Thursday, November 20, 2008

Dates announced for CMJ '09 - Artists apply TODAY!

CMJ MUSIC MARATHON & FILM FESTIVAL 2009 DATES ANNOUNCED

ARTIST SUBMISSIONS AND REGISTRATION OPEN ONLINE TODAY

CMJ Offers Its Largest Discounts of the Year And

Announces Dates For New York City’s Largest Music Event

New York, NY (November 20, 2008) - CMJ Network Inc. announced today the dates of CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival 2009, Tuesday, October 20 – Saturday, October 24, 2009 in New York City.

Continuing in the tradition of CMJ 2008, the 29th annual festival will be headquartered in downtown Manhattan at New York University’s Greenwich Village campus. NYU’s Helen And Martin Kimmel Center For University Life will host daytime events including panel sessions, registrant lounges, exhibit area and live performances. At night, CMJ Music Marathon will take over more than 75 premier clubs and music venues throughout New York City, featuring performances from the best new artists across multiple genres in the contemporary music spectrum: alternative, rock, dance, hip-hop, metal, Americana, world, jazz and more. CMJ Film Festival will feature cutting-edge film releases from both independent and major motion picture studios.

“Once again, we are thrilled to celebrate CMJ Music Marathon in downtown Manhattan. New York's oldest, most diverse and vibrant communities create a perfect cultural tapestry for the CMJ attendee with their incredible spaces, venues, shops, restaurants, along with being the home of our cherished partner, the groundbreaking academic institution that is NYU,” said Joanne Abbot Green, founder and executive producer of the CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival. “In 2009 we will strive to present even more compelling music, entertainment, networking and educational opportunities to ensure that the CMJ experience is a memorable and valuable one.”

Professor Catherine Fitterman, Director, Undergraduate Music Business Program at The Steinhardt School, New York University added, “CMJ Music Marathon is an amazing experience for our students. The panel discussions are engaging, relevant, and stimulating, a perfect environment for learning at all levels. Our students walk around campus bleary-eyed from attending the hundreds of shows. CMJ Music Marathon makes Downtown NYC rock every fall!”

"In one week, the CMJ Music Marathon is a microcosm of the musical world. Whether performing on stage, attending panels, or networking, our students participate in every aspect of CMJ many, many times over," said Professor Jim Anderson, Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.

Additions to 2008’s festival included the launch of CMJ’s Community Outreach Initiative and the first-ever official CMJ Artist Lounge. The Community Outreach Initiative partnered CMJ with over 1000 local New York City merchants throughout various neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn, including Lower East Side, TriBeCa, Greenwich Village, Midtown, Chelsea and more. These merchants, including restaurants, bars, shops and cultural destinations—such as Spring Awakening on Broadway and the Guggenheim Museum—offered exclusive discounts to CMJ ’08 badge holders and promoted CMJ week through store signage and targeted outreach. The CMJ Artist Lounge, held at Red Bull Space near CMJ headquarters in Greenwich Village, hosted more than 20 partners who interacted with over 600 CMJ performing artists each day.

Nighttime highlights from CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival 2008 included groundbreaking performances from Lykke Li, Jay Reatard, Broken Social Scene, Coheed & Cambria, George Clinton, Crystal Castles, Passion Pit, Roisin Murphy, Janelle Monae and hundreds more; independent and major motion picture movie screenings including Kevin’s Smith’s Zach And Miri Make A Porno, American Swing, Who Is KK Downey?, Johnny Cash Live At Folsom Prison and A Wink And A Smile, which was picked up for distribution off its screening at CMJ Film Festival 2008.

Daytime highlights included a trade show area and registrants’ lounge at NYU; cutting edge panels including: A Hip-Hop Renaissance featuring Q-Tip, 40 Years Of Funkadelic with George Clinton, Thank God We Got Dropped, Grabbing Web 2.0 By The Horns, Internationally Licensing The Future and The Political Spin Of The Music Industry.

CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival has featured many of the world’s most influential and revolutionary musicians, artists, cultural and political figures at a variety of events including presentations, screenings, Q&A sessions, panel discussions and thousands of live music performances. CMJ 2009 continues in that tradition, highlighting the best new music and groundbreaking films. CMJ Music Marathon, New York City’s largest music event, is the world’s largest emerging music festival, annually drawing over 12,000 professionals from all sectors of the music business and over 120,000 music fans, all of whom converge on New York to discover the world’s best new music.

Registration for 2009 is now open at www.cmj.com/marathon with special early bird prices available until December 19. Artist showcase submissions are being accepted now at www.cmj.com/marathon with a special one-week discount price until November 25.

For more information, log on to www.cmj.com/marathon.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

3OH!3 - New Picture


Check these guys out if you get a chance! Later today, I'll be reviewing new music from CMJ!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

10/25 - Love Automatic - Kenny's Castaways


Love Automatic is a band from New Jersey. The singer, Brent, doesn't seem to stay on stage... he loves to interact with the crowd and it's awesome! I got a high five during a song last night, haha. http://myspace.com/loveautomatic

10/25 - Little Jackie


Little Jackie
Check them out: http://myspace.com/littlejackie

Saturday, October 25, 2008

10/24 - Backseat Goodbye @ Crash Mansion


Backseat Goodbye is a guy named Chad and his acoustic guitar. http://myspace.com/backseatgoodbye

Sad love songs performed sweetly with an acoustic guitar. If you're into it, you'll probably really enjoy this guy. Even if you don't think you would be into it, check him out anyway! He's really sweet and has a passion about the music he's performing which conveys greatly when he's on stage.

xo
erica

Friday, October 24, 2008

10/23/08 - Knitting Factory (Main Space)


3OH!3 is quite possibly the most fun band ever. Their set is crazy and super fun w/ choreographed dance moves on some songs and electronica type hip hop beats backing their rapping/singing. I can't really describe it in words, but it's good stuff. It's virtually impossible to have a bad time at a 3Oh!3 show! Highlights: During Don't Trust Me - Martin Johnson of Boys Like Girls and random people from the crowd joined the band on stage for a crunk jam session! Fun times were had by all. :)



Definitely go see this band if they are ever in your town and if you have to drive to another town, do it!

xo erica

10/23/08 - Knitting Factory (Main Space)


Photo Finish Records - Showcase

Opening band: Sparks The Rescue
A really energetic and entertaining power-pop band. I enjoyed the little bit of their set that I got to watch...I'd probably go see them again. :)


xo erica

10/23/08 - Pictures from the CMJ Artist Lounge...

Hanging at the CMJ Artist Lounge today before the 3OH!3 show at Knitting. Fun times!





























Thursday, October 23, 2008

Knitting factory!

Fun fun fun

Hangin at the cmj lounge!

Come have free red bulls with us.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Tuesday, October 21st 2008

first day of cmj was amazing! erica and i made our way to the cool kids show which ended up being the first highlight of the week. the first band was free sol and the setup was very gym class heroes-esque. if i had my eyes closed while seeing them i probably wouldve thought travie was on the mic. the singer even had his face/hand motions down pact. i'm sure he wouldnt be happy about being compared to that band but it's the only thing that popped into my head. [side note; there was a band tech there who was black as night but wearing white eyeglasses. somebody done told him wrong]. i'd recommend the band to anyone who likes the style of gch but with a bit more lyrical power. next came skillz aka mad skillz who called himself the backpack millionaire. his style reminded me of dead prez with a bit of eminem mixed in; he managed to be political without the music coming off as a flaming psa. skillz was also able to use the crowd participation to his advantage with his song crazy world about the ongoing changes this country is seeing. although his transition was a bit off [i didnt know when the songs ended] he came off as someone passionate about what he does. that makes an amazing artist in my book.
next were the carps. immediately after they came on i was reminded of underoath as they both have singing drummers. they also played a song called jesus christ which afterwards was accompanied with a sporatic drum solo. the most interesting thing about this band how amazing the singer's vocals are but they become distorted and undistinguishable alongside the drums and guitar. the guitarist also managed to become the keyboardist when the time called but it only caused me to question why they were stretching themselves so thin [being as they are only two people in the band]. when i thought their performance couldnt get any more odd they managed to enact a convenient store shootout where afterwards the keyboardist/guitarist drop kicked the microphone stand. although i am all for self expression and music with a message i think the carps need to be thrown back into the water.
with the crowd on edge after a spectrum of openers the cool kids came out and impressed me. not only did they take crowd participation to a new level [inviting girls onstage for a dance contest and having a joke contest] they managed to keep the crowd's energy up. even the people in the last row of the crowd were jumping around and feeling the beats [i see you red sweater man and bar man!] overall i'd recommend any fan of rap/hip hop to check out a cool kids show to understand what these mainstream emcee's are missing because you will not be disappointed.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Twitter

hey! just a quick reminder that the spotlight will be doing live updates from our various cmj events this week. make sure to check out our twitter and check back here for reviews of all the things we attend.