Twin Peaks :: "Irene"

One of the best independent rock songs of 2013, Twin Peaks' "Irene" roots itself in layers of fuzz and reverb effect. The guitar line proves the immediate guide, like a Real Estate song that grew up and out of its parents basement, or maybe a Wavves song that never got all the way to the beach, "Irene" tumbles forward with a laissez-faire inevitability. This group of 19 year-olds craft a sort of washed out punk: short songs that hit again and again with an intensity that never borders on the intentional. The band's debut, Sunken, was released yesterday, and represents a challenging and brief listen. "Irene" proves their most fully developed idea, a chorus awash in nothing and guitar interludes as crystalline as any you'll hear this year.

Keebo :: "Native American"

London's Keebo channels portions of Warpaint's freezing-cold guitar pop and Best Coast's sun-blasted half-anthems. On "Native American", the band, an all female foursome, layers vocals and guitars in a hazy, cold medicine architecture. Noticeably changing tempo between verse and chorus, a slower drive in the refrain, indicating something of an inside-out ethos, already lilting guitars gone contemplative in a nearly wordless chorus that is respite inside of respite.

Real Estate :: "Green Aisles"

This is the part where you say something about the fading summer. This is the part where you say something about the last warm rays of orange sunshine slipping out the side door and through the buildings of your version of the American city. And this is where you build the metaphor, something rooted in the changing of seasons and the passing of time, a lazy tautological conjecture about, well, moving on. To be sure it is something wistful, and we will look at each other in earnest fashion and in the eyes. We mean it, you know, even if the message rings a shade predictable. Near the end of a season of dilating days (thanks, Chabon) we aren't left with heaps of wisdom, just some long, great afternoons, now getting short and shorter in time.

Real Estate - Green Aisles by DominoRecordCo

Ohmyrockness 5th Anniversary Party/Oya Festival @ Santos Party House

My CMJ begins when I stumble through the doors of Santos to be confronted by three Norwegians in short shorts and glittery tops. They are men. They are the men of Ungdomskulen. I quickly send a text to someone in the room about the glitter shirts. They are, empirically, awesome. But it is the music, not the aesthetics, that is moving the front of the room. Packed against the stage are all the usual CMJ kids: plaid shirts, tight pants, expensive cameras, notebooks stuffed in the spaces between textiles. But in this case, they are moving as Ungdomskulen closes their set with animated and amused aggression. At least one girl, having never seen the band before says, "That made my CMJ. That was the best thing I'm going to see." This is what bands from Norway come to do; impress you - you in the graphic t-shirts and winter hats inside, you - and in this case, they do.

From the Norwegian meat market, we run a quick jaunt downstairs to catch the last songs of Evan Voytas' set. He and I have never met but I once made an inside joke about him being confused and disoriented and he liked it enough to put it on his website. It is rare that anyone pulls press quotes that you actually like. Evan Voytas pulled an inside joke that I didn't expect him to get, let alone appreciate. He is wearing a cardigan sweater two sizes too big as he motors through "Higher" and "Astro" to close his set. "Astro" takes a particular level of commitment as Voytas resolves to sing it almost entirely in falsetto. Voytas packs his things in a neither confused nor disoriented fashion. The trip from California was long and maybe by the end of the week we'll know if it was worth it.

After Voytas, and a reasonable soundcheck, the night belongs to Small Black. The Long Island by way of Brooklyn set bring decks of synths and loops to burn. Backed by live drums and a wave of sound big enough to sink this basement in 10 feet of water, Small Black are the unquestionably the most exciting band of the evening. The electronic soundscapes feel more personal in person and the undulating synthesized melodies are more meaningful at higher volume. They play "Despicable Dogs" fourth out of six and when they're finished it's too soon. If there's a band to catch at CMJ 2009, in that way that small bands are still just small bands, it is Small Black.

Meanwhile, upstairs, I Was A King power through a set thoughtful, yet not unself-conscious, indie-rock songs. Even after I'd been prepped to hear them sound like Teenage Fanclub, they sound A LOT like Teenage Fanclub. This is far more of a compliment than it is an accusation of derivative influence. They are our second Norwegian act of the night and are expected back in Oslo in three days time. Their female guitarist is one of the more compelling parts of the evening, wailing on her whammy bar like it is joystick to an outdated videogame.

The night would end with dueling indie rock from Cymbals Eat Guitars upstairs and Real Estate downstairs. Cymbals Eat Guitars finds its stride in the middle of their set, channeling that time in the mid-1990s when music was about pain and independent labels marketed emotional catharsis to all those thousands of destroyed, hyper-literate, post-Smiths fans of this country. If Steven Malkmus was in the building, he wouldn't be upset, but he wouldn't be entirely impressed either. Real Estate provides a more mathematical, and at once lush, solution to the same problem: fuzzy guitars, delicate arrangements, and confusing song structure. It is far better than I just made it sound. And like that, the lights come up and we're asked to leave.

Listen :: Evan Voytas - "Astro"
Listen :: Small Black - "Despicable Dogs"
Listen :: Cymbals Eat Guitars - "Wild Phoenix"
Listen :: Real Estate - "Beach Comber"
Listen :: I Was A King - "Norman Bleik"