CMJ Day Three: Quickie Recap

The weather's taking a turn for the worse, my head is still all sorts of groggy... and I'm about to go do it all again.

Yesterday's keyword was "proximity," as in the spacial closeness that connected the Brooklyn Vegan day show at Piano's with the Tee Pee Records event at Cake Shop. Though Hull disappointingly cancelled their set at the latter, I was able to check out FL's Surfer Blood instead. Sounding like the little cousins of Happy Hollow-era Cursive with a hint of Vampire Weekend, the baby band did well with their catchy indie rock cocktail.

After that, I bounced over to Tee Pee and caught Naam, whose intense stoner brown sound threatened to split my hungover skull in half, but luckily both day parties had plenty of Vitamin Water to give away and soon all was right (and loud!) with the world.

Shortly after, I found myself back at Pianos to see—actually, since it was so packed and I'm so short, it was more like hear—the much-hyped Duchess Says, who completely blew me away with their heavy, almost gabba-electronic sound and whirling, multifarious vocals. Go check 'em out, as Nebula, who were busy trying to turn back the clock to the '70s next door, had nothing on them.

Finally, it was time for Priestess before heading out to Skateboard Marketing's showcase for Texas Hippie Coalition. Not sure how these guys got their name, as they looked like a biker gang (replete with matching black leather vests), but the imposing group did their best Pantera tribute, complete with shout-outs to the late, great Dimebag Darrell.

That's it for now... heading out to the Relapse showcase later. Not sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow, but it's altogether possible that CMJ will be ignored in favor of this intriguing Dumpling Festival on the LES.

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