Fall Mixtape, Vol. 1

Arcade Fire - Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son

If it exists, this is the season to let the synths gather dust and warm our maladjusted ears with reverb and electric guitar. With harbinger orange and red on the streets and in the trees these are the sounds to ease your mind into accepting that a cold and inevitable winter is on its way. The ephemeral fall often leaves before we get a chance to settle into it. You should know if it were always summer you wouldn't love it so much.

Oh My, Oh Land

Oh Land - White Nights (buy the EP)

When I first heard Oh Land's "Sun of a Gun" I was actually more taken by the press photo than the song. I have a penchant for girl-fronted indie bands like everyone else though and wanted to hear more. I tried to see her show at the CMJ pre-party at Rebel, but showed up late. I went to Pure Volume House two days later to be denied at the door, like everyone else who wasn't press. CMJ was half over at that point and I hadn't seen the only band I wanted to see before the week of.

Their four-song set at the Hype Machine party was shorter than the time it took to set up the stage. The lightbox and balloons were easily the most complex stage props of the whole week. With the props, the outfits and good looks, Nanna Øland Fabricius didn't have to be that good; but she was, and I was floored by how great her pretty vocal coo sounded live. In recordings there is some semblance to Joanna Newsom's vocal style, but on stage Øland's voice filled the room as easily as her charm. The pop hooks and dancing grooves, made by bandmate Hans, made it the most fun set of the week. We saw them again for an even better, more complete set at Public Assembly on Friday. It turns out they are also the nicest people in New York.

As explained by Øland on Friday, "White Nights" is a song about New York. It has a hook bright enough to hit even when she's not dancing through it on stage. You will only dislike it if you don't like happy.

The EP is out yesterday, buy it.

CMJ Day Four Photos

Zowie at Fader Fort NYC

CMJ Day Three: In Order

Beach Fossils at Pianos
"Face It"


Details and write-ups will come soon.

CMJ Day Two Best Of: Wild Nothing, Minks, Marnie Stern, Lower Dens, Tamaryn

Wild Nothing - Summer Holiday


Minks

Minks - Funeral Song

(remind you of The Cure?)

See my CMJ concert picks in the calendar.

CMJ Day 1 Favorites: Millionyoung, Zowie

Millionyoung - Calrissian



Zowie - Broken Machine (RAC remix)


The best of day one was Millionyoung at Cake Shop's afternoon party and New Zealand's Zowie at The Music Slut's Pianos party. Zowie is named and pronounced for the first-name of charismatic singer Zoe Fleury. The pocket-size Kiwi has some sweet dance moves and a voice like Grand Ole Party's Kristin Gundred all in the shape of Yelle. Her band dressed in black leather or latex and looked like former members of Rammstein.

Don't Call Them Twinkies

The Baseball Project - Dont' Call Them Twinkies


Thank you Craig Finn for writing the best sports anthem in American sports. The lyrics reference countless historical moments in the Twins franchise, and name drop everything from players, to cities, to playoff games. Compared to Jay-Z's lyrically selfish "Empire State of Mind," Finn is genius. We may not beat them in playoff games but at least we win in the sports anthem department.

White Moon Beam on My Back

Beach House - White Moon (buy)


About a month ago Beach House released an iTunes session of songs mostly from the excellent Teen Dream, but the addition of "White Moon" is why you want it. The b-side is driven by a drum machine with a variety of sounds and a prominent wood block. The guitar lines are vintage (that would be 2010) Alex Scally and the hook of "White, moon beam on my back" is plenty big enough to make the EP necessary. If Beach House could only have one season it would be this one.

Watch The Glow

Museum of Bellas Artes "Who Do You Love" (buy)

This is probably where chillwave meets DJ, and not the other way around. Sweden's Museum of Bellas Artes is clearly indie-inclined, but the DJ scratches and stops are not usually characteristic of the genre. Synth-heavy indie stars like Neon Indian and Washed Out have always been dance music, but they never sounded like a DJ in the way MoBA does on "Who Do You Love." On top of that, the title sounds like nothing if not a 90's dance hit. Turns out it's actually a cover of The Sapphires' 1964 song.

"I am shortsighted / but I think you know"