Final CMJ 09 Day Five Report – October 24, 2009

MUSIC BOX

Final CMJ 09 Day Five Report – October 24, 2009

It came, it saw, it conquered… CMJ 2009 has passed through New York City leaving a trail of disoriented, hung over, ears buzzing music lovers in its wake. While the running ethos of CMJ leans more towards quantity of over quality, it’s impossible to deny the enormity of it all, and the amount of hard work that goes into organizing an event of this scale. The ol’ tip of the hat goes to the CMJ staff, volunteers, sponsors, promoters, artists and supporters, who all made this CMJ a really smooth one.

Au Revoir Simone, The Postmarks, Still Flyin’ @ the Bell House

Saturday was the only day of really crappy weather throughout the entire CMJ Marathon. The rain, coupled with the terrible weekend subway service, and just being tuckered out from a week of show hopping lead me to hone down my final day’s coverage to one solid bill at the Bell House. I made it to the venue early as Still Flyin’, the 12-piece traveling party from San Francisco, was setting up their impressive stage spread. I was hopeful that their upbeat jamz would be enough to counter the wet weather blues. They hit the stage and seemed a bit chewed up from the six shows they performed over the course of CMJ.

Their indie tunes featured shades of ska, reggae and jam, crammed with enough instrumentation (full horn section, two sets of percussion, 2 back up singers and dancers, guitars, etc.) and cheer to pull even the most jaded crowd into the vibe. There were scarves tied to all the mic stands as well as to the band members and at moments their music channeled the pure melody and fun of the Talking Heads circa Stop Making Sense era.

The opening slot on this rainy day did leave the rather cavernous Bell House seeming a bit empty, but they didn’t seem to mind much as they rolled through their set. At one point the bassist couldn’t hear himself in the mix, so the singer told him to lay with his head by the amp, which he did, playing the entire next song laying down. They also requested that folks in the crowd take a knee for the singer’s dog that had recently passed away, I couldn’t help but show my respect.

Next up on the bill was the Postmarks. They played their loud set of slightly dance-y twee songs, their aesthetic straight out of the sixties with a Warhol’s Factory twist. To me, along with all the visuals projected behind them, it seemed a bit much and dated. Although they were each skilled at their instruments, their tunes struck me as flat, syrupy, soda pop that was just going in circles. By the time their set was over my ears were grateful (they played so loud I put ear plugs in to spare the damage to my drums).

Finally, headliners Au Revoir Simone began setting up. This took an especially long time with all the vintage equipment they had ambitiously planned to use; there was a full sized xylophone, Wurlitzer, various other key setups, a cymbal, bass and multiple mics. There was a lot of spot swapping on stage, which was very difficult to adapt to and lead to a disruption in the flow. As for the songs they were stellar: Au Revoir Simone has a killer dynamic of three cute girls playing cute synth-based pop songs. They mostly played of tracks off their newest album, Remain in Light which is dreamy, lush and easy on the ears- along with some old favorites like “Sad Song.” Unfortunately all the set up time made the show run late, and getting back from deep in Brooklyn became a headache, not to mention rain and delays; but even still, it was a great show and Au Revoir Simone never disappoint.

See you next year CMJ! I may just go into hibernation until then!

MUSIC BOX

Final CMJ 09 Day Five Report – October 24, 2009

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