Want to feel like a college radio DJ, A&R executive, music blogger or compulsive club-hopper? That is, awash in possibilities but faced with far more imitators than innovators?
This is the week, as the annual CMJ Music Marathon returns with its plentitude — or overload — of musicians eager to be heard. While CMJ’s spring counterpart, South by Southwest, in Austin, Tex., has become a magnet for pop and hip-hop hitmakers, CMJ has fewer celebrities and more strivers, including what seems to be every band in Brooklyn (and there are plenty) and a contingent of 60 Australian acts.
CMJ’s largest club shows aren’t arena acts but college-radio choices like the primal roots-rock of the Kills, peppy pop band Bombay Bicycle Club and the reunited 1990s shoegaze band Slowdive, playing Terminal 5 tonight, Wednesday and Saturday. (The Kills will also play an undoubtedly packed Bowery Ballroom show on Thursday.)
The more immersive marathon experience is to download the CMJ app, click through unknown bands’ songs for the standouts and track down their showcases. Or to wander the clubs that are clustered on the Lower East Side and Williamsburg, with their many free daytime showcases and paid shows at night, in hopes of stumbling upon something remarkable. Jon Caramanica and I will be doing some of each over the next days, with nightly reports here and a Spotify playlist of our discoveries.