There were other cool “non official” CMJ happenings that took place over the past week (this not being one of them) or so that didn’t involve Pitchfork Media or Todd P., although all bands involved in the shows that I caught have gotten shout outs from one or the other at some point in time.  Myopenbar.com, one of my favorite resources for free booze and interesting times in this and a few other cities, also happens to throw great parties and shows from time to time, one of which went down just as CMJ was kicking off at Manhattan’s sprawling but sometimes not awful Webster Hall.  The show line up included Beach Fossils, Woods, Titus Andronicus and Here We Go Magic.  The event  was free to those who R.S.V.Peed and although there was no free (or even discounted!) booze at the event, the line up was good enough not to scoff.  Strangely, Here We Go Magic was headlining the night, even though they were the least exciting name on the bill.   My friends have all assured me that so far Here We Go Magic’s music hasn’t been used on a popular teen TV show or film so I can’t really understand what’s going on here, but I guess they have a lot of New Yorkers who are really into them since the show continued to get more and more crowded as the evening moved on towards their performance.  Needless to say I didn’t stick around for them to play.  I also left before Titus Andronicus did their thing, since I’m trying not to kill my interest in them while I still like what they’re doing and I’ve seen them play an embarrassing amount of times since moving to New York two years ago.   I focused my evening instead on Woods who I hadn’t seen play in a good six or seven months and on Beach Fossils, a newer Woodsist/Captured Tracks band that I’ve been really into lately and one that I’ve been trying to catch live for a while.

Let me take a moment to talk about an entirely unrelated band that our site has (so far) passively ignored save for a few mostly indifferent statements about their performance at last years SXSW; Girls.  I have no clue why Girls are getting so much attention right now.  Their debut album is predictable and the lead singers voice is eccentric in the hard to take seriously sort of way.  Why Girls are all the rage right now instead of Brooklyn bands Woods and Beach Fossils is beyond me.  Sadly, this happens often and the brighter than average indie listening public have been mislead by all the mouth foaming blog action.    I’m not saying that Girls are the worst new band out there this year, but their general brand phych-pop mediocrity has nothing on either Woods or Beach Fossils save for a more predictable sonic palate.  I only bring this up my distaste for Girls because I feel that both of these other bands are deserving of the same sort of attention.  Allow me to explain-

If you respond to the the psychedelic elements of Girls’ music (which are of the dime store sort) then you will most likely be floored by Woods’s creepy phych-folk and the balls to the wall improvisations that tend to close out their more dramatic live material. Catching this band for the first time in a while, I was really impressed with the improved fluidity and atmosphere of their playing.  The musicianship between the members of Woods is better every time I see them play and all of the band seem to be in sync with each other in ways that they were trying hard to arrive at in the past.  A communication has been established and it seems to be opening the door to beautiful things.  I can only hope that soon the wildfire that Woods has been slowly spreading starts to catch and I can soon watch them play to the kind of audience I know is out there waiting eagerly for them to arrive.

If on the other hand it’s the sunny, pop-rock elements of Girls’ music that gets your juices flowing, you will find great joy in the melodic and energized garage/80′s/lo-fi pop sounds that Beach Fossils are really owning right now.  I know there are a lot of bands that kind of sound like this in one way or another, but watching Beach Fossils play, it becomes clear that this isn’t just a bandwagon act with some catchy lo-fi MP3′s to their name.  Beach Fossils brand of music has just the right mix of everything I seem to be craving nowadays.  Not too much 60′s revivalism and not too much 80′s/90′s new wave/alt radio fetishism either.  Their sound instead falls somewhere in the middle with lyrics that are earnest but not navel licking and guitar lines that are surprisingly melodic and endearing.  Hearing them live without the claustrophobic sounds of their recordings shows you just how exciting their future should be and I promise you, their boyish energy is contagious.  They get it and you should to.

In short, put Girls away and give both of these bands  a chance.  Here, I’ll make it a bit easier for you with these MP3′s:

Beach Fossils – Vacation
Woods – Rain On

See that was easy!  It was good too hu?  Now go forth and buy their stuff or see them play! Or both!!

YAY!!!