woop!!
http://newsroom.mtv.com/2009/10/23/samuel-cmj/Growing up in Manhattan, the annual CMJ Festival was always a
staple, providing a lot of fun gigs in between Yom Kippur and
Halloween. This year's CMJ has kind of been a bummer — or maybe
everyone who used to be really psyched about CMJ is getting old and
boring. But there are still good acts to be seen!
One of which is another born-and-bred Manhattanite, Samuel. Samuel played on Wednesday night (October 21) at the party hosted by Spin
magazine (along with the Temper Trap and the Clipse — pretty classic
eclectic CMJ booking). According to his MySpace page, Samuel has a
musical pedigree, and his live show makes it really evident that
entertaining is in his genes. Backed up by two DJs and a drummer (two
of whom make up his production partners, the Knocks), Samuel sang
through a high-energy (I go tired just watching him dance from
one side of the stage to the other) set full of sunny, soulful and sad
songs that were all ultimately pure pop.
Song standouts included the Motown-y "Coincidence" (it's a song
about a girl, as are most of his tunes), the Postal Service-y "Say
Goodbye" and the dance-friendly "Neverland." The crowd responded to the
latter the best, shouting along with the chorus: "Until I find my way
back to Neverlaaaaaand."
Like a lot of this year's CMJ artists, Samuel is already signed to a
major label (Columbia) and has created a grassroots following in NYC,
but with a tour scheduled for next year and an album scheduled for
release next spring (executive produced and mixed by Greg Wells, who
has also worked with Katy Perry and Mika), Samuel may already be on his
way to Neverland.
By Rya Backer