CMJ Music Marathon 2009: I Was A King; Evan Voytas; Eternal Summers; Free Energy; Beach Fossils @ Santos Party House

I Was A King; Evan Voytas; Eternal Summers; Free Energy; Beach Fossils
@ Santos Party House
New York, NY - October 21, 2009

The Oh My Rockness 5th Anniversary Party for CMJ should have been a celebration of the best concert calendar/song podcast in the Indie Rock universe, what with a booking of bands who have produced some of the best songs of the year. But the piss poor sound guys at Santos Party House somewhat ruined things as they tried to deafen the audience with murderous high volume for music that didn't need it. They tested the amps and speakers but good as whines and blow-outs occurred through the night and the wrong monitors were turned up or turned down at the wrong times. And all the bands suffered for it. But we persevere:

Norway's I Was A King are the possessors of "Norman Bielk", a power pop number of good stock and station. Some of the other songs matched the quality of that one but the loss of guitar on the speakers at certain moments coupled with horrid feedback knocked out the charm. I don't think the band could hear themselves either.

Evan Voytas happens to be the guy behind the most tasteful romantic song to come around in a long time, "We'd Be Good Together", a song which - like the others specifically mentioned in this piece - Oh My Rockness put on its mp3 podcast earlier this year. Yet Evan didn't play it. In fact, the material he played sounded somewhat removed from the style of "We'd Be Good Together" and his vocals, modulated as they were, didn't even sound like the same guy. The idea was entertained that Oh My Rockness had booked Evan Voytas on the strength of a song that was erroneously misidentified as being his. Well, later investigation has proved that "We'd Be Good Together" is indeed an Evan Voytas song but it's from a year or two ago, and not part of his new Peter Gabriel/Duran Duran style sound. What he did play was worthy in great swaths but the audio guys sabotaged the set with all the aforementioned problems.

Eternal Summers are a girl on guitar and a guy on drums with garage grime/dark pop flavor. Not bad but they seemed purposely disinterested which was a turn-off. It is also entirely possible they were just naturally shy.

Free Energy, the band who rose from the ashes of Hockey Night, was the one band I caught that had the sound guys on their side. What would pass for shtick if they were from Hipsterville, NY instead comes off as down-to-earth Philadelphian love of classic rock, no more, no less. A slight hint of hippiedom to their 70's shine (their banner "Dream City" kicks off with a borrow of "Spirit in the Sky") is more of a plus than a negative, at least the way they pull it off. Great solos.

Beach Fossils had way too much reverb for their outright awful lead singer but the rhythm section was tight and the guitar player was sublimely talented, doing more with less in this project that merges surf rock with the Cure.

The Sonic Parthenon Playlist: May 2009

Oops we skipped over May! Meaning we missed:

Brakesbrakesbrakes - "Crush on You"
Maybe the 90's are coming back afterall - a grungey sound with those semi-sweet mid-90's pop lyrics. Figures they're English...they just must be now getting into it.

Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
Right now, Metric's Fantasies is the best record of the year. This is number 2.

Elks - "Collide"
They just could be just another one of the many bands with an animal for their name, but instead Elks choose to copy the anthemic indie rock the likes of Longwave and Parts & Labor. Tis a fine choice. Besides, there has to be someone out there not listening to Grizzly Bear.

Great Northern - "Houses"
Excellent new track from the not-a-fluke dark rockers out of Southern California. Eat it Silversun Pickups!

Ben Harper & Relentless 7- "Shimmer and Shine"
Harper dropped the Innocent Criminals and the pot-head friendliness in exchange for Relentless 7 and just rocking the hell out. Good call. He's still a sap in the lyrics department though. Actually this isn't too different from "Crush on You".

The Hold Steady - A Positive Rage
Yeah I don't know who these guys are or why they have a live record or why I play it almost every day...

I Was A King - "Norman Bleik"
Picking up where "Saints" by Army Navy hasn't really left off yet, this is a strong power pop number from Scandinavia. How do they keep doing that over there?!

King Khan & The Shrines - "Land of the Freak"
All thanks to that gig in early May, I can't stop playing this James Brown meets Greg Cartwright escapade.

St. Vincent - tracks from Actor
I haven't heard much of the new record but "The Strangers" satiated me for a spell.

Honorable Mentions: Jarvis Cocker, Passion Pit