On the third night of the CMJ Music Marathon, an annual music industry gathering in New York, music and sport compete for the city’s affections.
With both local baseball teams (the Mets and Yankees) playing each other in
the World Series and game one starting on Saturday night and going into
overtime, a raucous atmosphere carries into the festival’s clubs and pubs.
A prime example is at Irving Plaza, where irritated security try to deal
with the pressing crowds trying to get into V2 Records‘ party with DJ Geoffe,
Rinocerose and DJ Ian Pooley. Montpellier‘s Rinocerose blow away the
overly pretentious audience with their uplifting guitar, bongo and
flute-infused house music. The packed venue thins noticeably when German DJ
Pooley takes the decks.
DJ David Holmes‘ gig at Centro-Fly suffers from a crowd described as
“amateurish” by seasoned clubbers. The young and intoxicated partygoers
don’t help the fact that Holmes seems to be having an off night, rarely
hitting a groove that dance aficionados can hold on to.
Things are much more chilled at Acme Underground on Great Jones Street. Mary
Lou Lord, a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter from Boston, performs songs
by The Pogues and Magnetic Fields, as well as her own material, for a mostly
male audience. Lord‘s lacklustre set is sedate to say the least
Nearby at Fez is the Le Grand Magistry showcase. (Magistry is a
Michigan-based label that calls itself “a full-service organisation dedicated
to the simple truths of Alchemy, Design, Music and Beauty”.) London‘s
Baxendale, an electronic pop group, cause a minor riot when they cover
Destiny’s Child‘s ‘Say My Name’ and Stars thrill with their St. Etienne-like
sensuality. But when Essex‘s My Life Story pared down their sound and perform
as a trio, the songs become hollow and the
audience disinterested.
The Knitting Factory specialises in new British bands sporting members of
older British bands. A crowd favourite is Sing-Sing, who feature Emma
Anderson, formerly of Lush. Onlookers knew the words to unreleased songs,
causing Anderson to exclaim, “Bloody hell! We haven’t even released it yet
and they know it already”.
The Jesus and Mary Chain veteran Jim Reid‘s new outfit, Free Heat, sound suspiciously
like, well, The Jesus and Mary Chain, albeit with a harder edge. And Lupine Howl
emerged as a reincarnated Spiritualized, this time with the less intense Sean
Cook on vocals (Cook, Mike Mooney and Damon Reece were allegedly fired from
Spiritualized in 1999). Lupine‘s songs tend to meander throughout the set,
but the band do not disappoint with their sonic intensity.