CMJ Music Marathon Preview

by Jack Kredell

The inaugural CMJ Music Marathon in 1981 was a humble affair between one small NYC venue and a few industry people in search of some new talent. Since then, CMJ has ballooned into something like a Yankee version of SXSW, with the exception being that the majority of the more than 1,400 musical acts are still breaking through. Of course, back in 1981 the discovery and promotion of new bands was arbitrated by those living fossils known as A&R people. Nowadays, the music industry is a much more complicated affair as both industry and artist try to take advantage of the ever-evolving landscape of new media. Lucky for us, CMJ offers over 80 panels and seminars aimed at making sense of just about every facet of today’s musical landscape. While the official schedule can be viewed here, I have saved you the trouble of choosing between 1,400 bands and compiled my own list of CMJ Music Marathon must-sees using nothing but my exquisite and arbitrary taste:

Riff Raff (because why wouldn’t you)
10/18: Irving Plaza – 7:00 to 10:00 PM | Event page

All I can say about Riff Raff is this: Please go see this extra-terrestrial rap artist perform before he sheds his vaguely humanoid disguise, climbs into a candy-painted diamond encrusted space whip, and returns to his home planet (no doubt an ice planet). If that doesn’t sound convincing enough, watch and listen to his sublime study of melancholia in “Time”.

Empress Of
Oct 18: Cameo Gallery – 10:00 PM

I’m going all in on the gilded pop haze that is Empress Of, the Brooklyn-based solo project of songstress Lorely Rodriguez. There’s a scene in David Cronenberg’s The Fly where Jeff Goldblum’s character teleports a piece of steak from one teleportation pod to the other only to find that it now tastes synthetic. What Goldblum realizes is that during the molecular reconfiguration of the steak “the poetry of the steak” is lost. A similar phenomenon can occur with electronic bands in which the live show fails to reproduce the texture, nuance, and overall depth of the music. Not so with Empress Of, who manage to transcend the recorded material, delivering beat-heavy versions of the songs that will shake you to the core.

Thomas Azier
Oct 18: The Delancey (Crash Avenue CMJ Showcase, w/ SWF, Raccoon Fighter, Le Trouble, Spirit Animal, SISU, Psychic Twin) – 7:00 to 12:00 AM

Thomas Azier is a producer and vocalist working out of Berlin who craftily blends early Kraftwerk techno, 80s synthpop, and lo-fi electronica into an original and very danceable form of R&B. Be sure to check out the lush and cascading synth-driven rhythms of label mates Psychic Twin.

The Darcys
Oct 16: Cake Shop (Arts & Crafts CMJ Showcase w/ Lowell, Still Life Still, Gold & Youth, Zeus) – 8:00 to 12:00 AM

The Darcys routinely succeed at doing something that would bury lesser bands: mess with Steely Dan. The Toronto outfit’s cover of “Josie,” complete with a gorgeous black and white cinéma vérité style video, transforms the classic song into a slow burning ambient dirge by simply amplifying something that was already there: Josie’s incredible sorrow.

Nobody in Particular
Oct: 15 to 19 – New York City – Eternity

The best way to experience any big city is through chance. CMJ Music Marathon is so large in scale that one couldn’t possibly experience even a moderate portion of it. So set aside the tourist’s urge to conquer and simply pick a venue rich neighborhood like the Lower East Side or Bedford Ave in Williamsburg and follow your ear. You might just find yourself listening to the band you didn’t know you were looking for.

The Underachievers
10/16-Music Hall of Williamsburg-9:00PM-10:00PM

The Underachievers’ Issa Gold and AK are knocking at the doors of rap perception armed with an esoteric lyrical doctrine of third eye metaphysics, psychedelia, and the occult. Have a listen to “Gold Soul Theory” from their underrated 2013 mixtape Indigoism and ask yourself why you’ve been listening to Yeezus all year.

Image courtesy of CMJ