Philadelphia Bands Looking To Shine At CMJ Music Festival
by Matt Kelchner
Every year in mid October bands and artists from around the country, and other countries, flock to New York City for the legendary CMJ Music Marathon. It’s at this festival where industry professionals come to search for the next big thing. Every type of entertainment company from record labels and PR firms to magazines and blogs host showcases that put these new bands on display. Shows start early in the afternoon and often go into the early hours of the next morning. Bands play multiple days, some even multiple shows in one day. This year is no different. Starting today, bands will be pouring into the city to play almost every venue in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
With the music scene in Philadelphia all but exploding, a number of bands are making the trip north on I-95 this week to take part in the madness that is the CMJ Music Marathon. That Music Mag will be breaking down the bands from the city of brother love that are playing and where to catch them.
Free Energy – Local 70s stadium rock revivalists made quite a splash with their 2010 debut album Stuck On Nothing. Released on LCD Soundsystem front man James Muprhy’s DFA Records, the release put the band on many major magazines “best new bands of 2010” lists. After extensive touring the band went quiet. Now the band is back with news of a new album, Love Sign, that will self-released in January. After playing a show at Johnny Brenda’s, Free Energy will be showing off their new songs at a couple of different showcase at CMJ.
· Friday 10/19 @ Brooklyn Bowl
· Saturday 10/20 @ Knitting Factory
· Saturday 10/20 @ Public Assembly
Bleeding Rainbow – Like Free Energy, Bleeding Rainbow have a new album coming out in January. Yeah Right will be released via Kanine Records on January 29th. The four-piece group has come a long way from starting out a duo playing West Philly house shows. With a sound that’s more fuzz driven noise pop, Bleeding Rainbow will be looking to making themselves heard at a more national level at the festival.
· Tuesday 10/17 @ Marlin Room at Webster Hall
· Friday 10/19 @ Cameo Art Gallery
· Friday 10/19 @ Cake Shop
Dangerous Ponies – Known for their live shows full of high energy and lots of crowd interactions, the Dangerous Ponies have become one of the cornerstones in Philly’s DIY scene. They have been hard at work all year on their follow up to their 2010 self-titled release, the Ponies will be taking time out of their busy recording and production schedule to play a handful of shows at CMJ
· Wednesday 10/18 @ Sullivan Hall
· Wednesday 10/18 @ The Living Room
· Friday 10/19 @ Canal Room
Night Panther – Best friends Farzard Houshiarnejad and Mike Cammarata formed Night Panther as a side project from their other band White Birds. Self describing their sound as “sex-pop” the duo first made a name for themselves with their falsetto and synth filled cover of Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks”. They then followed that up with “Fever” and “Snudge”, two equally great singles that helped further shape their sound. Night Panther have a busy schedule planned for this week.
· Thursday 10/19 @ Bar Matchless
· Thursday 10/19 @ Piano’s
· Friday 10/20 @ Glasslands Gallery
· Saturday 10/21 @ Cake Shop
Gracie – Talented producer/multi-instrumentalist Gracie released his Treehouse EP at the beginning of this year on Small Plates Records. He recently released a new single over the summer and is currently working his full-length album Bleeder. Gracie shares two different bills with Night Panther this year at CMJ
· Thursday 10/19 @ Piano’s
· Saturday 10/21 @ Cake Shop
Lushlife – The Philadelphia rapper released a very underrated album and mixtape earlier this year that will unfortunately be overlooked when it comes to the year-end lists. Running through his guest features (Heems of Das Racist, Sun Glitters and Styles P) show that Lushlife can rock with hip hop fans and indie fans alike.
· Thursday 10/19 @ The Delancy
· Friday 10/20 @ Cameo Art Gallery
Pissed Jeans – The Allentown, PA noise-rock/hardcore group Pissed Jeans are no strangers to playing CMJ. After touring throughout much of this year, they return this year for a lone performance. They will be playing the Sub Pop Records showcase alongside King Tuff and Metz among others.
· Thursday 10/19 @ Knitting Factory
Slingshot Dakota – The Bethlehem, PA duo of Carly Comando and Tom Patterson have been around for years now, having last released an album in 2008. Earlier this year, they announced signing to punk label Top Shelf Records and will be releasing their new album Dark Hearts November 6th. In an interesting move to play CMJ instead of The Fest (the punk/pop-punk equivalent to CMJ in Gainesville, FL) Top Shelf Records will be featuring Slingshot Dakota on their label showcase this year.
· Friday 10/20 @ Suburbia
