Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell crooned, “I don’t wanna be sad again” in “My Maudlin Career,” the set opener of the band’s Nov. 22 show at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg (and title track of its latest record), but her claim wasn’t very convincing.

By 7:15, the line for the Dirty Projectors rounded the corner of Sunset and Logan in Echo Park. Trick-or-treaters passed close to costumed Projectors fans until the sidewalk was a moving Halloween confusion.

Fresh from their performance on one of the biggest stages at Austin City Limits, The Dodos stepped on to a small stage nestled into a corner of the Rock and Roll Hotel. Large enough to comfortably hold the three-piece setup, which includes a vibraphone and one thrashing Meric Long, the stage remained dwarfed by the sold out crowd pressed up against it.

Cymbals Eat Guitars come to this performance on the heels of a rather successful debut. Why There Are Mountains was met with praise from several prestigious voices in the pop scene, including this very rag. And to be fair, I came to this performance with rather high expectations.

UCLA’s Royce Hall is a beautiful little venue. Ornately decorated, acoustically lush and comfortable in size, the theater lends itself well to all manner of performances. And on October 19th, Portland’s The Decemberists brought their fun blur of theater and rock show to the hall.

While former cohorts Noah and the Whale are busy with a grand launch of their new album/movie project, London singer-songwriter Laura Marling has opted to quietly debut songs from her own forthcoming sophomore album, due in early 2010, in a series of intimate concerts in small East coast U.S. venues this fall. Two extraneous details threatened to ruin the mood on this particular night at World Café Live in Philadelphia.

It’s no surprise that Florence and the Machine’s first proper New York show sold out quickly, as this performance was way overdue but very much worth the wait.

“It’s early for everyone, I think,” said Jesse Lortz, guitarist and vocalist for Seattle’s the Dutchess and the Duke at 2-something on Saturday afternoon. After almost a straight week of shows and parties, it was about time for CMJ-goers’ collective hangover to kick in if it hadn’t already.

Sometimes, it can be easy to take a concert at face value. A guy comes in with an instrument, plays a few songs, tells a few stories, and then everyone goes out for drinks and small talk. This process of thoughtless artistic consumption becomes significantly more difficult when that artist is Daniel Johnston.