This Saturday, July 23rd at 10 PM, The Revolution series will return to National Sawdust with another set of NYC based artists: Vocateurs, Snack Cat, and DioMara. Vocateurs is a brand new Brooklyn-based (by way of Florida) band blending soul and indie rock elements – they are so new they don’t even have a demo out yet! Snack Cat is a collective of musicians combining elements of jazz, blues, soul, and funk; their sound bases its foundation on an intriguing trombone/keys/electric guitar interplay. DioMara, a Panamian-American R&B singer, bears a stage presence that matches her soulful tunes, and she’s also the founder of a women’s charity event series called WNDR WMN.

Coming from three very different backgrounds, these artists and their music are a testament to NYC’s cultural, ethnic and artistic diversity – don’t miss their performance this coming Saturday! Tickets are here. – Susan Moon

In line with her emotional and observational tendencies, the artist behind Florist, Emily Sprague, is talking to us and herself about fear in (soft)spoken word, making many references to death and life on earth. "My hair is dirty blonde," Florist begins. ". . . Sleep early, wake early," the lullaby continues. The monologue is visual and representative of the artist’s visions as she explores them on Emily Alone. The project, like the track, navigates stream of consciousness ideas with an emphasis on the elemental realm. "If I lose my mind, please give it back to the earth, fire, water, wind, earth, fire, water, wind, and lie down, lie down with me." Florist drifts in and out of song and line, passing between the two like there is no time for anything but also a vast wealth of it. Her mind is in the right place as she questions her body and spirit, waxing poetic and musing ideas.

Of the song, Sprague says: "’Celebration’ is a love song for darkness and the peaceful end to all things. A song in three movements: reality, fantasy, memory.  In a lot of ways this song is the thesis to Emily Alone. Minimal arrangements – acoustic guitars, synthesizers, and voice accompanied by the ambient sounds of earth. Birds and water. The song begins with an experience of the now. It falls into imagining the way that things will always return to what they should be.  It ends with a burial of negative forms and the acceptance of a beautiful new path towards growing from nothing."

Emily Alone is available for pre-order now and out on 7/26 via Double Double Whammy. – Susan Moon

Daydream is an appropriate title for Brooklyn-based Pearla‘s first single from her upcoming debut LP Quilting & OtherActivities. Behind the band moniker, singer/songwriter Nicole Rodriguez reveals her most intimate thoughts through beautifully arranged emotional lullabies laden with metaphors and lush melodies. Recurring themes include love, evocative personal memories, the search for ways to escape darkness, whose emotional power gets boosted by her enchanting voice and a sparse but vivid production. Combining elements of folk, pop and psychedelia with a playful yet sober approach to songwriting, "Daydream" carries a wistful sort of confidence and a poetic power that’s rare to find. 

In other Pearla-related news, the artist will be headlining Rough Trade on August 28th, celebrating the debut album release on Egghunt Records (Lucy Dacus, Camp Howard, Gold Connections). To hear the full EP, you’ll have to wait until the September 6th release. – Susan Moon

New York-based musician Gabrielle Marlena‘s new single and video for "Older Than Me" discusses the problems she had with dating an older man. The source of her frustration is peeled away in the music video’s imager, featuring a wedding dress, cake, and of course, an older man (in a wheelchair, played by Marlena’s sister). The track’s languid rhythm, rolling drums, and Marlena’s tender delivery give the song th aura of a confession from a friend, including self-deprecating moments detectable in both the lyrics and the video. The title stands out as the pinnacle of an outburst outlined through the song’s crescendo, a realization that each aging year brings an opportunity to take control of one’s life. It plays to the artist’s benefit to admit her faults in the relationship, naming the specifics about exactly what makes her feel the way she does. – Susan Moon

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Weird noise plays opposite scorched guitars on Gross Dominance, the new EP from New Jersey’s Resounding No. Whether this noise adds to a dramatic, calamitous conclusion on opener “Hexed Pet” or adds a gritty depth of sound to vocals on tracks like “Hunter’s Moon,” Resounding No understands how to wield reverb and dissonance to their advantage. This, paired with the Garden State trio’s command of songwriting and precise percussive licks helps to deliver a tight extended play that rips from start to finish, providing a rust-laden, engaging listen for fans of melodic punk and garage rock. Get a good pair of earphones before you let Gross Dominance wash over you, and catch Resounding No at In the West on August 22nd alongside Didi and Magic Ghrelin. -Connor Beckett McInerney

Feel It, the debut EP of Brooklyn post-hardcore quintet Nice Knife, is the musical equivalent of a lightning strike—here for a hot, visceral moment, then gone before you can render what the hell just happened. This isn’t so much a dig at the run time of their first effort (an exhilarating five minutes), but more so a testament to the focused energy of Feel It’s three tracks; from the whirlwind, guttural vocal performance on opener “High Knees” to the melodic coursing of “Knew It,” Nice Knife are able to incorporate numerous, if subtle, post-punk and thrash motifs into their work. It’s a thrilling, compelling ride that promises a barn burning performance at The Broadway on July 25th, where Nice Knife will play alongside Haute Tension and Big Spirit. Listen below. -Connor Beckett McInerney

Manhattan-based artist Austin Lesch (aka Boo Riley)’s most recent single, "Mango Garry," is a clever, mid-tempo track vaguely remenescient of Steely Dan that will send you back to that sunny era in the ’80s when you could hear quality pop rock on the radio. From the beginning, the song is packed with sophisticated songwriting twists and held together by Lesch’s smooth, made-for-radio vocals. The song opens a three-track, impeccably produced and performed EP – you can stream it below. – Susan Moon

In her blend of folk and pop Brooklyn-based artist Kira Metcalf mixes poetry with a variety of genres. Listening to her new LP Indelicate, this young talent writes songs about women’s experiences with the self-assuredness of a seasoned performer and an enviable introspective quality. Opening track "I Had a Head," is an acappella number that is as satisfying for its harmonizations as it is for Metcalf’s voice. "Thornbird" is an unexpected change in style, in part reminiscent of rock songwriters of 90’s like The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan or – more recently – Paramore’s Hayley Williams. 

Her new music video for "Lily" is equally poignant, showcasing Kira’s keenness to investigate moments that escape most of us. The line, "to have what I crave feels like a trick" is the song’s takeaway and the perfect summary of a personality that enjoys intellectual and lyrical reflection over… simple enjoyment. Kira Metcalf will perform live at Elsewhere’s Zone One on July 24th. – Susan Moon

Sho Ishikura makes their recorded debut with the single "Planet Hurt", an R&B ballad in the vein of artists like Prince, with Ishikura’s soulful voice harmonizing over a seductive beat delivering lyrics such as "She gets me wet like a newborn." When Ishikura shared the song with fellow songwriters at an ASCAP workshop a couple of years ago, industry folks and other artists showed hesitation at the subject matter. However, a substantial amount of people were intrigued by Ishikura’s tune, creating a sense of controversy that helped create some buzz for it. The uproar of "Planet Hurt" — a track which blends pleasure with pain, light with dark —  makes it a piece of work worth your ears’ attention, so that you can form your own opinion about it. Take a listen to "Planet Hurt" below. – Will Sisskind

Brooklyn’s A Bunch of Dead People is the experimental funk solo project of Ruben Sindo Acosta that “has since become a cult,” in their own words. Listening to debut Your Eternal Reward helps illuminate why the band chose this self-descriptor. Over the course of seven, fuzzed out tracks, Acosta lays down groovy vintage bops, accentuatedby a preference for time signature changes, discordantly off-kilter synths, and enormous sax lines. His eccentric take on funk music challenges the listener’s expectations, delivering a full length effort that feels like what funk music would sound like in an alternate David Lynch-inspired dimension. Stream the delightfully freaky LP below, and catch A Bunch of Dead People at Baby’s All Right on July 31st, alongside Irrevery, Francie Moon, and Wooter. -Connor Beckett McInerney 

Brooklyn’s Peaer hits their stride on new single “Don’t,” utilizing patent stumbling math rock rhythms alongside major-minor chord modulations to create a track that is as engaging as it is disorienting. Regardless of vocalist/guitarist Peter Katz’s biting, occasionally sardonic lyrics (“why do you treat others like objects? / man, i’d hate to see how you treat objects”), there’s an inherent playfulness to Peaer’s craft, due in large part to the band’s tight instrumental synergy, their ability to interweave guitar, drums, and vox in ways unexpected and impressive. Better yet, Katz’s nonchalant vocal delivery occurring the midst of their well-choreographed performance endows “Don’t” with an effortlessly cool atmosphere. It promises more experimentation on forthcoming LP A Healthy Earth, out August 16th on Tiny Engines; listen below, and catch them at Elsewhere on September 27th. -Connor Beckett McInerney

Big Spirit is New York’s answer to disingenuous baby boomer gripes that there’s no good rock bands anymore, embodying the, well, “big spirit” of the Big Apple’s longstanding rock legacy. New single “Black Angel” employs sloppy fun Ramones-like guitar progressions against the sing-speak stream of conscious lyrics of frontman Sed Pepper, a visceral diatribe of dream imagery that includes being “born in an ocean” and “making love to a video.” While it might be a fool’s errand to offer deeper analysis of Pepper’s more esoteric quips, his abilities as a songwriter endow Big Spirit’s music with a restless energy, a constant sense of movement, that makes for an enjoyably vintage listening experience. Jam it below, and catch the band the band at The Broadway on July 25th, supporting Nice Knife and Haute Tension. –Connor Beckett McInerney