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October 7, 2005
CMJ Belated Wrap-up
This is totally late but other things beckoned. First tour, then courting an x-boyfriend and then job hunting. Despite the majority preference for SxSW over CMJ, I had the best musical time of my life. I got a silly badge complete with DKNY advertisements on it and if I lost it I was told I would have to pay $480. As dumb as the pass looked, it was my key to cavorting around New York, seeing old friends and some of my favorite bands—as well as some I’ve never heard of. I wish this was a party review site too because I would tell you an interesting story about Nikki Hilton and big city anomie at work. Anyway, let’s get to the CMJ highlights!
GANG OF FOUR
My excitement leading up to this show was great and arduous. Courtesy of our friend, Matt Wright, I got into this corporate-y show at the new Hard Rock. This was my only opportunity to get up close and personal with a band I’ve been waiting years to see but never wanted to put up with the crowds. That certainly wasn’t a problem here. As you can see, I was about 20 ft. from stage and had all the dancing room in the world—not to mention free tequila. Okay, enough bragging. The performance was simply staggering. The obtuse dorkiness of their old-men status was overcome by their care to instill an argosy of energy into the show (for these corporate dick-sucks none the less). They didn’t care. I’m usually pretty good at detecting a facade from a genuine performance and this most surely seemed the latter. The highlight was when Jon King took a bat like instrument and bashed a sound box over and over until it was flat. The noise it made blended in quite nicely and made for an accented kick bass. The following are my turn ons and turn offs summarized for your childish reading pleasure:
Turn Offs:
- People in tank tops lip-syncing into each others faces near the front the stage
- The crowd jumping 3x higher when “Damaged Goods” begins to be played
- Andy Gills elongated guitar solos
Turn Ons:
- The bashing of the metal box
- A solid three-song encore
- Go4 dressing their age
CUT COPY
Matt Wright and I were on our own now and left to the devices of navigationally creative taxi drivers. When we finally got to Northsix—where the DFA showcase was close to over—we were just in time for the second half of Cut Copy’s set. Am I dumb that I didn’t know who they are? Matt enlightened me and seemed very excited. When they busted out the song “Future”, I realized I had downloaded it a while ago and chilly bumps ran down my leg. Funny how familiarity seems to be the most potent element to please a crowd.
These boys were totally animated on stage and the guitarist (on the right) did this violent head bang thing that was so unrestrained for his fragile little waif body, I thought he was going to snap his head off. The place was not packed to the max but for sure populated—including the bleachers—and the crowd was responsive and jumping all around on command. Their music is the epitome of crowd friendly electronic pop that captures the essence of the excitement that was happening during CMJ/Fashion Week. Some of their songs were overly vanilla and predictable but later I found that five solid tracks on their album more than compensate.
DELIAH & GAVIN
Just as Matt and I were awkwardly shuffling in front of the juke box, the guitarist and drummer from the Kingdom walked in and joined us for the next show—which I knew they would hate. Deliah and Gavin have been close to my heart since the release of DFA compilation #2. You may remember their track “El Monte” which sounded like a modern take of the theme from Risky Business. It always made me want to make money. Seriously, listen to it if you need monetary motivation, it’s fool proof.
Unfortunately, when they hit the stage, they were motionless, completely and utterly still. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with stillness, but this was almost degrading. As Deliah robotically plunked on keys for their 10-minute long songs, she actually thought to chew gum. Wow, what was she thinking? ‘Let’s chew gum and show everybody how nonchalant I really am!’ The keyboard backs were so high you couldn’t even really see what they were doing with the hands and I was really looking forward to seeing what Gavin was using for sounds. It was just a boy and a girl standing there.
Now, when you close your eyes at a Deliah & Gavin show, that’s a different story. All I can say is it’s hard to keep your balance and a bit too emotional to be hearing in public. Their sound is atmospheric and serious which was a sharp dichotomous departure from Cut Copy. Needless to say, both with my eyes open or closed, I was uncomfortable—to be bored or sobbing in public are not fun. However, one of the vocalists from Wolf Parade looked like he was having an aural orgasm wilst chicken-bopping his head and making up words to the songs.
Getting back to Portland after constant nights and days of music, playing it or watching it, has not exhausted my hunger for shows but rather exacerbated it. I always believed that huge events like this become more trouble than they’re worth with all the cost, crowds and hype. This, to my misfortune, did not phase me. I just may be a festival groupie in the making. Ugh.
Posted by Jenna at October 7, 2005 6:34 PM
