Simply search for “CMJ 2015” in your iOS or Android app store for the download.
Greenpointers’ Nicole C. also put together a Spotify playlist of CMJ bands playing locally, so you don’t have to navigate through each band’s page on the CMJ app to hear all the songs.
For those of you who like to geek out on visual design (like us), here is a montage of some sweet logos for bands playing the Music Marathon:
Now, what if you don’t have time to listen to a ton of bands in the app to decide who to see? You could spend hours poring through music blogs and publications to compile a list of their favorites. To save you some time, we decided to dust off a relatively hoary gizmo, a word cloud, to show what bands the local press is getting excited about seeing.
What we did is run a ton of local media recommendations for CMJ through a word cloud generator. The more often a band or showcase was mentioned in local media, the bigger its name shows up in the graphic below. Here is our word cloud for bands. Click on it to see the larger version:
And here is one for showcases (multiple acts):
If a showcase is not listed on the CMJ website, congratulations, you have the cachet of attending an unofficial show. Just run a Google search for “CMJ 2015” and the showcase name to find out where you need to be to get ushered into the underground.
Thanks to the following blogs and media outlets for the recommended bands and showcases used in our word cloud: Brokelyn, Bedford + Bowery, Brooklyn Vegan, Brooklyn Based, Brooklyn Magazine, Free Williamsburg, Metro NY, AM New York, Time Out New York, Village Voice, New York Times, and the New Yorker (all links go to CMJ recommendations). We’ll keep it updated as more picks arrive!