Marcus Very Ordinary, Live@Chessvolt Studios

String trio Marcus Very Ordinary played a sparse live set in the studio, striding the dark, atonal side. This would be nice music for mud bathing in a swamp, among other more traditional listening venues.
The group cites Tom Waits and Randy Newman as influential to their music. You can hear the Waits influence in their jazzy, minor arrangements strung with curious, sometimes eerie lyrics. Singer Jojo's strong voice harkens a moody Ben Harper in quality, leaking elements of a naughty, restrained, tightly-wound internal world in character.
Slug Fest and Billions, additionally adorned with piano, evoke Randy Newman meets Queen in song structure and feel.
Overall, Marcus Very Ordinary paints a weird, pokey picture reminiscent of Halloween in a French Quarter parlor. Listen more than once. It makes your skin itch and could possibly cause fever. You'll see what I mean:

Billions
Freak Out
Hell to Pay
Killing the Horse
Slug Fest

"Sometimes Marcus feels the pressures of a very closed-minded world coming down on him."
from their myspace page