By Kathryn Pinto
Every October a zillion bands, or more accurately something like 2000; mostly young unsigned bands descend on New York City to play the CMJ (College Music Journal) Music Marathon. Marathon is probably a better word than festival or conference to describe what happens this week from October 18-22, although there are badges, expert panels and official showcases. Bands play marquee events as well as unofficial shows, parties and happenings. Writers, fans and industry people join in the melee to discover new acts, meet with other music obsessive, and to take the temperature of a loose amalgam of genres once known as college rock. Radio Free Silver Lake will be on the scene for a firsthand look and listen with an eye out to catch bands that haven’t yet toured the West Coast and to go support Silver Lake and Los Angeles bands playing in the Marathon. With that in mind we bring you our CMJ Music Marathon: LA bands playing CMJ and bands we’re excited to see for the first time. (For show locations and times check the CMJ Schedule or the band's web site.)
Silver Lake and Los Angeles Bands
The Californian
The Californian, fronted by John Graney, is a modern surf rock band. Graney and the rest of the band members including members of the Break-ups and the Henry Clay People are musicians’ musicians. The surf sound is a framework, an invitation, an understandable way in to superb songwriting and musicianship. This band is terrific as a full band, stripped down acoustic; even their sound checks are better than three quarters of the sets I see. Graney will be playing the CMJ shows as a solo set. Not to be missed. (Friday Spike Hill, Brooklyn)
Races
There has been a fair amount of buzz about this band and it gets high marks from Buzzbands.la and Jax the Rock Insider, label owner, sometimes blogger and now the band’s manager. I saw them recently and was impressed and I’m looking forward to seeing them again. (Wednesday at the Cake Shop, Thursday, Friday CMJ shows, Saturday at the Knitting Factory)
Duniven
Patrick Duniven formed a new Americana band out of the ashes of heartbreak and the split from his previous band. I Have To Try For Her is Duniven’s phoenix from the ashes album. The band played a month of Mondays at a Radio Free Silver Lake residency at the Silverlake Lounge this spring in the lead-up to the album’s release. Their live show was already quite good the first week, but with each show the band played together more tightly and by the final week became a force to be reckoned with. (Wednesday ASCAP showcase at the Canal Room)
Heather and Ben Heywood (TS and the Past Haunts, Pyyramids)
Heather and Ben Heywood of Summer Darling (and Heather of Kissing Cousins) are playing with TS and the Past Haunts, and Pyyramids. I haven’t seen either band yet, but in their other projects the Heywoods excel in bringing a dark, loud and gripping show. I’ll see any band that has either of these two playing.(Wednesday, Friday in Brooklyn)
Army Navy
These guys have been around for a while and have some catchy songs but had been keeping a low profile while they worked on their new album. In the past few months they released and have been playing a bunch of shows around the eastside clubs in LA. I haven’t had a chance to see them recently so I’m looking forward to seeing them in New York. (Playing everyday, six shows total, schedule here)
Lord Huron
RFSL Brad Roberts keeps telling me to go see this band, but I haven’t had a chance to see them yet. They play Wednesday night at the Mercury Lounge, immediately before Hey Marseilles, another highly recommended CMJ band. (Wednesday at the Living Room, the Mercury Lounge: Thursday at the Rock Shop Brooklyn)
(Non-LA) Bands We’re Looking Forward to Seeing
Hey Marseilles
Hey Marseilles isn’t a brand new band, the Seattle orchestral pop septet just recorded their latest album, their second, with producer Tucker Martine, but they aren’t widely known yet. In fact I’ve only had the opportunity to see them once in Los Angeles once in the last two years. This group is voted band I’m most likely to see more than once at CMJ. (Wednesday at the Mercury Lounge, Friday at Wicked Willy’s, Saturday at Arlene’s Grocery)
Nerves Junior
The young band out of Louisville just released their excellent debut album As Bright As Your Nightlight in September. The band and the record were (deservedly) pimped so passionately and shamelessly by fellow Kentuckian We Listen For You (“2011’s answer to Kid A) that it took a few weeks cooling off to be able to evaluate the recording on its own merits, and it does hold up well. Nerves Junior is my most anticipated live show of CMJ; I’m very interested to see how they stack up as a live band. (Wednesday We Listen For You Day Party at Piano’s, Saturday CoS party at Southpaw in Brooklyn)
Radical Dads
For months Mega Rama has been in heavy rotation in my ipod. It keeps making the cut each time I decide what stay and what goes to make room for new music. Radical Dads does a great job of combining noisy sound play with catchy hooks. “Hurricane” starts with a bunch of knob twiddling and takes the listener through a five-minute outing from noise to pop that leaves you singing along by the end of the track. (Thursday and Sunday at Bruar Falls in Brooklyn)
Caveman
Daytrotter just released a session with Caveman that I’ve been listening to a lot and enjoying for its dark rhythmic muddiness. Other than that the band has enviably good work of mouth from music fans whose opinion I respect (Playing every day, schedule here)
Wild Flag
Choosing a band made up of Carrie Brownstein, Mary Timony, Rebecca Cole, and Janet Weiss (former members of Sleater Kinney and Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks among other) might be too easy of a pick, but it is a new band and they have a some good material. All that’s left is to see them live—if you can score a ticket.
Titus Andronicus
Word is if you haven’t seen Titus Andronicus live you should (and I haven’t.) (Tuesday at Glasslands, Brooklyn)
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