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Adventures in CMJ 2010: Days 4 & 5 (Friday/Saturday)

9:17 a.m. · October 25, 2010 · by Jen Zipf

Apologies for grouping the last two days of CMJ 2010 recaps together, but it's been a bit difficult to keep up with all the festivities. Friday had the usual overabundance of events taking place all over the city, but in the interest of checking out a diverse bunch of acts in one venue, I opted to hit the Windish Agency CMJ Showcase at Webster Hall. Wait, did I really just say I opted to go to Webster Hall, on a Friday night no less? While the weekly Girls & Boys party (of which this CMJ event was part) normally secures pretty amazing artists, the excessive crowds and the venue's overpriced drinks and god-awful, borderline inhumane security tactics (ever wanted to know what being in a prison yard is like? go here).

But oddly enough, this particular Friday was nowhere near as packed as normal -- perhaps due to the variety of music styles on the same bill or perhaps due to the draw of competing CMJ events. Either way, I breathed a sigh of relief and enjoyed being able to mill freely about the venue. While not technically part of the Windish showcase, I got in just in time to catch most of Lemonade's set in The Studio (located in Webster Hall's bottom floor), technically part of an earlier CMJ show. While I hadn't known too much about the Brooklyn-based trio upon arrival, they definitely converted me with their catchy, bouncy, completely danceable blend of '80s pop/disco/indie-electro, with some reggae inspiration thrown in for good measure. Jamming out with energy to burn, the singer/programmer, drummer, and bassist's tight set impressed and delighted the room from the looks of things, and I think the buzz around them is definitely growing. (Also of note is their drummer, who sat down not once as he beat the hell out of his kit -- something you rarely see, and it definitely contributes to the dynamic vibe.)

The main stage acts bounced on and off throughout the night. First up was Dominique Young Unique, who I've been constantly seeing added to more indie/electro-friendly line-ups as of late. Though I didn't catch her entire set, I'm slightly confused by why she is chosen to open for these types of acts -- unlike a hip-hop artist with a bit more of an artsy/indie vibe a la M.I.A. or Kid Sister, the diminuitive young rapper spitting about cash and boasting about her skills didn't seem a good fit for the crowd. The next band to take the stage, however, are definitely becoming indie darlings: Jamaica, who are actually from France, are an indie-dance-pop band in the tradition of Phoenix -- with a debut album produced by Xavier De Rosnay of Justice, they're not off to too shabby of a start. Their set was tight, fun, and feel-good, but they seemed to get a little bit lost in the night's line-up.

The popular electro duo Designer Drugs jumped up next for their frenzied heavy set, which probably had the biggest audience of the night and also likely appealed the most to the usual Girls & Boys Friday night crowd. Packing the stage full of jiggling girls and assorted dancing boys, this is probably where the rage factor peaked. Next up was Scotland's Grum (a.k.a. Graeme Shepherd), who did a very nice '80s-inspired electro set, as is his by-now trademark. I finally decided to head out sometime during the latter part of Matthew Dear's set (which didn't start until somewhere between 3:30 and 4 a.m.) -- which, if you've been following along, I also caught two days earlier. I believe the set was pretty identical in make-up, though the large-stage performance had a different vibe than the earlier one I saw, less personal but more regal, perhaps, and amazing nonetheless.

Saturday was rough, but I did some early-evening CMJ'ing at The FADER Fort NYC. Famed for their showcases at both CMJ and SXSW, The FADER assembled a pretty fine line-up of upstart favorites across a variety of genres for this year's CMJ parties, held both Friday and Saturday from 2-9 p.m. at yet another makeshift venue. Free to both badgeholders and members of the general public with advance RSVPs, the event also included a bonus open bar and was pretty much packed throughout the portion of the evening I was present. Though I regrettably missed sets by TeenInc, Tanlines, and Glasser, I caught most of Freddie Gibbs' and OFF!'s performances -- the former being a Midwestern rapper catching comparisons to Tupac (performing with an obligatory crew on stage) and the latter being a Cali punk band supergroup comprised of members of veteran acts like Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Redd Kross, Burning Brides, and Rocket From the Crypt. Unfortunately neither hip-hop nor punk are really my thing, so my critique of these performances would mean little; however, I can say that the crowd stayed deep and the energy levels of both acts were high. Waka Flocka Flame was the scheduled headliner, but the venues signs had replaced his name with "Theophilus London & Friends" -- I wasn't present for the end, so not sure if any surprises ensued later. (A-Trak was also scheduled to DJ between the live sets, but I never actually caught sight of him.)

I headed back home for what I thought would be a short disco nap -- instead, my alarm hates me and let me oversleep by a good 90 minutes, causing me to show up just in time for a lengthy queue (even for advance ticketholders) at Williamsburg's Public Assembly, the location for the Fixed Presents Making Time party. (For those not from the Philly area, Making Time is a legendary indie dance party that is basically a sister to NYC's Fixed -- ragers in both cities typically feature one or more superhot live DJs or bands, as well as stellar resident-DJ sets in-between acts. DJ/promoter David "Dave P" Pianka is responsible for bringing the radness to both parties, while fellow DJ/promoter Josh "JDH" Houtkin primarily co-produces the NYC events with Pianka.) For whatever reason (more available big-club space, perhaps), Making Time generally features more acts in multiple rooms, while Fixed normally has one special guest and takes places in one big room. So for this special CMJ 2010 party, NYC got the Making Time treatment: two rooms, seven featured artists, six or seven resident DJs (of the Rvng Intl collective), and nine hours of music/insanity.

Despite being an unofficial CMJ event at which badges would not be honored, the event was nearly sold out in advance due to a first-rate line-up: Crocodiles, Jamaica, Kisses, Javelin, Gold Panda, and co-headliners Matthew Dear and Holy Ghost! Due to aforementioned alarm clock fiasco and subsequent standing in line, I didn't get in until just before Kisses were about to go on. While I'd planned to check them out, the sheer volume of bodies in the room forced me into the back room, where I decided to hang out until the Gold Panda set.

Hot U.K. producer Gold Panda's simultaneously noisy and soothing blend of IDM and dreamwave is probably best suited for listening to while alone in your car while driving through a snowstorm, or perhaps home alone at night watching rain fall out the window, but that didn't make watching the live set with hundreds of people any less awesome or breathtaking. Accompanied by hazy photos of mostly urban settings, Panda's complex, warm, speed-up/slow-down glitchy electronic sounds kept the crowd riveted -- dancing was somewhat minimal mostly due to space constraints, and maybe slightly due to white people unsuccessfully trying to dance to constantly changing BPMs. One of my CMJ highlights for sure.

Things in the front room had started to fall a little behind schedule by the time Holy Ghost! were due to take the stage -- after a bit of time to set up, the band (same five-man line-up as the Wednesday show) launched right in. Things felt a bit more relaxed due to the smaller venue and hometown vibe (made pretty obvious by a comment from Alex Frankel that went something like: "It's pretty late, but that's OK, because we can go home and sleep in our own beds -- just like all of you can, because we're all from Brooklyn, right?"), and I am pretty sure they may have thrown in one or two extra new songs (though did not highlight this fact nor give a song title), in addition to a second rendition of the "Wait & See" track they first played at Bowery. While the set was peppered with repeat requests from the band for technical assistance, it was still a disco dream from an audience perspective.

The place cleared out when the headliner sets ended, although the front room remained nicely crowded at least until 5 a.m. as Dave P and JDH alternated deck duties, playing a typically awesome and technically seamless selection of mostly current disco and electro (like Boys Noize's "Yeah," "Aeroplane's "My Enemy," and MUNK's remix of Yeasayer's "Madder Red"). I wanted to leave a bit earlier, but as I mentally repeated to myself "Just one more song!" I found it extremely difficult to find a "meh" song to walk out to. A completely rad-iculous night. Thankfully Fixed is a regular and not CMJ-only event, though it will revert back to its usual scale now (with some great special guests coming in November: Boy 8-Bit, Simian Mobile Disco, Lindstrom, and Villa/Tensnake).