Born in Boston as the project of singer-songwriter Ella Joy Meir and guitarist and composer Asher Kurtz, Iris Lune is now a Brooklyn based quartet, and plays expansive, mellow pop with ambient influences and jazzy inclinations. In single ‘Triplets’ (video streaming below) the band utilizes atmospheric vocal samples and electric piano to create a fluid drone on which Ella’s mellow vocals float adrift. Iris Lune will be performing at Rough Trade on December 11 with two other interesting and like-minded local acts: Arthur Moon and Nozart.

We somehow missed the excellent, almost self titled debut record by Brooklynites Really Big Pinecone, released in early 2015: it’s a math flavored psych-pop gem that made the Rolling Stone list of 15 Great Albums You Didn’t Hear in 2015. The group, which would be an ideal touring companion for Deli NYC favorites Celestial Shore, just released their sophomore album ‘What I Said About The Pinecone.’ The record, while being thoroughly enjoyable, fulfils the band’s promise to deliver music that’s "messy, but playful, abstract, as well as earnest and joyful." Check out single W.I.S.A.T.P. below, and follow the band’s bandcamp profile for updates about upcoming shows.

We added this song to The Deli’s playlist of Best psych songs by emerging NYC artists – check it out!

Meditating about the universe is heavy stuff but, like much in life, you have the option of being consumed, or delighted by your surroundings. Brooklyn-based electronic artist, The Landing, does the latter. Producing synth-pop tracks that have their feet planted firmly on the ground, but their eyes to the sky, The Landing’s songs capture the bliss of infinity, but are packaged in a way that harkens back to pop hits of the early 60’s. The result is tunes that are spacey in scope, but still feel like home. The Landing will be performing tonight (11.28) at Baby’s All Right on a uber-cool all NYC electronic bill including also Salt Cathedral and Ela Minus. He also answered a few questions about his creative process in the interview below.

Q&A with The Landing about the creative process on Delicious Audio.

In the summer of 2016, Show Me the Body released their debut album “Body War,” an electric banjo-driven sonic storm, blending post-hardcore, industrial, hip hop and math rock. That’s the record most NYC kids involved in the vital, seminal, local DIY scene – and in all likelihood, most rock critics too – will remember years from now.

The NYC born and bred trio just announced a New York show residency that will take place in five different venues across the city. This residency is presented as an extension of the spirit of their recent short film called "Ammunition", for which the band’s goal was to find and tell stories as compelling, disturbing and uplifting as they found in their own backyard of New York City. Dates can be found here, check out the video for album opener ‘Body War’ below. – photo by Dylan Johnson

WASHA is the name of Dwight Pendleton’s project, a one man, DIY synthpop act that interestingly blends (a very white version of) soul vocals with noisy backing tracks flirting with industrial and goth. WASHA is currently working on new music, but we really dig this song, entitled ‘Night / Day’ from his 2015 EP ‘The Bright, Part II.’

Here’s something our many readers into dreamy music enjoy: EZTV’s new video for single ‘Reason to Run.’ The camera follows a cowboy lonesomely exploring New York City – is he a Trump voter? That’s not what the video is about (of course he is!), rather, it’s about looking at the city with new eyes. After touring for most of the fall (in Europe too!) the band is currently taking a deserved two week break before embarking on the final leg of their tour, which will culminate in a performance at the Bowery Ballroom on 12.07.

Cut Worms is the stage name of a Brooklyn based singer songwriter whose identity isn’t discolsed online – luckily for us, his songs are. The young gentleman presents himself solo on stage, sometimes performing accompanied by only his guitar, others playing along pre-recorded tracks. He offers a brand of charming folk-pop revival that truly sounds as if originated in the early sixties – his recording even feature the vocal distortion typical of that era. Since April 2015 he’s been incessantly releasing digital singles as part of the ‘Soft Boiled Demos,‘ which now add up to over ten tracks all wrapped up in this vintage aura and his songwriting style that flirts with the timeless classics of folk. Masters of revival Foxygen must have noticed, since Cut Worms will be opening for them at Rough Trade on December 1st. Check out single ‘Mad About You’ below.

Making a living out of music or art is a tall order, in particular in a pricey place like NYC, but having a multi-faceted talent, like actors do, can certainly come in handy. The Portal – a Rock Odyssey, is an artful mishmash of theatrical performance, concert, and movie, an immersive, live band backed rock opera about the search for love and inner desire for transformation. Many local musicians are involved in this production, including lead actor Billy Lewis Jr. (Fox’s “Glee,” The Who’s Tommy, Spring Awakening, Hedwig & the Angry Inch), who is also a singer songwriter. Here’s a sneak peak (or sneak listen, if you will) into The Portal’s soundtrack: "Space Child", a track influenced by droney Eastern music and originally composed by Guatemalean group Kan’Nal, features entrancing vocals by the lead actor and an atmosphere that builds in intensity over time. Experience The Portal Wednesday through Saturday at The Minetta Lane Theatre. – Ashley Muniz

Integrating musical genres that have little in common is always a fun experiment, and NYC’s male/femal duo Exmazed, with their blend of industrial rock and dream pop, seem to be up to something. Their only single currently available for streaming combines clangy, mechanical and anguishing arrangements with sampled shrieks of distorted guitar feedback and ethereal female vocals. The latter add an enjoyable melodic element to the bleak musical background, but very little solace, conjuring up an atmosphere that’s as sci-fi as it is nightmarish – something that would work perfectly as a soundtrack for a movie like Blade Runner, or – say – NYC post-November 8, 2016. Exmazed will be performing at Alphaville on December 1st, opening for Au Revoir Simone’s Annie Hart. The nightmarish future has arrived, we may as well embrace it and celebrate it! On the bill also another female fronted, local electronic band called Noia, they are worth checking out.

Belle-Skinner hails from Upstate New York, which is where she cut her newest record, We Shut Our Eyes. But she now calls New York City home, and it’s here where she plays her original music several times a month at venues all around Manhattan and Brooklyn. The rising artist’s sound blends mid-century acoustic pop with breathy vocals smacking of St. Vincent. Hear the influence of Sufjan Stevens, Kate Bush, and Joanna Newsom in songs like “And Then You Leave (Go On)” and “Siren Song”. Upcoming live shows include November 29^th at the East Village’s Sidewalk Café, where Belle-Skinner will perform with Kelly Quigley, Pandafan, Georgia June, and Emily & Friends. The show begins at 7:00 pm. If you can’t make it, check Belle-Skinner’s website for future tour dates. Do make it a point to attend at least one of them. – Will Sisskind

The gift of unpredictability, within good songwriting chops, is what makes an artist stand out from the pack: Sid Barret had it, Mac DeMarco has it, and legendary (in a very clut way) NYC band Fly Ashtray have it too. Belonging to the thinning out club of "permanent New York things", the group formed in the early ’80s and has released NINE albums since then, to zero critical acclaim and without taking the scene by storm, playing all along a genre of lo-fi rock very similar to what a gazillion Brooklyn bands play today. Check them out below and live at Cake Shop tonight! (11.18). They deserve(d) better!

We live in an era full of paradoxes, and the one we stumbled upon today is that in the most hectic city in the US (NYC) an awful lot of music made by caucasian artists is – one way or another – flirting with the concept of slacking. For those in the mood, tomorrow (11.19) four local bands will bring their own version of slack rock to the Shea Stadium’s stage. Peaer (pictured) is a rotating lineup of musicians led by Peter Katz (formerly of Fugue, Poverty Hollow, Suns); their recent self titled album slacks in very interesting and original ways, mostly through a selection of mid to down tempos, introducing elements foreign to the genre like post rock and math rock. Pupppy (Deli NYC Record of the Month in the summer of 2015) has a folkier and more lyrical approach, while openers Bethlehem Steel and Cadet Kelly both dwell in fast paced dreaminess.