live music review: mexican summer showcase
On Thursday, October 21, 2010, I attended the CMJ Mexican Summer Showcase at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. CMJ (College Music Journal) is an industry resource that features album reviews, gig reviews, ticket information, community events, blogs, and merch from or about generally under-the-radar musicians. For the past ten years, CMJ has silently been controlling the direction of indie music. Its only major rival is Pitchfork, which not-so-secretly put on a festival of its own, borrowing the best acts that CMJ hosted this year. They received a lot of attention this year because Kanye West gave a surprise performance on Sunday night.
Anyway, back to our topic: every year, the CMJ staff plans an Autumn music and film marathon in New York City. The Festival takes place over four days and countless venues across Brooklyn and Manhattan. The important thing is that for a generally low price point, you can experience as much live music as you can handle in as many cool dive bars as you can imagine with as many hipsters as you can see. This year, the festival featured bands as little known as people who literally live and work in my neighborhood and as big as headliners, Phoenix. Because many different bands are often on the same bill for a show, the sets are notoriously short. CMJ is, in a word: awesome, and a feeling: excitement.
I had no idea that this concert was part of the CMJ festival when I originally agreed to review it, so the entire atmosphere was a pleasant surprise. Flustered because I got there late as per usual, I quickly found a PBR (Dunja’s note: PBR is a disgraceful American beer, but is hideously cheap) in my hand and jumped into a great show put on by a label (Mexican Summer) that doesn’t get enough respect. I caught the tail end of No Joy’s performance, which had a shockingly small turnout. No Joy was voted the best Canadian band to see at CMJ, so I expected a lot of people to be there. The showcase started around 8 and No Joy went on first, but still – it was a Thursday in Williamsburg. I wasn’t super familiar with the band’s sound until the day of the show, but really thought they lived up to the noisegaze label that so many reviewers were happy to slap on. In retrospect, I liked seeing the band in such close quarters because I was really able to enjoy their sound. The band, fronted by two female singers, made me feel like it was 1993 in a Seattle bar after Kurt Cobain “sold out”, but I really liked that. I should’ve known Dunja would get me into the Festival’s shoegaze show.
Because the sets were so short (around 30 minutes each), it was difficult to remember who was playing when. I repeatedly heard the question “Do you know who’s up now?” and since most bands were more concerned with getting their music out than constantly reminding their audience of their names, it was a pretty prevalent question.
Following No Joy was an avant-garde performance by Viva L’American Death Ray Music, complete with band members donning face paint and scarves, churning out sixties-ish melodies against a backdrop of “minimalist nu-jazz” yelps and breakdowns. This band received general approval from even the most judgmental viewers and recalled bands like the Velvet Underground and even David Bowie. To top it off, the lead singer was wearing a Talking Heads t-shirt.
The last band I stayed to watch was Robert Lester Folsom, a reissue from the Mexican Summer label that featured a solid band of what seemed like an older couple, two of their sons and another other older couple jamming out. Their sound was such a breath of fresh air in the show’s lineup and the overall atmosphere because it made everyone get up and dance – the band had verifiable influences from funk and even disco, but somehow melded that with bluegrass and rock ‘n’ roll. Plus, the fact that a man well into his sixties was fronting the group was even more ironic, and consequently, badass.
I had to leave before the band that everyone seemed to be waiting on, Tamaryn, took the stage. I was really bummed about it (damn you, early mornings at my job!) but I took a listen to the band’s Myspace and quickly understood what all the fuss was about. In the same vein as No Joy, female-fronted Tamaryn delivers spacey music layered over catchy riffs. The vocals are more apparent, though, which adds a note of color to the otherwise grey Pacific Northwest outfit. I was surprised that the show’s organizers placed No Joy and Tamaryn so far apart considering their sonic similarities, but I guess on the other hand the lineup produced something of a shoegaze cycle. Kind of like life?
