If you haven't yet, take a quick gander to the left of this here text and you'll see somethin' The Deli has been workin' on for a goodly bit. Not only have we finally fixed our damn pesky top artists list, we've gone and improved the thing in some major ways. In particular, you now have all sorts of neat-ass options to sort the top bands in Austin, which we've added what for to get you more new musics to listen to. Mess around with it a bit, it's some pretty cool new shit.

As an example of both said cool new shit and the kind of thing the list can show ya, take electronic artist/producer Corduroi who has been crackin' into a few of the top artists lists now that we've gone and tweaked it. It's no surprise to us whatsoever that Corduroi is showin' up on there, because this guy, a born-n-bred Austinite whose real name is Cody Wilson, has been making quite a buzz about town this week with his fresh-ass debut album Oceanarium.

The ocean-themed, light-drenched Oceanarium was released by Raw Paw Records on 4/20, which is just too appropriate for this high-ready LP. That this album was born from water is not just apparent from the its name and its beached-up song titles, it's also absolutely saturated with lovely sounds (many pulled straight from the ocean) that pair to perfection with images of impeccably lazy days by the sea. It's an album you float through as if you were be-sunglassed, half-buzzed and half-asleep on an inner-tube surrounded by a never-ending series of waves which march off to the horizon as bright, warm daylight plays all around the ocean that is this music, making you feel like the world maybe really is a quite lovely place indeed.

In fact, the tone of this thing, and aiming for a specific tone is what this album is all about, reminds me of the first time I went to LA in the summer and got mild hypothermia from the ocean. I ended up sitting in a hot tub, burning and freezing at the same time and watching the sunset over the beach through eyes that were seeing everything like a cliche 60s film acid trip, all swirling technicolor and warped. It was, weirdly, a thoroughly pleasant, quirky feeling inspired by the sea that went all the way through to my bones, and that's about as good as a description of Oceanarium as any I can think of.

You can get yer own float goin' by streaming the whole thing here and gorgeous synth-laden single "Overboard" below, and if you dig it, there's just ever so much more discoverin' to do over to the left in our newfangled, fancypants top artist lists. Get t'listenin' y'all, there's a lot of ATX goodness over there just waiting for your ears.

ANAMAI is a murky mixture of ambient folk music, which proves to be calming and thought provoking. Layering airy vocals and spacious industrial sounding instruments is their stamp. Just recently they released their video for “Half” a song that lulls you, and still leaves room for you to imagine, and engulf yourself in the atmosphere they’ve created. This is definitely a tune to chill out to, maybe while laying on your floor looking at all your black light ceiling posters? Go Join them 04/24 at Cinecycle or they play in St.Catherines 04/25 for the In The Soil Festival! -Courtney Chalapenko

Boston’s favorite electro-pop duo Miss Geo recently unveiled their newest EP, Shapes, and unsurprisingly, it’s definitely worth your time--trust me. Even if you don’t trust me, listen to it--it’ll be the best twenty minutes you spend all month. It may only be four tracks long, but Shapes crams enough synths, pop hooks and dance-worthy drum beats to keep you dancing for the next month.

 "Dancing After Dark" was the standout track in this collection. The infectious synth and smooth, almost sultry vocals grab your attention and lead you through to the end of the song--kind of like when you’re out at a club and you catch someone giving you “the eyes” from the other side of the room, drawing you closer for some inexplicable reason.

For more info about Miss Geo, check out their website.

-Dan McMahon (@dmcmhn)
 

Well y’all, the bell rung on the epic bout that was our last Artist of the Month poll about a week ago, and heavyweight hip-hoppers LNS Crew found themselves the last men standing in the ring to take the title. Many congrats to LNS on their win!

For this next bout, we’ve got a hip-hopless roster for the first time in a while, with a singer-songwriter-producer, two psych bands and some damn fine Austin punk slugging it out between the virtual ropes for the completely imaginary but nonetheless glorious Deli Austin Weekly Champion Belt.

We’ll do a deeper post on each of these guys over the course of the contest, but for now, here’s a little on our current contenders and why they particularly caught our ear this month:

Abram Shook

Sound: Indie singer-songwriter with quite high production value

Qualifications: Lovely little single “Understood” and its equally pleasurable music video were just released as a preview to Shook’s sophomore album and are making noise around town, earning Shook KUTX’s Artist of the Month. Perhaps more importantly, recent photos of Shook reveal that he is almost definitely Austin’s premier wizard in training, what with that peppery hair/beard combo.

The Halfways

Sound: Psych pop straight out of the era that birthed it, but with a dab of the new post-Fleet Foxes psych sound

Qualifications: A string of recent shows coupled to new output from the band, who has been doing hard work in the studio. Track “I Don’t Mind” bodes quite well for the rest of the new stuff coming from this group, which has certainly become a pillar of the ATX psych scene in the last couple of years.

THREE BONES

Sound: Psych blues with soul to spare and a riveting lead singer/lead guitarist duo in Victoria de Benedicty and Dalt Jacob

Qualifications: Only one of the oddest, strongest, 60s-est music video ever to come out of the local psych scene, plus the promise of more music and some big-time shows (including one with fellow nominees The Halfways at Scoot Inn not long ago). The vid for triumphant, soul-packed track “Hold On to Ya” is exactly what you want out of retro psych, in that its influences are obvious (that projection is pure 60s), but it’s very self-aware and thoroughly fun. These dudes also just won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for a Valentine’s Day love song for other new track “Love is the Only Way,” which is some pretty major shit.

Xetas

Sound: Punch-em-up, no stops, unfuckwitable contemporary punk

Qualifications: This is a band everyone in Austin should know, even though they themselves probably don’t give a shit if you do or don’t. This is as close as Austin gets to a supergroup, with each member an undoubted veteran of the Austin music thing, but even though we’d nominate these guys just about anytime for the quality shit they’ve consistently been producing in their relatively short time together, they particularly make the cut for this month’s poll on the utter, pounding strength of their new single “The Point,” released as a lead up to soon-to-come LP “The Redeemer.” They also just wrapped one big-ass, quick-ass tour all over the nation, which is more’n enough to get them the nod in our poll this month.

Holy Sons, brainchild of psychedelic songwriter Emil Amos, doesn't play music that will brighten your day. Emil uses this project as an outlet for dealing with his own ghosts, and his dark, thoughtful, haunted songs don't do anything to conceal that: the process obviously represents a rather effective form of self medication, considering he's released eleven records since 2000 (two of them in 2014). Emil recently moved to NYC (from Portland), recruited musicians to re-form his band, and has been playing several gigs in and around Brooklyn. You can catch him at the upcoming Brain Cave Festival on April 25 at Baby's All Right.