2009 CMJ Music Marathon preview

Five days, a gajillion bands...it must be CMJ time again!

Though not quite as heavily hyped as Austin's South by Southwest Music Conference, New York's CMJ Music Marathon is an equally crucial rite of passage for today's up-and-coming indie bands. Over 1,200 artists will descend on lower Manhattan for five days (Oct. 20-24) of non-stop gigging, schmoozing, blogging, tweeting, partying and probably lots of other activities too debaucherous to list here. As always, Metromix will be on hand to capture as much of the action as our blown eardrums and sleep-deprived brains can stand. Until then, here's a gallery of some of this year's most anticipated performers, from the up-and-coming blogger faves (our cover kids, L.A.'s Local Natives) to the gee-my-career-really-needs-a-jumpstart veterans (um, Pitbull?).

Also, take a little nostalgia trip with Metromix New York's coverage of CMJ 2008.