Live Review: After the Jump Festival at Studio B [08.25.07]

The After the Jump Festival was a great idea put together by the music blogging world to help kids in New York’s public schools get proper music education. It was sponsored by a number of different groups, including Metromix, Concert.TV, Cellfish Media and CMJ to name a few, and was a benefit for DonorsChoose.org. So it was a big party put on for the benefit of the indie music bloggers' ears, but also hoping to help out the less-advantaged kids in New York’s schools. There were tons of bands, a raffle, and I was there for almost all of it so here’s the rundown of a couple of my favorite sets from the day (all live photos by Edwina Hay):




Jukebox the Ghost, a trio from DC, played early in the day and happened to be my favorite to boot. Their music was fun and happy, and the musicians were obviously having a fantastic time in spite of the fact that there was no air conditioning or fans in the small side room, and they were clearly too warm. Whatever the case, music that can get an entire roomful of overheated jaded music bloggers doing synchronized head-toe bouncing with silly smiles on their faces as one of the first bands of the day is doing something right. The band was great – funny, articulate, with intelligent and unique lyrics and their music was the same with a math-bent to the beats and piano solos. One of their last songs, “A Matter of Time,” seemed to be an extended version of the one on their EP and it was fantastic – a combination of catchy riffs and beats, and lyrics reminiscent of the Flaming Lips. Yes, I made the comparison, and I think this band can live up to it. Super fun, sweet and engaging, and well worth braving the hangover to get there early enough to see!



Next up, Bling Kong! Amazingly enough I think that Saturday was the first time I’ve seen this band’s entire live set. To be honest, I’m not quite sure how to write about it because words can’t quite cover the range of descriptions this band brings up. Think super-hot prom queen/cheerleading squad gone to the dark side (chanting “Cock, Vagina, Cock, Vagina”). Anyway, the band tells a choose-your-own adventure story of how Baby Blue meets Bling Kong and screws him in the bathroom and then her boyfriend (Snake Eye?) gets super jealous and screws a hooker and then runs over Baby Blue with his car. All the while this story is told with pom-poms, chants and elegant harmonies. Fun and refreshing, and definitely a band to see live – I can’t imagine a recording able to capture the energy of their live show.



Finally, Ra Ra Riot! Introduced quite accurately as one of the best bands on the New York scene right now, they were totally on yesterday. The last time I saw them play it was at South Street Seaport, which has awful acoustics, so it was really refreshing to be able to hear the entire band again! They played the songs from their album (released this summer), and started out with “Each Year.” Oh man, the strings just give me the chills every time I hear this band play live, it is delicious! In addition to stuff from their album, they played a couple of new songs, which I am excited about because I hadn’t heard them before and they are just as good if not better than their old ones. The only complaint I have is that the sound guys didn’t give enough attention to Alexandra Lawn’s cello or microphone until she was practically done singing, which is too bad because she’s an amazing musician. Anyhow, the combination of traditional string music with more contemporary indie beats and lyrics lifts Ra Ra Riot a step above the rest of the bands in the pack, and their stage presence, composure and talent will take them far. As a tribute, on their second-to-last song the band played “St. Peter’s Day Festival,” a song written by their late drummer John Pike, who sadly passed away in an accident this June. The group’s faith in their music and ability to continue to press forward in spite of adversity shows that they are dedicated to their craft and it is evident in every song they play.

Well, that’s a wrap up of my favorites. There were some other bands, (I’ll be keeping an eye on Apache Beat and Goes Cube), and unfortunately they ended the daytime part of the festival with this electronic duo called Spectrum. I honestly have to say that it is the kind of music I would have listened to while stoned out of my mind freshman year of college and pondering the meaning of my existence. And only then. It was this dark, droney, slow ambient stuff that reminded me of the soundtracks to Dario Argento flicks from the early ‘80s – reminiscent of ritual processions and secret societies, and slashers. I think they were trying to clear us day-folk out before they let in the nighttime crowd of paying listeners.

Aside from the music, the raffle, which was to raise money for the music teachers and kids, was won by a number of people. I was one of them! I now have a huge stack of about 30 CDs and 4 DVDs (Yanni, Live at the Acropolis!) but no tickets to CMJ. Alas, someone else won those.