Brooklyn based Baby Teardrops will be releasing their debut CD with a show at Pianos on April 04. The band revisits the sound of the 90s in a poppier, less abrasive and rather sophisticated way. If you miss those mood lifting "loud-quiet-loud" oh so ’90s moments, you’ll be able to find them again in these guys’ music, although a little more tamed compared to what the Pixies or Nirvana used to do. Here’s the video of the single "X is for Love", which was shot at The Local 269, the Lower East Side bar where drummer Gerry White works.

On Monday, March 28, New York City’s Lily & The Parlour Tricks will be accompanying for The London Souls at Brooklyn Bowl along with The Tales. Monday marks the final night of The London Souls month-long residency, and Lily & The Parlour Tricks will warm up the stage with their captivating retro, doo-wop, three-part harmonies of Lily Claire, Morgane Moulherat, and Jade Fusco, playful rhythms, and synchronized dance-clap routines to close the four weeks on a high note. The show will be in support of the L&TPT’s upcoming album, which will include much of the new material they have been playing live in the past several months. The show doors open at 7:00 PM and tickets, are only $5 and can be purchased in advance. Don’t miss out on a night of dancing!  –Meijin Bruttomesso

Brooklyn-based, “spook-folk” quintet O’Death have put their rowdy, banjo-driven SXSW shows behind them as they continue on a huge US tour in support of their forthcoming album Outside (April 19, Ernest Jenning Record Company). Mark April 15 as that’s the night they will play at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn with Grandchildren. Enjoy the embedded free track from their upcoming album.

I’m not exactly sure why music writers of both sexes, when covering all female bands, always make sure to point that fact out – I don’t think I’ve ever read or heard the "all dudes band" thing. Maybe because everybody likes gals while only gals (in most cases) like dudes? Admittedly, there are a lot more guys in bands than girls, so an all girl band is kind of rare and therefore exciting. Anyhoo, the purpose of this never ending pointless intro is to introduce you to Dawn Landes‘ new group, called The Bandana Splits. The 3 ladies – who should look into organizing a tour with The Debutante Hour – play charming old timey folky tunes with frequent excursions into doo-wop and 50s pop territory. If vocal harmonies are your thing (they are our thing!) you owe it to yourself to listen to this band.

Lia Ices probably couldn’t have written “Grown Unknown” without taking a break from Brooklyn. Released in January 2011 on Jagjaguwar, the singer’s sophomore album collects nine impressionistic fairy tales, each song a misty sylvan dream world unto itself. The music is airy, uncluttered, and untouched by civilization. Prospect Park and Green Wood Cemetery have their dark, secluded spots, but as refuges from civilization—places capable of inspiring the kind of wonder and dread hissing beneath the quietude of this record—Brooklyn’s premier green spaces have nothing on rural Vermont, where Ices spent last winter writing. – Read Ken Partridge’s interview with Lia Ices here.
Lia Ices graced the cover of the winter 2011 issue of The Deli – read it here. This is the video of the single Daphne.

"Daphne" by Lia Ices from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.

Releasing a few tracks here and there since founding Teengirl Fantasy, students Logan Takahashi and Nick Weiss were suddenly shoved into the spotlight with the release of their debut album 7AM last September. Aptly titled, the record’s gentle brand of house music captures the hazy feel of a post-club comedown. With 2010 being a busy year in their fledgling music career, as well as their hefty study scheduled, it’s unsurprising that when I caught up with the duo my casually tossed out greeting is snatched upon as a chance to voice their exhaustion. And considering that the band was just asked to play a UK All Tomorrow’s Party Festival curated by Animal Collective in May, it looks like 2011 might be an even more exhausting (and successful) year for them. – Read Dean Van Nguyen’s interview with the band here.

Latest tracks by Teengirl Fantasy

Earth Grid, Zomes second solo album out April 12, is the culmination of Maryland based Asa Osborne’s years of exploring meditative modal models. Written, played, and recorded entirely at home on cassette tape, Earth Grid, is an intimate and intentionally primitive recording. The album was mastered by Bob Weston.  The cover art was created by Osborne whose reputation as a visual artist is growing. He has had several group and solo shows, including a show at New York’s Mountain Fold Gallery with Lungfish singer and friend, Daniel Higgs.  A fan of primitive and outsider art, Osborne’s work uses common objects to reach transformative ends.  A visual reflection of the music, the cover takes simple elements (white medical tape on black paper) and via careful placement and repetition of patterns with subtle variations creates a beautiful space transforming the simple to the infinite.  

Zomes will be touring in the US this April with The Skull Defekts, and in Europe with Kogumaza in May. –Courtesy of Thrill Jockey

We keep covering one by one all the artists who made The Deli’s Best of NYC 2010 list here.

LA/SF/NYC based MNDR (pronounced “mandar”) create electro pop so deliberate that new sounds and intonations are discovered with each new eager listen. They went on the "Risky Business Tour" across North America along with electrofunk duo Chromeo. Their infectious sound and front lady/songwriter/programmer Amanda Warner’s attractively nerdy attitude caught the ears and eyes of Mark Ronson, with whom she collaborated for this summer’s potential dance hit, “Bang Bang Bang”. Within months Amanda went from lugging a PA system to house parties to opening for the legendary Massive Attack. Her track “I Go Away”, an ode to the merits of independence in the time of lost love, made Pitchfork’s Best of 2010 guest list. And to boot, her shows are known to be spectacles – not only for the inherent dance-ability of the songs, but also because of the complementary light projections created by visual artist Jamie Carreiro. – Katie Bennett

For L Magazine’s latest attempt at lo-brow meets hi-brow arts curation (see an old Deli article about this here), they have joined forces with NYC Opera to bring us Act 4. Closing out several nights of independent opera productions, theater goers will get to hear independent-minded musicians… rocking out for the tux crowd.
Opera lovers can hear what the kids are doing, and hipsters can enjoy snooty drinks while retaining their hard-earned cred. Everybody wins! It looks like this will be ongoing for at least the next couple months, so keep checking the site for details.
My personal fave, Brooklyn’s summer soul duo Beach Fossils will be playing at Avery Fisher Hall’s fourth ring cocktail bar this Thursday following a performance of The Elixir of Love. Their show is free with your opera ticket, so check it out. If Elixir of Love’s composer Gaetano Donizetti’s awesome facial hair is any indication, this opera may be more relevant to Brooklyn’s scene than I thought. – Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)

The 8th issue of The Deli LA (Best of LA 2011 issue) is available online HERE! The printed version will hit the streets of Los Angeles next week.

Josh Flagg’s debut album, Devastate Me, has the perfect balance of sweet and sour in an alt-rock format. The songs are, as it says on Flagg’s website, "brawlers with busted noses, but hearts of gold". Flagg, tired of the You-Me-Girl aspect that comprises much of songwriting, set out to undermine the classic pop format by disrupting those sentiments. For example, the song "Bring Me Back to Life" is about a zombie looking for his girlfriend and "Come Back To Me" is written from the perspective of a comic book villain. The music will make your heart soar, the lyrics will make you think and the record overall will make you smile. Josh Flagg will be playing Bowery Electric on March 31. – Leah Tribbett

The other day in Austin I was talking with some friends about the fact that right now in Brooklyn there are a ton of new and gorgeously talented solo female acts (we were thinking about Lia Ices, Sharon Van Etten, Alex Winston, MNDR and Oh Land amongst many many many others). Well it turns out that there is one more I wasn’t aware of: Australia born popstress/actress Lenka, who recently moved to every rocker’s favorite neighborhood – Brooklyn. Lenka will release her sophomore album on April 19 and has just released a new video of the single "Heart Skips a Beat" (check it out down here). She will also be on a little mini West Coast tour starting April 1 to preview songs from "Two"