Nick Brenock spent the last five years in New York playing guitar in various projects. “Home” (streaming below) is his debut solo single, an introduction to the singer-songwriter’s entrancing indie-soul sound. Brenock’s guitar-playing is a highlight on the track, capturing an air of nostalgia in delicate hooks and shimmery chords. “I don’t wanna go your way / if it means I’m leaving home” he sings quietly, emotion floating just beneath the surface. Stay tuned for his EP, which will be released in the coming months. – Geena Kloeppel

With such a touch-and-go winter, I’m not going to be convinced that the first day of Spring has actually arrived until all of the snow has melted off my front lawn. Luckily for me, I have garage pop band, High Waisted, to warm me up and get me into that summer mindset. The NYC-based group deals in sunshine surf vibes, drawing heavily from music of the mid-60’s, but puts their own, quirky spin on things. Their songs are fun, high-energy tracks guaranteed to have you California dreaming, even while you shlep through the remainder of slush. Right now, the band is touring the East Coast in support of their latest album, On Ludlow, but we’re sure that they won’t be away from New York for long. In the meantime, take a look at the official video from their new single, "Trust" streaming below.-Olivia Sisinni 

Juliana Huxtable will bring her manic electronica to Brooklyn Bazaar on Saturday March 25. The DJ, producer, performer and model has long been a favorite of the NYC art scene, and her music mirrors the dynamic, wild, and multi-faceted persona radiating from the artist. Huxtable’s latest release, "DISCOWOMAN MIX: SCHIZOANALYSIS," is a monster track that manages to effortlessly fold in spoken word and gossamer, echoed vocals with stomping, high-energy beats and angular synths over the course of its hour run time. Take a listen to the mix streaming below, and make sure you catch her set this Saturday. – Olivia Sisinni

Blond Ambition, the new pop project of former Ex Cops frontman Brian Harding (who recently relocated from NYC to LA), is set to release debut album ‘Slow All Over’ on May 5 via Brooklyn’s Swoon City Music. On Thursday, March 23, Harding will play an intimate, stripped-down performance at The Event Space at Genius (84 4th Street) — the show is free with RSVP.

Kicking off with just a couple of stick clicks, Grim Streakers’ debut track, “Guts,” errupts in a rush of noise and punk-rock bravado. The Brooklyn-based band thrusts the listen into an engulfing wall of sound that’s at once thick, trashy and catchy. The release is a spitfire of a track that does it all while just clocking above the 2-minute mark, and if it’s a sign of what’s to come, then we’re expecting big things out of the group. Catch Grim Streaker live at Cape Town 3/25 alongside Cold Fronts, The Howl, and The Boobies, and be sure to stream "Guts" below. – Olivia Sisinni

Oh my, here’s a bill NYC music fans into forward thinking indie rock/pop should not miss: TEEN, Zula and Softspot will be sharing the Sunnyvale stage on May 12. We’ll let their music speak in this mini-playlist – book your colanders!

While there are a few bands operating under the Dirty Blondes monkier populating various reaches of the internet, the Brooklyn-based fourpiece is the only group that really lives up to the name–laying down growling, blitzed out garage-psych jams that could have easily just rolled out of bed. The band busts out tracks with jangly guitars, lax vocals, and the dynamic deftness of the Pixies, but the delicious layer of lo-fi fuzz is what will really leave you feeling dirty. Catch Dirty Blondes live at Cape House tonight (3/22) alongside Surf Rock is Dead, Better Head, and DA POP, but in the meantime, you can get your fix by streaming them below. – Olivia Sisinni

Dear Deli Readers,

We have finally reached the end of the road for The Deli’s Best Emerging New England Artists Poll. As usual, it’s been a lengthy, exhausting, painstaking journey through an abundance of numbers, band names, and some seriously rad tunes. Now, before we get to our list of this year’s Top Performers, we would like to thank our wonderful, knowledgeable jury of local music experts/enthusiasts (which you can view below), dedicated Deli writers and all those who took the time to check out our nominees and cast their votes. You’re the best, and we wouldn’t be able to do this without you!

1. Crumb is an outfit that takes the pleasantly dissonant atmosphere of smooth jazz and molds it into psych rock masterpieces. Their songs glide along steady pace, revealing highly skilled instrumentation without abandoning the groove. There are long stretches of jam that prove remiscent of classic indie rockers like Lotus Plaza, but there are moments of unbridled wierdness and pure chaos, sprinkled in to add some spice to the psychedelic sonic brew. Crumb is the new must listen for psych fans in New England.

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2. XR Tabs is a band to which it’s nearly impossible to assign a definitive genre. Their work contains elements of experimental noise rock, post-punk, indie rock, and electronica. They traverse unclaimed musical territory almost as a rule, making listening a wholly unexpected experience.

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3. Pompo is an alt rock band that blends elements of funk and blues to create a hybrid, modern alternative rock sound. With lengthy, funk jams that serve as an instant reminder of early Red Hot Chili Peppers, they’ve honed a classic sound and made it their own. 

 

4. Frank Viele

5. Honeysuckle

6. Moment of Clarity

7. Ripe

8. oldsoul

9. The Black Kennedys

10. Wolfmen of Mars

11. Kal Marks

12. The Right Offs

13. Choke Up

14. Ryxno

15. Tigerman WOAH

16. Seth Adam

17. Math the Band

18. The Dead L.A.

19 Fucko

20. Rick Rude https://rickrude1.bandcamp.com/

21. And Then There Was One

22. Chaser Eight

23. Squeeze Trigger

24. Julia Russo

25. Fightsong

26. Polluter

27. Mokita

29. Atlas Lab

30. Colbis the Creature

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See you next year, Best of New England Poll!

The Folks at The Deli

 

Most people (not just musicians) come to the Big Apple full of dreams, to leave it within a few years, when its frantic pace, crazy costs, and tight spaces have become unbearable. Pharmakon, the experimental, insane sounding industrial project of producer Margaret Chardiet, is the product of a human being who’s never given up to NYC: that’s where she was born and raised, currently calling Far Rockaway, Queens, home. Listening to her new track "Transmission" (streaming), from upcoming new album "Contact," make us wonder whether the track’s sound represents the sublimination of a psyche brought to the edge of insanity by a city that notoriously provides shrinks with lots of work. Is this what people escape from, when they leave NYC? Is Transmission the big apple’s own sonic version of Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream? We’ll have a chance to experience, and exorcize, its primal desperation live, at Brooklyn Bazaar, on April 14th.

Readying their follow-up release to 2014 debut record “Sighs,” Overlake share “Winter Is Why” (streaming below) from sophomore album “Fall” due out May 12th via Bar/None Records. The track emerges via a guitar figure delivered with orchestral sensibility, creating an immediate mood of majestic grandeur.  Forceful power trio drumming and counterpoint descending bass tones further punctuate unexpected rhythmic accents underneath this rising melody. Settling in to calmer patterns, dreamy vocals describe how the “summer sun hangs around” and “windswept cones on the sand” suggest the winter season.  This over five minute long track successfully blends the quieter passages of gazey icons My Bloody Valentine (think “Come In Alone”) with that band’s more explosive and pitch-bendy moments. While still finalizing dates for an April tour, the band has scheduled a record release show at Mercury Lounge on May 12th with support from local favorites Dead Stars and Heaven. – Dave Cromwell

The first thing that pops out in DC rapper Airøspace‘s music are the vocals; the listener knows exactly what the rapper is saying at all times.  With this in mind, Airøspace tries to lyrically ramp up the intensity with each verse, his rising voice reaching towards a climax that doesn’t always arrive. Lines like, "bloody sickle like a sinkhole in my chest i feel a little take my soul up out my ribs inject my thoughts into the fickle" set to the gloomy minor backing tracks gives the music a real Marshall Mathers sound.

In less skilled hands, songs like these could easily come across as overly maudlin. However, rather than being trite, Airøspace’s tracks come across as wholly original, and some of the verses are really stunning.

Great production values makes this album a must listen.

-Written by Michael Dranove

 

Andre Salvador and the Von Kings, aka Brooklyn-based Tim Cheplick (and friends), are crafting tasty psych/indie tunes that feel modern and foward thinking rather than reflective. The project just released two new tracks that showcase the group’s strong songwriting sensibilities and pop prowess. The A-side to the release, a bouyant tune called "Quarter Century Girl," features strident, driving piano chords and delicious slide guitar playing paired with Cheplick’s silvery vocals–a decidely radio ready track with a hook primed to be your next earworm. Listen to the band streaming below.-Olivia Sisinni