CMJ Friday Awesomeness (mini-post)

Friday there are a ridiculous number of great ways to get down, but as much as I would have liked to, I didn't have time to write a post about them all. So...here are just three of the many awesome events happening tonight:

While it would take a lot to top the great time I had at last years Insiders, this year's looks pretty great as well. Hercules and Love Affair perform great live disco, in a way very few bands are doing nowadays. Aeroplane continue to look promising (though I have still yet to see them this week!). James Zabiela has been getting tons of positive feedback lately. I fell in love with his Utilities double mix album several years ago and am excited to get to see him again in a setting that is not Pacha. Shinichi Osawa's opening set for Fatboy Slim in June was great - very hard, but not too in your face. The Fantastic Nobodies' performance art, aka crowd-feathering, during Modeselektor's set at Bowery Ballroom back in January was quite an experience. All in all, it should be a great night. Tickets (plus the set times) are available here.



Plant Music, one of my favorite labels in New York & in general is throwing a CMJ party at Union Docs. The entire line-up looks pretty solid, but I am especially looking forward to seeing Nadastrom, Stretch Armstrong, and Kap10Kurt who I have witnessed great sets from before. Full info below:




Though it is technically not a part of CMJ, I think it is definitely worth mentioning that Dimitri from Paris is deejaying at the Rivington Hotel penthouse. I've seen him a number of times over the years (including a set at the Rivington Hotel penthouse back in May) and he never disappoints. Expect lots of great old disco, house, and awesome tunes.



RSVP here.

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CMJ Thursday Awesomeness

Last night at Bowery Ballroom Findlay Brown and Midnight Juggernauts were pretty great. Reviews will be up in the next few days.

Today (Thursday, 10/22) I am not too pumped about any of the "official" CMJ functions. A-Trak is deejaying at B.B. King's with lots of hip-hop oriented deejays...but that's about it. Here's some info on a bunch of parties that look promising:

Fixed always delivers. Their CMJ Freakout Chapter 2 is happening at the Tribeca Grand Thursday and while I have yet to check out anyone out of the line-up (save for Aeroplane)...I'm pretty certain you will have a good time regardless. If you don't trust me or them, preview some of Parallels', Aeroplane's, and Ian Orth's tunes, then RSVP to getrad@igetrvng.com to get in FREE. You can also download an October mix by Aeroplane here. Full info below:




Wednesday Fool's Gold continues with their strong CMJ presence, hosting a second showcase, this time at N8 in Williamsburg. The line-up looks pretty interesting. Be sure to check out Jokers of the Scene:



Free with RSVP.


Meanred rage on with night 2 of 3 at 88 Palace. If you haven't been there before, it is a dim sum restaurant in mini-mall by day, that's turned into a crazy party spot at night - so much fun. Check out their line-ups for the next couple of days, RSVP, and try to catch NROTB (some electro-brawlers from Montreal who have put together some great mixes, which you can download on their myspace):




DFA is having a CMJ party at Brooklyn Bowl (which is a great venue if you haven't been - try the milkshake with Bourbon & Nutella). Yacht is playing live and Special Disco Version, Still Going, Shit Robot, and the excellent disco duo Holy Ghost are deejaying:

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CMJ Wednesday Awesomeness

I've been going through a whole bunch of annoying personal stuff, so it's taken me way longer than usual to actually look into and get excited about CMJ. Thankfully it has finally happened! I'm not really looking forward to anything happening Tuesday, so here are some suggestions for Wednesday (10/21):

In terms of actual CMJ showcases, there are two I am really excited about. In the grand tradition of CMJ, they are of course on the same night with some overlap in terms of set times:

M for Montreal has hit the road and come to New York for CMJ. They are putting on a showcase at Arlene's Grocery featuring a bunch of bands from Montreal (and free poutine!). The line-up & set times are on the flyer below and more details on the bands can be found here. Out of the line-up I've only seen We Are Wolves, and wasn't really into them. I've heard good things about Malajube and my friend Eddie who has steered me wrong, maybe once in the 5 years that I've known him, has reported that Duchess Says (who is also playing the BrooklynVegan day party at Pianos on Thursday) is awesome.




Another showcase I am really looking forward to is happening at Bowery Ballroom. I'm not familiar with most of the line-up, but the two acts I do know of are really great. The first is Findlay Brown who manages to channel an array of great artists (Roy Orbison, Elvis, the Beatles, Johnny Cash) without being irritating or sounding clichéd. He was excellent when I saw him back in February, as well as the two times I saw him in April. Check out those posts for reviews as well as some downloads.

The second act I am very familiar with and delighted to be seeing again is Midnight Juggernauts. After witnessing their live show in many different venues in which the loud, almost metal-ish guitar and drums dominated, Le Poisson Rouge finally got the sound right last September allowing all of the bits of electronic loveliness that make Midnight Juggernauts so good shine through.

You can download some tracks from both Findlay Brown (including "Holding Back the Night" and a solo acoustic version of "I Had A Dream") and Midnight Juggernauts ("This New Technology" remixes by Memory Tapes, Nile Delta, and the Juan Maclean, plus a b-side - "Fantastic Valleys") here.

You can read more about the rest of the line-up (which includes Fanfarlo, The Postelles, TigerCity, and Freelance Whales) here and if you don't have a badge tickets are available here.

Also, FYI...Findlay is playing a second show at Littlefield on Sunday and Midnight Juggernauts are playing a bunch of other shows over the course of CMJ:

October 21 - Hype Machine Day Show at Santos



October 24 - The Windish Agency Presents at Santos.


Also on Wednesday:

Takka Takka are playing in a showcase at the Knitting Factory (which I still can't believe, is now in Brooklyn). The first and last time I saw Takka Takka was at last year's BrooklynVegan day party at the Knitting Factory (there are some pics and an interview here)...I saw maybe 2 or 3 songs, but that was enough to make me like them. Info on the rest of the line-up & ticket info is here.

They are also playing Union Pool on the 21st and Popgun's CMJ party on the 23rd at Glasslands.


Moving away from showcases and getting into more late night/dance-related activities...

I think my only exposure to Aeroplane has been their remix of Friendly Fires' Paris, which is honestly all I need to be convinced to see them at Fixed's CMJ Freakout Chapter 1 at Santos. More info below:



Aeroplane will also be at Fixed CMJ Chapter 2 the following night (10/22) at the Tribeca Grand Hotel and at Insiders 2009 at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza on Friday (10/23) (more on that later).


Also Thursday night, Fool's Gold is having a CMJ rager at 88 Palace with a pretty big line-up...though the only act I've seen before is Vega (who I didn't like live). The rest of the line-up looks promising though:




Nicky Digital is having his own CMJ showcase at Ella. I've seen Kap10Kurt deejay before and he's on Plant Music, so I'm pretty sure his set should be good and Bad Brilliance's live show is apparently a sight to see. The rest of the line-up & info is below:




Young Robots (a new label launched this year by Pittsburgh's Relative Q, Philadelphia's DJ Apt One, and New York's Skinny Friedman) is having a CMJ Jumpoff at Pianos:




Disco Social at Trophy Bar! Not sure about the rest of the line-up but Amir will play some good stuff:

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