Bands to Watch at CMJ 2011
From KCRW blog contributor Nassir Nassirzadeh: NYC Music Conference CMJ is officially upon us and although the music conference isn’t nearly as big as it used to be due to…
By Rachel Reynolds • • 2 min readFrom KCRW blog contributor Nassir Nassirzadeh:
NYC Music Conference CMJ is officially upon us and although the music conference isn’t nearly as big as it used to be due to the dwindling budgets of the dwindling record labels involved, there’s no denying the incredible amount of music that’s crammed into lower Manhattan’s music venues in a 4 day span. There are over 900 bands to choose from, but here are a few that I’m looking most forward to:
VACATIONER
I first heard word of this mysterious Brooklyn-based project few months ago with the release of their premiere single “Trip“. It has since been getting plays on KCRW. It has a very Beach Boys-esque vibe, but with production similar to the Quiet Village project, if any of you remember that evocative, down tempo album from a few years ago from K7 Records.
Whether it reminds you of the beach or a village, the music definitely takes you on a new destination unknown, hence their namesake. No surprise that the production is of note as it’s the synthesis of another recent KCRW selection, Body Language, and Kenny Vasoli of The Starting Line. That’s right, the pop punk band from the late 90’s. Vacationer has only unleashed two songs thus far (their 2nd single, “Gone“, was just released a couple weeks ago and sounds quite unlike the former) so I’m very eager to see where they can go from there. I would advise you to check out their stellar remixes as well.
Trip by Vacationer
GOTYE
Yes, you probably heard Wally De Backer (Gotye – pronounced Gore-tee-yeah) first on KCRW.
In fact, when i was working in the station’s music library, we played his previous album from 2006, “Like Drawing Blood”. One listen to “Heart’s A Mess” and you knew this Australian one-man band has some extreme potential.
Five years later, he’s finally getting all of the States to unite and he’s become the talk of this year’s conference. His new album, “Making Mirrors”, is incredibly diverse (Motown, dubstep, indie pop, electronica, etc.) and I’m very eager to see how he will it translate in a live setting. He plays the Satellite here in LA tonight before heading East for a couple CMJ dates.
*Hear more Gotye in a previous post from DJ Dan Wilcox.
SAVOIR ADORE
Fantasy rock duo Savoir Adore (pronounced Savwar uh-door) are, as you may have guessed, based in Brooklyn. They were signed to the Cantora label on their first album from 2008 and will have their most recent addictive single “Dreamers” released through the hip label Neon Gold on 11/11/11. Male/Female duet vocals aren’t always as good as “I’ve Had the Time of My Life”, but I’ve never felt this way before about contemporary indie pop…(yes, I just referenced Dirty Dancing. sorry).
This is music for fans of the Postal Service. I usually find myself looking for the next band so I rarely listen to songs on repeat, but both “Dreamers” and “The Loveliest Creature” just get better and better play after play. Interested to see how many of my peers won’t be able to resist dancing.
Savoir Adore – “Dreamers” by Creeping Wave
HONORABLE MENTION
Beat Connection
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
Totally Enormous Extinct DinosaursAlabama Shakes
LA BANDS REPRESENTin’
HANDS
A HOUSE FOR LIONS
INCAN ABRAHAM
THE CALIFORNIAN
NIGHTMARE AND THE CAT