Ava Luna possesses the perfect balance of retro and modern influences. They draw from ‘60s doo-wop but spruce it up with touches from current indie luminaries like Dirty Projectors. Carlos Hernandez leads with his soulful, affected croon that echoes Jamie Lidell’s with a trio of female singers supporting with gorgeous vocal harmonies. The instrumentation is sparse — complex beats accompanied by light synths and bass — but intricate and deliberate, allowing the voices to take the reins and guide listeners through a matchless music experience. – The band is currently working on a follow up to the 2010 "Services EP – Read Nancy Chow’s interview with the band here.

Gross Relations would have been comfortable roommates with Fountains Of Wayne in the 90s (and would have done a much better job with All State’s theme than Weezer, too). Bands like this have dropped like flies as the end of thetwentieth century has also seemed to mean the end of loud guitar combos. I didn’t realize how desperately Brooklyn needed a group like this until I blasted their sweaty, drunken video to ‘Fuzzy Timelines’ a few days back. Gross Relations’ members may look like the boys nextdoor, but trust me… once you get to know them, they are crazy bastards just like you and me. These guys offer some of the catchiest, fuzz-happy and irony-free pop around, and that’s exactly what we need right now. – Read Mike Levine’s Q&A with the band here.

When You Go Down by RavenSingstheBlues

Pterodactyl is one of the most fun and noisy bands to emerge from the Brooklyn DIY scene. The Brooklyn based psych-punk outfit will be playing Music Hall of Williamsburg on 08.27 with Sun Araw, Prince Rama and Julianna Barwick. They are also presenting this new video promoting their Kickstarter campaign to fund their next album. But we’ll embed here an older – better – one!

Dream poppers rejoyce! Exitmusic has a new video! The band is playing a free show at Mercury on 08.25 (tonight)

On August 25 (tonight), The Living Kills will be celebrating the release of their album Faceless Angels at the Gutter in Brooklyn. This psych rock outfit experiments with electric keyboard drones and and live effects, spinning cult classic projections and a passionate frontman. The cool, dark feel of the music – echo-y and chilled – can turn quite loud and plowing, an enveloping vibe to revel in. – Caitlin Clive

We received this message from electronic Brooklynites Brahms: "Yes, Sie Brahmensie have been hiding for some odd months now, but much like you are returning from the beach/ camp site/ miscellaneous exotic location – we are returning to you. We have spent this time recording an album that will be released in 2012. When you hear the recordings and performed versions of these songs, you will notice that significant changes have occurred. However, the essence, the fragrance if you will, that has always been BRAHMS remains the same. Evolution swings with time’s pendulum. It is the proclivity of the human heart to acknowledge this cycle, and when the cognitive mind joins in, baby, that’s harmony. So please, fasten your seat belt. At this time we would also like to reveal the live, flesh and blood, William Kuehn. An infinitely talented drummer whose rhythm is the pulse of the live incarnation coming atchoo." – Here’s the video of "Repeat it", a very Depeche Mode-y single they released this past March. –  Read last year’s Deli’s feature on Brhams here.

BRAHMS – Repeat It from BRAHMS on Vimeo.

Brooklyn’s Fall On Your Sword create bizarre but catchy electronic music often using video and audio samples of old movies and TV shows. The video element here is so thoroughlly integrated in the creation of their tunes (and often sabotaged, like in this re-elaboration of the famous scene from the movie "When Harry Met Sally") that the visual and aural components of these song couldn’t exist without each other. On August 08.25 they will be releasing a new CD at Cameo, promising "an extravaganza of FOYS originals, early techno and 70s cinema. Some surprises await". The venue has a new giant screen which will surely be taken advantage of.

Psych-rock specialists The Purrs will be headlining the Sunset Tavern on September 15th.  The Purrs, fronted by bassist Jima and celebrating their tenth year as a band, model their sound fairly closely to everything Dean Wareham’s been a part of, specifically Luna- which means high register vocals constantly threatening to be off key, cozy oohs and aahhs, and astral guitar riffs that seem to, in almost everyone composition, ascend into ethereal realms of reverb.  Basically, I think they’re awesome.  Sharing the bill with the Purrs will be Useless Keys and Hypatia Lake.  

The Purrs – Because I Want To by Jason Milne

Your average record reviewer would ideally always (and only) write about incredibly original, mind blowing bands whose music will change the course of rock history. Until a group like Widowspeak comes along to remind him a few things. The Brooklyn based trio isn’t putting on our musical table particularly mind blowing or esoteric ingredients: Mazzy Star’s dreamy folk, Cowboy Junkies’ spare, blue atmospheres, some good old Paysley Underground psychedelia, and the unmissable pop element. But they do it so darn well that we can’t help to remind ourselves (for the thousandth time) how uniqueness isn’t all that important when you have a bunch of great songs, spot on arrangements, and a voice that somehow hits you. Speaking of which… Molly Hamilton’s cheerless and child-like  soprano is adorable and engrossing at once, and her simple but always interesting melodies are a crucial element in what’s noteworthy about this band. Robert Thomas and Michael Stasiak – on guitar and drums – create the perfect balance of intriguing but not over-powering parts to support her talent.

Brooklyn’s Psychobuildings latest self-titled EP sounds like a sonically lush and somewhat bizarre reinterpretation of the sound of the 80s. While listening to this record our ear kept detecting a myriad of elements reminiscent of many of our favorite electronic bands from that decade, in particular Japan, Duran Duran, and early Simple Minds – vocalist Peter LaBier could be the new Jim-Kerry-before-he-went-mainstream (revisit the Scottish band’s first 4 albums if you don’t know what I’m talking about). Even though the band’s choice of sounds has strong ties with the "decade of the mullet", the final result is actually extremely original, their songs coming across like a weirdly "re-processed" version of something you are already very familiar with, but that’s not quite the same.

Mp3: Psychobuildings – No Man’s Land