Is the Elephant 6 Collective arriving in New York, or has a new arts commune sprung up unexpectedly in the otherwise serene waters of Long Island? Meet the fascinating arts collective/loft apartment recording project of Eastern Phoebes. While the band has already released several records, the band has now arrived at a larger juncture with their latest EP ‘Better People.’ An ensemble including the large, inviting personalities of Ry Cooder and Meg Bayley, it’s amazing they’ve been able to come together to create such a cohesive statement.

Like the way Olivia Tremor Control took an analog sensibility and coupled it with an appreciation for all things Beach Boys, Eastern Phoebes is extending the noble tradition of Weird Old Americana to yet another generation. And on their latest record ‘Better People,’ the band delivers. From the psychedelic protest of ‘Yer Dollar is a Dead Spore’ to domestic dramas like the back and forth of "everyone here is allergic it seems…" off ‘We Can’t Have a Cat,’ this record covers its subjects with a wide brush and fills in the lines with immense detail.

Here’s a group exploring all the ups and downs associated with life lived among family and friends. And the humour, pain and joy of this kind of life lights up every shooting harmony and floating guitar riff off ‘Better People.’ Check out the record on their Bandcamp. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

This is what we can do to help spread the word about music related initiatives in the NYC area aiming at helping locals hit by Sandy. Feel free to post about any of these in our open blog and we’ll link from here.

*** Hurricane Sandy, How You Can Help OhMyRockness.com guide ***

– Support the Scene initiatives
– Hurricane Relief Benefit at St.Vitus
– Sandy Benefit Shows at LPR
– NMU Studios Hurricane Relief Party Public Event
– Songwriter’s Beat Hurrican Relief Concert
– Spottiswoode & His Enemies 15th year anniversary
– Unflood BK Music – donations to aid a new music building in Red Hook
– Taking Back Sunday Relief Concerts
– Williamsburg Sandy Relief Party
– Sandy benefit at Public Assembly w/ 18bands
– ‘Occupy Sandy’ benefit at Webster Hall 
– "Rock-N-Rebuild" Hurricane Fundraiser

– Band release-related initiatives: Nicole Atkins, Buke and Gase, Glint, Emergency Service (CD Release Party Benefit), The Paper Jets, Sweet Soubrette.

CALL FOR MUSICIANS
According to New York State Democratic Committee Member Chris Owens, MUSICIANS are needed at the shelters to provide entertainment: "Singers and musicians are most welcome (particularly during the day hours), and anyone who can be creative with activities for children. There may not be a lot of space to work with, but I have faith in my fellow cultural workers. Those who carry portable instruments (e.g. – your own voice, guitars, accordions, light percussion) will have the easiest time of it, but some schools with open auditoriums have a working piano!"

The Deli’s Staff

Part folk, part indie, and part just about everything else, Brooklyn-based band Mail the Horse achieves a melodic blend of throwback rock and charged-up, soulful fervor. The band was formed by college friends in New Hampshire in 2012, later moving to New York to piece together material and work on recordings. Mail the Horse has had several multi-track releases in their relatively short time as a band, with September’s full-length album “Great Kills” being their most recent effort. The album plays like an awakening into adulthood, and has the sonic range of a band like Wilco as sung by Beck. Mail the Horse will perform a New Year’s Eve show at Mercury Lounge alongside Felice Brothers and Yellowbirds. – Devon Antonetti

Pre War is a band from Brooklyn. Guitar, guitar, drums, and five tracks released on their Bandcamp over the last couple of months: that’s about it, as far as what I know of Pre War goes – but will happily head over to the LES to find out more. Amateurs of fuzzed-out echo-filled melodies & glorious buildups, here’s one for you to follow, at ease juggling harsh noise and a radiant pop edge. The band can be found playing the Cake Shop every Tuesday evening throughout the month of November – and it’s free! Next week, they’ll be playing with local ambient noisemaker Doron Sadja (the full list of shows is available here).

It is no surprise that Sins of the Loose Buttons loves to show off New York City in their music videos. The guys have been running around Brooklyn and Manhattan gigging since 2007, when the oldest member of the quartet was only 15. In more recent times, about a year ago, they busted onto the scene with “Retrobox” and now they are back at it again with their newest single and music video, “I Love Lucy”. “Lucy” will kick off a slew of new releases for SOTLB over the next few months, as well as an east coast tour this winter, so stay tuned for more updates out of these guys in the very near future.

Like being exhausted by a hot sun, Bryan Harding and Amalie Bruun’s dream pop sways slow and nonchalant; carelessly, it wraps itself around jangle-pop melodies and vaporous synths, lost in a hazy confusion where layers mingle, melt into one another, and a voice echoes from afar, barely there. Sure, we don’t know much of Ex Cops so far. They’ve only been around for about a year, and have to this date only released a single, and a few tracks circulating online. But with their debut album "True Hallucinations" coming in January, we should be hearing more of these guys, who impressed us at our recent ‘Mostly Psych’ CMJ show at Pianos. Check out the first single from the album below. – TM

A Brooklyn-based classic punk rock four piece, barely a year old, Half Day released late September a first album. Filled with gang chants and that bottoms-up cheer, keeping ‘rough round the edges’ as a thread, In Public streams through its ten tracks an indie-friendly rumble of colliding riffs and raucous unisons, somehow balancing a taste for clean-cut aesthetics and their true string-shredding, barking natures leaning towards the gritty gutter-bred edge of punk. Following a string of Brooklyn shows in support of the record’s release, the band will be playing XPO 929 on November 17 with Very Rare and Ex-Wife, but for now, you can get acquainted with the record on their Bandcamp. – TM

As a fan of Sad Companion, I’ve come to expect a couple things from the band’s frontmen,cellist/experimental songwriter Christopher Hoffman. Namely: a cello, a good song, and some experiments. While you’ll find these elements in the Brooklynite’s first solo venture, what you won’t find are any flirtations with the pop format. The pieces from ‘Induction’ exist in a world of their own. Built from drum and string loops and wound together tightly by unearthly vocals, these tunes might reminded at times of the uneasy hysterics of Kid A. But rest assured, Hoffman’s an artist firmly in control of his abilities. If the amazing child in full KiSS makeup on the album’s cover doesn’t convince you, the evocative cello solos certainly will. Check the record out and see him live when he plays Roulette on November 23rd and 24th. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

Courtesy of Raccoon Fighters, here comes raw rock and roll repackaged for the post-everything generation – exploring 60s garage, blues rock, grunge sounds in a manner that stands at reasonable distance from faithful revivalism and anything formulaic. How? Complete incoherence and a soft contemporary frame. They’ve well-understood that it isn’t one particular aesthetic we’re after but an energy altogether. Those who are expecting monster rock are at the wrong door, but for the others, a tasty mouthful of dirt is awaiting – at The Knit on November 7th. – TM

Here’s a video which wouldn’t really come at a better time if it tried. Presidential election coming up, the sempiternal pro vs. anti-abortion debate sparked up again from the Republican front. In the midst of it all, Broooklyn-based songwriter Shilpa Ray has concocted, with her Happy Hookers (and a little help from her fans) this iconography-saturated video she released last week to illustrate the moody, sour drone of her song ‘Nocturnal Emissions’. A black&white DIY silent movie-style montage, it takes the shape of a vindictive dig at man-made contraception policies imagining a violent women-led pro-natality campaign straight out of a dude’s worst nightmare. See for yourself, and mainly, don’t forget to vote tomorrow! – Tracy Mamoun

Following the release of their third album "Worship" early this summer, A Place To Bury Strangers recently revealed their new music video for ‘I’m All UP’ (below), off the slightly softer edged full-length which came as the latest in a gradual slip away from the band’s original devastatingly abrasive shoegazing. On the backdrop of this sweet, shamelessly melodic, effects-encrusted pop downer, the video portrays an epic massacre of an army of toys, real-life recreation of a young boy’s fantasy, orchestrated by Oliver Ackermann’s brother Karl, who calls it a ‘Toy Story IV: Battle Royale’ – check it out below. APTBS’ US tour, which kicked off October 27th in Richmond, VA, will find them heading back home to headline the Bowery Ballroom on November 18th, as one of their last dates with Philly-based shoegazers Bleeding Rainbow. Streaming below also the single ‘You Are the One.’ – Tracy Mamoun