CMJ '08 = Over. = YAY!
c/o Clarissa Roudabush
I spent the final two nights of CMJ in Brooklyn, and I’m feeling Negative Nancy-ish about the entire thing. As with any massive marathon like this, you can expect to sift through lots of shit to find the gold, but this week that felt particularly true.
Obvi there were sweet acts like An Albatross, Designer Drugs, The Teenagers, Cheeseburger, TK Webb & the Visions, and Pattern is Movement that played locally in our fair neighborhood Friday/Saturday, but I feel like we already know and love them. Isn’t CMJ supposed to be about seeing new talent, and growing a big ole’ semi over unheard-of bands, and getting all riled up about the next year or so and who is going to blow up? Was CMJ even fun? Am I the only person who found this week to be a heinous adventure into the depths of bad music and annoying people sporting colorful badges?
Although I did collect a handful of new favorites from CMJ, which made my suffering worth it:
-Starfucker
-The Physics of Meaning
-Bell
-Wild Sweet Orange
-Stars Like Fleas
And bands that I’ve already fallen in love with – like Monotonix, Au, Hot Lava, and The Ruby Suns – worked their usual magic yet again in NYC. But dang, I’m so happy it’s OVER!
(I’d really love to hear some suggestions from you guys if you got to see any great bands during the marathon that other people should know about – post ‘em below!)
c/o Maniac World
cmj is a money-making scam. they charge everyone to ‘apply’ only let some people ‘in’ then they don’t pay any of the bands (except maybe some huge ones?) to play. add to that the money that gets laid out for tickets, and you have a pretty good profit.
then they put bands on shows with bands that are only as big as they are, so no one gets exposed to bands they haven’t heard and bands you haven’t heard get no exposure.
it’s just shitty and ridiculous. it’s like the walmart of festivals.
“then they put bands on shows with bands that are only as big as they are, so no one gets exposed to bands they haven’t heard and bands you haven’t heard get no exposure.”
Exactly. I saw a few great bands play to all of 10-15 people in the main room at Pianos last year during an afternoon/early evening showcase for a couple small labels. If you’re Dent May and your label showcase puts you between Excepter and Beach House, you’re going to get some good exposure. When the biggest band on the bill is The Teeth, you’re pretty much fucked. Too much competition.
Yea those are good points.
The $500 cost for a badge is pretty astronomical – especially considering that most of these showcases cost between $8-$15. Even if you went to two showcases a night for all five days, you’d probably only end up spending $150 or so max…. I suppose there are film panels and other stuff that go along with getting that badge, but I think it’s pretty obvious that the central reason for attending CMJ is the music fest.
So overall, the cost doesn’t really meet the value…. especially this year!
I agree that most of the stuff this year was crap, however, i saw one really good show at cake shop; I went to see Rainbow Arabia, which were really good, along with Hecuba, Rio en Medio, and We
Are The World. By far the best show of cmj,
What? who lets this dude write for a website? I saw at least 20 or so bands that I’ve never heard of(majority of them being pretty good)! On top of the fact that I saw numerous djs, and bands that I already was into. Need I even tell you ALL OF IT WAS FREE! I didn’t spend more than 5 dollars all week,drank for free EVERYWHERE, and had a mindblowing good time. Maybe you pansies need to tighten up,and do your fuckin’ research,anything you’d want was there for the taking, you just gotta find out where its at! quit being such spoiled homos,change your fuckin’ deep V and be thankful that your in NYC and even got a chance to experience this last week.It’s obvious that CMJ isn’t the grandaddy of all festivals, but at least it brought lots of heads from other cities/countries that came for a good time! you imbacels! and this no exposure thing is buggin’ me as well. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKIN’ ABOUT!? check all the fuckin’ blogs, and photo blogs before you say ricockulously retarded things such as that YOU JOKE! My only complaint would be that old-ass door dude at the Levi’s fort, although he was mega funny