After spending a good chunk of the day at the FADER Sideshow, and seeing the awesomeness now officially known as Bad Veins and Tim Williams over at the Dovecote showcase, The Tripwire crew decided it was time to see what else CMJ had to offer. A while back a friend tipped us to Brooklyn’s Tigercity, and we heard a rumor that the guys were playing a show at Lit, even though it wasn’t listed in the official CMJ schedule book. (We knew Hourly Radio who we were planning on seeing later in the evening wasn’t listed either. Gotta love late editions and/or out of date publications.)
After arriving to Lit, we quickly discovered that we were in the wrong place at the wrong time, as angry chick rock is not the same thing as Tigercity. A bit saddened and irritated, we swiftly left and headed to Crash Mansion to catch The Hourly Radio. Quickly changing our tune, we thought we would arrive a little early, and maybe catch the end of a new favorite band before the Dallas kids took the stage. That feeling of optimism diminished when we heard the “oh-so-sweet” and “soothing” sounds of the cock-rock/southern-rock band The Giraffes. Now, anyone who is familiar with The Hourly Radio knows that their sound is like if you mixed Placebo with The Verve and Suede, so to be warmed up by The Giraffes it was a little odd. On the other hand, it made for an interesting people watching experience with dude-bros throwing beer and skanky girls dancing with each other.
Finally about fifteen minutes later, and after one way-too-into-it DJ spinning, The Hourly Radio took the stage. These guys are great live, and this was the first time we saw them without the use of the smoke machines, and it was nice. The guys have a knack of commanding the audience’s attention with their droaning loops and falsetto high vocals. Fans of the group will be happy to hear that they played old standbys such as “Deaf Ears” and “First Love Is Forever,” but they also managed to squeeze in two new songs (”Gun In Hand” and one more) that will be on their upcoming sophomore release. If you didn’t make it out to CMJ this year don’t worry, The Hourly Radio is hitting the road through November so you will have your chance to see them live. Do it.
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