Titus Andronicus, Fat White Family, Bo Ningen, Girlpool, Beverly & more played our Saturday day party (pics, video)
photos by Amanda Hatfield & Chris La Putt & Nate 'Igor' Smith; words by Pink Baby
Beverly / Fat White Family
For the final day of CMJ (10/25), just like last year, Brooklynvegan took over Baby's All Right from noon till the wee hours, starting with our free Saturday day party (which came after our free Friday day party).
With brunch also being served in the venue, Austin's Residual Kid started off things with a youthful bounce, making indie rock that already has J. Mascis' approval and consistently lands them choice opening slots in their hometown.
Next up were Nashville's Bully whose fuzzy and tuneful songs helped ease into our final day. Their next two shows are opening for Kevin Drew in November.
UK trio Flowers were next. While their debut abum, Do What You Want To, It's What You Should Do, is lovely, the band really come alive onstage, both a bit more roughed up and beautiful at the same time. Singer Rachel Kennedy, who was celebrating her birthday that day, has one of those voices that makes you pay attention and you could hear a pin drop in the Baby's performance room during their set.
Then came young LA duo Girlpool, one of the more talked-about bands at this year's CMJ. They only have one EP and a few other tracks so far but they've definitely got a sound. They're drum-less but not empty and both girls nasally shout-sing in unison. It feels a little inspired by punk and a little drone-y in a psychedelic way, but it's also not exactly either of those things.
At this point our day party kicked into high gear with Japanese band Bo Ningen. Their set was pure sensory overload with smoke machines set to 11 and strobes going off the whole time. (For some, those free Bell's Brewery sunglasses came in handy here.) The visuals -- including the band's high-flying rock moves, seen here in silhouette -- matched the Bo Ningen's genre-defying music. Overheard: "I don't know what that was, but it was incredible." We agree (with the incredible part), as does Jon Pareles at the NY Times who says the band put on his favorite performance of CMJ 2014.
Bo Ningen
At that point, most people probably needed a palate cleanser and Beverly's sweet, fun, harmony-laden music made them the perfect sonic sorbet for the packed room.
Then came White Fence whose lineup for this tour included Cate Le Bon on second guitar and backing vocals, adding a new harmony element to the band's retro-'60s style.
Things went back into insanity mode at this point with the debaucherous mayhem that is Fat White Family. It could seem like the band's love for removing layers of clothing during their set is a schtick to make up for mediocre music, but that's not the case at all. Everyone goes hard the whole show and at times the Fat Whites were straight up mesmerizing. Not to mention the light show and all the fog going on at Baby's that day was perfect for these guys. They came back to do it again at 3 AM (more on that soon) and were just as killer.
Titus Andronicus kicked off their headlining set with a bang with "A More Perfect Union," and then went on to give a sarcastic speech about how this is CMJ, and like most bands at CMJ they've got a new record coming and are hoping to catch their big break. So most of the set included new material which did sound great (and hopefully we get to hear it recorded soon), but hearing those older favorites in a small place like Baby's was really special.
Hopefully you didn't take Titus frontman Patrick Stickles' advice and leave after their set to head to Shea Stadium because our night show which happened immediately afterwards at Baby's was great (though we're sure Shea, which Bully also played again, was fun also!).
Like on Friday, we were giving out tattoos and rum courtesy of Sailor Jerry, and once again we handed out a free keg of Bell's Brewery craft beer along with koozies, bottle openers, Bo Ningen-strobe-protecting sunglasses and other fun stuff.
Pictures from Friday are HERE. More from Saturday (and video too), below...
---
Residual Kid (by Amanda Hatfield)
Bully (by Amanda Hatfield)
Flowers (by Amanda Hatfield)
Girlpool (by Amanda Hatfield)
Bo Ningen (by Chris La Putt)
Beverly (by Amanda Hatfield)
Beverly (by Chris La Putt)
White Fence (by Amanda Hatfield)
Fat White Family (by Amanda Hatfield)
Fat White Family (by Chris La Putt)
Titus Andronicus (by Amanda Hatfield)
FAT WHITE FAMILY VIDEO
GIRLPOOL VIDEO
BO NINGEN VIDEO