What Up In The ATL?

Atlas Sound 2night! Last Chance!

I noticed that at the Atlas Sound Myspace you can listen to every song on the new album. If you've yet to come to the dark side, go give it a jam session and I think you'll be convinced. For you OTP readers that are ready for Bradford to come to you, here's the tourdates:

Feb 19 2008 9:45P
Drunken Unicorn Atlanta, Georgia
Feb 20 2008 8:00P
Local 506 Chapel Hill
Feb 21 2008 9:00P
Black Cat Backstage WASHINGTON
Feb 22 2008 8:00P
Johnny Brendas PHILADELPHIA
Feb 23 2008 8:00P
Mercury Lounge New York, New York
Feb 24 2008 8:00P
Music Hall Of Williamsburg Brooklyn, New York
Feb 26 2008 9:00P
Middle East Upstairs CAMBRIDGE
Feb 27 2008 8:00P
Casa Del Popolo Montreal, Quebec
Feb 28 2008 8:00P
Legendary Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, Ontario
Feb 29 2008 8:00P
Magic Stick Detroit, Michigan
Mar 1 2008 8:00P
Empty Bottle Chicago
Mar 2 2008 8:00P
Triple Rock Club Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mar 5 2008 8:00P
Pats Pub Vancouver, British Columbia
Mar 6 2008 8:00P
High Dive Seattle, Washington
Mar 7 2008 8:00P
Holocene Portland, Oregon
Mar 8 2008 8:00P
Bottom of the Hill San Francisco, California
Mar 11 2008 8:00P
Echo Los Angeles

Tomorrow night there is another ATL Superstar extravaganza:



Here is a little something from Colin "The Great Deserter" Mee's non-Deerhunter project:

Chopper : Rolling Thvnder


Friday night the ATL Superstar-mania continues with too many Superstars for one show:



or




Oh, and it don't stop there. Saturday night is The Stickfigure Distribution February Showcase at The Drunken Unicorn featuring One Hand Loves The Other, Strezo, Antic Clay, and Sick Figures.

Just another great week to be a music fan in the A. Get out and see some shows!

What Up In The ATL?

Gringo Star's newest video got up on the 'fork this week:



Back when they used to be called A Fir-Ju Well, they lived over in my 'hood and have been one of the very first ATL bands I really got into. Their 2005 Absolutely is truly an amazing album that is an essential for ITP folks. I can't wait for the first proper Gringo Star record which should finally be out this year because these guys deserve to blow up. March 6th be sure to check out their 7" release party at The Earl.

A Fir-Ju Well : No Man


A Fir-Ju Well : Together



Tonight the big show is Liars and No Age at The Earl (two bands whose albums made our top 50 2007 lists).

Tomorrow The Earl has another great show with this year's blog bands, Black Mountain and Blood on The Wall. I've been enjoying the Black Mountain album and didn't really like the new Blood On The Wall upon my first listen.

Black Mountain : Evil Ways


Also Friday night is The Howlies at Star Bar and Victor Wooten at The Variety Playhouse.

Saturday seem to offer some great house parties I plan on hitting up. Early in the afternoon you can go to East Atlanta and hit up Rob's House. The festivities:

keg taping - 3pm
westend motel - 330pm
bobby and the soft spots - 430pm
subsonics - 530pm

Then there is this with Dirty Projector's Nat Baldwin:



Monday night you should check out this:



Dead Meadow : What Needs Must Be


Then on Tuesday is the Atlas Sound show at the Drunken Unicorn on the day his first proper album drops. I'm pretty stoked about it. And next Wednesday The Selmanaires and The Coathangers are doing a 7" release show at The Earl before they each head out in separate directions on tour and meet back up at SXSW.

Atlas Sound : Activation

Humpday Randomnimity

So first, let's break down the Bonnaroo line-up:



First, I think it's hilarious that NME and the AP totally got punked and reported that Led Zeppelin is headlining. Since they deleted their mistake, here it is immortalized:



The weirdest thing is that NME had announced earlier in the day that they would be announcing a "surprise headliner" at midnight, so the conspiracy theorists out there are going to believe there is a chance that they will add Led Zeppelin late after tickets go on sale (because LZ would instantly sell out the fest), to give the 'roo loyalists a easy shot at tickets first. Considering everyone denied Metallica was playing when that rumour broke earlier, it is certainly possible but doubtful.

So, Metallica. Hmmmm. I'm just going to say that i think they are being a little risky with some of their line-up choices for a rare fest with an almost completely non-violent history. It will be an interesting experiment to see how that crowd does, but I'm a bit pessimistic on that front. Although, there have only been a handful of 'roo headliners over the years that have been really awesome in my opinion, so it's not the worst thing to me (plus now i can get a nap Friday night between the day acts and the late-night acts). It's the smaller acts that I always like best anyways. Plus, Pearl Jam is really great live. Also, I'm just gonna say, Jack Johnson isn't necessarily bad, but I can think of like 100 better headliners off the top of my head, and he has to headline both Coachellas and Bonnaroo? Coooooooooooome ooooooon.

Regardless of all that junk at the top of the list, there is a lot to be excited about. Sigur Ros is probably the biggest for me since I love them and have yet to see them. The other names I'm going to be excited to see include Iron & Wine, Broken Social Scene, Mastodon (ATL represent!), !!!, The Fiery Furnaces, Jose Gonzalez, Minus The Bear, Battles, and The Sword. Things I've seen a million times that are still pretty cool to catch again: Phil Lesh, My Morning Jacket, The Allman Brothers, Death Cab For Cutie, Ben Folds, and Dark Star Orchestra. Others I'll probably check out if nothing great is going on include Kanye, Robert Plant, Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Talib Kweli, Gogol Bordello, Rilo Kiley, Tegan & Sara, Vampire Weekend, and Black Kids.

Overall, its decent but not their best line-up. I'm still going cuz I love this fest. A Mars Volta addition would really set it off though.

Speaking of The Mars Volta, Pitchfork finally reviewed The Bedlam in Goliath, and while they still gave it a terrible score, they finally back-tracked a tad bit from the absolute hate they have for this band and moved to a more "well we don't like them, but I can see why others do and they are awesome in certain ways we don't put much value in" position (I'm paraphrasing here). While I appreciate the sentiment, they still laid down some serious presumptuous elitism. Like when the 'fork makes claims that TMV championing prog-rock (or as i would put it, innovating a musical epistemology built on innovation) "couldn't be more averse to real progress in rock music", it just makes me realize how one-dimensional they are in their music taste and while they have been a huge driving force of this current music revolution going on, they are sometimes missing the point. In essence what is going on is about diversity, not about a singular idea or sound. When you value 3 LCD Soundsystem songs that are nice on the dancefloor surrounded by a ton of boringness and repetition over an album where they make every single second on it count, well, I'm just not gonna ever jump on that bandwagon.

Ok, now I am gonna get all pitchforky on you and serve up a glass of haterade. I bought the new The Selmanaires, Anna Kramer, and The Whigs albums a couple of weeks ago. I'm a cheerleader for the local acts as much as the next person, but while I think these are all fine albums in their own right and I know the rest of the Jo-Ja big dawgs are touting them endlessly, these are far from the best acts or albums that Georgia has to offer. They are all copycatting played out styles, and bringing nothing new to the table. There are sure to be plenty of people who will genuinely love these, but I like a bit of innovation, a touch of avant-garde, an artist who takes chances, I like something unique and different, and I hear none of that on these albums. The Selmanaires seem to be only one of these three that I believe have real potential to be something special, but I always find myself thinking about 25% of what they do is amazing, and the other 75% is totally uninteresting. I understand that they are like a library of styles and that they are making very deep musical references, but they don't bring a new perspective to their reference points except sometimes they water them down. They sound like a history book to me. I think they just lay too safe sometimes, and if they really went for it they could be great. Again, The Air Salesman is not a bad album, but if I were to compare it to other ATL albums I consider great, like, I don't know, an Untied States album (or the new Slushco EP that is getting absolutely no press except here), I don't think it stands up.

Ok, enough digression, here's some news:

Iron & Wine and Califone will be at the Variety Playhouse on April 14th.

The Breeders will be at The Loft on June 13th.

Modest Mouse are working on an EP.

Go get the Atlas Sound Orange Ohms Glow EP from his blog. Damn, he just don't stop.

Tickley Feather, who opened for Animal Collective in Atlanta last year, has her debut album coming out April 29th.

Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords is about to star in a movie.

It seems the Stone Temple Pilots reunion is on like Donkey Kong.

Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks and John Vanderslice will be at The Variety Playhouse on March 26th.

Feist will be at The Tabernacle on March 18th.

Cloud Cult have a new album coming out soon.

Austin City Limits Fest, slated for September 26th-28th, already has tickets on sale way before they announce a line-up. Lookout Ticketmaster, the groundsquirrel is coming to get you:



Feist live:



Cat Power:



Caribou:



Les Savy Fav:



The Raveonettes:



A Place To Bury Strangers:

What Up In The ATL?

There are some hott new local releases out this week. First, The Selmanaires's second LP, The Air Salesman, is now available:



Also, Anna Kramer & The Lost Cause's The Rustic Contemporary Sounds of comes out today:



You can stream both albums here. They are are also both doing an in-store performance at Criminal Records at 7pm tonight.

I think this has been available for a while, but I just found out out about it. The newest Slushco EP:



Info and tunes on the Slushco Myspace. Buy it here.

The Black Lips are playing a free show at GSU today at noon:



After kicking ass last Saturday night at our One Year Anniversary Party, This Piano Plays Itself will be on WREK 91.1 FM at 10pm tonight. Don't miss it!

Tonight, there's a show:



Tomorrow night, the Stickfigure 2008 Showcase begins with 4 nights in row at the Drunken Unicorn featuring some of Atlanta's greatest up and coming artists:

Tomorrow night: Music For People, Sorry No Ferrari, Bigpenguin, Zandosis
Thursday night: Entertainment, The Feeding Fingers, Tenth To The Moon, Lid Emba
Friday night: Retconned Cover Band, Fur Elise, Tree Creature, Sailor Winters
Saturday Night: One Hand Loves The Other, Envie, The Subliminator, Killick!, Nerdkween

It's $5 for each night of the showcase, and if you like good music and are not familiar with many of those names, do yourself a favour and hit up atleast one of those, because every night is a killer line-up.

Thursday night at Lenny's is a stellar show with Perestroika, Chopper (ex-Blame Game, Deerhunter), Fag Static, and maybe even The Orphins (90% sure according to the Lenny's site)

Friday night at Lenny's there is this:




Friday night The Whigs are at The Earl and there's also this band called Manchester Orchestra that is rumoured to be from Atlanta at The Loft.

For the hippies, Friday night Perpetual Groove is at The Variety Playhouse, and Saturday night Col. Bruce Hampton is at The Loft and The Machine (Pink Floyd cover band) is at the Variety Playhouse.

For the hipsters, Saturday night Anna Kramer And The Lost Cause and The Selmanaires are having their dual CD release show at The Earl.

What a great week for music in Atlanta!

Photos: Black Lips, Deerhunter, Snowden, The Selmanaires - 11-30-07 @ Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, GA

The Selmanaires








Snowden










Deerhunter






Black Lips

Post-Monday Mash-Up

Yo La Tengo have added some southern dates to their freewheeling tour where they play acoustic versions of songs and tell stories of the band's long history. They will be at the Variety Playhouse on January 12th and Lambchop's Kurt Wagner will be opening. That show is gonna be so awesome!:



The Black Lips are involved with two different movies. First, they are playing a fictional band in a movie called Let It Be, that is about the story of the movement in underground American music that was known as D.I.Y. Also, they will be featured in Chris Dortch II's upcoming documentary on Atlanta's underground music scene, We Fun, featuring other ATL superstars such as Deerhunter, Mastodon, The Selmanaires, The Coathangers, Anna Kramer and Jessica Juggs.

A great local show to check out this week:



Liars and No Age will be at The Earl on Valentine's Day.

The Selmanaires an Anna Kramer And The Lost Cause are having a dual CD release party at The Earl on January 26th. The Selmanaires:



Silversun Pickups have a remix EP coming out in a couple of weeks.

Marco Benevento of The Benevento-Russo Duo has a solo album called Invisible Baby dropping February 12th.

Ween will be returning to The Tabernacle on January 29th.

The Breeders have a new album coming out in April.

Gnarls Barkley have a new album due out in spring of 2008.

Super Furry Animals will be at The Variety Playhouse on January 30th.

Tom Petty is playing the Super Bowl.

Read up about Atlanta's Battery 5.

Remember the Regins Spektor re-scheduled show is tomorrow at The Tabernacle.

What up In The ATL?

It's Atlanta Superstar Week!

Wednesday night we got a big show for you. We've got two of Atlanta's biggest music icons, Preston Craig and Kenny Crucial (Mack Messiah), performing live. Plus some great up-and-coming bands like Morning State, The Pendletons, and Delta Co. On top of all that, it's to raise money for Atlanta's Refugee Community. Be there:



And that's not all kiddies. The Atlanta superstars are all over the place this week with a very exciting line-up Friday night at the Variety Playhouse. This town's greatest hipster bands, Black Lips, Deerhunter, Snowden, and The Selmanaires will all be on one stage together:



If for some weird reason you aren't into that show, GWAR will be at The Masquerade Friday night. Saturday night Atlanta superstar week continues with Anna Kramer opening for Southern Culture On The Skids at the Earl. Next Monday night you can choose between a Shannon Hoon-less Blind Melon at the Masquerade or seeing The Sword at the Earl.

Cool Winter shows that you needs to knows:

12/13/07 The Orphins, The Liverhearts at the Earl
12/31/07 (NYE) The Black Lips at The Drunken Unicorn
1/4/08 Graboids at Lenny's
1/7/08 Dan Deacon at Eyedrum
1/21/08 DJ Shadow + Cut Chemist at The Loft
1/24/07 Chopper (members from ex-Blame Game, Deerhunter), Fag Static at the Drunken Unicorn
1/26/08 The Machine at Variey Playhouse
1/30/08 High On Fire at The Earl
3/1/08 Beach House at The Earl
3/20/08 Acid Mothers Temple at The Earl

Yeah, those look like some killer shows!

This Week In The A

Tonight Georgie James, featuring members of Q And Not U, will be at the Drunken Unicorn.

Wednesday night offers many great options. There is The Selmanaires, The Coathangers, and Ponderosa at The Drunken Unicorn, there is The Howlies, Judi Chicago, and Giant Tigers at The Earl and Type-O Negative at the Masquerade.

Stickfigure Distribution has a show at 141 Moreland Ave Thursday night featuring Das Kapital, Canadian Rifle, The Brokedowns, and The Kiwis.

Saturday night at Lenny's there is a big show featuring The Toxic Avenger, One Hand Loves The Other, Judi Chicago, Treaure Fingers, and Preston Craig. Also Saturday night, Stars will be at The Variety Playhouse.

Georgie James : More Lights


The Selmanaires : The Air Salesman


The Kiwis : Mexico


Toxic Avenger : Stage Diving


Stars : The Night Starts Here

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!

Shows In The ATL

Shows getting announced left and right (click to get tickets):

08/17/2007: Good Friday Experiment (The Earl)
09/12/2007: Black Lips, The Selmanaires, The Coathangers (The 40 Watt, Athens, Ga)
09/13/2007: The Coathangers (The Drunken Unicorn)
09/15/2007: Akron Family (The 40 Watt, Athens. Ga)
09/17/2007: Blonde Redhead (The 40 Watt, Athens, Ga)
09/22/2007: Do Make Say Think (The Earl)
09/24/2007: VHS or Beta (The Earl)
09/25/2007: The Sea And Cake (The Earl)
09/25/2007: Bloc Party, Deerhoof (City Hall, Nasheville, TN)
10/06/2007: Yard Dogs Road Show (The Variety Playhouse)
10/14/2007: Earlimart (The Earl)
11/16/2007: Tegan And Sara (The Roxy)

Hopefully I can catch all of these.

A Weekend In The City

It's a great weekend for shows in the ATL. Today is all about Bloc Party. First, you can catch them for free doing a DJ set in Criminal Records at 6pm and later that night they will be at The Tabernacle with Maccabees and The Noisettes. While you are at Criminal Records, you can pick up the Whirlyball 7", which features songs from Deerhunter, Selmanaires, Carbonas, and The Coathangers. The purchase of that record will also gain you entrance to the show Friday night featuring all of those bands at the Whirlyball place in the 'burbs. I saw Mogwai there last year and it is an interesting venue. If you have a ticket to the soldout Kings Of Leon show at The Tabernacle Friday night, you will get to see the much better bands on the bill, Snowden and The Features. Another great Friday night show you could catch is Silver Lakes, Wax Fang, and Slushco at The Earl. Late night after all of the great music, Decatur Social Club is celebrating its 3-year anniversary and it looks to be really crazy.

Saturday and Sunday you should head down to The Virginia Highlands for Summerfest. The Selmanaires and Anna Kramer will be at Lenny's Saturday night while Mitch Easter, Tim Lee 3, and The Preakness will be at The Earl. I think I'll be checking oujt the Screening of the new Flight Of The Conchords HBO show sponsored by Kissatlanta at The Doo Gallery. As you might remember, I love these guys and am excited to see them at Bonnaroo. If you're interested in attending, it is free, but you must RSVP. If you're into hip-hop, you should go to The Masquerade Saturday night for Sage Francis, Buddy Wakefield, Buck 65, and Alias.

Ok, how about some tracks to preview:

• Bloc Party : The Marshalls Are Dead
• Maccabees : Latchmere
• The Selmanaires : Selmanaire Rock
• The Coathangers : Parking Lot
• The Features : Exhibit A
• Silver Lakes : Feel My Heartbeat
• Slushco : Jenny The Barfly
• Anna Kramer : I Can't Take It
• Mitch Easter : Sudden Crown Drop
• The Preakness : What They're Saying
• Flight Of The Conchords : Business Time
• Sage Francis : Mourning Aftermath

A Weekend In The A (featuring Sebadoh, Snowden, From Exile, Tenth To The Moon, Lid Emba)

Last weekend I tried to hit up as many different shows as possible. First, i went and checked out the Snowden and Selmanaires show at Rob's House (Records). Rob's House was just some dude's house in East Atlanta. They had a keg for people to drink and a tiny basement where the bands played to a tightly packed crowd of 30-50. The show time said 3pm, but i got there at 5pm and was still able to catch the end of The Selmanaires set. Snowden played next and rocked the basement out. I really like the idea of taking a typical keg party, adding some great bands and doing it early in the afternoon. Good stuff.


Snowden in Rob's Basement

After hitting some bars up and taking a smoke break at my house to listen to an album or two, i headed to the Earl to catch the Jupiter Watts show. i stayed for an hour and pretty sure i didn't see the Jupiter Watts but was way too drunk at this point to concentrate on doing a good review, so I'll have to come and see them again. I made it back to my neighborhood and hung out with the boys in From Exile late night as they did a mini-acoustic set:





In May, From Exile is going on tour on the east coast and Ohmpark will be taking it on the road with them chronicling this journey. We will have more details on that as soon as the tour is completely booked, but it is going to be a fiasco and I hope our non-ATL readers will come check them out. They just purchased an old prisoner transport van for the trip:



On Sunday i finally got a chance to check out the ISP Space. I have to say that i like it. It is very small, but the concept and the vibe are great. I had no idea who any of the bands playing were before i went, but i was very impressed with two of them. Lid Emba is Sean Moore playing on drum machines, a drum set, and a synth. Really cool ambient, noise, experimental electronic stuff. He closed with a really interesting mash-up/reinterpretation of Black Sabbath's War Pigs, and despite being one of the most over-covered songs of all time, it was still stunning. I got a copy of his debut album, Reason Isn't Radar, and after an initial listen, I really like it.



Next up was Tenth To The Moon. This three piece consisted of two older gentleman on bass and keys, and some crazy kid fronting the band switching around from vocals, to drums, to drum machines. I guess on a broad scale I would call it experimental noise-dance. At one point the vocalist pulls out a huge metal shield that is plugged into the sound system that he beats to death with his drum sticks. Really good music and a very entertaining live show that you should check out.





I finally made my way over to Sebadoh at the Variety Playhouse just in time for Lou and the boys to come on. I'm not very familiar with Sebadoh, but they were really good. An enjoyable relic of the '90s. I have to say I enjoyed seeing Lou Barlow solo or Dinosaur Jr much more, but it was cool to see another manifestation.

Photos: 1-20-07 Deerhunter, Psychic Hearts, The Selmanaires- 40 Watt Athens, GA

(click to enlarge)

The Selmanaires





Psychic Hearts











Deerhunter