I met with California’s Princeton on the last day of CMJ, just as they were waking up after a late night out, and a week full of shows. Keyboardist Ben Usen was nowhere to be found*, and the band had traveled light with little equipment; so the Kivel brothers took on a keyboard found in their host’s apartment, while drummer David Kitz played the drum machine. Jesse Kivel sings a new song, “Stunner Shades in Heaven”, in the kitchen, and Matt Kivel sings another new song, “Martina & Clive Krantz” in the living room. I requested for at least one song from the Bloomsbury EP, after which Matt learned to play “Ms. Bentwich” on the keyboard as we were filming. That evening the band played their last CMJ show at Club Love, snippets of which you will see in this video.*Ben might’ve been taken hostage by an infamous New York City gang, members of which kept yelling his name at the show.
Princeton will play Pianos on December 2 and Update: December 5 at Union Hall. Read all of our previous posts on Princeton.
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Download “New York Song“ | Dark Dark Dark’s The Snow Magic is one of the most refreshing albums I’ve heard this year. In stark contrast to the increasing number of bands who deploy a large ensemble to play on their record (which I have nothing against), this Minneapolis quartet finds a distinct, wholesome voice, full of haunting tales and eruptive movements, within the realm of what each member plays: an accordion that rises, falls and ripples, and a marriage of cello, bass and banjo that steadily chugs on. Add to that the longing voice of singer Nona Marie Invie, whose urgency Marshall LaCount grounds with his soothing, storytelling voice, and you understand why drummer extraordinaire Martin Dosh’s contribution to the record is decidedly on the minimal side—Dosh simply wraps his rhythms along the contours of the band’s beast of a sound. Continue to listen to one more song from the album.
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Download “Ms. Bentwich“ | I spent the morning shooting Secret Garden with Princeton (two minutes after they’d woken up), so I decided to catch their last CMJ show that evening before they headed back to California—they are touring with Ra Ra Riot in December, and plan to stop for a New York City show right before that tour kicks off; they were also picked up by Impose Magazine as one of the “Best of CMJ” bands, and Pop Tarts Suck Toasted did a pre-CMJ profile. All pics by Kashish.
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Download “Original Bones” by Cotton Jones | Like its neighbor Cake Shop, Pianos hit full capacity on day four of CMJ; and as I mentioned earlier, Kashish was so taken with seeing Maryland’s Cotton Jones Basket Ride at the Red Bull Space the previous night that he headed to Pianos to catch them again, perhaps to get a more “authentic” New York show experience this time—the Red Bull Space was an interesting place to see bands you like, but it felt more like a posh, private party there, and the sound up front was pretty distorted; that venue is more suited for electronica shows. Anyhow, KEXP did a little CMJ push for Cotton Jones, mentioning that the band plans to release three EP’s before moving on to their debut full-length. All pics by Kashish.
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Showcase after showcase, through the early afternoon and the late night, complete with after parties, Cake Shop was abuzz with CMJ activities last week. On his way to see Cotton Jones for the second time at Pianos, Kashish stopped by to catch several performances: City Center upstairs, Phosphorescent closing the Chouette showcase downstairs and drawing a solid turn-out (Cake Shop hit full capacity); preceded by Castanets, and followed by what Kashish described as “hilarious boy-band mockers” Picture Picture, who opened the New York Noise 5 Year Anniversary line-up—they were voted the worst act of Day 4 by Pop Tarts Suck Toasted: “Who ordered a two piece karaoke act to the Cake Shop? Seriously this band was amazing in how awful they could be! No backing band, just two dudes and a sampler playing corny disco riffs as the shouted over it. Stupid!” All pics by Kashish.
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Download “Original Bones” by Cotton Jones | Apparently Oxford Collapse bassist was not having his best day at Red Bull Space on Thursday: Kashish tells me there was a big delay resulting from him not being happy with the sound of the bass guitar, even though bands who went before them seemed to have had no trouble, and later, when he decided to crowd-surf, a woman whose tooth got chipped from the tip of his bass guitar wasn’t too thrilled with the outcome. I think one’s tooth is definitely worth getting chipped, but probably not from an Oxford Collapse show at CMJ! On the other hand, Kashish was smitten with Cotton Jones, so much so that he went to see them again the next day. The show closed with The Broken West. All pics by Kashish.
hooves on the turf is a mostly-music blog based out of brooklyn. i can be reached at hoovesontheturf [at] gmail [dot] com - please send me your lovely music as an attached mp3 or an mp3 link. if i like what you send, i'll be sure to ask for more.
