Whether you’re getting ahead on Valentine’s Day plans or dreading its approach, it’ll be well worth it for you to make it down to Elsewhere the night of the 14th to check out Starchild & The New Romantic. Drawing on the grooves of artists like Prince and Outkast, Starchild (otherwise known as Bryndon Cook) gracefully balances vibrant earnestness and downright addictive electro funk, making even heartbreak sound fun. Cook established himself touring with Solange and working with Blood Orange, but with last year’s debut album Language, it’s clear that Starchild deserves a stage of his own. Check out Language on Starchild & The New Romantic’s Bandcamp, and don’t miss the upcoming Brooklyn show, date or no date. – Sunny Betz

There’s no right or wrong approach to songwriting: some artists find their voice in bizarre arrangements or completely wild chord progression, while others make energy or tension or even just powerful lyrics their trademark. However, there’s only one way to write rock music with mainstream potential that sounds timeless and honest, and pulling it off is not easy feat: it consists in finding a fine balance between melody, tension, character, meaning and relatability that few artists are able to strike (Tom Petty and The Cars are among our favorites). The music of Bird Streets – the solo project of Brooklyn’s John Brodeur – features these qualities. The project released the self-titled debut album this past August and was named NPR’s 2018 slingshot artist shortly thereafter. Brodeur will leave NYC for a short west coast tour at the end of January, keep an ear on him

Released just last month, Kat Robichaud’s latest single “Criminal” is a haunting, strong peek at her anticipated next album. The opening chords feel like the opening to a rock opera–and with her theatrical outfits, wigs and a long-time history of orchestrating and performing cabaret, we’re not surprised. It takes a certain type of creative to channel all the different energies that Robichaud musters here. Her last album, Misfit Cabaret, was like listening to a one-woman circus act that keeps your imagination open and whirling, empowered and invigorated. Not that we’re telling you how to feel about it. Listen yourself. Shout out to track “Bully” from Robichaud’s previous album, where the sheer power in her vocals is shiver-inducing. Think Heart meets a not-so-poppy Katy Perry, with some Rocky Horror and Bowie inspirations gyrating throughout. Check out the captivating video for her single Criminal, shot and edited by Daniel Garcia, and if THAT weren’t enough, go see her next cabaret show, “Lost in Z Space” at San Francisco’s Z Space. These music-filled shows start February 7th and run through the 16th. – Michelle Kicherer, Associate Editor

The faint of heart (and/or ear) should avoid at all costs Rough Trade on the eve of Saturday January 12th, since three loud and aggressive local bands will grace the venue’s stage in quick succession starting at 9pm. Headliners Bambara have refined their gloomy psych rock in ever-darker and tenser directions with their latest two full lengths, while sludge rockers A Deer A Horse will be a worthy opener, sharing those same traits minus the psychedelic ingredient. Opener Gnarcissist will bring to the stage a more traditional (and fun) DIY punk with a markedly drunk and chaotic attitude. Tickets are on sale here, check out a playlist of vidoes below.

Seán Barna is an indie folk artist who wears an intimidating amount of hats—songwriter, vocalist, percussionist, guitarist, storyteller, influencer. Beginning with just ‘percussionist’ under his belt at nine years of age, Barna has been building his artist resume since his 2014 debut, Cutter Street. His music is insightful and exploratory, and has gained serious momentum also because of its social and cultural influences. His latest EP Cissy speaks on subjects regarding queerness, mental illness, mortality and national desperation, which far surpasses any 2-D conversation that a drum kit alone might bring to the table. Cissy is candid, calculated and weighed by heavy contemplation on masculinity, creating a stunning and sensitive form of songwriting. This recipe seems to working for the local artist: Barna will be trekking to Austin this year for the SXSW Music Festival. Catch Seán Barna live at SXSW in March and stream his latest EP Cissy on Soundcloud. – Rebecca Carroll

It might be the middle of winter, but the psychedelic music of Brooklyn’s Steady Sun evokes the heat daze of the hottest of seasons (in the Arizona desert). We are premiering here the band’s latest music video, a sun-soaked vision of their 2017 track Television Eyes, beautifully directed by Slack Barrett. The song’s relaxed pace allows the band to reflect on technology’s place in our lives – how it can both alienate us from the world even while providing a sense of connection to to others. Harkening back to the sophisticated psychedelia of the early ’70s (think Pink Floyd’s "Wish You Were Here"), the track is built around an arpeggioed guitar that would make Roger Waters proud, and filled by an orchestration of vintage sounding instruments and uber-dreamy vocal lines. Stream it below. – Sunny Betz

A consistent sense of uncomfortability permeates Macseal’s recent extended play, Map It Out, one that is offset only by the Long Island pop-punk five-piece’s confident and driven musicianship. Each track on Map chalks in just around three minutes, each song an inner monologue covering the tedious nature of fitting in, human intimacy, or a sense of immobility – against this fraught and anxious lyricism, Macseal interweaves triumphant major-key guitar riffs and concise sprung clock drumming with gusto. In doing so, the band’s music reads as a confrontation of these uncomfortable facets of human life, a sharp rebuke that seeks to address these pangs head on through an energetic and self-assured performance.

Macseal will lend their energy in support of Prince Daddy & The Hyena at Baby’s All Right on January 19th, alongside Strange Ranger and bad heaven. Stream Map It Out below. –Connor Beckett McInerney (@b_ck_tt)

As far as genre descriptors are concerned, ‘country’ is one that has the most divisive effect on city-dwelling purveyors of alternative music, one that causes most folks to do an about face and run for the safety of less homespun tunes. Brooklyn band / art collective Irrevery, however, do not care for your classist associations with the genre and channel a distinctly rural energy into their self described ‘country punk noise.’ Lead track “Just Like Me” from their most recent full-length Irrevery Volume I is strengthened most by lead singer Paige Johnson-Brown’s lyrics and vocal delivery, rife with imagery of dogs on ropes, flowers in bouquets, and fists full of mud, drawled against a backdrop of discordant punk noise and heavy slide guitars. While such a pairing of seemingly unrelated genres may appear as odd bedfellows, Irrevery shows that the two have more in common than you think, uniting them in an emotionally raw, honest tour de force that encapsulates the most visceral elements of both. Watch the video for "Just Like Me" below and see for yourself – Connor Beckett McInerney (@b_ck_tt)

Listening to the entirety of Facsimiles’ latest EP, “Details,” is like watching a film that leaves you quiet and changed by its closing scene. Each track of this anti-folk, gentle pop album has its own feel, its own layering of electro reverberations and changing paces, all accompanied by Rob Voigt’s vocals, which range anywhere from a James Russel Mercer-esq charm to a Jeff Mangum-like backing, but quieter. Opening with the expansive track “Faint Signals,” we’re taken into the landscape of Voigt’s magic: the quiet reverberation of the baseline partners with a guitar plucked crisply as a harp. The next song we’re strummed into offers a much quieter reflection, a solid holding point for the center of the album. The last track, “One Thin String,” is a personal favorite. Filled with catchy little hooks and more of those late 90’s indie rock influences (there’s that Shins feel again), we’re provided an uplifting end to this quiet saga of an album. –Michelle Kicherer, Associate Editor

Bethlehem Steel is a force. Yes, they’re punk, and yes, they’re loud but the members of Bethlehem Steel perform with purpose and propulsion. Listen to “Fake Sweater,” a cut from the group’s split with Porky near the end of 2018, for reference. The classic alt-rock loud-soft dynamic establishes the song but it’s the howling bridge section in which the members yell at the seeming brink of desperation “will I be alright?” that earns a need for repeated listens. You can see Bethlehem Steel next at Bowery Ballroom when the band opens for Big Ups’ final show. – Cameron Carr

The music on Someday Cowboy, the debut album by Baby Jey, is catchy, familiar even, so it’s tough to explain what makes categorizing it so hard. Certainly, the Brooklyn via Edmonton group could be labelled country or Americana—take the opening lap steel guitar-driven folk of “Hannah Holliday’s Son” or the twangy ballad “Every Thing”—but there’s an almost kitsch (semi-)modern pop element, perhaps best summed up by the aptly titled “Someday My Space Cowboy Will Come” which features ‘80s synths, heavily produced drums, and lyrics about a space cowboy. The mixture is almost funny, almost overly earnest with hints of Paul Simon’s eclecticism and Father John Misty’s retro quirks. The result is charming and odd yet accessible. Take a listen to Someday Cowboy below. – Cameron Carr

Bethlehem Steel is a force. Yes, they’re punk, and yes, they’re loud but the members of Bethlehem Steel perform with purpose and propulsion. Listen to “Fake Sweater,” a cut from the group’s split with Porky near the end of 2018, for reference. The classic alt-rock loud-soft dynamic establishes the song but it’s the howling bridge section in which the members yell at the seeming brink of desperation “will I be alright?” that earns a need for repeated listens. You can see Bethlehem Steel next at Bowery Ballroom when the band opens for Big Ups’ final show. – Cameron Carr