Based in Brooklyn, Exiles is a self-proclaimed lo-fi dream-gaze, indie surf pop quintet. Founded in late 2013 as the recording project of Moire Echo and Matt Sklar, the band expanded to a five-piece in 2014 and began working on their first recordings. “Only Summer,” the band’s aptly titled debut EP released in May of 2014, is a collection of atmospheric dream pop gems that’s a perfect soundtrack to the lazy summer days ahead. Their latest release is a single entitled ‘Kill the Lights‘ released in January of 2015 and featuring remixes of the song by both British electronic band Futurecop! and Utah-based synthpop duo New Shack. The band’s followup EP is currently in the works, and you can catch them live on June 24th at the Cake Shop, along with fellow New York bands Loosie, and Modern Merchant. – Patrick Wolf

Josiah Mazzaschi’s band Light FM has gone through a lot of lineup changes since its inception in 1999. Nicole Fiorentino (Veruca Salt) played with him once. So did Jimmy Lucido (Nightmare Air). In spite of this, the artistic vision has been constant, and Mazzaschi’s current outfit is a pretty formidable power trio: drummer/synth virtuoso Alexa Brinkschulte (ex-Swimming in Trees) and bassist Nicki Nevlin, who also played with Fiorentino and was featured in Wristcutters: A Love Story.

That’s not to say that the past incarnations were less-than-stellar: Light FM’s performances have brought them on shows with the likes of The Jesus and Mary Chain, The National, Ra Ra Riots, and The Smashing Pumpkins. Hell, even Billy Corgan threw down under moniker Backwards Clock Society during a benefit concert for Light FM’s past member Laura Ann Masura.

Historically, Light FM have always had a penchant for saturating their compositions with synths and all-around dance-y vibes, diverging from the guitar-heavy work of their Los Angeles peers and balancing ’80s textures with Mazzaschi’s airy vocals. But the newest EP "Pointless" (released 3.13.15) might be their best work to date. Dark titles like "S.S. Euthanize" and "God Fearing Man" and "Your Loss" bathes listeners with neon frequencies and sardonic lyrics, a fitting combination for the disenchanted, digital urbanites.

Listen to the EP’s title track below and catch Light FM as they perform a free show at The Satellite this Thursday, with Young Light (feat. members of Amusement Parks on Fire) and The Past Haunts. – Ryan Mo

NYC songstress Alex Winston has the rare ability to turn our day around through… pop – ah, the healing power of music! Fresh evidence suggests that her new single ‘The Day I Died’ (streaming) has this therapeutical power – we just tried it ourselves, it worked. The song is the titletrack of her brand new three song EP, which is an appetizer for an upcoming full album scheduled for a November 10 release. If you are hungry for more, don’t miss her upcoming live show at Mercury Lounge on July 7th, with (also excellen Brooklyn pop/rockers Mainland.

Legendary NYC drummer Skoota Warner has played with everyone from Santana to Biz Markee, and “Vignettes” is his second solo album. It features DJ Logic, Hot Tuna, and, in the new single “Still In Love,” the famous freestyle juggernaut C-Rayz Walz. The drumbeat is dusty and raw, the kind any MC would love to slay, and C-Rayz crafts an intimate narrative crammed with brilliant lines like, “Why would I listen to lies. . .when you are the truth that I envision?” The album speaks to Warner’s eclectic tastes and styles. This video will speak to your heart. – BrokeMC

A mountainous piece of shrill piano presses, thick string plucks, and violins that skitter only to soar… “Go” by Gracie and Rachel is simply beautiful. Apparently a song off a forthcoming album of the same name by the Berkeley-raised, Brooklyn-based duo, “Go” awes in its ability to make technical mastery into something moving and potentially transcendent. “It’s okay, it’s okay/To let your heart race, heart race,” goes a silky-voiced lyric, wondrous assurance sliding through. Gracie and Rachel will open for Porcelain Raft this Thursday (6.25) at TT The Bear’s Place Inc. in Cambridge, Massachussetts and will perform at Rockwood Music Hall on Monday, 6.29. In the meantime, listen to “Go,” and watch its ponderous black-and-white music video, below.

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

The Golden Pony – an electronic duo that just entered our "Emerging NYC Bands with Buzz" top 15 – broke onto the NYC scene in 2013 with a string of dancy remixes of old and new artists (the most successful being the one of Simon and Garfunkel’s "The Sound of Silence"). They have since gathered over 5,000,000 plays on Soundcloud and had two #1 hits on Hype Machine. The curly male duo also writes original songs, otherwise they wouldn’t be featured in this blog: the latest is a chilled EDM tune entitled "Die Inside Your Dance," featuring Savoir Adore at the vocals, check it out streaming below.

Guitarist/vocalist Brady Keehn and drummer Melissa Scaduto moved out from New York to Los Angeles in search of higher temperatures and lower rent. They found a bit of both, and then some. Keehn and bassist Kenny Elkin had done a Part Time Punks stint earlier last year as The Choke, which played out well, as Ohio transplant guitarist Eddie Wuebben moved down from SF. Four bodies were drawn together by the cosmos, and as the stars aligned, Sextile was born in 2015.

German post-punk influences and an affinity for the occult led to some heavy studio work trapping musique concrète atmospheres with the magnetism of motorik-inspired rhythms. In their first single "Can’t Take It", Scaduto’s ritualistic drumming evokes the scrape of surf guitar — it froths and hisses as synth notes dance like flames to Keehn’s mesmeric chanting, which quickly rises and explodes. Bodies break down. Emotions are purged and spirits are cleansed. It’s a sweet release that will rip the soul out of you, again and again and again.

Sextile will be playing this week at The Hideout in San Diego (6.24), and Friday at the Non Plus Ultra (6.26) in support of Australian shoegaze/dreampop band Au.Ra, and will ride along the West coast with them in the coming weeks. Listen to Sextile’s newest single "Can’t Take It" below, and look for their debut album A Thousand Hands on August 21st through Los Angeles-based label Felte Records. – Ryan Mo

Michelle is editor of The Deli KC and plays in bands. 

"In the pocket" is a phrase used by music geeks to describe bands that are just… feeling it. And after a few years and some lineup changes, Portland’s Slutty Hearts are there. Watch the closed-eyed communication between the band as singer Marisa Laurelle bashes a cymbal with a tambourine, smiling out lyrics about love crimes, and you’ll see the prowess of musicians that have paid their dues. The confidence of their live set is obvious, yet there is a vulnerability that brings them to the level of the crowd. Combining the gritty realness of punk with the slick veneer of pop without sounding forced and pretentious isn’t easy, but this band does it effortlessly – and with style. Catch them at the Trillium in Hood River July 3rd, or when they’ll be covering the Kinks for Ray Davies Day at Bunk Bar July 15. – Just Dave

NYC songwriter Julia Weldon will be performing at Cake Shop tonight within a bill tied to the New Music Seminar 2015 (she was included in their "Artist on the VergeClass of 2015″ list). The young artist plays hartfelt pop that often flirts with Americana influences, although her most popular single ‘Careful in the Dark‘ follows an intimate melodic path reminiscent of Elliot Smith at its most evocative. She’s releasing a new video today for new single ‘All I Gave Her.’

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

Aptly named NJ psych punks Psychiatric Metaphors released their first full length album “33 Thorne Street” earlier this year. Opening track. “Stone Bros Knows” (streaming) is driving three chord rock with basic beat under shouted tandem vocals. We soon learn these “bros know” that “she’s so cold.” There’s tension in the held chord before the verses, the way Sonic Youth frequently elongated moments within a song before dropping the hook. Title track “33 Thorne Street” has cleaner, 60’s sounding bright guitars. Vocals come off a tad more “sneering” this time, with an appealing amount of guitar noodling over the basic chords and simple drumming. The resident of the titled address is (also) a girl: she’s “inside getting tight” but “no one’s got a key” to get in. Metaphor indeed! “Sleep Deprivation” continues to mine the quarries of 60’s psychedelia that current like-minded locals Golden Animals have delved in to. “She’s So Fine” goes deeper into the caverns of early garage rock, conjuring up the spirt of Moby Grape and their classic track “Omaha.” Catch them next on Wednesday June 24 at Palisades in Brooklyn. – Dave Cromwell