Hand when they play live at Alphaville on Juse 9th, within the Northside Festival. The avant-post-punk (!?) collective was on the cover of our 47th issue of The Deli, and for a reason: their debut album "Rest in Fleas" was the most refreshingly fun thing we happened to listen that year, in particular single "Hermit," streaming below ("Sand of Sea" and "Bridge of Ignoramus" are pretty darn awesome too). Their live show is some kind of perfectly excuted experimental theatrical production that’s tightly paced without ever falling in the traps of self-indulgence. Do not miss!

Since 2016, Brooklyn artist pronoun, the brainchild of songwriter Alyse Vellturo, is on a catchy single roll: her debut EP "There’s No One New Around You" exposed a talent able to forge memorable yet intimate pop songs dealing with troubled personal feelings, in the tradition of The Magnetic Fields. In 2018 the project has already released two singles, "Run" (streaming below) and "Wrong," which was recently included in Stereogum’s "Best 5 Songs of the Week." Alyse will be performing live with band at Brooklyn Bazar on May 26.

Brooklyn by way of Tel Aviv artist O Mer employs DAW, synths and electric guitar to create minimalistic pop gems that are as catchy as they are arresting. Started as a one man band, the project has recently expanded to comprise a full band, which has brought the sound to new heights of sonic refinement. O Mer will be performing live at Berlin on May 25th, check out the video for single Icarus, streaming below.

Our friends at Delicious Audio asked O Mer a few questions about the creative process and his favorite gear, you can read the Q&A here. – Photo by Noel Woodford

Led by singer/guitarist Tasha Abbott, in their debut single "Still" Brooklyn’s No Swoon marries the blazing guitar tones of My Bloody Valentine with softer atmospheres and odd time signatures of more obscure acts of the ’90s like The Pale Saints. Notwithstanding its newness, the trio was selected to play the Northside Fest this June. Before then, you’ll be able to see them live at Alphaville on 05.24.

Billy Woods still won’t show his face.  Even as one of the forerunners of Brooklyn’s Indieground, he remains cloaked in mystery and blunt smoke.  In the video for “Keloid” from his most recent LP Known Unknowns, Woods is a stark silhouette against an antiseptic backdrop.  In a world that gets scarier with greater exposure to the evils at play behind the curtains, we all wish we had a “clean room” to escape the radioactivity and radio activity.  For a stream-of-consciousness MC whose consciousness is more finely attuned than most could hope for, I imagine Woods’ brain is his clean room.  Let’s hope he keeps scribbling away.  We may “get no answers,” but at least the questions are less haunting when we face them together. – BrokeMC

We have a deep fascination with cerebral pop, and B Boys bassist/vocalist Brendon Avalos just gave us a yummy sonic treat of that kind with his brand new project Gift Wrap. Debut single and LP title track ‘Losing Count’ (video streaming below) sounds like a tribute to some of the most subversive avant-pop acts of the ’80s, with its references to Devo’s robotic riffs and vocals, Brian Eno’s brainy lyrics and Wall of Voodoo’s synth-driven drones, which open up in the chorus after several verses dominated by brief sonic elements in staccato. Check out also the other single on the record, "Either Way."