Tonight great show at Irving Plaza, where you can catch a NYC Hip Hop triple feature of ferocious linguistic swashbuckling presented by Pigeons and Planes. Hometown heroes Aesop Rock, Homeboy Sandman, and Creature (of Rebelmatic) comprise three courses of boom-bap beatification. Bring Aderol and a Thesaurus, and check out Homeboy’s new video "Eyes. – BrokeMC

Kami Maltz has one of those voices that dances through the air like a hummingbird flitting from flower to flower.  In the video for “Rain” from 2014’s Kami Maltz EP, Kami stands more or less motionless as images of nature fade and meld over her, a relentless dream, a treacherous magnificence.  “It was your dream and I followed through, this is where we’ve come.  The story’s still undone,” she sings with a knowing smirk – you can hear it live at Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg on June 18th. – BrokeMC

Our first thought when we heard "Wednesday Night Melody" – the new single by Los Angeles power pop trio Bleached – was: "This song should be on Rock Band!" – which, if you think about it for a minute or two – is a heck of a compliment. The ladies’ new record "Welcome the Worms" showcases an evolution from their early vintage sounding garage-psych-pop, to a more muscular and modern "Alt" sound that, while more produced and punchy, retains the fun of those classic radio friendly punk songs a la’ Joan Jett. Check out this Q&A about guitars pedals with Bleachede’s guitarist Jessie Clavin on Delicious Audio!

Brooklyn dream pop band Beverly, who placed third in our Best of NYC Emerging Bands Poll back in 2014 (after Porches and Mitski, what a year!), just released her sophomore full length entitled ‘The Blue Swell," and we can tell you without any hesitation that the record marks a noteworthy improvement both in the songwriting and production departments. Singer/guitarist Drew Citron and her band mates played four gigs in the UK this past May and will be leaving for a two week East Coast tour that will end with a home show at Rough Trade on July 1st. Our sister blog Delicious Audio run a few questions past Drew about the band’s sound and the making of "The Blue Swell" – saee link below.

Beverly, interview about musical gear and the creative process.

We added Beverly’s ‘Crooked Cop’ to The Deli’s playlist of Best Psych Rock/Dream Pop songs by emerging NYC artists – check it out!

Dance music needn’t always be bright and fun, as Brooklyn one man operation Informant will show you. Heavy electronics, percussive synth tracks, and an overall ambiguity work to make the body move without consent. It is a conflicted experience, though one that’s difficult to ignore—and could be said to be generational of sentiment. – JP Basileo

Listening to the brand new album ‘Door to the Sun‘ by PA via New York trio The Stargazer Lillies is an experience comparable to getting lost in the fog. The fog, in this circumstance, is of the aural kind, created by an over-abundance of guitar effects employed (very unsparingly) by guitarist John Cep, formerly of Soundpool. The trio will be performing at The Echo on June 12 and then the following day at San Diego’s Hideout.

Check out our sister blog’s Delicious Audio Q&A with The Stargazer Lillies about their favorite guitar pedals!

Ladies and Gents,

The Best of NYC 2016 issue is about to hit the streets of NYC, and we are ready to celebrate it with a VERY awesome showcase at new Bushwick drinking hole Sunnyvale, on June 9th!

Mark your (Google) calendars and check out all the seven great NYC artists involved in the bill in this rad compilation! Bigger Poster here!

NY native Ernest Ernie doesn’t need to hybridize his favorite retro sounds to current tastes in order to connect. Most do. Nothing wrong with that. He doesn’t need to. The guy can really belt it out and his band—replete with backup singers and horn section—play a fifties-style rhythm & blues that is non-cliché. – Brian Chidester

I’m sure you know a musically clueless person who, when you mentioned the words "Indie Rock," thought you were referring to "Indian Rock"… well, if you were trying to introduce him/her to Brooklyn quartet Humeysha, you could have just said: "That’s EXACTLY what I’m talking about!" – since they play Indie Rock with Indian influences! The band will be performing at The Knitting Factory on June 8th within the Boom Forest June residency Check out also the Q&A with Humeysha about recording on our sister blog Delicious Audio.

Artistic freedom is an exhilarating but daunting mission: it requires discipline, competence, broad-mindedness, constant self-reinvention, and can only be pursued in depth through the acceptance of very modest financial rewards – although that’s true for any artistic endeavor. Brooklyn sextet Cloud Becomes Your Hand (already a NYC Record of the Month in this very blog in 2014) is obviously fully dedicated to this cause, within the coordinates of the psychedelic and progressive rock genre (or, as we call it, here at The Deli, ‘Avant-Indie"). As cliche` as this may sound, their new album ‘Rest In Fleas’ truly sounds like kaleidoscope of ideas and sounds. The sonic palette is incredibly diverse, ranging from effected keyboards of all kinds, to detuned electric guitars and unexpected orchestral interruptions. But the record is not a scattered conglomeration of ideas; on the contrary, it sounds more organic than its predecessor, with song structure often prevailing over the band’s quirky "digressing impulses." This contributes to making in one of those records that rewards multiple listens. Those who love this kind of stuff shouldn’t miss the band’s record release party at Secret Project Robot on 06.18, nor the video for ‘Hermit’ streaming below.

It was 2011 when, browsing through the submissions we received for our Best of NYC 2010 Year End Poll, we stumbled upon a track by Xenia Rubinos and couldn’t help but write immediately about it. Two years later, Pitchfork said this about her debut album. Sadly, as you can see from the link to our old post, that track is not available for streaming anymore, but we can console ourselves with Xenia’s new video for ‘Lonely Lover,’ which once again shows us an artist that defies categorizations within the traditional pop song structure, which isn’t something easy to do.  Xenia will celebrate the release of her new album ‘Black Terry Cat’ with a show at Baby’s All Right tomorrow, June 4th – do not miss!

Chazmere is a producer, teacher, and master MC.  This isn’t entirely surprising for someone affiliated with Talib Kweli’s Colours of Culture Collective.  Raised in the Bronx, he reflects the roots of Hip Hop.  The cameos in the music video are all artists that Chaz knows from the electric experience of the New York Hustle.  He’s about artistry and integrity, and his frustration with the commercial status quo is reflected in his rhymes: “I wonder how many licks does it take til the slave murder the master? I’m drowning in passion, hittin’ that glass ceiling but can’t get it crackin.”  His eponymous debut album is due out June 10 – proof that Chazmere is on ten all the time. – BrokeMC