Okay, I was fairly cyncial about CMJ 2010 (I may have called it a clusterfuck), but I'll eat my words. I had a great time that was relatively stress free and cheap. While I didn't marathon this festival, I enjoyed a sufficient helping live music with minimal or no covers. Though my drink tabs far surpassed admission costs,  in the grand epic that was Lindsay vs. CMJ- I  came out the winner.  I may have only experienced an ice chip off the ginormous glacier that is CMJ, but here are some stand out acts that will soon join my music library:

Rock
Pearl and the Beard at Pianos (LS)My favorite act was definitely Pearl and The Beard. The trio's name plays into the humor of typical Brooklyn "beardy-folk" bands. But when it comes to the music, they are serious talent. Their three-part harmonies soar over delicate cello and acoustic guitar arrangements effortlessly. Though their songs brought the crowd to a jaw-dropped hush, they aren't all soft lullabies. A standout was the dark march "O'Death," where Jocelyn Mackenzie proves she can wail as well as she can match pitch. Pearl and the Beard can balance catchy hooks and upbeat shuffle rhythms with  movie montage drama and fragile glockenspiel riffs- and then entertain the audience with witty banter while tuning up. These guys are pros.

Asobi Seksu is both a band I have a hard time pronouncing and qualifying. I listened to there recordings after a freind's suggestion and I was a little bored by the dreamy mellow vibes. The lead singer is a pleasant Soprano who plays some pretty keyboard lines but lacks "umph." Then I wound up at their gig and suddenly there were strobe lights, distorted guitars, upbeat drums behind the same soft spoken crooner and a dense crowd absolutely loving it.  I later learned these loud  shoegaze numbers were from there 2006 album Citrus, while shoegaze is soooooo not my thing, it wasn't as boring as I thought it would be. That said, the air was thick with hipster pretentiousness but what's New York without it.

Electro-Pop
Zowie at Pianos (LS)If you've played out the Yeah Yeah Yeah's and  The Ting Tings but need more edge to satisfied the electro-pop-rock itch then try out Zowie. There's a mix of Karen O and Santogold in the lead vocalist, Zoe, a teeny tiny New Zealand riot girl who jerks and contorts,  to lusty industrial beats. (In a leather dress, no less) The songs' deep bass pulse, modulating distortion and dancable clangs sounds like an intergalactic dance party. It hypnotized the  audience at Pianos into synchronized head nodding.

The Good Natured had the same mesmerizing effect of Zowie, but with a softer melodic touch.  It's the moniker of Sarah McIntoch, a statuesque UK talent who's resonating voice adds a natural grace to the electronic tracks.  She confidently sashayed right into the audience and sang without being overly showy, (aside from the striking red blouse and barely-there sequenced booty shorts).

HipHop
Some people may feel awkward experiencing a Big Freedia show, which entails mostly bent over rump bumping, in the middle of a stone sober afternoon. Some people may feel even more awkward watching this show with a former supervisor at a respectable news source. Fortunately for me, NPR's Stephen Thompson felt it was totally appropriate to run into me at a gig like this and said "This is how I assumed LSancheezy lived her life." He wasn't far off the mark.

Big Freedia, the queen diva, is a flamboyant gender bending rapper of the New Orleans Sissy Bounce camp.  The shtick got people to turn there heads (there were several asses hanging and shaking out on stage) but there wasn't much supporting the act aside from brief glimpses into the Diva's free-styling ability.  I appreciate the gall and attitude, but I was not not-drunk-enough to really enjoy this spectacle.

Dominique Young Unique at Santo's Party House (LS)On the other hand 19-year-old Dominique Young Unique restored my faith that hip-hop can simultaneously be refreshing and  completely filthy.  Over an electronic duo's synthy  funk- rock  and hip-hop beats laced with samples from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Unique shouts out brisk rhymes about  "Pussy Poppin."   

She made the Santo's Party House venue live up to its own name, and answered the crowd's raving applause with a big gap-toothed smile and syrupy sweet 'ThAAAHHNK YOOOOOO.'  Then she immediately
jumped back into the next fierce uninhibited romp.