Since it was my first CMJ, I didn’t know what to expect in the beginning. As it got closer to the week I slowly began to realize that it’s more corporate than I expected. I don’t really know that much or care about any of the industry events or any of the ‘big’ shows, so I’m going to seek out as many great bills as I can and go from there. I will say that despite my grievances against the corporate shmuck-holes, my first CMJ night was pretty good; I saws four great bands consecutively at two venues and honestly, couldn’t have been happier. – Read More

She Keeps Bees has always delivered a brooding menace underneath layers of blues and folk, but now their kettle’s practically boiling over. For new record ‘Eight Houses,’ tales of war and revenge provide an ominous tone to the band’s stripped down texture. After exploring America’s hidden past during their 2012 tour, bandmates Jessica Larabee and Andy LePlant came away from the experience with a better idea of how much pain and forced assimiliation American Indians endured. Tracks like ‘Greasy Grass’ and ‘Breezy’ are practically brimming over with this rage, while still delivering an intimate warmth and emotional pull that makes you feel like you’ve known Jessica for years. It’s a multi-layered record, whose change-up in production from the band’s previous home recordings has only added to its complexities. We discussed these new paths in our recent interview with the band.

See the band live tonight (10.22) at The Deli’s CMJ 2014 Roots Stage at Rockwood at 7pm
Read Mike Levine’s interview with She Keeps Bees

Tuesday was our only day without CMJ showcases so we wondered from venue to venue looking for interesting emerging NYC acts, here’s a quick list of artists we stumbled upon:

BMI was having their showcase at The Knitting Factory with several locals, including fun garage pop quartet Charly Bliss, which we boooked for our Thursday show at Spike Hill. On that same stage we saw talented electro-pop internet sensation VÉRITÉ, who has already three mainstream-ish sounding songs on Soundcloud with more than 100k plays. In perfect Deli style, we prefer ‘Heartbeat’ the song that only has 15k plays, streaming below. She’s scheduled to play tonight as well at… The Knit again?

One of the opening acts at The Knit was Dreamshow, a dance/rock trio that plays anthemic songs full of attitude and passion, check out single "16" down here.

We later ventured to the OhMyRockness showcase at Cameo and were pleasently surprised by New Jersey’s instrumental post/math-rock trio Vasudeva (pictured), featuring two exceptional guitarists. This is a band that might bring back into fashion the lost art of tapping, often associated with the cheesiest of metal bands. The way they do it, it sounds cool (although it still looks nerdy). Check out single "In lieu of Youth," streaming below.

At Spike Hill there was the Audiofemme official CMJ showcase and cought a couple of songs by blues rock powerhouse STRNGRS. On the bill were also Born Cages, a NYC based melodic rock band we mentioned last week that seems to be getting places – check out the uber-catchy single "Rolling Down The Hill" below and you may understand why.

On that same showcase we didn’t catch but want to highlight Oracle Room, a super new band that has an interesting approach to electro-rock, at least in the single we are pasting below, entitled "The Knot."

So… yeah: the Marathon has begun, much more to follow!