Concert Picks: Kurt Vile, CMJ Music Marathon, Frank Fairfield…

The CMJ Music Marathon and Film Festival has taken over New York this weekend, so of course we’ve included what venues and bands we’re excited about. But remember, this is your platform. Let us know what you’re excited about. Feel free to scroll through the multitude of bands on the event’s official website, and if you can’t catch them in the city, perhaps they’ll soon be playing in your area. In the meantime, with a few stand-out acts thrown in the mix as well, we hope to have whetted your appetite substantially for the next few days. Check out our picks below.  

• Kurt Vile and the Violators | Friday, October 23 | 8:30 pm | Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA – Map | Singer-songwriter and guitarist for Philadelphia-based band The War On Drugs will be on tour for the better part of the rest of 2009, promoting his debut album, entitled Childish Prodigy. Tonight, he tops the bill; with White Arrows and Under the Asbury – Buy Tickets
• CMJ Music Marathon | Friday, October 23 (through Saturday, October 24) | 7:00 pm | Webster Hall, New York, NY – Map | Five hours of music is the promise, by bands Yes Giantess, Red Wire Black Wire, We Are Enfant Terrible, Body Language, Vega, Two Fresh, and Beast. The event is free to CMJ badge holders; tickets are available for purchase through the venue. Please visit the official CMJ website for more info on shows, bands, and venues – for ticket info, call (212) 353-1600.

• Frank Fairfield | Saturday, October 24 | 2:00 pm | Free | Amoeba Music, Hollywood, CA – Map | The questions still begging to be answered after having listened to a few tracks from Fairfield’s self-titled debut album would be, “What era does this guy live in?” If the answer is the present day, it would be followed up with: “Are you sure this guy still in his twenties?” The banjoist, guitarist, and fiddler would have easily found his place within a certain Depression-era film released by the Coen brothers nearly ten years ago. For information, call (323) 245-6400.
• CMJ Music Marathon | Saturday, October 24 (ends tonight) | 6:30 pm | 19+ | $12 | Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY – Map | The evening’s theme, entitled “Oscillations”, will feature performances by Delorean, Holly Miranda, Cymbals Eat Guitars, and Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson.  Please visit the official CMJ website for more info on shows, bands, and venues – Buy Tickets
• Fifth Story | Sunday, October 25 | 8:00 pm | 21 + |  $6 |  Double Door, Chicago, IL – Map | Local band Fifth Story – who seriously does quite a job at channelling Nirvana – will be playing with headlining act The Ropes;  Girl Activity and Halfwaynorth will also perform – Buy Tickets

Who’s on your ‘to-see list’ this weekend?

Photo by Jason Unicorn