Tonight

I've recently made the switch to full-on grown up old person, so the only CMJ show I care about this year is the ones my friends The Information are doing at the Knitting Factory tonight. Their label, Primary Voltage, is doing a showcase. The lineup: The Charms (9:00) The Information (10:00) The Good North (11:00) Baby Strange (12:00)

Everyone makes a big deal about New York bands, but I think the Boston music scene is so overlooked. When you have local bands selling out big venues weeks in advance and you're not New York? That's a scene. When these bands are all friends and support each other and put on awesome Halloween shows where they each dress and perform as classic britpop bands (The Cure, Pulp, etc) and they have tons of die-hard fans who skip The Strokes to see them instead? That's a scene. And Boston shows are just plain better than New York ones across the board. Less disaffected head-nodding, more actual caring. Spin or Rolling Stone should send a reporter up on the Chinatown bus, stat!