Nostalgia of the 80s is the trend of the year as far a NYC pop is concerned. Living Days – who placed 87th in The Deli’s latest Best of NYC emerging artists poll – extract all the good bits from their new wave predecessors in their slick’n’rocking electro-pop embellished with sparkling synths and riddled with hooks. The band’s signature sound is Stephonik Youth’s low register voice, which darkens the mood of swirling electronic effects and effervescent keyboard lines that merge with dance-rock rhythms, fashioning music suitable for underground club dynamics. The band has a super fun live show and will be playing at Brooklyn Bowl on May 26th within The Deli’s own NYC 2011 B.E.A.F. (Best of Emerging Artists Fest) with The Rassle and Ravens and Chimes).

Deli Artist of the Month Rachel Platten’s new CD “Be Here” was released last week, and it feels like it’s summer already. Filled with upbeat, pop-infused tunes, the new material showcases Platten’s sweetly unique, soulful voice, and honest, relatable lyrics. “Be Here” reads as a musical journey that every person who comes to NYC in search of love, success, and happiness can identify with. From the funky, sexy hit “We Don’t Care What Time It Is” to the raw, insightful “Remark”, Rachel creates an escape into a world where joy and pain coexist simultaneously and effortlessly. This record can be seen as a picture of the path that led her to this point in her career, in which she showcases her natural ability to bring light to everything she touches. Be sure to check out her record release show at Le Poisson Rouge on May 3, 7:00pm. –Christina Morelli

Seeing NYC Opera’s Act 4 last Wednesday, April 20 has to be one of the more unique experiences I’ve ever had at Lincoln Center. Even Darren Aronofsky couldn’t make the David H. Koch Theater look cooler than Stephen Shwartz’s amazing opera did, coupled with beach rock band Small Black capping off the evening in the theater’s 4th ring.
While opera has a reputation of being impenetrable, Shwartz did a remarkable job of making his Seance on a Wet Afternoon immediately accessible to the relatively young and uninitiated audience. Despite the tragic plot, the characters were warm and relatable, and you couldn’t help getting caught up in it, though at times the mood felt more broadway than upper west side.
After the show, I took the elevator up to the 4th ring to enjoy free cocktails and the Cure-channeling lo-fi Small Black, who strangely fit in well with the dressed-up hipster crowd.
My one complaint with seeing the band at this venue was that the 4th ring is definitely not designed for its acoustics. Frequently, the instruments of the band’s 4 piece ensemble would project in isolated spaces across the floor, and I’d find myself hearing the drums at one end of the hall, and the keys at the other.
Overall though, this was a great experience. I felt like Lincoln Center opened its arms wide to embrace us high-art deprived Brooklynites, and its efforts were appreciated. Swing by this Thursday, April 28 to see the last Act 4 event of the year. The Secret Science Club plays after the show. – Mike Levine, photo by John Rogers.

Some people were born with a voice that screams for… singing in a rock band – Zak Smith is one of them. Zak plays well crafted pop-rock that sweats warmth and passion – think of Bruce Springsteen’s inner fire mixed with Tom Petty’s superior talent for melody. The man and his band will be playing two shows in Manhattan on the same day on May 5 – the first one at the Best Buy store in Union Square at 4pm, and then at Sullivan Hall at 7pm. Those of you who are constantly searching for a new forger of rock classics might want to mark your calendars – and, in the meantime, enjoy this video of the single "Under Your Possession".

When a band goes under the name Country Mice, you pretty much know what to expect from them – some kind of rootsy stuff. And as a matter of fact that’s what Country Mice deliver: very well crafted folk rock with some psych influences. Sure, go ahead and call it alt-country if you want, but it’s much country-er than Wilco’s alt-country material (why the press decided to coin that genre for those records by the way is beyond us, it was more like just… quality rock? Anyhoo, Country Mice really manage to instill new life into this genre – we love "A Good Old Fashioned Barn Rising" from their myspace profile, and also the single "Festival" (embedded here), a twangy rock’n’roll tune that would make Neil Young proud (or will if he ever got around to listen to it). The band is about to release their debut CD, due out in June. – Read a Deli interview with the bandfrom last year here.

From the nature-filled great outdoors of Anchorage, Alaska to the concrete roads and brights lights of New York City, The Lives of Famous Men have left their mark on the cross-country path to musical eminence. With their new album, Marigold Maxixe, this now Brooklyn-based indie pop band, sings honestly of their experiences of love and life on the road. Interwoven within the seven tracks are elements of smooth jazz, punk pop, and a bit of folk rock, appealing to wide variety of tastes and sounds. Written and performed by members of The Lives of Famous Men- Daniel Hall, Ari Katcher, Dylan Mandel, Andrew Totemoff, and Jason Wahto, Marigold Maxixe is a refreshing release that both fills you with energy and soothes your soul. – Read Christina Morelli’s interview with the band here.

Parody-Dance trio Tayisha Busay Tayisha Busay seem able to transform any song in the most fun and absurd thing ever. Just to give you an idea of the what’s going on with these guys, they seem to have a passion for not-so-toungue-in-cheek kind of jokes, like when for example they reveal that they just found out that the name of their single for an upcoming full-length is actually a slang term for an uncircumcised penis: it’s called "Covered Wagon,” but they apparently meant it to be about the Oregon Trail… The album art has a half-unicorn, half-mermaid on it — a mermicorn, if you will. What more can you want? Maybe this: in the music video for “WTF You Doin’ in My Mouth,” they drink and vomit… glitter. With lots of passion and a boatload of spunk, catchy electro-dance tunes, ridiculous ‘80s aesthetic and love of spandex, we can only hope Tayisha Busay will write and score their own version of “Flashdance” and star in it. For some seriously fun times see these guys at Santos on May 10. – Read Lauren Piper’s Q&A with the band here.

Don’t bring your grandmother to a Gung Ho show. And for godsake don’t bring your parents or little sister or your one straightedge friend. After graduating from Skidmore College last spring (and highlighting every basement party across Saratoga Springs), Gung Ho moved to Brooklyn to use their musical powers in the ultimate quest for “weed, bitches, bourbon, money, drugs, guns.” And they’re well on their way. Their high-energy, bluesy, down-home rock ‘n roll will steamroll your inhibitions, make your clothes disappear, and have you exchanging sweat and saliva with your neighbor. Matt Awai’s thick, guttural exclamations compliment their trademark gnashing guitars, as well as create the perfect mating call – or is his appeal attributed to the fact that he’s always shirtless? Anyway, pick up what Gung Ho is puttin’ down and fuck having a “good” time – why not have the best night of your life, every night?
Gung Ho placed at #88 in our latest Best of NYC Emerging Artists Poll will be playing The Deli’s NYC B.E.A.F. (Best Emerging Artists Fest) at Glasslands on May 25 with Yvette, Shapes and Dirty Fence. More info about the fest will be relased soon.

Get to know more about the giant collaborative DC based band The Ash Lovelies, who were voted by the people as DC Deli’s Artist of the Month (April.) We touched base with Lou Black (vocals/guitar/+) who had the low-down on their early shoegaze-infused folk style, data analysis on band name creation, and the love of a Yamaha guitar synthesizer. Full interview here…

Wow, this is a rather mystic and hi-tech video for a band we perceived as kinda lo-fi! The song is Hooray for Earth‘s new single "True Love", which will be featured in the band’s upcoming album, to be released in June. "The video is an homage to our favorite Russian and eastern-european cult sci-fi. French artist Moebius and early Metal Hurlant were also big visual influences," explains director Alex Takacs. "It’s about mindscapes and the memory of true love."

Even though the L Magazine seems to take every opportunity to ignore The Deli (should we take it personally?), we are not the resentful kind and stick to our mission to do whatever it takes to give deserving local bands some exposure. If this means amplifying the visibility of artists highlighted by a publication that doesn’t like us, so be it!

Every year I am truly amazed by the fact that the L Mag manages to find a bunch of very good local bands we haven’t covered yet – The Deli gives exposure to an average of 20+ NYC based emerging artists per week, but it’s obviously not enough to deal with all the friggin’ wonderful bands out there. The yearly L feature always triggers our curiosity – mostly for bands from the list that we have not yet covered (typically about half of them).

Slowdance (pictured above) play rather laid back semi-synth-pop (yeah because there is sitll a rhythm guitar in there) with that cool almost-epic Morriconian feel to it. The real star here is front lady Quay. Her sultry but in your face vocals combined with her talent for original melodies could take this band far. Oh, and she also sings some tracks in French for an added "cool" factor.

Yellow Ostrich is a band we recently nominated for our poll but for some reason never came around to write about. They play a very interesting sparse and progressive kind of rootsy music (when we say progressive we mean it in a good way). Think about a mellower version of White Rabbits’ solid reinterpretation of blues and folk mixed with Animal Collective’s eclectic vocal arrangements and african influences.

Family Trees could be described as an acoustic, folky version of the "Chill Wave" trend started by bands like Woods and Real Estate. These guys add a good measure of exotic influences to the mix, which makes their sound refreshing and quite unique in the NYC scene. Unpretentious and chilled to the extreme, this is escapist music – did they really write these tracks here in NYC? Close your eyes and – as if by magic – a beach will appear . We can definitely see some value in that.

Grand Rapids (picture below) confirms the impression that somebody at the L mag is a huge Pavement fan – this band’s catchy melodies, casual attitude and twangy arrangements make them sound like a rootsier version of Stephen Malkumus’ ground breaking act. Probably L exaggerates when it says that their sound is "as defiant as it gets", but these guys’ charm is undeniable.

The other 4 artists featured in the L’s feature are Devin Therriault, Radical Dads, Mainland and Luke Rathborne.

Under the name Laurel Halo, Ina Cube has achieved numerous well-received remixes for others, including How to Dress Well and Sébastien Tellier, presenting their music through her own hypercolored lens. But on her “King Felix” EP, the songs evoke the otherworldly beauty of the Cocteau Twins laid over dance beats with ethereal vocals. Cube’s classical music training is evident in the artful cascading melodies in her bustling electronic symphonies. Each of the synthpop tunes could be sectioned into movements, but the seamless transitions are what make the songwriting so awe-inspiring.  A follow-up EP entitled “Hour Logic” will drop on June 21. – Nancy Chow