The official kick off party to 2010’s CMJ festival was held in the pristine Brooklyn Bowl with pins crashing and guitars wailing. MOG put together a free show for fans to catch new all-stars and old superstars before the madness of all day parties, panel discussions and cheap beer starts flowing in every NYC venue possible.
If the first band to take the stage is any indicator of future returns we are all in glorious shape as Screaming Females are dynamite; proclaiming through their playing that they are one of the fiercest bands throwing down anywhere on any night. The New Brunswick, NJ based trio of Marissa Paternoster, Jarrett Dougherty and King Mike are one of the brightest power rock bands to shine in some time, crumpling up punk rock into a tight ball of fury before destroying it with huge arena riffs and explosively tight rhythms.
After a metal horn worthy introduction instrumental the trio blasted into their set via the power of "Bell" before slamming into the first track off their newest release Castle Talk titled "Laura & Marty". The structured "I Do" has a glossy pop sheen over its riffage making it go down smooth but the energy still breaks out in yelps and feedback dissonance. The set was awash in echoes, ghostly feedback in the machine and tons of fantastic shreds from Paternoster who worked her pedals and six strings with fluidity and ferocity that is almost unmatched in rock today; she is a whirling dervish on guitar. While Paternoster is the obvious focus, the low-end is just as talented, remaining buoyantly locked in allowing the guitar to freewheel into the sonic madness with abandon. The all too brief set is just a taste of what this group is capable of, and hopefully more will be coming ASAP.
DOM was on next and the energy level noticeably dropped. The foursome from Western Massachusetts worked a short set of their warped reverb soaked surf rock pop. Songs like "Crazy Girls", "Jesus, Hail Satan!" and "Beth" were played in their Black Lips (admittedly tamer) style while nasal-bratty put on vocals which were grating and distracting. The dance fused “Living in America” was the exception as the crowd became lively and started bumping and grinding to the synth flavored track.
Yo La Tengo closed the live music part of the party (Dam-Funk DJ’ed until 2) and the elder statesmen and woman looked as comfortable as ever playing their genre defying tunes. Opening the set found Ira Kaplan playing organ with passion as wife Georgia Hubley drummed and James McNew laid down the bass lines. Yo La Tengo consistently demonstrated that they are at home in any genre, songs that contained waves of building, aggressive feedback were followed by near doo-wop numbers. “More Stars Then There Are In Heaven” was the center piece of the bands set as the song contained a dream like fuzz, trudging along deliberately for over ten minutes of distorted brilliance before switching gears for “Periodically Double or Triple” to get the packed house shimmying.
The group has been around since the mid 80’s but there are always 1st times in rock and roll, and Yo La Tengo mentioned this was the first time they ever played a bowling alley, well at least right next to one. Let’s hope all the shows at this year’s CMJ festival are as exciting as this first one.
