One week each year, New York City is positively glutted with indie-music fans, bands, and industry folk for the annual CMJ Music Marathon. It’s madness. To help you navigate things, we came up with a handy guide of pared-down music picks.

In case you didn’t get a chance to catch some of the recommended bands in person (it happens), we bring you our CMJ 2009 slideshow, featuring School of Seven Bells, Vega, the Postelles, and more »