The pace of CMJ is pretty incredible and the lines between bands, fans and industry folks are blurred in the haze of celebration. This is partially due to the constant flow of alcohol, lack of sleep and ringing ears from all the music, but mostly because of the sheer volume of all three of the aforementioned elements in such a condensed time and space. Perhaps, because of this blurriness, I’m struck with the idea that CMJ is the musical equivalent of Fashion Week; instead of fashion brands and designers, record labels and publicists are out networking and promoting their newest acts. As the festival moves forward, it can be hard to keep up – But hey, no one said it would be easy.

DFA Records Showcase @ Brooklyn Bowl

Established electro-dance NYC label, DFA Records hosted their event at one of Brooklyn’s newest venues, Brooklyn Bowl. This is the first year Brooklyn Bowl participated in CMJ and it definitely felt like it’s here to stay. It featured everything needed for an enjoyable performance: state of the art sound, lights, screens, full bar and, of course, bowling lanes. The combination of bowling a music isn’t as strange as it seems at first blush, see Asbury Lanes in Jersey, Fireside Bowl in Chicago, and The Big Lebowski for reference. The large warehouse space and slick décor fits well into the neighborhood.

Even at the beginning of the night the event was pretty well populated with lots of folks in flannel and Members Only style jackets. New arrivals to the DFA family, Holy Ghost!, were spinning records at the DJ booth, but this early on in the night things felt strangely like a middle school dance with groups of people lurking around the perimeter of the room, avoiding dance floor.

DFA head honcho and brains behind LCD Soundsystem, James Murphy could be seen wandering about, as well as the individuals behind YACHT, who would perform later in the night.  While the scene here became increasingly energetic, I wanted to see some people play actual instruments and find some cheaper booze.

Saddle Creek Records Showcase @ Knitting Factory

Midwestern label Saddle Creek has supported some of my favorite acts over the years including Cursive and Azure Ray and I was excited to see who the newest additions to their posse were. The first act I caught was the unfortunately named UUVVWWZ who are a quartet fronted by a rather precocious lady, out of Lincoln, Nebraska. I didn’t quite know what to expect, but what I got was a series of gritty, spazzy songs that all sounded very similar to each other. The guitar riffs were short and choppy and the percussion and bass didn’t help to push things along. Their vocalist was definitely going for a Karen O meets Bob Dylan kind of thing, but their music fell short of what, say, the XX can do (and a much better use of repeating letters at the end of the alphabet, by the way). One of the downsides of CMJ is the sometimes obvious quantity over quality aspect.

Next up, after what seemed like a sluggish breakdown/setup interim, was the rather grizzly looking Old Canes. This band of five fellas was the quintessential Saddle Creek act, cramming nearly every kind of instrument one could think of into their rootsy, Americana set: trumpet, keys, cello, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, drums, mandolin, glockenspiel, tambourines, melodica, harmonica and banjo. Their tracks were pretty fast paced country-punk anthems, at times channeling Tom Petty, with some shout-alongs thrown in for good measure. All and all, they were pretty talented dudes.

Day four brought my first movie screening of the festival and took me deeper into Brooklyn to catch some enticing music. I’ve passed the halfway point!

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New York