Brooklyn based artist Kevin Calaba performs under the moniker Airlands, a sophisticated art pop project that’s about to release its second studio album. Calaba’s liquid vocals encapsulate passion and longing. Single ‘Love & Exhale’ (streaming), off last year’s self-titled debut album, is an intense ballad exuding almost mystical peace and tranquility; it will please the fans of Peter Gabriel from the ‘So’ years. The record is a perfect collection of music for the end of a long day, something many New Yorkers may appreciate. – Amanda McCall

This artist submitted music for coverage here.

With their easy melodies, honest lyrics and unpretentious attitude, Brooklyn via New Paltz garage-pop duo Diet Cig has been winning many fun seeking hearts since the release of their debut EP, appropriately titled ‘Over Easy.’ The band recently announced a two week tour of the UK scheduled for the second half of May, immediately after the US tour they are currently embarked on. They’ll be back in NYC on June 10 with a show at Baby’s All Right.

Slacking noise lovers shouldn’t miss this show at Shea Stadium on 05.05, since it features threee NYC bands with a noisy sound and a slacking attitude. Post-hardcore quartet Big Ups – our Best NYC Emerging Band of 2014 – will headline the bill and kick off a three date north east tour in support of their recent release ‘Before a Million Universes.’  Their label mates, slacker rockers Washer will be one of the opening acts; after releasing a split EP with Big Ups in 2014, this past January released their debut album ‘Here Comes Washer.’ on the bill also noise rock purveyors Dirty Dishes, who recently expanded to a trio (picture) and released a new single in February entitled "All of Me" (streaming) and spent the early spring touring the East coast.

Visuals is the brainchild of Brooklyn born producer. musician and vocalist Andrew Fox, who has been spending a fair amount of his recent time in Berlin. The project’s debut EP was released back in 2013 and featured the well received single Slowed Down, a mid tempo track that flirted heavily with the decadent atmospheres and ‘romantic’ melodicism of the European electronic new wave of the ’80s. Fox will be celebrating the release of his sophomore EP ‘The State of Things‘ on May 4th at the Good Room. The record showcases a more polished production, confirming the propension for intensely melodic songwriting that’s at once textured and atmospheric. Check out the title track below.

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

Here’s our usual appointment with new tracks released by NYC area artists that are a little more than just "emerging." This week we have soul pop duo Overcoats, Israeli electronic musician O Mer (pictured), electro pop diva VÉRITÉ, and New Jersey’s Pop and Rollers The Everymen.

We’ve seen our fair share of interesting use of guitars and related gear, but, honestly, the idea of a classical six string associated with garage rock never even remotely crossed our mind. Enter Tall Juan from Queens, NY, who begs to differ! Read what he has to say about it in our Delicious Audio post. Tall Juan will open for Beverly’s record release show at Baby’s All Right on May 5th.

We’ve been covering NYC’s mysterious songwriter with experimental tendencies Ziemba (aka René Kladzyk) since early 2014, raving about her song/video combo for single "Phantom See." From what we can tell, the "nouvelle femme fatale" had very little coverage in the major music blogs so far, but things are about to change. She just announced the release of her debut album "Hope is Never," which mostly gathers songs she had posted on her Soundcloud profile during the last two, impressively prolific years. The album will include "Phantom See" and also "El Paso" (streaming below), one of the most upbeat track in her repertoire, also featured in 2015 EP "A Pure Mirror and a Damn Prison." Check out also the album minimalistic opener "It Curts Itself." Ziemba will be kicking off a US tour at Trans Pecos on May 29th. – photo by Megan Mack

Named after German philosopher Friederich Ludwig Gottlob Frege, Brooklyn by way of Mexico City by way of Saturn band Frege explores the mathematics of funk. This live electro-soul quartet brings some fantastic stutter in your groove. Their unprecedented means of generating ambiance gives the impression of dancing in a black hole. From Victor De La Garza’s deep drum grooves to Sebastián Garrido’s boyish vocals, Frege can induce an undeniable shimmy into even the coolest demeanor. Their “Got Love” EP (a further play on their eponymous philosopher’s moniker) is available on Bandcamp and a new full length is due out in June! Groovy. – BrokeMC

Here’s the video for Heliotropes‘ shockingly mellow (for their standards) new single ‘Easy’ from their upcoming album ‘Over There That Way’ (which can be preordered here). The video was shot by Deli NYC contributor Bill Dvorak and Micah Weisberg during Coney Island’s closing weekend in the Fall of 2015.

Our local charts might not be perfect (we wish we could throw more money at them!) but they do work in highlighting emerging local bands that are getting internet buzz. Today we noticed a new NYC entry in the chart on the top left of this post (or here if you are on a smartphone): the band is called Episode and plays very, very catchy pop-rock that will intrigue fans of Red Hot Chilli Peppers at their poppiest. Their single ‘Swim’ (streaming below) got a lot of love from the web (10k+ hearts on Soundcloud are quite an achievement!). They just came back from a college tour that took them from Maince to Alabama.  

Simon Doom is the project of Simon O’Connor, who used to play with Kuroma and Amazing Baby. They present themselves this way: "Simon Doom would consider themselves to be a "Pop-Punk" band if, "Pop-Punk" didn’t mean Pop-Punk." There’s an easy solution: switch around the two words and call yourselves a "Punk-Pop" band! This however only partially describes their sound because, although melodic and raw, it’s also heavily influenced by surf and post punk – which places them in a musical place very close to our gods of indie rock: (early) Pixies. Like the legendary Bostonians, Simon Doom have some really good songs, full of character, intriguing melodies and charismatic vocal performances. Check out our favorite one, entitled "Roseate," streaming below.

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

Jocelyn Mackenzie of Pearl & the Beard is back with a solo project that’s a clear departure from the sound of her previous band, which dismantled in 2015. The singer and multi-instrumentalist will be soon releasing her debut EP "Unlovely" and has just began a East Coast tour supporting You Won’t. They will stop in NYC for a performance at The Knitting Factory on May 3rd. Check out the first single from the EP, ‘Kids,’ streaming below.