GaragePunkNYC | New York's blog for garage punk news.

There are three things certain in this city. One, the rent is too damn high. Two, the MTA is gonna fuck up your day. Three, CMJ will drop at the end of October and make you mad.

Yes, it makes going to your favorite rock dives annoying. Yes, many bands undeserving of buzz get shoved down your throat. Yes, we hate the mainstream music industry and their cronies and their ways. Yes Yes, heard it ALL before. But a town that’s survived recent tornadoes, terrorist attacks and blackouts can handle some drunk A&R guys. And furthermore, there ARE opportunities to learn about some great new bands you probably never even done heard of. So wipe that curmudgeonly frown off your face and stuff a 4Loco in your briefcase, soldier! Let’s go cause trouble in the night like we do!

Wednesday October 20th

Power-punk band The Bamboo Kids play at Ace of Clubs on Great Jones St. in Manhattan. It’s 10 bucks, they’re on third on a bill that starts at 7:30

Post Punkers Fresh Kills and supra-distortion shoegazers Autodrone perform on the dank basement stage of Lit Lounge.

Atlanta GA garage rockers The Howlies headline a CMJ showcase at the fry-oil encrusted Trash Bar of Williamsburg, BK at midnight. A couple of the bands that preceed them – Hot Panda (eek! Caunuks!) and Hotchacha – are just weird enough in their rocking to show some real promise. $6 dollars for the non-badge holder, and as a veteran drunk in this town you should know about the happy hour from 8-9…

In case you thought it was all about the kids, Ivan Julian (Richard Hell and the Voidoids) and the near legendary Fleshtones are playing a CMJ branded affair at Bowery Electric.

Impose Magazine is running a massive CMJ event over the next four days. Daytime happenings are at The Woods (the place I hear they are calling the New Union Pool, as far as slutty weekend hookups go) and night time happenings are at Don Pedro, where tonight you can experience the caveman dirge of PC Worship, transcendental psychedelia from Prince Rama, and reverb drenched dream pop from Lower Dens, among many others. All Impose CMJ parties are FREE for everybody, so take your badge and wipe your…uh, windshield?

Oh, haaaiy, Union Pool. What’s up. Liquor Store and Darlings amongst a few other bands tonight for YOUR CMJ party? Oh stop.

Of course, if you can’t be arsed with any of this CMJ nonsense, there’s good DJ nights where you can just kick it in comfort:

For one, Charlie Kong and Señor Boogaloo are throwing a Halloween themed edition of their monthly LES Stomp party at The Skinny on Orchard Street. Expect lots of soul, doo wop, garage, and hopefully, some creepy stuff.

Mr. Fine Wine is at Botanica’s for his weekly course of coolness, spninning the absolute finest collection of 60′s R&B and Soul 45′s

Jonathan Toubin is in town and at the ready for New York Night Train at Motor City…he’s in Halloween mode and should be throwing down some literally killer tracks. Like tracks about killers. I wanna hear Jack the Ripper over and over and over again. I know you’ve got it!

Thursday October 21st

CMJ Madness continues. Who will prevail? Who will perish?

Impose Magazine’s daytime showcase at The Woods is a powerpacked affair that kicks off at 1pm. Bands of interest to us rockers would be those psycho-garage crazies The Othermen, local punkers The Sleepies and a band called Hedgehog, who straddle a strange line between punky power pop and shoegaze – and are from BEIJING CHINA, no less! Free. I said free!

On the night time side of Imposes‘s steeze, head to Don Pedro for an amazing lineup that includes such luminaries as Austin’s Woven Bones,  Girls at Dawn, Total Slacker and X-Ray Eyeballs, Reading Rainbow and The Babies. Free! Cheap Booze!

Interestingly enough, as is par for course for this week of madness, many of the aforementioned bands are playing elsewhere tonight:

Follow the Girls at Dawn to Bruar Falls tonight, where they’ll be playing with lead heavy, aggressively psychedelic rockers from Detroit Human Eye and Oakland via Austin lo fi psych wizard Greg Ashley off of Birdman Records. Prolly at least an $8 dollar cover for the unbadged masses…

The mighty Golden Triangle join The X-Ray Eyeballs, Woven Bones, La Sera (a very big surf, Beach Boys sounding band fronted by a lovely red haired maiden), Fergus and Geronimo (Denton TX Garage flavored distorto pop!) and Sydney, Australia’s Circle Pit for the Hardly Art CMJ showcase. This happens at Shea Stadium, the party house in the wilds of Bushwick Brooklyn. Word is there’ll be a surprise special guest. I hope it’s Alf.

Fontana’s in Chinatown will experience both madness and victory in the form of a bill headlined by The Stalkers (who are bidding adieu to Lefty for his final show with the band), preceded by The Howlies, Gringo Star and Two Tears for the FLECK CMJ party. Fleck me? Fleck you.

There’ll be no badges accepted for this kind of medicine: Perfect Prescription happens tonight for those who need their monthly dose of spacerock and shoegaze goodness. Psychedelic pop stars Persephones Bees kick off a night that includes the Vacant Lots and California psychsters The Soft Bomb. Should be no more than $5 dollars to get in at the lysergically decorated Secret Project Robot on the waters of Williamsburg.

Another prime alternative for Thursday get down: the return of GIMME DAT at Enids in Greenpoint! Alex Moyer (the Runaway Suns) and Avi Spivak will play…dope tunes! Lots of good time glam rock, go go garage, vintage dub and whatever else their hearts fancy…No cover and they go from 11-4am

Pheeeeeeeeew! That’s what I got. If I left something out it’s probably  on purpose. Or not. Post a comment here and keep us informed.

Beware of Wolves, Harry.

-Heartlock

Tags: Autodrone, Charlie Kong, Circle Pitt, Darlings, fine wine, fresh kills, golden triangle, greg ashley, Gringo Star, Hedgehog, Hot Panda, Hotchacha, Human Eye, Impose Magazine, Ivan Julian, jonathan toubin, La Sera, liquor store, Lower Dens, PC Worship, Persephone's Bees, Prince Rama, Reading Rainbow, Señor Boogaloo, The Babies, The Bamboo Kids, The Fleshtones, THE GIRLS at DAWN, The Howlies, The Othermen, The Sleepies, The Soft Bomb, The Stalkers, Total Slacker, Vacant Lots, Woven Bones, x-ray eyeballs