Laura Marling = Joanna Newsom + El Perro Del Mar
Antlers = A Place to Bury Strangers – “bury” + Mobius Band
Fanfarlo = Arcade Fire + Okkervil River + Beirut (when they were good live)
My new crush is Laura Marling. She was adorable onstage playing her mesmerizing songs. She played acoustic guitar accompanied at times with a cellist. Her voice was stunning and even played a number of new tunes. She was quite impressive.
The place got crowded to see The Antlers. The trio played a loud mixture of guitar and electronics that had nice dynamic ebbs and flows. However many of their songs started to all sound alike and a bit boring. They did play a few killer songs near the end.
Probably the most anticipated band at CMJ this year, Fanfarlo closed up the 6 band evening. A three-old London Pop ensemble fashioning catchy music with an expressive palette of instruments including trumpets, clarinet, glockenspiel and even a musical saw. They played songs filled with rousing choruses and catchy melodies. Although Simon Balthazar broke a guitar string on the 1st song, it didn’t deter the non-stop musical party. For the encore they handed out these plastic accordion-like tubes to play along. Great triumphant indie rock from one of the breakout bands to emerge from this year’s CMJ.
http://www.lauramarling.com/
http://www.antlersmusic.com/
http://www.fanfarlo.com/