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.

NYC is architecturally grounded on hidden marvels – the solidarity and suspense echoing over the course of chaos, daily. As though the city hides magical abodes from itself to be rediscovered in fits of refurbishment like that 50 bucks you stashed in a French dictionary. With this in mind, I present to you Vaudeville Park.

In the flesh, Vaudeville Park’s a storefront on the corner of Bushwick and Devoe. White walls alternately adorned with art or vivified with the quintessential light of vehicles passing by night. A succulent baby grand in the corner.

Vaudeville Park is the frenetic Ian Colletti. A labor of love and oracular insight into the future of musical presentation. What transpires here self sustains: artistry is the powerful currency, which is to say, it’s not for profit. Reciprocation between artists, organizers, audience in the name of sublime intervention and community involvement, which is to say, contact between these parties is direct, via a collaborative desire to preserve creative constitution.

The artists and curators working within this space are spectral in a way that only develops inside the rushing core of art for art, even if it requires eating icing in a spacesuit. Art for the sake of not only art but the complications of survival, the revelry of urban stenography, the urgency of creating in the moment. Also, this is happening as part of CMJ. Find a list of contributing artists spanning the gamut of classical composition to room-scale installation to hysterical theatrics, on VP’s website.- Valerie Kuehne

Caged Animals, a relatively new project by Soft Black frontman Vincent Cacchione, creates music that is poppy and infectious, yet slightly unsettling under the surface. The songs weave atmospheric flourishes with electronic quirks, pitch-shifted and distorted vocals, and catchy hooks. Although Caged Animals could easily be described as “chill-wave” for its bedroom-recording aesthetic and penchant for synth lines and electronic drums, there’s more to the music then that. Cacchione isn’t afraid to venture into the odd psychedelic landscape here and there, and some of the songs sound almost alien, haunting the listener with otherworldly vocals and odd, discordant bits of noise. Check out “The Way It Feels to Be Hunted” (embedded here) to get an idea. Caged Animals create some forward-thinking pop music, and will hopefully be released into the wild to find a wider audience in the near future. –Bill Dvorak

Caged Animals will headline at The Deli’s CMJ electronic stage at The Delancey on Tuesday October 18 with Computer Magic, Psychobuildings, Pretty Good Dance Moves, and other awesome NYC electronic artists – full lineup here.

 

Kicking off their tour with Viva Brother on Oct. 13, glitch folk band Motopony will have their song "Seer" make its TV debut on  HBO’s "How To Make It In America" this Sunday at 10:30pm.  The Seattle-based group has quickly gained momentum since they debuted their self-titled LP in May,  which is available now on tinyOGRE Entertainment.

MOTOPONY TOUR DATES

October 13        The Horseshoe Tavern          Toronto, ON*
October 14        Le Petit Campus                    Montreal, QC*
October 15        DeLuna Fest                          Pensacola Beach, FL
October 16        Johnny Brenda’s (21+)          Philadelphia, PA*
October 17        The Middle East (21+)           Cambridge, MA*
October 18        The Met                                 Pawtucket, RI*
October 19         Bowery Ballroom (19+)         New York, NY*
October 21         Rock and Roll Hotel               Washington, DC
October 22         The Club at Water Street       Rochester, NY*
October 24          The Basement                       Columbus, OH*
October 25          Lincoln Hall                           Chicago, IL*
October 26          Triple Rock                           Minneapolis, MN*
October 31          Turner Hall Ballroom             Milwaukee, WI?
November 9         Marquis Theatre                   Denver, CO?
November 10       The Black Sheep                 Colorado Springs, CO?
November 14       Café du Nord                        San Francisco, CA?
November 15        Belly Up Tavern                   Solana Beach, CA?
November 16        Bootleg Theater                     Los Angeles, CA?
November 19        Aladdin Theater                      Portland, OR?

Next week many attendees of the CMJ Music Marathon in NYC will suddenly realize that they developed a desperate need for hand claps and wave balloons along the coast of San Francisco – and for Silver Swans’ delicately melancholic music. This video was selected to be projected in between bands at The Deli/INDMUSIC CMJ Music Marathon Shows with 35 others.