On Thursday July 23rd, The Deli sponsored and helped book a Sofarsounds.com show in NYC. Since the Sofar Sounds shows are always secret, we couldn't promote the participating bands, therefore we'll take the opportunity to blog about them today.

The show was hosted in a beautiful apartment in Manhattan's Battery City by the west river, with gorgeous view of New Jersey. NYC's folk duo Laura & Greg - pictured above minutes before their performance - opened the show with their delicate and intimate songs, featuring a simple acoustic guitar and two way harmonies that took us back to the glorious days of Simon & Garfunkel. The band released a full length album entitled 'Forever For Sure' - you can stream the title track below.

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We were very familiar with the second band on the bill, since they performed at our Best of NYC Fest in June. The Cabana Kids played a stripped down set without giving up the electric guitar, a signature instrument of their dreamy, surf influenced sound. The absence of drums conveied a more folky vibe to their song, allowing their catchy melodies and harmonies to shine.

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Last on the bill, a duo we wrote about a few years ago and we recently re-discovered: Gracie and Rachel (in the top picture). After two guitar based, drumless acts, the two ladies switched things up a little, introducing the audience to their instruments: a piano, a violin, and a kick drum turned on its back, and taken care of by a (charming) dude. What followed could be described as some kind of avant-orchestral bliss: in this music, Gracie Coates's peculiarly moody songwriting and percussive piano style feeds the imagination of Rachel Ruggles' classically trained violin. The two also harmonized flawlessly on occasion, displaying an impressively well-rounded talent. Check out their latest single 'Tiptoe,' streaming below.

We added this song to The Deli's playlist of Best mellow songs by emerging NYC artists - check it out!

Last week we started publishing the results of our picks from our Best of NYC Year End Poll's Open Submissions for the genres Alt Rock/Power Pop, Songwriters/Rootsy Pop and Electronic. A bunch of categories are left, but it's now time to go Indie-Poppy! Pop has been invading the NYC scene in the last decade with bands that retain NYC's signature edgy sound, but blend it with more melodic and uptempo elements. Competition was fierce in this category, with an incredible amount of really good bands - darn, WHY can't we let them all through? Who created this poll's rules anyway? Anyway, this is what our jurors went for:

Total submissions in this category: 42

Artists qualified to the next stage (i.e. the Readers' Poll, starting around 01.20):

1. The Landing - 8 (out of 10)

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2. HEY ANNA - 7.83

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3. The Cabana Kids - 7.5

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3. BRAEVES - 7.5

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Honorable Mentions (scores above 7):

Éyal hai, Pink Murder, The Letter Yellow, Born Cages, Jonah Delso, Canon Logic, Rathborne.

Jurors: Jason Behrends (The Deli Chicago), Terra J. Jura (The Deli Nashville), PDG (The Deli NYC)

Stay tuned for more results from the open submissions, and then for the readers' poll, and then the final chart!

The Deli's Staff

NYC's The Cabana Kids released debut single ‘Just Let Me Know’ (streaming) earlier this month, giving us a small taste of what their fall EP 'The Birds & The Bees' might have in store for us. Their nostalgic vibe is homespun, with male and female vocals taking turns on simple acoustic guitar chords, underlined by reverb-drenched stabs of distorted six strings, which made us think of The Jesus and Mary Chain from their poppier days. The handclaps-driven chorus is an explosion of pop cuteness, with 60s elements taking over in the vocal and organ department, and harmonies that lead singer Joseph Lee describes as "what Sonny and Cher would sound like if they were hipsters." The Cabana Kids' indie spin on bubblegum pop is charming and uplifting yet quite unique. - Sammie Spector