THE DELI

Take the simultaneously gritty and polished instrumental style of groups like Television and Talking Heads, sprinkle some indie undertones, and then add a Morrisseyesque vocal delivery for a cherry on top and watch it shape-shift into a twenty-first-century group from NYC called Reptilian Elite. The band is back after a small break and has added Sam Grossman (not pictured) on bass to the line-up, assigning guitar duties to Dylan Kelly and Pablo Narea and freeing Eamon Rush to unleash his full vocal prowess. Their style is classic NYC: open dress shirts, sharpei boots, worn out chucks, and some good old indie rock. The group will be keeping their new run going by playing The Well Public House in Brooklyn April 6. – Rene Cobar

Sun Kil Moon’s latest release, I Also Want to Die in New Orleans (Caldo Verde Records) has singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek’s signature talk-singing style, like a Bill Callahan but with more of swaying, touch-of-blues rock and string-plucking country moments, and if you can imagine, more cocky. Tracks are embedded with Kozelek’s at times judgemental frustrations around San Francisco transplants and the general state of things in our country. Song “Day in America” is a very straight telling of Kozelek’s experience learning of the Parkland shooting; “I’m Not Laughing at You” is full of quotes of conversations Kozelek has had with frustrated people over the last 26 years. The most musically musical track on the album is “Couch Potato,” which has tidbits of all the disappointing ways in which newcomers don’t appreciate the natural beauty of San Francisco. Track “Bay of Kotor” includes distressing animal cries and concludes the album with a strange taste in our mouths. Take a listen on Spotify, (he’s not released any freshies in Bandcamp or Soundcloud) then refresh yourself outside with a long walk. –Michelle Kicherer, Associate Editor

Despite hailing from Brooklyn, Rae Isla sounds completely stratified in the atmosphere above our country on “American Paradise.” Hovering between painful longing and bitter condemnation, this airy pop star stretches the gossamer of her sounds to a tense and passionate apex. Mournful guitars wane in and out of view while distinctly boom-bap drums ground the track to reality described as full of opposing ideas that make this world simultaneously inhospitable yet a necessary home to inhabit. Rae Isla sidesteps the clichés with earnest declarations of longing for a home she recognizes as flawed, and these honest moments are carried to a painful, celestial finish that finds peace when soaring above the land. -Tucker Pennington

It’s hard not to smile when listening to “Crocodilian,” a self-described “little indie bop” by Brooklyn synthpop artist Tatum Gale. It’s an accurate descriptor, given the track’s shuffling measure, it’s kitschy, bright keys, and Gale’s honest lyricism about relationships and, well, crocodiles. The track is accompanied by a music video that’s equally heartfelt, with the artist hitchhiking his way around the city with the help of a friendly anthropomorphized croc; while the visual is silly, it demonstrates Gale’s willingness to bare his soul in a way that’s truly genuine and unabashedly fun. Watch it below. -Connor Beckett McInerney (@b_ck_tt)