CMJ Marathon: The Yum Dee Days, Le Galaxie @ Piano’s / PAWS, White Reaper, J Fernandez @ CakeShop
After the first day of CMJ’s Marathon, I woke up beat up and hungover, with a couple of new bands still ringing in my head. Despite my best efforts to hide in bed watching random Internet shit, I opened my window, sat down and went through my pics from the night before and wrote this review in my underwear. Unfortunately, I was too hungover to realize it was like 30 degrees outside. So I spent the next three hours wearing four sweaters, a blanket, and a heating pad to slow the hypothermia. Now I had to figure out which shows to check out. I was thinking about Glasslands again or the Knitting Factory but the rain told me to stay near home. Thank you, rain.
First I headed to Piano’s to catch The Yum Dee Days. I had never heard them but I thought the name was cool and that was enough. These guys were amazing. As they were playing I was trying to come up with a way to describe them and I think I figured it out. Imagine a prom for people who got their G.E.D. that takes place in purgatory. In comes The Yum Dee Days playing “The Future is A Drag,” and suddenly you’re glad you fucked up and are probably on your way to hell, because this band is brilliant, and if they’re opening, then hell must be a lovely place to live. These guys would be a perfect fit for the upcoming new season of Twin Peaks. Their music has that sort of Lo-Fi, dreamy strange macabre, feel to it. I’ve already listened to their album five or six times.
Next up was Le Galaxie, from Dublin. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I had heard they were good live but the only thing I had to go on was the “Love System” video, where they all wear ex-president masks a la Point Break, which was enough to get me there. Holy shit! Who the fuck is Le Galaxie? Imagine if Brian Eno were kidnapped as a boy by a group of viking raiders and somehow still made music when he grew up — that’s Le Galaxie. These guys were insane! The energy of their performance alone was enough to love these dudes, but the music is just as brilliant. I’m not that into dance music but these guys make you feel like an asshole for saying something like, “I’m not that into dance music.” These guys are in their own galaxy. Check them out as soon as possible.
After having my head blown off by La Galaxie, I swung next door to CakeShop to check out PAWS. I caught their last song at BK Night Bazaar the night before and thought they were pretty good. Wrong. They were much better than good. These dudes left it all out there. They played so hard you could see trails. To begin with, they pulled their friend Terry from Flashlight onto the stage and played one of his songs together. I’m not sure I can describe how fucking amazing it was! You could tell these guys love each other and the music was otherworldly. It was so good I forgot to take pictures, which was half the reason I was there. After that they played a cover of of Elliot Smith’s “Needle In The Hay,” which was better than the original. I know, sounds like bullshit, but if you were there you would be saying the same thing. The energy that these guys played with last night was inhuman. These dudes are legit.
One of the reasons I was psyched to be going to CakeShop was to catch White Reaper, out from Kentucky. I was not disappointed. These dudes picked up right where PAWS left off, and made me forget I had decided to take the night off of alcohol. At one point they put a chair in front of the stage and offered anyone in the audience a front row show for a dollar. After checking to make sure the bill wasn’t counterfeit, Sam on Bass straddled this dude, playing a song with the dollar bill in his mouth, his crotch a few inches from said dude’s face. As the song ended he informed the guy his dollar was up and to get the fuck up. It was epic.
Towards the end of the White Reapers set, my camera ran out of room, so I ran back home to dump its cache and prayed to God I didn’t miss J Fernandez. Somehow I made it back in time. At this point I was pretty beat. Then I realized all these bands are playing like three shows a day and I need to stop whining. J Fernandez is an amazing band. I honestly think “No Luck” might be one of the most beautiful songs I’ver ever heard. Their music is a wonderful, trippy dream, and it was a great way to end the second night of CMJ’s Marathon.
Photos and review by Timothy White. Find him online @TiptotheHip.
