Hooves on the Turf

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.

Kashish joined me at Club Love and took a lot of pictures, and we both really enjoyed their set—it was cut short because Jesse Kivel’s throat hadn’t been feeling too well (everything was running behind schedule anyway), but it was a short, uplifting, feel-good and fun-filled set nonetheless. Since Club Love is a funky little club in the West Village with a tiny performance space, the number of people trailing outside the venue in an enthusiastic line to get in was enough to pack the place—it was hot and full inside—and for that reason it was a more fitting venue for them than the Bell House. The show ended with a lot of dancing to “Shout It Out”, which wasn’t a bad way for me to end my CMJ adventures at all, except, we decided to stop by at Red Bull Space afterward. By this time I’d lost track of who was playing where, and it had started to rain like hell, which was kind of perfect.

The showcase was organized by Cantora Records, though Princeton isn’t on that label.