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CMJ Day 1: Miles Benjamin Anthony Johnson | Friendly Fires | Lykke Li

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson is a 24-year-old Brooklyn-via-Oregon singer-songwriter that played songs tonight that frequently started of sounding like cover songs. His songs eventually got mangled with jerky melodies and undiscernable vocals. I couldn’t handle his set and left to play guitar hero downstairs and passed someone in the audience singing “Jesse’s Girl” along to the music. ha.

The enthusiasm the exhibited on stage by the Friendly Fires was infectious and soon enough the crowd danced to their electro guitar pop songs. The lead singer never stopped gyrating and kept the energy up for the entire night. If you sped up Fujiya & Miyagi and made them more fun you’d get this band.

I fell in love with Lykke Li’s new album and her sultry dance moves seen on her videos. The band played her songs flawlessly including a stripped down version of “I’m Good, I’m Gone”. Her voice translated very well live and she apologized that she didn’t have any more songs to play so she did covers by Vampire Weekend and Tribe Called Quest. She did not disappoint and a great start to CMJ.

Pictures from the show.

http://www.myspace.com/milesbenjaminanthonyrobinson
http://www.wearefriendlyfires.com/
http://www.lykkeli.com/

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CMJ 2008

It’s back. Although I was not overwhelmed with the choice of shows a few weeks ago, they’ve added a whole bunch I got my on. My short short list is here. But the full CMJ lineup here:

Go out and rock!

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Low @ Bell House

The “intimate and special night with Low” became less so when the venue moved from Union Hall to the new Bell House, but I was eager to check out the new space anyways. The decor is very much like its sister Hall, but much more spacious. The stage is nice but the place seems like a industrial barn and felt the sound got lost. Nevertheless, the band played their slowcore songs to the not-so-crowded-crowd. Getting drunk helped get into the slow swing of things and was impressed with the precision of their music live and being able to achieve the delicate and distinct changes in sound. When this slowly built momentous musical mood was rolling along they stop for intermission. After a 20 minute break I felt the mood was lost and I wasn’t going where the band was going. Nevertheless, delighted to have seen them live and intrigued with the venue space.

http://www.chairkickers.com/

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Uninhabitable Mansions | Mugison @ Mercury Lounge

Uninhabitable  Mansions   is a quirky band with a quirky name and includes members from Au Revoir Simone and Clap Your Hands and Say Yea.  Nothing exciting and sounds exactly if you were to put those 2 bands together. Cute happy music.

Finally hitting the states, Mugison comes driven by the lust for life, love, and sex. A mixture of alt-country and classic rock, the music was engaging and entertaining. Not afraid to experiment with instruments and vocals, Mugison pushes his sound into uncharted territories. HIs brother accompanied him on stage accenting his songs with electronic components including mics attached to their feet to create interesting bass sounds. HIs albums, including his newest “Mugiboogie” is one of my favs and the concert was musically the best shows of the year.

Pictures from the show.
http://www.myspace.com/uninhabitablemansions
http://www.mugison.com

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Parachutes | Sigur Ros @ United Palace

Parachutes was a sleepy amateurish version of the band I’ve been waiting to see for a very long time. Sigur Ros played their 2nd night of 2 and they completely exceeded my expectations. The sounds that poured from the stage were powerful and overwhelming. Along with a complimentary videos and light effects the show left me speechless. I will never forget the encore they gave us. super awesome.

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For Her And The Snow | Land of Talk @ Mercury Lounge

For Her And The Snow is Joe Presti from Brooklyn and sings songs of love and relationships. He goes from piano, guitar and sax effortlessly but the songs are still cheesy.

For an early show, the place was packed to see Land of Talk. Their new drummer Andrew Barr from the Slip was well received and the band played lots of their new tunes. I’ve seen this band a bunch of times now and they always impress me with their innovative song structures and guitar hooks. Although the new stuff isn’t as strong as their debut, the songs are more polished. They open up for Broken Social Scene later in the year.

http://www.landoftalk.com/