Live: The Levi’s/FADER Fort at CMJ 2009
- story THE FADER
- photo Dorothy Hong
As is par for the course with CMJ, Saturday was weirdly muggy, rainy and damp. Luckily we were camped out in the basement of the Ace Hotel for the 2009 edition of the Levi’s®/FADER Fort NYC. Yeah we were a little sweaty, but that was augmented by cool Southern Comfort, Budweiser and Budweiser American Ale. As with all FADER forts, the entire day was a whirlwind of bands and personalities hopping on stage and jamming it out quickly and succinctly. Atlanta’s Pill brought out special guests Freddie Gibbs and Donnis, VEGA played Prince-esque jams with a full band, surprise guests Rain Machine closed out the night with a challenging and—let’s be honest—pretty amazing set, Restless People got the crowd moving extra early in the day…we could go on. Instead we’ll just offer a series of photos from the event and tell you to keep checking TheFADER.com for video footage from bands that played our space on Saturday.
The Let Out: CMJ Edition
- story THE FADER
This week on the Let Out, The FADER’s weekly East Village Radio show, we’ll be bringing you new music and special surprise guests live from the EVR audio oasis/smallest glass box that can hold people ever. Listen live to the Let Out this and every Friday from 6-8 pm on East Village Radio.
Video: School of Seven Bells at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort NYC
- story THE FADER
Maybe the most incongruous set during the entire week at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort NYC all week was Friday night’s swishy pulse of Brooklyn’s School of Seven Bells. While partygoers responsibly chugged free drinks, mingled, chatted and got their pictures taken, Ben Curtis and the Deheza sisters calmly cruised through a bunch of songs from their excellent new album Alpinisms, including “Connjur” (download) in the video above. If you like what you see and hear, and maybe feel like crying in front of strangers, they will be on tour with M83 all over the US in November.
Video: Dungen at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort NYC
- story THE FADER
The mighty Swedes that are Dungen closed out the Levi’s®/FADER Fort NYC on Saturday with a rousing rendition of “Du Ska Inte Tro Att Det Ordnar Sig” off their last album Tio Bitar. Evident in this video: Gustav’s haircut and Dungen’s badassedness. Not evident in this video: FADER staff dancing and clinking free drinks (Bass, Sparks and SoCo, naturally) in celebration of the end of CMJ. Thanks to everyone who came and everyone who helped out. We’ll be putting more stuff up as it comes through.
Video: TNT aka Badda Badda Gals at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort NYC
- story THE FADER
We knew TNT would be excellent after we kicked it with them on our radio show, but we weren’t quite prepared for the inextinguishable firestorm our fave Jamaican ladies brought to their FADER-exclusive CMJ performance. Longtime BFFs, TNT—Tifa, Natalie Storm and Timberlee—toasted, deejayed, joked, sang, rapped and wine’ded a grip of special cuts from their catalog, with Max Glazer on decks, playing the Eddie Murphy role to their Dream Girls, only without all the megadrama. Their charisma was outtasight, their jokes were excellently funny, and one of our editors is half-considering moving to Kingston to become their full-time hype chick. In this video, they’re performing the jams that blew them out the water (effectively christening them the “Badda Badda Gals”) and into your faces: their versions for Ward 21’s “Dem Gal Sittin” riddim, with Timberlee’s “Stress Free,” Tifa’s “Crawny Gal,” and Natalie Storm’s “Anuh My Fault.” JUST LIKE IT’S ANUH YR FAULT IF YOU START LOVING TNT AFTER WATCHING THIS VIDEO! Wah waaahhh.
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posted on Oct 28, 2008 in MUSIC VIDEO tags Badda Badda Gals, caribbean, CMJ, Levi's/FADER Fort NYC, TNT
Video: Little Boots at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort NYC
- story THE FADER
Leading up to her performance at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort NYC, we’d heard many things about Little Boots‘ preparations to take her bedroom Tenori-On cutefest to the people. But nothing quite prepared us for the real deal star-in-the-making that hit the stage in long heels and blue sequins. It’s a little hard to tell in this video, but she did it big, like she wasn’t just standing in front of a bunch of Bass-, Sparks- and SoCo-persuaded New Yorkers who may or may not have known who she was. As a bonus for those who do know he she is, this video is her performing a new song called “Click.”
Video: Wild Yaks at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort NYC
- story THE FADER
By Saturday at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort we were exhausted, our ears were ringing and the SoCo was still flowing like water (and was still free). By the time Wild Yaks hit the stage we were ready to sleep for a week, but over the course of their thirty minute set, they got us screaming like lunatics before closing out with an organ-heavy rendition of “River May Come,” dedicated to our very own Matthew Schnipper. The song is about becoming old, and at the moment our bones were feeling pretty weary, so we’re going to pretend the song was for all of us.
Live: Levi’s/FADER Fort NYC Day 4
- story THE FADER
Friday was The Tripwire’s day at The Levi’s®/FADER Fort, so we’ll let those guys regale you with hijinks from then, but Saturday, we retook the space and stage and watched with pride as TNT aka Tifa/Natalie Storm/Timberlee aka the Badda Badda Gals, Wild Yaks,
Little Boots and
Charles Hamilton all showed us why they might be the future of their respective lanes while
Dungen just reminded us why we put them on the cover of FADER Number 27. It was a fitting final day to another great CMJ week, and if it hadn’t been raining outside we would’ve run out into the streets and done Sparkswheels and Bassjacks on passing cars to celebrate.
We’ll have more photos and videos of all the people and performances throughout this week, but for now, check after the jump for our Saturday selection.
Video: Ponytail at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort NYC
- story THE FADER
What is it like to watch a whirlwind go across a stage? That is a question we will never actually be able to answer, but we can come close by showing this video from Ponytail’s set at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort. We actually had to take a nap immediately following their performance.
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posted on Oct 25, 2008 in MUSIC VIDEO tags CMJ, FADER TV-EVENTS-FADER, Levi's/FADER Fort, Ponytail, rock
Mr Brainwash at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort NYC
- story THE FADER
In between all the music and conversating and outfit judging here The Levi’s®/FADER Fort NYC we have been trying to figure out how Mr Brainwash managed to do so much with so little time in our space. Between the portraits made with smashed up old records and giant cardboard robots that fall on people, we’re considering letting Brainwash remodel our parents’ houses or maybe just build our parents new houses out of garbage and spilled paint or something. He’s just that good! Check after the jump for some of the crazy installations and artwork from The Fort.
