Festival season has descended upon the land down under, and leading the pack is Harvest, a day-long event featuring an array of unique and talented acts. Taking place at Werribee Park in Melbourne, the inaugural edition of Harvest Presents “The Gathering” is being described as “one incredible day for discerning music lovers”.

Portishead will headline the Melbourne edition of Harvest (with similar day-long editions occurring the following weekend in Sydney and Brisbane) in what will be their first show in Australia in fourteen years. While Portishead’s performance will be sure to draw attention, festival organizers have outdone themselves with a collection of the music world’s most celebrated and diverse acts, including The National, The Flaming Lips, Bright Eyes, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Holy Fuck, The Family Stone, Mercury Rev, Death In Vegas, The Walkmen, Dappled Cities, PVT, This Town Needs Guns, The Holidays and Phosphorescent to name a few.

About 20 minutes or so into Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.‘s set I was reminded that, in the same way one should not judge a book by its cover, one should never judge a band by their name. Admittedly, before their ACL festival performance, I was pretty sure I would never cross paths with this band for exactly that reason. It really is a ridiculous name. However, fortunately for me, festivals have a way of bringing you face to face with bands you might not otherwise hear. The pair took to the stage wearing matching, color-checkered jackets. They then proceeded to do a half spin to reveal “Jr.” in print on the back of each jacket. While the band definitely has a sense of humor about themselves, not just in their bold fashion choices but in their banter between songs, it does not really prepare you for the gentle, understated pop music they performed.

Much like Loretta Lynn experienced back in 2004, Wanda Jackson was recently given some new musical life, through a collaboration with Jack White. However, to watch her live, at a spritely 73 years of age, it is hard to imagine she ever really needed any help at all. Looking every bit like the Queen of Rockabilly, she seemed perfectly at ease on the stage, dressed in a bright pink, layered fringe jacket and sparkling earrings. Mixing a number of originals with a handful of choice covers, like Hank William’s “I Saw the Light” and Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel”, the Queen may have lost a step since her early days but she hasn’t lost a bit of the swagger or the vocal bite.

James Blake

When it comes to James Blake’s music, it has been an extremely slow journey towards appreciation for me, which might just be an appropriate pace given his style of music. Arguably one of the most hyped artists of the last year, his ACL performance would be my third time seeing him live and with each successive performance, I am drawn in ever closer. While the time of day and venue were least appropriate to showcase his music, the performance still managed to captivate. With Blake behind the keyboards, he was backed by a live drummer, playing on electronic drums with real cymbals, and a guitarist. The set consisting of nearly all the tracks from this year’s self-titled, major label, debut.

This year’s CMJ Music Marathon presented over 50 panels, connecting people in the industry with festival participants through conversations about making a career out of music.  Held at the New York University’s Kimmel Center in Greenwich Village, attendees had to wade through students going to classes by squeezing into elevators going from floor to floor.  Although the whole notion of a band or artist as a brand is not new anymore, there’s a vast array of new tools to get noticed by fans as well as the general public: software for tracking tour details, Google analytics for website activity and other ways to manage social media campaigns (HootSuite, Chartbeat etc.)  After attending a sampling of the sessions, the directive is clear.  Find something that works and generate valuable content constantly across all platforms, tailoring a concise message for each particular medium.