CMJ Music Marathon
Day 5
October 20, 2007
New York, NY
Words: Cameron Cook
Photos: Abbey Braden

Pushing the term “marathon” to its limits, CMJ decided to tack on a fifth day to the conference, thus forcing us to test the boundaries of both our physical and emotional endurance. Luckily, the first two bands we caught were two of our favorite sets of the whole festival, so at least it was worth it. Tigercity are our favorite NYC band at the moment, and with good reason. They sound like Maroon 5, only take away everything you hate and add everything you love. We saw them play to a small but rapturous crowd at Cake Shop for a mid-afternoon set, and we fell in love. We can’t get enough of the band’s debut EP, Pretend Not To Love, and their earnest yacht-rock sound has us completely enamored. If “Are You Sensation?” doesn’t become one of the biggest hits of 2008, we just wont know what do to with ourselves. Or our wide-lapel velour tracksuits. Holla!

We stuck around for our second Walter Meego set of the festival, and while it wasn’t quite as good as their earlier Webster Hall set, it was still quite agreeable. Today’s version of “Girls” totally conveyed the song’s total potential to be a pop hit. Once again, “Through a Keyhole” reduced our brains to mush with its excellence.

We totally missed the one band everyone was buzzing about CMJ weekend: Black Kids, a Cure-sounding outfit from Jacksonville, Florida. Abbey caught them at the Brooklyn Vegan day show and took some pics to give you a general idea.

We couldn’t face the prospect of going to Terminal 5 twice in 24 hours, but once again, our brave Photo Editor Abbey braved the transit system and the West Side Highway to get shots of Justice doing their thing. Behold:

Rarely do we see the same band twice in one day, but Tigercity are just that type of band. Their late-night Mercury Lounge showcase was their best yet. If only we could get Michael McDonald and Christopher Cross to cover “Other Girls”, every mom on the face of the planet would succumb to the charms of Tigercity and rocket them to #1. It’s only a matter of time. Other hi-fi crowd pleasers such as “Darkwater” (“Whoa-oh-oh-OH oh!”) and of course “Are You Sensation?” were also on the menu. Tigercity are undoubtedly the best band in NYC, how long until the public catches up?

And with that, our coverage of CMJ 2007 comes to a close. We’d like to thank the CMJ Music Marathon, Red Bull, alcohol, not sleeping, and dance music for making this one of the best CMJs yet. Until next year…