CMJ wrap up - Beast and Young and Hungry Party

Ok, yes, I'm way behind. So here's a quick CMJ wrap up. On Friday of CMJ, I saw Canadian trip hop band Beast at the Studio at Webster Hall. They put on a good (albeit rather short) show that had the audiences rocking out, although they played a lot of their darker, more electronic stuff (as opposed to my favorites which have influences more from funk or gospel). My friend and I were also really excited about the keybass (see below), which we spent much of the show trying to guess the name of (my favorite of our guesses were "basskeboard" - pronounced kinda like basketball - and "keyass," but alas it is just called a keybass, and apparently the bass player made it himself and is now working on a second generation keybass).

Saturday I went to the Young and Hungry party at The Delancey. Unfortunately I missed half the show (including Emmanuel and the Fear, who I really wanted to see) thanks to the MTA. However, I did still manage to catch two acts that I adore - Drink Up Buttercup and Elizabeth and the Catapult. Drink Up Buttercup did a semi-acoustic set, which means they sang at the top of their lungs without much help from microphones and mostly just banged on things (it's a miracle that they could sing over that too). They did use their keyboard once or twice, but mostly it was pretty acoustic. But when I say "mostly just banged on things" I mean, they made sweet sweet music out of trash can tops, tool boxes, maracas, cymbals, and basically anything that makes percussive sounds and it was awesome. Granted, they always use these things in their acts, but it was interesting to see how strong they still were "unplugged."

Elizabeth and the Catapult did not go the accoustic route (except for one bluesy song with her friend Jeff, who sang with her for a song or two when I saw them at Southpaw a while back), but they still played a great set too. Elizabeth is so adorable and she has such a lovely, natural voice. I have to say I was surprised/disappointed that they didn't play "Taller Children," which is one of their more well known songs, but it was still a fun, strong set and I suppose they also had to play a shorter set than usual due to the number of bands that played that day. For those of you who didn't get to catch them during CMJ, they're playing tonight at the Etsy Craft Fair at the Etsy Labs in Dumbo or tomorrow night at Webster Hall.

Mr. Hurricane [mp3] - Beast - (iTunes)

Gods & Gentlemen [mp3] - Drink Up Buttercup - (iTunes)

Race You [mp3] - Elizabeth & the Catapult - (iTunes)