The deal:

It’s possible that over the past several weeks you’ve noticed the reviews slow to a trickle around these parts. We had our reasons! Cookies weren’t involved! Okay, maybe they were! All of us at Tripwire HQ are pleased to introduce to you today a new chapter in our “take” on music criticism—by handing over the keys. Starting this week and every Tuesday hereafter, we’ll be posting a full album stream through our friends over at LaLa. What we’d like you to do is lend us your brainwaves and tweet whatever crosses your mind while listening. Maybe there’s a riff you can’t get out of your head. A lyric? A moment? An image? If you’re feeling ambitious, spend your 124 characters reviewing the record as a whole. Just toss those tweets over to us at @thetripwire and by the end of the week, we’ll cobble together and share the beautiful mess of a madlib it creates. Or, if you’re a complete Luddite/TwitterHater, you can just leave a review in the comments section. We’re flexible. You’re the boss now.

After releasing a string of fantastic singles, New Jersey lo-fi standouts Real Estate have just debuted their first proper full-length. See why we think it rules and then see if you agree.

If there’s one band you should see live right now it’s Real Estate. The oft-buzzed about North Jersey quartet have become the most vibrant and aurally rewarding live bands to come out of the beach-fi set, that growing number of young bands whose music labels like Woodsist and Underwater Peoples have been catapulting into the musicnerdiverse with alarming frequency these days. It’s why we were so thrilled to have them by for an acoustic set in our Ace Hotel bathroom at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort last week, all three of the songs they slung handpicked from their forthcoming full-length. Kick your feet up.

Another late October and another CMJ come-and-gone. NYC is exhausted, still trying to recover from a week’s worth of assorted free drinks and endless amplitude. Our collective ears still ring, but its all good, because we can sort of remember CMJ. That said, it’s safe to say that if there was a band who “blew the fuck” up at CMJ this year, it was probably Surfer Blood. This was sort of predicted, considering the storm of blog love/record deal signing/all sorts of other shit the band received after their visit to Brooklyn two months ago. The xx were probably the second most blogged about band during CMJ, which makes sense, but sort of isn’t fair because, well, the xx have long been megadarlings of the NME set in the UK. To be honest, it wasn’t that exciting a CMJ, probably due to the speed of information Twitter-holics (I myself included) and blog rats post on new bands, good or bad. If anything CMJ was a catalyst, barometer or deal breaker for band’s who had enjoyed a bit of hype before things actually kicked off here. Harlem, Small Black, the Smith Westerns, Best Coast, Real Estate, Dum Dum Girls joined the xx and Surfer Blood in the category of groups we knew would have a successful CMJ. Maybe we’re just cynical and old, or maybe it’s because nearly all of them have received an immense amount of (un)noteworthy hype in months prior and recently been signed to significant labels, but, all in all, for the most part, each and everyone of them seemed to make the best of their stay in NYC. Throw Suckers, Sharon van Etten, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Javelin, Cold Cave, Neon Indian, and a dozen more I’m too fuzzy to remember into the mix and it was a pretty damn good year for bands at CMJ. Doesn’t seem like any pre-recorded beat problems, excessively boring live show or sound guy problems marred anyone’s career, especially considering the xx, known for being, uh, quite dull in the live setting, were one of this year’s biggest success stories.

Photos by Ben Rowland

A big stuffed bear head
Party. Thanks Death and Taxes
Bros and little beers.

Have you seen Real Estate live before? There are a lot of young bands underlining the “surf” or “beach” or “wavve” in their names right now but Real Estate manage to turn the thermostat up every time they plug in together. So warm and vibrant it’s almost ridiculous. They’ll be doing that a few more times this week during CMJ and have just added a few more dates that’ll take them from their native East Coast all the way to the Pacific. Check those below.

10.22 Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands (Death and Taxes CMJ Party) 9pm *
10.23 New York, NY @ The Delancey (Underwater Peoples Showcase) 1am
10.24 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (Mexican Summer Showcase) 11:15pm
10.25 New York, NY @ The Living Room (Kidrockers) 1pm
10.30 Storrs, CT @ University of Connecticut $
11.02 Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s %
11.03 Washington, DC @ Black Cat %
11.04 Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie %
11.06 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom %
11.07 Boston, MA @ Great Scott %
11.08 Ithaca, NY @ TBA
11.09 Montreal, Quebec @ Il Motore %
11.10 Toronto, Ontario @ El Mocambo %
11.11 Detroit, MI @ Majestic Cafe
11.12 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle %
11.13 Madison, WI @ Der Rathskeller / U of W
11.14 Iowa City, IA @ Public Space One
11.15 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive &
11.16 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
11.18 Seattle, WA @ The Funhouse
11.19 Portland, OR @ Holocene
11.20 San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock
11.22 Santa Cruz, CA @ Crepe Place
11.23 Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland
11.24 San Diego, CA @ TBA
11.25 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
11.26 El Paso, TX @ Black Market
11.27 Austin, TX @ Mohawk
11.28 Dallas, TX @ The Cavern
11.29 Little Rock, AR @ Sticky Fingerz
12.01 Atlanta, GA @ 529
12.02 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
12.03 Baltimore, MD @ TBA

* with Japandroids
$ with Vivian Girls
% with Girls
& with Grant Hart