Starting CMJ right, since… 2007. Last night’s 13-band party was excessive(ly awesome), which is why my head still hurts. Here’s the first half, with Air Waves, Pwrfl Power, Scary Mansion, Fiasco, bdrmppl, Pictureplane.
I’m sorry, dear visitors to this trusty website, but you will not be enjoying any lengthy spiels and/or exegeses on the procession of bands that passed through the hallowed, semi-destroyed halls of Death by Audio for our annual Tuesday night not-CMJ party. I’m too hungover, and there were 13 goddamn bands.
Ok fine. You can have a spiel, but not an exegesis. Deal? Let it be said:
Fiasco played for their moms, and me, and Nate Dorr, (being kind enough to swap with a band that would otherwise have had to cancel) and it was much like watching them mess around with each other’s instrument’s in their Dad’s basement, because that’s what they did. Bdrmppl (“bedroom people”) were like High Places swapping Mary Pearson for OCDJ, while Pictureplane, on tour with the duo, wore a giant peace sign, a mullet, lots of stripes, and a piles of earnest, saw-toothed electro-pop tunes.
I didn’t know that people compared Scary Mansion’s Leah Hayes to Chan Marshall in every piece written on her in the blogosphere until I googled her. Now I do. Last night, bassist and drummer in tow, Hayes showcased a far rockier, heavier and distorted take on her supple recorded work. Chan Marshall.
The ever enigmatic Pwrfl Power seems to be touring almost constantly as of late. He’s opening for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, down the line, and now he has a song where he spells out f-u-n-k, pumps his fist, and shouts “FUNK!”… if you can imagine that. He’s also selling colorful, charming little bundles of yarn that look like deflated hacky sacks. His grandmother knit them. “People find a use for them,” he explained.
Air Waves. Someone give Nicole Schneit a movie soundtrack for a film about a precocious pregnant teen. Not to draw flimsy comparisons. But it’s almost like you’ve heard Air Waves before, even if you haven’t: Schneit writes the viral melodies that, neither sloppy nor generic, follow you through a day or two before you’re drawn back to listen to them again. And the band’s awesomely confident live.
Tune in for the second half of the Impose Not-CMJ Party, coming soon. To this website. Right here!
