Crib Notes

MONOTONIX

See our photo gallery of photographer Perry Julien’s SXSW 2009 pics. And read CL’s Best of SXSW 2009 wrap-up, with more photos.

(Photo by Perry Julien)

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Album reviews are already trickling in for Atlanta-based Asher Roth — the industry’s pick for the next white rapper to blow. (Incidentally, he’s managed by Atlantan Scooter Braun, who was the subject of a Creative Loafing cover story in 2006.) Roth’s debut, Asleep in the Bread Aisle, is scheduled to be released in mid-April.

A quickie review from RapRadar.com focuses on the song, “As I Em,” on which Roth addresses the rampant Eminem comparisons he’s garnered:

As I Em

Here’s the one that’s gonna get the Internets crazy. Roth goes right at it and addresses the elephant in the room. That’s right the Em is for Eminem as Roth breaks down the comparisons and pours out his heart and soul. Can see the line of journalists waiting to ask Marshall what he thinks of the record now.

Read the full review. Stay tuned to CL for an upcoming Asher Roth feature.

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MF Doom — or simply DOOM, as he now wants to be known — is back after a long hiatus, particularly for someone so prolific. One thing we know for sure: His new album Born Like This is performed by him, not a masked impersonator. The album dropped yesterday, and I’m listening to it for the first time here. I’ve live-blogged my thoughts below, borrowing Byron Crawford’s format.

“Supervillain Intro” “Doom’s got a plan that’s gonna shake the heavens,” a WWE-voiced announcer tells us. Let’s hope so. He adds: “Time to get the feta!”

“Gazillion Ear” One of two J Dilla beats here. It’s pretty hot, with kind of an eerie/haunted carnival/David Lynch vibe.

“Ballskin” Now we’re talking! This Jake One beat is even hotter than “Trap Door,” from the Seattle producer’s 2008 album White Van Music, which Wikipedia tells me only sold 9,859 copies. That number makes me want to run myself over with a van (of any color). Wait, is this track already over?

“Yessir!” The Raekwon joint, and he definitely doesn’t phone it in. Doom’s beat is really repetitive and annoying, though. He may have phoned it in, whatever that could mean.

“Absolutely” The only Madlib beat here. I’m feeling it. In fact, this whole thing has a Madvillainy vibe so far. That can’t be a bad thing, right? I could do without the Cops sample at the end of the song, however. Is that honky policeman supposed to sound dramatic? Are they making fun of him? Why not just sample Reno 911, then?

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For years, rumors persisted that Tupac Shakur wasn’t dead, he was just laying low in Cuba, chilling with his godmother Assata Shakur, perhaps. The circulating video footage of a 2pac look-a-like spotted at a Lil Wayne concert has fanned those flames.

Maybe dude is just trying to get a head start on the audition process that’s sure to round up thousands if and when the troubled Tupac biopic deal is ever struck.

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All the Saints have released a music video for the song “Sheffield” from their Touch & Go/Quarterstick Records debut full-length, Fire On Corridor X.

All the Saints “Sheffield” from Touch and Go/Quarterstick on Vimeo.

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For today’s Roll Call, we call out Atlanta punk funk duo, Futureshock.

Listen to “Partyline”

Who are you?
Hey young world! My name is Jeremy Daniels I play lead guitar the genre-bending band, Futureshock.

Describe yourself in three words.
Kinetic Rhythm Energy

Who — dead or alive — would you most like to meet?
Chuck Berry, Alive

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
Charlie Murphy “The Prince of Darkness”

What song do you wish you had written?
“I Ran” by a Flock of Seagulls

Lil Wayne or Little Richard?
Futureshock’s sound is what Lil Wayne wishes he could create with his new “rock influenced direction.” And I don’t wear make-up so that counts Little Richard out. LOL

LP, CD or MP3?
LPs for sure, nothing beats that warm crackle and pop sound in the morning.

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
Punk Funk

If you could end one trend, what would it be?
The word “swagger,” let Old Spice deodorant have it for god’s sake.

With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
The Queen of England

UPCOMING SHOWS:
9:00 p.m. Fri., March 27. $7. 529 (East Atlanta Village), 529 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-228-6769

9:30 p.m. Mon., April 13. Free. Lenny’s Bar, 486 Decatur St. 404-577-7721.

(Photo courtesy Hannibal Matthews)

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The Creative Loafing team survived the brutal drive to and from Austin for this year’s South By Southwest festival, kept alive only by gallons of gas station coffee and truck stop tacos.

While we chased down every free meal and drink ticket we could find, we also managed to see a tiny fraction of the 1,900 bands that played this year. Sure, everyone is talking about it today, but we didn’t see Kanye or Metallica. We’re OK with that. Check out a rundown of our favorite moments from the festival after the jump.

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Not that we’re surprised to hear it; Atlanta has long been hip to Ms. Monáe.

Still, it’s nice to hear them good ol’ boys from the Big Apple confirm what we already knew, as the Village Voice’s Rob Harvilla does in his post, “SXSW 2009 Best in Show: Janelle Monáe”:

Ideally at this thing you find someone to champion, whether they’re a relative unknown or already loudly championed by myriad others. Definitely the latter here: Janelle’s been hailed as the future of r&b for what feels like years now; should that come to pass, the future of r&b will apparently be fantastically incoherent.

No worries, that’s New Yawk City critic-speak for “we digs ya.” He gushes on:

she vacillates gleefully from Orwellian space-funk to skronking heavyy metal to her pretty incredible torch-song cover of Nat King Cole’s “Smile” to the new “Tightrope,” a fantastic pop-r&b anthem with serious “Umbrella”-of-2009 potential. Throughout, she dabbles in diva howls and operatic lunacy, all while dancing like a robot trying to do the Human.

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Tuesday will be an historic day for Criminal Records as two of Atlanta’s greatest musical exports, the Indigo Girls and Mastodon, both take the stage to celebrate the release of their respective albums.

First up, the Indigo Girls take the stage at 4:30 p.m. to play songs from their brand new CD, Poseidon and the Bitter Bug.

From the IG press release:

It’s been two decades since the Indigo Girls launched their career with their independently released debut album, 1987’s Strange Fire. Now, after entertaining millions of fans with their 10 major-label studio albums (nine on Epic Records and one, 2006’s Despite Our Differences, on Hollywood Records), Emily Saliers and Amy Ray have come full circle with the independent release of their new 2-CD album, Poseidon And The Bitter Bug, on their new label IG Recordings, distributed through Vanguard Records.

Indigo Girls’ “What Are you Like?” mp3

Then at 8 p.m. Criminal Records is closing its doors early to clear a path for the destructive force that is Mastodon who will be playing at 8:30 p.m. Upon re-opening, customers that have a Criminal Records receipt from purchase of Crack The Skye will be given priority to enter. Due to space constraints and security concerns the number of people allowed in the store for the show is limited to 300.

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The party’s over. But we’re vicariously reliving the moments of SXSW 2009 through one of CL’s favorite Atlanta-based artists.

Just as hip-hop got major play at this year’s festival, it was also Spree Wilson’s first time attending and performing. Check out his stream of Twitter updates over the weekend, and follow him at twitter.com/spreewilson. (See him in on stage with stic.man of Dead Prez in pics above.)

Just touched down in Austin!!!….Time to play ball folks!!!…lol

9:19 AM Mar 20th

Been up for 24hrs straight!!…gonna crash for a couple of hours once I get to hotel!

9:40 AM Mar 20th

At the hotel..may link up with Small Eyez and the homie Donwill later..

2:38 PM Mar 20th

Chillin in Blu with Dead Prez, Nikki, Small Eyez, and Cynthia…just caught up with Janelle and crew at Solange show..

12:36 AM Mar 21st

Lookin at Austin City Music Hall…shit is HUGE!!!….it’s gonna be crazy tomorrow!

12:41 AM Mar 21st

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Drummer Bill Salas is the new guy in These Are Powers, but the fascist cadences of his hallucinogenic beats give direction to the ghost-punk traipse at the center of All Aboard Future. “Easy Answers” establishes a rigid, slow-motion dub/industrial framework at the album’s onset. Vocalist Anna Barie’s elated banshee cry in “Life of Birds” is at once horrifying and alluring, as it jams the senses with a mashup of too many mixed signals. TAP is the rightful heir to the legacies of Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, Coil, Suicide and so on. Prior to All Aboard Future, likening them to such an esteemed lineage felt like wishful thinking. But in light of the hypnotic rush of “Parallel Shores,” the creeping and mechanical plod of “Double Double Yolk,” and the clutter of damaged bass swells in “Blue Healer,” the sonic pedigree is undeniable.

The Chap, Lyonnais and Balkans open. $7. 9 p.m. Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery, 290 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Suite 8. 404-522-0655.

(Photo by Michael Flack)

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A note from Psyche Origami’s Facebook page regarding their show at the 5 Spot this Sunday, March 22.

“What’s good people! Wyz here! Just wanted to let you all know about what’s cooking on the PO burner!

As a lot of you already know, a new Psyche O album is in it’s final stages of development. The Psyche Orchestra project (a side endeavor that covers past, present, and future PO material) is almost ready for your consumption but, in the meantime, check out what we’ve got in store for you just days away. Once again, for those of you outside of the Southeast region, PO loves you and we’ll see you sooner than later.

Sunday night, don’t miss your chance to see Psyche O rock a new album preview set for you and yours. We’re getting tuned up for a string of shows this spring and summer with an especially big one to be named later.

This event is a cd release party for our good friends Mr. Lucky who’s new album ‘Try This Out Before You Thank Me’ is quickly becoming a favorite of mine! Opening the night will be a reunion show for our long time crew members Minamina Goodsong. It’s been a while since they performed, but I hear that their set is not to be missed as they will be playing all their classic shit and all the while bringing us back to that feeling that we had in 2002. Nothing like a blast from the past. By the way, this is the first time PO and Minamina have rocked together in a long time! Don’t miss it!”

Admission for the show at the 5 Spot on Sun., March 22 is $7. Music starts at 8 p.m.

(Photo courtesy of Psyche Origami)

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Club Awesome is playing a record release party for their first full-length album, Dynamos at Criminal Records on Sat., March 21, along with Thy Mighty Contract. To celebrate the album’s release, there will be free beer provided, and the group has decided to turn the store into a miniature-golf course. Rumor has it that the last hole of the course will be the kick-drum on-stage with the band.

When asked why they’re going with a miniature golf theme, guitar player Rick Kemp explains it’s because they are insecure. “It’s not enough that we are giving people free beer to drink while they walk around the store and look at records. We need to give them something else to keep their minds occupied while we play.”

The music and the golfing begin at 4 p.m.

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On Wednesday night a slew of jazz, noise and otherwise head-cleaning sounds are making a stand at Capsule in Grant Park (in the former Youngblood space on Glennwood Avenue SE and Waldo Street SE near I-20/Boulevard).

Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth says of headling act, Michigan reeds/electronics duo Slither, “If two improvising horns in fug-mind gut interplay is not jazz then the form is dead. We say it is more alive than anyone in moldy fig land will ever know at this point. Slither is excellent reed street waste. Today’s jazz for today’s playboys.”

Also performing …

Steve Kenne of Wolf Eyes’ side-project Demons also plays a set of solo synth.
New Pledgemast (member of The Jasons playing solo vocals and electronics.
DJ Dirty Pillowz (member of of local long-standing noise improv. act Zandosis wielding turntables, broken records and a bent mind).

It should be noted that the show will end early. Music starts and 9 p.m. and will wrap up at 11 p.m. sharp. Cost is $5.

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CL’s Chanté LaGon and Chad Radford chat about upcoming shows around Atlanta, including A.C. Newman at the Earl (Friday, March 20), the Weakends at 529 (Saturday, March 21) and Spindrift at the Earl (Monday, March 23).

Check out this week’s Sound Menu for a more comprehensive list of upcoming shows.

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“Haven’t you talked enough today?” Ian McCulloch, lead singer of Echo and the Bunnymen, asked the audience at Emo’s in Austin last night. He was in a typically dour mood, playing their late-night set clad in a pair of dark sunglasses and a heavy, black pea coat that didn’t make much since in Austin heat.

Despite all the industry schmoozing that seems to happen in the room of every single show at SXSW, Echo played an absolutely killer set to an otherwise rapt, packed crowd last night. FLickr has a ton of photos from the event.

The shows at Emo’s were among the biggest draws last night — a big line formed to see actress Juliette Lewis prance around in a cape with her new band Juliette and the New Romantiques. I wasn’t exactly impressed. The Leafy Green showcase next door at Emo’s Jr. had a great back-to-back line up, with sets from creepy folksters Larkin Grimm, recent Sub-Pop signees Vetiver, and San Francisco newcomers Sleepy Sun.

We missed Atlanta hero Janelle Monae last night, but we’re really happy to see Rolling Stone giving her some much deserved blog love.

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The following interview with Mastodon guitarist/vocalist Bill Kelliher was conducted at noon on Wednesday, March 11.

Chad: You got sick in Europe last year while you were on tour with Slayer. What happened?
Bill Kelliher: It was an undisclosed stomach ailment. People have speculated about what it was, but I can’t really talk about it.

Really?
Yeah, as a band we decided not to talk about it, so I can’t. It was a big shake-up and the band had to play as a three-piece while I recovered. We had a big decision to make about whether we were going to loose a lot of money or not. We had just flown over there. We rented the gear, rented the bus and if we would have sent everybody home when I got sick it would have cost us a fortune. The band was looking to loose a whole lot of dough and they asked me what I wanted them to do. They said we’ll play if we have to, and they did. The next few shows were in Germany and we were playing first, so it was a half-an-hour set, which goes by pretty quickly when your playing songs back-to-back like we do. So it wasn’t that big of a deal. They did it and I healed up.

That was the second scare you guys have had in the last couple of years, the first being what happened with Brent in Las Vegas.
Yeah, when I heard about what happened to Brent I was holding my breath and just kind of hoping and waiting for everything to be OK. This band is my life, and I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have it. We were all wondering what was going to happen. But I didn’t sell my guitars or anything. I was banking on him being OK and then we heard from him a week or so later and he was going to make it, so it came as a huge relief. But yeah, we were all hoping and praying that he would pull through. We didn’t really know what else to do. … We’re lucky. Some bands don’t bounce back from that kind of shit.

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Rick Froberg brought his new band Obits to the Drunken Unicorn on Tuesday night, and Hot Snakes it is not. This new project finds Froberg and a new cast of players, including guitarist/vocalist Sohrab Habibion of Edsel, leaning on a more traditional rock sound. The press materials that came with the album this month quote Froberg waxing on about how innovation is an overrated thing, and he’s really taking that to heart, and that isn’t meant as an insult.

On the group’s debut album, I Blame You (Sub Pop) there’s a song called “Fake Kinkade” — a reference to buying a forged Thomas Kinkade painting — that works as a metaphor for this new found fascination with ripping off mimicking a very identifiable sound.

The real obstacle to get over with Obits is, once again, this is not Hot Snakes. Whenever Hot Snakes took the stage the group congealed with chemistry. Seeing them play was like getting hit in the face with a semi. From the first few restrained swipes of the guitar pick it’s obvious that Froberg still has some of that seething energy, but he’s working very hard to restrain it. This achieves a pretty cool affect in songs, like “Two Headed Coin,” “Light Sweet Crude” and “Back and Forth,” which is sure to be the jam of the summer.

What doesn’t work in the equation is the lackluster presence of the rest of his band mates. In a word, the group was statuesque as they skulked around the stage. There were audible grumbles about it, at least from somewhere close to where I was standing, but they were minor.

It’s hard to hate on Froberg. He’s the guy who gave Hot Snakes and Drive Like Jehu to the world. Obits is by no means a bad band at all, just a different beast altogether. Recommended if you like girl groups, the Jam and the Kinks. But if you’re looking for the Hot Snakes, just go listen to Suicide Invoice, get your fix and get over it.

(Photo by Steve Berry)

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Tonight at 529 El Fossil, a high decibel throw-back to classic surf with heavy influences in thrash metal, featuring members of noisy local bands Club of Rome, Devil Worshiper, Recapitator, Swamp Ape and Safe Word play a free show at 529. The show is a birthday celebration for Crackhouse co-founder Aaron King and Safe word drummer Kate Bush. Music starts at 9  p.m. Bring ear plugs.

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GRIP PLYAZ

He’s one of underground Atlanta’s most recognizable MCs. He’s also a struggling artist.

So in an effort to scrounge up the necessary change to send Grip Plyaz to SXSW where he can showcase his reputable talents this weekend, Lavish Life Social Club and Come Up Kids are throwing him a going-away shindig.

Hosted by Grip. DJs Slugger and DiBiase spin. $5 before 11 p.m. Tonight. Clermont Lounge (the strip club on Ponce, fool!), 789 Ponce de Leon Ave. 404-874-4783.

Here’s a recent Roll Call on Grip Plyaz:

Who are you?
Grip Plyaz. Hardest tool in the toolbox. Lavish Life Social Club representa

Describe yourself in three words.
Slum as hell

Who — dead or alive — would most you like to meet?
Kunta Kinte and Martin Luther King Jr.

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
Hitler

What song do you wish you had written?
“Poppa was a Rolling Stone” by the Temptations

Michael Jackson or George Michael?
Michael Jackson (the black one)

LP, CD or MP3?
MP3

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
Grip-Hop

If you could end one trend, what would it be?
This hipster shit

With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
Yo momma

(Photo by Chilly-O and HannibalMatthews.com)

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