And finally, we get to the last day of this CMJ fest. Far from tired, I’m in a place where, buzzing off the large amounts of live music I’ve been restlessly taking in for the last four days, I’m just NOT sure what to do with myself once this is over. Converse might be hard, as one: I’ve gone partially deaf, and two: all I’ve been doing all week is chat and shake hands, to the point where if I have to say once more ‘Tracy from The Deli’, I might just die. But before I unplug my brain for the whole of Sunday, time to take you through the final leg of this run. Read Tracy Mamoun’s report of CMJ’s Day 5 here. – In the picture and streaming: SLEEPiES, who by the way have planned a sweet Halloween bash mit Pixies, Ramones, Siouxsie and The Banshees and Joy Division covers, check it out here! 

(Photo by Leah O’Connor) 

Some things never change. The sun will always rise in the east. The roadrunner will always outsmart the coyote. Clowns will always scare the crap out of at least 85% of the general population. Parents will truly just never understand. And someone, somewhere, will always be rocking the handful of familiar power chords that constitute “power pop.” Fortunately for Kansas City, Deco Auto currently occupies that role. Its brand of hook-laden, hard-hitting pop rock does justice to this often unjustly ridiculed genre. Recently, I got a chance to catch up with this swell trio of musicians. Here’s their take on music stuff, as well as a preview of their upcoming performance at Apocalypse Meow.

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(Photo by Randy Pace)

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

Harrisonburg VA’s dark wave duo Mirror Kisses released a new track this week called "Die With U (Again)" via Chill Mega Chill Records’ halloween album The Chiller Part 2: House on Haunted Chill. As usual, it’s pretty much the dopest sound out there now, and who wouldn’t want to get down with some 80’s synthy spookiness. Check it out right here: And there’s more! They also just posted a rad new music video for the single "Sleeping in the Hallway" off their album Bad Dreams.

Ross Brown is a jack-of-all-trades in Kansas City music. First and foremost, he identifies himself as a songwriter, soon to be releasing his solo album Small Victories. He’s also the beatkeeper of The Empty Spaces, frontman of Fullbloods, and an integral cog in Golden Sound Records. This week, we talk to Ross about all of his projects and find out what’s coming up. Catch the beat right here!

–Michelle Bacon

Day 2 began – oh, how unexpected! – on Ludlow Street, where Prince Rama were set to play the Cake Shop shortly after five. Getting there just pas four, I got to squeeze my way to the counter, pick up a beer and some Blue Ribbon swag (guilty as charged), and mainly, best part of all, catch NYC rapper Mykki Blanco (pictured) for half an hour of raunchy slams and menacing ‘acid punk’ raps, some freaky, most straightforward vulgar.. but oh, yeah, should have mentioned: when played right, that’s great in my books; none of that ‘positive’ buzzkill, just one hell of a slimy frantic performance backed up by the DJ every now and then, but taking on a fair few a cappellas. Glad I turned up a little early. – Read Tracy Mamoun’s full report here – pictured and streaming: Prince Rama.

My CMJ Wednesday began rather inauspiciously since the first band I wanted to see was nowhere to be found five minutes before its scheduled set time. I grumpily left the Alphabet Lounge as I realized I wasted about an hour that could have been spent checking out the Jack White-sponsored Rolling Record Store, which was parked outside Santos Party House throughout the night. Oh well, I guess Mr. White will just have to wait another day for me to blindly throw money at him. – Read Josh S. Johnson full report here – In the picture and streaming, Starred.