Good Weather For Airstrikes

It’s Monday now and I think I’m actually deceased. As in, no longer living. I woke up today (after only leaving bed yesterday long enough to watch the Redskins game and then collapse again) covered in bruises I don’t remember getting with my throat on fire and a hangover leftover from a Thursday through Saturday bender that probably won’t go away until mid-week. Whatever though, it was worth it. Below is a day by day account of my evolution from a normal, functioning human being to the pile of uselessness that I am now.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17
With two midterms just waiting to get all up in my kool aid on Thursday, I took it easy on Tuesday and Wednesday and only treated myself to a few CMJ pleasures in the early evening of Day Two. The main event for me was Vampire Weekend’s “secret” gig with Jack Penate at the Cakeshop, which was easily the smallest venue either band had played in months. Penate announced the show through his MySpace, but I’d say the crowd was still populated almost entirely of industry types or those with direct ties to the two acts. These kind of events are often a letdown, but it turned out to be a pretty great show.

VAMPIRE WEEKEND W/ JACK PENATE (CAKESHOP, 2:00 PM)

I saw Jack Penate twice in Brighton at the Great Escape last year, and on both occasions he played with his backing band to absolutely packed venues of amped up fans. The nature of Wednesday’s secret gig at Cakeshop was quite a different affair, with Penate playing solo to a room of subdued industry folks with a few in-the-know fans scattered amongst them. Primed to become the UK’s next great pop talent, Penate plays a unique blend of brass-less ska and, uh, rockabilly to put his own distinct spin on the singer-songwriter genre. The essential quality of Penate’s music - and his entire persona, really - is how unequivocally fun it is, and this came across loud and clear in a live setting. His inter-song banter is grade-A and totally endearing, and he races through his tracks cutting a rug while rocking out on his electric guitar. He played all the favorites during his short set, even taking the time to sing a few bars in his best Morrissey impression and just generally winning over the audience with his catchy pop songs and playful persona.

MP3: “Second, Minute or Hour” - Jack Penate ((highly recommended))

Vampire Weekend was up next, playing the smallest venue they’ve played since becoming NYC’s Official Next Big Thing this summer. Their Columbia University fan club was noticeably absent, but they were still able to coax the audience into some crowd participation on “One” (”Blaaake’s got a new face!”) and were well received from the respectful, if a bit detached attendees. They kicked out the jams and all the fan favorites (”Oxford Comma”, “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”, “A-Punk”, et. al) and treated us to new songs like “I Stand Corrected” and “M79″, both of which are destined to be stand out tracks when the quartet finally releases their hotly-anticipated debut album proper next January. I stepped out to meet up with Lizzy and the rest of the Vassar radio kids before finding out if the band closed with their typically mind-blowing rendition of “Walcott”, but I’ve seen VW like ten times now, so I kind of knew what to expect by that point. Their first single proper, “Mansard Roof”, is out tomorrow backed by way good B-side “Boston” on XL in the US and XL-subsidiary Abeano Music in the UK, so be sure to cop that from your local record store at your earliest convenience, as it’s bound to be a collector’s item before you know it.

MP3: “Boston” - Vampire Weekend

My plan for the rest of the day was to get as drunk as possible on free beer and liquor so as to allow me to fall asleep by 8 and be able to wake up at 5 the next day to study for midterms (yeah, I’m that responsible), so we rolled over to the The FADER Sideshow party to get our dranx on and take in a few mediocre performances from HEALTH (loud), MGMT (not worth the hype) and Adrian Orange (boring). The performances were a total letdown, but the converted gallery proved to be a terrible venue that would have been hard for any band to engage a crowd in. Either way, I succeeded in my goal and stumbled home just in time to pass the fuck out around 8:30. All in all, a decent first day.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17
So my big “plan” kind of backfired and I only got about an hour total of studying in on Thursday, but it ain’t no thing. My Art of Listening exam went decently, but I totally killed my History of Film midterm, so it’s all good. You could care less about that though, so onto the shows. Thursday was the first real day of CMJ for me, and with the Frenchkiss Showcase, Simian Mobile Disco and New Young Pony Club ahead of me, I overcame my adderall comedown and forged ahead into the night.

FRENCHKISS SHOWCASE (PIANO’S, 7:30 PM)

Piano’s was the first stop of the evening for the Frenchkiss Showcase, so I met up with Kira and Lizzy on the corner and we headed in. Juiced Elfers (the new project of Nick Diamonds of Islands/Unicorns, Les Savy Fav’s Syd Butler and two of the dudes from AIDS Wolf) were supposed to play from 7:30 to 8:30, but Nick was way late and they only got to play a truncated 20 minute set. It wasn’t a huge deal though, as they only actually have four songs written and rarely remember how to play them anyway, but it was still a fun time. They played one original song, a Troggs cover, an improvised song about eggs (seriously) and a three-minute rendition of “The Bird’s The Word” (again, I’m serious) and it was all fine and good. Nothing even remotely serious or something to write home about, but certainly not a waste of time either. I’m not really sure where this is going to go - if the band is actually gonna release anything or not - but it’ll definitely be fun while it lasts.

Next up was New Zealand’s finest, power-pop guitar-rockers Cut Off Your Hands. Where Juiced Elfers might not take themselves seriously enough, Cut Off Your Hands might take themselves a little too seriously, but they fucking rock, so it’s okay. I saw them a bunch last winter, but this was the first time I’d seen them since they’d secured a deal in the UK (courtesy of 679), put out their debut EP in the US (out this month through IAMSOUND) and released another EP of new material in New Zealand through Levi’s LeviTY label, which I guess was created to spotlight new talent coming out of New Zealand or something. It’s called Blue On Blue and it totally rules, so definitely check it out if you can find it. Regarding their performance though, it was great. They sounded as good as ever, with the band ripping through debut EP standouts like “You And I” and a new-and-improved version of “Expectations” alongside new hits-in-waiting like “Still Fond” and “Closed Eyes”. Frontman Nick Johnston freaked out all over the place, jumping up on the drum kit, launching himself from the amps and hanging from the rafters as usual, and it was a totally rockin’ affair throughout. Attendance was sparse - likely because they played like 40 other shows during the course of CMJ - but it was definitely a set worth seeing and enough to get me really excited to see what this band can do in the future.

MP3s:
“Still Fond” - Cut Off Your Hands ((highly recommended))
“Closed Eyes” - Cut Off Your Hands

SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO (MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG, 12 AM)

Simian Mobile Disco was an hour later than scheduled in taking the stage, which threw off my schedule a little bit, but they still fucking killed it. We rolled up just before they hit the stage and managed to get all the way up front, where the sensory overload was at critical levels as a result of the blinding light show and deafening brilliance of the band’s set. They pumped out chart-toppers like “Hustler”, “It’s The Beat” and set-highlight “Sleep Deprivation” and generally brought the venue to its proverbial knees while the duo unplugged wires and twiddled knobs on their analog set up. An encore including more lightshow hotness and a bangin’ rendition of “I Believe” rounded out their set, sending us hustling out the door to get over to Studio B for the Modular Showcase. In other news, anyone seen SMD’s new video for “Hustler”? Shit is fucked up.

MP3: “Sleep Deprivation” - Simian Mobile Disco ((highly recommended))

NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB (STUDIO B, 1:30 AM)

SMD’s delayed set time meant we had to miss Muscles set at Studio B (my only significant regret of CMJ), but we were still able to catch New Young Pony Club at the best venue in New York City so it all good. NYPC took the stage a few minutes late around 1:30 to a crowd that was clearly pumped to end a day full of drinking and debauchery with the sexiest band around (those basslines, ooooh), and they didn’t disappoint. I’d seen them perform twice in London to crowds of 1,000+ on both occasions, so the comparatively intimate setting of Studio B was a welcome change of venue and totally owned my previous live experiences with the band. “I hear this is the city that never sleeps, so fucking prove it to me,” Tahita challenged the audience before launching into the band’s set with new single “Get Lucky”, and the audience responded by losing their collective shit and dancing into the early hours of the morning. Their set consisted of all the standouts off their fantastic Fantastic Playroom LP, but the real treat was a cover of Technotronics’ Jock Jams-era burner, “Pump Up The Jams” (file under: wayy awesome). Sidenote: Anyone else still got love for those classic Jock Jams compilations? I found Volume 1 in my basement during a party I had over winter break last year and you better believe it soundtracked the rest of the night; Jock Jams were AMAZING. Moving on though, “Pump Up The Jams” was an awesome surprise in a thoroughly excellent set, and the night only got better when Simian Mobile Disco rolled over from Music Hall of Williamsburg to close off the night with a killer DJ set of their own. I eventually made it home around 3:30 and Day Two officially came to a close with me asleep in my bed with all my clothes on, apparently only managing to get one shoe off before unconsciousness took hold and ushered in Friday morning. A fitting close to an endlessly awesome evening, I’d say.

MP3s:
“The Bomb” - New Young Pony Club
“Get Lucky” (MSTRKRFT Remix) - New Young Pony Club

That’s it for the first half of my CMJ 2007 coverage, check back later for the full rundown of Friday and Saturday.

Thanks to Soundbites, Pitchfork and Music Snobbery for the photos.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2007 at 10:42 pm and is filed under Live Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.