Today begins the yearly boozathon-listen-to-indie-rock-until-I-go-deafathon known as the CMJ Music Marathon. For the next five or six days approximately one gazillion bands will play approximately one gazillion shows all over New York City, while a bunch of music nerds (like myself) will run around consuming their body weight in beer and trying to figure out WHAT IS COOL or more importantly, WHAT IS GOING TO BECOME COOL VERY SOON. Having gone through this rock and roll juggernaut too many times to count, this year I am choosing my battles a little more wisely (i.e. not killing myself every night in order to see some band I’ve never heard of play at Pianos at 4am). However, I am excited about finally seeing live some of the new bands that I’ve been tracking this year, which brings me to the subject of WILD NOTHING.

Wild Nothing is the one-man bedroom project of Jack Tatum, a wunderkind musician from Blacksburg, Virginia with an uncanny knack for replicating the sound—and more importantly, the feeling—of late 80’s dreampop in the vein of Cocteau Twins, The Smiths, or any number of jingly-jangly New Zealanders. Tatum’s full-length debut Gemini is a easy contender for my favorite (and most often listened to) record of the year. Tatum has assembled a full band and hit the road this month, including several stops this week in NYC for CMJ. 

My advice? Buy the Record. Go see them.