Crib Notes

It’s that time of year once again, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t seize the opportunity to go all fanboy on y’all and turn Crib Notes, for a moment, into a total geekfest. After all, this is a music blog, and film and music have long been recognized as natural complements to one another. Actually, the truth is that quite often, the music makes the movie. Nowhere is this more evident than within the horror genre, which has given us some of the most haunting and iconic scores of all time. With that in mind I present a rough smattering of a few of the best spooky film themes, because really, who doesn’t love scary movies, especially at Halloween?

1. The absolute king among horror movie themes is, of course, Bernard Herrmann’s iconic score to Hitchcock’s breakthrough 1960 film Psycho. The main theme is creepy enough, but nothing compares to the horrifying, shrieking music heard during the infamous shower scene. This score would go on to heavily inform another great theme, the one to 1985’s Re-Animator.

2. Interestingly, the spooky theme to 1973’s The Exorcist wasn’t written for the film at all, but rather by composer Mike Oldfield for his album Tubular Bells. Nonetheless, it would become legendary, serving as inspiration for countless horror scores to come, including… (more…)

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In the liner notes to Vic Chesnutt’s ’07 full-length, North Star Deserter, Jem Cohen writes, “I make films, I’m no record producer. But I needed to bring these particular people together in this particular place… I thought they might hit it off.”
Cohen’s instincts served him well. North Star Deserter added wholly new dimensions to Chesnutt’s already vast body of songs, and by joining forces with Guy Picciotto (Fugazi) and members of A Silver Mt. Zion and God Speed You! Black Emperor, Chesnutt’s grim, avant-folk tendencies were pushed to maximum overdrive in squals of distortion and dramatic, symphonic majesty. But North Star Deserter was very much a construct of Jem Cohen — a personal vision of what Chesnutt’s albums should be, where songs, musicians and arrangements were put together like actors in a film. Chesnutt’s latest album, At the Cut, finds the same players who made North Star Deserter so bold and beautiful returning, this time to operate as a band sans Cohen’s direction.

Chad Radford:  Was the lineup for North Star Deserter really all part of Jem Cohen’s grand plan, or were you playing together before the idea for the album came about?

Guy Picciotto: That’s really how it all came together. I’ve actually known Vic since 1988. He was playing bass in a band that opened for the band I used to play in, Fugazi, at The 40 Watt Club. And actually, the other three guys in Fugazi played with Vic — maybe 10 years ago. They did an Olivia Newton-John cover together for a tribute project. They played “Have You Ever Been Mellow,” but I was out of town at the time, so I wasn’t part of that.

Before the North Star record I had never actually played with Vic, but I knew him and saw him every time we played in Athens. I was a huge fan of his records and always saw him when he came through town.

“Flirted With You All My Life”

“Philip Guston”

“Chain”

“Chinaberry Tree”

Vic Chesnutt (w/ Guy Picciotto of Fugazi and members of A Silver Mt. Zion, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Witchies, and Clare & the Reasons play the Earl on Sun. Nov. 1 $15. 8:00 p.m. 488 Flat Shoals Rd. 404-522-3950.

(more…)

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CL’s Chante LaGon and Chad Radford chat about upcoming shows around Atlanta, including Hand of Doom at 529, Why? at Lenny’s and Vic Chesnutt at the Earl.

Check out Sound Menu for a more comprehensive list of local concerts.

Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.

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Kid Rock and country artists Joey+Rory have been added to the lineup for the Georgia Theatre benefit at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, spearheaded by the Zac Brown Band on Fri., Oct. 30. Little Big Town, Shawn Mullins, Oliver Wood (of Medeski, Martin and Wood) and Aslyn are also scheduled to perform.

Tickets are available for $100 through Ticketmaster, by phone at 800-745-3000, or at the Fox Theatre box office located at 660 Peachtree St.

Proceeds will go directly to The Georgia Theatre Rehabilitation Fund, handled by The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, to rebuild the decommissioned Georgia Theatre after it caught on fire earlier this year.

… It seems like an awful lot of money to pay to have to suffer through a Kid Rock show, but hey, its for a good cause.

(Photo by Zack Arias)

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If anybody remembers Michel’le, the late ’80s/early ’90s R&B singer who worked with (and eventually had a son by) producer Dr. Dre, you might understand why Atlanta-based songwriter and artist the Dolldaze reminds me of her.

They sound nothing alike, mind you. But Michel’le has this helium-high speaking voice that’s the polar opposite of her rich, soulful singing voice. The difference in the Dolldaze’s speaking and singing voices isn’t quite that dramatic, but it’s interesting to hear how her Southern, round-the-way accent totally disappears once she begins singing.

But trust, that’s where the comparison between them ends. The self-penned song that the Dolldaze starts singing about 1:18 into the above video is one of the highlights from her recently released six-song EP, Acid Report: The Missing Peace. Titled “Let it Blow,” it features her signature blend of classic rock and soul. The traces of flamenco in her guitar strumming combine with her vocals in a way that reminds me of Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick singing “White Rabbit” for some odd reason. The alternating push-and-pull of the song’s changing rhythms builds a nice bit of tension, too.

Download Acid Report: The Missing Peace for free.

The Dolldaze performs tonight as part of the Think New 9 line-up featuring Sidestreet Ked, Grand Prize Winners From Last Year, Innate Forte, Lundy, Richelle L. Brown, Rico Wade, Dungeoneze and Pobody’s Nerfect. $10. 9 p.m. Drunken Unicorn, 736 Ponce de Leon Ave. www.thedrunkenunicorn.net.

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The final Isle of Wight festival produced some of rock’s greatest moments, but exposed the dark side of the peace and love generation. At 2 a.m., folk singer Leonard Cohen walked on stage and faced a riot, as the beleaguered audience ripped and roared following one of Jimi Hendrix’s last, incendiary performances of his career. Somehow, Cohen’s monotone storytelling brought a vast chunk of the raging 600,000 back to earth, and he proceeded to deliver one of the most mesmerizing concerts of the decade. Backed by what was basically a country western band including banjo player Elkin Fowler and fiddler Charlie Daniels (yes, that Charlie Daniels), Cohen’s dark poetry intertwined with the vastness of the night and hypnotized the masses. The event, filmed by Murray Lerner, is almost 40 years old. In a stark visual comparison to the recently released Live in London 2008 DVD, 1970’s Cohen is scraggly, unkempt, but just as enigmatic and committed to his words. Ageless, indeed. (Sony Legacy) 4 stars out of 5

(Photo Courtesy Sony Legacy)

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Which came first, the BET Hip-Hop Awards or Atlanta’s steady flow of garbage-ass rap music?

The chicken-or-the-egg question occurred to me as I watched last night’s broadcast of the awards show, which should’ve been renamed the Gucci Mane Awards for the number of performances (3?) featuring the East Atlanta-bred MC.

It typified a night in which the show took every possible opportunity to reference Atlanta — which is odd considering the crowd is made up entirely of industry fucks (artists, publicists, label reps, promoters, radio heads, etc.) and almost zero fans. (more…)

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Photographer Perry Julien caught these shots of Dinosaur Jr playing a free in-store at Criminal Records a couple of weeks back on Sat., Oct. 17.

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When Lester Bangs, Lenny Kaye and every other half-cocked rock critic on the planet has weighed in on the Velvet Underground, what’s left to discuss? Not much. That’s why Chicago Sun-Times pop critic Jim DeRogatis lets the pictures do the talking in this friggin’ gorgeous collection of photos, fliers and album art that captures the Velvets in all of their glorious vanity. A brusque 1975 interview with Sterling Morrison is the most revealing component. Otherwise, the coffeetable book has to be the greatest visual history ever produced on the band. What’s more, it isn’t overwrought with pointless hero worship like the kind that guides so many other books that broach the Velvet Underground. DeRogatis’ Walk on the Wildside shows Reed, Cale, Morrison, Tucker, Nico, Warhol and the rest of the hangers-on in the good, raw and ugly. (Voyageur Press) 4 stars out of 5

(Photo Courtesy Voyageur Press)

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NOT SO VILE: Kurt Vile unveils his sophomore release.

Strange semantics surround the Philadelphia-born guitarist, vocalist and home-recording devotee Kurt Vile. His name isn’t an attempt to create a Johnny Rotten-like persona for his dreamy folk, pop and minimalist rock songs. Nor is it a play on 20th-century German composer Kurt Weill. It’s his family’s name, and there isn’t a hint of irony in his voice when he explains it away. “Some people are shocked that it’s real. Others just can’t believe it,” Vile says. “It never fails.”

But irony is thick when he sings, “You tell me a good man is hard to find. What are you blind? Nevermind. Let’s try to have a good time,” in “Dead Alive” from Childish Prodigy, his third proper album and first for Matador Records. The lyrics are Dylan-esque in their rambling construction, but juvenile in their lazy delivery. When taken alongside Vile’s starry-eyed guitar picking, swimming in reverb, other songs such as “Hunchback,” “Overnite Religion” and “Freak Train,” gel with clumsy beauty that’s as captivating as it is perplexing.

Continue Reading “Kurt Vile is no joke”

(Photo Courtesy Shawn Brackbill)

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BACK TO THE WEB: Released in 2006

For a band, consistency is one thing; being consistently dull, however, is quite another. The main reason a group like Radiohead is so universally revered seems to be their impeccable consistency. The band, in essence, becomes a brand — for the most part, we as listeners know what to expect, even if the formula is slightly tweaked from album to album. But you and I both know that Sam’s Choice Cola ain’t no Coke, and there of course exists a whole host of bands who spend the entirety of their middling careers bathed in mediocrity. Consistent, yes; exciting, nah.

I mention all this certainly not to equate Elf Power with store-brand soda pop. But the chief complaint lobbied against the Athens-based Elephant 6 stalwarts throughout their decade-plus career has been their neglect to push the ol’ proverbial envelope, their incredible averageness. I will admit this criticism isn’t entirely unfounded: take a listen to any one of their three or four albums of the early aughts and you could be forgiven for cursorily mistaking one for the other. But around 2004, some kind of rejuvenating lightning struck. That year’s Walking With the Beggar Boys displayed a band eager to rock and roll, and with its tightly-wound guitar licks it veered closer to Thin Lizzy than to any of the ’60s psychers to which Elf Power were initially so often (and rightfully) compared. (more…)

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In the technical world of music categorization, we ask: is it appropriate to call KISS a glam band? Or are they more heavy metal? We call them “Satanic glam rock,” but check out our latest photo gallery of their Monday night performance at Philips Arena, part of the KISS: Alive 35 Tour, to decide for yourself.

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Califone’s show at the Earl tonight has been canceled. Refunds for tickets are available at point of purchase.

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By Phillip Mlynar

Ask Donnis what makes him stand out from the swarming mass of rappers seeking a name for themselves, and the Atlanta-bred MC pauses to think before answering, “I tell my story, [and] my story’s totally different from anyone else’s story.”

Listen to the range of material on his debut mixtape album, Diary of an ATL Brave, however, and you might struggle to pinpoint that difference.

In rap, an artist’s backstory is often as important as the eventual byproduct. Part autobiography, part mythology, it fuels the fandom any artist must create if he intends to become a star. Most MCs use it to build up their street-cred. Before Eazy-E became a platinum-selling rapper (thanks to invaluable ghostwriting from Ice Cube), he was an ex-drug dealer who used the loot he earned in the streets of Compton, Calif., to finance his own label, Ruthless Records. Before 50 Cent dropped his multiplatinum debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, he was the Queens street salesman-turned-mixtape MC who got shot nine times by adversaries attempting to silence his mouthpiece for good. Before Lil Wayne became the self-proclaimed “best rapper alive,” he pretty much was a hip-hop prodigy who accidentally shot himself at age 12.

Or so the stories go.

Continue Reading “Donnis may need more than Fool’s Gold to truly shine”

(Photo Courtesy Fool’s Gold)

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The members of Music Go Music must want you to believe they’re Scandinavian fairies living in the mountains, with only synthesizers and pixie sticks to sustain them. Why else would they give themselves pseudonyms like Gala Bell, Kamer Maza and TORG, and play the airiest, most sugary-sweet dance pop imaginable on their debut, Expressions? The group is actually composed of members of Los Angeles indie-rock outfit Bodies of Water, and this project sees them indulging their love of ’80s electro, cheesy love stories and “whoa whoa whoa” sing-alongs. It’s all as much fun as it sounds, and track highlights like “Love, Violent Love,” “Explorers of the Heart” and “Light of Love” offer enough low-commitment escapist melodies to power a Matthew McConaughey movie. The only difference is that, while you can probably wait for Ghosts of Girlfriends Past to get to cable, you’d be wise to give Expressions a spin post-haste. (Secretly Canadian) 4 stars out of 5

(Photo Courtesy Secretly Canadian)

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Back when we included Fabo of D4L in the 2007 CL music issue, he seemed like the member of the Bankhead snap rap clique who was most likely to blow — not the D4L boss and former trap star Shawty Lo, who wound up dropping two solo albums and garnering a strong regional following in recent years. Fabo was also the member who drew the most criticism, mainly from hip-hop purists who felt the “Laffy Taffy” sound and Fabo’s colorful dances were destined to kill the culture.

But just when it seemed his detractors were about to get the last laugh, Fabo disappeared into the ether.

In the video clip above, he stops to talk to MTV’s Shaheem Reid on the red carpet of the ’09 BET Hip-Hop Awards, filmed in Atlanta earlier this month, and tells him that he returned to high school to get his diploma and is currently studying “business and management” at Ashworth College in Georgia.

I’m getting great grades. I ain’t no honor roll student or nothing like that, but I’m making it. I’m trying to better myself, not wanting this to be the last stop for me. Having a couple of more kids and watching them grow, being there with them. I been in the streets all my life, it’s time to do something for me and my family, you feel me? So I went back to school. That’s a great thing!” (more…)

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Atlanta-based singer/songwriter Kelly Love Jones’ enchanted video for her acoustic wedding song, “For You,” has cast a spell on me. Directed by Roni Nicole, it features Rico Wade (Organized Noize co-founder/producer) playing her love interest. It was filmed  two and a half months ago in various locations around town, including East Point and East Atlanta.

The video also features several other local artists, including Doll Daze, who performs this Thursday night at Drunken Unicorn.

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Mon., Oct. 26 Future of the Left, Hawks and Predator. $7. 9 p.m. 529, 529 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-228-6769.

Future of the Left consists of singer/guitarist Andy “Falco” Falkous and drummer Jack Egglestone, both previously of Cardiff band mclusky, alongside singer/bassist Kelson Mathias, formerly of the Ammanford-based group Jarcrew. … The band were signed to Too Pure who had also signed Mclusky, however the umbrella company Beggars Group disbanded Too Pure transferring the band to 4AD; most famous for signing the Pixies in the mid eighties.

Wed., Oct. 28 Lead by saxophone player Julian Julien, Fractale is a Parisian five-piece jazz/electro ensemble that melds traditional jazz and rock ideas with improvisation and a computer-generated bent to arrive at a simple, melodic sound. The music is cinematic in scope, and vastly experimental. $8. 9 p.m. Eyedrum. 404-522-0655.

Wed., Oct 28 Cocktoberfest featuring:  Stolen Hearts, Pillow Talk DJ’s (in bikinis) with Misty Waters and the return of the Star Bar Dating Game. $5. 9 p.m.  Star Bar, 437 Moreland Ave. 404-681-9018.

(more…)

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Much like ’07’s North Star Deserter, Vic Chesnutt’s At the Cut finds Athens’ grim folkie still soaring beyond the devices of a traditional singer/songwriter. Many of the players who made North Star Deserter so bold and beautiful, including members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and former Fugazi vocalist/guitarist Guy Picciotto, have returned. But whereas North Star crystallized Chesnutt’s stark visions into swirls of strings, rhythms and dissonance, here the expansive sound feels natural. “Coward” opens with epic drama, and Picciotto’s guitar adds terse immediacy to “Phillip Guston,” while “Granny” wilts with somber remembrance. Riding these peaks and valleys is emotionally exhausting, but if you’re a fan you already know the kind of pain you’re in for. At the Cut doesn’t hold North Star’s surprises, but it’s a stunning companion album. (Constellation Records) 4 stars out of 5

“Flirted With You All My Life”

“Philip Guston”

“Chain”

(Photo Courtesy Constellation Records)

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“I’ve been mostly listening to stuff that will put me to sleep,” says Why? frontman Yoni Wolf the morning after a tour stop in Los Angeles, where the band plans to use an off-date to shoot a music video for a track from Eskimo Snow, its latest release on the Oakland, Calif.-based Anticon label. The statement is somehow unsurprising. Besides the elusive nature of quality shut-eye on tour, a quick study of Why?’s lyrical output reveals a man in possession of an incessant inner dialogue and a particular preoccupation with the weightier end of the subject-matter spectrum.

The songs on Eskimo Snow and the band’s previous release, Alopecia (both were recorded simultaneously during a recent, and particularly frigid, winter in Minneapolis), are intricate musings on mortality. Were they not delivered in Wolf’s unmistakable, speak-sing delivery and backed by such luscious, careful instrumentation, they would almost certainly be a drag. Instead, they are lively and bursting with character. Unlike early Why?, which was hip-hop influenced by design, the newer albums shimmer with a refined indie-pop sensibility. But don’t expect them to settle. “I wouldn’t say [Eskimo Snow] is an indication of where we’re going necessarily,” Wolf says. “The bits and pieces that I have written for the next record are more lyrically rhythmic, intricately rhymed,” he continues, though he balks at the suggestion of a total return to form. “I have some sound ideas in my head that are quite different.”

Continue Reading “Why ask Why? It’s a loaded question”

(Photo by Jacob Hand)

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