CMJ Music Marathon 2008 Day 4: Mike Bones

A little too tame for CMJ, Mike Bones would have fit in better opening on a club tour for a band like Sian Alice Group rather than playing to a crowd that seemed to be hyping themselves up for Gang Gang Dance. I wasn’t sure how I felt about him before this show, but he really is an inimitable songwriter, and it’s less about the actual music and more about his clever lyricism. I’d be interested to see him take a full band out on the road and continue to make records on a bare bones level.

—John Bohannon