THE DELI

((photo above and cover image below by Shelby K))

You’d be forgiven for assuming a band called Birthday Girl would write songs mostly about what they want what they really really want seeing as birthdays are all about making a wish and having it come true whether a nice hot bath or nookie or cake cake cake cake cake. 

But instead, their recent single “anymore” is all about what the Birthday Girl really really doesn’t want as in “I don’t want you anymore” repeated about 13-and-a-half times culminating in a bloody altercation outside somebody’s party (they’ll all think / I killed somebody) seemingly inspired by a serious case of amour fou a/k/a “crazy love” (you’re fucking crazy / but I love you all the same) in the midst of a relationship notable for its extreme and erratic power dynamics (I know you get mad when I treat you like a person / you wanna be a dog and get your heeeeead scratched-uh) and contradictory desires (you want a Mommy and a whore / I could be both of them but / I don’t want to anymore / I don’t want to anymore) which yeah I quoted that last line as “I don’t want you anymore” above but hey it’s only fair rock critics also get to be contradictory sometimes.

On the musical side of things “anymore” is a straight up pop-punk banger (who says the Deli ain’t hip in 2022?!) which over the span of its few minutes moves from stripped-down confessional to anthemic singalong to cage-rattling rage with an infectious hook to boot and a snotty ‘tude again with emphasis on “I don’t wanna” over “I wanna” so what more do you want really?

Admittedly I don’t know a thing about these people. But what I can tell you for sure—if their Bandcamp page is to be believed—is that “Birthday Girl is a six-piece rock band living in Brooklyn comprised of singer/songwriter Eva Smittle, bass/songwriter Layla Passman, rhythm guitarist Max Bush, lead guitarist/producer Avinoam “Avi” Henig, drummer Akiva Henig, and keyboard/synth Alex DeSimine [that] spans experiments with different genres, often taking inspiration from 90s alternative rock, riotgrrrl, emo, and pop." It’s also been said that "anymore" was the first song the group wrote as a full combo and what’s more both Avi and Eva are in another groovy band called JessX that’s been described elsewhere as “a DIY project for gay punks” so there you go!

And finally, one last thing I can say with some certainty is that if you’re into “anymore” you’ll probably dig Birthday Girl’s 2020 EP Roxy too not to mention the CrazySexyCool (TLC™) music videos for two of their songs off the EP (both viewable above!) with “Hollywood Girl” strongly evoking AOL-era dial-up-modem pop-up-window slow-loading Web 1.0 PG-13 erotica a/k/a “glitchrotica” (prospective new genre name!) whereas “MAN UP!” is something like if Sophia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette was reenacted by two members of The Cockettes so now you know what to do clearly. (Jason Lee)

Dead Tooth’s EP Pig Pile (Trash Casual / Academy Fight Songs) lives up to its title and then some featuring not only “pig piles” but also the aforementioned swine piled onto piles of sheep (an image from the EP’s title song and cover art!) not to mention the packs of white wild wolves eyeing your coop and soft white doves conspiring with savage baboons to make a man out of you and then of course there’s the hawks and fury’d doves flying off white horses bucking hard and spitting blood knee high in crude oil and that’s just to paraphrase a few of the animal-related lyrics on the record. 

So clearly we’re talking less “docile petting zoo” and more “insurrectionary animal farm” because the beasts on Pig Pile are mad as hell and they’re not gonna take it anymore which is more than justified and I wouldn’t be surprised if they invited Orca, Cujo, and Willard’s rodent friends over for later.

In the interim since Dead Tooth put out their debut EP Still Beats the DT’s spent their Plague Years pretty productively by putting out a clutch of compelling stand-alone singles including a summer beach party jam (see below) plus two collaborations with Darius VanSluytman from electro-soul rockers No Surrender and a cover version of a well-known disco anthem transformed into a yearning dirge about trying to survive, and thus they could have easily put out a full LP’s worth of material if they’d just thrown all these other songs onto the "Pig Pile" but there’s a reason "EP" rhymes with "integrity" I suppose.

Pig Pile sees Dead Tooth up the ante on their already nervy and dirty post-punk with six gnarly, gnarled songs full of intertwining guitar and no shortage of shredding (shredded guitar is rich in fiber!) ably anchored by the roustabout rhythms of drummer Dylan DePice and bassist Jason Smith who provide ballast for the vocal musings of head songwriter Zach Ellis aka Zach James aka The Adventures of the Silver Spaceman as he pivots between ranting-and-raving-street-preacher-who-may-actually-be-a-derelict-prophet mode (“Hell Shack,” “Pig Pile,” "Hollow Skin") and slapback-echo-laden-Lux-Interior-in-baritone-tones mode (“Nightmare America") and full-on-crooning-slow-burn-building-to-a-head-and-heart-clutching-climax mode (“Blind,” “Riverboat”).

To the ears of this listener all this rampant Pig Piling resonates strongly with the contemporary moment in all its weird-mixed-up dread and euphoria glory whilst spinning around on a planet playing chicken with its own fate at least until all those chickens come home to roost. And “Blind” is a prime example building up gradually like a suspense movie soundtrack equal parts ominous and intoxicating (that chorus tho!) and the same goes for the eerily beautiful feral-fever-dream postindustrial walkabout music video featuring the animal graces of dancer/choreographer Nola Sporn Smith and maybe all this is tied to Zach’s skateboarding past too and the Platonic ideal of living forever in-the-moment whilst teetering on the edge but who knows.

If you wanna "read more about it" re: the history of Dead Tooth and about their creative process and all that sorta stuff then you could start by watching the interview above and then by clicking on some of the hyperlinks found in this piece but the quick version is that the band was borne out of a chance encounter between our man Zach and one Andrew Bailey while both employed at a vegan diner near Brooklyn’s fabled Sweatshop Rehearsal Studios (RIP) and at the time the former didn’t even know the latter played (and still plays) guitar in a scrappy little band called DIIV who likewise know a thing or two about joining together tension, bliss, and catharsis.

And finally just to make sure you’re all up to date (that’s our job!) the Dead Toothers spent the past week down in Tejas playing SXSW culminating with the Austin EastCiders X BdBK X Our Wicked Lady showcase, and not too long before that they were victorious in the OWL Winter Madness Battle of the Bands (who needs "March Madness" sports yuck!) which led to an officially designated sponsorship by CHEETOS® brand Crunchy FLAMIN’ HOT® Cheese Flavored Snacks so here’s hoping some of that hot processed cheese-puffery fairy dust rubs off on the rest of us because we’re animals like that. (Jason Lee)