'Tis the season of the 'Best ofs' and this year we've got a pretty sweet one for you, directly from out 49th print issue of The Deli NYC - yes, in case you weren't aware of it, we exist in the tangible world too!

If you didn't stumble upon a copy of our magazine (we put it in all the alternatively musical places we know in lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, LI and NJ) check out the full article digitally here. And DO NOT DARE to miss the playlist of said article, streaming below, because it's not available in print!

P.S. The tracks are organized in order of Soundcloud popularity.

In the summer of 2016, Show Me the Body released their debut album “Body War,” an electric banjo-driven sonic storm, blending post-hardcore, industrial, hip hop and math rock. That’s the record most NYC kids involved in the vital, seminal, local DIY scene - and in all likelihood, most rock critics too - will remember years from now.

The NYC born and bred trio just announced a New York show residency that will take place in five different venues across the city. This residency is presented as an extension of the spirit of their recent short film called "Ammunition", for which the band’s goal was to find and tell stories as compelling, disturbing and uplifting as they found in their own backyard of New York City. Dates can be found here, check out the video for album opener 'Body War' below. - photo by Dylan Johnson

After - quite literally - storming the local DIY scene with their super tense live shows and a borderline insane debut EP, this past summer the trio of NYC natives Show Me the Body released their debut album 'Body War,' a ten track, electric banjo driven sonic assault that manages to successfully blend post-hardcore, industrial, math rock and hip hop. The album inserts itself in the lineage of hybrid punk releases that includes seminal records by Fugazi and Rage Against the Machine, but maintains a level of rawness and desperation neither of those bands ever managed to convey. (This makes us wonder if that's what a few decades spent in NYC's "less trendy" neighborhoods does to kids...). Intriguingly, unlike most post-hardcore acts, Show Me The Body isn't afraid to slow down the tempo ('Death Sounds 2'), or even give up the drums entirely every now and then ('Honesty Hour'), which opens up sonic space for sound experimentation and even textural moments, like in 'Chrome Exposed.' The quieter sections also allow for a greater contrast when the instrumental explosion eventually arrives, taking the '90s rock loud/quit/loud idea to its extreme. But the most effective tracks are the ones where the band's signature tension finds an (explosive) release, like title-track. 

This is the record most NYC kids involved in the vital, seminal, local DIY scene - and in all likelihood, most rock critics too - will remember years from now. It’s a record we think is destined to inspire many young, offbeat musicians - from underground, where so many NYC scene gems are buried.

Now that Brooklyn's Market Hotel is back, we can finally have a clear picture of which local artists in the NYC DIY circuit have the necessary following (or whatever you want to call it) to play a venue that's considerably larger than any other "DIY" venue. We used quotes when referring to DIY because it must be noted that the term has lost most of its original meaning, since most of these places, from Aviv to Palisades, and also Market Hotel, are perfectly legal venues: we guess DIY, today, is all about attitude, all ages shows, DIY decor, and - most imprtantly - about the style of the bands booked, veering from punky to psych to experimental or wildly creative, but never over produced. Maybe they should just rename this the "no frills" Brooklyn scene.

Anyway, not that many bands - besides DIIV (too big for us to cover) - are playing Market Hotel in the next few weeks, but we dig the few ones that are. We blogged quite a lot about Show Me The Body and their insane blend of Post Hardcore, Noise Rock and... Hip Hop maybe? Stuff that won't climb the charts, but that might very well be remembered as what was relevant and new in Brooklyn in the mid '10s - they are playing the Bushwick venue tomorrow February 5th.

We've always been big fans of Lodro, a noir, tense as f**k  trio that will be opening for DIIV's second show on March 3rd.

A band we never covered before, Uniform (pictured), will perform on Saturday February 13th as an opener to SF electro post punkers The Soft Moon. The Brooklyn duo's music also blends electronic sounds (drum machine and droney bass synth) with punky and industrial elements. Definitely a band to see while wearing earplugs and your good old mosh pit shoes on - oh, right you wear those all the time... you are good to go then!

We'll say it folks. Our feeling is that in the NYC scene these days too many indie bands are playing it either too safe, or too... unsafe? There's just so much garage rock and '90s revival (on one hand) and insane/unstructured noise (on the other) anybody can deal with. It's time to mix things up a little! Brooklyn's Show Me the Body is a rare example of a band that's successfully exploring new sonic avenues without losing sight of song structure. Their sound marries the darkest trip hop a la' Tricky with post punk, noise rock and sludge metal impulses. We dug their 'One Train' single from last year, and find the more recent one entitled 'Space Faithful' (streaming) as compelling. If you are brave enough to experience this noisy trio live, don't miss their upcoming show at Palisades on July 10.