NYC Scene Report – Dan Miraldi, J Hacha De Zola, & more


This week’s NYC Scene Report features an LES indie rock tale from Dan Miraldi, a Spanish language project from J Hacha De Zola, fresh new hip-hop from Sav Killz, and a power pop-rock song from KITTEN that will have you saying “Oh My God.”

* It gets no more NYC than the opening line of indie rock artist Dan Miraldi’s latest single, “Chelsea Girl,” as he sings, “It was Lafayette and Houston / we were walking to the train.”

The song is off Miraldi’s recently released album, Alphabet City 2AM. Incidentally, if you enjoy show hopping the in LES you’ve definitely been in Alphabet City at 2AM, and you’ve likely fallen for a “Chelsea Girl.”

The album is a culmination of nearly a decade on the road for Miraldi, who’s been a part of numerous DIY van tours. In a statement, he said of his experiences, “Through it all, I can look back and say that I love rock and roll. I love making music and playing shows. It’s something I need to do and I don’t know how to stop. The best is yet to come.”

Click play on his latest single, and get to know Dan Miraldi and his “Chelsea Girl.”


* Just over the border in New Jersey, experimental genre bender J Hacha De Zola has developed a reputation for not just pushing musical boundaries, but shattering those boundaries, putting the pieces into a blender, and coming up with something the likes of which most folks have never imagined.

His latest endeavor is a Spanish language EP titled Syn Illusión, which was released this past week. He discussed the inspiration for the project in a statement, saying, “A dear friend challenged me to step outside of this ‘J Hacha’ guy. Maybe ‘J Hacha’ had a more sensitive side; maybe that guy would write a record in Spanish, my first language. I originally went into this idea of a record in Spanish telling myself, ‘I’m just going to do a stripped down Hacha record, but it didn’t turn out that way at all!’”

De Zola continued, adding, “Syn Illusión means ‘without delusion’ in Spanish, but it also refers to the heavy synth sounds on this EP. My producer had all these really cool vintage synths, keyboards, Mellotrons, Farfisas, and retro synth emulators in the studio, so I thought, ‘Well hell, let’s go heavy with these! I love retro ‘80s synth sounds.’”

While the lyrics are in Spanish, De Zola notes, “It’s not Latin (music) by any stretch; it’s some kind of dreamy emo synth pop.” He jokingly added, “I got in touch with my inner ‘broken-hearted 17-year-old girl from ‘90s. I think of this as some kind of ‘undead Romeo vampire-like dude crooning about love, power, and magic.’”

Check out the title track and feel the magic of J Hacha De Zola’s Syn Illusión.


* We may be fast approaching winter, but Brooklyn hip-hop veteran Sav Killz is bringing us back to warmer times with his latest single, “Brooklyn Summer.”

Produced by Camoflauge Monk, and off Sav’s Bangers and B-Sides 2 mixtape, the track is a smoothed out gem that has a distinctly warm feel to it. If you close your eyes, it can make wherever you currently are feel like the park on a nice day.

Speaking of parks, the video for “Brooklyn Summer” was shot at Brooklyn Bridge park at Team Magnificent's Get Low photo shoot, and features numerous members of the legendary Lo Life’s crew, as well as DJ J-Ronin.

Check it out, and no matter the weather outside, catch some of that summertime vibe.


* Brooklyn-based power-pop rock band KITTEN recently released their latest single, and it will having you saying “Oh My God” it’s so damned good.

KITTEN frontwoman Chloe Chaidez discussed the inspiration for “Oh My God” in a statement, saying, “‘Oh My God’ is about all the feelings that come rushing in simultaneously when a romance comes to an end. The song began as a relatively straightforward pop track, but because it's KITTEN we had to put it through the aural fun house! Now it, hopefully, sounds like Talk Talk and Max Martin circa '99 did a collab.”

After that description I assume you’ve already clicked play. If not, what are you waiting for?!?!


For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.

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