A band made up of two ladies both named Katie sounds like a project in cute, right? Don’t be fooled. Local minimal electronic/lyrical R&B act BLKKATHY builds up layers of blissful vocal lines and clicks them into place with the right beats and ace production. It’s music made for pulling up old wounds, soothing, and dancing. The duo released an EP, “Dem Bones”, with Deep Ellum Records and have extra tracks streaming on their website and soundcloud. Their recordings are filled with well-crafted lyrics amongst synths and inventive textures. BLKKATHY will be representing NYC’s surge in electronic innovation this week at SXSW. – Leora Mandel

Flagland is a NYC 3-piece self-described “panic rock” band. Despite some nihilist tendancies on their 2014 record, “Love Hard”, there is room for sweet hopefulness in the song “Sugarcube”: “When I’m feeling dark, you take me to the park. When I’m feeling black, you take me back. Yeah, my cup is bitter stuff, but you make it sweet.” The diverse 20-song album is comprised of this sweet diddy as well as head-bobbing rock songs, some glockenspiel action, sarcastic quips, and tracks that are the healthy alternative to kicking your foot into a wall. Flagland cites influences like Pixies, Nirvana, and Weezer and play with super gusto. They will be playing Brooklyn Night Bazaar on a way cool lineup with Teen Suicide/LVL UP/Crying/Amanda X/Washer March 27th and Aviv on April 3rd.

-Leora Mandel 

3-piece NY outfit Palberta treat music like a playground—they run up slides, stand on swings, and climb to the top of the jungle gym carrying flags in thier teeth. A little riot grrl and a little noise, part clever and part temper tantrum, they pluck and sting and stomp around. They put on wild shows, radiating confidence, chemistry, and camaraderie with their audience. Palberta plays Silent Barn with local favorites Ava Luna (who graced the cover of The Deli a few years ago), LVL UP, and Palehound on April 18th; bring those dancing boots. – Leora Mandel 

Magma Fest 2015 is here! For the entire month of March the wonderful people at Hollow Earth Radio will be throwing shows at multiple venues and non-venues alike, all of which are all ages. Last week we saw Chastity Belt play at a boxing ring next to a community garden in the Central District. This week on Friday, March 20th we are brought an exceptionally well curated event at The Cockpit (an unassuming little alleyway in the middle of Capitol Hill), featuring some of Seattle’s most known unknown…

While there are definite nods to prog-rock in Bod’s sound they ultimately replace quantity with quality, a trait that prog-rock has a hard time doing. Gigantor begins by fooling you into thinking that you accidentally put on the soundtrack to Labyrinth, which is immediately, yet so casually, tossed aside when the verse introduces an organ and drum machine duet reminiscent of Clinic. Cue the mellotron and… ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space, but not for long; incomes a chorus that has us exclaiming YES In a roundabout way…

A gazebo is both a symbol of elegance, while simultaneously being an outpost for bums and teenagers to smoke spliffs in. It’s in the disparate parts where we find the charm of this strange but alluring structure. Similarly, Gazebos the band creates a whimsical mélange of sweet AND savory powerpop. Singer, Shannon Perry croons like Exene Cervenka singing Strange Fruit, while the band dangles the jangle of Television personalities and dance around power pop ballads in a pair Black Vinyl Shoes, in a way only R. Stevie Moore knows how to do. So naturally, it’s no surprise to see that the great R. Stevie and Gazebos have, in fact, collaborated.

Great Spiders is the pseudonym of a guy named Omar. We imagine Omar as a shy kid with a bowl cut who listens to Steeleye Span, and Brewer and Shipley and other 70’s AM radio gems, while daydreaming about one day when a real girl will ask him to dance. On ‘Get Out of Love’ exactly that happens, and Omar finds himself falling for a girl who listens to Slade and The New York Dolls. She is embodied by a riff so classic rock it ain’t funny, which throws Omar’s song legs akimbo and has him asking how to get out of love. It leaves him wishing for something more in between, something more casual, like hanging out down the street with big stars in the sky and not in our eyes.

Closing out the night will be Religious Girls (the only non-Seattle band of the evening who are as equally amazing as the Seattle bands) and are not to be missed!

NYC, are you ready for more SUNY Purchase grads who know how to rock? 8-bit/pop-punk band Crying is cute in a way that won’t make you puke. It’s Princess Peach in roller derby gear—it’s that Lemuria/Hello Goodbye crossover I secretly have always wanted. Their latest record, “Second Wind”, is seriously fun and filled with glittery angst. They’ll be playing Brooklyn Nigh Bazaar on March 27th. With lyrics like “karaoke’s ready, bring her down” you’re already invited, so who’s carrying the DDR? – Leora Mandel

Close your eyes when listening to Big Huge’s latest record “Don’t Be Shy” and you’ll be transported to a big old couch in your neighbor’s garage (just play along here)—the cushions are a bit sunken in from jumping and the beers are fizzy, warm, and plentiful. It’s not a bad place to be. The sound is fuzzy and upbeat, the rhythm driving, and the vocals excitable. Big Huge is a 5-piece NYC rock band. They’ll be heading to SXSW this March to play this and other shows, but they love you and will without doubt be coming back to local NYC venues this Spring. Big Huge made our recent list of Best Emerging NYC Bands. – Leora Mandel 

Brooklyn chamber-pop group Friend Roulette’s 2014 EP “Grow Younger” is a victory in synchronicity. The band, comprised of multiple singers and drummers as well as featuring a string section, EWI, and bass clarinet, could be a mess of a lunch date, but the record never feels like a crowd. Lead singer Julia Tepper marches through proclamations of magic and dawdles into meditations on mortality. With influences like early 2000’s Vanessa Carlton, a pack of dogs, and space travel, Friend Roulette has managed a unique cohesion. They will be playing shows at Palisades on March 20th and Pianos April 12th. – Leora Mandel

We are not entirely sure why, but the name "Odetta" fired up jazzy expectations the instant we stumbled upon it. Those expectation were not betrayed by East Village native Odetta Hartman‘s music, a heterogeneous brand of orchestral folk, enriched by jazzy influences. The 25 year old lady can play pretty much any instrument with strings on it, from guitar to banjo to violin, and after three releases with band, is about to release he first strictly solo album, entitled "222." She recently premiered first single "Creektime" (streaming), which reveals a sparser and more succint approach to songwriting, but also a more experimental and intense sound, incorporating samples from field recordings, and shifting her melodic angle from the distracting melodies of jazz to the simpler but more intense ones of its cousin blues. You can see Odettal live at Baby’s All Right on March 29th.

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

It always makes us cringe when a band we like (or any band, really) chooses to premiere their music through the WSJ (is there anything less rock’n’roll than a newspaper with a biased, now consistently far right opinion section?), but our love for Pearl and the Beard goes beyond that. The unstoppable Brooklyn trio has just released their new album "Again Animal," which, judging from single "You" (streaming), develops the band’s folky sound in a more driven and rock’n’roll direction. They will also be touring the west coast with another unstoppable NY lady, Ani Di Franco.

In line with their punk ethos, Bushwick’s newest ’90s-west-coast-punk-rock addition Pass Away don’t seem to care that much about introducing themselves to the world, maybe also because they are all seasoned veterans of the punk rock scene. Comprised of two-thirds former I Am The Avalanche members Mike Ireland and Kellen Robson, and one-third current Crime In Stereo member Eric Fairchild, they’ve only been around for a few months and have already opened up for The Movielife (at one of their reunion shows at Irving Plaza this month) and dropped an exciting 6-track EP titled ‘Hey Death,’ with Black Numbers releasing the debut EP on 7" coming soon. While waiting, you can see them live at Amityville Music Hall on 03.19.

Read Michael Haskoor’s richly sarcastic interview with the band here.

Public Access T.V. – a band that many consider a potential "next big NYC thing" because of their young age and vague resemblance to The Strokes both in the attitude and songwriting departments – just announced the release of their debut "Public Access" EP  on Grizzly Bear Chris Taylor’s label Terrible Records. They took the opportunity to unveil single "Metropolis," streaming below, a melodic mid tempo that quotes a series of classic pop masters from David Bowie to The Beatles. The EP will be out this spring, just after a US tour that will include a series of shows in Austin for the SXSW festival.