It was announced yesterday the young local band The Orwells have signed a worldwide publishing deal with BMG Chrysalis US. The label also announced that in September the band will release an EP and single both called, Who Needs You, produced by Dave Sitek.

The Orwells will be touring most of September and October. They will be performing next in Chicago at Subt on Halloween, Oct. 31st, with FIDLAR.

The Orwells released a new single, "Who Needs You", and video this week.

You can catch The Orwells at Lollapalooza on Aug. 4th and at Schubas on August 3rd for a Lolla Aftershow.

It's after lunch on a Friday and if you are sitting at work, bored and wondering what you can do to make it to 5pm, check The Owrells Audiotree session. It's 30 minutes of solid garage-pop!

Surely the youngest act to hit the CMJ stage this year, The Orwells is an Elmhurt, IL-based self-defined 'Flower Punk' five piece fronted by the impressively charismatic Mario Cuomo, this tall blond stick-figure who owns the stage like few are able to. Especially that early in the afternoon (2pm when I saw them). Call them perfectionists, or just really good at what they do, fact is, rarely do you see a band so well prepared to take on its crowd. With so far one album, “Remember When' (first self-released a year ago) to their name, full of the passionate lo-fi ballads that would tend to set their effervescent, American spirit-soaked, sometimes erratic garage aesthetic right in the footsteps of the Third Man himself, they're a definite favourite of this year's talent quest, one we'll have to be keeping an eye on. Oh, and if you're curious, why not listen to Mario Cuomo rap. Sure worth your three minutes. 

To understand how much of a treat this Friday was, I guess it makes sense to first explain how major a let-down Thursday turned out to be. With a tight schedule sorted for the last two stretches, I'd gambled on the fact that, venturing from one venue to the next, I'd eventually find a few good NYC bands to write about, or at least some that worked with the scenes we cover. But no. Not in the slightest. A complete failure. - Read Tracy Mamoun's report of CMJ's Day 3-4 here. - In the picture and Streaming: Unstoppable Death Machines.