Recently released single “It Just Hits You” from appealingly named Brooklyn rockers Journalism recently made the Spotify's Garage Jams and Fresh Finds Six Strings playlists. Structured around an open chord arpeggio over throbbing bass and driving drum beat, the song is an honest rumination on sobriety.  “Here I stand without a drink in hand,” immediately establish clear-eyed reflection on familiar social practices - now reined in. By the time the chorus hits with “I’m getting sober, but I’m getting so burnt out, it’s hard to act my age, when I can’t see through the haze,” rising melodic guitar lines deliver cathartic tension, with a final realization that such decisions come down to self-control and personal choice, because “sometimes it just hits you like a ton of bricks, and sometimes it just hits you.”  Journalism plays Sunnyvale on Friday 2/17 with DEF.Girls, Dumb Wolves + Fraidycat. - Dave Cromwell

This week, Brooklyn’s girlwave trio THICK take their sandpapery brand of surf rock to support two fellow bands’ album releases. On Friday 12/9, they will join Baby Acid at The Footlight in Ridgewood as the latter release their new LP Don’t Blush When I Rip You Open. "Trash jazz" rockers Parlor Walls and female-fronted five-piece Ex-Girlfriends will round up the bill. Then on Wednesday 12/14, THICK will perform with shoegaze group Lazyeyes and punk funk troupe Toyzanne in order to support post-punk quartet Journalism, who will release their brand-new single. THICK themselves have played a number of shows over the last few weeks in support of their new EP It’s Always Something (which you can stream below.) They have major plans going into 2017, but you can still catch them before the year’s up. Don’t miss out. - Will Sisskind

Anyone living in New York City can attest to the fact that it’s a bit of a mess, wonderful and cacophonous but also slightly terrifying and frustrating. Brooklyn based post punk quartet Journalism manages to encapsulate the nervous energy of trying to make it in this city with their new album 'Faces.' Bouts of energetic anxiousness permeate the songs, exacerbated by feverous guitar riffs and accentuated by the mild tension in frontman Zema’s vocals. The reverb drenched guitars pluck away tenderly in songs like “Watching and Waiting” and “Everywhere I Look” before erupting into a string of mesmerizingly fast paced chords, climaxing with “Naked.” Journalism questions if what we’re doing in the end amounts to anything, but the inherent uncertainty of it is what makes it thrilling in the first place. Catch Journalism live at Trans-Pecos in Queen on May 21 and give their album a listen.

In August we asked our readers in bands to submit through our system to be considered to play The Deli's four official CMJ Music Marathon shows, promising at least three slots. From the nearly 800 submissions we ended up picking twice as many bands as promised, here they are:

The City and Horses - Dream Pop stage (The Living Room, Saturday 10.17)

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Journalism - DIY Stage (Muchmore's, Thursday 10.15) 

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Zuli - Dream Pop stage (The Living Room, Saturday 10.17)

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Balancer - Dream Pop stage (The Living Room, Saturday 10.17)

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Pop & Obachan - Dream Pop stage (The Living Room, Saturday 10.17)

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Aimee DeBeer: Dream Pop stage (The Living Room, Saturday 10.17)

Even the best innovation means nothing without a vital sense of the past. Brooklyn's Journalism connect two seemingly disparate influences—Joy Division and Sea and Cake—in a brief, three-song EP that radiates complacency and anxiety. Closer “I See Everything” (streaming) is the exception; it pushes past style, and thus beyond vanity, into more unfettered territory. More like dat, please! he band will be closing our all ages CMJ Garage/Slacker Rock Stage at Muchmore's on Thursday 10.15. - Brian Chidester