PHOTO BY ALEXANDRA GERSHMAN
CLASS ACTS
Meet ten buzzed-about CMJ bands.
The College Music Journal's annual Music Marathon is what it says it is: a test of endurance to see how many young musicians you can see live in five days. The roster is always a few pages long and venues are speckled throughout the city. It wasn't easy, but we whittled down our you-might-have-missed-but-don't list to ten bands from different cities around the globe, and a couple, from different eras altogether.
SAMANTHA GILEWICZ
SOFT
New York, NY
10.19 (2pm) @ Galapagos
10.19 (9pm) @ Zebulon
“The dry cleaners lost all our tight pants and fedoras…we'll have to play in our old Z. Cavariccis,” quips Dino, one fifth of Soft. Lush vocals and oneiric sounds may live up to the band’s name, but for their second time CMJ—also a celebration for the release of the band’s debut album, Gone Faded—Soft is set to rouse you from that afternoon slump. “We’ve been known to sneak in some Morrissey covers or ‘Connected by Stereo MCs… Sometimes we play ‘Connected’ five times and call it a night.”
SG
myspace.com/soft
RAVENS & CHIMES
New York, NY
10.20 (8pm) @ Don Pedros
“Someone stole a pair of underwear out of my backpack while I was onstage at CBGB's a long time ago…” reminisces singer/guitarist/harmoniumist Asher Lack. A “decidedly non-punk band of NYU students,” R&C keep getting compared to Wolf Parade and Voxtrot for lyrics that tug at your heart strings and synth softened by the dulcet instrumentals of flute, mandolin, and glockenspiel. Says Lack: “‘General Lafayette! You Are Not Alone’ is always the song where we end up swinging from the rafters.” When he does so Saturday, hopefully he won’t lose his shorts this time. SG
myspace.com/ravensandchimes
BEAT THE DEVIL
New York, NY
10.18 (9:30pm) @ Galapagos
Cool Hand Luke, Dr. Seuss, Andy Kaufman…hell, Charlie Kaufman are among the crazy musical influences cited by Beat the Devil, but Shilpa Ray’s raspy crone that cuts through the bluesy garage beats, bewitching listeners with tortured “wow wow WOW WOW”s is inimitable. Why CMJ f*ked the band around this year we haven’t a clue. But bassist Mishka Shubaly tells us, “‘Venus Shaver’ and ‘Chelsea Clinic Physical’ can only be heard live,” so we’re shunning the official lineup to see them this night. Devil’s own luck? “Our last CMJ we got our van towed 20 minutes before we were supposed to play. We were like, ‘Um, does anyone have an extra harmonium?’ We were able to borrow a bass and some drums and Shilpa just rocked the mic. Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you, you know?” SG
myspace.com/beatthedevil
MGMT
Brooklyn, NY
10.19 (12am) @ Crash Mansion
Making a band wasn’t part of the plan when Wesleyan University music majors Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser started playing around with electronic music. Ironically, when they did make an EP—as Management—it were the rock star-taunting tracks “Time To Pretend” (with lyrics like “Let's make some music / Make some money / Find some models for wives…”) and “Indie Rokkers,” that caught the ear of Columbia Records, who recently signed the Brooklyn duo and sent them on tour with Of Montreal. Still experimenting, MGMT’s debut full-length album on the label, Oracular Spectacular, mixes danceable ’80s synths with lo-fi guitars and honeyed, entrancing vocals and whistles. “Before shows we like to get the Cosmic Cruiser (our van) real frosty and crank up “Shakedown Street or “Looks Like Rain” (the studio original from Ace),” says VanWyngarden. “This doesn't get us pumped, but rather the opposite of pumped, which also has its advantages.” SG
myspace.com/mgmt
MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS
Melbourne, AU
10.20 (8pm) @ Terminal 5
It is Midnight Juggernauts’ first time in the States, and they’ve already left their mark. On tour with Justice and in town for CMJ, someone’s been spray-painting the Melbourne band’s name from Brooklyn to Bushwick. Andy and Vincent Juggernaut, and drummer Daniel Stricker make surreal, synth-driven electro with equal parts of sci-fi art beats and disco echoes; they call it “jungle.” Close on the heels of Cut Copy and the Presets on the dance floor (remixes with these bands are floating about in the music blogosphere) Juggernauts’ debut, Dystopia, dropped last month and has been lauded far beyond Australia’s shores. So, Vincent says they don’t need much warming up for Saturday (“Table tennis to check reflex and quick response. Though renting a good underdog film like Rocky can be good too.”), and told us to keep our ears open for “Tombstone” because, “It’s sung through a cheap vocoder, and everyone wants to sing like a robot at least once in their life.” SG
myspace.com/midnightjuggernauts
YEASAYER
10.19 (1am) @ Cake Shop
10.20 (10pm) @ Grasslands
“We’re hoping to burrow into the collective subconsciousness of New York during the entire week prior to our release,” says Yeasayer’s Anand Wilder of All Hour Cymbals (Monitor/We Are Free, October 23). But they already have with “2080,” a soft ’80s rock anthem layered with spacey, psych-pop sounds and gospel-inspired clapping and chanting children. Yeasayer cite Cindy Lauper and Prince as influences, and have the style to back it up: “I hate it when bands don't get just a little bit dressed up. I have an endless supply of brightly colored, patterned super short Kurtas; hopefully Ira will wear his Halloween Orange camouflage jacket; Luke's style combines Eastern Bloc chic with dashikis, and Chris covers himself with fancy jewelry. You want people to remember your band, and if they forget the music maybe they'll remember the style.” CHRIS BROWN
myspace.com/yeasayer
JUICEBOXXX
Milwaukee, WI
10.20 (8pm) @ Club Europa
Milwaukee may be more well known for Miller Light than its music scene, but that fact (or frustration) can inspire some un-Americana antics. Take Juiceboxxx: The 21-year-old neon jam shorts and spectacles clad-rapper’s spazzy, D.I.Y. club mixes make Wisconsin girls scream, and his EP, R U There God?? Itz Me Juiceboxxx, got the attention of Spank Rock’s XXXChange, who remixed his track “Sweat.” His M.O.? “You gotta just let it out. Let it all out.”
CHRIS BROWN
myspace.com/officialjuiceboxxx
MUSCLES
Melbourne, AU
10.18 (12am) @ Studio B
10.19 (8pm) @ Orchard Bar
We love Muscles…have ever since we heard “Chocolate, raspberry, lemon, and lime—you’re mine!” But now the Melbourne techno rapper, whose real name is Christopher, has moved onto Guns Babes Lemonade. Down under, he drives kids mad layering cryptic, computer-tightened vocals over fuzzy electronic beats and punchy bass that make you just want to dance. Newly signed to Modular Records, this is not Muslces' first time in NYC, but it is his first CMJ. And if his live hijinks are nearly as entertaining as his recording methods (“I recorded my girl licking sensually into an ice cream cone for a solo in a new song…”), expect quite a show. SG
myspace.com/musclesmusic
LO-FI-FNK
Stockholm
10.20 (10pm) @ IHEARTCOMIX
The infectious synth beats and sardonic lyricism of this Swedish electo-pop duo pulse somewhere in between Junior Senior and Simian Mobile Disco. Leo Drougge and August Hellsing reveal their pre-show warm-up includes stretching and perfecting dance movies, appropriate we’d say for a couple of wardrobe-coordinated 24-year-olds whose debut album, Boylife, won’t let you sit down for a second. “If it's a bad show we’ll probably get a bit wasted; if it's a good one maybe the same. If it's in between we are probably just gonna sit and stare for a hour or two.” In that case, cheers!
MACKENZIE WAGONER
myspace.com/lofifnksweden
THE OCTOPUS PROJECT
Austin, TX
10.18 (11:15pm) @ Highline Ballroom
Indietronica instrumentalists the Octopus Project have been making waves for a couple of years now, but guitar/bass/keyboardist Josh Lambert is especially excited about this CMJ showcase: “I'm pretty sure this one will be the biggest show we've done yet. We're playing in between Trail of Dead and Islands, so it should be crazy times!” Keep your ears out for two of the band’s new songs, “Truck”—a Nintendo-sampling smorgasbord of mercurial drums and cymbals—and “I Saw the Bright Shinies”—a sublime melody that comes to a poppy, keyboard crescendo at chorus time. “We're super-excited about them!” exclaims Lambert. “One is quiet and pretty and the other is fast and crazy, so they make for a nice one-two when we play them together.” SG
myspace.com/theoctopusproject
SAMANTHA GILEWICZ
SOFT
New York, NY
10.19 (2pm) @ Galapagos
10.19 (9pm) @ Zebulon
“The dry cleaners lost all our tight pants and fedoras…we'll have to play in our old Z. Cavariccis,” quips Dino, one fifth of Soft. Lush vocals and oneiric sounds may live up to the band’s name, but for their second time CMJ—also a celebration for the release of the band’s debut album, Gone Faded—Soft is set to rouse you from that afternoon slump. “We’ve been known to sneak in some Morrissey covers or ‘Connected by Stereo MCs… Sometimes we play ‘Connected’ five times and call it a night.”
SG
myspace.com/soft
RAVENS & CHIMES
New York, NY
10.20 (8pm) @ Don Pedros
“Someone stole a pair of underwear out of my backpack while I was onstage at CBGB's a long time ago…” reminisces singer/guitarist/harmoniumist Asher Lack. A “decidedly non-punk band of NYU students,” R&C keep getting compared to Wolf Parade and Voxtrot for lyrics that tug at your heart strings and synth softened by the dulcet instrumentals of flute, mandolin, and glockenspiel. Says Lack: “‘General Lafayette! You Are Not Alone’ is always the song where we end up swinging from the rafters.” When he does so Saturday, hopefully he won’t lose his shorts this time. SG
myspace.com/ravensandchimes
BEAT THE DEVIL
New York, NY
10.18 (9:30pm) @ Galapagos
Cool Hand Luke, Dr. Seuss, Andy Kaufman…hell, Charlie Kaufman are among the crazy musical influences cited by Beat the Devil, but Shilpa Ray’s raspy crone that cuts through the bluesy garage beats, bewitching listeners with tortured “wow wow WOW WOW”s is inimitable. Why CMJ f*ked the band around this year we haven’t a clue. But bassist Mishka Shubaly tells us, “‘Venus Shaver’ and ‘Chelsea Clinic Physical’ can only be heard live,” so we’re shunning the official lineup to see them this night. Devil’s own luck? “Our last CMJ we got our van towed 20 minutes before we were supposed to play. We were like, ‘Um, does anyone have an extra harmonium?’ We were able to borrow a bass and some drums and Shilpa just rocked the mic. Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you, you know?” SG
myspace.com/beatthedevil
MGMT
Brooklyn, NY
10.19 (12am) @ Crash Mansion
Making a band wasn’t part of the plan when Wesleyan University music majors Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser started playing around with electronic music. Ironically, when they did make an EP—as Management—it were the rock star-taunting tracks “Time To Pretend” (with lyrics like “Let's make some music / Make some money / Find some models for wives…”) and “Indie Rokkers,” that caught the ear of Columbia Records, who recently signed the Brooklyn duo and sent them on tour with Of Montreal. Still experimenting, MGMT’s debut full-length album on the label, Oracular Spectacular, mixes danceable ’80s synths with lo-fi guitars and honeyed, entrancing vocals and whistles. “Before shows we like to get the Cosmic Cruiser (our van) real frosty and crank up “Shakedown Street or “Looks Like Rain” (the studio original from Ace),” says VanWyngarden. “This doesn't get us pumped, but rather the opposite of pumped, which also has its advantages.” SG
myspace.com/mgmt
MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS
Melbourne, AU
10.20 (8pm) @ Terminal 5
It is Midnight Juggernauts’ first time in the States, and they’ve already left their mark. On tour with Justice and in town for CMJ, someone’s been spray-painting the Melbourne band’s name from Brooklyn to Bushwick. Andy and Vincent Juggernaut, and drummer Daniel Stricker make surreal, synth-driven electro with equal parts of sci-fi art beats and disco echoes; they call it “jungle.” Close on the heels of Cut Copy and the Presets on the dance floor (remixes with these bands are floating about in the music blogosphere) Juggernauts’ debut, Dystopia, dropped last month and has been lauded far beyond Australia’s shores. So, Vincent says they don’t need much warming up for Saturday (“Table tennis to check reflex and quick response. Though renting a good underdog film like Rocky can be good too.”), and told us to keep our ears open for “Tombstone” because, “It’s sung through a cheap vocoder, and everyone wants to sing like a robot at least once in their life.” SG
myspace.com/midnightjuggernauts
YEASAYER
10.19 (1am) @ Cake Shop
10.20 (10pm) @ Grasslands
“We’re hoping to burrow into the collective subconsciousness of New York during the entire week prior to our release,” says Yeasayer’s Anand Wilder of All Hour Cymbals (Monitor/We Are Free, October 23). But they already have with “2080,” a soft ’80s rock anthem layered with spacey, psych-pop sounds and gospel-inspired clapping and chanting children. Yeasayer cite Cindy Lauper and Prince as influences, and have the style to back it up: “I hate it when bands don't get just a little bit dressed up. I have an endless supply of brightly colored, patterned super short Kurtas; hopefully Ira will wear his Halloween Orange camouflage jacket; Luke's style combines Eastern Bloc chic with dashikis, and Chris covers himself with fancy jewelry. You want people to remember your band, and if they forget the music maybe they'll remember the style.” CHRIS BROWN
myspace.com/yeasayer
JUICEBOXXX
Milwaukee, WI
10.20 (8pm) @ Club Europa
Milwaukee may be more well known for Miller Light than its music scene, but that fact (or frustration) can inspire some un-Americana antics. Take Juiceboxxx: The 21-year-old neon jam shorts and spectacles clad-rapper’s spazzy, D.I.Y. club mixes make Wisconsin girls scream, and his EP, R U There God?? Itz Me Juiceboxxx, got the attention of Spank Rock’s XXXChange, who remixed his track “Sweat.” His M.O.? “You gotta just let it out. Let it all out.”
CHRIS BROWN
myspace.com/officialjuiceboxxx
MUSCLES
Melbourne, AU
10.18 (12am) @ Studio B
10.19 (8pm) @ Orchard Bar
We love Muscles…have ever since we heard “Chocolate, raspberry, lemon, and lime—you’re mine!” But now the Melbourne techno rapper, whose real name is Christopher, has moved onto Guns Babes Lemonade. Down under, he drives kids mad layering cryptic, computer-tightened vocals over fuzzy electronic beats and punchy bass that make you just want to dance. Newly signed to Modular Records, this is not Muslces' first time in NYC, but it is his first CMJ. And if his live hijinks are nearly as entertaining as his recording methods (“I recorded my girl licking sensually into an ice cream cone for a solo in a new song…”), expect quite a show. SG
myspace.com/musclesmusic
LO-FI-FNK
Stockholm
10.20 (10pm) @ IHEARTCOMIX
The infectious synth beats and sardonic lyricism of this Swedish electo-pop duo pulse somewhere in between Junior Senior and Simian Mobile Disco. Leo Drougge and August Hellsing reveal their pre-show warm-up includes stretching and perfecting dance movies, appropriate we’d say for a couple of wardrobe-coordinated 24-year-olds whose debut album, Boylife, won’t let you sit down for a second. “If it's a bad show we’ll probably get a bit wasted; if it's a good one maybe the same. If it's in between we are probably just gonna sit and stare for a hour or two.” In that case, cheers!
MACKENZIE WAGONER
myspace.com/lofifnksweden
THE OCTOPUS PROJECT
Austin, TX
10.18 (11:15pm) @ Highline Ballroom
Indietronica instrumentalists the Octopus Project have been making waves for a couple of years now, but guitar/bass/keyboardist Josh Lambert is especially excited about this CMJ showcase: “I'm pretty sure this one will be the biggest show we've done yet. We're playing in between Trail of Dead and Islands, so it should be crazy times!” Keep your ears out for two of the band’s new songs, “Truck”—a Nintendo-sampling smorgasbord of mercurial drums and cymbals—and “I Saw the Bright Shinies”—a sublime melody that comes to a poppy, keyboard crescendo at chorus time. “We're super-excited about them!” exclaims Lambert. “One is quiet and pretty and the other is fast and crazy, so they make for a nice one-two when we play them together.” SG
myspace.com/theoctopusproject
This story was published on October 17, 2007.
CONTENT RATING:
( 4 )
( 4 )
kimber
10/22/2007
hooray for more people starting to notice the talented aussies. the others bands look cool too.
kimber
10/22/2007
hooray for more people starting to notice the talented aussies. the others bands look cool too.
TERI
10/22/2007
meet the best band not playing CMJ... myspace.com/dolytoro
lilly
10/23/2007
Woooo!!!
"YOUR MINE! YOUR MINE!"
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