Well, isn’t this bittersweet. After running the CMJ Marathon, I’m certainly exhausted, but I’m definitely sad to see it go. CMJ was so life encompassing that it’ll probably take me a week or so to adjust back to the normal day-to-day. If you happened to be standing by any door this week and I, out of habit, hand you my driver’s license and put my wrist out to be stamped, then I’d like to apologize in advance. Read Josh Johnson’s report of CMJ’s Day 5 here. – In the picture and Streaming: Black Wing Halo

There ain’t no rest for the weary as my CMJ Friday starts bright and early at noon at the Rockwood Music Hall. Why would I voluntarily begin my day so early? So I can see two folk acts featuring guy-girl vocal harmonies, which is essentially catnip to me. First up was A Brief View of the Hudson, a five-piece band centered on the vocals of Ann Enzminger and Nick Nace. – Read Josh Johnson’s report of CMJ’s Day 3-4 here. – In the picture and Streaming: Wilsen.

To understand how much of a treat this Friday was, I guess it makes sense to first explain how major a let-down Thursday turned out to be. With a tight schedule sorted for the last two stretches, I’d gambled on the fact that, venturing from one venue to the next, I’d eventually find a few good NYC bands to write about, or at least some that worked with the scenes we cover. But no. Not in the slightest. A complete failure. – Read Tracy Mamoun’s report of CMJ’s Day 3-4 here. – In the picture and Streaming: Unstoppable Death Machines.

The third day of CMJ is the festival’s Humpday. Once Day Three ends, the festival is already more than half-over. Now that I’m halfway done with running the CMJ Marathon, I feel pretty good about my journey towards the finish line, although I realize that while my marathon numbers are solid, they aren’t as good as Paul Ryan’s. Of course, Ryan made up his marathon times on the spot, so at least I’m winning in the endurance department. – Read the full report by Josh S. Johnson here.

ATTENTION! THIS SHOW WAS MOVED TO XPO 929!!!

DETAILS ABOUT THIS SHOW & STREAMING COMPILATION OF ALL FEATURED BANDS HERE.

Finally, here’s our last announcement for this CMJ week – on Saturday, we’ll be welcoming some of the city’s best noise/punk/post-punk up-and-comers to XPO 929’s stage, for an afternoon of high decibels and free booze (specifically, vodka and bourbon on the house all day!!!). Kicking off with alternative punk/riot grrrl trio TinVulva, followed by female fronted Bugs In The Dark and their fierce slow-burning indie rock, this show will be bringing to you Life Size Maps, who over the course of three records, have worked out their own brand of noise pop eccentricities and EULA (all in caps, please), another lady-led trio that’s been attracting a fair deal of attention over the last couple of years with its wild post-punk jams served with an attitude and a half. And now we get to the this show’s two headliners, with first up, The Everymen, eight-piece (the more, the merrier!) rock&roll explosion from New Jersey who recently released their debut LP ‘NJHC" and finally, EndAnd, so-called 90s revivalists with the balls to push some aesthetics which not many under that label really seems ambitious enough to attempt, working on the follow-up to their -most impressive- debut. In the picture: Life Size Maps