The buzz of CMJ Music Marathon is getting louder every day here, and with only around a week until it kicks off, and the full schedule finally announced, sometimes it gets hard to pay attention to anything else. But not too hard, because so many other great things keep happening. Here’s just a sampling of some of those great things, hand-selected by the CMJ staff.
Butch Walker – Chrissie Hynde
I’ll admit it: I will listen to anything with Ryan Adams’ name attached to it. I hadn’t heard much about Butch Walker until this week, but this tune comes from his upcoming seventh (!) LP, which Adams produced. Walker is also opening for Adams on a whole string of tour dates, including four NYC gigs. Of those four, I have every intention of attending at least two, so it’s probably about time I got acquainted with Butch Walker. This tune, which comes from Walker’s Afraid Of Ghosts (out in February), is a hushed, nostalgic ballad, performed with a light touch similar to the recent Ryan Adams album (and possible career highlight) Ashes & Fire. – Zac Coe
Nots – Decadance
As CMJ Music Marathon approaches, our synapses are knocked at every turn by a barrage of band names and sounds like Ghidrah bearing down on Tokyo. So you’d think the monster movie-like racket this Memphis synth-punk crew crams away at would not be the soothing balm we might need. You’d be wrong. It’s almost time to start stomping around our own metropolis making noise, so this is mood music, pal. Around for about three years, Nots’ debut album finally comes November 11 on Goner. – Eric Davidson
Sui Zhen – Infinity Street
Melbourne’s Becky Sui Zhen has that oddball pop-pitch down pat, evidenced in the lead single off her upcoming debut LP, Secretly Susan. Infinity Street starts off all warm syrup burbly, struts around for a bit like a fat tuba, and by the end, gets so manically cluttered I keep thinking I have multiple songs playing at once. But it’s not multiple songs! It’s just one Sui Zhen song! – Lizzie Plaugic
TV On The Radio – Careful You
Fuzzy, almost jarring, eerie synths layered over pulsing, heavy drums and set against a sultry ballad? Oui, je t’aime! TV On The Radio’s sixth album, Seeds, is out on Harvest on November 18, which is just too far away if you ask me. – Carrie Brothers
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