Music

cmj music marathon picks for tuesday, october 19th

das racist

This hip-hop duo took the internet by force and drilled their single, “Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell,” into thousands (perhaps millions) of heads repeatedly, and deservedly so. Not for a long time has hip-hop sounded this fresh, interesting, intellectual, and relevant. Check out their free mixtape on their website before seeing them live at CMJ. You’ll have many chances to see them live, too; they are playing at least 5 shows. -JN
12:30PM @ Pianos

smoosh

Another sister group, these young women hail from Seattle and have been playing music since they were wee little girls, recording their first album when they were 10 and 12 and opening for the likes of Cat Power, Pearl Jam, and Sufjan Stevens. Their latest has a more mature and less poppy sound, with lush vocals and sweeping melodies, as well as younger sister Maia on bass. -DK
8:00PM @ Mercury Lounge

francis and the lights

Francis Farewell Starlite and his band Francis And The Lights have been steadily working the New York scene. It’s finally paying off with the release of their debut album, It’ll Be Better, and their opening stints for Canadian hip-hop act Drake and MGMT. You’ll love grooving to their funky, ’80s throwback sound. -DK
8:00PM @ The Studio at Webster Hall

the photo atlas

Despite having a personal connection to the band (they slept on the floor of my tiny apt one CMJ years ago), I thoroughly enjoy their brand of synth-dance rock. They were signed to the fated Stolen Transmission label, and put out one release in 2007. I am hoping that their CMJ appearance will revive them into another album! -JN
12:00AM @ Trash Bar

cmj music marathon picks for wednesday, october 20th

The Drums

The Drums have been on a steady incline this year, and their June debut album has been on a steady rotation on many an iPod. Their indie-surf pop is joyful, groovy, and bubbly, and it will get stuck in your head. They’re only playing one show at Webster Hall, with Surfer Blood. -DK
8:00PM @ Webster Hall

wild nothing

Virginia’s Jack Tatum lets loose in a fuzzy, dreamy, classic ’80s kind of way. Paying homage to bands like The Smiths, Cocteau Twins, and My Bloody Valentine, Wild Nothing’s dream pop will have you shoegazing the night away. -DK
12:00AM @ Santos Party House

how to dress well

An interesting combination of R&B influences and the current chill-wave movement, How To Dress Well is the solo project of Tom Krell. His debut full-length as HTDW, entitled Love Remains, came out this month to rave reviews. -JN
1:45AM @ The Delancey

terrible things

“The trio is comprised of very accomplished individual songwriters, and Terrible Things is varied and interesting enough to appeal to the fans of their previous bands (Taking Back Sunday, The Color Fred, Hot Rod Circuit), particularly for Jackson and Mascherino, whose bands could have easily performed the songs that appear on this stellar debut.” -RP
7:00PM @ Gramercy Theatre

dirty projectors

It seems a bit daunting that Dirty Projectors are playing Madison Square Garden, but all I know is, they’re easily one of the best bands I’ve seen all year. -VH
8:00PM @ Madison Square Garden

cmj music marathon picks for thursday, october 21st

ava luna

Brooklynites with a unique sound, Ava Luna combines a unholy alchemy of doo-wop, synth, and dance. Their groove will put your heart aflutter, make your brain pulse, and have you shake your booty. -DK
6:30PM @ Public Assembly

the luyas

A Montreal band with ties to Miracle Fortress, Bell Orchestre, and The Arcade Fire, The Luyas use unconventional instruments like a French horn and a 12-string electric zither. They haven’t played that many US shows yet, so hear ‘em while their still somewhat under the radar. -DK
7:00PM @ Arlene’s Grocery

dark dark dark

Dark Dark Dark, a six-person band who is aptly described as being a “chamber-folk” group, features intense vocals with lush, beautiful instrumentation (instruments featured include trumpet, accordion, and piano). Their debut full-length album, Wild Go, just came out on October 5. -DK
8:00PM @ Coco 66

emil & friends

Modern electronic funk, rolling deep into the soul with smooth grooves and falsettos, bolstered by 8-bit noises. This is just feel-good dance music. -VH
8:00PM @ Public Assembly

the binary marketing show

“An experimental lo-fi project which falls somewhere between a backwoods campfire jam session and an electronic crapshoot in a dingy basement, the binary marketing show… will really, really appeal to a select demographic. Perhaps that demographic is you.” -VH
8:00PM @ Lit Lounge

young man

Painfully honest and nostalgic songwriting that recalls childhood and days long gone, the music of Colin Caulfield is wrapped up tight in reverbed vocals and lies comfortably on a bed of dreamy psychedelic pop elements. -VH
8:00PM @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg

john vanderslice

His latest, Romanian Names, is just the most recent in a series of beautiful, hard edge folky rock records put out by John Vanderslice. Using classic rock influences to craft thoughtful, intimate songs for the past ten years, Vanderslice has emerged as a quiet leader in the indie rock community. -JN
8:00PM @ Mercury Lounge

french horn rebellion

Williamsburg represent! Two brothers formed this neo-disco band in 2007 when younger brother Robert Perlick-Molinari, an accomplished French horn player, sought out older brother David’s advice and participation in his “rebellion” to the limitations of that instrument. Thus their dance-happy electropop sound was born. -DK
9:15PM @ The Studio At Webster Hall

screaming females

Rarely does one band have such an excellent package: kick-ass guitar riffs, a spitfire of a female lead singer, and a live exuberance that makes every show exciting. If you haven’t ever seen NJ’s Screaming Females live, don’t miss them. -JN
9:30PM @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg

the mynabirds

Laura Burhenn, formerly one half of Georgie James, has finally found her sound in her latest project, The Mynabirds. Her bold, soulful renditions tug at the heartstrings but still keep your toes tapping. -DK
11:00PM @ The Delancey

lower dens

The latest hottest thing to come out of Baltimore, Lower Dens has the added cache of having Jana Hunter as a frontwoman, and she’s brought her musty, dusky, lusty voice with her. They have no less than 10 shows during CMJ (and possibly more), so you have no excuse for missing them! -DK
11:45PM @ Knitting Factory

cmj music marathon picks for friday, october 22nd

francis and the lights

Francis Farewell Starlite and his band Francis And The Lights have been steadily working the New York scene. It’s finally paying off with the release of their debut album, It’ll Be Better, and their opening stints for Canadian hip-hop act Drake and MGMT. You’ll love grooving to their funky, ’80s throwback sound. -DK
11:00PM @ Mercury Lounge

first aid kit

Gotta love the Swedes! Sister duo Johanna and Klara Söderberg use folksy harmonies to create beautiful music as First Aid Kit. Check out their video for their cover of Fleet Foxes’ “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song.” -DK
11:00PM @ Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2

morning teleportation

With their new album nearing on the horizon, Portland’s psych-pop attic-dwellers Morning Teleportation are on the up and up for a damn good reason. -VH
11:00PM @ Public Assembly

+/- {plus/minus}

Fronted by James Baluyut of the band Versus, this indie-rock staple has been making music for almost a decade. Known for their driving guitar lines and wistful harmonies, the band hasn’t put an album out in over 2 years. Here’s hoping their CMJ performance is a preview for some new music. -JN
12:10AM @ Rock Shop

matthew dear

Don’t miss Matthew Dear, who has made quite a name for himself as an inventive producer of electronic music — a rare notable breed in the United States. -VH
3:30AM @ Webster Hall

cmj music marathon picks for saturday, october 23rd

diehard

Brooklyn band Diehard has been playing live locally for the past year, and finally has put out their first official EP this fall. The indie powerpop quartet plays fun, upbeat, and not over-saturated songs that are good for dancing, or even comfortable swaying. -JN
1:30PM @ Spike Hill

corin tucker band

Guitarist/vocalist from the much adored Sleater-Kinney is back with a “solo” album of sorts. Joined by Unwound’s Sara Lund and The Golden Bears’ Seth Lorinczi, Tucker crafts a masterpiece reflecting on her personal hiatus from music, family life, and her love of Twilight: New Moon. -JN
9:00PM @ Maxwell’s

cults

The single “Go Outside” by Cults has been playing nonstop on blogs for the past few months, and it makes sense because they are such a summery, upbeat band. The duo is young (21-years-old), and they sound it, but their youthful nature is what makes them so charming. Their 7″ is available through Forest Family Records, and word on the street is that their full-length will drop in January 2011. -JN
10:00PM @ Santos Party House

turbo fruits

No pretentions here; Turbo Fruits are pure punk fun. Originally a member of the now defunct Be Your Own Pet, band leader Jonas Stein decided to trek out on his own, to (pardon the pun) fruitful results. Turbo Fruits are full of energy, and have a modern, rowdy take on the punk genre that will thrill any music fun-seekers. -JN
11:20PM @ Knitting Factory

Lead single, “For Ash,” pretty neatly encapsulates this approach, bursting out with typically schizo guitar leads and skittering beats, only to abruptly hit the breaks at the minute mark. Here, the track abandons its off-kilter rhythmic hits and wordless hollering and actually falls into a groove. Not surprisingly, this cohesion does not last long. But as the bottom drops out once more, rather than ramping back up to speed, the track falls into an even more epic, spaced out, half-time crunch.

Marnie Stern – “For Ash” – DOWNLOAD MP3

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Stern has rarely allowed so much open space into her songs, and the cleaner mix places an emphasis on lyrics and melodies which were previously obscured by ten million other notes per second. This is, however, something of a double-edged sword, as Stern’s voice and lyrics were never her strongest suits. What once were serviceable slices of stream of consciousness are now more direct proclamations of love and loss. “I’m too late/ You’ve got her/ I’m not enough,” Stern sing-speaks through “Transparency Is The New Mystery,” an honest to god alterna-rock power ballad that stops just short of employing the requisite schmaltzy string arrangements. “Risky Biz” picks up the pace, but still sounds tame and restrained, with drummer Zach Hill seemingly falling over himself inside a strict four on the floor beat.

The back half of the album strikes a much better balance between this newfound accessibility and the more outré aspects of Stern’s established sound. Like the aforementioned “For Ash,” high-water marks “Female Guitar Players Are The New Black” and “Cinco De Mayo” combine incessant two-handed tapping with more traditional chugging rock riffs, to great success. “Female Guitar Players” stands out in particular, with the addition of airy vocal harmonies evoking simultaneously the feelings of flying effortlessly and of falling to earth at tremendous speeds.

More focused songwriting and an uptick in production values aside, Marnie Stern is unmistakably the creation of its namesake. Stern succeeds here in the not-necessarily-so-easy task of dialing back her instrumental ferociousness — the quality she was most widely defined by over her last two albums — while still somehow maintaining much of her intensity. Whether this album is just a short breather before the next all out assault, or whether it is an indication that Stern is mellowing for good, we’ll have to wait and see. With albums this solid, I wouldn’t mind if the tenuous peace between her hyperbolic guitar freakouts and my feeble brain lasted a while.

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Starting off on a high note with the danceable gypsy-folk number, “In Your Dreams,” the album alternates between this style and that of somber ballads. And despite the fact that this Minneapolis-based band has six members, it is in the simplicity of its ballads where its greatest successes lie — mostly thanks to the vocals of Nona Marie Invie. On the nostalgia-inducing “Daydreaming,” Invie repetitively sings, “Oh, if you knew what it meant to me,” and it is distinctly memorable. Her crisp, soaring melodies in “Something For Myself” are the same; these melodies, when delivered by Invie, are enveloping mantras to store into your brain for the long haul.

For some unfortunate reason, though, the ten-track album feels like a marathon of a listening experience. Poor song sequencing plays a key detrimental role; rowdy tracks are sandwiched between ballads, their sudden introductions and disappearances giving them the feeling of being much too jam-packed. The third track of the album, “Heavy Heart,” hints to potentially interesting new ideas, by way of a lack of predictable song structure and instrumentation. But when a male vocalist and a focus on electric guitar are introduced — both fairly rare on this album — it begins to feel a bit too unfocused. The slower side of Dark Dark Dark’s songs face problems as well; too many tracks seem to center around waltzy time signatures, which makes them seem to creep by, even when they are enjoyable in isolation.

With a bit of work, Dark Dark Dark could be successful as a lighter, more playful counterpart to a band like Bowerbirds. For now, though, Wild Go is merely a solid effort with a few stellar ideas and some forgettable ones.

Dark Dark Dark – “Wild Go” Music Video

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The biggest question that some people may ask is if this record sounds more like Enola Gay-era Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark or If You Leave-era OMD, and the answer is a combination of both. The title track, divided into two parts, definitely sounds like late ’80s-era OMD; and while some people may not like that era of the band, there’s enough here to satisfy all types of fans. Of the two parts, “Part I” is the most exciting because of its lyrics and melodies. Unfortunately, about halfway through, the album comes to a screeching halt with “Sometimes,” which contains annoying female backing vocals and DJ scratching in the background. Its absolute nadir is “Pulse,” which sounds like a song that McCluskey wrote in 2000 for Atomic Kitten.

The album comes back on track with “RFWK,” a song bolstered by beautiful vocals from McCluskey, and is followed by the stark, bare “New Holy Ground,” which wins for top song on the record, due to its quiet nature and the brevity of the lyrics. If you’re an old school OMD fan looking for a throwback, then look no further than “The Future, The Past And Forever” and “Sister Mary Says”; these two songs contain great vocals and ’80s keyboards without sounding dated at all. This is a relief for a band celebrating their thirtieth anniversary.

Without a doubt, the weirdest track is “Save Me,” a U.S.-only bonus track, and the first
single; it is a mash-up of an Aretha Franklin song with OMD music — an interesting experiment, but it doesn’t sound like real OMD. Overall, a really great comeback record and an excellent pop record, ’80s or otherwise.

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Australia’s Lawrence English came out and told everyone that his music was better experienced by lying on the floor, so the Decibel Festival-goers all moved the chairs that had been set up in Pravda Studio and found a good spot on the cold, hard floor. English wasn’t lying. His first song came in with a torrential blast of distortion that literally sounded like hurricane-force rain and wind. Then the bass came in, and this must be what English is known for — despite the extreme, harsh distortion, the bass absolutely walloped through the floor, resulting in a full body vibration. His ambient tones were virtually nature-influenced at this point; it sounded and felt like the elements were tearing the venue apart, one floor board, one roof tile at a time.

But just as quickly as it started, English was off, segueing seamlessly into the softer, spacey, guitar-driven tones of Portland’s Grouper. The one-woman show started her soothing set with English standing off-stage, waiting for his hurricane to die down. It couldn’t have been a more jarring change, but the ebb and flow of the music worked out quite well. Liz Harris’ sounds were equally comforting as they were eerie, as she floated through her set in a ghost-like trance.

Iceland-born and Australia-raised Ben Frost hopped up onto the stage in his bare feet, launching into his horrifying brand of ambient electronic — insanely harsh distortion, wolves yelping and howling — Ben Frost was locked in. His focus onstage was intense, , and as he launched into “Killshot” off last year’s utterly fantastic By the Throat, it became clear that Frost is in a style of electronic all his own. Where everyone else is more concerned with setting a tone that lulls you into a dreamy haze, Ben Frost is busy creating a nightmare that you have no escape from. His music is scary, frightening, and uncomfortable, but you have no choice to try and survive — if Ben Frost allows you to.

Following a brief hiatus, Rufio returns to The Militia Group (their last two records were on Nitro) with Anybody Out There, an album that’s more attuned to the pop-punk aspect of their second album, 1985, than the technical panache of The Comfort of Home.

Heavy on hooks, call-and-response parts and gang vocals, songs like “Drunk in Love,” “The Loneliest,” and “Anybody Out There” find Rufio resting comfortably in a world of Four Year Strongs, Motion City Soundtracks and Set Your Goals — pop bands with an edge that have prospered in a genre that have all gone on without the presence of Rufio. These slight shifts in Rufio’s sound, albeit minimalist, aren’t without compromise. The metal riffs that put the band alongside like-minded bands like Thrice aren’t really present, which makes a record like Anybody Out There just another radio-ready album.

Still, there’s much to enjoy about Rufio: Sellers can still carry a song on his vocals alone and while Clark Domae’s guitar parts, though at times understated, help the songs that they are featured on (“Little World,” for example) shine bright on this album. While this is not the Rufio that you may have heard back in high school, they’re still pretty rockin’.

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No Age – “Glitter” – DOWNLOAD MP3

Which is a shame, because it seems like “Partytime U.S.A.” might be their most popular song, even though I cannot stand it or its lyrics that repeat over and over again, “I’m not a nuclear fluke/ I’ve got a bad reputation as a real cool dude.” All I can think is that I want to plot an escape from this album, and even though the rest of it slows down, becomes more diverse, and even gets a bit enjoyably droney in parts, “Partytime U.S.A.” kind of killed my mood. If you can make it beyond that, though, there are a couple of tracks it’d be good to stick around for.

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