Looking at their social media pages, Stringer seems to be having a blast. They are playing shows, traveling, dressing up, and enjoying the company of cute dogs (yeah, even rockers have their soft spots). The quartet released debut EP “Dead Ass” back in 2015. The album consists of six tracks overflowing with distorted guitars, grounded in ’90s influences ranging from grunge to slak rock. These guys are also living it up (the DIY way) on March 4th when they play Shea Stadium with No Parents, Surfbort, and Plain Dog. – Jocelyn Huggler

If music is language, Delicate Steve‘s mother tongue is electric guitar – with an assorted stompbox accent. Few contemporary guitarists master the six strings’ vocabulary the way he does, unafraid as he is to experiment with tone, effects, and parts. The NJ based musician made ears turn in 2011-2012 with two instrumental records (‘Wondervisions‘ and ‘Positive Force‘) that showcased his imaginative, world music infused compositions. After a lot of touring, and a live album dated 2015, Delicate Steve is about to return with his third full length, entitled ‘This is Steve’ and scheduled for a January 27 release on Anti Records. Don’t miss the show at Bowery on February 3rd!

Our friends at Delicious Audio asked Steve a few questions about his sound. Read what he had to say here.

On February 1st, The Deli will be start sponsoring Le Poisson Rouge’s "On The Rise" series, which is focused on outstanding local, emerging artists. We’ll be curious to see live again two artists we booked a few years ago and that have had the patience to hone their skill and grow throughout the years (rare thing in the band business): we are referring to hybrid, avant-indie quartet Lip Talk, and psych rock turned psych pop band Dinowalrus. Noteworthy singer songwriter Raia Was will round out a night of great music made in NYC.

Check out each artist’s latest single below, and buy tickets here – there will be free magazines for all!

Dear Deli Readers,

Every year, in the early months, The Deli polls several local music enthusiasts/experts to ask their opinion about the best emerging Austin-based artists that got them excited in the previous twelve months. We, therefore, list these artists on our local homepage, in a Readers’ Poll, whose results contribute in deciding The Deli Austin’s Artist of the Year.

In an effort to give you more time to check out all the nominated bands, this year we have decided to stretch the readers’ polls a little, and instead of posting a huge list of artists all at once, we will activate one genre-related poll every five days or so.

The first poll of the series is all about electronic local acts! You can find it at the top right of our homepage, and you can cast your vote HERE.

We see our yearly polls as a fun way to engage our readers and the artists involved, and we hope that everybody involved will get to discover new local acts who deserve attention.

Much love,

The Folks at The Deli

P.S. To group all artists in these categories, we had to "stretch" things a little for a few of the artists that didn’t precisely fit any of the wide musical umbrellas most other acts fell under – we hope that we can be forgiven for that.

Dear Deli Readers,

Every year, in the early months, The Deli polls several local music enthusiasts/experts to ask their opinion about the best emerging Portland-based artists that got them excited in the previous twelve months. We, therefore, list these artists on our local homepage, in a Readers’ Poll, whose results contribute in deciding The Deli Portland’s Artist of the Year.

In an effort to give you more time to check out all the nominated bands, this year we have decided to stretch the readers’ polls a little, and instead of posting a huge list of artists all at once, we will activate one genre-related poll every five days or so.

You may have noticed that we started last week with bands in the Indie Pop category (that poll is now closed but you can still find it here)! You can find the poll at the top right of our homepage, and you can cast your vote HERE.

We see our yearly polls as a fun way to engage our readers and the artists involved, and we hope that they will get both to discovery new local acts who deserve attention.

Much love,

The Folks at The Deli

P.S. To group all artists in these categories, we had to "stretch" things a little for a few of the artists that didn’t precisely fit any of the wide musical umbrellas most other acts fell under – we hope that we can be forgiven for that.

Deli Readers,

Every year, in the early months, The Deli polls several local "scenemakers" to ask their opinion about the best emerging NYC based artists that got them excited in the previous year. We therefore list these artists on our local homepage, in a Readers’ Poll whose results contribute in deciding The Deli NYC’s Artist of the Year.

In an effort to give you more time to check out all the nominated bands, this year we have decided to stretch the readers’ polls a little, and, instead of posting a huge list of artists all at once, we will activate one genre-related poll every five days or so.

We begin today with bands in the Garage/Punk category! You can find the poll on the top right of our homepage and you can cast your vote here.

We see our yearly polls as a fun way to engage our readers and the artists involved, and we hope they will get both to discover new local bands deserving of attention.

The Folks at The Deli

P.S. To group all artists in these categories we had to "stretch" things a little for a few ones that didn’t precisely fit any of the wide musical umbrellas most other bands belonged to – we hope we can be forgiven for that.

Lucky for us that this NYC centric blog also covers New Jersey based artists… Yes because in recent years the Garden State has been churning out a lot of really talented indie pop bands, and we would be sorry if we couldn’t highlight them. Lunch Ladies have been around since 2014 and belong to the "dream" branch of the most melodious of genres. Their music revolves around gentle, uptempo, electric orchestrations, but finds its overall tone through Cynthia Rittenbach’s uber melancholic melodies. The band just unveiled new single ‘Pick Yourself Up,’  from upcoming sophomore full length ‘Down on Sunset Strip,’ scheduled for a March release. New Yorkers will be able to see them live at Shea Stadium on February 15th.

The name of NYC’s quartet Poppies is extremely appropriate, considering those flowers’ sleep (and high) inducing qualities – as all rock’n’rollers should know, all opioids like morphine, heroine and a slew of painkillers derive from poppy seeds. Both sleepy and dreamy, this band’s soothing, melancholic ballads feature the gentle and youthful voice of May Rio, and a tendency to find inspiration in old time pop melodies that’s somewhat reminiscent of Mitski (check out streaming single Eggheads in this regard). Their music video for “Told,” which features a man in a dog costume and an old lady resenting him, give us an example of their more "hallucinogenic" side. The quartet has a string of local shows scheduled, culminating with a show at Baby’s All Right on 02.01 with Baked and Soft Fangs (they’ll be also playing at Sunnyvale tonight 01.17).

It’s almost impossible to not be immediately smitten with the Fantastic Plastics. With their bright colors and quirky demeanor, the Brooklyn-based duo re-imagines retro-synth pop for the 21st century. While they’re sure to delight nostalgia seekers, the band’s catchy, fun tracks have a wide appeal that’s sure to draw in even the most discerning Brooklynite. The artists were kind enough to talk a little bit about their expansive synth collection, and just what dimension the Fantastic Plastics come from. – Olivia Sisinni

Read the Q&A with The Fantastic Plastic on Delicious Audio.

If Long Island’s Oogee Wawa was a meal their ingredients would include a cup of reggae, a spoonful of rock & pop, a pinch of hip hop and a lot of feel good sauce to top it all off. Their chill, upbeat music – paired with a sunny day like today’s – has the power to make you forget that it’s the middle of January in NYC. Oogee Wawa is following the sun this winter with dates later on this month in Florida, but first, they will be making a stop at Amityville Music Hall tonight, January 13th. Check these guys out live for some guaranteed fun, and if you’re wondering why you might have already heard their music (like streaming 2012 hit "Spliff"), it’s because they have opened up for big names including Slightly Stoopid, Sublime with Rome, and 311. – Jocelyn Huggler

NYC’s Golden Suits is the solo project of Fred Nicolaus of the band Department of Eagles (Grizzly Bear Daniel Rossen’s original project,  responsible for one of our favorite videos ever). They recently released debut ablum ‘Kubla Khan,’ an indie rock record with folk overtones. They recently unveiled a video for single ‘Don’t Let Love Go By,’ shot at the Brooklyn location The 1896 where David Bowie filmed his final video. The video is a collaboration of dance, music and technology, filmed using the VR 360 technology, which – although really cool – we find a little distracting, at least on a PC screen. Daniel Rossen has recently released a cover version of a Golden Suit song ‘You are Crossing a River‘ (we assume) to help promote his friend’s new release.

Since it inception, Rock’n’Roll has always been music feeding itself with paradoxes (hey, it was born from a mix of white country and black blues!), and throughout its history it has thrived on sonic contradictions such as the psychedelic pop experimentations, shoegazer’s blend of noise and celestial melodies and the ’90s loud/quiet/loud leanings. Brooklyn’s Diet Cig‘s comment their new single ‘Tummy Ache’ (streaming below) in a way that perfectly fits with this narrative: "Tummy Ache’ is all about unpacking the feeling of approaching punk with radical softness, and the struggle when it’s not always read as powerful or cool or whatever enough. Its the shout into my pillow when what I’m saying isn’t being heard, and a big old I FEEL YA to all the femme folks creating space for themselves in a world that wants to keep us quiet." The duo is taking the opportunity of this single to announce the release of their debut album ‘Swear I’m Good At This,’ scheduled for April 7 on Frenchkiss Records. They will promote it through several live shows at SXSW and a month long US tour starting at Baby’s All Right on the dey of the release.