Wrap Up: StereoactiveNYC/Hot Rocks Official CMJ Showcase — PART TWO
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Mancino
(photo by Bryan Bruchman)
Mancino took the stage shortly after 9pm on Saturday. Their drummer, Jonathan Mason, was out of town, so the plan had been for a part acoustic set sans drummer, making use of a drum machine and some computer loops in certain places. They started things off by playing three new songs. These new ones have yet to be worked on with a drummer, so it was interesting to hear them as they are now and imagine what they might sound like once Jonathan is back with them. There was one song in particular that had Mike Grimes and Nadim Issa trading crescendoing vocal harmonies that really stood out, but all three were quite impressive. Then came three tracks from the recently released Manners Matter LP — “Buy My Product, “L’amour (Or Less)”, and “Hetchie Hutchie Footchie” — with the drummer from Man In Gray sitting in.
Be sure to catch Mancino (we assume with their regular drummer) October 31st at EAR FARM’s Super Spooky Halloween Show @ Europa w/ Goes Cube, Hopewell and the Giraffes
Man In Gray
(photo by The Culture Of Me)
The fifth band of the evening was Man In Gray. This, their third show of the week, turned out to be the most raucous.
Man in Gray (above) burst onto the stage with even more energy than usual. No really, and that’s saying a lot. Not knocking on their set earlier in the week, but on Saturday night they killed it.
Man In Gray will be performing next at Union Pool as part of Jezebel Music’s monthly feature show with Project Jenny, Project Jan, Track Rabbit, and Fantasy Mirrors.
A Place To Bury Strangers
(photo by The Culture Of Me)
Waves of distortion and feedback. Pounding drums. Video projections mixed on the fly. Strobe lights. A good dose of destruction. These are the now familiar hallmarks of just about any show featuring A Place To Bury Strangers. And if those elements didn’t add up to something exciting enough, the band was coming off a string of five previous shows that had mostly been either early in the day or extremely late at night — or shut down by the cops after only a couple of songs. So, this was the big closing night of CMJ, prime-time show for one of the most buzzed about bands of the moment here in NYC. Let’s just say the audience — the extremely large audience — came expecting big things. And APTBS rose to the occasion, doling out an aural fix to a crowd eager to take it in. And let’s face it, you may not be seeing them play in venues as intimate as The Delancey quite so often anymore. We hope you were there.
A Place to Bury Strangers (above) simply dominated. There was a palpable sense of anticipation in the room before they went on. People were excited to see this band, and for good reason: they’re one of New York’s top live bands. Though this wasn’t the loudest I’ve ever heard them, it was one of my most favorite sets of all of CMJ. I’d see them again and again and again and again, if only my ears would let me.
Upcoming Shows:
Oct 25 @ NEW DAISY - Memphis, TN
w/ Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Oct 26 @ DOWNTOWN MUSIC HALL - Raleigh, NC
Oct 27 @ Pi Lam - Philadelphia, PA
Nov 7 @ BOWERY BALLROOM - NYC
w/ The Black Angels and Spindrift
Nov 8 @ THE MIDDLE EAST - Cambridge, MA
w/ The Black Angels and Spindrift
More to come…
