Brooklyn’s Cameo Gallery is hosting a garage-rock lover’s wet dream on Saturday, May 5th. Headliners, Wild Yaks bring their cheerfully haphazard, loud rock and unified choruses to the stage. Once already lovingly referred to as "Brooklyn’s drunk folk-punk icons" by The Deli, their live performances are a guaranteed good time regardless of whether or not you’re familiar with their tunes – check out a recent video here.
Raccoon Fighter pave the way for the Yaks, with their rockin’, seductive garage jams. their big, raw sound and powerful guitars are soulful and even bluesy when combined with their emotive vocals – here‘s a video from last year.
Self-proclaimed "American dance-punk band", The Toothaches will open the night with a lively set including multi-part harmonies and undeniably fun, catchy pop songs. Members often perform in costume and/or without face paint. Also on the bill Boston’s Girlfriends. Since we covered Wild Yaks and Raccoon Fighter quite a bit in the past, we are giving picture and streaming tune to The Toothaches. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here). The Deli’s NYC Open Blog is powered by The Music Building.

We’ve always been big fans of Luke Temple, and it’s good to see that, together with the Here We Go Magic crew, the man is keeping at it with increasingly beautiful records and videos. The band’s new album "A Different Ship" (stream it here) will be out on May 8, and betrays at least a partial return to Luke Temple’s more intimate and melodic sound from his solo repertoire – in this regard, lend a ear to "Hard to Be Close," "Alone but Moving" and "Over the Ocean". This is welcome news for fans like us who always thought that in most HWGM material Luke’s noteworthy songwriting skills seemed a little sacrificed on the altar of textural experimentation. This doesn’t mean that the band’s signature hypnotic, impressionistic sound is lost – it’s just that these two elements work together better than they did in past records, and this is what makes this album one of the NYC highlights of the year so far. Indeed, this collection also features songs more in line with the band’s past releases ("Make Up your Mind", "I Believe in Action"), which follow on the steps of brainy-pop icons like Brian Eno and The Feelies, but there’s definitely a balance here, also betrayed by the almost perfect alternation of melodic songs and less traditional ones.The just released video of "How Do I Know," telling the story of a rejected dancing robot that ends up revitalizing an older man’s appreciation for life, seems to reflect on this brain/heart, mechanic/organic dichotomies and somehow bring them to unity. – PDG

Now that Jack White is going solo, the crown for the "best male/female dirty blues-rock duo" is vacant. San Diego’s Little Hurricane could be a serious contender for this title, propelled by the fresh release of their debut album "Homewrecker," and also by above average photogenicity – the guys here at The Deli’s headquarters have already unanimously elected CC (the girl in the band) "Deli Drumer of the Year" – a title they made up today, which we guess might NOT be based entirely on musical skills.

Many blogs and publications already anticpiated us in proclaiming the somewhat cliche` statements "Little Hurricane might be a duo, but they have a big sound" and "it’s hard to believe that a musical duo can pack as big of a punch" – we should find new ways to say that, dunno… like: "this band is basically a sextet minus a quartet, but they pack the punch of 2 evil quintets!" – Anyway, punchy or not, the music is what counts and we are digging this tune streaming below. Check them out live at the Detroit Bar at Costa Mesa on May 05

I think it’s possible that Backwords recorded their latest EP while serving burgers at a barbeque. Their latest EP, ‘By the Neck,’ captures a particular moment of sunshine in their campfire-ready anthems where the beers are still cold and the sun is still warm, and this is all thanks to how intimate and close-knit this bunch of friends is.
Even when the group misses a note or two (as happens on occasion), it’s all in the family. This is music for anyone to sing along to. Let’s just see you try and stop your foot from moving to acoustic guitar charmers like ‘Break My Spine’ and ‘Hey Kid!’ (streaming below). See them when they play The Rock Shop on May 10 or at Union Hall on May 19. – Backwords submitted their music for review here. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)