Many of the tracks on 'Secondhand Rapture,' the debut album by MS MR, have already trickled out in a series of hotly-anticipated singles, music videos and on the overplayed trailer for season 3 of HBO’s Games of Thrones (that song is titled “Bones”). So getting twelve big ones in long-player format feels almost like a greatest hits package. The album’s opener, “Hurricane,” is still MS MR’s strongest number. Its forceful soul vocal laments the moment when dreamers have to become, um, well, working stiffs and go make a real living - hopefully not too soon! “Dark Doo Wop” (Chet Faker remix streaming below) is one of Secondhand’s best surprises. A finger-poppin’ ballad here dares to reinvent the girl-group genre by using a dramatic bolero beat to build up the apocalyptically romantic chorus: “This world is gonna burn.” By the time of the album’s closer, “This Isn’t Control,” an illusionless gloom hangs over the entire affair with all the heaviness of deeply-felt experience. No over-singing or long-winded vocal runs here. Just evenhanded soul vocals that also manage to sound inspired. See the band live in NYC at Governors Ball on June 8. - Brian Chidester

This year 28 NYC "scene experts" helped us with our Best of NYC Poll 2012 for Emerging Artists by choosing their 3 favorite up and coming NYC acts. These jurors are comprised of local venue agents and other industry people who work with many local bands throughout the year (full list coming soon). Their votes this year produced a list of 68 artists, which means that - as always - most jurors voted for different bands. But some bands appeared more thans once in the "ballots": below we compiled a list of the artists who accumulated more points through the jurors vote only. Kudos to Foxygen (already on the cover of our 2012 CMJ issue) for getting the top spot.

The Best of NYC 2012 Readers and Fans' Poll - including all the nominees - will start in a few days - stay tuned (since we have one of these polls happening in each scene we cover, we need to schedule them carefully to avoid to overload our server - thanks for your patience!).

ARTIST     1 Foxygen   2 Spirit Family Reunion   3 DIIV   4 Ambassadors   4 Ghost Beach   4 MS MR   7 Hunters

The third day of CMJ is the festival’s Humpday. Once Day Three ends, the festival is already more than half-over. Now that I’m halfway done with running the CMJ Marathon, I feel pretty good about my journey towards the finish line, although I realize that while my marathon numbers are solid, they aren’t as good as Paul Ryan’s. Of course, Ryan made up his marathon times on the spot, so at least I’m winning in the endurance department. - Read the full report by Josh S. Johnson here.

The 32nd issue of The Deli NYC is out in the streets people, but if you don't like the streets you can still read it online here (flash version) or download it in pdf here.

Also, also! The Deli's Stomp Box Exhibit at Main Drag starts in a week - more info here.

The Deli's Staff