CMJ 2007 : Day Five

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/cmjday5final.jpg" alt=" " />QRO finally made it out to Brooklyn on the last day of CMJ for a limited, but high-quality, night. ...

  After packing in thirty-five hours of shows into four days, hitting up the day shows was a little too exhausting.  It didn’t help that the daytime offerings were weaker than in prior days.  But Brooklyn took a serious step-up in the final day, with more CMJers free to travel to the distant, spread-out borough.

 

Metromix/Fleet Team @ Music Hall In Williamsburg, Brooklyn
 

 The Hood Internet, 10:15 PM

 The Hood Internet

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Showed up at 9:30 PM for Art Goblins, but nothing happened until The Hood Internet took the stage at their scheduled start time, forty-five minutes later.  If you like DJ’s, then maybe The Hood Internet is good, but leading off, as not a ‘dance DJ’ but an actual act, how much can you watch two guys fiddle at a computer?

 ~

 

 Flosstradamus, 11:00 PM

 Flosstradamus

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Much better was Flosstradamus – and not just ’cause they had already had cred with the indie crowd, thanks to their awesome remix of Matt & Kim’s "Yea Yeah".  The two DJ’s actually delivered a show on stage, exciting the young scenester crowd with not the standard DJ hip-hop/pop mix, but with some songs the audience knew and actually liked, such as a raucous "Say It Ain’t So" by Weezer.  Also special was that Matt & Kim were setting up their equipment right at the front of the stage during the set, ravin’ to the music all the while.  It might sound odd to say a DJ act like Flosstradamus flowed perfectly into the drums & keys, hyper-kid music of Matt & Kim, but they did

 ~

 

 Matt & Kim, 12:00 AM

 Matt & Kim

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Matt Johnson said "Flosstradamus got ya’ll riled up", and riled up the Brooklyn crowd was, for hometown heroes Matt & Kim.  Right from the get-go, the audience went wild, with stage-diving, crowd-surfing, and a sloshing mass that could have gone anywhere (there was even a guy in a silver Mexican wrestler mask, who got caught on stage, about to dive, when a song ended – with which he just stood there, frozen, until next one began).  It wasn’t just all the classics off their self-titled debut like "5K", "Frank", and "It’s A Fact (Printed Stained)", but new, untitled pieces off the sophomore release they will be recording this winter, as well as "the first song we ever wrote, on guitar, before we knew what we wanted to play" ("Our first song is also our most complicated, ’cause it was before we realized we couldn’t play our instruments that well").  And then there was the between song banter – always excellent at a Matt & Kim show, this time even more so.  Matt pulled out and read excerpts from his favorite book, Letters to E.T., a collection of actual letters sent by children to the movie studio that produced E.T.  And Kim Schifino got a mike for the first time ever.  While still not singing ("No one wants to hear me sing" – QRO interview), she was able to fill in the pauses when Matt was at a loss for words.  Returning to the Music Hall for the first time since opening up the new venue (when opening for Against Me!), it was actually the duo’s last New York City show for a while (QRO photos from previous Brooklyn show), as they head off to Europe, and then take the winter to work on their new album.  And they closed out in style, with Matt & Kim joining other fans in stage-diving and crowd-surfing at the end.

  ~

 

 Art Goblins, 1:00 AM

 Art Goblins

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But it wasn’t quite the end of CMJ, as the Art Goblins threw down right after, in the venue’s entryway.  Delayed by their plane flight from the U.K., the crazy, smashing band of Art Brut’s Eddie Argos (QRO interview) were the consummate showmen, and rocked the departing crowd with some insane noise and lyrics.

Unfortunately missed:

The Subjects (QRO live review) and Spinto Band at the final WOXY session

Merge daytime showcase at Sound Fix Records in Brooklyn, with The Rosebuds (QRO interview), Imperial Teen, The Broken West (QRO live review), Ladybug Transistor, and Oakley Hall (QRO album review)

The Dragons of Zynth and Harlem Shakes (QRO interview) at Mercury Lounge – How did CMJ pass without hitting up the two great acts from the people who brought you the McCarren Park Pool Parties, Jelly NYC? 

Justice was supposed to be at the Apple Store at 8:00 PM, but it didn’t happen

Spoon’s (QRO live review) big CMJ show at Roseland Ballroom – thankfully caught them at their Blender Late Night session (QRO Day Three recap)

Band of Horses (QRO live review) at Bowery Ballroom at midnight – thankfully also caught them at their own Blender Late Night session (QRO Day Four recap)

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Concert Reviews
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