ALSO POPULAR ARE OLD FOGEYS LIKE MIA, JUSTICE, YO MAJESTY, DEERHUNTER, DAN DEACON, AND NO AGE.
I’ll say this: attending CMJ Panels for a week was a lot more grueling (on the ol’ psyche, at least) than what I was expecting. Whew.

In other CMJ news, I should report that I saw *2* more bands than I did last year! Which is to say: I saw 2 bands. And if I may offer my first sincere ZOMG– I got to see the Capstan Shafts. Second show ever, first show with a band (though granted, it was really just “a band” backing Dean Wells). And while I totally loved the show, I got the feeling from some of my cronies that they were less than impressed with the ad hoc backing band’s overall contribution. Yes, I agree that it sounded totally lo-fi, feedback-laden, taped-up, tied-together, and constantly on the verge of collapse, but I also thought that suited Dean’s tunes perfectly. As I remarked immediately after, I felt like it could have been London in 1977, or Athens, Georgia 1983, or Dayton, Ohio in 1994. There was something raw and nascent and special going on, and I was just happy to be there.

Matt has a recap of the other Capstan Shafts show (the one in a small church in Vermont, weeks ago) over at Pitchfork today, including some videos, courtesy of False 45th Blog, and a track from the new CS release for Rainbow Quartz, Environ Maiden.

The Capstan Shafts - “61 Sideburns” / “Personals Surfer”

And here’s my final CMJ postscript for you; a list of the Top 5 “New Hot Shit” bands of this years fest, according to my understanding (i.e. these are the bands you are SUPPOSED TO KNOW):

• Yeasayer (Already blog-buzzed for, like, the past 6 months)
• Black Kids (Never heard of them before this month)
• Vampire Weekend (Have already been buzzed and backlashed, and I still have no problem with them, ahahaha! Go grab the Daytrotter songs that were just posted today.)
• Health (Never heard of them before last week.)
• Alright, so there are only 4, not 5.