A staple of the NYC scene with his ambient collective Aarktica, Jon DeRosa – when solo – croons with a resonant bariton and raconteur draw reminiscent of a less dramatic Nick Cave. The current Brooklynite and New Jersey native will celebrate the release of his full-length solo debut “A Wolf In Preacher’s Clothes” on June 3rd at Rockwood Music Hall. Unlike in some of his previous endeavors, Jon is bringing out his finely tuned vocals, emerging more and more as a singer-songwriter with songs like “Who Decides?” – one of the album’s more upbeat fixtures. The album is marked by an orchestral pop production, where each tune explores a diverse sound structure including, alternatively, layered accordions, piano,  steel guitar, strings and horns. Stand out songs like “Teenage Goths” and “Birds of Brooklyn” will intrigue fans of Beirut.

A rounded artist who isn’t happy to stick with one formula, Jon DeRosa is somewhat of a musical enigma, taking inspiration from his diverse background and branding everything he produces with a sense of old world wisdom. – Devon Antonetti

Port St. Willow is the solo work of Brooklyn singer-songwriter Nick Principe. Even though Principe heads the band himself, Port St. Willow’s music takes on grandiosity much fuller than the lone musician. The band’s recent full- length debut “Holiday,” recorded in Portland, Oregon, where Principe was previously based, plays more like one long dream, with ambient vocal whispers and ethereal melodies bleeding into each other like one long song. Tracks like “Amawalk” and Five Give Two Five” stand out with sounds of echoes in a howling wind, both chilling and soporific. Port St. Willow is performing around New York this summer, with an upcoming show at Spike Hill in Brooklyn on June 14. – Devon Antonetti

Surely few things are more provocative, in a NYC scene dominated by the humble lo-fi attitude, than a frontman who sees himself in grandiose terms. An actual descendant of German knights, Neon Legion (the project of Phillip Kressin) approaches rock in the same serious terms as Classical music, which Phillip studied while going to school abroad in England.

While it may be hard to hear some of these ideas initially, spend some time with Kressin, and you’ll hear an ambitious take on historical events with the capacity to conjure even some of Goethe’s metaphysics (yes, I went there). The man’s take on world events is unsettling and, combined with his penchant for tense atmospheres, places this music within the tradition of the dark, angular Teutonic culture.

Neon Legion’s latest ‘La Revolución, ‘ takes on these subjects with aplomb in haunting tracks like Empire’ and ‘Time to Feed.’ See the German knight himself when he returns from his tour of Argentina. – Neon Legion submitted their music to The Deli digitally here. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets), photo by Shervin Lainez

Tonight is the final night of our NYC B.E.A.F. (Best of Emerging Artists Fest). If you like alt rawk, don’t miss the show at Spike Hill!

Spike Hill – $5
ALT ROCK STAGE

12:45 Ellis Ashbrook
12:00 Bugs in the Dark
11:10 Apollo Run (pictured)
10:20 Dead Exs
9:30 Brothers
8:40 Thinning the Herd
7:50  Nico Blues

Fort Lean conceptualizes sonic escape in a parallel utopian world where you can still see the skyline but not hear any cars, and the weather is always perfect. Isn’t that Portlandia? The band just announced that they will join Deli NYC favorite Bear Hands on a summer west coast tour – they’ll be playing The Knit on July 20. – Read Dave Cromwell‘s interview with the band here.

It was great to see ohnomoon live again last night at our B.E.A.F. Psych Rock stage at Public Assembly. Hit hard by the sudden death of their bassist Raymond Blanco towards the end of the year, OhNoMoon’s 2011 was bittersweet at best. Until then, this Astoria-based psych rock band had released the single “Sleeping Limbs” and an outstanding cover of Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes” (streaming below) laying a fast path around town, which culminated in a sold out Deli show at CMJ. Hopefully they’ll give us some new recordings soon. Their somnambulant dream-rock, whose pace is dictated by Kat Lee’s softly pedaling, is rich in hooks and well structured. – Read Ed Guardaro and Dave Cromwell interview with the band here.

Tonight is the third night of our NYC B.E.A.F. (Best of Emerging Artists Fest). If you like indie rawk, this is your nite!

Spike Hill – $6 – 21+

INDIE ROCK STAGE

12:00 Big Ups
11:10 The Can’t Tells
10:20 The Denzels (in the picture)
9:30 Deathrow Tull
8:40 Twitchers
7:50 Kung Fu Crimewave

See you there!
The Deli’s Staff

LISTEN TO THIS SHOW’S PLAYLIST HERE

Spike Hill – $6
ROOTSY STAGE

12:15 Food Will Win the War
11:30 Tall Tall Trees
10:45 Hurrah! A Bolt of Light!
10:00 Big Wilson River
9:15 The Bottom Dollars
8:30 John Delore
7:45 Oh Whitney
7:00 The Due Diligence

————- FRONT ROOM ————

PLAY THIS SHOW’S PLAYLIST HERE

AVANT POP
12:00 Steel Phantoms
11:15 In One Wind
10:30 Xenia Rubinos

INDIE POP
9:45 Futurist (in the picture)
9:00 Clementine & the Galaxy
8:15 Pass Kontrol
7:30 Late Guest at the Party

————- BACK ROOM ————

PSYCH ROCK STAGE
11:30 Wazu
10:45 Ohnomoon
10:00 Illumntr
9:15 Himalaya
8:30 Young Boys
7:45 Idgy Dean
7:00 Indyns