With over 40 bands set to play before the Long Island Indie Rock & Pop Festival is through, you might be more than a little inundated with all the bands there are to see. Well, have no fear because we’ve picked a couple of our favorite groups that we think you should be listening to right now.  

Astronauto seamlessly blends strong soul-bearing folk sensibilities with space-y synths that sound plucked from Jupiter.  The result is dynamic songs that swell and breathe but feel sincerely introspective–edging toward the stratosphere but never truly leaving earth. Listen to their set 8/21 at 89 North.

A New Bug delivers high-energy garage punk with old school vibes. Lackadaisical vocals ooze reserved, New-York cool, but are dotted by flashes of unbridled wildness. The band’s vox are pitted against fuzzy, driving instrumentals that make it near irrestiable to shake something. Mark A New Bug down as your perfect companion for the next time you’re up to no good, and see them play on 8/20 at O’Brien’s. 

It Came From Space is maybe the gateway drug for listeners yet to add math rock tunes to their heavy rotation. The band lays down highly acessible instrumental tracks that unfold in scope right before your ears, and sneak narrative dreamscapes behind your optic nerves. The tracks are consistently sweet sounding, and the band holds solid grooves that never get stuck anywhere for too long. Check out their set 8/22 at Portside.-Olivia Sisinni

Blending catchy synth pop arrangements and sweet vocal harmonies, Retail Space delivers a song ripe for the dog days with "Getting Older." The video, premiering exclusively on The Deli, serves up classic summer vibes and provides the perfect counterpoint to the lyricism, which explores the bittersweet experience of aging. "Getting Older," manages to capture the fleeting nature of not only summer, but the bliss of youth. Despite the weight that the theme may carry, the video manages to explore this in a way that never dwells too long in melancholic territory, and instead provides a postive narrative that lives in the moment and soaks in the sunshine. Watch video premiere below and check out Retail Space’s LP In the Lotia here. – Olivia Sisinni

While the members of Slight have been busy playing in Painted Zeros, LVL UP, and Normal Person, the trio has managed to find the time to drop two EPs and a single in the span of a year. In the fall of 2015 they released their sophomore EP Hate The Summer, which improved on of their 2014 single Run, soaking their catchy power pop melodies in guitar fuzz. In title-track Hate the Summer the band’s fragile vocals, somewhat reminiscent of The Lemonheads, draw memorable pop hooks, while exploding guitars in the choruses channel the raw energy of rock’n’roll. Slight will be playing the Silent Barn on August 21st. – John Honan, photo by Stephanie Griffin

We added this song to The Deli’s playlist of Best songs by emerging NYC artists – check it out!

Coming at you live from the heart of Long Island, Planet of Sound Promotion presents the Long Island Indie Rock & Pop festival. Featuring 5 days of music and over 40 bands, the fest is set to start tonight 8/18 at O’Brien’s, and will take place at 4 different venues. The music marathon will also be boasting art from local creators, goods from LI vendors, and even henna and face-painting booths! You can check the event here for more information, and in the meantime, be sure to check out some tunes from our favorite bands set to play the festival below. – Olivia Sisinni

It is rare to come across a voice that has the ability to grasp deep inside as much as the one of Brooklyn-based Sam Himself, whose whispered baritone and simple ballads revives memories of early Leonard Cohen. Uncomplicated yet effortlessly dynamic, the Switzerland born artist’s folky new release, “Out of Love” is an honest and raw expression of how we are willing to do anything out of love. His voice is complimented by the tenderness of the female harmonies of Denitia Odigie, giving heart to two sides of a relationship.  Stay tuned for future releases, as this is a voice that is hard to forget. – Madeleine Grossman, photo by Daryl Oh

Exploding out of the Brooklyn scene with the force of a too ripe pustule, noise rockers bbigpigg bring you Din-Din, a four track EP with more than enough greasy goodness to sink your teeth into. Kicking off with "Chowtime," the EP delivers fat, tasty basslines coupled with manic vocals that seem to edge toward gut-wrenching howls. The result is deliciously anarchic weirdo rock. While a growling bass belches leads and drives the songs forward, guitars rip through Din-Din with the squealing of wounded animals, freed to hunt out vociferous tones. Any way you carve it up, bbigpigg is septic sewer punk guaranteed to leave you feeling grimy. Check out Din-Din here, listen to the track below and catch them live in all their maw-chomping majesty at Aviv on 8/19 with Multicult, Couch Slut, Human Shapes and Dead Tenants.-Olivia Sisinni

“…Quiet songs with minimal arrangements.”

Jeremy Leasure describes the aim of his tandem debut with Brittany Beppu, Thoughts on Future Hindsight, concisely. As NewBalance, the duo draws something different from Leasure’s older project, Canyons, of which Beppu occasionally contributes to. They’re more influenced by songwriters like Scott Walker and Townes Van Zandt, Judy Garland and Audrey Hepburn. Poignant and noble.

Beppu’s voice stands out in the album’s tape scratch “Shirley Temple”. At first the lyrics are cryptic, but the songs emerge as individual character sketches, says Leasure—an attempt "…to understand how we cope when things don’t go the way we imagined they would." He hopes that the songs provide the same comfort to his audience as they did for him. NewBalance’s next performance on the 19th at The Smell with Tone in Georgia, Hannah and minimall. Listen to the opener "Cartoon Captions" off Thoughts on Future Hindsight, out now. – Kaitlyn Tang

Today, we are premiering Brooklyn indie-folk act Tender Glue latest single “Goodbye Bushwick” (streaming below) off forthcoming new album ‘Steady Light.’ Sounding out curling atmospherics that recall Kurt Vile’s great 2011 release ‘Smoke Ring from My Halo” from a few years back, the guitar-based track is also, impressively, a poetic paean of days gone by in the tradition of none other than Dylan or Cohen. This seems to be one of only a few songs from the new musician but a sign of promise, to say the least. Tender Glue will celebrate the release of ‘Steady Light’ at The City Reliquary on 8/26. In the meantime, keep posted with the musician on his Facebook page. – Zach Weg

Much like many great New Jersey artists before them, Hodera craft highly personal and relatable songs that maintain a casual tone. Similarly to artists like Brand New and La Dispute, their debut album United By Birdcalls evokes the mood of emo and pop-punk, but steers clear of unnecessary drama (and unbereable whiny vocals!): the band’s intimate stories are told with sincerity. The project is led by Michael Smith, who wrote most of the record on his first guitar in a small room while dealing with bouts of depression. Much of the instrumantion projects a calm atmosphere, while the lyrics give the listener a look inside of Smith’s head and his quest to get rid of his negative thoughts. Tracks like “Dear Forefathers” and “No, I’m Not” slow things down on the LP’s second half by capturing a more melancholy and stripped down vibe. Hodera will be kicking off their Northeast tour with sports. and Terrraveer tonight (August 17th) at Aviv! – John Honan

Plainclothes play a brief, fast paced brand of emo/punk that’s reminiscent of emo staples American Football and modern punk contemporaries Joyce Manor. The three-piece employs the use of intricate math inspired guitar parts on their debut album Dog Logic, which was released last year on Counter Intuitive Records. Its lyrics are a mature and honest look into their young lives, while analyzing the moments that helped shape them during their formative years. Plainclothes waste no time on the 18 minute record, packing songs less than two minutes long with intelligent reflections and references to philosophers such as Immanuel Kant. The Boston-based act play O’Brien’s pub tonight (8.16)! – John Honan

Secret Crush deals up sleepy but fun shoegaze propelled by infectious grooves. The vocals of the Bushwick-based group sound as if filtered through one of those low-power FM radio, and are set above dreamy, fuzzy guitars that are more playful than lofty. Their newly released EP, Birth, blends a strong garage-pop feel into the mix, and conveys to the tracks’ swirling melodies a dance-y beat that’s easy to latch on to. You can check out Secret Crush at Berlin playing with Beechwood on Aug 27th, but in the meantime take a listen at our favorite song ‘Psychic Companion,’ streaming below. – Olivia Sisinni

Staten Island band Bueno is set to release their sophomore full length Illuminate Your Room on August 19th via a split release by Exploding In Sound and Babe City Records. While their previous releases were a raw but imaginative blend of garage ruck and post-punk, preview single “I’ve Got Your Back” veers toward a cleaner sound injected with slacker rock sensibilities reminiscent of Pavement. Frontman Luke Chiaruttini’s semi-spoken vocals examine life’s disappointments, and the fear of not being able to live up to expectations. – John Honan