Crib Notes

Like everyone else in the mid-’90s, I loved Portishead. I adored Dummy, its classic 1994 album. Although it took me a few tries, I learned to love its difficult and astringent 1997 self-titled follow-up. I bought both editions of Andy Smith’s The Document. (Andy Smith was the tour DJ for Portishead.) And when the reclusive Beth Gibbons put out her solo album with Rustin Man, Out of Season, I not only bought the 2002 vinyl import, but the 2003 U.S. edition on CD. (Actually, a publicist sent me the CD.)

So it’s safe to say I’m a Portishead fan. The impending arrival of its new album, Third, however, just worries me. What if it sucks? I mean, 10 years is a long time — what if Portishead has fallen off? Worse, what if it’s the equivalent of a reunion album — Portishead rehashing the highlights of its “Sour Times” glory years? I guess it could turn out to be great. But honestly, what’s the likelihood of that?

We’ll find out for sure when Portishead’s Third comes out April 29.

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This just scoped out via MTV.com: Butch Walker has posted a live album that you can download for free. It’s called Leavin’ the Game on Luckie St., perhaps a nod to Walker moving from Atlanta to Los Angeles (and then New York) last year. Not sure how the album sounds — I just saw the post a few minutes ago. With luck, however, it will be resemble the amiable glam-rock pastiche of Walker’s underappreciated 2006 album, Butch Walker & the Lets Go Out Tonites and not the radio crap … uh, hits … that he writes for Avril Lavigne. Plus, while you’re downloading the album, you can sign up for an account with Friends or Enemies, the latest social networking miasma.

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(Photo from El Bar’s MySpace page)

El Bar, the Midtown hot spot tucked in the basement beneath El Azteca restaurant, is going the way of the dodo bird. Last Tuesday, while the Triple D’s crew celebrated an “anti-Valentine’s Day party” with inflatable sex dolls and raffle prizes, co-owner and indefatigable DJ Rob Wonder broke the bad news. Closing night is set for Friday, Feb. 29, but Rob says he has no special plans other than to just, you know, spin some records. If you’ve never been to the stonewalled club billed as “Atlanta’s best-kept secret,” you’ve got until the end of the month to pay a visit.

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(Photo by Sarah Friedman)

Fresh from his memorable performance at the 50th annual Grammy Awards, hip-hop genius/royal brat (depending on your point of view) Kanye West is heading to Atlanta. He’s bringing a killer lineup with him, too: Rihanna, Lupe Fiasco and Pharell Williams’ N.E.R.D., which is putting out a new album this year. It all happens at Gwinnett Center in Duluth on Sunday, May 4. Tickets go on sale on Friday, Feb. 15.

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YOUNG, BLACK AND WEIRD: Hollyweerd rocks the Drunken Unicorn.

(Photos by Hannibal M.)

“We on some black hipster shit in here!” announced Wil May, host for the hip-hop showcase “Perfect Attendance.” Yes, it’s true: Atlanta’s black hipsters are back and in full force. For the past several months, they’ve been organizing concerts and parties with the fervor of punk rock bands. Rarely a week goes by without a show featuring either Proton, Gripplyaz or Hollyweerd. Typically, all three were on the Perfect Attendance lineup.

Perfect Attendance was held at the Drunken Unicorn Friday, Feb. 8. It was presented by Fadia Kader’s Come Up Kids crew, and much of the two-hour showcase featured Jaspects as both lead performer and backing band. Several of the scene’s players were either performing or were in the audience, including Battery 5, Kid Kaos and others. Perfect Attendance was just the latest of dozens of events seeking to inflate the ATL hip-hop buzz to record levels, but it was as good an opportunity as any to see what the hype was all about.

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THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: Herbie Hancock wins Album of the Year at the 50th annual Grammy Awards.

(Photo by Kwaku Alston)

Every year, we get excited about the Grammys and the Oscars in the weeks before they’re held, and then complain about them the night afterward. But out of the two, I think the Grammys have it tougher. When it comes to film, people love their niches — art flicks, action movies, teen comedies, whatever — but manage to agree on a few great movies. Unfortunately, music is hobbled by generational, cultural and even racial divides. Worse, each group claims to have the best musical taste, and has little tolerance for anything else.

It’s rare when everyone agrees an album is good, which seemingly happened with Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black last year. An indicator of its vast appeal was the wide range of media that gossiped about her well-chronicled drug problems: websites and blogs, tabloid glossies such as Us Weekly, music magazines such as Rolling Stone, and even mainstream publications such as the New York Times. Black and white, young and old audiences bought Back to Black, and everyone took interest in her musical and personal life.

That’s why Winehouse dominated the 50th annual Grammy Awards last night. She won five out of the six awards she was nominated for and nearly swept the major categories, picking up Record of the Year and Song of the Year for her “Rehab” single and Best New Artist.

Winehouse’s sole loss came in the Album of the Year category. Although many observers were surprised when Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters beat Winehouse’s Back to Black and Kanye West’s Graduation, it wasn’t out of the ordinary. When it comes to the Album of the Year, the Recording Academy, which hands out the awards, tends to opt for two choices: a multiplatinum hit that draws a diverse audience or a late-period work from a legacy artist. Hancock’s win was something akin to a lifetime achievement award for a jazz legend. (My colleague Andisheh Nouraee calls this the “Steely Dan award.” Steely Dan’s Everything Must Go famously beat out West’s The College Dropout at the 2004 Grammys.)

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As everyone knows, CL published several stories on Sloppy Seconds in 2007, including my controversial column in the Dec. 26 issue. Those stories often ran with the above photograph.

Take a close look. Standing up in the top center of the photo is Caleb Gauge, the impresario behind Sloppy Seconds. Kelly B., his former business partner, is sitting to Caleb’s left. To his right is Ian Ford, another former business partner who now throws cool events such as the Art of Partying. However, the blond girl sitting in the center below Caleb has nothing to do with Sloppy Seconds.

Her name is Roxy Cottontail. She’s not from Atlanta, but New York. She’s the subject of countless articles in your favorite tastemaker glossies, and currently graces the cover of URB magazine. The last time Roxy appeared here was at a Sloppy Seconds party in late 2006, and she absolutely killed it on the decks. She also promotes a lot of cool parties, has her own fashion line and even writes her own songs. Although I think her songs are kinda wack (sorry, gotta be honest), they add to her mystique as an arbiter of style.

Anyway, Roxy will return to Atlanta for the February edition of Sloppy Seconds on Saturday, Feb. 16. She’ll be joined by local kids DJ Klever, Rob Wonder and Hollyweerd.

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THEY ONLY LOOK HOMELESS: Morning State

(photo courtesy Indie Outlaw)

In this week’s issue of CL, I wrote a story about Livewire Recordings, home to ATL bands such as Warm in the Wake and (formerly) Morning State. I first got a tip that Livewire was going under last December. After talking to several people and managing to get label co-owner Colin Cobb on the phone for a few minutes, it’s clear that the label suffered from serious money problems. Cobb claims that Livewire is only going on hiatus, but it is unclear if he will ever re-launch it.

Meanwhile, Morning State has been vocal about its frustration with Livewire. As the article explains, Morning State was one of two bands that was unable to get its album out before the label went on hiatus. (The other was Lake Charles, La., band Tuesday’s Debut.) However, manager/publicist Ian Wheeler sent me an e-mail today clarifying that Morning State is not “homeless.” The group plans to issue its debut album in April on Indie Outlaw, a boutique label set up by Wheeler.

Morning State’s “You Know People, I Know People” is slated for a late-April release on indie outlaw. The album was re-recorded over the past 10 days in Athens with Asa Leffer and features guest performances by members of Hope foragoldensummer, Dark Meat, and Gnarls Barkley collaborators. The band and myself feel that this new version of the album is 1 million times better than the previous take. The band will be playing multiple shows at SXSW this year, including the official indie outlaw showcase. They will also be touring with De Novo Dahl at the end of the month.

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After a disastrous and bloody CD-release party last month, Attractive Eighties Women is getting a do-over. This Saturday, Feb. 9, at Criminal Records, the group behind such favorites as “Murder Kroger” and “They Shoot Hipsters, Don’t They” will convene for a free concert. Free beer and hot dogs will be provided, but free beer bottles will not. After all, a “Master Cylinder” of cold Pabst brew isn’t a metaphor for a glass. If you are unfamiliar with Attractive Eighties Women’s specialness, check out my profile in CL’s Jan. 9 issue.

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These days, with an ascendant progressive hip-hop scene on the horizon, everyone’s talking about Dungeon Family and OutKast again. (Like we ever stopped.) It’s important to remember, though, that while OutKast, Goodie Mob and Organized Noize blew up, most of the crew never really had much success, at least from a sales standpoint. Some will argue that classic yet underperforming singles such as Cool Breeze’s “Watch for the Hook” are all the success you need. Yes, they may be godhead in Atlanta, but to the rest of the world they’re almost famous.

Tonight, prodigal son Killer Mike has a big show at Django, and he’ll perform with Gripplyaz, one of those hotly tipped leaders of the new school. Both will be backed by Atlanta go-go group the X.O. Band. To mark the occasion, here’s a quote from a recent Killer Mike interview with HipHopDx.com that addresses Dungeon Family’s complicated legacy.

Dungeon Family fans got the shit end of the stick for over 10 years. They’ve seen their heroes like Witchdoctor, like Cool Breeze, like Backbone, like Slimm Calhoun, slip into the abyss. They have seen factionalization, they’ve seen disenfranchisement, they’ve seen everything except a glorious comeback. And the fans deserve that.