This week, The Daily Campus Focus Editor Stephen Ortiz will be reporting from New York City on the College Music Journal Marathon Festival. Each night he will select one venue to highlight.
NEW YORK - Saturday night of the 2009 CMJ Festival didn't feature upcoming feature films or documentaries. There were no guest speakers or panel discussions on the past, current or future state of music. Instead, the fifth and final night focused on what the festival had always been about - the music.
The Studio at Webster Hall (essentially just the basement to popular venue Webster Hall) played host to one of the many final shows of this year's CMJ that took place Saturday, The Deli Magazine's 20th Issue Launch Party showcase featuring an eclectic mix of bands from different musical styles. Highlighting the evening were openers The Protomen and closers Anamanaguchi.
The work of The Protomen, a Nashville, Tenn.-based indie rock group, is based on Capcom's historic "Megaman" series. Decked out in what looked like a blue motorcycle helmet (in an attempt to capture the look of the video game hero), Protomen frontman Commander worked the crowd with his strong stage presence and epic narratives of Megaman's efforts to stop Dr. Wily. The Studio's small staged was packed with band members (nine in all counting Commander), as they collaborated on delivering a sci-fi rock opera. The band's two albums, "The Protomen" and "Act II: The Father of Death," are story driven from start to finish.
New York-based Anamanaguchi closed out the night's six-band marathon with their brand of pop-punk rock instrumentals played over an 8-bit synthesizer made from a hacked and modded Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo Gameboy. The quartet, made up of guitarist and NES handler Peter Berkman, bassist James DeVito, drummer Luke Silas and guitarist and Gameboy player Ary Warnaar, had the crowd moving with upbeat riffs, pounding drum work and infectious synthesizers.
Most of their set was made up of songs from their album "Dawn Metropolis," but they also performed a cover of Chamillionaire's "Riding Dirty." Unlike other bands in the 8-bit rock genre, Anamanaguchi performs mostly original material and not video game covers.
Working the crowd between the previously mentioned bands were indie rockers Mon Khmer and Savoir Adore, Los Angeles-based groove rock band Rumspringa and Deli Magazine's artist of the month, Zaza.
Despite early technical difficulties, Savoir Adore drew the largest crowd of the evening with their catchy yet sincere, shoegazing pop-rock. The band's sound is akin to that of MGMT, but with a little less dance influence.
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