Creeping towards their ten year anniversary, Parts & Labor’s industrious tone of yesteryear rings a new truth and sincerity in these dire times of economic need and greed. Their music is the love child of everything from the fear of Y2K to the frenetic electro rock explosion that has taken over the world.
Members Dan Friel, B.J. Warshaw, and Joe Wong remember the days before Williamsburg became the swank Upper West Side of Brooklyn, gigging extensively in the area to support their music and label, Cardboard Records. Parts & Labor have released five full length albums and a ton of 7” compilations – and graced the cover of The Deli in 2007. Their latest release, “Constant Future” is meticulously produced, but they maintain their fuzzy experimental roots with louder than Zeus power chord choruses layered with Dan Friel’s haunting vocal work.
Parts & Labor plan to take a hiatus after a string of ongoing shows in Brooklyn, each replicating live one of their albums. On December 16th they will be playing tracks from their 2006 release, “Stay Afraid” at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn with Pterodactyl. February 24th is the 10th anniversary fest at 285 Kent Ave. where they will be playing with other bands that came out of the Williamsburg scene in the sketchy time after the turn of the new millennium: Oneida, Talk Normal, and more to be announced. – Ed Guardaro (@wangtungchufu)

Brooklyn folk-rock veteran Toby Goodshank, a member of NYC bands Double Deuce, the Tri-Lambs, and the Moldy Peaches has released a new album "Truth Jump Fall" in early october. The album, which was released October 18th via Toby’s bandcamp, features beautiful acoustic tracks like “Sara and Jon” that showcase Goodshank’s signature, piercing voice and intimate and catchy songwriting which is very reminiscent of the Decemberists. Check out our favorite track  “Baby I Feel Like I Just Got Cut In Half” streaming here. Goodshank will be performing at the Mercury Lounge on Friday, November 25th with Diane Cluck & Anders Griffin and Jeffery Lewis & the Junkyard. – Amanda F Dissinger

Channeling influences as disparate as early The Who, Camper Van Beethoven and Nick Cave into a sound that’s equal parts Americana and Rock’n’Roll, in their new album "Octopus" New Jersey’s Big Wilson River have crafted an in your face rootsy sound that’s as entertaining as it is intriguing. The rock’n’roll single "Eighty Days Armadillos" is a super-fun party song that borrows "My Generation"’s stop and go formula and develops it in more rootsy ways, exploiting to perfection the classic country male/female interlaced harmonies. Lead vocalists Darrin and Emma deserve praise for great performances full of character and earthy passion throughout the record. Other songs in this collection, like "Gipsy Song" and "Dandelion," reveal a more playful approach, with Darrin’s vocals full of punk attitude and occasional psychedelic influences, while other ones, like "Backyard Passout Fest" and "River Boat" develop in more classic folky ways, allowing Emma’s alto to cast its spell. A great record for parties and long car trips.

At the risk of sounding academic, music is experimental to the degree at which structure informs content. Think about this for a moment, recall that it’s going to be ok, try not to cough this pop-tart up all over your external hard drive.
I came to this realization 2 weeks ago after watching Little Women play Death By Audio and speaking to frontman Darius Jones about what the heck just happened. There were indeed elements immediately peculiar to the performance. The music preempted by a prayer circle; the concluding passage spawned by Darius and Travis Laplante detaching sax from mouthpiece and chasing each other around the room in curious courting ritual qua duck hunt.
At the risk of sounding grandiose, this is serious business. This music exists as an amalgamation. A paean to the compositional process itself. Stormy vignettes, entangling threads, compromised reverie, sprouting, sprouting, sprouting. Music that consistently turns its course on its head, mimicking moments of splendor and, with equal irreverence, building and substantiating the remote, the forgotten, the passages that have simply passed us by, as life inconsequentially ebbs and flows. The fantasy of self-referentiality.
Darius says they’d take a 3 minute segment and spend an entire rehearsal on it. What happens is you hear the piece as a whole and must confront what it means to understand something when you’ve never experienced it before. A wizard casts a spell and you’re no longer sure if this is your life, Louisa May Alcott just stole your seat. – Velrie Kuehne

I could write here something very similar to what I wrote about Scout 2 blog entries ago. I clearly remember talking to some friends about NYC’s psych-rockers My Best Fiend 4-5 years ago. Well, here’s a testament to the power of persistence: the band – whose latest incarnation was formed in 2009 – has just signed to (awesome UK label) Warp records – home to Grizzly Bear and a ton of edgy electronic acts. My Best Fiend just made available for streaming a first single (below) entitled "Higher Palms": its subdued pace and spacious melodies bring to mind 2 bands that graced the cover of The Deli: The Occasion and Caveman. A very good sign indeed! The My Best Fiend live at Shea Stadium on December 15.

Easy Tells debut EP, "Got What You Paid For" has been available online for a few weeks now, but Tuesday night, they hit Rockwood Stage 2 for the official release party. The Nashville-Detroit-Austin-Chapel Hill-via Downtown NYC four-piece will chug artfully through a set of earthy guitar-based American rock with a grateful nod to our friends across the pond. And get your dirty little hands on a copy of the record if you’re still into that kind of thing. 9pm. Free of charge. – (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 and APS Mastering.

I clearly remember writing about Ashen Keilyn’s band Scout in 2004 or 2005, when our site was ugly and our readership non existent. At the time I also caught them live at now defunct Sin-e` (I used to live across the street from it, on Attorney Street, it was pretty handy). Since then they kind of disappeared, so I was surprised to get a press release about them after this long. I was also surprised by the sound of the single they are giving away for free ("Please Excuse Me", streaming here), included in their new EP "PI", which features a darker, edgier sound, and is some kind of intro to a full length planned to be released in early 2012. Ashen confirms in this song her vocal a(dora)bility and her talent as a songwriter who tends to operate within coordinates consisting in moodier indie atmospheres and more radio friendly openings. Ashen will be performing an acoustic show at Rockwood Music Hall on 12.13.

Mp3: Scout: "Please Excuse Me"

The Stepkids have become known for their unique spin on just about everything: their music, live show and videos. The trio released the video for “Suburban Dream” today, the third from their self-titled debut album (out now on Stones Throw). Featuring the animated work of director Chris King the video shows another stylistic side of the band that graces the cover of the current issue of The Deli – read it here.

This sounds interesting: People Get Ready is a Brooklyn based contemporary dance/live performance art collaboration between Steven Reker (touring dancer/guitarist to David Byrne who recently choreographed the t-shirt scene in Miranda July’s movie The Future) and Luke Fasano (Yeasayer/Ex-Models), along with members of A Sunny Day In Glasgow and Slow Gherkin. Their first pieces took place earlier this year at NY’s experimental performance space The Kitchen as part of its series "Dance and Process." The group started collaborating with dancers – reshaping their live show, and their performances are currently being scheduled in theaters and art centers around North America. They’ll be performing at Glasslands on November 26. 

Electro-dream-pop one man band Porcelain Raft will be releasing the debut album "Strange Weekend" on Secretly Canadian on January 24, and then embarking on a world tour in support of M83 and Smith Westerns. Book your calendars for a January 31 show at Webster Hall. Check out the "self-directed" video of the first single "Put Me to Sleep" below.