CMJ 2012 Begins Tuesday: Listen to the Bands; Get Suggestions of What to See

The CMJ Music Marathon starts Tuesday, Oct. 16th, giving music fans a wealth of gigs (and impossible choices in trying to choose between them). And many of the showcases are free or cheap. If you have specific bands in mind you want to see or are just feeling adventurous, you can dive headlong into the CMJ schedule.

If you'd prefer some guidance and suggestions on what to see, here's a roundup of suggestions from a variety of music sources, including ways to listen to songs by the artists. (List will be updated as more recommendations are found.)

* MySocialist.com has a day-by-day list of CMJ shows, including its own showcases and day parties. Also see their list of free shows

* If you've got Spotify, check out their playlist of what they see as the 100 artists that are performing at CMJ, including DIIV, Mountain Goats, Dum Dum Girls, Metz, Doldrums, and many more

* Brooklyn Vegan doesn't have a CMJ section per se, but you'll find plenty of coverage in its several-time-daily posts. BV is also sponsoring two free day parties on Friday and Saturday (which are not part of CMJ), the 19th and 20th, at Public Assembly in Brooklyn

* NPR Music is running a continuous stream of music by CMJ artists, recommended by staff at 11 different radio stations. They're also sponsoring a CMJ showcase on Wednesday night with Flying Lotus, Death Grips, and Buke & Gase, which you can watch live online. WFUV will host a show with Savoir Adoir, Indians, Little Green Cars, and Wax Poetic on Tuesday at 7 p.m.; the station will broadcast it live on air at 90.7 FM

* The New York Times suggests "Six Hopefuls Worth Watching," including the all-female British band Savages, the punk trio Merchandise, and the 21-year-old rapper Angel Haze

* New York Magazine's CMJ guide includes recommendations such as Angel Haze, Little Green Cars, and Pissed Jeans

UPDATES, Oct. 16th:
* Pitchfork's day-by-day recommendations for CMJ 2012

* David Greenwald (Rawkblog) has an article in Billboard on 10 acts to watch at CMJ; among them: Ghostface Killah, Sky Ferreira, and Kimbra

Two showcases I'm planning on checking out: Slimstyle Records on Wednesday with Local H,  The Hounds Below, and The Life and Times (at Union Square Ballroom, 27 Union Square West), and Kiam Records/Comedy Minus One on Friday (Left Field, 87 Ludlow St.).

The latter includes Tim Foljahn, Ma'am, the Karl Hendricks Trio, and Rebecca Gates (formerly of The Spinanes), and headlined the excellent singer-songwriter Jennifer O'Connor, who also happens to be the head of Kiam. (I did a brief mention of O'Connor and Foljahn when I saw them earlier this year.)

What are you checking out at CMJ this year? Who are your must-see acts? Leave your comments below and let us know!

Concert Notes: Tinderbox Fest Sat.; Dave Matthews & HMag Festivals Rescheduled, & More

Holly Miranda and a host of established and up-and-coming female bands will play Saturday's Tinderbox Music Festival in Brooklyn.

This edition of Concert Notes is all about festivals, including a Brooklyn fest of female rockers and new dates for two events postponed by Hurricane Irene.

* the Tinderbox Music Festival takes place tomorrow, Sept. 10th, at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn. (I wrote about the inaugural Tinderbox fest last year.) The headliners on the main stage are Eternia and the Band (10 p.m.) and Holly Miranda (9 p.m.), but there are plenty of other musicians going all day long starting at 1 p.m., including XYLOS, Alyson Greenfield, Charlene Kaye and The Brilliant Eyes, The Debutante Hour, Still Saffire (representing Brooklyn's own Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls), EULA, and more. (Get Tinderbox Music Fest tickets.)

* the HMag Music Festival in Hoboken has been rescheduled for Oct. 16, at its original venue at Pier A Park in the Mile Square City. The headlining bands, The Walkmen and School of Seven Bells, are still on the schedule, along with Inner Party System, The Kickdrums, 7Mornings, Kangaroo Jones, Christina Alessi, Helloradio, and the Blaire Reinhard Band. The HMag Music Festival starts at 12 Noon and runs until 10 p.m.

* the Dave Matthews Band Caravan will now take place next weekend, Sept. 16th, 17th, and 18th, but will take place on Randall's Island instead of the original site of Governors Island. DMB will play a full set each night, and other musicians including Dispatch, Warren Haynes (solo), Brandi Carlile, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, and Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band.

* and finally, a note of very local interest: the 2011 Hoboken Italian Festival is underway, and besides the usual zeppole and cannoli there's old-time music. The festival runs from Sept. 8th to the 11th and, while you've already missed the NJ American Idol and the "Freestyle Friday" events, still to come is stage MC Johnny Maggio, music from Molfetta, Italy, opera singing, the Bronx Wanderers, and more. (See the Hoboken Italian Festival schedule.)

More Summer Music Festivals: Mountain Jam, Clearwater Revival

Pete Seeger, Josh Ritter, and the Indigo Girls are just a few of the performers at this year's Clearwater festival.

A couple more summer music festivals in the New York vicinity are coming up in the next couple weeks: the seventh annual Mountain Jam in the Catskills and the latest in the long-running Clearwater Hudson River Revival in Croton-on-Hudson.

I've never been to the Mountain Jam (June 2nd to 5th), but if you like jam-band music and beautiful mountain scenery, this is the place to be. Musicians including Gov't Mule, the Warren Haynes Band, My Morning Jacket, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Dawes, Nicole Atkins, Soulive, and more will perform at the site of the Hunter Mountain ski area in Hunter, New York. (See the complete Mountain Jam schedule here.)

Friday night headliners are Bela Fleck and the Original Flecktones and the Warren Haynes Band. On Saturday night Gov't Mule and Michael Franti and Spearhead are the headliners, and on Sunday My Morning Jacket anchors the night and wraps up the festival.

Attendance at Mountain Jame is limited to 15,000 people, with camping limited to less than 5,000.

The Clearwater festival (officially Clearwater's Great Hudson River Revival) takes place June 18th and 19th in Croton Point Park in Croton-on-Hudson. As always it combines music with environmental awareness and activism, with vendors and exhibits promoting everything from solar power to organic food (and the power for all stages is said to come from sustainable sources).

Saturday's performers include:
Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Billy Bragg, Dar Williams, David Bromberg, Janis Ian, Josh Ritter, and the Felice Brothers, among many others.

Sunday's lineup features:
Pete Seeger, Buskin & Batteau, Chris Smither, Drive-By Truckers, Indigo Girls, Jen Chapin, Joel Plaskett, John Sebastian, Jorma Kaukonen, Justin Townes Earle, Sara Hickman, and more.

All Points West: Sunday is Soggy But Now OPEN!

After a four-hour delay due to steady rain in the NY metro area, the All Points West Festival is now open for its third and final day.

Around 3:10 p.m. Liberty Event, the company that produces All Points West, sent a message from its Twitter account (@libertyevent) saying, "Doors are OPEN at #APW #AllPointsWest. A break in the skies."

Turns out that was premature, though; it seems the gates didn't actually open until almost an hour later. All Points West sent a message from its Twitter account about 4:10 reading, “THE DOORS ARE OPEN! Let the games BEGIN! RE-TWEET like craaazzyyyyyy!!!!!!”

No word yet on how this will affect the schedule. Sunday's show was to begin at Noon and headliners Coldplay were to take the stage at 9:35, with other bands going on later at the other stages. Another factor is that this is Sunday and many people will be going to their 9-to-5 jobs the next day.

Oh, and just to complicate things more, rain is forecast for tonight.

2008 Austin City Limits Festival (ACL Festival) Lineup is Out

The lineup for the 2008 Austin City Limits Festival (ACL Festival) has been announced ... see details here. You can click on an artist's name at this page to hear music by that artist.

Austin has just recovered from the South by Southwest Festival, and now if gearing up for the ACL Festival, a tie-in to the long-running PBS TV show Austin City Limits.

Robert Plant and Allison Kraus will be performing at the 2008 ACL Festival, along with the Foo Fighters, Beck, Gnarls Barkley, Patty Griffin, the Black Keys, John Fogarty, and many more. There are more than 130 bands in all, many in the country or singer-songwriter vein, but also heavy on the alt-rock and indie rock genres.

This year's ACL Festival will be held September 26th to 28th in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas.

Bonnaroo 2008 Lineup Announced

The music lineup for Bonnaroo 2008 has been made public, according to Stereogum. The Allman Brothers Band will be there again, as will Pearl Jam, Metallica, Kanye West, and My Morning Jacket. There'll be no Led Zeppelin reunion, of course, since Robert Plant and Alison Krauss will be touring to support their new CD (and making Bonnaroo a stop on their tour).

M.I.A. will bring her brand of Sri Lankan hip-hop to the festival in Manchester, Tennessee, which will be held June 12-15. And popular new Brooklyn band Vampire Weekend will be in attendance. There will be more than 100 different musical acts and, for comic relief, 20 comedians.

You can also see The Raconteurs, Willie Nelson, Death Cab for Cutie, and B.B. King, as well as Rilo Kiley, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and many, many more.

Coachella 2008 Lineup Released

Portishead, the Breeders, Roger Waters, Death Cab for Cutie, Rilo Kiley, and M.I.A. are just a few of the names appearing at the 2008 Coachella festival in Indio, California. You can find it at the Coachella site and at sites such as Stereogum.

Roger Waters, formerly of Pink Floyd, will be recreating the band's "Dark Side of the Moon" in its entirety.

The Coachella 2008 festival takes place April 25th -27th.

Much of the reaction in the blogosphere seems to be that this is a weak lineup, but hell, I see plenty of acts I'd like to catch.