THE DELI

From JP’s report of day 1 of the CMJ Music Marathon 2014: "The PC Worship show (a band featuring members of Parquet Courts), was actually a solo performance: a dude sitting in a lawn chair, playing a tinny-sounding guitar, moaning out his heart. This lawn chair was positioned in the corner of the outside patio area at Silent Barn, and started pretty much immediately after Broken Water finished, so, especially in my mildly inebriated state, I wasn’t the quickest to get out there. But when I did stumble out there, what I saw was heartfelt, and meaningful and pretty. It might have seemed like filler to some (some people were actually heckling the dude, and I just couldn’t understand why, or how), but it was more important. To him, and to me—a guy alone at a show. The last song of his actually got stuck in my head. At least until Dream Police came on."

From Jake’s report of day 3 of the CMJ Music Marathon 2014: "Virginia’s Malatese (from Harrisonburg, which JUST makes it into the area of our coverage) plays something that may be referred to as post-no-wave-pre-post-pre-punk music.  Their melodies/jams/grooves/whatever you wanna call ’em are dissonant and aggressive, drowned under a wave of distortion and Travis’ noisy vocals.  Their music is already a little strange and head-tilt inducing, but Travis adds this extra little element of weird that brings it to a level of ingenuity.  First of all, he runs his vocals through a 404 sampler, using all the weird delay or pitch bending effects to add this monstrous ambience.  He’s also got a generally hilarious stage presence, what with this funny shake dance that he does, all the weird noises he randomly spews out and the funny faces. He’s not afraid to look like a little stupid up there because he’s having good ol’ tortured fun, which in turn means I’m having fun; if he brought it to an even further level of crazy he could be a regular Iggy Pop. "

From Jake’s report of Day 5 of the CMJ Music Marathon 2015: "Next was Nashville-based, post-hardcore trio Gnarwhal.  They put out an amazing four way split EP with Ovlov, Woozy and Ex-Breathers, which I highly recommend you listening to.  They’re a loud-ass math rock band, bringing me back to the days of Fiasco and Tera Melos.  They’ve got a very Nashville atmosphere to them as well, with their long hair, playing everything twice as fast as it needs to be played, and stopping maybe once during the set to tell people who they were.  They’re a powerhouse, that’s for sure."

From Jake’s report of day 5 of the CMJ Music Marathon 2014: "Next was one of my main highlights, "Grass Is Green," also from Boston, whose album, "Vacation Vinny," has been on repeat in my room for the last couple weeks.  Grass is Green reminds me of Kal Marks in that they go to very unexpected places in their songs, dipping into no-wave influenced jams.  They’ve got the signature EIS distorted bendy thing that all the bands do with their guitars (see Kal Marks, Krill, Ovlov, Pile….they all do it!), another indicator that all of these bands wholly embrace their influences.  Sometimes they remind me of Primus (again. I just really love Primus, ok!), other times it’s Dinosaur Jr., but regardless of what they sound like, they have an uniquely aggressive energy.  They killed it that night, it was an epic performance.  

From JP’s report of day 4 of the CMJ Music Marathon 2014: "After Johnie Lee Jordan & The Boys finished, I made my way over to Muchmore’s to see the Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen showcase, featuring an insane twelve bands. I arrived at around 7:30, and saw the stage, but nothing on it. This was to be a floor show. Bands and gear were setting up on the floor. Cool. A drag queen MC started things off and introduced the first band, Toot Sweet. They had an accordion. Need I say more? Accompanying the instrument of instruments were keys, bass, drums, and two lovely backup singers. They played an obviously French-infused slow pop that was catchy and deep. Their third song sounded like something you’d hear on the soundtrack of a pirate movie directed by Quentin Tarantino. Midway through the set the mademoiselle on accordion hopped on the keyboard, and the dude on keys hopped on a trumpet! Things turned kind of synth-funky, proving these guys’ uniquely cool versatility. Oh. And this guy on trumpet? He could play. Take it from a so-so ex-trumpeter. The pace picked up a little towards the end of the set, and it was hammered home that this was a fun group. There was unbelievably enough seating for just about everyone, though people were standing, and those who were standing were dancing. Everyone bopped. Essentially, I came to this showcase for something different. I believed I was to achieve perfect diversity.

We wonder if the mass media’s renewed focus on Monica Lewinsky in her new role as an anti-cyberbullying advocate will have any effect on Brooklyn band’s The Harmonica Lewinskies, besides getting their youngest fans to realize where that name comes from and what kind of outrageous imagery it conjures. The band certainly embraces this provocation, and this is why they deserve to have their new video for "Sitting on My Hands" (streaming below) premiered here, on The Deli’s blog, on Halloween, the most provocative of days. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that said video also features people in weird costumes, and is, in essence, a cacophonous rebellion against the boredom of work – in particular the one you don’t care about. And isn’t that the core value of all parties, Halloween ones in particular, when anything ordinary is banned? The jazz/funk collective uses their horn section and electric guitars as weapons, while Roberto Bettega’s blue voice leads the song from almost silent breaks to the climax of sonic explosions. The band released a new album entitled "Dad Rock" with a party at The Knitting Factory on October 1st.