Aleksa Palladino and Devon Church make dreamy rock music under the heading EXITMUSIC. The band’s impressive live shows have been garnering much-deserved attention. Aleksa commands attention as the band’s lead vocalist, also alternating between playing guitar and keyboards. Devon stands tall as the primary guitarist, and shifts effortlessly between providing power chords, quick riffs or melody lines and even employs a violin bow on the strings at one point. This fall, the finely crafted recorded works EXITMUSIC have been meticulously constructing were released as their debut album "From Silence." – Read Dave Cromwell’s feature on the band here.

There’s something endearing and catchy about the non-traditional ways that We Are The Woods approach everything from their marketing to their lyrics. Strong voices, beautiful harmonies, and simple melodies speak volumes over the standard folk scene in Brooklyn and New York. Consisting of Jessie Murphy, Marcia Webb and Tyler Beckwith, the trio offers an interesting blend of quirky song titles that match perfectly with their music, songs that both entertain and make thought-provoking statements simultaneously. After captivating us at The Deli’s CMJ "Rootsy Music Stage", We Are the Woods is working on a steady stream of singles to release following up their debut album “Eight Belles.” Don’t miss them at The Living Room on December 16. – Read Christina Morelli’s Q&A with the band here.

We guess New Beard is a kind of band where lady musicians are (implicitly) not invited, since it looks like to be in it you MUST proudly wear some kind of facial hair. Now, while we are aware of the existence of bearded women, we have to say that for some reason they don’t seem to live anywhere near NYC…
The four "beardos", including Ben Wigler (who was wearing one back in 2007, when he appeard on the cover of The Deli Magazine with his previous band Arizona), are all very accomplished musicians and play some very eclectic and pushy indie blues-rock with influences ranging from the exotic to the psych/prog. The band will be releasing their debut EP "Moment of Peace" at Cameo on 12.18, which we are sure will be a good old fashioned rock’n’roll blast. Recommended.

Young Magic is the Brooklyn based collaboration between two Australian musicians (Isaac Emmanuel and Michael Italia) and Indonesian singer songwriter Melati Malay, who made it into our Best of NYC emerging artists poll last year (see our writeup about her here). This project sounds like a more mature development of the direction taken by Malay in her most recent solo material, in which world music influences are rendered through lush and atmospheric arrangements rich in percussions, layered electronic sounds and celestial choirs. The band recently signed to Carpark Records – their LP "Melt" is scheduled to be released on February 14th 2012.

Brooklyn-bred band We Are Augustines’ debut album ‘Rise Ye Sunken Ships’ was just named “Best Alternative Album” of 2011 in the iTunes "REWIND" Year End Round Up. Guitarist and lead vocalist Billy McCarthy (ex Pela) and bassist and keyboardist Eric Sanderson poured incredible amounts of emotion into the band’s debut album — which tells the story of McCarthy’s difficult past. We Are Augustines is scheduled to perform at the Xfm Winter Wonderland concert in London alongside The Horrors, Band of Skulls and more on Wednesday, December 14. – Christine Cauthen

Self described as "orchestral space-pop," Miracles of Modern Science present themselves through a press picture that looks like a kids guide to the string section. Although they play violin, mandolin, cello, and double bass, the quintet’s music has nothing classical about it – besides the instrumentation of course. Two highlights from their first LP "Dog Year" (out now) are the fast paced opener "MOMS AWAY!," with throbbing drums and raw-ish vocals, and "Tensity," with its contained, intricately plucked verse which unexpectedly explodes in a rock-estral chorus. Check out also "Eating Me Alive, streaming below. – Molly Horan

Folk rock group The Wooden Birds, led by Andrew Kenny (American Analog Set, Broken Social Scene), and also featuring NYC songwriter Matt Pond (of Matt Pond PA fame) just released the video for “Criminals Win,” the second from their sophomore effort "Two Matchsticks." Directed by Alex R. Johnson, the video depicts life in the Wooden Birds hometown of Austin, TX, while simultaneously paying homage to the 1977 Burt Reynolds beer-running classic "Smokey & The Bandit." The band is offering a free download of this single and a previously unreleased cover of Jackson Browne’s “Somebody’s Baby” on their website.

Matthew Dear‘s latest audio/video excursion combines the upbeat title track from his new ‘Headcage EP’ with mesmerizing abstraction from London-based director Morgan Beringer. The video looks like vintage footing of the creation of the universe, while the song sounds like early Japan somehow enhanced electronically – very cool indeed. Oh and check out the "wtf" ending! This single is the title-track of Matthew Dear’s upcoming "Headcage" EP, out on January 17.

Post-punk dissidents Virgin Islands will embark on another tour in the New Year, after spending much of 2011 on the road in support of their first full-length release, Ernie Chambers v. God. Singer/guitarist Mike Jaworski, drummer Aaron Ball, guitarist Chris Meyer and bassist Chuck Keller deliver a one-two of rumbling bass lines and searing guitar play that compliments the band’s frequently provocative lyrical bent. Punctuated by Ball’s driving rhythm, Virgin Islands’ first EP lives up to the promise of their four-track 2009 debut, The Age of Anxiety, which turned heads and teased palates eager for a taste of gritty, blistering and most of all, insurgent new music. The band will kick off their next 11-date tour in Seattle early in 2012.

February 17              Neumo’s (with Cursive and Ume)

Doors: 8 p.m.

Tickets: $15

-Kate Shepherd

Up-and-coming indie act Smokey Brights will bring their folky, soul-tinged rock to The Comet Tavern tomorrow night. After releasing their debut album, Can’t Rightly Say, this May, the band garnered the attention of local critics and concertgoers alike. They wrapped their first tour in November, which they documented in a series of postcards from the road, and are once again playing shows in town – including a sold out appearance at The Tractor on Nov. 23. Experimental duo Fort Union, the latest project from Friday Mile founder Jace Krause will also share the stage. Krause and Jake Rohr released Solstice Day Parade, their first single featuring ethereal melodies and rippling guitars, back in March, and have been building a following ever since.

Doors: 9 p.m.

Tickets: $8

-Kate Shepherd

"Resolved dissonance" is one of the very cool things about music – Sonic Youth mastered it to perfection. But honestly I have a hard time thinking about a "clean sounding" band that uses dissonance as purposefully as Brooklyn based super-obscure (but not for long) "The Hot Holy Mess". These guys only have two songs available online at this stage, but they are both satisfying my originality AND poppiness needs at once, which happens very rarely. Most importantly, they don’t sound anything like Animal Collective, which these days is a major plus for any experimental-ish indie band. The song "Focus Focus," streaming here, is some kind of zany experimental psych-pop collage that bounces from a beatles-y verse (circa 1967) to an atmospheric bridge reminiscent of French band Air, to a circusy chorus involving harp, violin stabs and almost comical falsetto parts. What’s hard to convey in writing is the band’s flair and overall smoothness of the operation. Bravo! The second song "Long Ride Down" develops in a folkier and more intimate direction, with acoustic guitars and hand claps. Dissonance again pays visits in the vocals and guitar parts, and later on in super-psychedelic distorted violin solos, adding layers of tension and alienation to an otherwise mellow song. These songs are part of a 7" called "Red Wild Eye", which will be released on 01.26 with a party at Rock Shhop. The songs are available for free download here.