CMJ Madness: In the gift bag...
I picked up my credentials this morning, which came with a gift bag chock full of flyers (just what I wanted!) and promotional CDs. Awesome!
• The official "CMJ Player" didn't play right on my computer. Boo. I'm going to try to track down another copy.
• "You've Been Saved: From Mediocre Music"
Presented by Ourstage — site dedicated to the democratic process; artists upload their songs and fans vote on the ones they like best. Understandably, then, this comp is pretty eclectic.
Notable tracks:
Wonderfool, "Venus to Vertigo" — Midtempo college rock.
SB, "I know Sean" — Fun hip-hop with retro samples.
The Go Station, "All Together Now" — I'm just surprised to see someone I've heard of before on one of these.
Una, "Fading in C# Minor" — Portishead-like electropop.
Overall, I would say there's a surprising amount of bands on here doing a very late-'90s sound.
• Severe Records sampler
Severe is a label out of Nashville. The artists represented here have very acoustic, feelings heavy (but not emo) singer-songwritery stuff. Not really my thing. ... Actually, as I get further into the CD, there's more diverse stuff, but nothing's really impressing me so much. There's some startlingly aggressive rap mixed in there, between all the Hootie-lite, of the "I'm getting rich, bitch"-variety.
• amp.com presents: Groove Automata
This is a freeware electronica samples library. That's kind of cool.
• Austin Texas Mean Music Comp
These bands sound a lot more polished than those on the previous CDs. I've never heard of Mean Music, but Austin, as I understand it, is a pretty musical town.
I actually really like this one. The overall style is very progressive, snotty post-punk. Purportedly, there will be more info about these bands here, but as of this writing, the page just says, "Stay Tuned."
Notables:
Good Times Crisis Band, UME, Gorch Fock (who get the Best Lyric award for: "trees don't love you/trees, they want you dead!" (I really, really hope this is what they're actually saying)).
• Filter Magazine, "2007 Subway Series"
OK, this doesn't have so much to do with what's actually happening at CMJ. In fact, with groups including Counting Crows, PJ Harvey, Joy Division and Ryan Adams, it doesn't seem to have much to do with anything that's happening anywhere. I guess someone just wanted to make a mixtape.
Now I gotta get going to go listen to actual live music, so more tomorrow...
eh.www.amNY.com
