DETAILS ABOUT THIS SHOW + STREAMING
COMPILATION OF ALL 14 BANDS HERE.
It took us a couple of weeks to come up with a title for this Deli official CMJ show. On Wednesday October 17 at The Living Room we'll have a fair amount of orchestral instruments on stage, from You Bred Raptors'? frantic cello to Cuddle Magic's gentle winds and xylophone, without forgetting the sparse piano lines ofDoe Paoro and Starlight Girls' retro flute. But even though all these instruments are borrowed from the classical tradition, all the artists on this bill have a forward looking, at times even experimental attitude. This is why in the end we settled with the label "Post-Chestral", which is a term we are happy to notice nobody used before - at least not since Google was invented! This of course implies that we are either geniuses or terrible-new-word creators...
Early that evening we'll have the noir chamber pop ofFriend Roulette , In One Wind's orchestrated experimentations, and DT Rotbot intricate post-rock. Later at night we'll be enterteined by the cinematic and atmospheric music of Industries of the Blind followed by cheerful Philadelphia based collective Dangerous Ponies. (in the picture, Cuddle Magic and You Bred Raptors).
"Uptempo" and "Pop" are by themselves two concepts that - in the business of being an indie band - can take you quite far; but if on top of that you add to the equation also comparisons to The Smiths, then the hype can get out of control. Brooklyn's Drowners have more than one similarity with Morrisey's act, and although they will surely feel belittled by such comparison, they should not, because no artists really managed to be The Smiths' worthy musical heir yet (like, for example, XTC were for The Beatles, Robin Hitchcock for Syd Barrett, and The Strokes for Lou Reed - uhm, maybe...).
The band's 3 songs debut EP features the remarkable single "Between Us Girls" (streaming below) which immediately throws us back to the days of "Meat is Murder," with the electric guitar alternating between jangly parts and arpeggios, and Welsh frontman Matt Hitt singing semi-melancholically about some girls' hair length - rather than about how big they are... The edge is slightly punkier, while the songwriting reveals an almost clinical concision (the song clocks in just under 2 minutes, with the first chorus coming in after 26" - A&R allergic to intros will dig that).
The second song, "You've Got it All Wrong," beats a similar musical path, tackling the infinite well of inspiration that (for Brits) is life at the pub, with the difference of a slower bridge, which acts as a breather for the final chorus. Final track "A Shell Across the Tongue" is the punkier of the bunch, but also the one with the least memorable melody.
This is obviously a band with enormous songwriting potential. If they'll manage to write songs as good as these and integrate their influences in a more mature and personal sound, the world can be theirs. - PDG
