Thursday, October 18, 2007
Live from CMJ: Day 2 with Thurston Moore, Xiu Xiu, A Place to Bury Strangers and more
Wow! After my first taste of CMJ yesterday, I can see why people get so excited for it each year. For those of you unfamiliar with CMJ, it's a music and film festival that takes over most of the venues in New York for a week. The adventure began at around 1 as I left the hotel to go to CMJ headquarters. Following registration, I sprinted over to the Apple Store in Soho just in time to catch Thurston Moore's set.
Thurston Moore: 2PM, Apple Store Soho, Myspace
Seeing Thurston live was quite a fortuitous event. Despite being a Sonic Youth fan since at least the beginning of high school, I have never managed to get around to seeing them live. Still, I've heard many stories about their legendary shows, and seeing Thurston play with his band gave me no doubt that these stories aren't exaggerated. Armed with only an acoustic guitar, I was expecting a stripped down performance, but Thurston dodged our expectations by filling the songs with marvelous instrumental breaks and at times, cascades of beautifully layered feedback that could only come from a member of Sonic Youth. Combine that with a very intimate performance setting at the Apple Store and the fact that Seu Jorge was standing next to me during the show and there isn't much more I could ask for.
1990's: 6:30PM, SPECTRE College Radio Party, The Village Underground, Myspace
After a brief excursion over to the CMJ Film Festival, I got ready for the night ahead of me at SPECTRE's part at the Village Underground. After a Wii Table Tennis tournament, we were treated to a special performance by the 1990's. Coming into the show with just a bit of information I'd gathered from blogs, I was hoping for the best but not really knowing what to expect, and while I wasn't completely blown away, the band were just tight enough and their use of two singers allowed them to show off their impressively catchy vocal harmonies. If you like British bands like the Libertines, I think you would probably dig these guys.
The Poison Control Center: 7:30PM, Knitting Factory Tap Bar, Myspace
Immediately after the 1990's I headed further downtown to Tribeca's Knitting Factory. I was a bit surprised to find that only about 10 other people showed up to the show, but this didn't stop the Poison Control Center from bringing the noise, funk, and good old fashioned rock and roll. These guys are a band I randomly stumbled across through listening to incoming music at WBRS, so I guess the buzz hasn't spread yet about these guys. They're a kind of Of Montreal sounding, flannel shirt wearing, high energy indie rock band, and they certainly didn't let the small crowd stand in their way of rocking the fuck out. In fact, in terms of stage presence, the Poison Control Center put on one of the better performances of the night. The consistently chose to break the fourth wall, and their guitarist and bassist performed a significant portion of the set out in the middle of the crowd, at times writhing on the floor during their fantastically appropriate guitar solos.
Xiu Xiu/Marnie Stern: 9PM, Blender Theater, Xiu Xiu Myspace, Marnie Stern Myspace
After much deliberation, I decided to head uptown to the Blender Theater to catch Marnie Stern and Xiu Xiu. I was only familiar with Marnie Stern by name, and while the description CMJ gave her was slightly misleading, I still found her set to be quite enjoyable. Fortunately, Xiu Xiu followed her up with the best set I've seen him play. He delivered a fantastic synthesis of his various styles, playing both new and old songs, and at one point he played what is either a fantastic Xiu Xiu song that I'd never heard or a somewhat mashed up cover of New Order's "Age of Consent".
Cadence Weapon: 11PM, Galapagos, Williamsburg, Myspace
Near the end of Xiu Xiu's set, I figured it was time to leave the trendy Manhattan scene that was beginning to wind down for the night and head over to Williamsburg, Brooklyn where I knew they'd keep the party going well into the morning. At the time, it was my understanding that Cadence Weapon would be playing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, but as I was walking over there, I heard what I knew was either Cadence Weapon or my new favorite MC coming out of the Galapagos Art Space. I still can't get over how lucky I was to stumble across this little shows, since Cadence Weapon put on another of his always legendary performances.
A Place to Bury Strangers/Foals: 12:30AM, Music Hall of Williamsburg, APTBS Myspace, Foals Myspace
While the venue was slightly under-attended, this did nothing to stop the show from being by far, the best of the night. The first band to play were a British band called Foals. At the time, they were completely unknown to me, other than having an acquaintance I made over lunch recommend them to me, but I'm so so sooooo glad I made it out to see them. They started off their set with a series of wonderful vocal harmonies sung in what sounded like an African language of some sort or a very elaborate take on gibberish set to math-rock instrumentals. Soon this gave way to similar math-rock guitar parts set to dancey house beats laid down in bizarre time signatures by their amazing drummer. Listening to them on myspace after the show, it's clear that Foals are a band to be seen live, but they still sound pretty good on recordings. I HIGHLY recommend checking Foals out if you're at all into dance rock like The Rapture of math rock like Battles of Don Caballero.
Finally, the last band of the night, one of my main reasons for coming out to Williamsburg, was A Place To Bury Strangers, and let me tell you this: THESE GUYS ARE FUCKING LOUD! They're playing at Chum's at Brandeis next month, so definitely check them out, but be sure to bring earplugs. They put on a mostly exciting set with a very fitting light show and all kinds of guitar noise and effects. It seemed that most of the melody for the songs came from the Bass player while the guitarist mostly made atonal noise, but somehow it all came together well and created a nice, slightly danceable, slightly shoegazey, very noisy sound. If last night was indicative of a pattern, it seems that may be that Brooklyn is the place to be at CMJ.
Thurston Moore: 2PM, Apple Store Soho, Myspace
Seeing Thurston live was quite a fortuitous event. Despite being a Sonic Youth fan since at least the beginning of high school, I have never managed to get around to seeing them live. Still, I've heard many stories about their legendary shows, and seeing Thurston play with his band gave me no doubt that these stories aren't exaggerated. Armed with only an acoustic guitar, I was expecting a stripped down performance, but Thurston dodged our expectations by filling the songs with marvelous instrumental breaks and at times, cascades of beautifully layered feedback that could only come from a member of Sonic Youth. Combine that with a very intimate performance setting at the Apple Store and the fact that Seu Jorge was standing next to me during the show and there isn't much more I could ask for.
1990's: 6:30PM, SPECTRE College Radio Party, The Village Underground, Myspace
After a brief excursion over to the CMJ Film Festival, I got ready for the night ahead of me at SPECTRE's part at the Village Underground. After a Wii Table Tennis tournament, we were treated to a special performance by the 1990's. Coming into the show with just a bit of information I'd gathered from blogs, I was hoping for the best but not really knowing what to expect, and while I wasn't completely blown away, the band were just tight enough and their use of two singers allowed them to show off their impressively catchy vocal harmonies. If you like British bands like the Libertines, I think you would probably dig these guys.
The Poison Control Center: 7:30PM, Knitting Factory Tap Bar, Myspace
Immediately after the 1990's I headed further downtown to Tribeca's Knitting Factory. I was a bit surprised to find that only about 10 other people showed up to the show, but this didn't stop the Poison Control Center from bringing the noise, funk, and good old fashioned rock and roll. These guys are a band I randomly stumbled across through listening to incoming music at WBRS, so I guess the buzz hasn't spread yet about these guys. They're a kind of Of Montreal sounding, flannel shirt wearing, high energy indie rock band, and they certainly didn't let the small crowd stand in their way of rocking the fuck out. In fact, in terms of stage presence, the Poison Control Center put on one of the better performances of the night. The consistently chose to break the fourth wall, and their guitarist and bassist performed a significant portion of the set out in the middle of the crowd, at times writhing on the floor during their fantastically appropriate guitar solos.
Xiu Xiu/Marnie Stern: 9PM, Blender Theater, Xiu Xiu Myspace, Marnie Stern Myspace
After much deliberation, I decided to head uptown to the Blender Theater to catch Marnie Stern and Xiu Xiu. I was only familiar with Marnie Stern by name, and while the description CMJ gave her was slightly misleading, I still found her set to be quite enjoyable. Fortunately, Xiu Xiu followed her up with the best set I've seen him play. He delivered a fantastic synthesis of his various styles, playing both new and old songs, and at one point he played what is either a fantastic Xiu Xiu song that I'd never heard or a somewhat mashed up cover of New Order's "Age of Consent".
Cadence Weapon: 11PM, Galapagos, Williamsburg, Myspace
Near the end of Xiu Xiu's set, I figured it was time to leave the trendy Manhattan scene that was beginning to wind down for the night and head over to Williamsburg, Brooklyn where I knew they'd keep the party going well into the morning. At the time, it was my understanding that Cadence Weapon would be playing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, but as I was walking over there, I heard what I knew was either Cadence Weapon or my new favorite MC coming out of the Galapagos Art Space. I still can't get over how lucky I was to stumble across this little shows, since Cadence Weapon put on another of his always legendary performances.
A Place to Bury Strangers/Foals: 12:30AM, Music Hall of Williamsburg, APTBS Myspace, Foals Myspace
While the venue was slightly under-attended, this did nothing to stop the show from being by far, the best of the night. The first band to play were a British band called Foals. At the time, they were completely unknown to me, other than having an acquaintance I made over lunch recommend them to me, but I'm so so sooooo glad I made it out to see them. They started off their set with a series of wonderful vocal harmonies sung in what sounded like an African language of some sort or a very elaborate take on gibberish set to math-rock instrumentals. Soon this gave way to similar math-rock guitar parts set to dancey house beats laid down in bizarre time signatures by their amazing drummer. Listening to them on myspace after the show, it's clear that Foals are a band to be seen live, but they still sound pretty good on recordings. I HIGHLY recommend checking Foals out if you're at all into dance rock like The Rapture of math rock like Battles of Don Caballero.
Finally, the last band of the night, one of my main reasons for coming out to Williamsburg, was A Place To Bury Strangers, and let me tell you this: THESE GUYS ARE FUCKING LOUD! They're playing at Chum's at Brandeis next month, so definitely check them out, but be sure to bring earplugs. They put on a mostly exciting set with a very fitting light show and all kinds of guitar noise and effects. It seemed that most of the melody for the songs came from the Bass player while the guitarist mostly made atonal noise, but somehow it all came together well and created a nice, slightly danceable, slightly shoegazey, very noisy sound. If last night was indicative of a pattern, it seems that may be that Brooklyn is the place to be at CMJ.
