With a slightly less crazy schedule than SXSW, at least show-wise, I headed down to NYC with the intention of hanging out. And that’s pretty much what I did. Lets start with Tuesday…

Getting in late on the bus, I went straight to Music Hall of Williamsburg for a BrooklynVegan showcase. Too late to catch Laura Marling, I did at least get a Marcus Mumford sighting. Hanging out with the Syndicate peeps we watched The Antlers blow away a packed crowd on what was supposedly one of their best ever shows. Tearing off the low-fi veil with a vengeance, The Antlers wrecked it. Sort of like Pink Floyd that’s not boring and stoner and played out. Like how they were in the 70’s probably. Next, and headlining, were Fanfarlo. Hailing from the London scene they played tight, well rounded, pop numbers ranging from booming Beirut to groovy Talking Heads. I called it a night after that and it turned out to be the earliest night of the week.

Wednesday:
Got my badge early in the morning and wandered the swag area then headed back to McCarren Park for a Industry vs. Stations kickball match. While I was quite a kickballer in my recess heyday, it was more of a hangout than a kickball match and I was pretty distracted by all of the people to talk to. Nice way to start the week nonetheless. Joining a group headed to the Terrorbird party at Cake Shop, I jumped the L to Soho. The area outside of The Cake Shop and Pianos is notorious because there’s always something cool going on there and there’s always a BIG crew chatting on the street. So (of course) I ended up hanging out instead of going inside. I ditched the scene a few hours later to head to dinner with Shil which became (unintentionally, I swear!) a fairly romantic appetizer meal at a funny little Mexican place. That night I took the long train ride out to The Silent Barn in Brooklyn. Probably the best choice I made on a whim all week, the show with Male Bonding, German Measles, and Happy Birthday was just what I needed. Cigarettes and cheap drinks hazed the night into a perfect woozy punk show. Happy Birthday, ex-King Tuff, have just signed to Subpop and (I believe) this was their first show. Ever. Cheers to Subpop for having balls because they were awesome. Playing what can only be called pop-punk (but in the way awesome, not Blink-182 variety) they ruled. A sleepy train (and shuttle bus..Damn you MTA, why were you messing with the L train on the week of CMJ!?) ride later, I was home and passed out.

Thursday:
Thursday was a big day. BIG. Dragging myself out of bed to College Day I watched a couple panels. Wishing that I had seen them when I was a freshman, I ducked out with Hannah of SPECTRE to catch part of the Aquarium Drunkard party at Fontana’s. I caught the end of the Love Language set which was fine because it was the first of three sets that I saw. More on them later. Roadside Graves were next. Playing smart yet rowdy alt-country rock, they howled and stomped out an energetic set. Admirable effort was expended for that hour of the day. Ending in a song/skit in the center of the crowd, they were one of the few bands I hadn’t actually heard before the festival and I was certainly impressed. Last, before we had to get back to College Day, was Phantogram, Barsuk’s latest acquisition. The Saratoga Springs duo pounded electro-dance numbers out with crushing intensity. Singer Sarah Barthel multitasked on an extensive panel of electronics while belting out Karen O vocals.

Back at college day I hung for a while watching the CMJ awards. After which we walked to a bar called Crash Mansion to see The Love Language again. Big thanks to Jordan from the band who let me borrow his badge to get in and was a great dude. The show at Crash Mansion, despite the “bridge and tunnel” surroundings and the short stage that I’m not sure if Jordan could stand up straight on, the set was probably the best of the week. Playing two new songs that sound delightful, I’m so amped for the next Love Language record on Merge. After a Chinese dinner with Graham, Alyssa, and Becky, I headed to Brooklyn for the Mumford and Sons show. I stopped at a bar called Zebulon to meet up with Karen and unexpectedly stumbled upon Sgt. Dunbar and the Hobo Banned with their full compliment of players. We had a drink and enjoyed the Sgt. Dunbar set then walked over to Mumford.

Ok, so I have to confess, the Mumford show was definitely the only thing that I HAD to see at CMJ. After the teaser shows at SXSW, I could only imagine what they would be like with a real crowd, in a real venue, with a real sound system, and a full record. And yeah, it blew my mind. Standing in a line four-wide on the front of the stage, the Sons lifted their chins, and started the show with the album opener and title track “Sigh No More”. The four part harmonies were spot on as was just about everything else that night. Playing favorites reworked from the EPs (Little Lion Man, White Blank Page, Roll Away Your Stone) as well as new tracks from the album (Thistle & Weeds, Timshel) they hit almost everything. Thankfully, I can fill in the gaps from the couple performances from SXSW. They ended the set with a new song, yet untitled I believe that seemed to be in the place of “Dustbowl Dance”, my favorite track. Building the biggest wall of sound in the night, I swear my had was spinning after the song was over.

I trekked back to Manhattan to the Suffolk for the AAM showcase. Due to the party before, the Suffolk was behind a bit but all the better for me as I didn’t miss too much. Surf City was solid but not energetic enough to keep me interested at that time of night. Violens were awesome however and a total treat for all of the crowd that stuck it out to see them. The Suffolk is an interesting venue, it looks a bit like the Smells Like Teen Spirit video inside and definitely has potential to do some cool stuff. After the Suffolk I walked up to the Hi-Fi for the Merge/Barsuk/SubPop hangout party thing. The best end of a night all week, I had a great time hanging out and catching up. Thanks big time to the three labels for such a killer party.

Friday:
I slept in. I didn’t end up back at the apartment until 7 am for reasons that don’t need to be discussed here. But a late breakfast was in order, so my buddy and I had a leisurely brunch until about 2. Then I summoned the Gods of feet and made my way back to Manhattan. I stopped first at the MOMA for Free Fridays with Jennie. I’ve never been and it was a welcome diversion from jumping right into music again. We trained down to the AAM offices after our fill of visual art for the big listening party.
This was my first listening party and I guess I didn’t know what to expect. It was lots of fun and more of basically what I’d been doing all week, hanging out (but the music was quieter so you didn’t have to yell). First up was Beach House on Subpop which sounded awesome though I couldn’t sit still enough to tell you why it was so good. Among other things, we heard the new Massive Attack, and Animal Collective EP. It was a cool event, good wine and food around, but not too much of the music was listening party material. By that I mean that I like to put on headphones and walk around listening to these artists or listen when I’m not distracted by a bunch of cool people to talk to. But it’s all good, I can wait till they get released.
I walked to the Team Clermont party at Lit Lounge next. Again, I didn’t really catch too much of the music due to some confusion about how many people could be downstairs. But Peggy Sue were delightful as much as I got to see. I ran off to Brooklyn after that to hit up Zebulon again when a group called Superhuman Happiness was playing. Under the direction of Stuart Bogie (Antibalas band leader, TV on the Radio horns), their spacey jazz was awesome. Another welcome spice to add to the seasoning for the week.
After that we caught the Love Language for a third and final time at a loft party sponsored by Brooklynvegan. This was definitely the most fun show with the band and also the sloppiest. That was the end of the music for the night.

Saturday:
Saturday morning was the AAM party at Music Hall of Williamsburg. I got there at 12:30ish in time to catch most of Holiday Shores. Effortless jumps of melody and rhythm built their sound into something like a less sparse Born Ruffians. Surprisingly, it was one of the best and most remarkable shows of the week. I chomped down on a bunch of free hotdogs then went back upstairs to watch Headlights. One of my favorite Polyvinyl bands, they delivered a quality set of old and new tunes. The Duchess and the Duke played next. I absolutely love their first album and am just getting into their second so it was nice (for me at least) to see they still played mostly songs from their summer ‘08 debut. They looked pretty beat but managed to put together a solid set. I hope they got some sleep before the Subpop/Hardly Art showcase that night. I watched half of the Dum Dum Girls set in the process of deciding where to walk to since the rain had started to dump again. I ended up following a big group to the Mushpot party at a bar called Matchsticks where we saw Magic Magic play smart, brass filled, indie rock.
After the Mushpot party, my luck started to turn and I wasn’t able to get in to a few of the shows I tried and ended up in the rain wandering for a bit too long. Eventually I sorted out my stuff and went to 92Y in Tribeca for the BQE screening with Sufjan. DM Stith, who is signed to Asthmatic Kitty, opened the second screening of the eclectic night with his airy arrangements augmented by a group of musicians including some from the OSSO string quartet who played next. OSSO recently re-imagined Sufjan’s electronic concept album based on the signs of the Zodiac Enjoy Your Rabbit. I really wasn’t expecting to go see a string quartet at CMJ but they were extremely skilled players and it was once again something fresh. Sufjan was there emceeing the night in his endearingly awkward way. He introduced the BQE movie as “30 minutes of traffic” and thanked the audience for being up for it. And basically that’s what the movie was. He did a very good job with it though and it didn’t seem trite or get boring. The soundtrack live with the movie would be pretty amazing, but the movie is definitely worth seeing on its own.
After the BQE, which ran until 2:30 or so, we raced to the Lakeside Lounge for the obligatory end of CMJ hangout. It was great to see everyone once again before trips home. And now it’s time for SXSW!