2015 has been good to Brooklyn LVL UP (pictured), the umpteenth band to prove that – nothingstanding what your teacher and parents said – you can be somewhat successful by either slacking or playing rock’n’roll music – they actually do both at once! The quartet is still riding on the heels of their "Three Songs" 7", which is available now via Run For Cover/Double Double Whammy, and have announced a February tour that includes dates with two other Brooklyn bands we dig: Florist and Stove. They’ll be all playing Shea Stadium on 02.25. What a wonderful opportunity to stream a song per band! It looks like Florist is actually about to release a new album – preview single below.

Founded in El Paso, TX, around 2008, and featuring a revolving cast of musicians collaborating with singer songwriter Greg Gonzalez, Cigarettes After Sex released debut EP "I" back in 2012. The record took the notion of "mellow pop" to extremes of slowness, melancholy and sparseness unheard since the days when Cowboy Junkies were hot (that was 1988). After building cult status notwithstanding being largely unnoticed by the "mainstream indie blogs," in 2015, Greg made the move to Brooklyn, with plans to release the band’s debut album "Affection," scheduled for 2016. Two preview singles from the LP were released in the last few months; we are streaming below the first one, which also functions as title-track. The second one, "Keep On Loving You," can be heard here. If oyu are in the mood for been lulled to sleep in a music venue (maybe between the arm of your loved one!) you shouldn’t miss Cigarettes After Sex’s upcoming live show at Baby’s All Right on January 31st. – Photo courtesy of the Sophie’s Floorboard blog

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

We blogged about South American music infused EDM duo Sofi Tukker in early December, and things have been moving fast for them since them. Their single Drinkee (soon gone viral after appearing in an Apple Watch commercial) and a couple of live appearances in late 2015 were enough to open the door of a winter tour supporting The Knocks. The tour will begin on January 14th at Baby’s Allright – on the bill also Cardiknox. The band has just released new single "Matadora" (streaming below), announcing it will be featured in the upcoming debut EP, entitled "Soft Animals." 

While we were complaining about 50 degree weather in Los Angeles, Santa Ana’s Media Jeweler reportedly spent the last few weeks in Arizona while also helping to raise money for a friend’s stolen projector, which definitely made us feel like sloths. Sam Farzin (guitar) had this to say about the band’s foray into the wilderness:

"After a winter’s hibernation traveling between yurts along the floor of the Grand Canyon, we are four souls more aligned than ever before. We are excited to present our escapist song cycle in the flesh for the first time in almost two months."

The rock band (full stop) plays a DIY show with DOCKS, who are on the last stop of their EP Release Tour— their six-track album Misdirected comes out January 15th via Open Door (CDs) and Bad Break (cassette). Media Jeweler’s 2015 debut album $99 R/T Hawaii is expected to release in vinyl early next February. Check the Facebook event page for location details; act set times below. – Ryan Mo 

hit me, Harold – 8:30 PM

Media Jeweler – 9:10 PM

DOCKS – 9:50 PM

Winter Break – 10:30 PM

Hillary Chillton – 11:10 PM

Will Schaeffer seems to be a fount for the unexpected. Maintaining a barebones online presence, this artist from Baltimore has released an impressive new album called Hello, Its Will Schaeffer. Using conventional instruments, Schaeffer has created a work of unconventional sound, as the album is rooted a very DIY, lo-fi production scheme, but is gushing with quality musicality. His voice is raspy like the great blues men of the previous century and possesses a range similar to Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys and The Arcs or Cage The Elephant’s Matt Shultz. Each song carries lyrical content that inspires reflective pondering and feature a strong percussive presence, replete with heavy drumbeats and crashing cymbals. The guitar work is also a treat as it eludes expectation and leads the listener on a merry hunt for rhyme and reason. Give this album a listen because it occupies its own space I’d like to call experimental folk.-Jonathan Goodwin

Adesuwa, the brainchild of Denitia Odigie, is releasing the EP "Air, Light" on January 19. "Coach Class" is the fourth song to be released in anticipation of the forthcoming EP. If you’re unfamiliar with the sounds, Denitia is one half of NYC elctronic soul duo denitia + sene. The music of Adesuwa, while remaining true to the essence of Denitia, flows right out of our collective ’80s soul dreams. The project is co-produced by Denitia and guitarist/producer, Brad Williams. 

Our friends at OhMyRockness are organizing, together with and at Baby’s All Right, a solid afternoon of local bands on Saturday 01.09 (tomorrow). We blogged about most of them recently so we’ll let their music speak in this Minilogs compilation! In the picture, Dreamcrusher.

Echo Park quartet Feels used to be six-piece Raw Geronimo, back when vocalist Laena Geronimo was mixing volatile amounts of jungle, punk, soul, goth, surf— whatever felt right. It was cool though; their cocktail of drone, discord, dirt and harmonized vocals had a strong DIY bite that wasted house parties, East LA venues, and even 2014’s Austin Psych Fest. Word caught on about Feels’ ferocious sets and everyone from Buzzbands to Lo-pie had to get a taste — at 2014’s Burger-a-Go-Go Fest, LA Times’ Contact Reporter Randall Roberts commented that the four-piece "pushed forth heavy, hard punk with more swagger than many of the acts on the main stage." 

Name change hasn’t stopped their momentum, and Feels still play songs from Raw Geronimo’s "Dream Fever" LP while sprinkling in new works, like "Bitched" from their live recording at Gaucho’s Electronics. Last year, the band launched an Indiegogo campaign to help fund album production and a trusty tour van, slayed at Burger’s SXSW Caravan, came back for seconds at 2015’s Burger-a-Go-Go Fest, and toured with Tomorrows Tulips and L.A. WITCH, playing almost 80 shows total — 23 of which were here in Los Angeles, according to Oh My Rockness! 

Feels performs their first show of the year at the Echoplex with WALTER, Adult Books, and GAL PALS. Get out of the rain and soak up the sound tomorrow night — watch for the release of their self-titled debut LP (produced by Ty Segall) on Castle Face Records. We’re calling it now: 2015 was the year of the meme, and 2016 will be the year of the Feels. – Ryan Mo

Here’s another round of bands that proceed to the next phase of our Best of NYC poll for emerging artists, from the normally crowded "Indie Rock" category (everybody wants to be "indie" these days, we had to re-categorize a couple of folk artists and blues rock bands before we got this this list)! This category was a heart breaker, LOTS of really talented artists that should have gone through, but we can’t possibly promote more than four of them – sorry!

Total submissions in this category: 19

Jurors: Jonathan Goodwin (The Deli DC), Ryan Mo (The Deli LA), PDG (The Deli NYC).

1. The New Tarot 8.16 – (out of 10)

We stumbled upon the Walker sister-driven group The New Tarot in the summer of 2014 and saw a lot of potential in it. One and a half years later, we are happy to report that at least part of that potential has been developed in the right direction in their 2015 "Stella" EP, and through a live show that’s growing in confidence – not to mention the awesomely spooky video for the title-track, streaming below. These ladies have the talent and enough time on their side to take things even further. Don’t miss their upcoming show at The Bowery Electric on February 13.

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2. Regret The Hour – 7.83

Currently gracing the top of this very blog as 50% of our Artist of the Month, like this very category’s winners, Regret the Hour are fueled by sibilinghood: brothers Nate McCarthy (lead vox/guitar) and Ben McCarthy (lead guitar) lead this group through their second EP "The Far and the Near," which confidently blends indie, alt and roots elements to deliver an intensely emotional and enjoyable record.

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2. The Heavy Howl – 7.83

Brand new NYC/Boston trio The Heavy Howl released their debut EP "New Mistake" in the summer of 2015 – great title by the way. It’s an interesting record that manages to be sober production-wise but also catchy in a very peculiar way. The power trio instrumentation is what you would expect from a grunge revival band, and even if the sound is partly reminiscent of the less polished records from that musical wave, The Howl’s songs and their interest for textural details are entirely their own. You can see them live at never-heard-before venue Idio Gallery on January 15.

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

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4. Battle Ave – 7.66

Split geographically between Woodstock and Brooklyn, Battle Ave is a band that also suffer from split personality disorder, as you can easily realize from the opening track of their sophomore 2015 LP "Year of Nod," whose eery video we premiered not long ago. here at The Deli, of course, we dig that, because most great rock’n’roll records aren’t normal, and most talented people desperately need a shrink.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS – (Score above 7):

Vaureen, Gillian, HUFF THIS!, The Stewart Dolly, Dear Comrade, The Deafening Colors, Teeth People, The Motor Tom

See you soon with another category!

The Deli Folks

Another band with big plans for 2016 is Brooklyn’s Spirit Animal, who recently shared with PureVolume a new track "Front Seat Feelin" from the band’s forthcoming ‘World War IV’ EP, scheduled for a February 19th release. We can’t embed that song here, but we do have access to the EP’s opening song "Regular World," streaming below, which manages to be anthemic, punch, and cheeky at once. The quartet will be celebrating the release of the EP with a show at Mercury Lounge on February 11.

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

As you may have noticed, we just started dealing with the 2015 Best of NYC Poll for Emerging Artists, so it’s kind of appropriate to dedicate a little blurb to the band that won last year’s edition: Porches. Aaron Maine’s collective of rotating musicians just came out with this new video for single "Be Apart." It’s been a year of change for Porches, a band that – up until early 2015 – featured a mostly guitar driven sound, whether acoustic or electric.  Their upcoming album "Pool" is set to change that in a way more synthy direction. The band also announced a spring tour with Alex G that will end with a show at Bowery Ballroom on April 15.

Last month, Boston duo LOVESWORDS shared its roughly pretty second release, ‘LOVESWORDS TWO.’ Featuring such punk-inflected blues songs as "Ode to the Strong" and "Tired Bull" (streaming below), the five-track effort pleasantly recalls such celebrated acts as The Black Keys and Sublime while humbly exhilerating with its passionate musicianship. The second half of the latter song, for example, has singer Kyle Henrickson calling out a lover’s "lies" as drummer Skye Mazuroski’s hard taps mount ferociously towards the roof. Henrickson and Mazuroski are reportedly childhood friends and, in these raw tracks, one hears the unadulterated joys of youth. LOVESWORDS plays at Middle East in Cambridge, MA on Wednesday, 1/13.-  Zach Weg