Catching up from last weekend — so many activities!

OCTOBER 22nd

Started the evening at the SPIN offices for a special rooftop performance by Portland, Oregon’s Hockey. Like The Rapture and The Virgins before them, these boys know how to get girls dancing. Love love love them. Find songs like “Work,” totally irresistible.

Continue reading ‘CMJ 2009: Boys Who Make Dancey Music’ »

Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture performed tonight with his new pet project/band, Nickel Eye. They played a number of songs, including “Back from Exile”:

and “Brandy of the Damned”:

Unless I missed something, no other Strokes appeared at the Music Hall tonight.

The first song the band played was my favorite… airy, with beautiful harmonies sung by Joel Cadbury and Jamie McDonald of South. (They flew over from England in order to play the show!)

The crowd was far from packed, but there were a good number of people there—surprisingly the crowd looked pretty young (were all the older-timers out in Manhattan?) with a disproportionate amount of Asian girls up in the front.

One blonde girl, who I think likened herself to being the Brooklyn version of Miley Cyrus was hooting and hollering at Nikolai the whole time, shouting out things like “I LUUUUVVV YOUUUU NIIIKOOOOLAAAIIII!” and “YOU HAVE A GREAT A** NIKOLAIIIIII!” Charming, as you can imagine.
Continue reading ‘Nickel Eye’s First US Show @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, CMJ 2008’ »

I had an all-girl night of music…

Lykke Li at the V magazine party @ Tribeca Grand:

Continue reading ‘CMJ 2008: Tuesday, October 21 — Lykke Li, Lissy, The Ettes’ »

Want a guide to all the different official/unofficial CMJ parties you can crash this week? (Think free booze, good music, pandemonium, shelter from the cold.)

Check out the CMJ 2008 Flyer pool on Flickr.

Not that I encourage party crashing… but FYI… the beautiful Lykke Li is playing a private V magazine show tomorrow at the Tribeca Grand:

If you can’t get enough of our CMJ offerings on Wednesday night, check out the After the Jump Unofficial CMJ BBQ happening this Saturday, October 25th at the Yard in Brooklyn. Unofficial means NO CMJ badge needed for entry!

Just take one look at the stellar lineup and you’ll be convinced. It’s a great chance to see a bunch of this season’s most talked about bands all in one place, with food, with beer, and IN BROOKLYN! And, since it’s an afternoon/early evening affair, you can rock out all day long and still be home in time for Dexter!

Bands playing: Fight Bite, High Places, the Homosexuals, Women, Bearsuit, MBAR, Passion Pit, the Ruby Suns, Crystal Stilts

This show is being sponsored by Guru Energy Drink.

It’s CMJ week starting tomorrow. And it’s freezing. Great, right?

Stay warm by heading to one of the hot After the Jump official CMJ showcase with some soon to be household names. You’ll be bragging to your friends in about 6 months how you saw such and such band…

Old Office:
8 PM the Beets
8 45 the Lisps
9:30 Inlets
10:30 Motel Motel
11:15 Alina Simone
12:00 the Muggabears

Tap:
8 PM Best Friends Forever
8 45 PM the Depreciation Guild
9 30 PM My Teenage Stride
10:30 A Sunny Day in Glasgow
11:15 the Pains of Being Pure at Heart
12:00 Ringo Deathstarr

Main
8 PM Starfucker
8 45 PM Unicycle Loves You
9 30 PM Bad Veins
10:30 Crystal Antlers
11:30 Heloise and the Savoir Faire
12:30 Juvelen