CMJ 2015: Top 10 Parties Not To Miss

cmj

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or completely off the grid since fall started, you know that CMJ, possibly the best festival for discovering new music, is taking over NYC next week. There’s no way to see everything, but here’s some CMJ parties you definitely cannot miss (including ours):

10/13 – 7:30 pm – Good Room – Garage Land CMJ Showcase

The Garage Land CMJ showcase features some of the best acts to perform at the Good Room this year, including Watermelon Sugar, Gods, Casey Hopkins Duo, Acid Dad, Navy Gangs, Worthless, Savants, Surfbort and Tall Juan (bands listed in order of appearance, from first to last).  For a preview, check out Acid Dad: 

10/14 – 7 pm – Baby’s All Right – Brooklyn Vegan + Collect Records Showcase

Baby’s All Right is turning two soon, but before they reach toddler status, they’re throwing some awesome CMJ parties. One of those is hosted by the Brooklyn Vegan and Collect Records, with artists such as No Devotion, Wax Idols, Creepoid, and Foxes In Fiction.

10/14 – 7:30 pm –  Santos Party House – NME+PopGun+House Arrest Present CMJ Party

Two floors of acts, including Perfect Pussy*, Protomartyr*, Yung*, Seratones*, Hooten Tennis Club*, Dilly Dally^, Downtown Boys^, Shopping^, NICO YARYAN^, Car Seat Headset^, Yak^. RSVP on Facebook here.

(* upstairs, ^ downstairs)

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10/15 – 8 pm – Palisades – KXLU FM + Burger Records CMJ Showcase

The cool California record label Burger Records is hosting the showcase with Michael Rault, Cool Ghouls, Dirty Ghosts, Slim Twig, Modern Vices, Howardian and UNSTOPPABLE DEATH MACHINES. RSVP here, and check out a psychedelic track from Cool Ghouls below.

10/15 – 7 pm – Cake Shop – Thursday Night Showcase

Featuring Robbing Millions, S, Tricot,  Shopping, Diet Cig, , Sweet Spirit and Weaves at Cake Shop in the Lower East Side. Listen to all the bands quickly in the event’s creepy promo video:

10/16 – 1 pm – Palisades – Exploding In Sound Records Official CMJ Showcase

One of the best, most interesting record labels around, Exploding In Sound is throwing their CMJ showcase  at Palisades. Go and see Palehound, Big Ups, The Spirit of the Beehive, Greys, Palm, Stove, Washer, Kal Marks, Dirty Dishes, Swings, Flagland, Leapling and LVL UP. 

10/16 – 7 pm – Pianos – The Deli Magazine/Pianos CMJ Showcase

The Deli Magazine and Pianos have teamed up to bring you Vunderbar, The Fluids, Controller, Stolen Jars, Diet Cig, Eternal Summers, Beverly, Weaves, mild high club, ohnomoon, Paperwhite*, Yes Alexader*, MY BODY*, Solvey*, and The Golden Pony* (* means free/upstairs, the rest of the bands are in the main room for $10).

10/17 – 6:30 pm – Cameo Gallery – Audiofemme + Atypical Beasts Agency Showcase

We can guarantee this party will be amazing, because it’s being thrown by us! Come to the Cameo Gallery (which is unfortunately closing soon) to see some great acts like TOW3RS, Von Sell, The Prettiots, Lena Fayre, Beverly, and Monika. RSVP here, and get your tickets here!

10/17 – 12 pm – The Shop – Stereocure + Drunken Piano Showcase

Featuring Flamingosis, Moon Bounce, SUI ZHEN, A Sol Mechanic, Novelty Daughter, My Body, Bollywood Life, Crystal Ghost and more TBA. RSVP here!

10/18 – 3 pm – Palisades – Father/Daughter + Miscreant Records CMJ Showcase

Come to one of the last of the week’s events to hear Hiccup, Nicholas Nicholas, Bad Cello, i tried to run away when i was 6, Downies, Romp, Comfy, Vagabon, Fern Mayo, Bethlehem Steel, Diet Cig, SPORTS and PWR BTTM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BldOLNcbeGo

LIVE REVIEW: Flagship, Terraplane Sun & Little Daylight

Little Daylight Santos
A couple things I recall from Santos Party House include Maker’s Mark and Jack Daniels being the same price (win!), two floors of pure musical craziness, and the fact that the place is known for filling up in .5 seconds for live performances. The venue lives up to its name; by the end of the night, I had fallen into a limbo of insanity. They book amazing musicians, some of which I have had the privilege of enjoying. The lineup April 2nd included three mesmerizing acts on the ballot for the Three of Clubs Tour: Flagship, Terraplane Sun, and Little Daylight.
I have been following Flagship since their debut EP, blackbush was released almost two years ago, “Still I Wait” being one of my favorite tracks of the year. That certainly didn’t ease the star struck syndrome I felt meeting Drake Margolnick afterwards. He’s drawn comparisons to Chris Martin, but he and his four bandmates create an aura all their own. Margolnick, Matt Padgett, Christopher Comfort, Grant Harding and Michael Finster hail from Charlotte, NC. Their fantastic ensemble of dream-like sounds and melodies are the perfect backdrop for Margolnick’s smooth vocalizing tranquility. Accompanied by what was more or less a light show, their set hardly felt like an opening act. I found myself completely in awe as I gazed upon Flagship, so much that I made friends with a girl from Spain who was similarly entranced. Imagine that – two admirers from across oceans, brought together in something magical, and you get a sense of the gravity of Flagship’s performance. It’s a ripe moment for the band, following their fall released self-titled album, via of Bright Antenna Records. They’re still fresh, maybe discovering their personality on the road. But their performance last Wednesday really showed that there’s nothing but a glistening future ahead. It happened to be Finster’s birthday, but it felt more like mine to have “Are You Calling” sung to me. That’s the best thing about the band’s live performance; every song felt intimate and personal, like it was written exclusively for that one moment only.
Flagship Santos Party House
Terraplane Sun is from Venice Beach, California and made a solid segue from Flagship to headliners Little Daylight, mixing up their jouyous, dancey pop with some doses of indie-infused folk. Charismatic frontman Ben Rothbard had the crowd clapping and singing hits from last summer’s Ya Never Know EP, but the real focus was on material from their latest album Generation Blues, slated for release in July. Rothbard, Chris “Cecil” Campanaro, Lyle Riddle, Johnny Zambetti, and Gabe Feenberg are dazzling multi-intrumentalists, Johnny exchanging his guitar for mandolin and Ben picking up bluesy tambourine and harmonica every now and then. “The Stone” was particularly energetic, which makes sense considering this is the band’s first single from their upcoming record.

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Terraplane Sun Instagram from @meggers326

To send us all home especially sweaty and was Little Daylight. I love a girl that can rock out and do it in a gold dress and high-top sneakers. Indie-electronic-pop trio Nikki Taylor, Matt Lewkowicz and Eric Zeiler were the reason the guy next to me started puking. They are infectious but not in a sickening way, it’s just that everyone was jumping up and down to every song – especially (and perhaps ironically) to “Overdose.” Maybe he had Tunnel Vision – that would make sense, as it’s the title of the band’s electrifying debut EP. Whatever the cause, Mr. Barfy couldn’t kill the feel-good vibe gripping Santos. Little Daylight will end their tour at Firefly Music Festival, and the rest of the Three Of Clubs tour will continue with the dates posted below. Nikki Taylor was so intense and wild, I danced like I was single. I guess Santos just really knows how to party.

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Little Daylight Santos Party House
Little Daylight Instagrammed by @flagship_

Little Daylight tour

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