New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
Day 3 ended up being my Brooklyn band day. Somehow I ended up seeing all the bands I see play all the time, which might not be in the spirit of CMJ but, whatever (fuck you by the way for criticizing me). I did get to see a bunch of bands I had been meaning to see for a long time; I’ll stop talking now lets just get on with it already. – Read Jake Saunders’ report of Day 3 of the CMJ Music Marathon 2014.
I had a bit of a late start today. I slept through three alarms, and when I finally did wake up, I felt like I had cement running through my veins. Sore, hungover, out of it. It was well past noon and I had wanted, or planned, already to be caffeinated, at a show, and to have had my day 1 recap written; not to be standing over a stove reheating the chicken over rice with white sauce I’d impulsively gotten at 4am. Sonofabitch. I shot over (and by shot, I very much mean moseyed) to Cake Shop for the Terrorbird showcase. Clearly it had been underway a good amount. Between eating godawful leftovers, writing up yesterday’s happenings, crawling into a shower and then crawling to the coffee shop, it was something like 4pm! It’s a terrible feeling when it’s the first time you’re stepping outside for the day, and you can see that the sun’s already starting to go down. Keep Reading JP Basileo’s CMJ 2014 Day 2 report.
Too bad for you if you missed our tense Indie/Psych/Electro CMJ show at Pianos with The Deli’s 40th issue’s cover band Sunflower Bean, Shilpa Ray, Japanese phenomenon Bo Ningen, electro crooners MOTHXR and many other awesome bands. By the way, we all like to have our choices validated, and the Brooklyn trio got some serious love from NPR, check it out. Here’s the video of our favorite song (at least among the few ones they have recorded) ‘2013.’
Hey! Don’t you want to read about my exciting day 2 of the Crummy Music Jobs festival? Don’t you want to know about what an amazing time I’m having and all the amazing bands I’m seeing that you’re missing out on at the Crap Making Jerks festival? Of course you do, I mean, my word is law after all, and everything I say should be taken with complete seriousness. No funny business here at the Country Music Jazz festival. – Keep reading Jake’s report for Day 2 of the CMJ Music Marathone 2014
We liked Brooklyn power trio NoPop a lot the first time we stumbled upon their music, and the guys are doing their best to confirm that first impression. They just released this new track just in time for tonight’s The Deli’s DIY/Psych/Garage CMJ 2014 showcase at Spike Hill – a show they will open at 6.40 pm. Come check them out, we’ll be there!
This is my first time covering CMJ. I’d attended in the past, but never with an actual agenda. It’s overwhelming from the get-go. Having an under-established or unclear schedule is like being in a life raft with no oars, in the middle of the ocean. Alone. I made an all too familiar mistake from step one, getting in the artists’ line to pick up my press badge. It was a bit of a wait, but I met a cool dude from a band called Echo Bloom, who calmed my nerves (his band’s music excels at that too, see track below), as I was afraid of missing the first showcase I wanted to see, only to find out at the end of said line, that I didn’t have to wait at all. The press booth line was just about non-existent, and the performer booth was kind of spilling over, giving the illusion of two separate lines. What the hell. This kind of set the tone for the day. – Keep reading JP Basileo’s CMJ Music Marathon 2014 Day 1 report.
Since it was my first CMJ, I didn’t know what to expect in the beginning. As it got closer to the week I slowly began to realize that it’s more corporate than I expected. I don’t really know that much or care about any of the industry events or any of the ‘big’ shows, so I’m going to seek out as many great bills as I can and go from there. I will say that despite my grievances against the corporate shmuck-holes, my first CMJ night was pretty good; I saws four great bands consecutively at two venues and honestly, couldn’t have been happier. – Read More
She Keeps Bees has always delivered a brooding menace underneath layers of blues and folk, but now their kettle’s practically boiling over. For new record ‘Eight Houses,’ tales of war and revenge provide an ominous tone to the band’s stripped down texture. After exploring America’s hidden past during their 2012 tour, bandmates Jessica Larabee and Andy LePlant came away from the experience with a better idea of how much pain and forced assimiliation American Indians endured. Tracks like ‘Greasy Grass’ and ‘Breezy’ are practically brimming over with this rage, while still delivering an intimate warmth and emotional pull that makes you feel like you’ve known Jessica for years. It’s a multi-layered record, whose change-up in production from the band’s previous home recordings has only added to its complexities. We discussed these new paths in our recent interview with the band.
See the band live tonight (10.22) at The Deli’s CMJ 2014 Roots Stage at Rockwood at 7pm
Read Mike Levine’s interview with She Keeps Bees
Tuesday was our only day without CMJ showcases so we wondered from venue to venue looking for interesting emerging NYC acts, here’s a quick list of artists we stumbled upon:
BMI was having their showcase at The Knitting Factory with several locals, including fun garage pop quartet Charly Bliss, which we boooked for our Thursday show at Spike Hill. On that same stage we saw talented electro-pop internet sensation VÉRITÉ, who has already three mainstream-ish sounding songs on Soundcloud with more than 100k plays. In perfect Deli style, we prefer ‘Heartbeat’ the song that only has 15k plays, streaming below. She’s scheduled to play tonight as well at… The Knit again?
One of the opening acts at The Knit was Dreamshow, a dance/rock trio that plays anthemic songs full of attitude and passion, check out single "16" down here.
We later ventured to the OhMyRockness showcase at Cameo and were pleasently surprised by New Jersey’s instrumental post/math-rock trio Vasudeva (pictured), featuring two exceptional guitarists. This is a band that might bring back into fashion the lost art of tapping, often associated with the cheesiest of metal bands. The way they do it, it sounds cool (although it still looks nerdy). Check out single "In lieu of Youth," streaming below.
At Spike Hill there was the Audiofemme official CMJ showcase and cought a couple of songs by blues rock powerhouse STRNGRS. On the bill were also Born Cages, a NYC based melodic rock band we mentioned last week that seems to be getting places – check out the uber-catchy single "Rolling Down The Hill" below and you may understand why.
On that same showcase we didn’t catch but want to highlight Oracle Room, a super new band that has an interesting approach to electro-rock, at least in the single we are pasting below, entitled "The Knot."
So… yeah: the Marathon has begun, much more to follow!
We can’t think of anything better, for a musician, than finding a like-minded band mate that ends up becoming also a lover – or vice versa. That’s he idyllic situation Brooklyn duo Crushed Out is in, which brought to life their new album ‘TEETH.’ presented by the the band as an "ode to all the potential energy wrapped up in life, in the ocean, and in love." Often described as a surf pop duo, in the new record Crushed Out seems to shifts its inspiration towards the roots of American music, filtered through the songwriting lens of guitarist/vocalist Franklin Russell Hoier. Here’s what the couple has to say about the video we are premiering below: "Two Lovebirds is a song for all you outlaw lovers. Sometimes you have to be a rebel and an outlaw to love the way you wanna love. We wrote it with the underdog feeling of being two small birds in a big bad world, yet your love for each other is a secret super power."
Crushed Out is currently on an intensive US tour that will last until early December.
If there’s one non-electronic genre the Brooklyn scene of the early aughts will be remembered for, this will undoubtly be lo-fi. A big segment of Brooklyn musicians dispute the importance of quality recordings – in part because they can’t afford them. But there’s more to it: there is a widespread awareness that lo-fi recording doesn’t spoil a song, but in some cases actually add character to it. Considering the circumstances of their formation, Truthers could be called a quintessential Brooklyn DIY band: Oscar Guinn (vocals/guitar) and Gryphon Graham (guitar/vocals, and former keyboardist/vocalist for DIIV) met while both were crashing at the Market Hotel, the legendary and (at least for now) defunct Bushwick space that came to symbolize the peak of the local DIY scene (even a Deli cover was shot there). On the surface, their songs sound simple and rough, even quirky at times, but they actually feature sophisticated chord progressions, changes and melodies, in the best Beach Boys tradition. See them live at Cake Shop/Capeshock CMJ show on 10.24.
Expanded to a full band for their 2014 album, "Memory Palace," Brooklyn’s Stone Cold Fox deliver a collection of songs that’re like the early Strokes in both sonic texture and easygoing vocal phrasing. (Elsewhere, there are hints of Bob Dylan’s lyricism and the emotional drama of the Killers.) All of these influences from across the decades are made fresh by the band’s intimate keyboard flourishes and succinct sound design.
Stone Cold Fox will be headlining The Deli’s CMJ show at Rockwood’s Stage 2 tomorrow October 22 at 11pm.
Read Dave Cromwell‘s interview with Stone Cold Fox.
