What does CMJ stand for? In literal terms, it once stood for ‘College Music Journal’, but has since evolved to just the initials, a-la ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken’ into just ‘KFC’ or ‘British Petroleum’ into just ‘BP’ (and don’t think CMJ doesn’t love those associations…). But where does alternative/indie music stand these days, where file-sharing, iTunes, iPods and the rest are all yesterday’s news? QRO might not have figured it over the five-day CMJ Music Marathon at venues across New York City, Tuesday-Saturday, October 19th-23rd, but had fun trying:
FADER Fort
Homeboy Sandman
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Two years ago at CMJ (QRO recap), FADER had one of the best spots, official or unofficial, in the FADER Fort, with strong acts & strong drinks right in the center of Bowery action. Last year at CMJ (QRO recap), FADER Fort was seriously shrunk, to one day, off the beaten path, though still with good drinks & bands (if too electro). For 2010, FADER Fort grew a bit, to two days, relocated to close to Bowery, still had good drinks, but the acts hewed to electro-dance & hip-hop even more than usual.
Still, worth checking out & getting your FADER wristband (which was paper, unlike last year’s plastic, despite that you were supposed to use it both days – i.e. wear it in the shower on Saturday morning…), as well as starting your CMJ drinking. Actually, Homeboy Sandman was engaging, including doing freestyle to Guns n’ Roses’ "Sweet Child of Mine".
Cloud Nothings
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One band I was curious about that was playing FADER Fort was Cloud Nothings. Their garage-punk was young without being either overdone or sloppy, though suffered from FADER Fort’s poor soundsystem (something that plagued just about every act that played the place). They also had some trouble sticking in your head – more memorable was that their singer looks like a young Will Sheff (QRO photos) of Okkervil River (QRO live review).
Jamaica
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Foreign acts get particular promotion at CMJ, as their governments spring for advertisements and showcases (well, First World governments). One nation that was promoting particularly heavily at CMJ 2010 was France, and understandably so, after the success the Fifth Republic has had in the last year-plus with acts like Phoenix (QRO live review). And getting double the nationalism was the French Jamaica – unfortunately, their indie-punk was middling, leaving the most interesting thing about them being their country of origin.
FLIGHT
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As day turned to night (and you could certainly tell it in FADER Fort, with the massive glass window-walls onto two streets), the evening showcases started up, but before heading out, stuck around for another drink & another band. While the beer was good, the band wasn’t, in the boring hard-punk of FLIGHT (though the soundsystem didn’t help). Skipped out at the end of my beer.
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CMJ Showcase @ Hiro Ballroom
Lissie
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Finally stumbled out of FADER Fort for a trip out of the Bowery – to my first actual official CMJ show of the year. Alt-country gal Lissie was doing a show at 
the posh Hiro Ballroom (QRO venue review), and the girl is certainly on her way up – Hiro was packed with (mostly female) fans that knew her songs. However, when she covered Townes Van Zandt’s "Waiting Around To Die", guest-spotting opener Dylan LeBlanc had to read the lyrics to the piece off his iPod – should have had Evan Dando of The Lemonheads in there; he’d covered that same song on his last release, Varshons (QRO review).
Mostly what I’d expected, Lissie is more engaging live, if not as airbrushed beautiful as the album cover to her Catching a Tiger (QRO review).
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Ernest Jennings Showcase @ Bruar Falls
The Forms
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An older ‘Friend of the Q’, The Forms (QRO spotlight on) have gone through some line-up changes since putting out The Forms (QRO review) in 2008, and seemed to disappear. But the Brooklyn math-rock outfit was back for CMJ, albeit as a duo, reduced to just their two core members, singer/keyboardist Alex Tween (QRO interview) and 
drummer Matt Walsh. They started from in the crowd, with Walsh on electronic drum and Tween on accordion (with a particularly into it Christopher Paul Stelling – QRO photos – in the crowd), but once on stage, the two were fully teched-out, including numerous percussive instruments for a standing Walsh (such as Caribbean steel drum at one point), and a headset microphone for Tween (which was a little too Rent/Madonna-y…).
Later, even Walsh admitted that it had been a bit rough, this newest version of The Forms, but the pair did get better as they went along, with new renditions of older songs.
La Strada
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Left Bruar Falls to catch Gringo Star (QRO spotlight on) at Cameo (QRO venue review), but they were done by the time I got there. Headed back to Bruar for La Strada, who had a surprisingly good alt-collective hootenanny sound. Unfortunately, they announced that their next show would be their last – not just of CMJ, but period…
This was also my first time at Bruar Falls, the Brooklyn venue opened by the people behind Cake Shop (QRO venue review). It’s been open for a year or so, and there’s a reason that I hadn’t been there previously, as the acts are strictly low-level (often free). It’s pretty much a bar with a small (though relatively well-raised) stage in the back. Now if they can just book someone worth seeing outside of CMJ…
Takka Takka
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Ran into Gabe Levine, singer of Takka Takka, at the bar at Bruar, so really did need to stick around to see their show – and glad I did. Two CMJs ago (QRO recap), caught Takka Takka at the best I’d seen them, 
in a spooky, kind of ‘dance of the dead’ style that finally made sense of Migration (QRO review). And for this CMJ, even though they no longer have the Takka that I’d interviewed, ex-guitarist Drew Thurlow (QRO interview), their sound was even more compelling and engrossing. Always balanced on a fine point between complexity and pop, Takka Takka were finely-tuned at Bruar Falls – even without knowing most/any of the songs, was never once bored. And Takka Takka seem to bring out the ladies…
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Øyafest & Filter showcase @ Public Assembly
Snowden
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While the missing Gringo Star meant the evening wasn’t going to be a straight string of QRO spotlighted acts, still finished it off with another ‘FoQ’, Snowden (QRO spotlight on). Since putting out Anti-Anti and touring with the likes of Kings of Leon (QRO photos on that tour), things stalled for Snowden and their efforts to put out a sophomore record. There was a time when Ra Ra Riot (QRO spotlight on) was supposed to open for them, not to mention fire marshal-called sold out show (QRO photos). But singer/guitarist Jordan Jeffares’ (QRO interview) move from Atlanta to Brooklyn seemed to only extend the wait for the new record (still waiting…).
Yet momentum looks to finally be back behind Snowden, perhaps thanks to fully moving to the Big Apple – and recruiting two new members to replace the half of the band that couldn’t make the move. Playing at 2:00 AM in the not-great Public Assembly (QRO venue review) didn’t help – they were scheduled for 1:00, but everything was running late, and they 
were stuck behind the highly-touted Lykke Li (QRO album review) clone Oh Land & her massive amount of gear. Like the also rearranged Forms (see above), Snowden were a little rough at first (though might have been the soundsystem), but got better & better as they went along, closing with a great rendition of "Black Eyes". They were also another band that got love from the ladies – though those ladies all seemed to have boyfriends (who probably hate the good-looking Jeffares…).
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Here’s what two others at QRO caught during CMJ Day Four:
Natalia Blas
FADER Fort
The Babies
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[note: also caught FLIGHT – see above]
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Last Friday Showcase @ Coco 66
Light Asylum
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Frankie Rose & The Outs
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Tamaryn
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Marielle Solan
Yourstru.ly Showcase @ Glasslands
Oberhofer
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ReThinkPopMusic Showcase @ Crash Mansion
MiniBoone
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Unfortunately missed:
-Hooray For Earth (QRO spotlight on) @ Bowery Electric, 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM.
-DeVotchKa (QRO album review), 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM, and Dan Mangan (QRO album review), 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM, @ Fontana’s (QRO venue review). Always had been curious about DeVotchKa, but Fontana’s is a venue worth skipping (though word is that they’ve got a new soundsystem) – especially when they play Lincoln Center for CMJ the following night.
-Ghostface Killah @ B.B. King’s, 10:30 PM – 11:30 PM. Every year, there are a few random CMJ shows that are outside of both the geographic center and indie center, especially at B.B. King’s. Last year it was Bobby Brown at B.B. King’s – comparatively, Ghostface Killah is more ‘relevant’.
-Mike Doughty (QRO live review) @ Best Buy Theater, 8:30 PM – 9:30 PM. Another out-there venue that I’d never been to, but Best Buy (formerly Nokia) Theater was hosting singer/songwriter & funny stage presence Mike Doughty. Really should have hit this up, but didn’t know the venue and/or if Doughty would have his ‘question jar’…
-Dean Wareham (QRO interview) plays Galaxie 500 @ Bowery Ballroom (QRO venue review), 12:00 AM – 1:00 AM. For the first night of my first CMJ (QRO recap), saw Dean (Wareham) & Britta (Phillips) play Bowery for only the second time since they’d played the last-ever Luna shows there. But was really more of a fan of Luna than Galaxie 500, and bet that the place would be packed – was mostly curious what the rest of Galaxie 500, Damon & Naomi, would think, as they play Knitting Factory (QRO venue review) the following Friday (QRO concert listing).
-Gringo Star @ Cameo, 9:30 PM – 10:30 PM. They were done by the time I got there, causing a break in what otherwise would have been four ‘QRO Spotlight On’ artists in a row.
-MiniBoone (QRO album review) @ Crash Mansion (QRO venue review), 9:30 PM – 10:15 PM. Marielle Solan caught them, however – QRO photos.
-Nada Surf (QRO live review) @ Mercury Lounge (QRO venue review), 1:00 AM – 2:00 AM. Very likely to be completely packed by 1:00 AM.
-Dean & Britta’s (QRO spotlight on) 13 Most Beautiful Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests @ NYU Skirball Center, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM. Missed not only the beautiful Mr. Wareham but also the beautiful Ms. Phillips – but had seen this show outdoors at Prospect Park Bandshell (QRO venue review) last year (QRO review), and it probably wasn’t a whole lot different now.
-The So So Glos (QRO live review), Wild Nothing (QRO album review), Woven Bones (QRO album review), and Violens (QRO album review) @ Pianos (QRO venue review), 10:00 PM – 2:00 AM. Reappraised upwards my feelings on The So So Glos after seeing them at Northside during the summer (QRO recap), and feelings on the three before them could use a second look – but singer/guitarist from Woven Bones (mock?-)threatened QRO after our less-than-flattering review of their record…
Other notes:
-Met someone who was in the ‘band crowd’ for Pavement (QRO live review) on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in September (QRO Indie On Late Night TV) – in fact, he was the one who bowed to Bob Nastanovich – and it’s really all about Bob Nastanovich…
-Coco 66 show that Natalia Blas was at was shut down by the police for overcrowding. Two patrons leaving by bicycle were then hit by a hit-and-run driver.
