CMJ 2009 highlight: fool's good - surprise hotel

fools gold - surprise hotel
[from prefix mag:

Fool’s Gold, the side project of Foreign Born hombre numero uno Lewis Pesacov, has too many things going for it to keep it as a side project for long. For one, Fool’s Gold are all about Afro-pop, which, as anyone with an RSS full of remixes that can only be described as “tropical” can tell you, is hot shit right now. Second, they have a guy (Luke Top) who sings in Hebrew throughout most of the album. Hebrew! Can you believe it? Fool’s Gold is the only band that could appear in Fader and JWeekly at the same time. It’s like the members of Fool’s Gold work-shopped how to make themselves more highly bloggable, and they totally succeeded.]

CMJ 2009 highlight: the antlers - two

the antlers - two
[from wiki:
Initially, The Antlers was a solo project created by vocalist and guitarist Peter Silberman immediately after he had moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he had isolated himself from family and friends. Silberman wrote the first album, "In the Attic of the Universe" by himself and under his own name. Afterwards, he recruited Lerner and Cicci, becoming a collaborative group. The band recorded two EPs; "Cold War" and "New York Hospitals". Silberman's collection of songs (which was mentioned as an "elegy for his planned disappearance") would later become a full-length album titled "Hospice" and would feature an epic storyline, telling the story of a man losing a loved one to cancer and having to witness her death first-hand. The album was independently released by the band in March of 2009, selling an apparently overwhelming number of copies, later selling all of their stock and had to produce more. The band later commented that they had "bit off more than they could chew"[1]. The album received critical praise for both its narrative and musicianship and has since been listed on several "Album of the Year" lists. The band later signed with New York-based French Kiss Records. The label released a remastered "Hospice" on August 18, 2009]

CMJ 2009 highlight: mumford & sons - the cave / white blank page / roll away your stone / but my hand told my heart (various live)

live at music hall of williamsburg (thanks to akemi for the pic)


mumford & sons - the cave (bookshop sessions)
[easily one of my favorite songs of the moment by one of my favorite bands of the year. the love they express on stage is infectious and earnest (not twee). i'm obsessed and so should you ;)]


mumford & sons - white blank page (live)


mumford & sons - roll away your stone (live)


mumford & sons - gentlemen of the road (promo)


the boys at the ICA back in march 2009


mumford & sons - but my hand told my heart / the cave (live @ ica)
[a lovely song with a hint of beirut don't you think?]

CMJ 2009 highlight: the xx - basic space / crystalised

the xx - basic space


the xx - crystalised
[this band are so disassociated in their live performance that you kind of listen to their musicality even more and realise that they are pretty darn good. weirdly reminded me of a post wave everything but the girl. what a strange night checking them out in the basement of a small club at 2am]