CMJ Music Marathon
Day 2
October 17, 2007
New York, NY
Words by Cameron Cook
Photos by Abbey Braden

Thanks to the cosmic wormhole that is the New York City subway system, we made it barely in time to check out Billy Bragg play a few songs to a totally packed Arlene’s Grocery on Wednesday. We were completely in awe of Billy’s ability to command an audience, cracking jokes and bantering the entire way through. We’re pretty sure we saw some misty eyes when he busted out old-school classic “The Saturday Boy”, and his earnest plea to fight racism and discrimination within both the American and British governments through Rock Against Racism had the crowd pumping fists and yelling for solidarity. Though we’ve always admired his songwriting, we’d never seen Billy live before that day, but we’re now sure he changes lives with every performance. A living legend.



After a hangover-curing lunch of mac and cheese and fried chicken, we leisurely ambled over to The Delancey to check out, erm, the Checks, a rowdy, bluesy five-piece who sound like Detroit circa. 1975 but are in fact New Zealand circa. 2007. Their debut album Hunting Whales is chock-full of dirty riffs and soaked in whiskey, spit and sweat.






The Fader Lounge was definitely the venue we spent the most time in during CMJ, and that’s only partially because of the open bar, complete with high-school-esque Southern Comfort and punch concoctions. After cursing ourselves for missing both The Airborne Toxic Event and HEALTH, we caught what just so happened to be the best surprise of the entire festival: kooky country-punks Ezra Furman & The Harpoons. Imagine Teenager of the Year-era Frank Black crossed with John Darnielle (minus the annoying 85,000 words per song and sketchy facial features). Performing behind dollar-store shades, Ezra Furman spun catchy narrative tales of whores, ghosts, children, and Moses. He also has a waltz about how God is a middle-aged woman who’s scared to go on a date with a younger guy. As if this could get any better, Ezra’s record (Banging Down The Doors) is out on indie-pop superlabel Minty Fresh. If there’s one weird dude slinging a guitar you see this year, for the love of God PLEASE make it Ezra Furman & The Harpoons.


After The Jump have been putting on some amazing events, and their CMJ showcase was no exception. Brooklyn prog-rock buzz band Yeasayer took the stage early in the evening and as the venue filed with curious onlookers, the band’s original brand of insane vocal harmonies and funk bass lines took the crowd over. We left the venue with our minds adequately expanded.












Afterwards, we ran down to the Canal Room to see the almighty Dragonette perform to a crowd of devoted fans at the ASCAP showcase. Let us state for the record that as far as female-fronted pop bands are concerned, Dragonette are the reigning champions of the genre, hands down. Never in our lives have we seen a band that marries pop melodies, style, substance and sexiness as perfectly and effortlessly as they do. Their entire ethos is summed up in one moment: when front woman Martina rips the seam of her denim skirt to move more freely, and with a casual whip of her hair purrs, “Thaaaat’s better.” Every one of their songs is brilliant, and “Competition” and current anthem “Take It Like a Man” shimmer as if penned Gwen Stefani’s hipper kid sister, and a medley of “I Get Around” coupled with a cover of Calvin Harris’ “The Girls” is the cherry on top of the gigantic, gooey cake. We have a new favorite band. They’re called Dragonette.