NICKCASEY is a solid folk-rock musical partnership between Brooklyn singer/songwriters Casey Spindler and Nicholas Webber. Backed by bassist Tim Luntzel (Rosanne Cash, Bright Eyes) and drummer Dan Rieser (Norah Jones, Marcy Playground) the band is set to release the debut album "Can’t Reason Through Love" with a show at The Living Room, where videos for the songs “Medicine” and “Bandages” will be also premiered. The date is 11.21

Sick of frontmen lacking stage presence, making you question if they even enjoy their own music? Francis Farewell Starlite may be the cure. Fellow scenemaker and Cantora Records labelmate, William Johnson of Gordon Voidwell, once said in a Deli interview that Starlite “is easily the most impressive dancer I’ve played a show with.” A quick search on YouTube renders numerous live videos of him showing off some sweet dance moves, opening for no-big-deal acts Drake and MGMT. Starlite heads Francis and the Lights, a band that successfully fuses funk, soul, country and electropop. His malleable voice that often soars into falsetto ties these often opposing forces together. To get an idea of this conflicting yet satisfying sound, think of the best possible result of a Prince and Phil Collins collaboration. The band has a good amount of cred as they can count Kanye West and Drake as fans. They covered West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” which was posted on the artist’s notoriously ridiculous blog last year, and the band not only opened for Drake earlier this year, but Starlite also helped produced “Karaoke” off of his latest album, “Thank Me Later.” Bring your dancing shoes and head over to Terminal 5 on November 17 to catch Francis and the Lights open for Brit synthpoppers La Roux. – Nancy Chow

Droney, dark electronic project Warm Ghost is the brainchild of musician Paul Duncan. After releasing a debut EP, Claws Overhead, on the label Geographic North on May 11th, 2010, Warm Ghost has now signed with Partisan Records, where they will be releasing an expanded version of the Claws Overhead EP, with four additional songs. The band is already recording a follow-up full-length to be released in 2011.

Psych-Folk lovers may want to Dylan Trees tonight at Molly Malones. The band released The Charlie Horse EP in late 2008, opened for Echo and The Bunnymen at SXSW 2009, and In 2010, they were invited to contribute to Beat LA, a charity compilation of covers that will include contributions from No Age and Crystal Antlers. Dylan Trees offered up a glacial reworking of Kathy Smith’s Topanga. The upcoming full length release Victoryville is due for release later this year. On the bill also out of towners Kris Gruen, Captain Danger and Son Ark & Coyote.

The Young Friends – the rock group with the second most generic name ever after "The The" – ise a fun party band that recently relocated from Phoenex to Brooklyn. So far the Big Apple treated them well: they played this year’s NYC PopFest, and got blogged by Brooklyn Vegan like… 2 hours after they moved here  (something that will surely irritate many long time NY based artists).
Their story actually bears surprising similarities with the one of NYC’s own beach boys The Drums, a band that’s been very supportive with them (Holiday Records, run in part by Jacob of The Drums, released YF’s first single) and with whom they seem to have a lot in common also on a musical level: fast paced, bouncy rhythms + ultra catchy melodies + sparse, simple arrangements + preference for clean guitar tones + alto male vocals. The Young Friends are actually very young (the core duo is 17 years old) and surely talented, and they have plenty of time to work on their sound in a more personal direction – before they’ll have to change the band name… I mean, I don’t think anybody over 25 would wanto to play in a band with that name, right? The band will play Glasslands tonight with Warm Ghost and Grand Children.

Long Island, New York’s Exemption has done more than mature their sound on their sophomore full-length, and third self-released disc, Public Cemetery Party. Each of the nine tracks not only differs uniquely from one another but sets the band far apart from the current trends of today’s rock and metal bands. The songs are a kaleidoscope of musical styles: thick stoner metal mudslides slam head on into psychedelic landscapes; antehemic pop hooks give way to fiery surf-rock riffs, and crusty blues jams become violent exercises in aggressive funk. The first track “Hyperspiral” is a perfect example of this, moving seamlessly from Mastodon & Torche-esque riffage to euphoric melodies and hooks reminiscent of Rubber Soul. Like Torche, Exemption is not afraid to combine spine-cracking heaviness with bubbly pop-hook sweetness to create moods not often tapped into by new bands. Public Cemetery Party goes on to demonstrate the power trio’s skills as musicians. Their progressive side has earned them comparisons to The Mars Volta, Rush, and King Crimson, but this musical ability combined with their sense of humor at times is more in the vein of Frank Zappa. The band is currently touring the north part of the East coast – they’ll be back in NYC with a show at matchless on 12.15. Stream their album for free here. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here).

The Americans, who are New Yorkers by way of many states, produce a smooth sound that channels piano-driven pop, British Invasion psychedelia, and the delicateness of easy-listening. The band’s new “White EP” opens with a gospel -tinged, elevating “Try (Nobody Wants To),” featuring Daniel Merriweather and sampling Jackie Wilson’s “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher." “The Antidote” and “Not Still in Love” add doo-wop to the mix and are followed by “Diamond,” which intertwines twinkling piano chords and elongated country twangs. “Rooftop Love” alternates between soulful multi-vocal harmonies and call and responses with hymn-like cadences. The Americans will be headlining Rockwood Music Hall this Friday, November 12 for the release of their "White EP" and the music video for "Requiem," the album’s first single and final track, which showcases Sean Lennon. The official celebration begins when The Americans hit the stage at midnight. – Meijin Bruttomesso

Alex Nahas and Nick Smeraski of Bright Brown bring an ideal soundtrack to the crisp, autumn air. The brooding Brooklyn duo layers humming vocals, a Chapman Stick, keyboards, soft percussion, and a little acoustic guitar. Sounds range from sparse and repetitive like a piece for avant-garde dance to expansive and melodic like the theme from a western where everyone dies in the same pool of blood. Nahas cut his teeth as a founder of the post-rock band Laughingstock. Fans of Brian Eno, Nick Drake, and John Cale should check these guys out. – WSP

Having grown tired of hearing everyone and anyone with access to a home digital "recording studio" pump out often lifeless collections of songs, this past July the three members of Grandfather sold off all of their home recording equipment and headed to Chicago to make their album "Why I’d Try" – with the help of wizard of analog recording himself, engineer Steve Albini. The band, that plays an intense brand of (non-instrumental) post-rock that often escalates to post-punk peaks, is offering a free digital download of the product of this collaboration here. Check them out live at Union Pool on 11.20. – Read an in depth review of their CD on Dave Cromwell’s blog.

Asobi Seksu has announced the release of their 4th full length, "Fluorescence", available February 14th in UK/Europe and 15th in North America on CD. After the all acoustic experience of the album "Mirror Shades" (which admittedly raised a few eyebrows), the band returns to their natural shoegazing habitat, with rather satisfying results – you can make up your own mind downloading a free track from the upcoming album here.

Cowboys, dude… I mean, if you get the whole cowboy hero thing right, that’s extremely awesome. These adventurous dudes traveling through the desert fighting for a better tomorrow (or maybe to actually survive until tomorrow), smoking a hand rolled cigarette in front of the fire, adjusting their cowboy hats and casually eating beans from the frying pan… what’s cooler, more iconic than that? Sergio Leone got that right, and so do Woodsy Pride, a Brooklyn based trio that plays some kind of haunted Western music with the songwriting skill of Neil Young and the maudit intensity of Nick Cave. These guys make me want to get a horse and a gun and head West – somewhere along the route, a gorgeous lady is waiting  for me to save her. Woodsy Pride just released their debut EP on All Hands Electric with a show at Matchless on 11.01.

Very interesting show at Pianos on November 17 with our current CD of the month Hooray for Earth and Mon Khmer, who were one of our Artist of the month some time last year. For a review of the first band see here. Mon Khmer sound a little bit like Broken Social Scene with better songs – almost like a "perfected" version of the Canadian collective, that tended to compensate a certain songwriting weakness with mind blowing production values. The NYC based group might not have reached the level of complex refinement of BSS’ records, but it definitely navigates very similar waters, inhabited by post-rock influences, textural arrangements, and sober creativity. They should play/tour with our friends The Mobius Band!