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The Fader side show was in a twice-too-small room on Orchard Street, overflowing with SoCo shot-soaked hipsters and industry schmoozers. The line up for the space's final day of offerings was beyond solid: Brooklyn hippie-dipsters Yeasayer, tense, repetitive box-pop Francophones Turzi and Brooklyn's well-kempt new wave rider White Williams. All dazzled in their own right, but seeing them in this setting was far from perfect. Williams, a few weeks earlier in the spacious Bowery, was much better. Yeasayer, in a basement in Austin, TX, was better too. Even so, the Fader orchestrated a full week of some of the festival's finest bands, creating a nucleus for band-buzz in the midst of this sprawling city.
New Violators at Mercury Lounge | by Robbie Mackey
Around the corner at Mercury, Norway's New Violators looked positively elated to return to Manhattan. "I see many faces I recognize," said singer Per Borten, grinning ear to ear in between sleek Smiths-approximations and Bunnymen echoes. While most new wave acts try to perfect a sort of disaffected cool, or a cartoony abandon, the Violators go straight for the sweet spots—the soggiest bits of the new wave aesthetic. More than anything, the Scandinavian quartet writes smart pop that rides the pomp of '80s music gracefully.
Fog at Blender Theatre | Torche at Blender Theatre | by Robbie Mackey
Uptown at Blender Theatre, Andrew Broader and company played selections from the latest Fog record, Ditherer. Wearing a newfangled metal appreciation on his sleeve (literally—Broader was in a Jesu hoodie), the latest songs boasted much more growl than anything from 10th Avenue Freakout or the strange and sloppy Ether Teeth. But hiding behind laptop tomfoolery and poppy pastiche for five years must have been difficult for Broader, whose guitar playing was the highlight of the performance. Hearing him reference a black metal awakening in interviews put the crowded, tremolo-picked lead lines he stuttered through in the set's penultimate song in perspective. This is jammy, hammy pop music for the hefty set.
Miami's Torche followed. Plagued with mix issues and mid-song hiccups, the set was far from perfect. Drums were almost inaudible for extended chunks of the band's slippery sludge, culled from their 2007 release, In Return, and their 2005 eponymous debut. But even a mid-song abortion couldn't ruin Torche's stoned-out doom, delivered with plenty of guitar brandishing from former Floor frontman Steve Brooks and even more hair-whipping from guitarist Juan Montoya. The crowd grew by the second in anticipation of Justin Broadrick's upcoming Jesu set. But Torche's doom-riding demanded and deserved respect.
Jesu at Blender Theatre | by Robbie Mackey
After only a few short minutes, Broadrick and the rest of Jesu had already filled the stage. On his latest EP, Lifeline, the former Godflesh mastermind and Napalm Death guitarist flirts with the softer, more supple side of his sound, toying with ethered vocals and drones. Even a year ago it could be said that, live, Broadrick still played everything loud—from the softest moment on a record to the heaviest. But not tonight, as a few fans-turned-hecklers pointed out ("turn everything up," one demanded). Even older material, from the Silver EP or the eponymous debut, seemed to be filtered through a hushed singer-songwriter's reserve.
Wherever CMJ was hiding the metal, it certainly wasn't in Jesu's set. But after a week of 20 or so fantastic performances, I was alright with ending the marathon on a slightly disappointing note. Besides, only five months til SXSW…
—Robbie Mackey
10.22.07
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