CMJ Music Marathon-Final Day Featuring Wild Nothing and More…

My final day at CMJ Music Marathon concluded with a dance party at the Aussie BBQ at the Delancey. At 2 am, the basement stage of the LES club was packed and really not worth pushing through possible drunk people to get some photos. Instead I opted to just stand back and listen to Gold Fields perform their 20 minute set. A 20 minutes too short in my opinion as the moment the band started there was no way I could just stand and try to crane my neck out to see the band. Instead, I just danced. And it was worth it. The band’s dance friendly set included a cover of Underworld’s ‘Born Slippy’, which I’m sure most people got, but just didn’t dance to. By the end of the set, most of the crowd was dancing. If there were any comparisons, I would liken Gold Fields to the Oz version of Klaxons. Gold Fields was a great way to end CMJ, but sadly, that just meant it was the end, until next year.

Just before the Aussie BBQ, 15 minutes away at the Bowery Ballroom, Wild Nothing performed a generously dreamy set. The show was beautiful in all aspects from the well-thought out lighting to the music itself. The melodic craftsmanship of Jack Tatum’s work is as enchanting as New Order and Deerhunter sans electronic beats and distortion. With floodlights filling the stage in sea blue, the experience felt like swimming underwater in a hazy dream, lazily drowning in undulating notes of ecstasy, while happily surrendering to it. This was my second time seeing them, and definitely the best set, so far…

Also included in the night’s Bowery showcase were Braids, Weekend, and Forma.

*****

And before the Bowery set it was back at the good old Delancey for the Aussie BBQ, which actually did include a bbq upstairs, complete with sausages and veggie burgers. It was a nice place to relax, especially after two great performances by Jack Ladder and the Dreamlanders and Tom Calder of The Trouble with Templeton.