With biting vocals and powerful songwriting chops, Brooklyn (via Oakland, CA) Rachel Angel radiates effortless cool. In her 2014 debut EP Revelations the indie rocker serves up tracks that are as catchy as they are sincere, but you never feel as if she’s tipping all of her cards. She recently unveiled a stripped down two-song demo featuring a folkier sound. Edgy, poignant, and immediately compelling, Angel is one to watch – you’ll have an opportunity to do so at The Owl on October 6th. – Olivia Sisinni

Kalmia Travers (the lead singer of Rubblebucket) will play Brooklyn Bazaar as Kalbells on October 4th as part of NNA Tapes’ NU Ground: A Celebratory Showcase of Live NNA Music. Her performance comes on the heels of her main band’s Dream Picnic at the Knockdown Center this past week. Travers side project’s debut album, Ten Flowers, is ten tracks of work less raucous than that of Rubblebucket, but packed with reflection and power in every synthesized note and experimental vocal harmony. Two music videos exist for tracks from the album, the first being for "Bodyriders" which came out in July. The second, released earlier this month, is for "Alonetime". Watch it below. – Will Sisskind

Jagjaguwar’s newest signee Cut Worms — the project of Max Clarke — has set off on a tour supporting The Lemon Twigs and Nick Lowe. Though festivities begin in Toronto, Clarke will play on November 2nd at Baby’s All Right to release new EP Alien Sunset. The psych-rock collection features six demos with tight harmonies and lo-fi charm, all recorded during Clarke’s time living between Chicago and New York. The lead single, "Like Going Down Sideways", comes with a Super 8-styled music video – watch it below. – Will Sisskind

Gasping beneath scuzzy guitars and fried drums beats, there is a just audible voice in Maneka. We’ve all heard it before, waiting for the subway or walking alongside traffic, struggling to be heard over the cacophony of roars and clanks and screeches. Devin McKnight, the mastermind of Maneka, orchestrates the chaos like a symphony. Grunge era fuzz, squealing noise, and lo-fi production meld into one on the former Speedy Ortiz guitarist’s debut album Is You Is. In celebration of the official cassette tape release on Exploding In Sound Records, Maneka performs at Sunnyvale on September 30th. – Cameron Carr

Ahead of the October 6th release of their new single “Shadow Side,” Brooklyn art rockers Veda Rays are premiering in our blog the video for the record’s titletrack (streaming below).  The single marks the band’s first recorded material since 2014, and serves up a mix of organs, open electric guitar chords, and percussive tour-de-force, pulsating under deep, dramatic vocals.  With images of faces crossfading with ominous looking trees, the video introduces a lugubrious, dreamlike atmosphere. While the song progresses to deliver an ample hook in the chorus, the mood remains dark and mysterious, with the video now showing dark, full body figures with covered faces and rabbit masks, and a shrouded female dancer, all in white.  Referring back to the track’s title, the band describes this symbolism as “a subliminal reaction to the projection of our collective shadow.”  “Shadow Side” will be released on their own Alleged Records imprint. – Dave Cromwell

Cru the Dynamic (aka Steve Bryant) drops “New Things” on Detroit-based label Heavy Young Souls. There’s start & stop breakbeats. There’s hip-hop and drum & bass. Both genres intersect at the true core of Bryant’s influences: jazz performance. The fusion is soulful and assured. Cru weaves his influences skillfully. The end result is really beautiful. -juan leon

Beshken’s inventive chill wave-esque melodies on “Force of Evil” show off a virtuoso kind of buoyancy that can be felt in every stutter step backbeat. “Faceless,” his 2016 track with 20-year-old singer Gus Dapperton, might be even better. There’s a lightness and poignancy to Beshken’s arrangements that gels thrillingly with Dapperton’s dreamy vocals. –juan leon

Poppies have managed to gain a generous following with their introspective, melodic sound. Singer/guitarist May’s childlike, delicate vocals, perfectly blend with the band’s enigmatic, dreamy instrumentals. The quartet recently unveiled a new video for single ‘Devin’ (streaming below). Our friends at Delicious Audio wanted to dig in to the band’s sound and story, you can read the Q&A at the link below. Their next show is at Mercury Lounge on October 9th.

Q&A with Brooklyn band Poppies.

Charles Fauna will open the album release show for his label mate Cape Francis tomorrow at Mercury Lounge. Fauna, the moniker of singer-songwriter Charlie Mischer, has had a busy summer co-writing singles for other artists, mixing new tracks at Electric Lady Studios, and releasing the music video for his song "Restless Child". Twisting bodies, darkened hallways, stark rooms, and a bouncing atonal beat give the song and video an eerie, adreline-fueled vibe. Watch it below, then catch Charlie at Mercury tomorrow night (September 29). – Will Sisskind

The Deli is intimately familiar with the musical inclinations of electronic musician and composer Dan Friel, having featured his previous band Parts & Labor on the cover of its 11th NYC issue back in 2006. The noise rock group called it quits in 2012, after which Friel mostly focused on running his label Cardboard Records in conjunction with former P&L bassist J.Warshaw. We are thrilled to find out that Dan has a new project, and that it’s as noisy as his previous one. Named Upper Wilds, the band plays what could be described as a noisy brand of drone-rock with industrial and (rather buried) pop influences. Distorted guitars, synths, drums, and vocals overlap and blend, in some kind of well orchestrated orgy of fuzz. Dan’s earnest sounding vocal melodies, at times reminiscent of early R.E.M. and seminal hardcore band Hüsker Dü, emerge from this sea of distortion, somehow giving it an organized shape. Like the aforementioned bands’ records, this album has a monolithic, recognizable sound, but what it loses in variety, it gains in power and impact – we can’t find a weak song in it. The group will be celebrating the release of their debut album "Guitar Module 2017" at Alphaville on October 7th.

Bermuda Angels offers half entrancing, half disturbing synth-driven art-pop that is dark and seductive, bewildering in its own way. Sophie Kadow’s chilling and dizzying vocals are tempered by the warmer, more grounded lyrical style of her artistic partner, Bermuda Jones.

Fromthe band’s self-titled LP comes the single “On The Run,” a love-song to toxicity and a loss of self, further cemented by the surrealistic Spaghetti Western backdrop of the single’s music video. Catch the disorienting Bermuda Angels LP on September 29^th and succumb to the delirium. – Amanda Ogea

(Le) Poisson Rouge is known for bringing eclectic NYC artists together, and their upcoming, Deli sponsored, mini-festival “Rubblebucket Dream Picnic" keeps faith to this trend. The show gets its name from its headliner and curator of this event, Rubblebucket, a funkadelic, uber-fun pop band led by an ensemble of experienced multi-instrumentalists originally from "Jam Band State" (Vermont). Joining the group are other NYC acts with a similar flair for the fun and groovy: Delicate Steve, Alexander F., and Kalbells (check them all out in the event’s playlist, streaming below). More than just this exciting lineup, the Rubblebucket Dream Picnic is an all-ages event starting at 3pm that promises a variety of games and food as well as yoga, special guest DJs and… DELI MAGAZINES!!! It’s a great way to escape the city without traveling too far on one of the last warm weekends of the year, on 09.30 at Richmond’s Knockdown Center – there will be a shuttle taking you there from the Cobra Club Bar every 15 minutes, see you there! – Amanda Ogea