Greetings, comrades on the distant coast!

Well, it's that time of year again - CMJ opened tonight, and yours truly saw precisely zero bands, thanks to researching obligations. I chose researching over rocking because the former pays me dollarz and the latter does not, but at least there are very few romper-wearing hipster clots roaming the byways of Lexis Legal.

Comrade Liz already gave a shoutout to the home team, Man in Gray, who make their CMJ debut Friday night at 169 Bar. I advise everyone to start hanging out at 169 immediately, because word is they're getting a new booker (hint: he books the hippest venue in Brooklyn) so the kids may start catching on. Go, go now, while the sound still sucks, the seats are available, and the kitty's sleeping contendedly under the DJ booth.

Has the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah hype hit California yet? Don't worry, it's coming. Now, don't get me wrong - CYHSY are friendly local boys who have worked hard to promote their debut LP without benefit of a major label. This is one of those cases where the ratio of bloggerati chatter:actual worthiness is grossly skewed, prompting me to roll my eyes every time I see that yellow and pink album cover art. If people just said "yeah, they're nice, they're pretty good," I'd probably nod and agree. It's the drooling and foaming at the mouth that makes me knee-jerk a negative reaction; none of this really matters, though, because CYHSY are probably going to walk away the winners of this year's Most-Talked-About-At-CMJ crown, and as we've learned, that tends to lead to... a major label. Ready?

Let's get down to business. I want to tell you about some bands that probably won't dominate the press, the blogs, or the post-show wrapups, but who are entirely worthy of your attention and your earholes.

First up: Ley Royal Scam, straight outta Jersey with "mall emo" in their hearts and mass media infiltration on their minds. Take a listen to "Yr Still Not Awesome" and "Are You Feeling My Disco" and you tell me if they're joking or not. Alls I know is, the singer's name is Teeter. Or Ginny. Or not.

Grizzly Bear have been described as "creepy folk." True, but they're actually very nice folks. They're either psychedelic or post-psychedelic, depending on whom you believe.

The iOs will tickle the fancy of anyone whose fancy was tickled by mid-nineties shoegazer pop; aside from being pocketably adorable, frontpersons Chris and Autumn have gorgeous voices and I bet they can harmonize in their sleep.

Hot chicks + grrr! + "JT LeRoy, Meet Dennis Cooper" + lust + louder = Knife Skills. I think I'd be a little nervous if I met them in person.

I don't know much about Read Yellow, except that they're on Fenway and they do a mean, rocked-up cover of "Bigmouth Strikes Again."

There's been nothing but good talk about dancepunkers Mistakes round these parts. Is 'dancepunk' even a legit term any more? No one dances in New York. Maybe Mistakes will kick their asses.

Finally, be sure to check out friend-of-a-friend Pete Galub and the Annuals. Pete contributes occasionally to Soft Communication, and when he's not doing that, apparently he's writing some very good songs.

Three hours ahead, badgeless but alert, over and out.