Crystal Antlers, Surfer Blood, Cymbals Eat Guitars

Friday night at CMJ was a rain-soaked mess, so my friend and I huddled into the warmer-than-warm, cozier-than-cozy Cake Shop. The venue has perhaps never been described that way. It’s really a grimy, grungy den of disgruntled alcoholics in dirty jackets. But compared to the world outside, I’d take that.

I’d come to see a friend of a friend’s band, the Depreciation Guild, open for Surfer Blood–a young Florida pop act that had been getting a lot of buzz–and Crystal Antlers, the talented psychedelic, surf-rock tinted punk outfit with a rep for rowdy live shows. But Depreciation Guild’s set was moved up. (They were headed across the river to open for School of Seven Bells and The xx, and were given themselves more time to set-up.)

Cymbals Eat Guitars at Le Poisson Rouge

Cymbals Eat Guitars at Le Poisson Rouge

Depreciation Guild’s recordings are slighter and breathier than the two dark, textural songs I caught at the end of their act. Check out the track “Dream About Me” from the guys here or check out their MySpace.

We didn’t know the next few bands, so we walked a few blocks and checked out the show at Le Poisson Rouge, where Cymbals Eat Guitars was playing. They were just sound-checking–our timing was perfect. But what a disappointment in every other respect!

For a group known for their wavering, textured tracks that scoot effortlessly from a dash of piano to a full-blown rock anthem and back again–the live show was just one-note. They played head-banging emo-rock, Saves the Day with a dash of hipster grit. I was like, “Is this the right band?” Even when they played my favorite slow, quiet track –”Indiana“–it was turned up to 11, with the vocals turned way down, making the great gauzy lyrics inaudible. I mean, hear what they should have sounded like is on their MySpace.

So we headed back to Cake Shop to try our luck with Surfer Blood. The band basically sounded like Vampire Weekend. Not a version of Vampire Weekend. But Vampire Weekend. Maybe a younger, sloppier Vampire Weekend. With a glockenspiel and some high-note play drums, they imitated the colorful Afropop sound in everyone’s iPods these days.

Surfer Blood at the Cake Shop

Then we went out for a much-needed breather. And holy-smoke, there were crowds pouring in! When we got back down to the stage to try to angle closer to my beloved Crystal Antlers, we were thirty feet back in a stuffy, riled-up crowd. So while I have no pictures to show you – let me say this- they were by far the best we saw that night. Compared to the other acts they were just so much more original and gawd…that was refreshing. In the small space, their trademark tinny, bright punk sound really worked. It’s the kind of deliberately unclean punk that makes more sense in a low-ceilinged dive than an arena. And in little leather vests, the band didn’t just pose there  looking like rockstars, didn’t angle for the CMJ press photographers. They were working. They were all over the stage jamming on their keyboards, windmilling their guitars.

The audience was hyped for it. It was impossible not to just kind of dance a bit, get out your frustration at how sad all the other groups had been, or just vent about the rain outside, about the gloomy walk home you were going to have after this one bright moment.