Texas BTW Fight Bite have some new recordings set to eventually surface on a new EP. For now they’re homeless and unmastered, but that unfinished roughness works in favor of Jeff Louis and Leanne Macomber’s synth pop. They record to tape, not a computer — “Celeste” and “Petrified” feel especially alive and late-night disorienting with the added fuzziness. The duo’s looking to finalize a full album once Macomber returns from touring as part of Neon Indian. (She handles keyboards for Neon Indian, but I’m told she’s a bassist first and handled Paul McCartney’s basslines on their cover of “Temporary Secretary” at Governor’s Island.) Diehards might recognize “Celeste” as the older track, “Star.” It has real lift. “Petrified” offers a softer last-dance chill.

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It’s getting to be that time when people start asking you to make lists and rank the year in music. Fun! Texan outfit and BTW Fight Bite are on my shortlist for the year’s finest debuts, and “Swissex Lover” is its signature track. The duo of Leanne Macomber and Jeff Louis crafted their swirling, cinematic ten-song set Emerald Eyes in a bedroom in Denton, and their first video combines those charms in this simple, stirring black-and-white visual: homemade images of the pair superimposed on film footage of playgrounds and armies, families and office spaces. It’s a moment of heartbreak and acceptance on a dorm-room budget. Fair enough. It’s been that sorta year.

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The crapshoot buffet of 25 minute sets from overextended bands is now closed, thanks. When you’re out all day and all night, you encounter lots — some undercooked and unpalatable flller, some that’s ripe and right, lots never intended for consumption (CMJ set delays, so hott right now). We’ve posted some standouts already, but here are pics from a few more bands that made a mark, from an ever improving (and member of the Class Of The Overbooked @ CMJ) Takka Takka to a shot of Passion Pit‘s too-packed Pianos set, etc. Others in the spread include “Stuck On Repeat” siren/2008 pop fix Little Boots, the Forms (boasting a new keyboard-based lineup bringing their more ethereal elements to the fore), the conceptual and madcap genius of Reggie Watts (please see him), and the witty folk of the heartonastick-approved Emmy The Great. At Pianos, Bell killed with the help of her keytar and a drummer she should never let get away, and caUSE co-MOTION! followed with another of the fest’s finest, nailing down 30-minutes of snotty, kinetic reverbed pop songs.

The toughest act for me to catch was School Of Seven Bells, whose gauzy, (dancing)shoe-gazer dream pop was finally on display following a 75 minute delay at FADER Fort, after I’d already waited for an ultimately canceled set at Cake Shop a few days earlier. They only had time for three songs, but after all that hunting, I’m glad I saw ‘em; Ben Curtis’s new project with the On!AirILibrary! twins isn’t dangerous, but the trio’s doing it right with some great singles, a cute acronym (SVIIB), and an apparent love for strobe lights and black clothes. And that up there, that is a picture of Marnie Stern, who I caught three times this week (including our show) because she’s the shit and that’s all there is to it. Anyway! Just one pic per band here so it’s a quick scroll for anything short of a dialup. This marks the end of our CMJ 2008 recap, but stay tuned for a look at our five favorite sets from this year’s fest.

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Sometimes we BTW a band and never hear anything worth mentioning again. And sometimes we BTW a band and that band is Fight Bite. The Denton, TX duo have finished work on a gorgeous set of ten tunes, collectively titled Emerald Eyes, to be self-released this October. Our first mention went deep with references — from the best of Slumberland and Parasol, to the Mag Fields before Stephin started singing, even roping in Orange Cake Mix and the Ropers to the mix. Fight Bight (Leanne Macomber and Jeff Louis) only had a few demos on MySpace then, but even in that homespun form, maybe even because of it, the airy, melancholic sounds seemed effortlessly, hopelessly stirring. Honestly, though, I was a little scared for the project’s future: What do you do when you pen what easily will be your signature song on your first swing (the swirling dream-pop mini-masterpiece “Swissex Lover”)? Apparently, you lock yourself in your home studio in Denton with an 1/8″ 8-track and unexpectedly turn out possibly the year’s finest debut LP.

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The Denton, Texas synth duo Fight Bite’s gentle, lush, female fronted pop has us reaching back into the record collection for our Slumberland and Parasol vinyl — or maybe early Magnetic Fields, before Stephin Merritt took over vocal duties. It’s a claustro, dusky sound that somehow, for the first time in ages, made us remember both Orange Cake Mix and Flowchart. You could hear Beach House in there, too, but only if the Baltimore duo were more obviously into old area crews the Ropers or Black Tambourine. Minus the guitars, but that shadowy bedroom-pop vibe. Or if they were born in Sweden. Glockenspiels and whispers! There’s a live video of the band performing “Swiss Ex-Lover” at Strawberry Fields. Yes, they’re a band, though the camera person focuses almost entirely on Leany.

Fairly mesmerizing. Bandmate Jeff, who sounds a bit like a shy Jamie Stewart on “Emerald Eyes” (at MySpace), gets more of his due another Strawberry Fields live video.

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