CMJ Day 3 in Photos

CMJ Day 3 for me was spent jumping around all over this city. 5 clubs and 6 bands. Here are 5 out of 6 in pics. First: Violens at Pianos. Second: Times New Viking at Brooklyn Bowl. Third: Dream Diary at the Woods. Fourth La Big Vic at Glasslands. Fifth: Marnie Stern at Live at the Pyramids.

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Shows This Week: Nov. 17-23

TONIGHT

Kurt Vile, Wild Yaks at Europa, 8 pm (email georgiamme@gmail.com to enter to win 2 tickets!)

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Fools Gold at (and Wed. at Music Hall of Williamsburg) 8ish

WEDNESDAY

Javelin, Juiceboxxx at Monster Island Basement

Dirty Projectors, Tune-Yards at Bowery Ballroom, 8ish (also Thursday and Saturday at Music Hall of Williamsburg and Sunday at BB)

Big Star, Kurt Vile at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple, 8ish

Times New Viking at Mercury Lounge, 10ish (and Thursday at Union Pool, 10ish, Friday at Maxwell’s, 10ish)

THURSDAY

DIY In Brooklyn pres. by Break Thru Radio featuring Frat Dad and Byrds of Paradise at Shea Stadium, 8

FRIDAY

Lemonade and Tanlines at Glasslands, 9ish

Fuck Buttons, Growing at Market Hotel, 9ish

SATURDAY

Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Cold Cave at Terminal 5, 8ish

MONDAY

Pixies at Hammerstein Ballroom, 8ish

TONS of Bands Represent at the FYF Fest in LA

Sexual Chocolate from Crystal Antlers

WORDS AND PHOTOS by Dan Catalinotto

This year’s FYF Fest was held at the Los Angeles Historic State Park, a calm, dusty park next to a trainyard and a bunch of industrial warehouses just below the main drag in Chinatown, where even the temples are framed in neon lights.

The park is on Schwarzenegger’s hitlist- since our California legislators can’t agree on a funding plan, hundreds of state parks are in danger of being budgeted out of existence. The FYF Fest organizers made this the unifying theme of the festival, calling on everyone to “Save Our State Parks,” then promptly closing off the park to the non-paying public and allowing thousands of kids to spread hot dog wrappers and plastic bottles all over the ground and tear up the grass. But I digress- what the festival may have lacked in full-thinking, (including horrifying lines for everything from the ticket counter to the one water fountain and weird scheduling glitches that had some bands playing before anyone was allowed in the park), it made up for by providing a showcase of a wide variety of acts, new and veteran and near-veteran, that have been buzzing on blogs and in clubs for years.

The first band I saw was Portland’s Eat Skull. They thumped and droned and seemed a bit mellowed out by the 90-degree heat. They have a similar feel to early, “Loser”-era Beck, which is always a great thing. Unfortunately, their short set lost energy as it went on and they seemed relieved to be finished at the end.

I then saw Dios, a local Southern California band that has a surfy, breezy country-tinged feel. Their singer and guitar player, Joel Morales, also plays bass in one of my favorite bands around, The Underground Railroad to Candyland, but Dios is Joel’s show. The band sounded perfect in the hot sun; the keyboards swelled and rose over the park, and Joel’s high voice was calm and captivating.

Morales’s voice is high, but he has nothing on Jeremy Earl from Brooklyn’s freak folk band Woods, who were playing at the same time as Dios on a nearby stage. Earl’s voice, though, seems like a total affectation, as if he’s trying to one-up Neil Young. In spite of that, I thought Woods sounded great; their folk chops were good enough and the dude kneeling on the floor, turning knobs on a tape effects machine really brought energy and weirdness to what could have been a standard folk rock jam-along fronted by a weary cartoon mouse.

Woods

Long Beach psych punks Crystal Antlers were next. They’re one of my favorite local bands, but they’ve gone through some recent changes, adding a second guitarist and replacing their keyboard player after their old one supposedly disappeared while they were on tour in Spain. The first time I saw them with the new lineup, in a smallish dive bar, I thought they’d lost some muscle and added too much unfocused noise to their sound. However, on the FYF festival main stage, they sounded tight and focused and absolutely blistered through their short set. As always, their percussionist, Sexual Chocolate, provided an overload of personality to balance the serious, sometimes angry psychedelic noise the rest of the band was making, which was anchored by Johnny Bell’s bass and screams. One of the top sets of the day for sure.

Everyone Wants to “Move to California”

Including, apparently, Times New Viking! The band is from Columbus, Ohio, so I guess it makes sense. TNV are releasing the Move to California 7″ on Sept. 7, and their upcoming full length Born Again Revisited is out on Sept. 22 on Matador. The band is going on a big North American and European tour. Dates here.

This song is a jangly pop perfection- and the jangled male and female vocals are masterful. A little whiny, a little abrasive; a perfect mix.

This song makes me want to pack it in. But not in the negative way. I feel like I can pack it up, pack it in, and begin.

Times New Viking: Move to California

Times New Viking: Move to California