Yellow Red Sparks, dynamic guitar/double bass/drums indie folk trio from Los Angeles, fronted by this sprightly young man that is Josh Hanson also happen to be one of the first acts I saw during this year's CMJ. Early afternoon, upstairs at Pianos. Not the easiest crowd to work with, but thanks to some joke cracking, involvling us all in some thirty-second-singalong of 'I Can't Help Falling In Love With You', and, let's not forget the essentials, playfully swaying through their set of 'cinematic' country. Engaging, entertaining, upbeat; so far, they're ticking a far few boxes to stand aside your average folkies, right? Catch them this evening (11.03) at LA's El Cid, with Dustbowl Revival and Sad Robot. All the info's available here.

Frankly, this first day of CMJ went a billion times better than I expected. What did I expect? To get lost, for sure, having not been in the city that long. To miss half of the bands I'd listed on some meticulous schedule/map scribbled in my notebook the night before. To be drinking far too much. Ok, maybe that did happen. It's one thing I had to learn, I guess: do not say yes to every drink that is handed to you, because people will be handing you PLENTY of them - that's what happens when you run a Marathon right? - Read Tracy Mamoun's full CMJ report here - In the picture and streaming, Foxygen.