Hungover: or How I Learned to Stop Sleeping and Love CMJ Week
A Place To Bury Strangers played at least 5 shows during CMJ week.
Ill be the first to tell you that the CMJ Music Marathon is now totally unnecessary. Since the arriving to p2p file sharing, blogs, myspace, and email, its become incredibly easy for music industry people to discover new bands (which is the purpose of CMJ). Most of the bands playing CMJ had at one point this year infiltrated the vast system of music blogs that now control the independent music industry.
After speaking to a lot of people, there was a general agreement that this years CMJ was the weakest one yet. Many more popular bands had decided not to play the 5 day NYC takeover. In fact there was a number of much better shows the week prior, with indie rock icons like The National, PJ Harvey, Black Mountain, Nada Surf, and Sunset Rubdown all playing.
With that said, last week was still an insane week for a music fan. While it seems that everyone is talking about Wednesday nights Dan Deacon/Deerhunter/No Age/White Williams show at Bowery Ballroom, there were a few other performances that night that will be hard to forget.
A Place To Bury Strangers late night performance at Music Hall of Williamsburg was mind blowing, and easily my nomination for the best performance at this years CMJ Marathon. As it was expected, they were as loud as anything youve ever heard, but it was an enjoyable loud that made it feel like there were planes taking off inside the Brooklyn venue. Projections and great use of strobes added to the spectacular nature of their performance. It was late, and I could barely remain standing, but every moment was pure bliss.
Heres my complete rundown of CMJ week (Tuesday Oct 16-Saturday Oct. 20):
After being stuck late in the office and missing day one of CMJ, Roarke's boring day stage set at the Puck Building was a terrible way to start off day 2
Luckily, Rock Central Plaza came to the stage directly after. The band, who barely made it to the city in time, put on a fine performance with a sound that immediately draws comparisons to Neutral Milk Hotel.
Later on Wednesday night, Wisconsin rockers Wildbirds sweat out a southern rock-charged set, at the Delancey.
Recently hyped New Zealanders, Cut Off Your Hands, followed with a short, wild selection of spazzy post-punk. While the performance was pretty strong, it was another a good band that can't live up to the hype created by the world of blogs.
The crowd at the Delancey was then treated to modern Echo and the Bunnymen sound-a-likes Foreign Born, which may have been one of the best hidden treasures of the week.
Following Foreign Born's performance, I decided to head up to Avalon to catch The Walkmen, whose performances are always something special. After one of the most atrocious bands I've ever heard left the stage, the 30 or so fans that remained gathered close to the stage, expecting to see something grand. In front of a large screen with a logo for Unsigned Artists, The Walkmen played nearly all new material. While the set seemed less inspired than their September performance in Brooklyn, this was easily a highlight of the week, and left me wondering why weren't there more people there? (The answer of course: they were all at the Deerhunter/Dan Deacon show).
After The Walkmen wrapped up their set, I hopped onto the L and headed home to Brooklyn. It was late, but the urge to continue on with the rockin' was too strong. Once I made it to Bedford, I hurried on over to Music Hall of Williamsburg, hoping to A Place To Bury Strangers.
The Foals had just taken the stage, and their well calculated math rock made them a great new discovery.
By the time A Place to Bury Strangers took the stage, I was ready to pass out, but luckily I braved it out, and it would end up being the best performance of the week.
While it may have been CMJ week, not all the best shows were part of the marathon. The first testament to this was Arts & Crafts Thursday night show at Town Hall, where New Buffalo and Stars performed in front of a sold out audience.
The lovely New Buffalo was joined by talented Swedish singer/songwriter Jens Lekman, during here opening set.
Stars then put on a heart-warming performance. The dynamic of singers Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan made every minute engaging. Campbell's dramatic stage presence always made it all seem like an act when Millan yelled for the band to stop playing "Midnight Coward." Millan, unhappy with her performance with the song, directed the band to start over, because she said it was such a beautiful song and she just wanted to get it right. And they did get it right, just as it's a highlight on their recent release "In Our Bedroom After the War," it was a major highlight during Thursday night's performance.
The concert ended early, and left me with the option to go out and catch more music, but I couldn't imagine anyone putting on a performance to top Stars', so I called it a night.
I started out my friday night with Boston's Bon Savants at Mercury Lounge. While good, this performance was a major disapointment after seeing the band put on some really amazing shows in the past.
Then it was over to the Delancey to watch local favorites Bling Kong bring their Choose Your Own Adventure rock show to another ridiculously small stage.
Following Bling Kong is where my plan for the night fell apart. Unable to get back into Mercury Lounge for iLikeTrains and The Walkmen, I ended up at The Fillmore, where I caught Yo Majesty and The Noisettes. The staff at The Fillmore made me check my camera at the coat check, which was really disappointing since both acts were more interesting in their performances than the actually music they were creating. Spank Rock was next, but I opted to skip the star's sleazy hip hop extravanganza and headed to Brooklyn in attempt to catch the Warlocks at Luna Lounge. Unfortunately, when I arrived at Luna Lounge, the band was playing their final note, so off to bed I went.
Saturday was all about soaking up the non-CMJ-related day shows...
Soundfix Records had performances all day long, starting it all off with a fun 1pm set by veteran pop-rockers Imperial Teen.
Broken West followed with a slightly dull Big Star-inspired sound.
A little later, music scene hero Todd P had another one of his DIY shows making some noise. This one was at Continental Army Plaza, a small park on the south side of Williamsburg...
Punks, Bat Attack drilled through fast songs about silly bullshit, and fun covers, including "white christmas."
More musc fans gathered around Continental Army Plaza for the experimental, percussion-heavy noise of Aa (Big A Little a).
As the sun fell, and darkness creeped, Islands' magical set reminded everyone of why the unofficial CMJ shows always end up being the most fun. With young fans crowded around, licking nice cold ice cream cones, the Canadian band played a lively set of songs that peaked out near the end, with a full on sing-a-long on "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby," during which singer Nick Diamonds enjoyed an ice cream bar thrown to him from the crowd.
Back at Soundfix Records, a little later in the night, Glasgow band Sons & Daughters played a tight set of danceable rockabilly, showcasing songs from their forthcoming third album, "The Gift." A devoted fan from their home country assured me they'll be the next U2. While I can't see that happening, they do have a bright future and were a perfect way to end close out this year's CMJ week.
Photos courtesy of [Jonny-Leather]