The Golden Awesome - Astronomy by AwesomeFeelingFive

I'm not a fan of the craziness that goes on around CMJ as that seems to be the one week out of the year where the clubs are jam-packed full of drunks and photographers. I've skipped the Festival the last couple years but broke down this year as I wanted to see New Zealand shoe-gazers The Golden Awesome.



Le Poisson Rouge hosted a New Zealand @ CMJ party on the first night of the Festival which was fueled by free beer and vodka cocktails (from 42BELOW) and DUB pies. The bands that played were Princess Chelsea, Andrew Keoghan, Pikachunes, The Golden Awesome, Popstrangers, Street Chant and Cairo Knife Fight.

I missed Princess Chelsea and Andrew Keoghan and his violin were interesting, but not my preferred style of music. The evening really got going (and the drinks flowing) when Pikachunes (aka Miles McDougall) took the stage. Playing industrial dance music (think Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward era) using just a synthesizer and moody baritone vocals, Pikachunes sparked the energy in the room. One of the stand-out tracks was "Metronome", which is from the self-titled disc, released about a year ago on Lil' Chief Records.







The Golden Awesome didn't disappoint -- the band sounds like they were directly influenced by 90's acts like Ride and My Bloody Valentine and they built up a lush wall of noise beneath which keyboardist/vocalist Stef Animal weaved ethereal vocals.



The band recently signed with Brooklyn's M'Lady Records and below is a video from the label's CMJ showcase at Death By Audio.

Links:
The Golden Awesome
Pikachunes