Festival Review: CMJ 2004

The Rapture. Raveonettes. Interpol. Yeah Yeah Yeahs. With the Big Apple giving birth to many of today’s popular bands, it’s only fitting that one of the nation’s biggest music festivals take place in such a fair city. Over 10,000 students, musicians, industry professionals and plain-old music fans descend on New York each year for the CMJ (College
Media Journal) Music Marathon. Motorcityrocks was lucky enough to witness the unparalleled music extravaganza.

Although the marathon boasts informative panel discussions and film fests, the main draw is, of course, the music. CMJ is best known for showcasing indie artists, most of whom have not hit ‘pay dirt’, or at least many haven’t become ‘golden children’ of the mainstream just yet. These are musicians playing music because it’s what they love to do. But with so many bands playing in just as many venues, it can be overwhelming at times, proving to be a frustrating experience.

Arriving in New York on Wednesday afternoon, I found my way to the Javitz Center to pick up my press badge. As I came upon this monstrosity of a structure, I saw hundreds of people milling about, most of whom had shelled out about $500 to attend the festival. Luckily I was given a little green “bible”… a book filled with the happenings over the next four days. So picking the bands I wanted to see shouldn’t have been hard, right? Oh, you are so very wrong.

Before I left for New York, I had promised myself that I would make a point to NOT see bands from Detroit. Living in this town, going to shows almost every weekend… who was playing that I hadn’t seen before? No one. But, of course, where did I find myself at least once each night? Seeing a band from the Motor City. Don’t get me wrong, I think some of the best bands at CMJ were from Detroit, but I can see them almost any time I want. With so many wonderful musicians playing all over Manhattan, I wanted to broaden my musical horizons. Then I realized how interesting it might be to see how our bands are received in other cities. Thus, my little ‘experiment’ began.

I started off Wednesday evening with an industry party where I met up with a friend. To be honest, I can’t quite remember who the gathering was for or where it was at, but I do remember there was free beer. Later that evening I headed to the Knitting Factory to see Pidgeon, a strange little band from San Francisco. The group, a mixture of hardcore noise and melodic female vocals, had a pretty solid following. Pidgeon was unlike any band I’d heard before. They were able to seamlessly transition from what some might characterize as hard rock to slower, softer melodies. I was quite impressed. After the show, I made my way over to the Bowery Ballroom. I had planned on seeing the Decemberists (whom I caught at last year’s CMJ), but as luck would have it, they stopped letting people in just as I was next in line, literally. So, I trekked my way to the Delancey to try and catch Thunderbirds Are Now!, but again, I missed them as well. I saw a bit of a group called Detachment Kit, a pop/punk band from Chicago, but to be honest, it was too crowded to really enjoy myself.

‘Detroit City’ and friends took control of the Mercury Lounge on Thursday night. After attending the Team Clermont showcase and staying for a few hours, my friend and I headed over to the Mercury just in time to see Mr. Airplane Man. The Boston duo is a mixture of bluesy, Morphine-esque rock… very minimal with a drum kit, guitar and dual vocals. After the girls finished their set, Blanche took the stage. Seeing as this was my first official encounter witnessing a Detroit band’s reception with the NYC hipster crowd, I was as impressed with the turn-out as I was with the number of people who knew the lyrics. Several Detroiters were in the audience… Wendy Case and Danny Methric from the Paybacks (who played later that evening), Lager House booking agent and Paybacks manager, Rich Hansen amd my friend Lars (who recently moved to NYC from Detroit). But the crowd wasn’t all Detroiters – As word would have it, Joaquin Phoenix, Carson Daly, James Iha (of Smashing Pumpkins/A Perfect Circle fame), Little Steven and Drea DeMateo (from the Sopranos) were also there to check out the show. The Sights went on later that night, played to a packed house, and by the time the Paybacks took the stage, the show had sold out. As most of you may well know, Carson was so impressed with the Paybacks’ performance he asked them to be the house band for Late Night with Carson Daly. So, last week, the group taped a two-day performance
that will air November 4th and 5th.

Friday proved to be another night filled with Detroit bands. The Times Beach Records showcase was taking place at Rare, and it was quite the walk to get there. The Skeemin’ Goods and the Hentchmen played back-to-back, and were the last two bands to play the venue. Although the turnout wasn’t what it should have been, Wendy and Danny from the Paybacks were again on-hand to show their support, and those who attended the show were die-hard fans. Afterwards, I met up with MCR’s Ryan to catch The Go at the Continental. Playing to a packed house, the band gave a solid performance… the set was a little shorter than I would have liked, but reunited Go member Dion Fischer graced the crowd with his presence, and they seemed to enjoy it. Besides, where else in Manhattan can you shell out $4 for a Pabst? I longed for the bars of my hometown.

Saturday, my last day in the city, I made the wonderfully stupid decision to stay up all night. Since my plane left at 6 a.m. Sunday morning, I knew it would be difficult to make my way to the airport. I didn’t see many bands that evening, as I decided to meet up with one of my New York friends for dinner. However after our feast, I made my way to Sin-E. Again, I met up with Ryan and was pleasantly surprised to see a band called Mahjongg. The Chicago quintet played a beat-driven, high energy set. Mahjongg’s sound strays from the norm… they mixed several layers of polyrythmic sound – an eclectic and odd mixture of rock, with a dash of electro-pop – creating a very dance-inspiring recipe. A New York band called the Prosaics took the stage next, but the trio seemed somewhat unoriginal and static, and ultimately left me unimpressed. Ryan and I left shortly thereafter and found the nearest Lower East Side hangout. Making my way back to the hotel at about 3:00a.m., I was able to catch about 30 minutes of shut-eye before I had to catch a cab back to the airport.

When they say marathon, they’re not kidding. It was a long weekend of trekking through the rainy streets of New York in search of the next big thing. The great part of CMJ is coming across exciting new bands and this year Pidgeon and Mahjongg were a couple solid discoveries. It was great to find some of the hometown favorites like the Paybacks and Blanche playing to enthusiastic packed houses and see people discovering them for the first time. Four days of rock n’ roll in New York City – definitely a good way to spend some time. – Jacquie Trost