A blog about music, pop culture, the Strokes, Jack White, and NYC at large.
I remember a time when I would be headed out to a show around 9 or 10 and someone in my family would say with exasperation, “I can’t believe you’re going out this late!” and I would kinda scoff and roll my eyes and think, “OMG, IT’S NOT EVEN LATE!” as I rushed out the …
Continue reading “CMJ 2012: Day 2 – JJAMZ @ Bowery Electric”
Believe it or not, this will be the 11th CMJ I’ve attended (yes, that’s right, I started going to CMJ when I was 11 years old. Amazing, I know). During the time I first started attending the annual event, things were very different. CMJ felt really really important to me at the time — this …
Continue reading “CMJ 2012: Who’s On My Hot List to See This Year”
Day 3 of CMJ was an all-day affair at the I Guess I’m Floating/ Tell All Your Friends PR showcase at Pianos. My personal music marathon started out with the Seattle-based upstarts, Beat Connection, who were fresh off the red-eye from the Left Coast. Their set started off with a bit of a bumpy start …
Continue reading “CMJ 2011: Day 3 – 10/20/11 – Guards, Grimes, Beat Connection, and More”
My last CMJ 2001 musical journey was held exclusively at Fader Fort, for two acts I was really pumped to see: Up-and-coming Canadian band, Purity Ring, whose song “Ungirthed” has made them one of my favorite new bands, and existing TMA fave, Wavves. Knowing that the crowds would be pretty insane for FF day 2, …
Continue reading “CMJ 2011: Day 5 – 10/22/11 – Purity Ring and Wavves at Fader Fort”
Quickly, some recommendations for this year’s CMJ: These shows are bound to be completely packed. Attend if you dare: Zola Jesus (Knitting Factory on Tues; LPR on Wed); Wild Flag (Bowery Ballroom on Tues) My picks: Young Magic at Public Assembly at 10pm on Tuesday. If you can stay up late, check out Dent May. …
I’ll admit, by Day 4 I was hurting a little, so I took it relatively easy with a night filled with some low-key shows. First stop was to catch The Babies, featuring Vivian Girls’ Cassie Ramone, at the FADER Fort on the Lower East Side which was sponsored by… er… hmm… I can’t seem to …
Continue reading “CMJ 2010: Day 4 – The Babies, La Sera, and Neon Indian”
I dubbed Day 3 as “ladies night” since the three bands I’d planned to see were all fronted by women. First up was an extremely early set by the Montreal, Quebec-based quartet, Braids, who were playing the opening spot at the showcase at Arlene’s Grocery. As the crowd waited for the show to start, they …
Continue reading “CMJ 2010: Day 3 – Braids, Lia Ices, Tamaryn”
After a somewhat disappointing Day 1, I was really hoping the second night of CMJ would be much more fruitful. I started the night by popping over to an early showcase at Bruar Falls where Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. were playing. I got there ten minutes before the 7:30pm set and DEJJ still had all …
Continue reading “CMJ 2010: Day 2 – Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and The Drums”
Ah, the annual running of the music hipsters — aka CMJ. The annual College Music Journal’s music festival hits New York once a year in an effort to give fledgling bands the opportunity to get seen by industry honchos, journalists, bloggers, and the odd fan or two who forked over a pretty penny for a …
Continue reading “CMJ 2010: Day 1 – Class Actress and Silverghost”
Towards the end of their set at the Windish Showcase @ Santos Party House, School of Seven Bells touring drummer Zachary Saginaw asked his girlfriend Marie to come on stage. After a little over two minutes she finally appeared and he got down on one knee and proposed. She said, “oui”! Witness the magic!