There is a great danger that this update may never have gotten written in the first place so I need to keep it brief to at least give my impressions of some of the bands which I saw at CMJ so this is going to be a real quick update and later I’ll be providing some longer updates for a few select bands which really impressed.

Piano’s 10/22/09 Brooklyn Vegan Day Party

Rebecca Schiffman- She was an intelligent singer / songwriter in the girl with guitar genre (normally my most hated genre) who focused on lyrics first and the guitar was seemingly secondary. She played a handful of songs that were largely about longing and love but with just enough of a self-aware edge to make them interesting in an atypical quirky style. I was highly entertained by her self conscious stage banter and her release To Be Good For a Day captures a lot of this and comes highly recommended.

Peggy Sue – Peggy Sue is a band of two women multi-instrumentalists who trade vocal duties and instruments freely as they harmonize and counter each others melodies in a tradition that struck me as more American Country Western than Folk. Think Michachu and the Shapes meets Slow Club, which you’d think is a lazy comparison because Michachu and Peggy Sue both feature ukuleles, but there is an aspect of both which is informed by modern American Black Music. Peggy Sue gave my friend Legba strong steampunk vibes. I didn’t catch that, but he states that their original name of Peggy Sue and the Pirates cements the connection. I personally don’t know. They had a four song EP, Lover Gone which is only 10 minutes long so it doesn’t come close to capturing the breadth and depth of songs contained within their live sets.

Lovvers – Do you like Ben Weasel? Then you’ll probably like Lovvers. Pop Punk in the Screeching Weasel vein, but I think that connection occurs to me mostly due to the lead singers nasally voice and the solid pop hooks. I loved what I saw of them.

Duchess Says – I’ll either write about this band at length or give it over to Legba to write about them, as he’s a huge fan. They play electro punk in a style which is uniquely electro punk and not either electro with punk elements or punk with a synth thrown in for the hell of it. They’re very confrontational and enjoy subverting audience expectations, forcing participation and the lead singer jumped on me so I threw her at Legba’s face, which got a right kicking.

The Studio at Webster Hall 10/22/09 Musebox and Popgun Booking Party

Tony Castles- we were there only long enough to catch a handful of songs, so I don’t know what I can really accurately say about him. It was good but I’d like to catch a full set before I make to much of a post.

Bottle up and Go! – This is a three person band who took the stage with a guitarist, a saxophonist and a drummer to play old school blues rock stompers that not only burn down the barn they scatter its ashes, drink all your sour mash, destroy your still, defame your wife, deflower your daughter and make a man out of your son before riding off to the sunset on your horse. Good stuff, but with a touch to much reverb.

Das Racist – They took the stage with Dapshok the Almighty and a Serato DJ whose name I didn’t catch. They immediately began “engaging the audience in a subversive and confrontational manner” which is polite because they were amazingly well behaved considering the size of the crowd and that crowd’s make up. The binding a gunshot and air horn key was brilliant and hilarious as they abused both throughout the set and implored the audience to say “brrrrrrrrrrrn” imitating the sound which we did. We are sheep. The songs were a mixture of older and newer and the banter was all new; Hugo Chavez was introduced as a song about “adult illiteracy and female ejaculation.” There were a handful of missteps as Victor began to go into his familiar call response “everyone say ‘white people’” but was cut off as the next song began. Your ability to be entertained is directly proportional to your ability to pick apart their references and your enjoyment of the subversion of genre tropes.

Suckers – Sucked. Someone lept from the audience to the stage and punched the lead singer in the face. The singer told us that this was the second time that had happened in two days. Perhaps this is a sign. They play generic psychedelic rock with too much reverb and projections of fractals and stuff on them while they play.

Gordon Voidwell – Absolutely amazing. This will be written up at length and kind of merged with a review of his Voided Checks Mixtape.

Webster Hall 10/23/09 AM Only showcase

This thing was a fucking disaster as all of the promo material had the incorrect set times so we roll up and catch the worst fucking DJ I’ve seen since the early 00s DC bar scene. Crappy music mixed horribly bringing songs in on the beatless portions of tracks like some kid with his first mixer. Was told it was free on the promo mats but then we had to pay to get in. Went to catch Felix Cartal but he went on hours later than I was willing to stay.

Shout Out Out Out – made live techno with two drummers and three engineers. It was a little to jam band for my tastes. The base of each track was sound but then it was loaded up with frivolous external niceties as though each guy running a sampler had to work for his paycheck.

Shae Stadium 10/24/09

Kill Kill Kill – This reminds me of why I love doom and psyche but not in a live setting. The songs were expansive epic and multifaceted and so slow that each note would be suspended in amber. It was very enjoyable, but I can’t really get into doom when it’s live simply because it typically doesn’t change enough for me. Even bands I really enjoyed like Battilus can become draining if I have to endure them for to long.

Eula – Loved it. Will be getting a full write up.

I hope to have the full write ups done this week. I also have been sitting on a stack of new music which needs to be written up, so I’ll probably be covering that this week too.