The crew here managed to fly through some 70+ sets of music last week, and boy is our abilty-to-wade-through-the-sadness-that’s-passing-for-buzzed-up-indie-rock tired. There’s a very scientific formula to attaining that coveted “Guess I should see this band ’cause everybody’s saying I should” status: The first criteria is, of course, a widely circulated Hype Machine single. But in its absence, and even more effectively in its support, just book at least 10 shows. That is: create a story out of yourself before anyone even has time to think critically. (I realize this is the approach even on non-CMJ weeks, but roll with me, I drank a lot of vodka these past 6 days. Yes that means today also.)
Even through a relatively depressed industry fest like this one, though, story-hungry writers always need to find and frame a next big thing. Always with the finding and the framing, those guys. So who capitalized on this year’s assemblage of the industry’s finest cog pieces? MTV says it was Passion Pit, the NYT says School Of Seven Bells or Friendly Fires, and I say after that rant do you really think I have one? OK, I sorta do. But instead of trying to shoehorn a new band into a breakout mold where there isn’t a clear one, I’ll instead avoid feeding the undue praise machine and just offer a quick list of the acts — young and old alike — that made this year’s CMJ a great and yes, memorable one (despite itself). Without further ado, my CMJ Top 8 of ’08: