Two emerging NYC bands from ATJ Fest day 2: Sharks? an Bottle Up & Go
Music festivals that stretch on for days tend to do one of two things -- lose their steam halfway through (though admittedly, this usually happens as an outgrowth of fans being forced to camp out onsite) or gain strength by feeding, symbiotic-style, on crowd enthusiasm. Thankfully, the second day of the After the Jump festival fell squarely into the latter category, when bands Shark?, Captain Ahab and the Sea Crackens, Bottle Up and Go, Talk Normal, Wild Yaks, Drink-up Buttercup, Free Energy, Ninjasonik and Das Racist were all at the ready to prove that the good new stuff is still out there. A few highlights from the field:
There's the old rock cliche about the earlier bands on a bill not being, well, quite as solid as headliners. Thankfully, this adage proved itself dead wrong on day two, when Shark? took the stage first. Seeing a band that's happy to put on a show -- a real, we're-not-phoning-it-in show -- is always refreshing, but add in pop writing that channels Ted Leo and Pavement, and it's impossible to go wrong.
For fans of authentic garage rock done the right way (translation: not just a band that happens to practice in a garage), Bottle Up and Go (in the picture) were also a serious highlight, bringing the manic live energy of King Khan and the Shrines. We're willing to put money down now -- these guys will be playing much larger venues in the near future.And lest you thought Oscar the Grouch is the only one who can successfully rock a trash can, enter Drink-up Buttercup, whose creative percussion using the bin and lid of a metal trash bin not only sounded great, but served as a confident-in-their-skin crowd-pleaser. Kudos, Day Two bands, for proving to us that showmanship ain't dead -- thank God. - S.R. Myers







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