Rock Around The Clock

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun
NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

A whiff of familiar excitement pervades any music industry event, and CMJ 2007 is no exception. Now in its 27th year, the CMJ Music Marathon descends on New York today with all its accompanying foot soldiers: college radio program directors and disc jockeys, independent labels and their representatives, scores of PR firms and their street teams, label A&R reps and other talent scouts, members of the press, and scores of sponsors and other product-placing publicists. And, oh yeah: musicians, more than 1,000 bands in all, from across North America and Europe — the whole reason it’s still fun to go to the showcases.

CMJ has become the fall sibling event to the annual (and younger) South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, which has grown in reputation and slick star power through the years, but neither showcase really announces bands in the ways they once did. Where once trend hunters discovered unsigned artists at the festival, now artists arrive with early career game plans already mapped out, sometimes using the festivals to soft release new albums and kick off imminent national or regional tours.

That wasn’t always the case, and it’s important to remember that the CMJ Music Marathon grew out of the New York-based College Music Journal, the trade magazine devoted to tracking the playlists of 30 college radio stations around the country. Back in the 1980s, common marketing terms in today’s advertising world such as “college radio” and “alternative” weren’t such highly codified genres, tossed around to differentiate their playlists from big market Top 40 and album-oriented rock stations. The Music Marathon was a onestop confab to see who might be the next big draw to college music fans and other younger listeners.

The wisdom of tapping into that demographic is readily apparent now, but even as late as the early 1990s — when CMJ helped spread then-emerging independent bands and genres such as grunge, riot grrl, and emo — major labels were just starting to realize that college radio is a key cog in the sprawling record industry, serving as a launching pad for the music’s future stars. And ever since the demise of New York’s New Music Seminar in the mid 1990s, CMJ has become not only the largest new talent showcase in the city, but on the East Coast. That’s why you might notice lines spilling out of every music venue south of 23rd Street for the next five nights.

Obviously, CMJ has wisely tried to stay abreast of trends shaping new music. Its organizers are well aware of and responsive to the Web’s ability to break new bands with lightning speed, spread new music, and connect new fans. The festival’s lineups in recent years have reflected the seismic growth of styles and artists that have bubbled up out of youth culture in the past two decades. College radio is no longer ruled only by young white people with guitars, even though a bunch of those still dot the lineups. And this year that lineup features almost 1,100 artists — the real reason why anybody is here. Because even with all the industry flesh-pressing and sensory overload of bills featuring the latest crop of the cool, hip, and highly marketable — and those bands aspiring to be cool and hip and otherwise marketable — CMJ remains what it originally set out to be: a grand buffet of frequently just under-the-radar musicians playing New York clubs.

As always, any attempt to take in all of CMJ will probably land you in the hospital, so here are five events that any pop fringe-dweller won’t want to miss:

1) Dan Deacon may be this year’s biggest underground success story. The Baltimore- based SUNY-Purchase grad released one of the summer’s most idiosyncratic independent albums, “Spiderman of the Rings” (Carpark), a kaleidoscope of whirligig electronic textures, sounds, and squeaks kitted to some of the most giggly melodies this side of daytime cartoons. Mr. Deacon has earned even more wordof- mouth praise for his indescribable live shows, which feature the doughy, nebbish young man powering his home-constructed table of electronics and singing and dancing with an infectious ribald abandon. His epic “Wham City,” which takes its name from the Baltimore artists collective from which Mr. Deacon and scores of other bands and performers have emerged, might as well be the anthem for the current wave of do-it-yourself weirdness permeating clubs from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. (Bowery Ballroom, Wednesday, October 17, 11 p.m.)

2) We can’t print the full name of the Holy [Expletive] in a family newspaper, but spreading the word about this Toronto-based outfit is one of the reasons CMJ exists. The band is based around the core duo of Graham Walsh and Brian Borcherdt, with a rotating cast of collaborators, and the band’s music is equal parts improvisational atmospherics and shifting krautrock polyrhythms.. Onstage, the band is highly entertaining and visually dynamic. (Webster Hall, Thursday, October 18, 10 p.m.)

3) Monotonix may be the most slept-on power trio in underground rock. The band hails from Tel Aviv, Israel, which isn’t exactly well known for spawning bands with Blue Cheer hooks, Thin Lizzy riffs, and a breathtakingly intense live show. Vocalist Ami Shalev blurts out the words behind guitarist Yonatan Gat and drummer Ran Shimony’s thunderous pound. Monotonix’s 2007 debut was produced and recorded by New York’s Shimmy Disc honcho and former Shockabilly bassist Kramer, who knows a thing or two about performance art aspowerful music. (The Knitting Factory, Friday, October 19, 12:30 a.m.)

4) Don’t feel conflicted by the singer-songwriter tag in front of Elizabeth Harper’s name on any billing. While the tag is accurate, the Brooklyn-based musician is less Tori Amos and more Christina Rosenvinge, or even New Order’s Bernand Sumner. Something vaguely Northern English afflicts Ms. Harper’s otherwise bubbly music, as if the threat or memory of melancholy is never far away. Ms. Harper effortlessly swings from variations on late 1960s French pop to 1970s California folk-pop, but something mid- 1980s Manchester never feels too far behind her lovely voice. (Trash, Thursday, October 18, 11 p.m.)

5) Longtime fans can only hope that Devin the Dude’s CMJ appearance brings him the wider radio presence he so deserves. At first blush the Houston, Texas, veteran MC raps about one thing — smoking marijuana — but it’s only a superficial red herring that contains a lyrical universe of hopes, dreams, survival, and a refreshingly upbeat comic touch. Staple gangster rap lyrics about woman-hating and gun-toting would be as anathema on a Devin the Dude album as a GOP plug from Bruce Springsteen, and Mr. Copeland spits his indelible human rhymes over funky, warm, and jazzy beats. His fourth album, “Waitin’ To Inhale” (Rap a Lot), is another imaginative foray into how one man interacts with the world. (B.B. King’s, Friday, October 19, 10 p.m.)

THE BANDSTAND

With more than 1,000 bands signed up to play this week’s CMJ Music Marathon, it must be difficult for each act to distinguish itself. Want to grab some attention? Name your band Death in the Park. Oh, but you’ll have to steer clear of Death of Fashion and Death of Jason Brody, lest festival goers get confused. For fans, it can be hard to decide which acts to go see when there are 1,000 that no one’s ever heard of. Here’s a selective categorical breakdown of the Marathon, for the benefit of players and listeners alike.

FRIENDS & FAMILY

Ancestors
The Jealous Girlfriends
Little Brother
The Chapin Sisters
Brother Ali
The Felice Brothers
Joe Mamma’s
Pharoah’s Daughter
Reckless Sons
Sister Lovers
Sons and Daughters
Sons of Azrael
U.N.K.L.E

PLANES, TRAINS, AUTOMOBILES

Aeroplane
Pageante
Cobra Starship
The Crash Engine
Hangar 18
Southeast Engine

BODY PARTS

Bad Veins
The Bones of Davey Jones
Cut Off Your Hands
Goodfinger
Muscles
The Teeth

BLACK & WHITE

Betty Black
The Black and White Years
The Black Canary
Black Ghost
The Black Hollies
The Black Tie Affair
Black Tie Revue
Blackpool Lights
Blackstrap
White Denim
White Williams
Your Black Star

FOOD

Burnt Sugar
Casper & the Cookies
Kenny Young and the Eggplants
Turbo Fruits
The Tomatoes
Meat Puppets
Mussels
Wild Sweet Orange

ANIMALS

The Apes
As Tall As Lions
Baby Elephant
Bald Eagle
Band of Horses
Bear in Heaven
Bearclaws
Deerhunter
Dragon Turtle
The Falcon
Fishboy
The Giraffes
Mouser
Octopus Project
The Pixel Panda
Polar Bear Club
The Ponys
Tiger Bear Wolf
Tigers and Monkeys
We Are Wolves
We Versus the Shark
Woodpecker!

LIFE & DEATH

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
Beat the Devil
The Big Sleep
Death Before Dishonor
Death In The Park
Death of Fashion
Death of Jason Brody
Fatal Flying Guilloteens
Fearless Vampire Killers
Lifetime O’Death
Super Potent Death Baby
X-ecutioners

PLACES

A Place to Bury Strangers
Barcelona
The Broken West
Canada
The Caribbean
Dirty Vegas
Illinois
Harlem Shakes
Lebanon
Little Brazil
Louisiana
Larry Made in Mexico
The Most Serene Republic
Neptune
Oslo
Princeton
Rails to Russia
U.S.S.R.
Your Vegas

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


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