Cmj Marathon 2008
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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.
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Download “It’s Oh So Quiet!” and “Echinacea“ | I had no more than an hour to spare for CMJ last night, and I decided that songstress Olga Bell and her band Bell, playing at Pianos, would be well-deserving of the time—ridiculous, I know, since there were at least 12 good bands playing there, but I think most of us would agree that if you can’t afford to take a full week off, the next best option to fully enjoy CMJ is to practice serious moderation in order to avoid exhaustion and crankiness; as much as I love the idea of bands playing everywhere, all over the city, pretty much all day for one whole week, the scenario doesn’t come with a heavenly lift in temperament, so there. To get to the point, Ms. Bell was totally worth it. I know there are some people who believe liking an artist for her cover of a famous artist is no less than an evidence of moral corruption, but I’m a fan of the “It’s Oh So Quiet!” cover. Of course, the Bjork version isn’t lacking anything, but I think Bell still manages to add to the song, and don’t get me wrong, I enjoy all of her originals too, which is what she played last night.
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Download “I Don’t Mind” | Kashish was at the awfully clean-looking Red Bull Space last night, and his loyal adoration of the Classic Rock seems to have clicked with Ponderosa’s southern sensibilities. The boys are from Atlanta/Athens, Georgia, and it looks like last night was their last stop in New York.
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Download “Leonard Woolf“ | I’ve been waiting for Princeton to leave California behind and head to New York ever since I heard their Bloomsbury EP. I’ve a column of bands whose personality I find so likable and whose motivations I find so commendable that I’ll always be nothing but forgiving, patient and loving towards them no matter what, and Princeton exemplifies the kind of bands I’m willing to put on this list (another being These United States). The jewel on the crown, for me, is definitely the song, “Leonard Woolf”, with which I have a special attachment because it says so much with so little that it gives me goosebumps. It’s definitely a meeting point of worlds.
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Download “Everybody Here Is a Cloud” | I’m not one to sit down and plan out a CMJ marathon schedule, that would be too much an arduous task. So in the spirit of “discovering”, I offhandedly picked the Stunt Company showcase at Knitting Factory, which would feature an acoustic set from Cloud Cult. To see Cloud Cult in that level of intimacy, all stripped down as a two-piece—not counting singer Craig Minowa’s wife, Connie Minowa, who was the sole “live-painter” last night—was highly satisfying. Surprisingly, the painting Connie ended up creating was very much reflective of the mood the show evoked in my mind: that of feeling like a 10-year-old with a strawberry popsicle bicycling through a rainbow. Though that was not what she painted (she depicted a colorful profile of a hummingbird with its wings open, hovering above what looked like a ripple), the vibrancy of the colors were a match. Cloud Cult with play a “regular” show at Bowery Ballroom on Nov 11.
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