CMJ Thursday Recap
Words and Photos by: David Turcotte
After a long night of partying at the Hudson Hotel and brief outing at The Santos House Party showcase, the TSI team was back at it for Thursday’s slice of the 2011′s CMJ’s music marathon. With over 900 bands, TSI founder Steph and I found ourselves scratching our heads on what amazing showcases we were planning to tackle for the day.
Starting at the Ace Hotel just south of Korea Town, we stopped by to see Dum Dum girls rock a media packed room full of reporters and laptops. Space was tight, but we managed to push and squeeze our way to the front of the stage to check out the all-girl outfit. Their 2010 album I will Be got a ton of love and national acclaim , so it wouldn’t be a stretch to see last months release of Only in Dreams (Sub Pop Label) continue their upward trend. Follow the Dum Dum Girls here.
Dum Dum Girls
From Ace Hotel, we headed down the street to Union Square for the Thursday afternoon SPIN magazine showcase at the Puma store featuring Portland rockers Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Having just played the night before in Philly, Unknown Mortal Orchestra showed no signs of being tired as they ripped through a beautifully executed 30 minute set of music. We briefly chatted with the band about their upcoming tour and Portland’s burgeoning music scene.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra will be heading to to the UK this November following their sold-out headline shows here in back in July. They play a series of live dates supporting Foster The People in the UK, playing the winter Primavera Sound shows in Spain and headline shows in London and Paris.
You can follow Unknown Mortal Orchestra here.
Ruban Nielson of Unknown Mortal Orchestra: Photo by David Turcotte
After a bit of shopping and eats with our good friend Q.D. Tran, we headed over to the New York Deli Magazine showcase at Pianos on the lower east side just in time to catch Forest Fire, Snowmine, Zambri, The Ill Fits, Caveman and The Stepkids. Despite a (seemingly worthless) CMJ media badge and photo credential, it took a little finagling with the door man at Pianos to get into the sold out venue. Once in, it was clear that this was the place to be as a number of rock stars were roaming around including Justin Townes Earle and Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio.
Zambri, The Ill Fits (members of MGT and Amazing Baby) and Caveman were seriously amazing. My only disappointment with this showcase came when I had to use the bathroom towards the end of The Ill Fits set, and could only watch Caveman from the back of the venue due to some serious overcrowding. Caveman deserves all the hype they are getting right now, and was certainly worth braving the oversold showcase and long bathroom lines at Pianos.
We hung out for a few songs from The Stepkids, and then made our way around the corner to the Snack Dragon Taco Shack for a few delicious pork and fish tacos. A perfect nightcap to a long day of music, beers and cheers.
Snowmine
Forest Fire
Zambri
The Ill Fits
Caveman
