the 2009 cmj music marathon and film festival starts today in new york city. cmj spans five days and showcases hundreds of new acts playing small shows at a variety of venues in the city. highlights include atlas sound, who we posted about earlier today, playing two shows (tonight and tomorrow night), and the very best, playing tomorrow night. for a full list of bands, venues and showtimes click here.
also if you haven’t heard of the very best, check out their song warm heart of africa featuring ezra koenig of vampire weekend…i dig it.
atlas sound is the solo project of bradford cox, the lead singer of deerhunter (whose album microcastle was one of my favorites of 2008). with atlas sound, he is able to be more experimental than he is with the full band, blending ambience, airy electronics and soft, warm lyrics. you can hear the influence of 60s pop and doo-wop in the undertones of songs like "walkabout", "my halo" and "shelia", which when compared to the dreary melancholy of most of cox’s music, sound just like a crisp sunny day. "walkabout" is a collaboration with noah lennox (a.k.a. panda bear/member of animal collective), who also rocks. check out this cute video set to the song.
atlas sound is touring now, so check out the tour dates on myspace to see if he's coming to a town near you.
the above image is from the deerhunter/atlas sound blog.
