{"id":16071,"date":"2016-09-22T13:55:31","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T17:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/?p=16071"},"modified":"2018-08-09T17:09:08","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T21:09:08","slug":"only-noise-get-well-soon-cmj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/only-noise-get-well-soon-cmj\/","title":{"rendered":"ONLY NOISE: Get Well Soon, CMJ"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Around this time of year, I\u2019m usually unearthing my leather jacket from the season-long crypt that is my closet. I\u2019m forgetting to send my mom a birthday card and cursing the ubiquity of pumpkin spice. I start to crave horror movie marathons, and turtlenecks, and potpie. But more than anything, at this time of year I am usually preparing for the once annual CMJ Music Marathon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This very moment, I should be stuck on some letter in the alphabet, two-thirds of the way through with my yearly, militant, and self-appointed task of listening to every band and artist on the lineup, usually numbered at around 1,500 or so. I took special pride in knowing exactly how ninety percent of the bands would sound just by looking at their photos\u00a0and witnessed a foolproof pattern that any time my assumption was wrong, I ended up loving what I heard. The element of surprise goes a long way.<\/p>\n

Around this time of year, I should be compiling an overwhelming, archaic, and impossible calendar for the week of CMJ. One that suggests I can somehow manage between four and five shows daily, even though my record high was three, and I came down with a cold immediately after. The calendar would be printed, with handwritten information. \u201cMust-sees\u201d would be striped with pink highlighter.<\/p>\n

And yet in the spirit of a fall that won\u2019t begin-highs in the mid-80s today \u2013 it looks like CMJ 2016 won\u2019t either. According to articles published by Pitchfork<\/a>, Stereogum<\/a>, and Brooklyn Vegan, the event\u2019s 2016 existence is largely in question. As far back as April, Brooklyn Vegan<\/a> posed the question: \u201cIs CMJ happening this year?\u201d Stereogum\u2019s late August headline probed even deeper when it asked: \u201cCMJ Sure Seems To Be Over. So How Come Nobody Is Talking About It?\u201d<\/p>\n

Naturally, I have some questions of my own. Firstly, if CMJ is <\/em>happening this year, then why does the official website still have \u201cCMJ 2015\u201d emblazoned all over it, along with no lineup in sight? And secondly, what the hell are we supposed to believe when Time Out New York <\/em>publishes an article that reads \u201cThe CMJ Music Marathon is probably not happening this year<\/a>\u201d as well as a \u201cCMJ 2016 Music Marathon Guide<\/a>\u201d on the same day<\/em>?<\/p>\n

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As it turns out, trouble has been brewing for a few years now. According to a 2013 New York Times <\/em>article<\/a> published the first day of the mini festival that year (very sensitive of you, NY Times,<\/em>) the organization behind CMJ was facing a $1 million dollar lawsuit due to a failed merger with Metropolitan Entertainment. And that is just what\u2019s keeping four days of new music bliss at bay this year: business problems.<\/p>\n

But despite the pessimism from various news outlets, CMJ CEO Adam Klein is asking that everyone try a little tenderness and hold their horses this year. He expressed in a press release that he is\u00a0“totally committed to protecting CMJ’s unique and ‘live’ heritage while adapting to the ever-changing demands of artists, fans, and the music industry. A little patience and a whole lot less wild and unsubstantiated speculation is what we need right now.”<\/p>\n

But what about what music journalists need? Don\u2019t we need four nights of nearly 1,500 bands we\u2019ve never heard to lose our minds over every fall? Of course we do! I must be in full-blown denial of the situation, as I check CMJ\u2019s website near daily just in case this is all some sort of lofty prank.<\/p>\n

Leafing through my 2014 festival guide, which I have kept for reasons even I cannot fathom, I take note of the venue listings. Cameo Gallery: gone. Glasslands: gone. Spike Hill: Equinox. Trash Bar: run out of the neighborhood. There seems to be a whole theme surrounding the independent music scene in New York sometimes, and it\u2019s not a hopeful one. While venues and bars reincarnate in more remote hoods, it\u2019s hard to imagine what could possibly replace an event as essential as CMJ.<\/p>\n

Like a mom that loves scrapbooking, I have kept all of my press badge lanyards over the years, a fact so dorky that it can only be expressed through use of the word \u201clanyard.\u201d Without these badges, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to see most of the gigs at CMJ\u2026except that \u00be of the ones I select always end up being free to the public. \u201cMa\u2019am, this show is free,\u201d many a door person has scolded as I earnestly held the laminated card to their face. So thrilled I was about this event, that I would proudly take on the douchey, self-ordained responsibility of wearing my press badge at all<\/em> times, even when it made absolutely no sense, like at AudioFemme showcases.<\/p>\n

One time, in my fifth attempt to finally see Perfect Pussy, I wore my badge all the way up to north Williamsburg to an outdoor matinee featuring Protomartyr. There was no question in my mind that this was a CMJ event, as it was listed with the others. I waited in line, and gave \u2018em the badge. \u201cThat won\u2019t do you any good here,\u201d the dough handler said gruffly. I slinked away outwardly embarrassed, but unwilling to hand over ten dollars to an asshole in a bad hat. A similar dilemma had transpired at Silent Barn days prior at a Sean Nicholas Savage show, but the resident hand stamper was more kind. Slightly.<\/p>\n

If it weren\u2019t for CMJ, I wouldn\u2019t have discovered artists such as Cosmo Sheldrake<\/a>, Kamasi Washington, Hooton Tennis Club<\/a>, Phony PPL, Landshapes, Outfit<\/a>, Tom Vek, The Dig, Money, or countless others. I first saw London trio Happyness<\/a> at the marathon, and they have since become a favorite emerging band, and fantastic interview subjects to boot.<\/p>\n