I took a lot of photos during CMJ this year. I’m just now getting around to posting them all on flickr (still a few more to come after this though).

October 17, 2007
Carolyn Mark @ The Knitting Factory
Bella @ The Knitting Factory
The Awkward Stage @ The Knitting Factory (set)
Foals @ The Music Hall (set)

October 18, 2007
Speck Mountain @ The Knitting Factory (set)
Le Loup @ The Knitting Factory (set)
Papercuts @ The Knitting Factory (set)
Bowerbirds @ The Knitting Factory (set)
Octoberman @ The Knitting Factory (set)
Mohawk Lodge @ The Knitting Factory (set)

Foals at The Music Hall (10/17/07)

A Place To Bury Strangers at The Music Hall (10/17/07)

(Photo Courtesy of Abbey Braden/Punkphoto.com)

Jon Pareles, chief pop music critic for the New York Times mentioned no less than three After The Jump Fest bands in his CMJ wrap up today. Check out the quote below:

It’s impossible to hear more than a small percentage of the performers. For me those deserving a follow-up included Dragons of Zynth, a New York band with a roiling, constantly shifting mixture of psychedelia and minimalism, power-trio riffs and contrapuntal vocals; Marla Hansen, who sang pensive, serene songs accompanied only by a plucked viola; Foals, playing layered, pointillistic dance rock; Yeasayer, which melded a sustained synthesizer foundation with light-fingered African and Celtic countermelodies and apocalyptic thoughts; Torche, which pounded out monumentally slow-grinding heavy metal; and Jesu, whose equally slow hard rock tolled with grandly consonant major chords.

Other bands had an enjoyable revivalist streak. On the rock side there were Wooden Shjips, reviving the hippie drone-jams of the 1960s, and A Place to Bury Strangers, reviving the ominous, feedback-drenched drones of the 1980s. Ghostland Observatory and We Are Wolves brought back analog synthesizer riffs from the electro era. In hip-hop the Cool Kids, from Chicago, longed to go back to 1988, with clever rhymes about subjects other than crime and raw sex, while Spank Rock brought back the fixation on “Bootay” — his spelling — that once got 2 Live Crew prosecuted for obscenity. [Play Well, and May the Blog Buzz Be With You - NYTimes.com]

Yeasayer at The Music Hall (10/17/07)

(Photo Courtesy of Abbey Braden/Punkphoto.com)

Speck Mountain @ the Knitting Factory (10/18/07)

Le Loup @ the Knitting Factory (10/18/07)

Papercuts @ the Knitting Factory (10/18/07)

Bowerbirds @ the Knitting Factory (10/18/07)

Octoberman @ the Knitting Factory (10/18/07)

Octoberman w/ Mohawk Lodge @ the Knitting Factory (10/18/07)

Mohawk Lodge @ the Knitting Factory (10/18/07)

Flickr sets to come soon hopefully (oh yeah, Stereogum was there too).

Saturday, October 20th, NOON, at The Yard
400 Carroll St
Brooklyn, NY

After the Jump’s Fall Fest at The Yard:

NOON SHARP The Loom
1:00 pm The Lisps
2:00 pm Balthrop Alabama
3:00 pm Eagle Seagull
4:00 pm Two Man Gentleman Band
5:00 pm Old Time Relijun
6:00 pm O’death

Once again, here are the details:

Friday, October 19th, 1:00 pm at The Annex
152 Orchard St., New York, NY

After the Jump and Indie Outlaw present: North v. South:
Northern Bands:
1:45 pm The Antlers
3:15 pm Nous Non Plus
4:50 pm The Silent Years

Southern Bands:
1:00 pm Dead Confederate
2:30 pm Shovels and Rope (feat. Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent)
4:00 pm The Pendletons
5:30 pm Morning State

COST = FREE

Carolyn Mark @ The Knitting Factory (10/17/07)

Bella @ The Knitting Factory (10/17/07)

The Awkward Stage @ The Knitting Factory (10/17/07)

Foals @ The Music Hall of Williamsburg (10/17/07)

Flickr sets to come.

Both Grant Lawrence and Chris Kelly of CBC Radio 3 told me that they were going to check out The Golden Dogs tonight at the Yep Roc showcase at Mo’ Pitkins tonight (October 18). Here’s what the entire lineup looks like:

THURSDAY, OCT. 18 @ MO PITKIN’S
8pm-2am
Rock Plaza Central
American Princes
The Golden Dogs
Liam Finn
Heloise & The Savior Faire

FRIDAY, OCT. 19TH @ MO PITKIN’S
12PM-6PM
Rock Plaza Central
American Princes
The Golden Dogs
Liam Finn
Heloise & The Savior Faire

Stars

Stars, as you may recall, are on tour now in support of their new record, In Our Bedroom After the War (Arts & Crafts). They’ll be playing tonight at the Town Hall with New Buffalo and then making their way across the US and into Canada. Joining them for part of their tour, will be Norway’s Magnet, aka Even Johansen. Magnet has a new record out now called The Simple Life (Filter) and was supposed to play some shows at Joe’s Pub in New York Friday and Saturday, but they were cancelled at the last minute. Largely a solo effort in the past, Johansen will be touring this time around with a 5-piece band. The New York dates will be rescheduled soon hopefully.

Magnet

All Stars/Magnet tour dates after the jump.

“Stars Playing Town Hall Tonight | Touring with Magnet” continued after the jump

CMJ Night 1 (October 16) in chronological order.

Josh Rouse and Paz Suay @ Barnes & Noble (10/16/07)

Go here for the full flickr set.

Two Man Gentleman Band @ Pianos (10/16/07)

Go here for the full flickr set.

The Unsacred Hearts @ Pianos (10/16/07)

Go here for the full flickr set.

Michael Leviton @ Union Hall (10/16/07)

Go here for the full flickr set.

Cat Martino @ Union Hall (10/16/07)

Go here for the full flickr set.

Hey everyone, our first of three CMJ shows is at the Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight (October 17)!

Here’s the amazing lineup again:

After the Jump teams up with The Bowery Presents to bring you:

8:00 pm Alberta Cross
9:00 pm Yeasayer
10:00 pm Sam Champion
11:00 pm Cadence Weapon
12:00 am Foals
1:00 am A Place to Bury Strangers

COST = $12 advance via ticketmaster and $14 day of.
BUY TICKETS ON TICKETMASTER NOW!

Music Hall of Williamsburg
66 North Sixth St, Brooklyn, NY

Listen to some of the artists from tonight’s show on a special “After The Jump Fest” episode of BlogFreshRadio.

PS Don’t forget our other upcoming shows!

Read about the whole ugly incident at BrooklynVegan.com.

Now what am I going to do tonight?

Miracle Fortress at Pop Montreal (CRED)

That Brooklyn Vegan fella is putting on a bunch of shows at CMJ this year, including one official CMJ showcase tonight (Tuesday) featuring an artist who put out one of my favorite records of 2007 (Five Roses). Montreal’s Miracle Fortress (aka Graham Van Pelt) will be making his NYC debut at the Bowery Ballroom tonight (which would have happened at our last After The Jump Fest show if I had my way) at 8pm sharp. Oh yeah, while you’re there, you might as well stick around for Most Serene Republic, Dean & Britta, The Rosebuds and Voxtrot.

If you can’t make the Bowery show or don’t feel like paying the cover charge, Miracle Fortress will also be playing a free In-Store performance the next day (October 17) at Sound Fix Records in Williamsburg.

Download: Miracle Fortress - Have You Seen In Your Dreams

Hot Springs at L’Agitee, Quebec (CRED)

Hot Springs are another exciting Montreal band that are in town to play CMJ this year. They’ve got a brand new record out called Volcano, and they’ll be showing it off at Club Midway on Friday Oct. 19 at 7:00 PM. Don’t let this show pass you by, frontwoman Giselle Webber’s stage antics are the stuff of legend.

Download: Hot Springs - Headrush (mp3)

Well Canada isn’t going to be the only foreign country represented at CMJ this year, it seems as if some of our Kiwi friends will be making the trip as well (but not The Phoenix Foundation sadly). On October 17 at The Delancey there’s gonna be a little New Zealand get together hosted by famous TV band manager Rhys Darby (aka Murray Hewitt of FOTC). Here’s what the lineup looks like:

Set Times and Artists
2:30 Liam Finn
3:00 The Brunettes
3:30 Cut Off Your Hands
4:00 The Checks

In other New Zealand related news, The Clean are set to play a three night residency at The Cake Shop on November 29, 30 and December 1. I assume if they are coming all this way, they must be playing some other cities, but I can’t seem to find more tour dates right now. (There are a few David Kilgour dates out there, including one at Union Hall on November 9 and one at the Mercury Lounge on November 10, but nothing else with The Clean as far as I can see).

In keeping with my all Canadian theme, here’s my CMJ hat-trick post for the day. On October 18, White Whale Records records is putting on a showcase at the Knitting Factory featuring Vancouver’s Octoberman (aka Marc Morissette), fellow Vancouverites Mohawk Lodge, and Toronto’s Culture Reject (Michael O’Connell). My most loyal readers may recall that I was a big fan of Octoberman’s last record, These Trails Are Old And New, but this time around, Marc and his expanded band (featuring Copperspine recording artist Leah Abramson among others) will no doubt be showcasing songs off of his newest release, Run From Safety.

Download: Octoberman - Run From Safety
Download: Mohawk Lodge - Wear ‘Em Out

On a side note, this whole CMJ show is part of a larger White Whale Music With Friends Tour being sponsored by CBC Radio 3. Here are the remaining Music With Friends tour dates:

Music With Friends Tour Dates
Oct 15 Guelph, ON @ Vinyl
Oct 16 Hamilton, ON @ Pepperjack Cafe
Oct 17 Toronto, ON @ TBA
Oct 18 New York @ CMJ (White Whale Showcase)
Oct 19 Ottawa, ON @ Zaphod’s w/ Poorfolk
Oct 20 Montreal, QC @ Barfly w/ Poorfolk
Oct 22 Waterloo, ON @ House Concert
Oct 23 Toronto, ON @ XM Studios – Live On The Verge
Oct 24 London, ON @ Alex P. Keaton’s
Oct 25 Windsor, ON @ Phog Lounge

The Mint Records showcase at CMJ this year features three Canadian bands who are all worth penciling in on your CMJ schedule. Vancouver’s The Awkward Stage featuring Shane Nelken (cremationist and guitarist for Park Slope’s own A.C. Newman), will treat New Yorker’s to some irresistible pop hooks off of his debut record, Heaven is for Easy Girls, which turned more than a few heads on the Canadian indie music scene when it came out last year. Victoria’s own Carolyn Mark, who makes up 1/3 of the Corn Sisters, and is a fine solo artist in her own right, will be showcasing some songs from her brand spanking new release, Nothing Is Free (and hopefully some old ones too). Vancouver’s Bella (who recently played Union Hall), will also be there to shake up the Knittting Factory with some danceable numbers off their fine new release, No One Will Know.

Download: The Awkward Stage - Heaven Is For Easy Girls
Download: Carolyn Mark - The 1 That Got Away
Download: Bella - Give It A Night