Every year at this time in New York City, thousands of musicians and indie rock fans gather together for the College Music Journal Music Marathon. The event’s bands all play in separate venues and it’s a great way to check out all the different clubs in New York, while hearing everything from Chemical Brothers to Ugly Casanova, to anything put out by Saddle Creek. The problem is this: unless you are lucky and scored an event pass to all the shows courtesy of an evil record company or a campus radio station, it will cost you about $300. Then there is the problem of finding a place to stay and arranging transportation. So while it is something every music geek should check out at some point, if you haven’t made arrangements by now, chances are, you’re not going.
But don’t despair. Whether it’s D.C.’s proximity to New York, or the fact that some Marathon bands are playing different locations on different days, the possibility exists that not every band worth seeing is heading up to the Big Apple this week. In the coming days, D.C. itself has an indie rock concert schedule worthy of festival status.
Like split-sex power-pop bands? Check out Imperial Teen at the Black Cat tonight. If you didn’t get nostalgic enough for Faith No More after reading last week’s Cultural Revolution, then you better check out Imperial Teen, because Faith No More made Teen’s Roddy Bottum marginally famous.
The very next night you can go see Calexico perform its amalgam of southwestern folk, tropacalia and rock at the Black Cat. But the highlight of the show will probably be openers Black Heart Procession, which, while bleakly depressing, is wonderfully good. This show comes with a warning label: The music is slow and often about broken hearts, so the faint of spirit should stay away.
The same emotional warning goes for Monday’s Pedro the Lion show, also at the Black Cat. Daniel Bazan’s quiet, low-key voice ponders alienation, divorce, heroin, love-gone-bad and other lighthearted issues. Bands Seldom and Scientific are opening.
The next day, it is good for your rock credentials to check out Lou Barlow, formerly of Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and Folk Implosion?he will be performing at, yes, the Black Cat. As Sebadoh was really only big during the low-fi boom of the early ‘90s, it’s possible that you may have only heard this band on a creepy mix tape from a friend in the eighth grade. But now that you are older and can appreciate it, Barlow will perform many songs from his former bands’ catalogs, as well as some new material.
If you want something different from indie rock, go see the four MCs and two DJs of Jurassic 5 play the 9:30 Club. They are promoting their second full-length album Power in Numbers. And, indeed, there is. The group comes out swinging with an album that incorporates the catchy hooks of their last album with more serious subject matter.
So, music fans: Don’t worry too much if you can’t make it to New York this weekend. There’s a festival to be had right where you are.
Black Cat is located at 1811 14th St., N.W., 9:30 Club is located at 815 V St., N.W.
