Hailing from Moldova and now living in NYC, electronic musician/producer Serge Bulat (previously NYC Artist of the Month in this very blog) took home the 2016 award for the Best Dance/Electronica Album of the Year at the 15th edition of Independent Music Awards in NYC. The award is for Serge’s debut album called “Queuelbum” which was released in May this year with a fusion of electronica, neo-classical, trip-hop and alternative elements. Check out our favorite track ‘Walker,’ vaguely reminiscent of that essential post-rock record that is TNT by Tortoise. 

“Find Truth” is the latest single from NorwegianArms, the musical outlet for polymath Keith Birthday, a man constantly in motion between Philly and NYC, and who also called Siberia home. All of these places, as well as the experiences and emotions in them, have served as inspiration for the upcoming LP, Girard Freeloader. In preview single "Find Truth," darkness bubbles in simple synth riffs as sparse drums reverberate behind soft vocals, singing about the fears of aging, searching for truth, and lonely despair. Philly-bound? Catch Norwegian Arms at Johnny Brenda’s on December 15. Otherwise, look out for news about a release date for “Find Truth” as well as tour dates at venues near you. – Will Sisskind

Big Thief‘s debut album "Masterpiece" has been rocking our world this year – so much so that we named it The Deli NYC’s Record of the Month back in July. We asked the band’s guitarist Buck Meek (who also has a solo folk project we recommend checking out) to tell us about the stompboxes he uses when playing with the band; you can find his very thorough response on our sister blog Delicious Audio – link below! If you can afford it, tou can see Big Thief next on 12.03 at the Beacon Theater, sharing the stage with Cindy Lauper!

Buck Meek of Big Thief talks about his guitar pedals.

gobbinjr is the stage name of songwriter/producer Emma Witmer, a Wisconsian who ended up becoming a Brookyinite via NYU – and a big THANK YOU NYU, we can now officially blame you for Trump’s election! Emma plays gentle music, and although she likes to work solo, she enjoys wearing the hats of each (non existing) band member – each one suit her! Her debut album ‘Vom Might‘ is a soft, drum machine propelled mellow pop record, full of intimate and honest lyrics conveyed through delicate melodies and an appropriately simple but never banal production. Fans of Frankie Cosmos will find in gobbinjr’s music the same youthful attitude and melancholic sincerity, which seems to communicate – on a subliminal level – the awareness that youth ends too soon and it’s too beautiful to be lived without dwelling in philospy, poetry and art. 

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

In these trying times, bare-bones chill-out music seems like the best cure. Enter Your Dog, a trio featuring Bronx-based rockers Ian, Kate, and Julius. The indie pop group describes themselves as "somewhere between Adam Levine’s old stuff & his new stuff." Your Dog releases their new EP Talking To Bob on November 28th with a show at Shea Stadium. The four-track record includes the excellent songs "Saurkraut" ("I can’t get through the day without feeling like sauerkraut") and the more melodic "Droool" ("I’ve been tryin’ to get you gone/But I’m just scrapin’ by/I don’t wanna die with you still in my head"); both feature a lot of character.

The Shea Stadium release party also features indie group Rhea and experimental group Rita Fishbone New Jersey, as well as Brooklyn’s Ghost King, whom we covered earlier re: the release of their new single "Melting Sky/Inside Out". Head on over to Shea Stadium on 11/28 to hear some great new tunes and to support rising local acts.

Amazing Nashville blues lady Adia Victoria just unveiled this video for single "Horrible Weather." The Nashville based singer kept her year busy with numerous live performances across the United States, Europe and the UK in support of the album release. Adia Victoria will host a special end of the year event and performance in Nashville on November 18th at The East Room.

There’s plenty to like about Brooklyn-based “hot sausage boys” Evolfo, who in September released their latest garage/psych/blues rock EP Last of the Acid Cowboys. You can catch them playing tracks from this EP as well as their other tunes at Baby’s All Right in Williamsburg on November 27th. The EP takes pages from the books of Deep Purple and Cream, as well as The Black Keys. The first track, “Moon Eclipsed The Sun”, is filled with catchy sax and organ fills, as well as jerky rhythms and echoing, haunting vocals which come from a love for early prog-rock. Evolfo’s 11/27 show at Baby’s All Right includes fellow psych-rockers Stuyedeyed and Argentinian acoustic folk-rocker Tall Juan. Get your tickets here. – Will Sisskind, photo by Peter Dervin

One of the cool things about organizing the Brooklyn Synth Expo is that we get to know some new, local, talented electronic artists in person. Enter Wandertalk, the project of NYC based synth-head Nick Kwas, who boasts a multifaceted output, including remixes of singles by indie bands like Pingrove and more purely electronic tracks ranging from chiptune to ambient (like recent release ‘W H A T E V E R ☯ W H E N E V E R,’ streaming below).  He also enjoys shooting videos of electronic musicians playing their modular racks on a roof facing Manhattan – at dawn. Check out Wondertalk’s latest video of this series exclusively on our sister blog Delicious Audio. 

Prince Metropolis Known is a lion.  He has a mane, man; he’s the king of the beasts! He’s a political animal, but he also boasts to “Party with blood suckers, bbw hot sex in tubs of butter – the Prince of Dubia. Royal fetish, gold letters, tomatoes and silver – the Prince of Dubia.”  He once made an album entirely dedicated to dissing Bill O’Reilly.  THE AZEALIA BANKS GANG BANG takes up where his War Against Music and KILL BILL albums left off.  It’s the perfect platform for the Lion to utilize his practiced misogyny to lash out against the Trump advocate rapper and her ilk.  The first track (streaming) repeatedly lambasts her for not being Nicki Minaj.  It’s ignorant rap with a conscience.  What else would you accept from Kool Keith’s most promising protege? Check out also the outstanding 2013 video/single ‘Metropolis’ from 2013. – BrokeMc

Brooklyn’s Ghost King tickled our aural canal the right way this past spring with their debut album ‘Bones,’ which was immediately crowned with our NYC Record of the Month title, and we are thrilled to premiere their two track single entitled ‘Melting Sky / Inside Out." Their sound is still as distorted and effected as it gets, in a way that’s definitely nineties, but more reminiscent of the early Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev’s fuzzy psychedelic lunacy than Pavement or Dinosaur Jr.’s pop slacking. Opening track ‘Melting Sky’ travels at high speed, hosting a slow vocal melody, and progressively building towards two psychedelic instrumental bridges. ‘Inside Out’ displays a poppier structure and catchier melody, but also a more dissonant arrangement, evolving, through a very early-Pink-Floydian transition, into a distorted bass driven, pummeling finale. They are both songs that will be fun to experience live when Ghost King will perform at Shea Stadium on 11.28 – do not miss!

Mr. Stephen Malkmus must have found a way to mutate the DNA of the white musician specie, considering how influential the Pavement records are in this day and age. Brooklyn quartet Personal Space develops  in intriguing ways a sound reminiscent of that band’s more mature, later records, marrying them with mathy tempos and breaks, and a touch of emo. We are enjoying single ‘Offering,’ (streaming) which showcases sophisticated songwriting and production, and a slightly more "psych" approach than the rest of the album, in particular in the liberatingly noisy finale. You can see Personal Space at Sunnyvale on November 18.

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

Continuing on in the psychedelic milieu, native Kerry Chandler‘s strange, compelling work mixes ’80s acid house and deep-house, with exotic percussion. At his live performances, expect his usual spate of sound effects too—people talking, cars honking, general tones of urban life—which is known reduce the species to a wonderland of microcosms. – Brian Chidester