CMJ 2009: Saturday

Sugar Plum Ferry (photo: Yuchung Chao)

CMJ Saturday is the day you can really pull the trigger, and the last two years we have had This Side Up Sounds to make it even easier for us. With The Deli magazine and a crazy-ass food website (www.TheYoungandHungry.com), who I am sure helped out, The Delancey's Saturday party was even better than last year's, and more heavily attended. Apart from free beer (which we all forgive during a W recession) this day show has everything: awesome bands from the Deli's "Best 1 trillion bands of NYC" list, free food from fancy gastro-shacks, and it's great exercise, going from the upstairs to downstairs bar at each set change. Grease me and put me in the cannon. I just parked at The Delancey all day.

Drink Up Buttercup are a huge favorite everywhere I go. Everyone claims to love them, few are lying. I think they have one of the truly unique sounds of the current New York / Brooklyn scene; and they're fun to watch. If you want some free mp3's, there is a great Drink Up Buttercup Daytrotter session that you should check out.



I can't possibly write about all the bands with any sort of depth. Mostly because I am wrecked, but also because I haven't had a chance to listen enough for my opinions to crystallize. I have been trying to see We Are Country Mice for months, so I was really pleased that they were on the bill:



Annie & The Beekeepers played a show last March at one of our SXSW shows, but this was the first time I have seen her. It's sort of Allison Kraussy with sentimental lyrics. I am more of an ironic guy, but no one can argue her voice.



Cale Parks are sort of electronic and percussive, with swooning vocals over the top. Very mellow, but a nice change of pace. I am listening to their record right now, and I think it holds up.



Elizabeth & the Catapult's crowd was huge and a little loud, but I loved the song she played so much, I am going to post it anyway. It's hard to hear at times, but whatever. Normally I don't really get to enjoy a song as I am filming it, for obvious reasons, but this was an exception.



I ran out of tape for Freelance Whales (free downloads at RCRD LBL) and Local Natives, but both were fantastic, despite the sound failing to overpower the crowd noise towards the end of the show. I highly recommend them both.

After dinner I went to Local 269 for a band I was quite excited to hear called Sugar Plum Ferry. I met these guys earlier in the Festival, and I was impressed at how far they had come. If you like Explosions In The Sky, then you will love these guys. Despite playing in a somewhat smaller cap venue than they are used to back home, Local 269 was packed with an enthusiastic and appreciative crowd of local New York fans. Each of their songs is about quarter of an hour long, which proved too much for my remaining tape. I managed to get one though in its entirety. The whole set was entrancing.



Buy Drink Up Buttercup's records!!
Buy We Are Country Mice's records!!
Buy Annie And The Beekeeper's records!!
Buy The Cale Park's records!!
Buy The Elizabeth And The Catapult's records!!
Buy The Sugar Plum Ferry's records!!