There is a certain strata of New York band who are on that cusp between breaking and, well, not breaking. Last year there was Drowners at CMJ and this year there is Mainland, a Brooklyn via LA trio of power pop rockers New York style who are apparently planning to play a mind bending seven sets over the four days of CMJ. As lead singer, guitarist Jordan Topf, a mob topped leader, mentioned at the end of mainland’s half hour set, “We are playing Cake Shop at 1am tonight, see you there”. The opening lapwas Tuesday night at the Marlin room.
Mainland are a fun band and the poppier they get, not really Ramones, a lot more than three chords here and a certain complexity to their catchy guitar licks, the better they are and the first three songs have you settling in for a swift, clever set.
But then they derail a little, the mix gets murkier and the band seem to be lacking a little something. Topf is a good frontman, becoming a great frontman, he moves well and when in doubt he grabs the mic and stiorms the stage, but the mic is too close to the PC and he has left himself no room when he sings. It is a silly mistake and when the songs are clicking in, it doesn’t much matter, but when the band loses their grasp on the song, it becomes annoying.
By the two third mark Mainland are playing classic blues rock riffs and jamming soulfully with a long stretch of tedium, it is like invasion of the body snatchers and it is really weird because the band look as though they’ve just graduated High school and sound like they have been hanging with second tier blues wannabes.
I guess bands grow up, and the stretch might be similar to Arctic Monkeys after QOTSA destroyed them. Mainland are seriously musicians when what we want is good time New York rock. This isn’t faint praise, it is feint praise, it is like whining that your gal Giselle Bunchen doesn’t have bigger boobs… This was a good set with a band stretching, and that’s fine, I just hope they snap back the better for it.
Grade: B
