Sounding board for the cutting edge

The CMJ Music Marathon remains one of the places where musicians beyond the mainstream can find a new audience or reconnect with their old one.

By GINA VIVINETTO

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 30, 2000

NEW YORK -- For a while there, the annual CMJ Music Marathon conference was a whisper in the ear to notify hip music lovers of the next big thing. But that was during the late 1980s and 1990s when alternative or "college" rock ruled the airwaves.

Lots of bands got big breaks at CMJ, which stands for College Music Journal, a collective of music media and Internet sites devoted to cutting edge music.

Back in the early 1980s, a little band called R.E.M. made a splash at CMJ. Later, Jane's Addiction. Nine Inch Nails. Nirvana. But, that has changed, with college radio being beaten down by MTV's frat rock of testerone-heavy acts such as Limp Bizkit and Eminem, or their converse, teen pop stars like 'N Sync and Britney Spears. The CMJ conference, now in its 20th year, has gone back to being an interesting showcase for talented, marginal bands that will likely never explode into superstardom.

This isn't just a platform for alternative rock but for all folks who fall outside the mainstream. Roots rockers such as Neko Case & Her Boyfriends, clever rappers Handsome Boy Modeling School (featuring rap pioneer Prince Paul) and house DJ Armand Van Helden were big CMJ draws.

It's also a great opportunity for quirkier acts with some longevity to reconnect with their audience. For example, this year's conference had a "surprise" opening night performance by PJ Harvey. (Harvey's latest disc, uncoincidentally, arrives in stores this week.) Old luminaries of alt-rock played this year, such as Husker Du's Grant Hart, Mac McCaughan of Superchunk performing in his side project Portastatic, David Lowery of Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker, and Luna's Dean Wareham, formerly of Galaxie 500, as are Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang, who performed in their current duo Damon & Naomi.

Other "brand name" artists such as Moby and Chuck D., the former Public Enemy leader who now raps with Confrontation Camp, played powerhouse sets at CMJ to remind folks how hip they are and where they got their start.

For hundreds of unknown bands, such as Tampa's the Ashes of Grisum, CMJ is the opportunity to play showcases, attract label interest and press, network and swap e-mail addresses. The Ashes of Grisum performed to a tiny audience last week at one of CMJ's 50 participating venues throughout Manhattan.

Vincent Saletto, the band's keyboardist, said Ashes benefited from CMJ if even just by making contacts with venues that will allow the band to play again.

"We have a new base of operations for when we are up in New York," Saletto said.

Musicians were also invited to dozens of workshops on everything from marketing a band to making money on the Web.

Glance through the CMJ Festival Guide and you'll notice dozens of bands with names familiar to alt-rock lovers in the Tampa Bay area. That's because of Tampa promoter Jack Spatafora. At CMJ this year were bands that Spatafora has wooed to Tampa's Orpheum nightclub and the New World Brewery, the two Ybor City locations at which Spatafora books music.

Low, Ida, Jets to Brazil, Murder City Devils, Pedro the Lion, all bands Spatafora has brought, were CMJ buzz bands, as was the Dismemberment Plan, the post-punk band from Washington, D.C., that got raves at this year's Tropical Heatwave in Ybor City. Spatafora has booked the band for December.

Spatafora, 30, admits it's not easy bringing cutting edge music to Tampa.

"You look at what Tampa is into, it's mostly 98 Rock and funky beats," Spatafora said. "That's not really where my head is. Luckily there are some other people in Tampa that feel the same."

Spatafora says some shows he promotes attract as many as 250, though most are more intimate.

"It's nice to have just 50 people at a club and everyone knows everyone," Spatafora said, "But it's hard for me to believe in a large city in a metropolitan area that I only rarely get more than 150 people."

This was also the case at CMJ, where attendance for well-known bands was naturally higher. The Ashes of Grisum played to 20 people at its showcase; PJ Harvey had close to 600 squeeze in to see her.

But that's what CMJ is all about: celebrating artists on the fringes, sure, but also finding ways for them to infiltrate the bigger picture.

Here are more bands that had folks at CMJ buzzing:

At the Drive In: From El Paso, Texas, this punky combo sports afros like the MC5 and dishes a wildly energetic sound that's both visceral and intelligent. Good lyrics, rambunctious stage show, lots of adrenaline. And, again, the afros.

Le Tigre: The much ballyhooed new band from former Bikini Kill riot grrrl Kathleen Hanna, Le Tigre put out a debut last year that was a critical fave. The all-female trio has mastered lo-fi technology, using rough guitar, Casio keys and sheer moxie to create fresh punky pop with smart, feminist lyrics. Think: A 1960s girl group meets your women's studies prof; they strap on guitars and kvetch.

DJ Hurricane: Hot on the heels of his new CD (see Audiofiles, page XX), DJ Hurricane, the former Beastie Boys sidekick, is still producing hip hop with inventiveness and creativity.

The Donnas: Often touted as the "girl Ramones," these naughty vixens who all go by the name Donna sing about teenage California. They got together while in high school, grousing about the kids there they hated. The band's latest, Get Skintight, finds them still using three chords and a grudge to make great, goofy punk.

I Am the World Trade Center: Quite a grand moniker for just two guys. From New York, I.A.T.W.T.C. makes danceable electric soul that's equal parts Cornershop and Nancy Sinatra.

Kelly Hogan and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts: With the twang of Loretta Lynn and the soul of old Motown, former Jody Grind singer Kelly Hogan, from Atlanta, continues to make sweet Americana tunes for thrift-store wearing jazzbos and cooly cats.

Ryan Adams: From North Carolina, the Whiskeytown singer is doing a solo gig these days, serving up gin-soaked sad songs of love in his familiar alt-country croon.

Southern Culture on the Skids: From Chapel Hill, N.C., these guys and a girl get the "trailer trash" brand for their Southern-fried rockabilly sound that has been a hit in their Tampa shows. Plugging away for 15 years, the band has a loyal cult following that appreciates its campy sensibilities and hick pride. (See Carve That Possum.)

To contact Gina Vivinetto, e-mail gina@sptimes.com

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