Long Island bad boys Nude Beach don’t care (among many other things) that the clock has ticked about a gazillion times since 1977, and obstinately keep putting out records inspired by the music of those golden years, although bypassing entirely what was happening in NYC at the time – not sure whether to call that refreshing or outrageous! You won’t hear Television, Lou Reed, Blondie or The Talking Heads in their songs, but you will find at once The Clash, Buzzcocks, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and even Elvis Costello. From the two singles available for streaming, the band seems to have matured musically – athough we are pretty sure they’ll deny that: "mature" is a dirty word in punk/DIY circles they dwell in. Maybe that’s why they asked kids to help them create this video for single "For You." See them live tomorrow (11/05) at Mercury for the release party of their third album entitled "LP 77."

Cantina‘s debut EP was The Deli NYC’s Record of the Month in September 2014 so we were very excited to see the band live at CMJ – that’s why we booked them for our Indie Pop CMJ Stage. We weren’t disappointed. Talented chanteuse Renata Zeiguer gracefully and confidently led her band through her beautifully dreamy set of songs. Check out one of her best, "Do You See," streaming below.

From JP’s report of Day 2 of the CMJ Music Marathon 2014. " By the time Celestial Shore played, I was drunk again. Goddamnit. But my ears were reinvigorated with fuzz. Finally. It was about time. I was nervous I’d drown in all this clean delay and organized keys. A clean channel came through the set, but their haze and grit made it so that I couldn’t attentively hear anything else. Guitar parts were sporadic, yet cohesive—a chaos that made sense, almost like a grunge-pop. Soft vocals offset the sludge tones, breathing life into the room. It was fun to watch, if only to see their drummer have himself a time on that crash cymbal. It seemed like every time he hit it, a smile would grow on his face. Some of the songs may very well have been written solely around an insane drum solo, but who cared? There was a slow jam thrown in there (maybe the streaming "Die For Us"?), which had a sudden, jolting tempo change. The last song was bluesy and cool, fading out real nice with the singer/guitarist noisily riffing his guitar frets on his mic stand, which was neat. Yeah, neat. " – Celestial Shore plays Shea Stadium on 11.12 with Leapling and Cave Cricket.

We stumbled upon this video by NYC folk duo Anna/Kate and we just couldn’t help but stare and listen. A beautiful song matched by a simple video that celebrates love and the infinite evocative power of a summer day spent in Coney Island.

Brooklyn-based Altopalo‘s latest singles, "Picchu Machu" and "Chagrinning", offer the kind of genre-mashing experimentations that feel oddly familiar, even if they’re incredibly hard to explain. (Let’s try anyway.) "Picchu Machu" (streaming) is dizzyingly down-tempo, its house beats pogo-ing into breakdowns that border on ambience. It totally works. Elsewhere, "Chargrinning" undulates synesthetically, the focus shifting from whispered vocals to sparse and airy piano interludes, culminating in a raucous instrumental section of clashed drums and 8-bit guitar acrobatics. Most impressive is that they do this as a live act too: we witnessed this at our own Deli CMJ Electro Stage at Pianos on October 25, and were floored by the guys instrumental skill. See them live on November 5 at Friends and Lovers with Ruby My Dear and The Pluto Moons.

Bowmont ended up on our CMJ 2014 Electronic Stage at Pianos at the last minute, and we couldn’t have been happier to have them, since their put on a great show. The band has coined a very personal, moody brand of pop that could be defined impressionistic, if not pointillistic: it’s as if their songs emerged from silence like a sonic mosaic created by the combination of many tiny fragments of sound. The quartet just unveiled this video for their song "Hovering," featuring Shilpa Ray (who also played at Pianos that night on our Indie Stage). Check it out below and don’t miss them when they play live at (soon to be closing) Glasslands on 11.13 with like minded Brooklynites Mon Khmer. –  Photo by Fabrizio Del Rincon

Anthony D’Amato is best known for soft-spoken, sepia-toned folk tunes. More recently, though, he’s added a few vibrant hues to this sonic palette. From the facepaint gobs flecked onto his suit for the cover of the upcoming "The Shipwreck from the Shore," to an unexpected symphonic vision on several new cuts, D’Amato is determined this time to add everything, including the kitchen sink. The Jersey artist comes closest to Springsteen’s anthemic reach on "Was a Time," but manages elsewhere to keep things intimate on sleepers like "If It Don’t Work Out." With a little help from friends like Matt McCaughan (Bon Iver) and Sam Kassirer (Langhorne Slim), he’s brought in all the the hard artillery. (Jeepers! That’s a lot of metaphors!). We had the chance to see him at our recent Deli Roots’ CMJ Stage at Rockwood on Stage 1 in a stripped down set that charmed and lulled us. He recently signed a touring deal with a major agency, which should bode well for the future. You’ll have plenty of chances to see him live before he lives for a EU tour, since he’s playing Rockwood tomorrow (11.04), City Winery on 11.13 ands Bowery Ballroom on 11.16.

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

From JP’s report of day 1 of the CMJ Music Marathon 2014: "The PC Worship show (a band featuring members of Parquet Courts), was actually a solo performance: a dude sitting in a lawn chair, playing a tinny-sounding guitar, moaning out his heart. This lawn chair was positioned in the corner of the outside patio area at Silent Barn, and started pretty much immediately after Broken Water finished, so, especially in my mildly inebriated state, I wasn’t the quickest to get out there. But when I did stumble out there, what I saw was heartfelt, and meaningful and pretty. It might have seemed like filler to some (some people were actually heckling the dude, and I just couldn’t understand why, or how), but it was more important. To him, and to me—a guy alone at a show. The last song of his actually got stuck in my head. At least until Dream Police came on."

From Jake’s report of day 3 of the CMJ Music Marathon 2014: "Virginia’s Malatese (from Harrisonburg, which JUST makes it into the area of our coverage) plays something that may be referred to as post-no-wave-pre-post-pre-punk music.  Their melodies/jams/grooves/whatever you wanna call ’em are dissonant and aggressive, drowned under a wave of distortion and Travis’ noisy vocals.  Their music is already a little strange and head-tilt inducing, but Travis adds this extra little element of weird that brings it to a level of ingenuity.  First of all, he runs his vocals through a 404 sampler, using all the weird delay or pitch bending effects to add this monstrous ambience.  He’s also got a generally hilarious stage presence, what with this funny shake dance that he does, all the weird noises he randomly spews out and the funny faces. He’s not afraid to look like a little stupid up there because he’s having good ol’ tortured fun, which in turn means I’m having fun; if he brought it to an even further level of crazy he could be a regular Iggy Pop. "

From Jake’s report of Day 5 of the CMJ Music Marathon 2015: "Next was Nashville-based, post-hardcore trio Gnarwhal.  They put out an amazing four way split EP with Ovlov, Woozy and Ex-Breathers, which I highly recommend you listening to.  They’re a loud-ass math rock band, bringing me back to the days of Fiasco and Tera Melos.  They’ve got a very Nashville atmosphere to them as well, with their long hair, playing everything twice as fast as it needs to be played, and stopping maybe once during the set to tell people who they were.  They’re a powerhouse, that’s for sure."

From Jake’s report of day 5 of the CMJ Music Marathon 2014: "Next was one of my main highlights, "Grass Is Green," also from Boston, whose album, "Vacation Vinny," has been on repeat in my room for the last couple weeks.  Grass is Green reminds me of Kal Marks in that they go to very unexpected places in their songs, dipping into no-wave influenced jams.  They’ve got the signature EIS distorted bendy thing that all the bands do with their guitars (see Kal Marks, Krill, Ovlov, Pile….they all do it!), another indicator that all of these bands wholly embrace their influences.  Sometimes they remind me of Primus (again. I just really love Primus, ok!), other times it’s Dinosaur Jr., but regardless of what they sound like, they have an uniquely aggressive energy.  They killed it that night, it was an epic performance.  

From JP’s report of day 4 of the CMJ Music Marathon 2014: "After Johnie Lee Jordan & The Boys finished, I made my way over to Muchmore’s to see the Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen showcase, featuring an insane twelve bands. I arrived at around 7:30, and saw the stage, but nothing on it. This was to be a floor show. Bands and gear were setting up on the floor. Cool. A drag queen MC started things off and introduced the first band, Toot Sweet. They had an accordion. Need I say more? Accompanying the instrument of instruments were keys, bass, drums, and two lovely backup singers. They played an obviously French-infused slow pop that was catchy and deep. Their third song sounded like something you’d hear on the soundtrack of a pirate movie directed by Quentin Tarantino. Midway through the set the mademoiselle on accordion hopped on the keyboard, and the dude on keys hopped on a trumpet! Things turned kind of synth-funky, proving these guys’ uniquely cool versatility. Oh. And this guy on trumpet? He could play. Take it from a so-so ex-trumpeter. The pace picked up a little towards the end of the set, and it was hammered home that this was a fun group. There was unbelievably enough seating for just about everyone, though people were standing, and those who were standing were dancing. Everyone bopped. Essentially, I came to this showcase for something different. I believed I was to achieve perfect diversity.