CMJ '08: Miss Misery

This year, I’m visualizing my approach to CMJ as a bell curve -- start slow, party hard midway though, then wind back down. With that in mind, last night was mellow and melancholy, as I checked out some new music and took time to remember one of my favorite artists.

The night began at the Mercury Lounge, checking out a set from CageTheElephant. The small room was full of industry types, which made sense -- the band is charismatic and certainly has mainstream appeal. It’s not exactly my cup of tea (but then again, my cup of tea seems to be limited to M.I.A. and her various derivations, folkie boys and Gang Gang Dance), but the band did put on an entertaining show.

After dinner, it was on to the Knitting Factory for Islands side project Sister Suvi and Paramount Styles, a new band featuring Scott McCloud of Girls Against Boys. Sister Suvi put on a fun, upbeat indie pop set, incorporating a ukulele and wall drumming to balance out their twee vocals. Paramount Styles, on the other hand, recalled the Afghan Whigs with their dirty blues rock; the lyrics, with lots of “yeah yeah yeahs” and shout-outs to New York City, left a little to be desired, but the groove was delicious.

My final stop of the night was O’Connor’s bar in Park Slope, where Elliott Smith wrote much of “XO.” Smith died five years ago, and every year I drink some Johnny Walker Red and remember the man. I first saw him play at coffee shops when I was in high school, and remember watching his Oscar performance from a hotel room in Wellesley, Mass., during my senior year. Smith is perhaps my all-time favorite artist, the patron saint of Portland, and his death was a huge loss.

Tragically, only a few blogs covered the anniversary of his passing -- the Portland Mercury had a nice piece, as did Paste. But aside from those two and a handful of Livejournals, the blogosphere was too busy gushing about the hot new things at CMJ to mark the passing of a legend. One blog, in fact, managed to gush about a band called Bottle Up and Explode without even referencing Smith, despite the fact the band took their name from one of his lyrics. While the desire to always be a step ahead of the game and break the next big thing is understandable, sometimes it pays to take a look back. -- Cortney Harding