Corndogorama 2008 Sunday (Day 4 and Wrap-Up)

Corndogorama 2008 was called "The Year Of the Mustard King", but it should have been called "The Year of the Crybaby Hipster Haters". I'll get to that shortly, but first my Sunday experience. It seemed every day involved a high speed race across the city to arrive in time to catch a specific band, and today's band that began playing just as I arrived was Lazer/Wulf. This instrumental metal power trio from Athens brought it hard and dirty. Their on-stage demeanor was subtly hilarious while displaying some serious musical prowess. They were a great start to a fun day:





After chilling out for a bit, I caught Battlecat. While their two bass, no guitar approach is something I can certainly dig, it wasn't really my style. But they had a lot of energy and some cute matching outfits. Next up was Rizzudo. I caught them for the first time earlier this year and really loved them. Maybe it was just in the context of seeing so many great bands all weekend, but the show was a "like but don't love" this time. Still thoroughly enjoyable though:





The biggest surprise of the weekend for me was Summerbirds In The Cellar. These Floridians seriously blew my mind. I have to hand it to Josh for making some great calls in his festival preview. Driving rhythms with sweet, melodic vocals and effect drenched guitars are a recipe I find particularly tasty. Seeing them for 20 minutes alone made my day:





While there had been some light rain here and there over the weekend, it never resulted in any real nuisance. In fact, as soon as I blissfully walked outside after the Summerbirds In The Cellar show, Mother Nature greeted me with a beautiful rainbow across the sky:





I caught Cassavetes next and they put on a pretty good set. They have this raw, emotional feel that hits me somewhere deep inside. Despite the fact that I find myself not being completely drawn in consistently from song to song, they are on to something very cool:





Finally it was time for a band I am fairly obsessed with right now, Cinemechanica. The two guitarists seemed to be out of sync for the first song, but after that they tightened up and threw down a few songs filled to the brim with sonic badassity. I'm telling you right now, go buy The Martial Arts if you don't have it. They are an essential Georgian band:







As if that wasn't enough awesomeness, I got to see Maserati for the first time. They have a great name, because if I was speeding down the highway in a Maserati, this would be the perfect driving music. I kid around here a lot and take some swipes at Athens since this is an Atlanta blog and I'm a Tech kid, but they have some seriously remarkable bands between these guys, Cinemechanica, and We Versus The Shark. That crew represents it hardcore. Enjoy:







I ended the day with a little Zoroaster, and outside on the main stage, they seemed a bit underwhelming relative to the small clubs shows I've seen where they blow everyone's eardrums off. After a long weekend, it was time to call it quits.

Now back to the haters. Ever since getting back from my fantastic weekend, the buzz is that Corndog sucked. It seems like every single person who didn't go had a really bad time. For instance, Creative Loafing is ready to have a funeral for Lenny's based on someone who seemed to have caught only 3 bands all weekend and another guy who apparently didn't even go. Hey, great journalism guys. The AJC would be proud. On the flip side, I want to shout out to Adam and Bradley of Have You Heard for their great coverage and Julia from Fear Of Arthropods for being another cool blogger. ATL bloggers unite!

But seriously, yes, it would have been great if admission all weekend long was $5, and beer was free, and Mastodon played 4 sets every year. But if you spent the weekend crying about these things instead of enjoying a banquet of astounding music and fun, you punked yourself. If you got the 4-day pass, you were paying $12.50 a day for a ridiculous amount of entertainment. I have some experience putting on festivals, and they aren't easy or cheap to do. Those police the city force you to hire can put you back prices you wouldn't believe.

And really, why is it so horrible to make a couple dollars putting together an enormously great experience? It's like the kids that will go to extremes to not throw down $5 at a fun-ass keg party and band show and then go into a bar they don't really like and put $5 down on one beer. I know the economy isn't that great and all, and if you really couldn't afford to go, I'm sorry and I wish you could have come out, but don't play it off like Corndog was terrible because you chose not to go. I mean from my perspective, I'm glad that attendance was light. I got to stand up front for every show. I got to see so many bands I love. I met cool new folks and and I had some good times with my old friends. I ate various Corndogs and even downed some Busch.

And don't think the Corndog kings have me paid off. America's biggest festival, Bonnaroo, gave me a $250 free ticket and backstage access and Corndogorama wouldn't even return my email, so I have no loyalty here. I just had a great time. Sure, there were specific things where Corndog fell short, such as the Gringo Star debacle. And hey you dudes putting Gin Blossoms/Soul Asylum fliers on every car all weekend, you lose. But I think it would have been very difficult to have attended all weekend long and not enjoyed it. As much as I love this city's music scene, there are certainly some things that keep it from getting its due, and it is not the lack of talented musicians.

It always pisses me off that the only artists in this city who become very popular are the ones farting flames from their pussy, or spitting on themselves, or some other on-stage spectacle. Sure that stuff has its place, but the people in this city who actually create incredible music can barely draw a crowd. For me and this particular blog, music is art before it is entertainment, and from that perspective, Corndogorama was a win.

Corndogorama Videos: Snowden

I'll have my Day 4 coverage and Wrap-up for you tomorrow, but until then you can re-experience Snowden putting it down Saturday night:

Corndogorama Video: Gringo Star

I've been a big fan of these guys since the A Fir-Ju Well days, so it was great to see them again after not seeing them for a long time. Too bad things ended disastrously.

Corndogorama Videos: All the Saints, Twin Tigers, Thy Mighty Contract, The NEC

Local bands at the Corndog:

All The Saints:



Twin Tigers:



Thy Mighty Contract:



The NEC:

Corndogorama 2008 Saturday (Day 3)

Josh and I have both been covering Corndogorama, so we're going to tag team you with yesterday's events complete with photos from Biggie C:

JW: Following a super-charged Friday night, I managed to make it back to corndog land in time to catch Morning State. As usual, they put on a solid performance. "Never So Strange" kept the truly devoted satisfied. I listened to them through my hangover - something not afforded to lesser bands.

SK: I didn't make it to the fest until Thy Mighty Contract had taken the stage. This ATL supergroup certainly combined the best elements of their respective sounds into a serious sonic assault. I wish I could have heard a few more songs from them, but good Corndog sets always leaving you wanting more.



Since Untied States canceled due to some legal troubles, I ran down to East Atlanta and grabbed some grub at the Australian bakery and Josh went to see the Corndog Eating Contest.

JW: OK – that Boone guy showed up again with the belt just to show it off. 17 corndogs in 7 minutes. This anomaly has no competition. I was waiting for the little girl about a third of his size to spew when she got 5 of them down and started kneeling on the ground.

SK: Upon my return we caught Sonen. Their show was ok, but not anything that grabbed me. They struck me as a par, average Atlanta band. Not bad, but not good. Right after that it was time for A Armada and the explosions of sound washing across everyone's ears was unstoppable.







JW: A Armada blew people's asses off. This Athens outfit managed to make so much beautiful noise that it blasted through the walls and compelled those outside to come in and pack the main room early in the day. I can't wait to get more of them.





SK: They were a tough act to follow, but The NEC did as good a job as they could. The first time I saw them, I didn't like them because it sounded like they were ripping off the Black Lips too much, but now they have added some shoegaze to their sound and are leaning more in the Deerhunter direction. But while they seem to be noticeably influenced by the ATL big dogs, their style felt much more distinct and unique this time. It's great to see a band evolve and improve.













The next few hours were all about rallying for the big shows later that night, and we rallied hard. The only musical info I noted during this period was that The Hiss suck.

JW: We were at proper levels of intoxication for Gringo Star. Atlanta's own lovable southern rockers were given a little trophy from King Corndog during their introduction. I think it was for Best Corndogorama Band or something. With that, they came out firing. The guys have their own version of musical chairs with everyone taking their turn at the kit. Best energy of the day. The highlight of the show was the poppy jam "All Y'all." However, when the band were mid-stride in "March of the Gringo" some of the equipment started to fail…and then it became obvious that they had been CUT OFF. The aforementioned trophy was promptly shattered on stage, mic stands were getting some "treatment", and overall displeasures were being shouted. The immediate aftermath saw a stage manager waving a schedule in Nick's face – to which he slapped away. The guys went to cool down and I caught up with them after Snowden's set. Further backstory from Nick reveals that they had played Corndogorama years ago under much less stringent stage managers. They were put over 3 hours behind to go on – and they held their end of the bargain and lit it up anyway in the wee hours of the morning. Now they've been bitten by the corndog again under opposite circumstances. A truly "Black Night". Too bad you didn't get to hear it.

















SK: I caught a little bit of All The Saints killing it inside before returning to the big outdoor stage for Snowden. They unleashed a set filled with hits from Anti Anti and a bunch of new material. As always, they are total badasses live. Some of the new material I liked and some I didn't, but I'm going to wait until the record comes out to pass any real judgment. Jordan said it was coming soon and eluded to some sort of legal issues might have been holding it up.















One last day of Corndogging, so it is time to do it to it.

Corndogorama Video: A Armada

We'll have our full report from yesterday up soon, but I think the highlight of the day for me was seeing these guys again. In a related note, make sure not to miss Cinemechanica tonight!

Corndogorama Videos: Tenth To The Moon

I missed this show on Thursday, but luckily a ATL Superstar got some videos:

Corndogorama Video: Dan Deacon

Dan Deacon breaks down the barriers between the artist and the audience more than anybody. He sets up his equipment in front of the stage allowing people to circle around him. His shows also employ fun, kindergarten sorts of games the audience plays. In this video you'll watch one such game go on while he performs:

Corndogorama 2008 Friday (Day 2)

After late starts from the Ohmpark crew all around, we raced through thick Atlanta traffic to make it in time to catch Twin Tigers. It was an intense drive across the city that included me lighting my hair on fire with a malfunctioning cigarette lighter, but we were jamming the new Sorry No Ferrari CD I picked up at their show Wednesday night, and it was the perfect soundtrack for the journey. We arrived just in time and I really loved Twin Tigers. They sort of reminded me of Deerhunter a bit. Very nice shoegazey stuff with everyone trading off vocals. Very much a highlight of the day for me.







After a slight break, it was time for Graboids, who I was very excited about seeing live because I really enjoyed their album from last year. Unfortunately their set did not live up to my expectations. Their post-rock power trio set seemed very lacking in power. It sounded nice and all, but the minimalistic, low-key, and simplistic approach just seemed too boring to me. The two long songs they did ambled around too long with rather unfulfilling build-ups. I've just seen too many really good bands like this lately enjoy such an underwhelming set.





I caught a little bit of Spy For Hire, and while they sounded very tight, they have this aura of poppiness I just can't enjoy, so I skipped most of it to take in the Corndog atmosphere. The Corndogs were delicious, and there were plenty of other grub around in the complex. I only came for the pre-party night last year because I was at Pitchfork fest, but it seems like the festival grounds were much more extensive than I remember with a huge and ridiculously over-professional outdoor stage around the back of the building. I caught a little bit of some white-boy rap outfit called Dropbombz, and it just seemed weird all of the serious camera work being done for a crowd of like 15 people.

I went back inside to catch Antic Clay. His set was better than when I caught him earlier this year, especially the new song they closed with, but I still find myself wanting to hear his more downbeat, darker, slower stuff and live he and his band stick to rocking hard.



We took a smoke break back in the Danger Van and came back to catch a minute or so of Magnapop and I remembered I don't like Magnapop. We then went back outside to hang and I won a WRAS shirt playing dice. Bellcurve came on stage outside so we went to see that, and it was thoroughly enjoyable. Josh called it "Electro-Reggae", which was right on the mark. They had subliminal messages in their video feed with the cliche themes you would expect from such a style, but other than that it was pretty cool. I had to leave before their set ended to go to The Masquerade.





Since I'm no fan of guys playing lame dance beats and dancing in their underwear, I skipped out for a while to see a band I really have a crush on, Islands. The timing working out perfectly as I pretty much left Corndog exactly long enough for their serious set. I saw them twice at SXSW earlier this year, but both sets were very short, so it was cool to see them go through so much material this time. The main set was heavy in Arm's Way songs with a encore exclusively made up of songs from Return To The Sea, and ending the night as I had expected with the truly epic masterpiece, "Swans". This time Nick T wasn't wearing any paint on his face, but he did break out some big white tinted shades at some point, and he had a couple of bottom halves of mannequins he was dressing, undressing, and dancing with. Overall it was a damn great show from a top-tier band.







I got back to Lenny's with plenty of time to spare for Dan Deacon. He rocked the entire place with a typically amazing show. Lots of crowd interaction, and he played some new jams from his forthcoming album and they sounded great. The dude is just the best when it comes to a live dance party.















Overall the day was fun as hell and I've got to stop blogging right now so I can get to Lenny's in time for Thy Mighty Contract.

Corndogorama - A Look Ahead

Alright, kiddies! Bands, beers, and battered, deep fried meat on a stick means it’s time for everyone’s favorite ADD-friendly fest. Corndogorama is near. We’ll be keeping a close eye on everything and reporting here throughout the weekend. We're excited about moving through the flurry of fest season. With over 100 artists and bands at The 'Rama, it's mandatory to bend your head around a few things. So, here's some things:

Thursday

Don’t F@#k This Up: If your job sucks, Thursday feels like it should be Friday. If your job really sucks, Tuesday felt like Friday. Either way, grab a beer and have a good laugh with the aggressive punk comedy of Attractive Eighties Women. It will make the real Friday better.

The Heartbreak: Music doesn't start until 8pm.

The Tease: Tenth to the Moon


This experimental group sound dark and manic like a Far East version of a Joy Division cover band – and that’s a good thing. The line-up includes veterans from every corner and I’m looking forward to catching their set. Their full-length debut drops early August and promises to be what your grandmother would tactfully call “different.” I’ll see you at the side stage around 10:30.

Tenth to the Moon : House on Stilts

Tenth to the Moon Myspace

Friday

Don’t F$%k This Up: The zany dance party that is Dan Deacon will blow your ass right into Saturday. You’ve been notified.

The Heartbreak: Double D is the silver lining to a so-so cloud your ears will have to endure in order to get to Wham City.

The Tease: Twin Tigers


In the most straightforward manner, you need to catch these guys. This Athens outfit will trek west into the city with their acousmatic ways. If they were playing later, it might be fun to watch some drunks try to figure out where all of the sounds are coming from. As it stands, they’re penciled-in for 6:00. So, if you can’t tell the man to shove it in time to get there early – Fantaj goes on at 2:00 – make sure you make it in time to catch some solid tunes.

Twin Tigers : Curious Faces Violet Future : Watershed

Twin Tigers Myspace

Saturday

Don’t F&*k this Up: With all the respect due to the 50+ acts gracing us on Saturday, Snowden will be closing the outdoor stage for the evening. They go on at 9:45 – be on time.

The Heartbreak: Saturday is so packed that you’ll have to pull double-duty here. First, you’ll have to decide whether to catch Untied States or watch the sillies choking at the corndog eating contest. Later, my vote for worst synchronized schedule of the weekend pits The Orphins against Gringo Star.

The Tease: Make the Fur Fly


East meets West as Decatur and Athens team up for some rock roots with the occasional synth sprinkle. I’ve only heard a little from them, but I’m definitely looking forward to more and you should too. Go ahead and catch them now because they’ve got the potential to make it tougher to get a good seat in the future. Side stage at 6:30. Pass me a beer.

Make the Fur Fly : No Surprise Demo

Make the Fur Fly Myspace

Sunday

Don’t F!^k This Up: Pussing out and going home early is not acceptable to the Mustard King. Cinemechanica and Maserati are going to light this mofo up.

The Heartbreak: Night will fall on another Corndogorama and you’ll have to go back to your sucky job, or your really sucky job.

The Tease: Summer Birds in the Cellar

Florida represents. I’m a shoegaze sucker and these guys put out some lazy afternoon ethereal soundscapes. One of the few out-o-state bands promises to give your ears a much-needed OTP gift at 7:30 on the side stage.

Summer Birds in the Cellar : Druid : Wooden Lion

Summer Birds in the Cellar Myspace

By now, I expect that you've got a pass. If not, go get one. I'll see you there.

Corndogorama Full Line-Up And Schedule!

Key additions: Untied States, All the Saints, Rizzudo, Morning State, Brass Castle, Graboids, Antic Clay, Missile Command, Batata Doce







This is gonna be a really good one. The line-up is ridiculous this year. It's going down at Lenny's the last weekend of June. 4 day passes are $50 and you can scoop one up here.

Corndogorama Website

Corndogorama 2008 Inital Line-Up

So I was on Lenny's website and I noticed they had some of the line-up for Corndogorama posted, check it out:

Thursday June 26:
Special Olympiad
Trial By Fire
Loose Screws
The Holland Dutch
Attractive Eighties Women
Tenth To The Moon
Thee Crucials
Heinous Bienfang
Blood Vessels (featuring Brent Hinds of Mastodon)
Grey Goo

Friday June 27:

Proton
Janelle Monae
Spy For Hire
Holy Faith
James Hall
Noot D' Noot
Judi Chicago
Dan Deacon

Saturday June 28:

Battle Cat
Jeff Myers
The Hiss
DJ Kwaku
Gringo Star
Snowden
The Life And Times
Dropsonic
The Howlies
Anna Kramer
Abandon The Earth Mission

Sunday June 29:

Dj Corvette
Caddle Summer
Birds In The Cellar
Bitch
Cassavettes
Blackberry Smoke
Cinemechanica
Maserati
The Georgia Satellites
The Khans (US)
Zoroaster

Looking like a great start. If you are unfamiliar with Corndogorama, it is probably the best music fest Atlanta has to offer, highlighting some of the greatest bands in the city each year.

Corndogorama Website

Lenny's Bar Website

Corndogorama = Hells Yeah

This is probably Atlanta's best music festival and I really wish they would not have scheduled it the same weekend as Pitchfork Fest, but oh well, I'll at least go tonight. I'm interested to see what it will be like for the first time at the new Lenny's. For those of you going to this, here's what i suggest you don't miss:

I'm not very familiar with most of Thursday's line-up but Friday, make sure you go see Parade at 6pm or The Coathangers at 10pm. Saturday is an incredible line-up. Be sure to get there 12:30 pm to catch DJ Klever. 2pm go see Slow Motion Crash and at 2:30pm don't miss The Orphins. At 6:15pm check out Zoroaster and 7pm brings the biggest conflict of the fest between Untied States and The Preakness. One Hand Loves The Other hits the stage at 10:30pm and at 11:30pm be sure to see The Selmanaires and Snowden back-to-back. On Sunday, be sure to get there by 3pm to see Moorish Idols. You should check out Tenth To The Moon at 4pm and the Jupiter Watts at 5pm. And of course Atlanta's biggest band right now, Mastodon, closes out the corn dogs at 9:30pm.

Get more info at the Corndogorama site.

Here's some videos to get you in the mood: See you tonight!

Corndogorama Schedule

Atlanta's best music festival has announced its line-up and schedule. Unfortunately, I will be missing this for Pitchfork Fest, but unless you are doing the same, you should go to this: