CMJ 2012, Days Three and Four: Death Grips, Color Film, and Sub Pop Records' showcase

DARYL PALUMBO STARTS ANOTHER BAND AT A HIP HOP SHOW.

So with a heck of a lot of excitement (and a wee spot of confusion) I headed out on Thursday night to catch the first live outing of Color Film – Daryl Palumbo’s (him out of Glassjaw and Head Automatica) new band, supporting GZA from Wu Tang Clan no less. A new hip-hop change in direction? Sadly not, just a really oddly billed gig. Sonically it was more of a throwback to Palumbo’s Glassjaw days but without the intensity or, from that performance anyway, the tunes, maybe it was the hip-hop crowd heckling in between that ruined the mood. On the up side they have one track up online here and it’s a cracker in an 80s stylee. Strangely none of the other tracks sounded much like that, an odd event all round.

SUP POP PAN PIPE PARTY

After that I popped over to hang out with all the immaculately turned out folks at the Sub Pop label party and caught a really pleasant band called Poor Moon. Admittedly they looked a bit like those pan pipe dudes on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow, but they hit out with was a really subtle psychedelic sound, a bit like Animal Collective but with a lot more xylophone, a refreshing sight at a festival swamped with synth-pop acts.

Speaking of which I also caught MNDR that night too at the famous Bowery Ballroom, a 3-piece from New York who have that synth pop sound nailed, in a particularly Ellie Goulding kind of way, but with occasional horn section.

Back at the Sub Pop party the heavily tipped Canadians METZ played a blistering set of thrashy punk 3-minute wonders, it was as if the last 20 years didn’t happen going right back to when grunge ruled all.

Edinburgh’s own Unicorn Kid was the last stop of that night, in what was one of his many appearances this week (one of which was in a spa, with everyone in robes). It was great to see a room full of American kids really taking to his more direct, mature and sound, gone are the days of furry lion headwear and neon jackets. 

PITCHFORK KNOWS

Friday night was all about the Pitchfork warehouse party, which turned out to be a chance to see pretty much every act I wanted to see at this festival but hadn’t managed yet (there’s 1,300 acts playing this year – so no mean feat to catch them all). Although technically an unofficial CMJ event, it was the show to get into, I have never seen a queue like it. The venue was only 300 capacity and there must have been at least triple that in the line all night, I felt like a 15 year at a gig in the Barrowlands for the first time I was that excited to just get in. 

No wonder though with the line up that awaited. The night opened with the current toast of this city (and the UK it seems) Angel Haze. She is a ferocious emcee with lightening fast bars and devastating delivery, which really is something to behold live, every word is spat out with so much intensity that I can’t imagine getting close to her any time soon, she’s got a new mixtape out on Thursday too, which she politely informed us at the end of the set.

Couple of acts and some serious posing later, Merchandise were up, one of the most talked about acts around the festival this week but to be honest, I wasn’t blown away, very much like the Vaccines but without the choruses.

Le1f killed it. He’s an emcee with presence, plain and simple, I hadn’t heard him till the night but won’t be forgetting soon. Musically in the same ball-park as Odd Future with that Horrorcore flow, but damn he moved about that stage like some invisible creature was chasing him. Much like in this video...

Diiv (pronounced Dive) are another much discussed band this week, and rightly so, chilling out the crowd with the dreamiest of guitar pop, a welcome relief. Then came Death Grips. Oh Death Grips… I don’t think things could have been set up any better for them. After the line up we’d had, 5 hours of an open bar and the crowds’ sheer excitement at just getting in, this set was always going to be chaos. There was no messing about between tracks or talk of leaked albums here, just a full pelt, rap-fulled mosh for the entire set. Stefan the lead singer, emcee, whichever you prefer, was unrelenting in leading the frenzied crowd into a complete sweaty blur of bass and hedonism – I definitely felt like a giddy 15 years old again tonight.

FACILITY CHAT

On a side note though, as awesome as that show was having 300 people, a free bar, a five hour showcase and only two actual toilets, is, as the Yanks would say, pretty dumb. That aside, I love this festival.