By Taylor Long

In the fall of every year, the College Music Journal (CMJ), a magazine and college chart reporting service for music that is popular on college radio stations, hosts a music marathon that showcases hundreds of bands and indie labels in various venues around Manhattan and Brooklyn, and one in New Jersey. Also, the four days are jam-packed full of panels on the music industry that are put together specifically for college students. It’s nearly impossible to catch every one of the better bands and all of the interesting panels, but here are a few of the highlights:

Wednesday, Oct. 13: The opening night showcase at Irving Plaza featured performances from Saul Williams, Gang Gang Dance and Sonic Youth. Saul Williams, known for his spoken word and poetry, put on a more than impressive hip-hop set with songs off of his upcoming self-titled album. The weirdest set of the night was put on by Gang Gang Dance, whose experimental rock certainly turned a few heads, though their keyboard player seemed to be a little off. Not surprisingly, the best performance of the night was courtesy of college-rock veterans Sonic Youth, whose dissonance and feedback-driven noise-rock comes off twice as good live as it does on their albums. The set-list was chock full of songs from their latest release, Sonic Nurse, as well as from older albums, including an encore with a song from EVOL. The opening night party closed out with performances from RJD2 and Mix Master Mike.

Thursday, Oct. 14: Wednesday night went late, but CMJ provided great motivation to wake up early. Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame guest appeared on a panel discussing his recent completion of Smile. Lyricist Van Dyke Parks was also on the panel, along with Darian Shanaja of the Wondermints, writer Geoffrey O’Brien and David Leaf, director of Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and The Story of Smile, a documentary on the notorious album. The panel discussed the significance of Smile, the difficulty in its creation and, of course, the history behind it. There were many interesting anecdotes and facts, but perhaps the most interesting was that on the second day of recording, Brian Wilson stood up and excused himself to the bathroom, then didn’t return back to the studio.

Thursday nights at CMJ Music Marathon always tend to be a bit slow, but this year, The Velvet Underground’s John Cale made Thursday a little more interesting. His quirky, experimental blend of post-rock and pop seemed right at home in the Avalon, formerly the Limelight.

Friday, Oct. 15: The one down-side of CMJ music marathon is that every year most of the best bands get booked on Friday, making choosing which showcase to see very difficult. A large crowd of people flooded to the Bowery Ballroom to see Mates of State, Aesop Rock, Sunn0)) and …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. The cutesy pop of husband and wife duo Mates of State brought out the teenage girls, the well-crafted, clever hip-hop of Aesop Rock drew scenesters and hip-hop fans alike, whereas the loud, ambient feedback doom metal of Sunn0)) attracted noise and metal fans, making for an interesting crowd shift during the first three acts. Everyone then packed the Bowery to its fullest for indie rock stars …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, who are releasing a highly-anticipated album in January of 2005. Their performance was impressive and high-energy; the band tore through over a dozen songs in about 45 minutes.

Saturday, Oct. 16: Surprisingly enough, the best show on Saturday night wasn’t a part of CMJ, although all three bands had been a part of CMJ earlier that week. Beep Beep, TV On The Radio and The Faint put together one hell of a show at Webster Hall. Openers Beep Beep put on a good performance, though not an impressive one when compared with the performances of the following bands. TV On The Radio was, in short, amazing. When recorded, the emphasis in their music is on voice, but live, the audience saw a different side of their music, one where the music itself was more of a focus. The closer, “Ambulance,” a song that is a cappella on the album, was done over one guitar line and beat-boxing by one of the members. The cheesy video screens and lighting were brought out for dance phenomenon The Faint, who kept the crowd moving all night long (which says something if you know anything about the kind of crowd they draw). The set-list consisted of hits mostly off their new record, Wet From Birth, but also a few of their older favorites, including “Worked Up So Sexual.”