Tuesday Night in Williamsburg: CMJ Music Marathon/Conflict of Interest presents Cold War Kids, Aurora and Chief Scout at Brooklyn Bowl

(Video courtesy shutterhound) (Videos courtesy grishabear44)

Saturday Afternoon in Williamsburg: Brooklyn Vegan Free Day CMJ Parties presents Courtney Barnett at Baby's All Right

(Video courtesy unARTigNYC)

Thursday Night in Tribeca: Neon Gold, National Anthem, Chess Club presents New Shapes, a CMJ Event, with The Griswolds, Haerts and Kodaline at Santos Party House

(Videos courtesy ultraviolet221) (Videos courtesy SecretNoteProduction)

Wednesday Afternoon on the Lower East Side: Kanine Records/SESAC Unofficial Free Day Party presents Beach Day at Pianos

(Video courtesy Thew Lawrence)

Tuesday Night in Williamsburg: Force Field PR CMJ Showcase presents Joanna Gruesome at Ran Tea House

(Videos courtesy Thew Lawrence)

Tuesday Night in Williamsburg: True Panther/ Terrible Records CMJ Showcase presents Glasser and Empress Of at the Music Hall of Williamsburg

(Video courtesy Tastes Like Caramel) (Video courtesy broissey)

Friday Night in Hoboken: Wild Nothing with Donovan Blanc at Maxwell's

(Video courtesy skzz0rz)

(Video courtesy skzz0rz) CMJ review by Brooke Segarra:

When Wild Nothing played Maxwell’s in Hoboken on Friday night, the atmosphere reminded me of a classic theater: crimson red curtains as the backdrop and yellow hued spotlights. I thought the ruby red color and the brash lighting made for an odd set up for a dream-pop act. Apart from the stage though, the scene was everything you might expect: The bar in the restaurant section was like a watering hole for twenty-somethings. The drinks of choice weren’t expensive, but they were sure as hell refined. This wasn’t a “Don’t look at what’s on tap, just get a PBR or Tecate” kind of show: chic outfits, Kentucky Derby hats and Magic Hat #9s lined the bar.

(Video courtesy David Stefanowicz)

Maybe the fact that this was one of Maxwell’s last shows was partly responsible, but the joint was packed, the show was sold out, and everyone at the bar flocked into the showroom once they got wind that the opening act was on stage. Included in the flux of people was Wild Nothing’s Jack Tatum who stood in the crowd for the entirety of Donovan Blanc’s set. It would’ve been interesting to see what would have happened if the two teen girls fluttering with excitement when they saw Tatum on stage setting up had realized he was actually in the crowd with them for a solid 20 minutes.

(Video courtesy skzz0rz)

By the time Wild Nothing hit the stage, Maxwell’s had reached the maximum capacity and the stage lights had turned a cerulean blue. With an atmosphere more suited to the band’s sound, Wild Nothing began to play. They opened with “Shadow” off the band’s well-received 2012 romp, Nocturne. Tatum’s bedroom-eyed coo permeated the dimly lit venue, bouncing off the jasmine ceilings and getting everyone dancing—with or without lovers. A handful of older dudes danced like they were eager to make up for the fact that they missed seeing The Cure in the ’80s.

(Video courtesy David Stefanowicz)

Tatum mostly drew from Nocturne, with the occasional grab from his wistfully pining debut Gemini and 2010′s Gold Haze EP. The only track played from this year’s Empty Estate EP was “Ride,” which is kind of curious. Maybe Tatum’s vista with the superball synths and strutting disco numbers came and went and “Dancing Shell” was just a quick fad. But that doesn’t mean the crowd left feeling like they’d been cheated. Wild Nothing’s show was like an idealistic clubbing event for people who don’t want to grind, but just sway to a sensual little number like “Paradise.”

(Video courtesy David Stefanowicz)

Friday Afternoon in Williamsburg: Distiller Promo CMJ Marathon Day Party at The Knitting Factory

Around 3:45 p.m., we went over to The Knitting Factory for the second Distiller Promo CMJ Marathon Day Party.

Running from noon to around 6 p.m., the party had a lineup of eight bands. We got to see two great sets, starting with The R's from Brsscia, Italy, consisting of Pierluigi Ballarin (vocals, guitar), Gaetano Polignano (drums), and lead Pietro Paletti (bass, vocals).

Formerly The Records, they made their U.S. debut this spring here in the city and at SXSW and their new album is De Fauna Et Flora, which Indie Eye called "Un microcosmo raccontato in 13 storie di ordinaria follia, sia questa espressa dalla quotidianità della city o dall'accidia del vivere casalingo" (roughly: "13 stories told in a microcosm of ordinary madness, expressed in the everyday urban life of mundane sloth.")

The R's were a lot of fun: poppy, fizzy, a little wild and more than slightly off-kilter, making us smile with their songs about hipster disappointments and "juicy girls." Of the tracks from the new album, we especially liked "I Love My Family."

Next up was the estimable WATERS, the new project of Van Pierszalowski, formerly of Port O'Brien, whose debut record Out in the Light (TBD) is just out. Stereogum said "the material retains Van’s knack for scruffy and rambunctious, catchy melodies, but here with a high-gain college radio guitar and just one loud, rousing voice."

A month ago, WATERS' song "O Holy Break of Day" was Song of the Day on NPR, and it was great to hear it live. Will Butler called it "one of the slow-burners, simultaneously reveling in second chances and throwing caution to the wind. The song ends in a deluge of distortion, a downpour that can't help but sound like a fresh new start." That "deluge of distortion" was an incredible denouement and made us feel uncharacteristically optimistic on a gray and gloomy afternoon.

Spunk called WATERS' music "a mix of fuzzy, pealing guitars and crashing drums, and easy, alternately soaring and languid, indelible melodies." Our favorite song from their set today was "Mickey Mantle," whose tone of nostalgic wistfulness eventually gets eclipsed by a a kind of optimistic resignation.

There were about forty to fifty people in the back room at this all ages (16+) event, and they raffled off some prizes like Audible7 headphones and T-shirts from the skateboard magazine Thrasher. People won some of this stuff playing Indie Band Trivia answering questions like "What was the second Broken Social Scene album?" (asked after no one could name the first one) or what year REM's first album appeared (1983).

We're grateful to Distiller Promo and its co-sponsor of the event, Audible Treats, a Brooklyn-based entertainment marketing and publicity firm specializing in print and online media coverage. And we're sorry we couldn't be there for the whole party and see other bands: Yellow Ostrich, PUJOL, Lightouts, Radiation City, FIDLAR, and Superhuman Happiness. On our walk back home, we saw a beautiful new mural being finished on Union Avenue.

Sunday Afternoon on the Lower East Side: My Daily Constitution Presents Reading the Constitution at The Living Room

This afternoon we were fortunate enough to catch some of this weekend's CMJ-related "Reading the Constitution in [sic] the Lower East Side," presented by My Daily Constitution, at the cool Ludlow Street music venue The Living Room. Yesterday afternoon the reading started at our faves Gavin and Joey DeGraw's Houston Street venue The National Underground.

This stop-and-go public reading of the Constitution, with ample time for audience questions and comments, was "designed for entertainment and exchange" with Constitutional experts and scholars like some of the law professors who were there today -- Susan Herman of Brooklyn Law School, Joseph Landau of Fordham Law School, Ekow N. Yankah of Cardozo Law School -- as well as Melissa Goodman and Alexander Abdo of the ACLU's National Security Program; Philadelphia attorney Angela M. Jones; and arts and entertainment lawyer Adam Davids.

During the 1999-2000 school year, we worked as a visiting professor in the undergraduate legal studies program at Nova Southeastern University, teaching two sections each of Constitutional History I (from the colonial period to 1870), Constitutional History II (1870 to the present), and Civil and Political Liberties.

Con Law was our favorite subject at the University of Florida law school and we got to use what we learned in our jobs as staff attorney in social policy at the Center for Governmental Responsibility and as director of academic resources at Shepard Broad Law Center at Nova Southeastern.

At The Living Room, we went upstairs and found a stool in the back, got our free copy of the Constitution, and followed along in the readings of Articles IV, V and VI -- which we've always thought of as the "clean-up" articles after the big three devoted to the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the federal government.

But there's an incredible amount to be digested in every sentenceof the Constitution, and we got to hear interesting material about the Privileges and Immunities Clause, the Full Faith and Credit Clause, the Republican Form of Government Clause, the Supremacy Clause, the state admission and constitutional amendment processes, and more.

The musical talent (not to say they don't know also their Constitution) there included Amanda Thorpe, the legendary 3 Teens Kill 4, Goddess, the smart-as-a-whip Jon Sobel, the versatile Dave Mandl, and the bands Admiral Pork Brain and Greenpoint Terminal Market.

The audience was attentive and asked some interesting questions (we got to wonder aloud about the somewhat scary never-used alternate amendment process by convention), and the readers discussed contemporary issues regarding the sections read: the effect of the Supremacy Clause on California's proposed legalization of marijuana or what the Full Faith and Credit Clause means for gay marriage, etc.

It was a fascinating event, but we had papers to grade and lessons to prepare and so we left after the names of all the signers to the Constitution were read because if we let ourselves be hooked by the Bill of Rights, we knew we'd never want to leave. On our way home, we spotted Keith Richards -- in town to promote his memoir -- being photographed on Clinton Street.

Thursday Afternoon on the Lower East Side: Adult Themes and La Sera at AAM CMJ Assembly Showcase at Arlene's Grocery

We had some precious free time this afternoon in our hectic work schedule and our campaign for Congress (we're on the ballot in Arizona's Sixth Congressional District, where early voting began last week, and where we were today endorsed by the Arizona Is Too Damn Hot Party), and we were lucky enough to catch the bands Adult Themes and La Sera at the Advanced Alternative Media (AAM) CMJ Assembly

showcase at Arlene's Grocery, a really nice venue on Stanton Street on the Lower East Side.

The time was good for us and the price -- free -- was even better for someone like us, who normally doesn't get to CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival events. (As an attorney, we need to note that this was an unofficial one.)

Adult Themes, a Brooklyn-based band featuring Eleanor Logan, Thomas Martin and Jeff Ottenbacher,

came on soon after 2 p.m. to a small crowd downstairs, but it grew as they played wonderfully aggressive, quirky, dissonant songs like "High Above" and "1000 Eyes."

It was a nice set: noisy and busy but at times simply bouncy young pop music. We especially liked "Slow Decay."

La Sera, from L.A., performed an astonishing set which had the room, and us, pretty impressed. Katy Goodman of Vivian Girls/All Saints Day fame, has such a lush, vivid sound, and joined by Brady Hall and Jennifer Prince, approached the hypnotic on songs like "Never Come Around" and "Left This World."

It may just be senile dementia, but we thought of Dusty Springfield in a song like "Sleeptalking."

La Sera will be at Shea Stadium tonight, and we'd go back to see them again if not for work. Katy said that last they night they played on a yacht and got to see Kim Kardashian. If Kim got to see La Sera, she was luckier than usual.

We had to leave, so we didn't get to see the rest of the bands at AAM CMJ Assembly: True Womanhood, Kitten (who we've heard good stuff about), and Chapel Club. But we're grateful we were able to catch La Sera and Adult Themes at Arlene's Grocery along with the crowd of around thirty or forty younger, cooler, more knowledgeable and better dressed people.