Tonight at 8pm Baby TV presents Marissa Nadler live alongside Hilary Woods who is a sound and visual artist from Dublin. Rumor has it that a fog machine has been acquired especially for this gig so you know they mean business. (Jason Lee)

It’s been said elsewhere that Marissa’s music “is deeply unique music rich in atmospheric harmonies and ambience paired with songs that evoke a surreal, hypnagogic versions of reality” and we here at the Deli heartily agree. Just don’t call her or her music “haunted” or “haunting” because she kinda hates that according to an interview a couple years back (we luv ya anyway Pitchfork).
 

Plus, Ms. Nadler recently covered vocal duties on a cover version of an early Journey song (“Of A Lifetime” see above) with the Two Minutes To Late Night guys (hello Saint Vitus!) and it’s heavy as hell. Anyway tune in tonight and decide for yourself or just check out her music in general.

"I lost my mind on a cross country bus 

King of the Road packing it up "

On their new single called “Greyhound” Petite League take a self-described bus ride to hell but as Bon Scott once put it "Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be" and I can believe it after listening to this rather wistful and lovely song which does still rock don’t get me wrong. In contrast to the AC/DC Aussie-rock classic where there’s a woman who “pours my beer, licks my ear," on Petite League’s cross-country bus journey things are a bit more circumspect where “we might have kissed like a blurry dream in the backseat” with “the rest stop lit by your cigarette at dusk” and honestly the latter sounds a good deal more romantic and maybe even more sexy as well. Even if the aforementioned only “might have” happened there’s still a compelling Wild At Heart road trip vibe at work minus Sherilyn Finn with her brains spilling out of her head and also there’s nobody putting their tongue in your ear but that’s fine if that’s your thing of course.

"Greyhound" takes the listener on a shambolic-sounding journey which is usually the best kind of journey. Over-planners are such a drag. I mean maybe sitting next to Lou Barlow for 40 hours would be tough because I’m getting hints of Sebadoh or is that Folk Implosion on this song, but “Greyhound” clocks in at under three minutes so you can handle that. Itinerary be damned just pay your $127 and settle in as you travel across this vast nation stopping at every Stuckey’s along the way (wear the damn mask folks!) and falling in love with someone who may or may not be a hallucination because none of this is going to happen in coach on Spirit Airlines. 

Petite League’s last album Rattler was their fourth and their first on their own Zap World Records imprint. According to songwriter Lorenzo Gillis Cook’s very own social media liner notes it was strongly informed by Daniel Johnston, suicidal urban cowboys, and "a quarter-life crisis." Their upcoming album, Joyrider, is due out in early 2021 and looks to be strongly informed by Lee Hazelwood, Roger Miller, and Antifa. Mr. L.G. Cook and drummer Mr. Henry Schoonmaker keep upping their game with every release so it’s probably a safe bet to pre-order the record but don’t ask me for your money back if you’re disappointed come January. 

Finally, see below for a song about New York Girls called “New York Girls” from their last record. This is the one that made them bigger than the Strokes which is pretty good for a band that started in a dorm room in Syracuse. Just so you’re not too confused I should mention that the video features Gaby Giangola aka “Goth Girlfriend” lip synching the vocals and she quite convincingly portrays a cleaned-up Nancy Spungen type or a lo-fi Harley Quinn type, take your pick, and also she has a music thing of her own (talent everywhere you look!) which you should probably check out too. (Jason Lee)

Deep Divine is the “coming out” LP or EP or whatever you want to call it (seriously these terms mean next to nothing today) from the rock combo Pretty Sick. Regardless, both the band name and the record name are spot on. Deep Divine is the sound of teenage kicks colliding with the imperative to “just grow up, be adults and die” in the words of one Veronica Sawyer–a deep dive into the muck and the majesty of teenhood and early adulthood. 

Lead singer, songwriter, and bassist Sabrina Fuentes self-reportedly wrote the songs heard here between ages 12 and 20 and the intensity of these transitional years bleeds into every note. Pretty Sick are indeed pretty sick (double-entendre no doubt intended) and appear to be influenced by early, ground-breaking releases on labels such as Sub Pop, Matador, and Kill Rock Stars–a sound that even a generation later is effective sonic shorthand for surviving adulthood with some degree of mental functioning, passion, and sick humor intact. 

Deep Divine not only captures but updates these sounds and sentiments from the past–for one thing the gender fluidity at play in Fuentes’ lyrics is a clear marker of the contemporary moment (he’s and she’s are pretty much interchangeable). The cover image of the record too is a clear riff-on-cum-update-of a certain iconic album cover for this one old record you may have heard of by some band or other, but minus the dollar bill on a hook seeing as record labels aren’t handing out too many million-dollar contracts these days.

Finally this is also a New York City record to the core. The grungetastic 54-second-long instrumental intro called “Comedown” (perfect place to start!) merges straight into “Allen Street” with its subject staring “out on Allen Street at 7:00 in the morning” the song turns into a mini-travelogue taking the listener from the titular LES location to the “Bowery at midnight in the summer” finally ending up “back in Harlem now you won’t even call me / cut myself up now it makes me feel more holy.” Punny-ness aside this last line captures the tightrope act that Pretty Sick has already mastered: balancing hookiness and grittiness and lower bodily stratum and spiritual elevation. (Jason Lee)

Alex Mali is a native Brooklynite of Trini-Jamaican extraction whose music advocates personal empowerment on the lyrical tip all the while seducing listeners into self-surrender with its flowing syncopations and overall underwater ambience. This weekend Mali was featured as part of the online (is there any other kind?) Adult Swim Festival performing a tight twelve-minute rooftop set recorded as dusk turned to dark over the city. The resulting ambiance speaks to our current moment–isolated and ghostly, defiant and self-possessed. After a triptych of songs in which our narrator fends off gossip mongers and sketchy suitors and broke-boy hanger-on-ers Mali finally achieves release on “Good Good” (“I can feel it in my lungs / I can feel it in my body / Oh it got me speaking in tongues / I can feel it and I want it”) adding touches of melisma and other vocal embellishment to the version heard on her 2020 EP Phenom which is already itself quite high on the ecstatic-o-meter.

Finally, for dessert, check out the official video for “Good Good” below wherein Mali and a cadre of coordinated dancers take Grand Army Plaza by force. And then if that’s not enough, tomorrow, Wednesday at 3PM EST, you can watch a livestreaming video premiere of "Fighting Words," the first number heard in the set above, on the YouTube with preceiding livechat. Speak your peace directly to the artist or forever hold your peace. Peace out y’all. (Jason Lee)

The “very special episode” is a venerable tradition of the televisual arts wherein our society faces down its most vexing problems with the help of inane plot contrivances, buffoonish acting, and howling laugh tracks. All often oddly endearing nonetheless. The ‘80s and ‘90s were perhaps the golden age of this particular art form with VSE’s used to warn the wider populace against such menaces as marauding punk rockers, pedophile bicycle shop owners, and drunken suicidal birthday clowns. Aficionados today savor the delectable discomfort produced by the best of/worst of (same difference) these “episodes” with their bizarre tonal mashups akin to a saccharin diet soda garnished with a dash of strychnine.

The Queens-based band A Very Special Episode likewise merge the sweet and the serrated and in the process make you a more upstanding and aware citizen. Take their latest single–a bedroom production by obvious circumstance–which is a lo-fi, high-sheen number called “Night Drive.” It starts innocently enough with some rollicking drums, four-on-the-floor bass and sing-songy keyboard over which bassist and lead singer Kasey Heisler lays out the scene: “You see it all stretched before you / purple sky painted over blue.” Sounds lovely! But any hopes for a laid-back evening excursion are soon dashed when suddenly “the night is speeding faster / fade to black” and on cue we change channels to a shimmering-distorted blur of guitar and keyboard with Heisler dropping all social niceties: “Hey, you know what / you got it all but I can’t get you off.” From there we circle back to the opening disco-punk groove now overlaid with a layer of buzzsaw guitar (or maybe a neighbor was testing out their new power-sander next door?) that weaves in and out of the song until its crashing climax.

This all can’t help but remind one of the very special episode of Saved By The Bell where Zach gets Jessie addicted to caffeine pills because I’m thinking those guitars must be the sound she heard in her head by the end of the episode. I mean sure it all starts off innocently enough at the ‘50s diner with our girl Jess sharing her dreams of applying to Stanford and debuting her neat little pop-singing combo with Lisa and Kelly. But by the final act Zach is pumping our future Showgirl full of uppers to help her study for midterms and going all Lou Pearlman on her ass with his girl-group svengali schemes. It’s no wonder Jessie aka “Nomi” would soon find herself working the pole and all thanks to that jerkface Zach! (please rest assured, dear reader, The Deli is sex-worker positive!)

OK so I got a little distracted there. Whatever its lo-fi origins, “Night Drive” is the best encapsulation I’ve heard so far of AVSE’s live sound with its mixture of melodic hooks and knuckle-dragging noise. To end things here with the requisite musical-calculus equation I’m gonna go with equal parts Garbage, The Walkmen, and My Bloody Valentine. Or if you prefer metaphors of the TV/movie variety I’ll give you “Saved By The Bell meets David Lynch” (especially Lost Highway on this particular song, not to mention the band’s logo is a VHS videocassette hmmmmm). If it all sounds up your alley check out “Gravity” below for a slightly more polished version of the AVSE sound. (Jason Lee)

“I used to want to be up on the music blogs / […] / I may not have a million but I’m chillin’ dawg”

KOTA The Friend is hardly a slacker but he could play one on TV. A multi-instrumentalist who excelled early on as a first-chair trumpet player who taught himself bass and guitar while going on to hold down two jobs and attend performing arts school eventually becoming a producer, photographer, visual artist and interior designer in addition to a musician, the man is actually a polymath if you do the math. Plus on his 2020 full-length Everything KOTA somehow managed to score features from such obscure names (sarcasm alert) as Lakeith Stanfield, Joey Bada$$, and Lupita Nyong’o which is hardly the work of an underachiever. A true DIY artist, it’s been reported elsewhere that KOTA will take on mundane tasks himself ranging from flyer design to directly answering fans’ queries, all the while turning down three major-label offers (so far) in order to maintain his independence. 

And yet, on his latest single “Dragon,” he sounds as laid back as a panda bear that just got laid. (apologies for the mixed animal metaphors, KOTA is actually named for a baby bear of the non-panda variety) Opening with a loping, start-stop jazzy guitar loop, KOTA laconically drops lines like “I do what I want, I go where I please / but still I want more things” over a beat that sounds like an outtake from the Lofi Beats to Relax/Study/Quarantine To videos–sonic shorthand for sitting at one’s desk and staring off into space all day. The conversational flow and mellow vibes on “Dragon” can be deceptive, however, tinged as they are with regret, doubt, and deceit lurking around the corner. Likewise for KOTA’s flow itself, laidback on the surface but twisty at times and shifting relative to the main guitar riff.

Not unlike a good friend IRL, KOTA The Friend puts the listener at ease but doesn’t stoop to please, giving it to you straight: "Before it gets better, it’s gonna get worse" so you better “Skip the fast pass, be knowledgeable, that’s the bag bag / polish all your skills, set your price, then you tax that.” Sage advice as 2020 slouches towards its end. (Jason Lee)

Following a few bars of strummed guitar Kierst declares “it’s nothing more than a crush but / I’m holding my breath” and I believe her. For one thing she repeats the second line four times in a row and indeed crushes are nothing if not obsessive, and while singing the line four times whilst holding one’s breath defies logic, crushes are nothing if not illogical. Check and check.

A pathway to love turned into a a cul-de-sac of hopeless hope: “Tinged blue in the face no it’s not too late.” A distressing new fetish for emotional distress: “An unwanted switch that’s leaving me reeling.” Check and check.

Keirst’s lyrics here scan perfectly in a song that slowly and steadily and almost imperceptibly builds tension–but crucially never achieves release. Layer by layer you hear the addition of ride cymbal flourishes, plaintive guitar wails, hints of bass and perhaps keyboard and finally some insistent drumming over a late-in-the-game declaration to “love you to death.” And then like that it’s over. And you want it to start all over again. (Jason Lee)

On his third collection of 2020 so far (quarantine goals!) Burnt Umber Penumbra opens with a track called “Landings” that with its percolating digital oscillations and warm hazy drones does indeed sound like a good soundtrack for a lunar landing. On the next track (“Scamz”) the listener is brought back down to earth cold-opening with a voice message left by a robotic female from an unidentified government agency, promising “you will be taken under custody by the local cops as there are four serious allegations pressed on your name at this moment,” followed by a fuzzed-out looped beat and heavily-reverbed repeating chords. Whether this message pertains to four overdue parking tickets or a quadruple homicide we may never know but the mystery’s the thing.

Based on no evidence whatsoever I would hypothesize that Burnt Umber Penumbra got his name from one of those band-name-generating-algorithms that in this case takes a discontinued Crayola color and combines it with a word or phrase likely to be uttered by Neil deGrasse Tyson. If so, consider yourself lucky not to be listening to Prussian Blue Trigonometric Parallax. Anyway based on a minute-or-two of extensive Internet research I learned that a “penumbra” is a physical phenomenon equivalent to a shadow of a shadow. So go ahead and light up a jazz cigarette and ponder that for a moment and while you’re at it put on this album because it’s perfect music for just this sort of mental activity–on B.U.P.3 you’ll hear echoes of everything from Tangerine Dream to M83 ready to take you on a journey to the center of the mind. Space is the place indeed.

As value added Burnt Umber Penumbra’s video output so far further solidifies the mystical aesthetic of his music. A crystal pyramid of unknown origin features consistently for instance, and he apparently has the ability to play clarinet through a Covid-style bandana face covering (see below). Which is pretty cool and so is the music. But consider yourself forewarned, there’s some magickal forces at work here. (Jason Lee)

MOTHERMARY aren’t your average twin sister duo who managed to escape both Montana and Mormonism to resettle in Brooklyn and make art-damaged darkwave electro-pop as a form of cleansing "sacrilegious ritual" before eventually teaming up with Italians Do It Better maestro Johnny Jewel who placed their latest musical offering entitled "Resurrection" (timely title) on his third installment of the After Dark compilation series featuring label stablemates such as Chromatics, Desire, and Double Mixte.

“Resurrection” is a moody come-hither heavy-breather chock full of pregnant pauses, sawtooth synths, acid basslines and ‘80s electro-tom fills. You can listen to the song at 34:10 below but really why not just listen to the entire After Dark 3 comp because who couldn’t use a good hour-plus of dark synthy sexiness to cleanse the palate of the past fours years. And heck, while you’re at it just go ahead and buy the triple-LP on “Green Slime Vinyl” because Happy Days Are Here Again. [addendum: music video for "Resurrection" also included below]

“Resurrection is our version of the story of Selene, the Moon goddess in Greek mythology. She finds herself in love with a mortal she can’t help but visit every night. Their relationship strained… by his own mortality & natural barriers of the night… tempts her lover to choose eternal sleep so that they may resurrect their love every evening” -MOTHERMARY

File Under: Italo–disco. Giallo soundtracks. The Neon Demon. Twins of Evil. Twin Peaks: The Return. Daryl Hannah in Blade Runner. John Carpenter in the disco. That scene in the Terminator with the chain-link fence new wave dance club. And of course that scene in the Star Wars Holiday Special where an elderly Wookie masturbates to a hologram of Diahann Carroll. And so on. (Jason Lee)

Florist fades in on a swell of shimmering voices, followed by a warm, resonant layer of bass and drums, on its opening track “Think B4 U Spk.” Those wraithlike voices are soon swept into a sonic funnel cloud (neat production trick) while over chiming tones a gentle, lullaby-like voice entreats the listener: “We’re going nowhere / it’s cruel weather for days.” The narrative then unfolds something like a 3am phone call with an estranged lover or maybe just with yourself. Hazy voices from the song’s intro weave in and out of the conversation, building up to a brief squall of submerged guitar-freak-out until everything drops away.

Ilithios is the latest project of Manny Nomikos (Catty, Gracie Manson, Coyote Eyes) who in this guise comes off something like a Greco-Korean-American indie-rock Dennis Wilson. Besides the flowing locks you’ll find plenty of raw vocal expression set against blissed-out background vox, pristine musical arrangements, soaring melodies and ambient revieries. The songs are often lush but with a hint of Charles Manson under the surface. “Rattle Your Saber” brings stomping drums and buzzing low-end synthetics to the fore, while tracks like “Florist” and “Is This Our Dance?” recall early-to-mid-aughts NYC with Interpol and James Murphy comparisons not totally unfounded. 

From what I wrote in the first paragraph you can tell this album makes me think of the weather: shifting atmospheric systems, banks of fog, shimmering sunlight, jagged squalls and occasional thunderous rhythms. It’s is an all-purpose and overused metaphor but here I’d highlight that while weather is most often placid on the surface, you know it can fuck you up. Tranquility and turmoil. Tension and release. Etc. Florist’s opening track advocates self-control in its title but by the penultimate track ("Buttons") you’re being admonished that “I’m no florist / I’m no painter / nobody says what they think anymore” just before a fiercely jagged little guitar break–played by co-producer (on some tracks at least) Jeff Berner–that definitely doesn’t think before it speaks. The weather is a fickle mistress indeed. (Jason Lee)

To be clear this writer doesn’t know a lot about Devil’s Dildo but that’s ok, here’s all you need to know: 1) They livecast a DJ set and new-song-unveiling two nights ago on Baby TV that felt like it was beamed from deep inside the duo’s collective unconscious and it was a spooky, sexy, strange place to be. Leading up to the witching-hour the DJ stream cut out periodically–and just as mysteriously resumed–for violating something called "community standards" but I can tell you on my end the violation was quite consensual. I mean what’s a little crotch thrusting and foot licking between friends? 2) The DJ set was a perfect teaser for this Devil’s Night/All Hallows’ Eve weekend. Hearing "There’s A Moon In The Sky (Called The Moon)" and "Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be" played back-to-back is a pretty magical thing. 3) Judging from their debut single below–named after an early ’80s sleazoid shocker that fits the Devil’s Dildo like a glove–the duo’s aesthetic is in fact not unlike AC/DC-meets-the-B52’s. Or maybe just maybe this leather-clad, freak-flag-flying pair is the second cumming of the Cramps but translated to drum machine, bass guitar and sculpted noise. I doubt Lux (R.I.P.) and Ivy would mind the comparison.

Most important of all: Devil’s Dildo will appear tonight as part of what looks to be an epic all-covers variety show spectacular featuring the music of the Stooges, TSOL, The Damned, Cocteau Twins, Poison Idea, Void, Ramones, Misfits, Las Vulpes, and more if you ask nicely. The show will broadcast from Greenpoint’s very own Saint Vitus in case you had any doubts of its heavitude. Proceeds of the show will benefit Black Trans Femmes In The Arts. (Jason Lee)

Released in late 2019, when heard today “I Don’t Know How To Dress For The Apocalypse” sounds like a warning from our past future present. Over a buzzing rush of power chords the Desert Sharks’ lead yelper and bass player Stephanie Gunther laments “the world’s a disaster / our leader wants to get there faster.” Mission accomplished. Fast-forward to October 2020 and the power-trio-plus-one have stayed busy with everything from a Zoom-tastic cover of the Misfits’ “Hybrid Moments” to a feature on the queer-friendly Twitch rock ‘n’ roll hootenanny I Want My HYB hosted by Astoria’s own Hell Yeah Babies in benefit of The Okra Project—a charity providing meals to Black Trans people-in-need prepared by Black Trans chefs. (Jason Lee)