What in 2009-10 was called "Best of NYC Fest" is now "The Deli's NYC B.E.A.F." - as in Best of Emerging Artists Fest. Isn't that a perfect acronym for a Deli festival?
The use of the word "Best" is not entirely arbitrary in this case. Most of the artists playing the fest were included in our latest Year End Best of NYC List, compiled polling la crème de la crème of the NYC music industry, including many local venue promoters, bloggers, music journalists and radio DJs.
Hitting Brooklyn for the third year running, this can only be described as the most underground and cross-genre showcase of NYC’s new talent. To make things even more exciting, The Deli's NYC B.E.A.F. 2011 will be promoted starting next week through the Spring 2011 issue of The Deli, which will be exclusively dedicated to the 106 artists in the Best of NYC 2010 list.
We've always been big fans of Luke Temple, and it's good to see that, together with the Here We Go Magic crew, the man is keeping at it with increasingly beautiful records and videos. The band's new album "A Different Ship" (stream it here) will be out on May 8, and betrays at least a partial return to Luke Temple's more intimate and melodic sound from his solo repertoire - in this regard, lend a ear to "Hard to Be Close," "Alone but Moving" and "Over the Ocean". This is welcome news for fans like us who always thought that in most HWGM material Luke's noteworthy songwriting skills seemed a little sacrificed on the altar of textural experimentation. This doesn't mean that the band's signature hypnotic, impressionistic sound is lost - it's just that these two elements work together better than they did in past records, and this is what makes this album one of the NYC highlights of the year so far. Indeed, this collection also features songs more in line with the band's past releases ("Make Up your Mind", "I Believe in Action"), which follow on the steps of brainy-pop icons like Brian Eno and The Feelies, but there's definitely a balance here, also betrayed by the almost perfect alternation of melodic songs and less traditional ones.The just released video of "How Do I Know," telling the story of a rejected dancing robot that ends up revitalizing an older man's appreciation for life, seems to reflect on this brain/heart, mechanic/organic dichotomies and somehow bring them to unity. - PDG
