Everyone has a different take on, and different approach to CMJ. The NYC-based music festival can be a smorgasbord for passionate and adventurous music fans with enough energy and curiosity to stay up to all hours of the night seeing band after band, many of which they’ve never seen before. It can be an incredible game of Russian roulette. For every great band to be discovered, there’s five mediocre ones there to drain the showgoing life out of you. Six chambers, 5 bullets—is that a chance you’re willing to take? That’s a testament to the power of music.
Since moving to the city in 2000, I’ve experienced CMJ from multiple angles, starting with that of a fan. There was the year where Saddle Creek put on the most mind-blowing showcase—one that hasn’t been rivaled since. It included sets by Desaparecidos, The Good Life, Azure Ray, Now It’s Overhead, Rilo Kiley, Cursive and Bright Eyes. It was a true test of endurance, but one full of reward.
A few years later (2003) I was interning for CMJ’s art department, creating much of the promotional art and badges for the festival. It was the first time with a badge and the opportunity to see any of the shows I desired. Performances by Pretty Girls Make Graves, Broken Social Scene, Mars Volta, The Rapture, Killing Joke, The Fever and VHS or Beta highlighted my experience that year, and from that point on CMJ was an annual adventure, with me covering the festival as both a photographer and writer.
With each year, the festival lineup has gotten a bit less impressive, but has always had its’ fair share of discoveries to be made. Crystal Antlers, Ruby Suns, A Place to Bury Strangers, Dr Dog, O’Death, Apes & Androids, Foreign Born, Cut Off Your Hands, Death Vessel, Music Tapes, Foals, Asa Ransom, Wye Oak and Bad Veins have all been great finds in the past few years.
While in the past few years, I managed to devote a large amount of energy to CMJ (and believe me it’s necessary to have a lot of it), 2009 required a much different approach from me, and once again I got the chance to experience the festival from a totally different perspective. Having already experienced CMJ as a simple college music fan, an intern graphic designer, photographer, and writer, this year I managed to curate my first ever showcase. It was an inside view of the internal structure of CMJ and boy is it a mess.
With a clear view of the exact lineup I wanted to put together, I got to work contacting some of my absolute favorite undiscovered bands—Deleted Scenes, Loxsly, Unicycle Loves You, ArpLine and Army Navy. Each of these bands was planning/hoping to play CMJ, but not all of them had yet been officially accepted. We waited and waited, while the CMJ organizers waited till the last possible minute to send out acceptance letters to Army Navy and Loxsly. Another band I’m friends with only heard of their acceptance thanks to a Google alert, never receiving an actual letter.
Luckily, all of the bands of my perspective showcase were accepted, and my ideal lineup fell perfectly in place, with the pleasantly unexpected addition of Leeds trio Sky Larkin coming only a couple weeks prior to show date.
By the time CMJ arrived on Tuesday, October 20, my personal life had become filled with misfortune, and so I was completely unprepared and unmotivated to take chances on new bands, and had done no research into any of the hundreds of bands playing the festival.
On day 1, I stuck to Williamsburg. Taking no chances, I caught Pitchfork favorites Deleted Scenes at the Popgun showcase at Cameo Gallery. Their passionate 7 pm set was an ideal start to the night. A short walk to Glasslands followed, with an electrifying set by local trio Right on Dynamite. Having followed the band for years, their progress is truly astounding. With each member now fully in tune with their mates, they’ve managed to add dynamic musicianship to their more straightforward poppy rock. Laura Marling’s beautiful folk sounds at Music Hall of Williamsburg were great, but in the mood for something a bit more accelerating, I headed to Spike Hill for Chicago’s Unicycle Loves You. With an excellent new sound system, Spike Hill provided a solid opportunity to catch one of Spin’s “25 Bands to Hear” and they didn’t disappoint, playing a set filled with new material.
Day 2 started with a P and the P’s band and ended with a different P and the P’s band hours later. At 8:30, Paul & The Patients took the stage at Southpaw and singer Paul Holmes blew our heads off with his larger than life voice that at times brings to mind a more passionate classic Billy Idol. Moving along to Bell House, I took my first real gamble of CMJ with sets by 3 much-talked about new bands that I knew very little about. First was Merge’s newest signing The Love Language, who filled the stage with musicians playing a set that showed why Merge has made them part of their roster thanks to well-crafted rock songs that recall a poppier Broken Social Scene. English youngsters Let’s Wrestle followed with a sometimes sloppy, but still inspiring set, with fellow Englishmen Pete & The Pirates closing the night with a bang. In many ways they sound like you would expect an English band to sound, full of those Jam and The Clash influences, but somehow Pete & The Pirates managed to find an extra special something that made their songs unique enough to stand out and make them my favorite discovery of CMJ.
Arriving home very late and a bit intoxicated, I came home to the news of the death of one of my closest friends. With very little sleep, I tried to pick myself and gain composure as Thursday was the one night of CMJ that really mattered to me, with my first ever showcase happening at Union Hall. Carrying on in a state of shock and disorientation, I arrived at the venue early, awaiting the bands to load in. From 7 pm – 1:30 am, I was reminded of the true power of music. In a complicated emotional state, the sets by Loxsly, Unicycle Loves You, ArpLine, Deleted Scenes, Army Navy and Sky Larkin provided a truly uplifting force. Music is one of the most powerful things in the world, providing a soundtrack to our lives that can pick us up when we’re down and inspire us to do great things. When Unicycle Loves You dedicated surefire future indie hit “Justine” to me to close the set, it sent shivers down my spine.
We all have our struggles and our own ways to carry us through them, for me I’ve always been able to depend on music, and on a very tragic Thursday, having 6 of the best bands in the world play a show I curated was about as important a moment in my life as any. It’s amazing what music can do.
Hungover, tired, and broken down on Friday, I went home after work and fell asleep, nearly missing an entire night of music. A phone call from a friend woke me up from my nap, and with the hangover abandoned during the hour-long slumber, I picked my tired self up and dragged myself to 88 East—a mini mall in Chinatown, where Zambri would be performing on the 2nd floor. Arriving just in time for their dystopian dance music, my heart skipped a beat when sisters Cristy Jo and Jessica Zambri dedicated their set to me.
My CMJ ended a little later that night with my 2nd set of the week by my current favorite local act Paul & The Patients. Though performing at the douchey Arlene’s Grocery, Holmes and his bandmates were even more exhilarating than two nights prior.
Everyone who managed through the 5-day music festival will have their own story filled the tales of drunken adventure, new band discoveries, friends made, and first time only-in-NY experiences. For me this CMJ was a deep emotional roller coaster having very little to do with alcohol, freshly hyped bands, and testing physical endurance. This was about exactly why I’ve devoted my life to music and my own personal give-and-take relationship with it. For every douchey pretentious rock & roller who ruins the image of rock and roll, there are heartfelt musicians who bleed their souls for their work with little to gain, and beyond anything they are not just musicians but people with deep hearts.
...and then we all got swine flu.
Pete & The Pirates - "Mr. Understanding"
Paul & The Patients - "Tiny Red Light"
Unicycle Loves You - "Justine"
ArpLine - "Fold Up Like A Piece of Paper"
