CMJ 2010 Report Part 4 of 10.
This past October, sorry, Rocktober, New York hosted its yearly CMJ (College Music Journal) Music Marathon. As the name indicates, The CMJ Music Marathon is a massive concentration of 100s of bands that descend on NYC like locusts and swarm every NYC venue over the course of a week and leaving hangovers and sleep deficiency in their wake. There are those out there that like to believe that it is a indicator of the stylistic forces that will drive major musical themes for the coming years.
We are in the middle of featuring the most notable bands caught at CMJ 2010 so be sure to check back daily and to check out the archives!
Alex Winston and Savoir Adore (featured yesterday), two of the most notable CMJ 2010 bands I caught, are fairly similar bands that feature lead female vocals, have synth up front, but also fill the sound out with full bands. In the case of Alex Winston excellent use of soul-style female backing vocals make for a nicely subtle reference to 60′s soul girl-groups. And when I say female backing vocals Alex Winston goes full bore with three dedicated vocalists – an impressive statement not wasted on me. Like Savoir Adore, Alex Winston, also feature snappy disco drumming and have released great remixes of their singles. Check out the remixes of “Choice Cuts”, already featured here on TSOI (see archives), along with the live track included here taken from the Alex Winston‘s Public Assembly CMJ performances.
Download: Alex Winston: Choice Notes (Live)
Earlier this year I extolled the greatness of Alex Winston’s track “Choice Notes”. Since then, the minions of the interweb have caught on and I now have found 3 new remixes of the track. Though none of them come even close to the excellence of the original, I thought I would put together a post compiling all the remixes I’ve been sent over the past month or so. Also, I see she’s playing a couple of shows this week at CMJ. If you happen to catch her, I would love to hear a review.
I have a soft spot for anything that’s ’60s pop or soul and sung by a female. This amazing track by Alex Winston sounds like it could have come out on any of the many Motown-influenced labels back in the day. She captures the exact flavor of ’60s soul but with an updated sound. I would best describe her on this track as the female counterpart to Raphael Saadiq, definitely someone to watch.
