A young singer songwriter/pianist who recently moved from New England to NJ, Stephie Coplan is not just your regular "girl with a piano." Sure, she can write your classic emotional ballad ("Marilyn Monroe"), but she can also surprise you with a cover of Fountains of Wayne based on diy beat box layered loops ("Someone to Love"), or attack you with a piano-less, hyper-charged power pop tune like "JERK!". Her attitude, talent and versatility convinced us to select her as our #1 choice from the artists who submitted to our poll through SonicBids.
Breaking things down to a level even adults can understand, the gently rolling lullabies of Merrily and the Poison Orchard take us back to an idyllic time of cloud watching and tree climbing. Merrily's love for vaudeville-era jazz comes through strongly here, but her simple approach to storytelling with jaunty ukeleles and bouncy percussion will lift you up like a cool breeze.
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3. YVETTE
This band has the rare ability to create noise that's also very musical and textured. Industrial is definitely their primary genre - the clanging drums and mechanical, metallic, and often dissonant guitars play the main characters here - but this dark soundscape becomes an almost cathartic, religious experience because of the choral, ethereal melodies that reference the shoegazer genre.
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4a. SINEM SANIYE
Born in Germany, but with roots from Turkey, Sinem Saniye blends Middle-Eastern and Jazz styles together to create lush, evocative tunes. From the bossa nova of 'Boom Sheke Nana's' harmonies, to the romance of 'In My Slumber', Saniye covers a broad range in her music. She even has a new Christmas song and calendar to welcome the new year available for purchase.
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4b. BLONDE VALHALLA
Sounding like the exciting conclusion to an 80's John Cusack film, Blonde Valhalla are bringing back the New-wave anthem with only a drum machine, guitar and keyboard to their name. Fronted by Suckers' drummer Brian Aiken, this is synthesized jams stretched to their most anthemic.
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4c. MY PET DRAGON
Borrowing a guitar sound The Edge might be proud of, My Pet Dragon singer Todd Michaelsen belts his tenor up to the rafters. Playing anthems better suited to arenas than small Brooklyn clubs, it's really only a matter of time before this band is all over the radio.
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4d. GRACE WEBER
An original choir girl with roots in Gospel and Jazz, she can croon over a bouncy ditty in 'hitchhiker' or belt over the lush ballad 'Leave the Light On' with equal power. Her latest effort 'Hope & Heart' is one of the better sounding records to come out last year, featuring production from Grammy-winning producer Mike Mangini. Who knows... maybe America has found our own Joss Stone.
Hi Stacers, Yes, I am very paseeld with the direction that the acceptances AND the rejections have taken me. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this painting thing again but I am busy with shows and etc and and am happy about that.
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Which of these acts should be The Deli's next NYC Artist of the Month?
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
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