Crib Notes

Goodnight Unknown, Lou Barlow’s second solo album, is less of the grand personal statement that was Emoh and more like a lost Sebadoh album. Here, the posturing of a songwriter with a capital S gives way to a patchwork of comfortable pop tunes. “Sharing” jumps to life with a punk beat, but as the title track unfolds, the mood becomes serene. “Too Much Freedom” embraces folk(ish) form, driving the album’s austere moments. “One Machine, One Long Flight” revisits the spirit of slacker insurrection like a fond memory, while “The Right” carries the fey confusion of the Sebadoh classic “Rebound.” The album’s strengths lie in its tamed, not-so-lo-fi sound qualities over Barlow’s ability to deliver such a lingering phrase as “modesty will prevail/but modesty won’t provide,” without being a total downer. Adulthood has mellowed the emotional hooligan, but Barlow is aging gracefully. (Merge) 4 stars out of 5

Lou Barlow with Dinosaur Jr. $28.50. 8:30 p.m. Sat., Oct. 17. Variety Playhouse. 404-524-7354. www.variety-playhouse.com.

(Photo courtesy Merge)

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It is often said that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Despite the warm reception that Atlanta trio Living Rooms has received during its short 10 months together, fans and detractors alike have uttered the same criticism: They sound like Animal Collective. The comparison is hard to avoid for Seth Bolton (vocals, sampler, beats), Ryan Luce (guitar, synthesizer), and Sean Telo (sampler, effects); even they don’t deny the allegation.

“They are our biggest influence,” Bolton says. “People hear similar things when we play and think Animal Collective because they’ve received so much notice. It’s a compliment, actually.”

“Error” mp3

Continue reading “Living Rooms sounds like Animal Collective … almost”

(Photo courtesy Allan Taylor)

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Returning once again to the rootsy country music that defined her early career, Patty Loveless proves that she has a voice for the ages. Mountain Soul II does not wander far from the tracks laid down on the first edition, choosing instead to widen the road a bit with a flourish of perfect gospel harmonies on “(We All Are) Children of Abraham,” and by kicking up dirt on a stunning version of the late Harlan Howard’s “Busted.” Joined by some of the finest pickers in the world — including Del & Ronnie McCoury and dobro player Rob Ickes — in addition to backup vocals from old friends Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris and Jon Randall, Loveless does what she does best: sing pure hillbilly music. Masterfully produced by her husband, Emory Gordy Jr., there is not a note or a moment out of place on this jewel. As Nashville’s industry moves further away from its core and into pop pabulum, artists such as Loveless keep the real thing alive and well. (Saguaro Road Records) 5 stars out of 5

Patty Loveless $9. 2 and 7 p.m. Wed., Oct. 14. Georgia Mountain Fall Festival, Hiawassee. www.georgiamountainfairgrounds.com.

(Photo courtesy Saguaro Road Records)

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“They say just live your life, but I’ma live mine twice,” goes the hook on “True Star,” off of Warren G’s latest album, The G Files. For someone so closely associated with ’90s G-funk this is a tall task, as G has been unable to revitalize his career unlike such Cali vets as Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, G’s stepbrother. The G Files continues in the mellow vein of his last album, 2005’s In the Mid-Nite Hour. Instead of G-funk, it offers sleepy R&B with only the faintest hints of West Coast flavor. “Let’s Get High” is a tired ode to bud, while “Drinks Ain’t Free” is a purportedly humorous club satire that makes one wonder how G is holding up financially these days. “100 Miles and Runnin’” is a winner, featuring a rejuvenated Raekwon and a gothic-sounding harpsichord beat from G. But for the most part, these tracks just make you want to dust off your copy of Regulate…G Funk Era. (Ttl Records)

2 stars out of 5

(Photo courtesy TTL RECORDS)

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“Living in Akron, believe it or not, can be incredibly boring if you don’t have anything to do.” That’s Black Keys’ drummer Patrick Carney on the impetus for his new outfit, Drummer.

Not too long ago, the Keys’ vocalist and guitar man Dan Auerbach departed their Ohio hamlet on a solo tour, leaving Carney at loose ends. And so to stave off boredom he recruited four other drummers from groups that were on hiatus or disbanded, including Teeth of the Hydra, Ghostman & Sandman, Six Parts Seven, and Beaten Awake.

This mad scientist experiment led to Drummer, in which everyone except Greg Boyd (who stuck with sticks) plays something new. Their guitar-and-keyboard-focused debut, Feel Good Together, dropped last month, and it’s more accessible and melodic than Black Keys’ blues/garage-rock infusions. “There wasn’t really all that much thought put into how we would sound,” says Carney, who plays bass in the group. “But we wanted to make something that was relatively poppy indie rock.”

Continue Reading “Black Keys’ drummer enlists four other drummers to form Drummer”

(Photo by Tim Fitzwater)

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THIEVERY CORPORATION: $36. 8 p.m. Sun., Oct. 11. Tabernacle, 152 Luckie St. 404-659-9022. www.livenation.com.

The current global economic climate serves as the perfect backdrop to Thievery Corporation’s evolution from a DJ/production outfit into a world-music collective with a loud voice of dissent, capped by the release of last year’s Radio Retaliation.

“Vampires,” the group’s collaboration with Afrobeat singer and band leader Femi Kuti, is a metaphorical indictment of the bête noire of international activists, the International Monetary Fund. “You live on the blood of my people/Everyone knows you’ve come to steal/You come like the thieves in the night/The whole world is ready to fight.”

The rest of the album furthers Thievery Corporation’s affinity for world musicians, continuing what has become its signature production style of incorporating non-Western instruments and composing in distinct, non-Western harmonies, laced over head-nodding, boom-bap beats.

Continue reading “Thievery Corporation emerges as a strong, independent voice of dissent”

Download “The Shining Path” – from Radio Retaliation.

(Photo courtesy Fresh Clean media)

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EVERYTHING’S STRANGE: Untied States plays Other Sound fest.

The Other Sound festival got quite a nudge this year when New York indie-rock darlings Yo La Tengo announced its plans to play an in-store at Criminal Records the same day as the annual local music festival. It’s a happy accident. But the real genius of the fortuitous pairing lies in the design of this year’s fest — which puts the music where the people are.

Over the last four years, Other Sound has served as a showcase for the many indie-rock and outsider musical acts in Atlanta. Rather than relegate the festival to a handful of 21-and-up bars, organizers Kat Colohan, Justin Sias and Eric Holder have descended upon Little Five Points for a day-long event that utilizes the neighborhood’s infrastructure in some inventive ways.

Continue reading “Other Sound fest takes over L5P”

(Photo courtesy Untied States)

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ALL FOUR ONE: Cee-Lo (clockwise from front), Khujo, T-Mo and Big Gipp put the city on their backs.

By Maurice Garland

Once known as “the city too busy to hate,” Atlanta has seemingly turned into “the city too busy to remember.” In its desire to become a hybrid of New York’s grind and Los Angeles’ shine, many of the cultural landmarks that made the city what it once was have disappeared. Remember the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium where Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record? It’s now a parking lot. Such streets of infamy as Stewart Avenue and Bankhead Highway have been renamed. Earwax Records got squeezed out by the iPod. Even the sports memorabilia shop Distant Replays is a distant memory. Compound that with the Atlanta Housing Authority’s nearly completed plan to erase every last trace of housing projects from the landscape, and it seems the city’s becoming a soul-less shell of its former self.

But on a recent August afternoon so humid and hazy it would leave local TV weathermen Glenn Burns and Ken Cook speechless, four recognizable brothers donned in throwback red Adidas jumpsuits stand outside the West End soul food restaurant Chanterelle’s. They resemble a blast from the not-too-distant past.

Continue reading “A dirty job for Goodie Mob”

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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TWILIGHT DRONE: The Intelligence goes back to the future.

Fake Surfers, the fourth album from Seattle’s junk-punk, noise-pop foursome the Intelligence, begins like the opening scene from The Godfather.

The opening track slowly pans across hazy tones while a haunted, sci-fi traipse carries as much of the album’s punch as the songs themselves. There’s no telling if the same languid pace will dominate the record, or if it will suddenly burst into a cacophony of crunching, art-rock kerang. But the tension soon breaks as a wall of ecstatic guitars take hold in “Tower.”

“I have always loved that Peter Gunn guitar sound — a little reverb and something super simple played on one string,” says the group’s vocalist and founding member, Lars Finberg, as he mills over a list of antiquated science-fiction fodder from Devo to Stanley Kubrik’s 2001: A Space Odyssey that has shaped his palette.

Continue reading “The Intelligence gets lost in space”

“Debt & ESP” mp3

(Photo courtesy 230 Publicity)

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LIGHTEN UP: Darryl Rhoades is seriously funny.

The Atlanta music scene of the 1970s was a rich, fertile ground open to just about anything. Musicians were experimenting with various creative outlets, especially Darryl Rhoades and the Hahavishnu Orchestra. Mixing music, theater, and social commentary, the Orchestra drew comparisons to esoteric acts such as the Mothers of Invention and the Fugs. The 12-member ensemble toured the U.S. over three years, and even performed a James Brown parody called “Suicide” on Brown’s own “Future Shock” TV show.

Rhoades still works as an entertainer, and he sees his job in much the same light now as he did then. “Since the Hahavishnu’s last date in 1978, I had another band, released 10 CDs, did movies, and played drums while maintaining a 45- to 50-week schedule in comedy clubs … and I don’t see how entertaining is much different. The market is tighter and the Internet has certainly influenced how we promote ourselves. It still comes down to competing for attention, money, luck, and marketing potential. And there are less places to perform, a lot less diversity in sound … but the money is the same.”

Continue reading “Hahavishnu has the last laugh”

(Photo courtesy Darryl Rhoades)

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RAT PACK THROWBACK: Jamie Foxx promises a “variety show.”

Let’s face it — Jamie Foxx can do just about anything he wants. After he accidentally leaked a pickle shot onto the Internet, he claimed the nude self-portrait was for an upcoming movie role. After he joked on his satellite radio show that Miley Cyrus should make a sex tape and do some heroin, he simply apologized to her and all was immediately forgiven. No one holds anything against him because, well, he’s one of the great talents of his generation, a Rat Pack throwback who can act, tell jokes and sing.

Oddly, Foxx still feels like he has to prove himself when it comes to his musical prowess, despite his latest album, Intuition, being his second consecutive R&B smash. “Until you get a chance to define another side of your career, people will always say, ‘You’re doing it as a hobby,’” he imparts by phone.

Continue reading “Jamie Foxx: The master of the entertainment universe”

(Photo by John Russo)

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STONED ORB: San Francisco’s the Sleepy Sun play music beyond their years.

Is it ever a surprise when a new psychedelic rock band emerges from San Francisco? Mind-altering music might be Northern California’s second-largest export, right after the cash crops budding in Humboldt County. The six fresh-faced twentysomethings who play music as Sleepy Sun — from San Francisco by way of Santa Cruz — are well-acquainted with Northern California’s rich musical history and somewhat criminal agricultural output. Judging by their debut LP, Embrace, they’ve been eating pot brownies and digesting Neil Young guitar solos since grade school.

Calling from a remote cabin in the mountains outside of Tahoe, bassist Jack Allen joked about being pigeonholed as a San Francisco act. “Actually, we’ve been talking about just changing our name to Haight Street Acid Beard,” he says.

Continue reading “Sleepy Sun’s rays of psychedelia shine with confidence”

(Photo by Brett Wilde)

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TWO DRUMSTICKS, EXTRA CRISPY: KJ Sawka

Every once in a while, a musician of such skill and dexterity comes along that seeing him perform live makes you stop dead in your tracks and say, “Whoa.” Seattle drummer Kevin “KJ” Sawka is one such musician. The collegiate-looking jungle/drum and bass head has mastered the art of what sounds like drum machine music by playing drums like a machine.

“Electronic music can be a little boring to watch sometimes, but that’s where I differ in a big, big way,” Sawka says.

As a one-man spectacle, Sawka transcends the pitfalls of seeing a guy slouched over a laptop, playing live electronic music. His movements are fast and metronomic as he rattles through a precise set of broken beats and obtuse rhythms with mesmerizing energy. “It’s an eyeful for a lot of people, especially for a lot of drum and bass fans who aren’t used to seeing a live musician playing the music,” he adds. “I have a big variety of stuff that I do and with me playing drums in the middle of it all. It really adds a live essence to the show rather than coming off like seeing a DJ.”

Continue reading “Drummer KJ Sawka plays like a machine”

(Photo courtesy KJ Sawka)

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GOT THE HOOKUP?: I dO Music converts the masses.

In a city where everybody seems to be chasing a career in music, I dO Music offers a common-sense solution. The brainchild of PatchWerk Recording Studio’s marketing manager Kervins Chauvet, I dO Music is all about self-empowerment.

“You wouldn’t believe the amount of calls we get to the studio every day,” Chauvet says of the hungry musical wannabees who want career advice. Rather than advise them to go the traditional route (send a demo, etc.), Chauvet gives them practical advice. “We believe in empowering the musician and making them understand that it’s just not up to us. At the end of the day, you’re the source of power to make it happen.”

Continue reading “Kervins C’s industry rules”

(Photo courtesy I dO Music)

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It’s been a minute since the Orphins last checked-in. Wish You Well, the post-punk outfit’s second full-length to materialize in their 10-year career isn’t a significant shift in style, but it does bring a terse upgrade to the group’s jangle and dirge-pop assaults. As opening numbers “(x2+y2-1)3 –x2y3=0” and “In the Dark” unfold, the old familiar chime moves in leaving a core accent that affects the entire album. Such a distinctive guitar sound was the driving part of the group when they released Drowning Cupid back in 2004. This time it’s woven deeply into the fabric of “Sea Song” and “Elements.” Both are full-bodied pinnacles of the group’s monochromatic rhythms, that are less insular than before, but are still instantly recognizable, and instantly catchy. (Adair Park)

4 stars out of 5

The Orphins play the Drunken Unicorn with the Selmanaires and Club Awesome. Sat. Aug. 15. $8. 8:30 p.m. 736 Ponce de Leon Place.

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From Georgia Soul

The Peachtree Soul Club is extremely pleased to present, for the first time ever on the same bill, two Atlanta soul legends, Hermon Hitson and George Hughley. The show is Friday, July 31 at the Highland Inn Lounge and the show begins at 9pm. Additionally, PSC DJs Tim Lawrence and myself will be DJing the event as well for your further dancing pleasure. Oh, in the above picture you’ll see George on the right. Unfortunately, that’s not Hermon on the left though. There’s a little bit more about that fella to come soon enough.

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Eleni Mandell with Holland Dutch and Old Custer. $10. 9 p.m. Sat., July 25. Star Bar, 437 Moreland Ave. 404-681-9018. www.starbar.net.

Los Angeles-based singer Eleni Mandell has always been a dabbler. While her rich voice served as a constant, Mandell has swung through various musical styles on her releases over the past decade. Her new album, Artificial Fire, finds Mandell combining her disparate interests into an upbeat, cohesive collection. “My early writing was so much about being sad and in turmoil, or angry,” she says. “My younger self would be pleased that I decided to have fun and bring a lot of joy to the music.”

Starting out with heavy, noirish rock and roll torch songs on early albums like Wishbone and Thrill, Mandell later conjured flirtatious Nashville on 2003’s Country for True Lovers, sauntered through jazz on the following year’s EP Maybe, Yes, and sang conventional songs-for-guitar on 2007’s Miracle of Five. Then she also spends time with the Living Sisters and the Grabs, side projects that let her play around with straightforward, forceful pop-rock. These stylistic departures have been experiments for Mandell, who says she’s eager to explore different emotions, ideas and sides of her personality through her music. Through it all, Mandell has rarely fallen flat, and her vintage leanings have avoided the sticky easiness of kitsch.

Continue reading “Eleni Mandell matures into her own teenage dreams”

(Photo by Lauren Dukoff)

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CUT AND PASTE: Glen Iris

Glen Iris with Lions and Thy Mighty Contract. $7. 9 p.m. Fri., July 17. Drunken Unicorn, 736 Ponce de Leon Place. www.thedrunkenunicorn.net.

Former Rock*A*Teens guitarist Justin Hughes doesn’t have much to say about the two songs on Glen Iris’ debut 7-inch slated for release on July 17 via the group’s recently invented Dirty Slacks imprint. “I don’t really like talking about myself,” he offers humbly. “That’s the music journalist’s job. Songs just kind of come to me when I’m playing around with a guitar and whatever they mean to you is whatever they mean.”

That sort of open-to-interpretation attitude behooves the two-guitar and drums trio rounded out by Brass Castle guitarist and vocalist Chris Strawn, and drummer Jonathan Luecke. Both Strawn and Hughes bring songs to the band and the resulting tug-of-war between their distinct voices culminates in an eclectic mix of divergent numbers. Strawn’s low guitar sounds fill in for the bass while Luecke’s percussive sway works double-time to keep the rhythms moving.

Continue reading “Glen Iris’ off-kilter dynamic colors new 7-inch”

(Photo courtesy Glen Iris)

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Sonic Youth’s umpteenth studio album The Eternal hit the streets yesterday via Matador Records, and it is a monster. The gorgeous John Fahey painting on the album’s cover sums it up in one circular and rhythmic motion.

The Eternal is a swirling mass of stark, guitar textures where persistent, avant-garde movements lure the senses into a familiar place before opening up to reveal the truly bombastic nature of the album.

Over the last decade albums such as NYC Ghosts and Flowers, Sonic Nurse and Rather Ripped have upheld the group’s legacy, but The Eternal is easily Sonic Youth’s strongest record in years. “Sacred Trickster,” “Anti-Orgasm,” “Antenna” and “No Way” evoke the energy, the darkness and the noise wrought with such early staples as “EVOL,” “Sister” and “Daydream Nation.” But what sets The Eternal apart is a uniformly brilliant batch of songs that find the band thrashing through chiming melodies, chops, feedback and drones, butted against the vocal back-and-forth of Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore who come across sharper and more energetic than they have sounded in quite some time. “Sacred Trickster” sets the machine in motion with urgency and an affinity for the noir side of bleak art for the sake of rock and roll, which is what Sonic Youth has always done best. More on this in the weeks to come.

“Sacred Trickster” mp3

Sonic Youth plays the Variety Playhouse with the Entrance Band on Mon., July 13. $25. 8p.m.

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Nashville-based film maker Matthew Robison’s (Silver Jew) much ballyhooed, but yet to be released Atlanta rock documentary We Fun premieres at the Atlanta Film Festival this Saturday night (April 18.)

The film is showing on screen no. 4 at the Midtown Art Cinema on Sat., April 18 and again at 2:05 p.m. on screen no. 6 on  Wed., April 22.

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