CMJ 2010 Report Part 10 of 10.

This past Roctober, 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 leaving hangovers and busted eardrums in their wake. There are those out there that like to believe that it is an indicator of the stylistic forces that will drive major musical themes for the coming years. In years past, themes included the obligatory turntable in every band (Faithless, Bis, Whole Grand Royal Catalog, etc), the return of 60s garage rock (Strokes, White Stripes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), neo-folk resurgence (Bright Eyes, Joanna Newsome, Devandra Banhart), etc.

This is the final installment of a 10 part series featuring the highlights of CMJ 2010 so check out the other recent installments! The excellent bands featured are: Savoir Adore, Alex Winston, Octant, Candy Claws, Kisses, Holy Ghost!, Mathew Dear, Crocodiles, and The Blow.

This Dean Wareham plays Galaxie 500 show should have been titled thus: “Galaxie 500: Level of Excellence Bands at CMJ 2010 Should Aspire – A Mandatory Seminar for All Bands (Yes, That means You)”. Dean Wareham backed by members of his full time project, Dean and Britta, performed as Galaxie 500, Dean’s first band when he, Damon, and Naomi were at the age of most of the members of the bands performing at CMJ. Needless to say, listening to Galaxie 500, you couldn’t help but think, “Now, THIS is how it is done”. How could a band write so many great songs and so perfectly create a totally unique and fully formed sound right out of the gates? Upstart bands out there should make a point of learning from their elders and try to figure out how Dean and Co. pulled it off so well, so early.

Dean Wareham has played Galaxie 500 sets a few times now, which have been consistently fantastic, but there also has been a fairly consistent set list, so for a repeat viewer such as myself, I appreciate a few surprises. Well this set had quite a few zingers, one of which, included here, courtesy of an audience member – sort of. Normally I would never condone screaming requests in between songs at shows such as this, however, this case makes for a rare (very rare) exception. In the recording you can hear a knucklehead from the audience make the request for the cover of The Rutles quirky “Cheese and Onions” that even Dean had to admit was worth a shot. This is the results. Sublime.

TSOI is rife with great Galaxie 500 and Dean Wareham posts including a 2008 complete set of one of the very first times that Dean Wareham dusted off Galaxie 500 live. Be sure to check the TSOI archives a look here.

Also, for all things Galaxie 500, including all subsequent bands, see the great fan site: Head Full of Wishes

Also, Also, if you are in the New York area, be sure to catch Dean Wareham playing Galaxie 500 tonight at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn.

Download: Dean Wareham: Cheese and Onions (Live)

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2 Comments

  1. This is great – thanks so much. He played it in London last week too – but seemed a bit more prepared than this! Excellent. Thanks also for plugging A Head Full of Wishes!

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