Hip hop collective Poetic Thrust, recent winner of our NYC Artist of the Month Poll, will be celebrating the release of their new EP at Elsewhere’s Zone One on 01.12. This group is among the few hip hop acts that play fully live, a genre normally relying on beats played through a turntable or an electronic device. You can listen to their 2018 single "Salty" below.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Allston, and 23 of the area’s best bands have joined together to celebrate with a compilation. Now in its fourth run, A Very Allston Christmas is a perfect blend of classic and cool. Magic Magic, who have participated in every installment of the series, kick off volume four with a warm, lo-fi cover of "It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas." What they take away from the classic version in their stripped-down vocals and harmonies, they add in new 8-bit-adjacent sounds. Other highlights from the compilation include Holiday Music‘s "Family Tree," School Shoes‘ "In The Bleak Midwinter," and Eggy Benedict‘s "Christmas Always Makes Me Cry." The compilation is available for purchase on Bandcamp, and all of the proceeds will go towards Bridge Over Troubled Waters — a Boston-based organization devoted to providing necessary services to at-risk, homeless, and runaway youth. – Lilly Milman

Shake the rust off some tired old tracks and discover some new ones with A Very Allston Christmas Vol. 4 below. 

The Clouds, the newest single by New York’s Wooing, is a release that feels not of this time. Through frontwoman and multi-instrumentalist Rachel Trachtenburg’s haunting vocals, softly commanded against echoing pedal-laden guitar lines, the band crafts a soundscape that feels both vintage and otherworldly, as if Motown existed in a universe of David Lynch’s making. Even the opening lyrics on “Could Have Been” implore feelings of a disconnect, as Trachtenburg (previously in Supercute! and Prettiots) paints surrealist landscapes wherein she “went to the moon, [and] saw your head up in the clouds” as an eerie, theremin-like sound wanders behind her. Between “Could Have Been” and b-side “In Her Head,” Wooing have stumbled upon visions of the subconscious that could be either dreams or nightmares, but they are captivatingly engrossing nonetheless. – Connor Beckett McInerney (@b_ck_tt)

If you are stuck with the notion that emo has become the unbearably whiny expression of spoiled suburban kids, enter Boston’s Bay Faction (who recently relocated to the NYC area) and  think again. Their 2015 three-track debut EP clearly carries the genre’s DNA, but slows down its BPM by a lot, makes a discreet if not spare use of distorted guitars, and puts a lot of sincere heart in it. Those early tracks resonated with a lot of kids and gathered over a million plays on Spotify, and so did following single Pendulum, dropped in 2017. After a dragged out recording process, the band is now ready to release their debut LP Florida Guilt, a record that expands the group’s sonic palette with a more varied production, without betraying the core qualities of their music. The first single It’s Perfect, streaming below, is to date their fastest and most driven track, but still stylistically hybrid, with the inwardly tortured voice of singer James McDermott adding oozes of character to vague lyrics related to the struggles of dating. The record is already available on Spotify, and fans of Pingrove and Forth Wanderers (two other bands that are taking emo in new directions) should definitely check it out.
Don’t miss the band’s release show at Elsewhere on December 21st. – Photo by Sam Colby

Earlier this year, Queue released “Float Away,” a single that accurately sums up the band both in sound and name. The melody seems to glimmer through a mist with reverberant guitar echoing alongside airy vocal harmonies. “Float Away” was the first track the band released after finding a united home in New York, members previously spread out across Philadelphia and D.C. It’s safe to expect a fair bit more from Queue in 2019 with the group currently spending time recording at Brooklyn’s Degraw Studios. But you can catch the band early in the year opening for CUTTS at Mercury Lounge on January 3. – Cameron Carr

After last year’s debut “Night Night at First Landing,” we were curious what direction Madeline Kenney’s newest album would take. Mercy me, we were not disappointed. "Perfect Shapes" is a multi-genre, multi-layered album with touches of synth infusions partnered with melodic bass lines and touches of shoegazy guitar melodies all grounded by that strong, twang-touched voice. A beautiful key to the success of Kenney’s latest is her ability to keep us moving with her throughout each song’s journey. Empowering snappy songs transition into melodic dreamy driftings that are in a land far away from rock n roll–kudos to the spaceship that flies into “Your Art”–but let’s be clear: this electric pop album is centered around solid musicianship, fantastic compositions and lyrics we can relate to. Brava, lady. – Michelle Kicherer, Associate Editor 

Singer/songwriter Rachel Stewart is bringing her dreams to life in a very literal sense with her new project, Sedona. The debut of her first single “Call Me Up” was paired with an accompanying video (below) that paints this artist’s music into a dreamlike world—one that apparently consists of ornate fairy tree houses and vast woodlands. And what would a dream world be without setting yourself in it as a hit television sensation? Suddenly, Stewart’s enchanted fairy den becomes surreal as her character watches Sedona’s flirty pop music video on an vintage TV screen. The whole approach is DIY and otherworldly, which basically encapsulates the heart of this artist’s songwriting. Stewart’s methodology walks the line of escapism, with the intention of her music being to take you somewhere else, or at least a bit further from the reality you’re in. And this was just Sedona’s debut. Since then, she’s released the soulful single, “Same Sky” and has made plans to put out an audiovisual EP titled Home Before Dawn by this summer. Check out the music video for Sedona’s “Call Me Up” below don’t miss her playing live at Elsewhere 01.25. – Rebecca Carroll

Industrial rock seems to be experiencing a timid reinassaince in NYC – and that’s better than nothing, considering how much of a niche genre it is. Brooklyn quartet Zoume is blending the genre’s clangy electronic sounds and apocalyptic atmospheres with post-hardcore, metalcore, and even hip hop influences, forging an imaginative hybrid bound to become the soundtrack of anybody’s favorite nightmares. Those interested in a radical break from Christmas music should not miss their show at The Knitting Factory on December 21st.

NYC has been orphan a live music festival dedicated to emerging bands since 2015, when the CMJ Music Marathon called it quits. Notwithstanding its flaws, CMJ was an important appointment for the NYC music industry, and here at The Deli we’ve been missing it real bad. Which is why we are curious and excited to see some mainstays NYC promoters trying to build something similar, even though – at least for now – restricted to six venues in the Lower East Side/East Village area.

The fest in question, called New Colossus Festival and scheduled for March 7-10, is presented as "a new annual event taking place the weekend before SXSW […] featuring 100 bands from all over the world," and it’s organized by longtime pals Mike Bell (Lorimer Beacon), Lio Kanine (Kanine Records) & Steven Matrick (Kepler Events/Pianos). Like all events of its kind, it can be accessed via badges on sale here.

We made a compilation of the NYC artists that are currently booked to play the New Colossus, including Nicole Yun of Eternal Summers (who recently moved to NYC and has a solo album coming out) and the new project by Kip of Pains of Being Pure at Heart called The Natvral – stream it below.

“Talk Talk,” the new single from NYC-based outfit Miss Grit, was devised in an empty dorm room as frontwoman Margaret Sohn pined over the fatal idealism of modern romances, and this mis-en-scene that informs the track’s creation is immediately apparent in her powerful-yet-restrained vocal delivery. While the track is bolstered by analog synth arpeggios that crescendo at the chorus, the strength of “Talk Talk” is built upon Sohn’s halted lyricism, a performance that carries a palpable, visceral frustration at “the unrealistic view of love that society and movies ingrain into girls’ minds.” Sohn’s quiet-storm vox against cataclysmic synthesizers creates a soundscape that is both emotionally raw and dynamically energizing, a perfect blend of introspection and catharsis; here’s hoping the rest of Miss Grit’s forthcoming Talk Talk EP maintains the same balancing act.
Miss Grit’s debut extended play drops January 11th. Until then, stream their new single below.

In the the beginning of 2018, Dream-pop five-piece Barrie put out shimmering singles, “Canyons,” and “Tal Uno,” before releasing a 12” in October aptly titled Singles. The Brooklyn-based band hail from all over the country (and world), but have recently converged in New York to collaborate and write songs together. Their dreamy sound puts an ambient spin on retro synth pop, which makes for ultra gorgeous tracks that swirl in a neon glow. In 2019, they’ll be hitting the road in support of Miya Frolick in a US and Canada tour. Listen to "Michigan" below. Sara Nuta

Noel Heroux and Jessica Zambri, active in the NYC scene since the mid aughts, released music separately through Hooray for Earth (Noel’s first breakout project, disbanded in 2014) and Zambri (the electronic band Jessica still plays in with sister Cristi Jo) and became the two creative forces behind Mass Gothic. The two musicians share an interest for dark atmospheres and edgy arrangements. They found themselves involved in a romantic relationship that soon developed in an involved artistic collaboration, which fully bloomed in Mass Gothic’s sophomore album, entitled "I’ve Tortured You Long Enough," released earlier this year through Sub Pop records. Our sister blog Delicious Audio asked Noel to share some thoughts about the creative experience and the gear behind it, read his answers here. – Photo by Sammy Goldfien