This year’s CMJ Music Marathon kicked off with our friends and sometimes-collaborators at MMN, who hosted an opening night show featuring Yo La Tengo, Screaming Females, DOM and a DJ set from Dam-Funk at Brooklyn Bowl.

We got there just in time for Yo La Tengo’s final moments before the crowd steamed out of the bowling alley, but caught Dam-Funk spinning some funky West coast-inspired cuts for those who stuck around for a little Tuesday night dance party. After seeing dude perform a few times, I always leave under the impression that he thoroughly loves music and isn’t afraid to share his rare gems for the betterment of others.

Every year I miss Pharoahe Monch during CMJ, and considered trekking to Le Poisson Rouge to catch his 12:25 a.m. set. Alas, the trains in New York City aren’t dependable enough for such split-second decisions, so I headed down the block to Spike Hill for local Brooklyn bands Xylos and Pocketknife.

Xylos ran through a set of wistful pop that wouldn’t be out of place as the accompaniment to a hip ’90s teenage love saga, and Pocketknife launched with a cool percussive instrumental before the vocalists hit some impressively high notes for the remainder of the night.

The fest lineup is looking a little slimmer than years past, but the best part of these festivals is always checking out bands you’re vaguely familiar with or discovering something entirely new. More flicks after the jump, and we’ll be back with more highlights later this week.

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Science: “proving” truths that to non-wonks often appear to be self-evident. Their latest “revelation?”

The level of background noise affects both the intensity of flavor and the perceived crunchiness of foods, researchers have found. Anyone who has ever sat down to a massive meal of gluttony in front of the idiot box, at a blaring bar or show can attest to the taste bud tamping power of screeching voices and raucous beats.

In addition to making us all feel like going out to loud bars and restaurants and making gluttonous pigs of ourselves is totally cool, it also lets airlines–those grim dealers of beige, tasteless edibles–off the hook in the taste department.

“I’m sure airlines do their best–and given that, we wondered if there are other reasons why the food would not be so good,” researcher Dr. Andy Woods, from Unilever and the University of Manchester, told the London Telegraph.

“One thought was perhaps the background noise has some impact. There was no previous research on this, so we went about seeing if the hunch was correct. Our research has revealed that flavors can taste less strong in loud background noise.”

So that’s why the week-old rolls, hunks of mystery meat/jerky in a ketchup “glaze” and over-cooked, unsalted green beans taste like shizz.

Minnesota rapper Micheal Larsen–known as Eyedea–died unexpectedly at his home last weekend, according to his mother Kathy Averill. He was 28 years old.

The MC first gained attention at battle events as a teenager, defeating the competition at Ohio’s Scribble Jam, where he was crowned king in 1999. Larsen stepped into the national spotlight the following year as the winner of HBO’s “Blaze Battle.”

Larsen formed Eyedea & Abilities with friend and DJ Max Keltgen in 1998, and the duo would go on to release three full-length albums via indie label Rhymesayers. He also worked on several side projects, including Face Candy, Carbon Carousel and a series of poetry books co-written with family members.

The cause of death is unknown at this time. Averill has set up a fundraiser to cover the cost of memorial services. Fans can donate here.

Check out the video for E&A’s “Smile” after the jump.

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Ozomatli are offering “Respeto” for free download, in hopes the song will encourage Latin voters to participate in the midterm elections on Tuesday, November 2. The Los Angeles band partnered with National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the country’s largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization.

“The simple act of voting has proven to be an important tool in the shaping of my surroundings,” said Ozomatli’s Raul Pacheco in a press release. “As a modern American Latino, it is a meaningful step to counter the specifically hateful and hurtful rhetoric that has been aimed at Latinos throughout this country.”

Download the track at Ozomatli’s website, and hear what the band has to say about supporting political causes.

Ozzy Osbourne, an outspoken former Satan-worshipping metal head who now spends most of his time with the members of his patently insane family, has failed to alienate people with his crazy-ass antics and various food obsessions. (You think that $85 Brooklyn Kitchen dinner of caterpillars, mealworms and moth larvae was daring? Try eating bats).

And apparently, the secret to his 27-year marriage to wife Sharon is even less profound than one would suspect: “Spray cream around the b*llocks. Chocolate sauce on the kn*b. Lick, lick, lick,” she overshares.

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Hercules and Love Affair will release Blue Songs via new record label Moshi Moshi on January 31 in the U.K. (U.S. details pending). Collaborators include Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke, Venezuelan singer Aerea Negrot, Shaun Wright and the return of Kim Ann Foxman. After their successful 2008 debut, the band left dance stalwart DFA Records.

Hercules and Love Affair are currently on a U.K. tour through December, which brings them back to the U.S. just in time for the holidays. Safe to say Andy Butler won’t be spinning at the “Maury Povich” Christmas party this year.

After the inevitable knife-wielding ruckus that ensued among New York chefs when the Michelin stars and Zagat accolades were handed out last week (much like the vicious infighting that occurs in kindergarten when teach gives a few gold stars out to the tough kids), it was rather heartwarming to see the guys bond over something upon which pretty much everyone can agree.

What is this mystical unicorn carrying a purple fairy while galloping over a bedazzled rainbow, you ask? Why, Pink Floyd, of course. The likes of Daniel Boulud, Tom Colicchio, Eric Ripert and Andrew Carmellini were all yukking it up, and forgetting–for a few hours–the bitter feuds they were hatching over lost and gained stars and points, soaking in the sonic and visual brilliance at the show at MSG.

Check out Carmellini’s shot of the onstage action on his addictive, refreshingly un-fancy pants blog, and a video below.