New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
Fantastic Deli CMJ show tonight at Pianos on two stages (for second stage links + other Deli events see here). Here’s a compilation of songs from bands playing the main room downstairs.
Little Red (AUS)
And so it begins… the first lap of the CMJ marathon landed me in the East Village last night until 3ish, starting with Long Island band Wild International at Webster Hall. Wild is a group best described as what Panda bear might sound like were he in a punk band. This three piece moved from jangle to thrash in equal measure and even premiered a brand new song, ‘Creeks’, complete with water sound effects and campfire croons. But by far the best thing Wild International might have been guitarist Ryan Camenzuli’s mom, who was really cool and could have been an Animal Collective fan herself – we all need cool and supportive mothers at shows!
Next up was Mainland. Singer Jordan Topf wins the award for wearing the tightest pair of jeans of the night, and his band’s sound was an equal match. Absolutely one of the most enthusiastic of the night’s groups, their dexterous bassist reacted so joyously to each song’s change you’d think he was more their fan than bandmate. Despite their numerous soundchecks, including a couple broken strings, they powered through in no small part to the young lead singers’ boundless energy.
And then came something entirely different… Click Clack Boom are from rural Pennsylvania but I have a feeling we’ll be hearing a lot more from this group in NYC. The four piece were high energy and ready at a moments notice to nail a solid riff to their material. I could see them grabbing a drink with the Arctic Monkeys sometime and trading stories of filthy lucre and other such debaucheries. One part storyteller/one part auctioneer, lead singer Nathaniel Hoho gave us such endearing lyrics as “I love this woman, she loved cocaine, but she was fucking all my friends.”
And that was it for Webster Hall. After grabbing a quick slice at South Brooklyn Pizza shared with CMJ artist/East Village insider Emily Greene (playing tonight at Spike Hill!), I hurried over to the No Pulp CMJ show at Arlenes grocery to catch (pictureless) glo-fi torchbearer Adrienne Drake bring the romance. This shoe-gazey songwriter swings a big wall of circuitry at melodrama and makes quirky throwback synths dance-ready. Think Ariel Pink covering The Cure.
Next up was a band competing with Click Clack Boom for the comic book-ready band name of the night: Blip Blip Bleep. This Brooklyn-based power pop trio opened with a song to make me wish to god it was Friday already (though not in a Rebecca Black kinda way). Giving The Pains of Being Pure at Heart a run for their money, this three piece put more sounds into their keyboard-backed anthems than most bands twice their size. This included generous doses of Ableton Live, and I should also mention that their very attractive keyboardist Kayce McGehee had two very well endowed mini-korgs of her own to frame her figure. Their cover of ‘Beat It’ was made all the sexier when she turned it around into a feminist disco anthem.
Finally the evening came to a close with Brooklyn’s Deathrow Tull. Here’s a band that has their thing down, with every moment carefully choreographed to the smallest detail. An incredible exercise in jazz/ hip-hop style democracy you don’t usually find in covers of ‘Let’s Get It On,’ There was an excellent juxtaposition here between the smooth soul of Temple Grindin’s soprano, and Broke and Dyalekt’s hard-edged rhymes. It was a sweaty end to my first lap of CMJ, and I can’t wait to get back out there tonight.
– Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)
Tonight at The Living Room on Ludlow St. it’s Roots Music time! 10 incredibly gifted artists will perform starting at 7, come get your weekly fix of folky tunes!
Full listings of the Deli’s CMJ shows here.
P.S. If you are into Pedal Effects, don’t miss The Deli’s STOMP BOX EXHIBIT at CMJ on Friday and Saturday!!!
7.00 – Union Street Preservation Society
7.35 – Dylan Trees (LA)
At The Delancey on Tuesday 10.18 we’ll have a truly fantastic bill with 9 NYC based electro-pop bands – and it’s going to be free!. 21+ – $8.
Full listings of the Deli’s CMJ shows here. See below for the Dream Pop and Alt Rock stages that same night in the same venue (downstairs).
P.S. If you are into Pedal Effects, don’t miss The Deli’s STOMP BOX EXHIBIT at CMJ on Friday and Saturday!!!
ELECTRO STAGE
7.40 – Illuminator
8.20 – Tiny Victor ies
9.00 – Mitten
9.40 – Computer Magic
10.20 – Psychobuildings
11.00 – Pretty Good Dance Moves
11.40 – Caged Animals
CMJ dreamers and shoegazers shouldn’t miss this ethereal aural parade of NYC based dream pop bands. 21+ – $8.
Full listings of the Deli’s CMJ shows here. See below for the other stages.
P.S. If you are into Pedal Effects, don’t miss The Deli’s Stomp Box Exhibit at CMJ on Friday and Saturday!!!
7.00 – Spanish Prisoners
7.40 – ohnomoon
9.00 – Exitmusic
Those who like their Rock straight and punchy will sure anjoy our Alt Rock CMJ Stage, also at The Delancey immediately after our Dream Pop bill. 21+ – $8. Full listings of the Deli’s CMJ shows here.
P.S. If you are into Guitar Pedal Effects don’t miss The Deli’s Stomp Box Exhibit at CMJ on CMJ Friday and Saturday!!!
9.50 – Lily & The Parlour Tricks
10.40 – Raccoon Fighter
11.20 – Outernational
12.00 – The Nico Blues
12.40 – The Suicide Dolls
Under the moniker Perpetual Ritual, Mitchell Saulsberry sings fragile pop songs that come across as both honest and reserved. Standout track, “Prayers to Invoke You,” features jangling acoustic guitars that evoke the Kinks and Peter Sarstedt and sparse, yet frantic percussion. The vocals are well in front of the music, but still distant and reverb laced. The blown out production should come as no surprise given that Saulsberry plays bass in fellow Seattle lo-fi outfit Grave Babies. The two bands just toured together, including a Brooklyn date opening for Ganglians and Xray Eyeballs. Saulsberry has posted quite a few tracks on his SoundCloud site. I think the most interesting are among the newest, hopefully this is a sign of more to come.
A delayed farewell to Baltimore’s Ponytail. ***"We regret to inform you that the wonder group known as Ponytail have officially called it a day. After releasing their amazing album "Do Whatever You Want All the Time" they were unable to make the touring portion come to life as the members have dispersed across the country in search of other life experiences. It’s a bummer the world will never see Ponytail live again because it was truly honest music that filled you with extreme joy. An experience like that is rare these days and if you did see Ponytail live consider yourself lucky. Hopefully more bands will come along like Ponytail and shed light on the fakers. Much love to the future." Xoxo. Sir james winnie***
New York-based Lily & The Parlour Tricks reinvigorates classic styles with a modern, sexy edge. Combining captivating retro, doo-wop, and three-part harmonies, playful rhythms, and synchronized dance-clap routines, L&TPT have the tricks of the music trade down to a tee, making them a notable group around town. With tracks such as swinging “Gigalo,” slinky “Apples and a Gun,” and tuneful “The Murder Song,” L&TPT envelop listeners in the sextet’s colorful and mysterious aura. The band will be releasing of their self-titled EP, due out on October 18 at The Deli Magazine’s CMJ Alt Rock Stage at The Delancey. Full ineup here. – Meijin Bruttomesso
In Eula’s "Maurice Narcisse" video, Ninjas in animal masks can’t compete with the band’s punk rock princess/lead singer. The noisy bunch will be participating to CMJ with a performance at Tommy’s Tavern on Friday October 21st with Wild Yaks, Ferocious Fucking Teeth and Ritz Riot – sounds like an insane party… This video was selected to be projected in between bands at The Deli/INDMUSIC CMJ Music Marathon Shows.
Shenandoah Ableman has the rare ability to turn any genre into a voluptuous experience. Comfortable singing in front of styles ranging from German cabaret to doo wop, her quintet Shenandoah and the Night creates sultry, decadent torch songs that work as well on the stage as they do in the bedroom – in particular when you are NOT alone in there. The band’s self-titled debut EP showcases this sensuality with deep confidence through a series of songs steeped in the tradition of American folk, but featuring a very un-American, almost overwhelming, nostalgic power – in the most literal and decadent definition of "romanticism". These songs ("So Fine" and "All The Beautiful Ladies" deserve a honorable mention) make us flirt with "dangerous" thoughts like the fragility of love, the desire for the lost past, the unreachability of perfect happiness, our vain but primary quest for beauty. They might not make us jump or feel happy – but they do make us feel alive. Can you afford to ignore it? – Shenandoah and the Night will be playing The Deli’s Deli Rootsy CMJ Stage on 10.19 at Living Room with Lucius, Sydney Wayser, Reverend John Delore, Ursa Minor and mony others. Full lineup here.
Invisible Days blend gentle atmospherics, FX laden guitars, slithering basslines and appropriate rackety-tackety percussion with a vocal harmony that sets them apart from many other bands devoted to the shoegazer genre. Combining that with confident songwriting that shows thought and precision, and it becomes clear (or less invisible) as to why they’ve grabbed The Deli’s attention soon after releasing their debut single. – See the band live at Lit on 10.19, and read Dave Cromwell‘s interview with the band here.
