NZ @ CMJ 2013

Setlists: Ghost Wave Streets of Laredo Eden Mulholland Read More CMJ It's that time of the year again: CMJ Music Marathon in New York! The music festival is taking place this year on October 15th to October 19th! And YES, we are covering it this year! … Ghost Wave CMJ Music Marathon goers have a chance to see New Zealand band Ghost Wave at six shows this year. They play at Pianos and Le Poisson Rouge (CMJ NZ Showcase) October 15…

Le Poisson Rouge got a Kiwi treat Tuesday evening, the first night of CMJ. Tiny Ruins, Black City Lights, Eden Mulholland, Streets of Laredo, and Ghost Wave performed for the New Zealand Showcase at CMJ this year.

Unable to catch Tiny Ruins and Black City Lights, I made it in time to see Eden Mulholland’s set. Filling in last minute, Eden Mulholland took the stage, despite having laryngitis.

EDEN MULHOLLAND

“I sound like the guy from Kings of Leon if he had a really long night,” Mulholland half croaked, half voice cracked-ly said. Luckily for the audience, his vocals during the songs, however, seemed to have no trouble. Hailing from Auckland, Eden Mulholland alternates between playing the keyboard and electric guitar with just a drummer accompanying him. The number of instruments played per song might be minimal, but the sounds made can seriously fill up the room. At times, the vocals were nicely harmonized, while other times, they were screaming into the chaos of both drum and guitar.

STREET OF LAREDO

New Zealand band turned Brooklyn-based (members moved to Brooklyn in the past year), Streets of Laredo took the stage after Mulholland, filling the stage up with their seven-member band. Among the three guitars, bass, drums, harmonica, and six beards of all shapes and sizes, is a homemade instrument of a wooden frame with tape wrapped around it. The band has a folk sound, or as one of the band’s songwriters Dave Gibson puts it, “indie-folk shit.” In an interview after the show, Gibson adds that the band is a tech-y twist on folk, not unlike the popular scene happening now with folk like Mumford and Sons and Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, of whom there will most likely be a comparison because of Streets of Laredo’s sound and number of band members. Gibson doesn’t mind though, saying that he really likes Alex Ebert and his solo music. Streets of Laredo get the crowd from bobbing their heads to some full on dancing by the end of their gig, with a bit of joking in between.

GHOST WAVE

Last to play is Auckland based band, Ghost Wave. “Hey-we’re-Ghost-Wave-we’re-from-Auckland-NZ-this-is-the-second-show-in-New-York-City-I-hope-you’re-all-having-a-good-night,” is how singer Matthew Paul introduced the band at the start of the set. The band essentially played through their set with minimal banter except to reveal that their tambourine broke. During a few of the songs, the red stage light hit one of the bass’s tuners and gave a beam of light, almost laser-like, which incidentally matched their psychedelic sounds.

Ghost Wave's remaining CMJ dates:

10/17 Knitting Factory (Filter Party) 4:00pm
10/18 Judson Memorial Church (KEXP) 4:00pm
10/18 Fontanta's (Shot! Presents) 11:40pm
10/19 Cake Shop (Zuus Media/Inflated Records/Cape Shok Present) 10pm
10/19 Pianos (International Rescue Party) 11:25pm
10/20 Brooklyn Bowl (School Night) set time TBD

Ghost Wave at Le Poisson Rouge, New York (10/15/13)

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