Fang Island – creators of the a musical genre called High Five Rock – announced their first headlining North American tour in November, plus the release of a limited edition 7" and new free MP3. The Brooklyn quintet had previously toured supporting the likes of The Flaming Lips, Stone Temple Pilots, and Matt & Kim, and will have Delicate Steve (another CMJ 2010 NYC "winner") open their shows. To celebrate this event, the band is releasing a 7" single featuring a song, called "Patterns On The Wall" with special guest Andrew WK.Enjoy the single "Daisy" embedded here.

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NOTAR is a familiar face from the local open mike scene. His infrequent yet memorable performances have always lent to a suspicion that there was something more hiding behind his jocular yet humble exterior. His showcase performance at the Canal Room about a year ago confirmed an already resonant buzz. The crowd, densely packed and uber-chic, were drawn-in immediately to his dynamic stage show which culminated in Adam Duritz, Tyrannosaurus Records founder and Counting Crows frontman, joining him for a tune. Notar is a bright spirit and indefatigable performer. If you enjoy southern rock and rap, then you owe it to yourself to check him out. He’ll be tearing down R Bar this Wednesday, November 3rd. – BrokeMC

The Rassle could be the band that was needed to trigger some kind of "Madchester in NYC" revival. These guys write glorious pop gems that are in equal part reminiscent of Happy Mondays’ groovy hits and The Jesus and Mary Chain’s solid songwriting and edgy sonics. The boys also have the right attitude on stage, as they demostrated in front of a packed room at our CMJ show at The Delancey. Check them out on record and live, fun is guaranteed. Their next show will be at Santo’s Party House on November 3rd.

Music and food are the central elements of any great party and Backyard Brunch Sessions brings you both. BBS began as a music industry supper club hosted by SoundCtrl blog editor, David Chaitt, and evolved into the food and music showcase that takes place in his Williamburg backyard today. Teaming up with NYC Taper and West Egg Productions, Chaitt produces ten-minute video shorts, part cooking show part music video, in which he and the band cook brunch for their backyard audience before the performance. For this innovative series, Chaitt asks acts to play an acoustic set which, in many instances, challenges musicians to re-imagine their songs. Even if you’ve heard the bands before, BBS captures them in a new light. Chaitt is now bringing back some of his favorite Backyard acts with their usual instrumentation for a showcase at Brooklyn Bowl on November 8. The night, aptly named Brunch After Dark, will feature Oh Land, The Canon Logic, Fatty Acid, ARMS and The Courtesy Tier. Look up the previous BBS episodes on the Youtube Channel and catch them at Brooklyn Bowl on November 8th, doors open at 6:30. – Jenny Luczak

Brooklyn based, No Sleep Records signees Atlantic/Pacific formed in 2008 and feature Garrett Klahn of Texas is the Reason and John Herguth of House & Parish. The band played at the Bell House in Gowanus Brooklyn this past Friday celebrating the release of their first album, Meet Your New Love, and in true promotional indie work ethic played 10 songs entirely off the new record. The sound of their music loosely fits within the all encompassing genre of Indie but has inflections of acoustic folk as well. It is sentimental rock with unpolished instrumentals and crooning vocals. The band’s influences range from Fleet Foxes to The Smiths. Ian Love of Rival Schools contributes guest instrumentation as well as production to the project and recorded the album at his Brooklyn Love Studios. Atlantic/Pacific has performed in New York and Europe, and in the fall of 2009 they self-released an EP called Autumn Edition Volume 1, which led them to start work on their full-length debut. This fall band is going on their first American tour across the United States. – Alex Borsody

Lead singer Stephonik Youth and her band Living Days put on a fantastic show at The Deli’s CMJ show at The Delancey on Tuesday 10.19. As you probably won’t trust our words as we organized that show, we’ll use Michelle Geslani’s review from Baeble Music to convince you:

"Living Days kind of scared my pants off (you’ll know when you see the photos). The music is electro-pop-meets-insane-garage-rock-party. Smoke machine, flower arrangements strewn all over the stage, and a frontwoman to die for, this band knows how to sell the whole package. Honestly, the frontwoman put on one of the best, most entertaining shows I’ve seen in awhile. If only all musicians were even 20% as active as her (she jumped on and off the stage, sang face-to-face with audience members, played with balloons, threw flowers, etc.), every show ever would probably be about 10x more satisfying. -michelle geslani

Getting Pitchfork’s "Best New Music" tag a few weeks before the NYC CMJ Music Marathon must be one of the dreams of many emerging musician. This dream came true for Twin Shadow, a one man band from Brooklyn, whose debut record was produced and released by Grizzly Bear’s drummer Chris Bear and his label Terrible Records. Our marathon runner Alexandra Vann had the opportunity to ask George Lewis, Jr – the man behind this project – a few questions. Read her interview and review here.

New York City native son Mike Del Rio deserves our fame and fortune. Let’s stop rewarding talentless reality TV parasites with recording contracts and pop star treatment. In addition to being absolutely dreamy (note: mass appeal good looks), Del Rio sings, writes his own songs, and plays no less than “guitar, bass, drums, beats, arrangements, brass, synth, mellotrons, bells and whistles, etc.” “The New Year,” a single available for free download, could be the next tween pop anthem. We need pop anthems now more than ever from a young man that loves art, Downtown Brooklyn, and milkshakes. – Read Whitney Phaneuf interview with Mike Del Rio here.

After previous experiments in high-art on Pale Fire – with the title track mixed by Ulrich Schnauss – Dead Leaf Echo have now teamed up with 4AD famed John Fryer to mix "Truth" which was released last week. Fresh off their Deli Magazine CMJ show, DLE continues to tour this year and is planning to release new material soon.

This Fall brings several exciting announcements for New York-bred synth-pop sextet Bellevue’s Finest, as they ended their Summer of Singles with the release of a new music video, a new EP and their first CMJ Showcase. Bellevue’s Finest produces a pop concoction consisting of classic tones taken from the Kinks and David Bowie, and new-school swag borrowed from modern indie artists like Passion Pit and LCD Soundsystem. After releasing a new single for free download each month of the summer, Bellevue’s Finest will be compiling their Summer recordings with a new track,“Wannabe,”to form a self-titled, sophomore EP. The EP will be released digitally with an animated music video for the newest recording on Tuesday, November 23rd. Bellevue’s Finest performed at the CMJ Music Festival in New York City on October 22nd at The National Underground. as part of Turnstyle Music Group’s CMJ Showcase. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here).

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We asked our friend Nora at I Rock I Roll Blog to highlight the best LA band she saw at CMJ this year, here’s her response:

Pepper Rabbit – Disclaimer: I’m pretty sure any band that makes beautiful music and has the word Rabbit in their name is going to elicit some major musical crushing from me. That said, this LA Duo just released a gorgeous album Beauregard on Kanine. These gorgeous songs will make you swoon upon first listen and then somehow haunt you for days later – definitely one of my absolute new faves that people will be talking about a lot next year.

We asked our friend Nora at I Rock I Roll Blog to highlight the best NYC band she saw at CMJ this year, here’s her response:

1. "NYC (via Tacoma, WA) band Oberhofer – I’m pretty sure these guys are all teenagers. Okay I googled and Brad Oberhofer is actually 19. Wow. While discoveries like this sometimes make me question what I did with my life when I was 19, something always wins me over about bands that are so young, polished and so clearly talented beyond their years. Their supercharged pop-rock, which has been garnering praise all over the blogoshpere this year, won over packed crowds throughout the 5 CMJ days (they played 11 shows in 5 days!) and maybe made some of us nostalgic for our younger days too. I call that a big win."

2. Pepper Rabbit – Disclaimer: I’m pretty sure any band that makes beautiful music and has the word Rabbit in their name is going to elicit some major musical crushing from me. That said, this LA Duo just released a gorgeous album Beauregard on Kanine. These gorgeous songs will make you swoon upon first listen and then somehow haunt you for days later – definitely one of my absolute new faves that people will be talking about a lot next year.

3. Kids of 88 – Ok this one is technically cheating because I didn’t ACTUALLY see this band during CMJ due to scheduling, taco time, putting my showcase together, and so on. My disappoint in that epic failure caused me to beg their publicist to at least send me the funky new-wavey New Zealand duo’s debut album Sugarpills and I have not been able to stop listening to it since she kindly obliged. Seriously, "Ribbon of Light" is on my top 10 list for the year for sure – not that new wave pop is a brand new thing, but somehow they make it seem fresh and to me that’s the most important thing. Come back soon, Kids of 88!