Tabi Bonney performs at Fat Baby last night in New York City.

The thing about CMJ is, not all of it’s CMJ. There are the unoffocial day parties—free, sometimes invite-only events sponsored by record labels, PR firms, and media. There are the more exclusive parties at night. And there are the shows that, although not nominally part of the five-day conference and music festival, go on anyway, right in the middle of it all.

Take Casper Bangs‘ show last night at Pianos, which was sponsored by the weekly concert series Cross-Polination and was not part of the official CMJ roster. Nevertheless, the band—the project of Rob Pierangeli, who used to play in the Hard Tomorrows—played to a nearly full room.

Pierangeli paid $45 when he applied to play at this year’s CMJ, but his band was turned down. “Sorry to be frank, but I don’t see if the music has that much to do with who gets in,” he told me today. “So if you want to play, you have to know someone. Everyone knows that though. That’s not new information.”

Read More “CMJ Notebook: Casper Bangs, Shots of District Acts, Kiwi Rock” »

Pressing a record is a pain in the ass. Really, it is. You have to record the music, get the tracks mastered, press the records themselves, have them shipped from the pressing plant and so on and so forth.

So after taking the better part of a year just to get the music part right, it’s understandable that True Womanhood might want to forgo the pains of creating a physical product. Especially when there are quicker, more efficient ways to get the music out there. The moody D.C.-based band leaked two new studio tracks around the internet yesterday–posting a yousendit link on facebook and passing the songs around to interested parties via e-mail.

The two songs–”Magic Child” and “Dignitas”–were recorded by the band in three studios over the course of seven months. “Most of it was recorded [in Brooklyn] at Death By Audio, some of it was recorded in D.C. at our houses, and the vocals were recorded in Baltimore, with J Robbins,” explains guitarist/vocalist Thomas Redmond. “The last time we recorded [for a demo CD, sold at shows throughout '08] we did it in my living room. We used really shitty equipment. We bought the cheapest–literally the cheapest– mics we could get on Musician’s Friend, set them up haphazardly, and made due. So this time it took a while to figure out what was the right sound.”

Download link after the jump:
Read More “True Womanhood Leak Digital 7″” »

And I here I was, thinking that this weekend was going to be as dead as this Rick Ross in-store. But no, turns our that the second annual DNA Test Fest will be kicking-off tonight over at Velvet Lounge. Curated by the guys who run WMUC’s DNA in the DNA radio show, the fest skews towards the the weird, the obscure, and if you’ve heard of half of the bands you’re probably spending too much money in the Fusetron distro. Or maybe you’re just following Dave Malitz’s blog posts.

At any rate, this year should be even clumsier, weirder, and better (relatively speaking) than the last, at least if the line-up below is any indication.

DNA Test Fest II @ Velvet Lounge
$10/1-Day Pass $15/2-Day Pass
915 U Street NW, Washington, DC

Friday: True Womanhood, Screen Vinyl Image, Rosemary Krust, Lampshades, Pygmy Shrews, Pfisters, Armida & Her Imaginary Band.

Saturday: Pink Reason, Kurt Vile, Drunk Driver, The New Flesh, Twin Stumps, Unholy Two, Eightyfive.