'Tis the season of the 'Best ofs' and this year we've got a pretty sweet one for you, directly from out 49th print issue of The Deli NYC - yes, in case you weren't aware of it, we exist in the tangible world too!

If you didn't stumble upon a copy of our magazine (we put it in all the alternatively musical places we know in lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, LI and NJ) check out the full article digitally here. And DO NOT DARE to miss the playlist of said article, streaming below, because it's not available in print!

P.S. The tracks are organized in order of Soundcloud popularity.

After gracing (two thirds of) The Deli's 2016 SXSW issue's cover, Rockaway Beach, NY's avant-soul-pop duo Lewis Del Mar had a pretty exciting year, which culminated in the recent release of their self titled debut album, and the following US and EU tour. The band started turning ears in 2015 with a series of memorable singles that blended an overall acoustic sound with electronic experimentation. The new single "Painting" (video streaming below) confirms their edgy sound and souldful songwriting. 

Check out this interview on our sister blog Delicious Audio: Lewis Del Mar talks about gear and the creative process.

Check out the SXSW 2016 issue of The Deli Mag, now available online, and distributed in print next week in Austin during SXSW's Music Week. You'll find copies of it also at our SXSW Stompbox Exhibit and Synth Space!

Yes, we've done things a little differently this time: we shaped this rag the size of a 7" record, and created a "concept" issue almost entirely dedicated to Psychedelia, with a feature by our editor Brian Chidester about how this musical genre has become more and more influential in the new millennium. The two cover artists, Yonatan Gat and Lewis Del Mar, serve as the two extremes within which Psychedelia has expanded in recent years.

As usual, the issue also gathers:

- A lot of emerging artists (mostly psych this time),
- The winners of The Deli's regional Year End Polls for Emerging Artists,
- The winners of The Deli's Best of 2015 Readers' Polls,
- A section dedicated to the SXSW Stompbox Exhibit and Synth Space

We hope you enjoy the read and get to know some awesome new music.

The Folks at The Deli

With the exception of TV on the Radio and a few other artists, soul musicians have taken longer than the indie ones to update their genre's sound to the new creative possibilities opened by the bedroom studio technology. This is probably due to the fact that soul artists are for the most part extraneous to the DIY ethos that's been feeding indie rock since the punk revolution. This year, NYC duo Lewis Del Mar has been making up some time in this regard, releasing three noteworthy, self-produced singles that soon found their way on the top of music aggregators, gathering hundreds of thousand of plays in less than 6 months. Blending soulful vocals with imaginative, dark arrangements, the band flirts with indie and industrial, forging a sound that's at once imaginative and accessible, and featuring a mid tempo inclination that allows space for both vocals and creative programming to coexist. Their latest single "Waves" (we blogged about it here) was released a month ago and it's already their most popular to date. Check out their first single "Loud(y)" and don't miss their show headlining Rough Trade on December 2nd - a gig they earned by selling Mercury Lounge during their debut show in September.

Over the past few months, Rockaway Beach-docked duo Lewis Del Mar has accompanied its celebrated singles, "Loud (y)" and "Memories," with passages of Pablo Neruda's and Gabriel García Márquez's and, on the June-born group's latest track "Wave(s)" (streaming below), the elegant poignancy of those late literary giants is mixed with a compelling kind of chill-pop. A sunset romance set to gentle guitars, ambling vocals, and lyrics that are both grounded and abstract, the melancholic but ultimately content song proves Lewis Del Mar as an act that can intriguingly bring its poeticism down to earth. Lewis Del Mar plays at Rough Trade on 12.2. - Zach Weg  

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