HERE PLAYLIST HERE!

There’s a well-known adage about the middle chapters of film trilogies being the darkest, weirdest, weightiest installments of said trilogies that often proves true with The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Dark Knight (2008) serving as two of the best known examples…

…but for our money the most messed-up middle chapter of a film trilogy has got to be Big Top Pee-Wee (the 2016 Nexflix produced Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday served as the belated final installment) which coming on the heels of Tim Burton's whimsically wacky Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure…

…bizarrely transformed its seemingly asexual, highly eccentric protagonist also known for starring in a classic Saturday morning TV show into a TOTAL HORNDOG AND TOTAL ASSHOLE who attempts to dry hump his virginal fianceé girlfriend on lunch dates and demonstrates clear evidence of a hair-pulling fetish and yes this is a family movie…

…finally cheating on his fianceé with a beautiful trapeze artist played by the sultry Valeria Golino and there’s a make out session scene between the two that goes on for an uncomfortably long time and the whole thing is so weirdly off-brand and off-kilter that Paul Reubens getting busted a few years later for masturbating in a porno theater should have been totally predictable…

…and likewise the April 2023 DELI DELIVERS playlist acts the middle chapter in a “Rites of Spring” March-April-May trilogy of playlist and true to form it's the darkest/weirdest/most discordant of the three and Scout’s honor we promise not to be a month late with the May playlist tho’ to be fair this one’s been previewed on the Deli Instagram page already…



…so yeah we’re talking retrospective “April showers” in musical form and while it’s not easy to give a single sweeping characterization of 103 songs there’s a bunch of swirly hallucinatory weirdness to be found plus noisy art-damaged punk, off-kilter kaleidoscopic pop, psychedelic soul and goth-laced hip hop and damn we’re eating it up…

…from the opening ambient sepulchral strains sets to martial drum machine rhythms of 79.5’s “B.D.F.Q.” (which stands for “Bitch Don’t Fucking Quit” in case you were wondering) leading directly to the cosmic fever dream of Magdalena Bay’s “EXO” leading directly to the American Gothic fantasia of Wednesday’s “Got Shocked” leading directly to the the rapturous electopop of Father Koi’s “Promise Ring” (feat. Sofia Zarzuela) which sounds like a Venusian courtship sung by a helium-sucking autotuned cherub or maybe that's just us...

…and heck that’s just the first four songs nevermind the Arthur-Russell-meets-The-Raincoats drone-groove of cumgirl8’s “Cicciolina” about the titular Hungarian-Italian pornstar-cum-pop-star-cum-politician who advocated ridding the world of nuclear weapons and ridding the world of war by offering to f*ck Saddam Hussein nor the other 97 songs on offer…

…until concluding at last with Glüme’s dreamy cover rendition of Metronomy’s “It’s Good To Be Back” which perhaps serves as the perfect transition out of the dark, murky waters of the middle-chapter April playlist into the musical flowerings of May coming soon to this blog page… (Jason Lee)


 

photo of Zach from Dead Tooth by Yan K

Here's some new shite served up just for you and yours on a Sunday afternoon in this Deli sampler pu pu platter of new releases prepared with love and if you love what you hear here be sure to support the artists by throwing ‘em a buck or two for a digital download or better yet drop a benjamin on that band-logo emblazened silk robe on their Bandcamp under the “drunk on mimosas on a Sunday afternoon impulse buy” tab…

01) Shannon Minor Group -- “In Your Eyes” released on Friday (bandcamp)

02) Dead Tooth -- “Electric Earth” released on Friday (bandcamp)

03) Tetchy -- Smaller/Better EP released on Friday (bandcamp)

04) FACS -- “When You Say” released back in February but still sounding good (bandcamp)

05) Romi O -- “M2M” released on Friday

06) Wednesday -- “TV in the Gas Pump” released last Wednesday naturally (bandcamp)

07) Kate Davis -- “Long Long Long” off the Fish Bowl LP released on Friday

08) 79.5 -- “Our Hearts Didn’t Go That Way” (feat. Durand Jones) released last Wednesday (bandcamp)

09) Lucinda Chua -- “An Ocean” off the YIAN LP released on Friday (bandcamp)

10 Teenage Tom Petties -- “Posters” released on Friday (b/w “My First Beer”) (bandcamp)



 (Jason Lee)

pictured: 79.5

CLICK HERE to hear the brand new Deli playlist Bans Off Our Bodies and read on for more deets…

Over the past 1-3/4 years you may’ve noticed that yr humble musical servant and scribe, who happens to possess one Y chromosome. has been oft inclined to write about music featuring strong, uncompromising female voices (caveat: some of whom may not identify as female)…

…which is less by design and more b/c of all of the kickass indie/underground music routinely produced by those who are “marginalized” by entrenched power brokers due to whatever set of factors one of which of course being gender…

…factors such as the SCOTUS ruling on abortion which stripped roughly half the populace of bodily autonomy, a right to privacy, and a good measure of human dignity or at least attempted to do so…

…which is beyond infuriating and beyond this writer's ability to fully comprehend in terms of the sheer horror show this must be for those most directly affected…

…and so as always I turn to music, which isn’t going to directly fix any of this but which at least is one of the best salves for trauma out there, not to mention a potent source of inspiration, a motivator for action, a path to understanding, a means to express fury and grief and all the feelings…

…ergo the 73-song playlist (over 40 of which have associated music videos, keep scrolling below!) which isn’t made up of “protest songs” per se (not mostly, anyway) but rather songs that could be helpful in the aforementioned ways. Or hell maybe you just need to rock out for 4 hours solid so please enjoy and thanks to all the brilliant musicians. (Jason Lee)

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When it comes to the local NYC scene, Bryant Park’s Emerging Music Festival (EMF) is the place to be. Returning for its third year, the festival is a hotbed for community and creativity. As the city’s only exclusively local festival, EMF is a can’t miss opportunity for everyone interested in keeping up to date with the scene. And the best part is that entrance is completely free of charge (and there isn’t even a line to get in!) The two day event will take place on August 18th and 19th, and will feature bands like Landlady, 79.5, Rips, and more. Until then, listen to The Deli’s playlist of all the performers streaming below. - Lilly Milman 

NYC's buzzworthy soul ensemble, 79.5, channels a legendary girl-group energy in their new single "Boy Don't Be Afraid". The second single off of their upcoming album Predictions, the group combines impeccable vocal harmonies, subtly smooth grooves, and their unique modern flavor, to create a sound that embodies the musical culture of New York City.  They'll be playing live 3/31 at the Bowery Ballroom alongside Chicano Batman, and The Shacks, but in the meantime, stream them below.-Olivia Sisinni