[ all photos by a Duane Reade disposable camera + my fingers]

With a few days between the closing of New York City’s CMJ Music Marathon and now, we have officially finished processing one of the crazier weeks of music experiences we’ve had.

Our Thursday showcase at the Jalopy Theater in Red Hook with The Shivers, The Last Bison, and The White Buffalo was a seriously Americana/seriously vibey event, and we can’t give enough thanks to the bands and the attendees. The videos we filmed from the night will be making their way into the public sphere here in the upcoming weeks; we’ll alert you when that occurs.

For now, we will be highlighting our top five favorite CMJ performers featuring some incredible (others blatantly awful) disposable camera shots taken by yours truly.

01. SKY FERREIRA

Sky Ferreira has been a pretty strong obsession of mine for about three years now – ever since I heard her reworkings of Miike Snow’s “Animal” and A Fine Frenzy’s “Almost Lover.” She’s released a string of pop gems, gone away for a bit, put out more massive songs, went into record label purgatory, etc. All that appears to be over, though, as she has just released a new EP entitled Ghost with the huge singles “Red Lips” and “Everything Is Embarrassing.” It’s one of the freshest collection of songs I’ve heard this year – with an authentic genre-melding sound that a lot of artists attempt to have but never actually attain.

When I saw Ms. Ferreira on the CMJ lineup, I knew I had to be there – preferably near the front. I got the chance to see her play during Brooklyn Vegan‘s day party on Friday and then again at Piano’s on Saturday. She did short sets at both venues, but it was enough to be the highlight of our week.

She opened with the electro-rager “Lost In My Bedroom” before tackling the Shirly Manson (of Garbage) penned “Red Lips.” The two songs that secured her brilliance were the poignantly raw “Sad Dream” (her upcoming single), and the as-yet-unreleased yelly-pop “You’re Not The One.” Just from the two performances, I can predict “You’re Not The One” to be a severe threat to every other song released in 2013.

Her presence on stage is some weird combination of Fiona Apple and Courtney Love – but it’s not contrived in the least and all originally Sky Ferreira. Already at the age of twenty, her demeanor is almost iconic. (“Iconic” was the word that my two colleagues and I decided on after exited the packed bar).

In summary – Sky Ferreira might be the only artist worth watching over the next few months as she will be dominating everything anyway. Her debut full-length record (’bout time) is scheduled for an early 2013 release. Until then, there’s the magnificent Ghost on iTunes [HERE].

02. THE TROUBLE WITH TEMPLETON

Australia’s The Trouble With Templeton was the sneak-attack of CMJ. We headed to The Delancey Saturday afternoon for their Aussie BBQ – a yearly takeover of musicians from Down Under. Tom from the band took to the stage at 6:30 to perform a stripped session. We had never heard of this band before, so we didn’t know what to expect. Our friend Amy who works for CMJ (big ups, Amy), recommended we see him play. Thankfully, we did.

Aside from the completely evocative lyrics and brilliant song structure, the most special thing about Tom is his voice – it’s an honest, raspy one that is bluntly engaging. We all just sort of stood there, sharing glances back and forth that spoke “Oh, wow.”

Their album Bleeders is out now (get that [HERE]) and it’s just genius. The amount of times I’ve watched their video for “Someday Soon” is minorly obscene.

03. MS MR

New York City’s MS MR was an absolute guaranteed-see for us as we’ve been geeking out over this duo ever since their “Hurricane” video hit the interwebs. The two payed a set at Public Assembly on Friday that brought the much-needed energy.

They covered most tracks off their Tumblr-released Candy Bar Creep Show, a collection of introspective yet dancey tunes. There were three chill-worthy moments during their set. The first was their cover of Patrick Wolf’s “Time Of My Life,” already an all-time favorite song of mine. The second was when their song “Dark Doo Wop” hits the big build at the three-fourth point. It’s an apocalyptic, lovelorn fury that needs to be written about. The third “goose pimple” moment came from whatever song they played third. Assumingly off their upcoming 2013 first full-length LP, the song featured the word “honest” in it quite a lot (they didn’t give a title, and it would have been rude to ask.) Whatever that track is, it soared – it’s a smash in the waiting. (If you read this, MS MR, make that the next single, please.)

Lizzy and Max are just painfully cool – Lizzy vibes through the songs, and Max bobs along until he provides his HURTS-esque vocals. They’re the perfect combination.

Candy Bar Creep Show is out now – [HERE].

04. ICONA POP

Our interest in Icona Pop began when our favorite blog/label/promoter Neon Gold starting hyping a pop Swedish duo back in the day with their song “I Still Don’t Know.” Interest has only increased since then. Two EPs and numerous leaked tracks later, Icona Pop are properly massive stars now – as the crowd at The Windish Agency showcase at the Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday night indicates.

The two took the stage around midnight to a space-limited crowd and absolutely crushed it. Their arsenal of electro-pop anthems is immense, and they blazed through all the biggest tracks – culminating in the crowd-favorite “I Love It.” I was lucky enough to see their first headlining NYC gig a few months back, and the two have only gotten tighter since. There is no one not having the time of their life at an Icona Pop show.

Their new EP Iconic just dropped last week – get that [HERE]. The debut record is slated for 2013.

05. CHAD VALLEY

Try not to be too impressed with that photo – the obviously best shot off my roll (shoutout to the Walgreens at Astor Place).

Chad Valley was another sneakily incredible performance we witnessed. Taking the stage after NO and Flume, he performed a unique set of songs off his forthcoming debut album Young Hunger. He has some sort of electro-George Michael meets Boy George vocals with crazy synths and beats that the crowd was feeling – even at the early time of 9 PM.

Chad’s EP Equatorial Ultravox is out now [HERE].

___

Until next year, CMJ. We’ll keep you in our <3, CMJ Music Marathon 2012.

– ANH