For CMJ, a Slice of Stumptown

Depending on the realtor, the New York outpost of Alex Calderwood’s Ace Hotel is either located in NoChe (short for North Chelsea) or NoMad (for North of Madison Square Park), but regular people just think of the area as a place to buy knockoff handbags. Inside the hotel it’s a different scene, like some dreamy Epcot Center version of the Pacific Northwest, especially on this Friday afternoon, when Colin Meloy, the frontman of the Portland-based Decemberists, began tuning up for a solo show, sponsored by KEXP, the great Seattle radio station that moved into the lobby of the hotel for three days during CMJ. “I’m so glad this pocket of Portland is here,” Meloy said of the hotel, which was founded in Seattle but is now headquartered in Stumptown. “Now I feel safe in New York.” His set — which was prefaced by 15 minutes of lovely droning gibberish from Nick Urata’s gypsy punk band DeVotchKa — began with a trio of appropriately transportative songs that Meloy called “Pacific Northwest folk.” Word. It was new stuff, from the band’s forthcoming album, which sounded like a welcome return to the moody lyricism of “Castaways and Cutouts,” the 2003 record that launched 1,000 indie-girl obsessions.