Crib Notes

Atlanta’s Connect crew, holding down the designated spot for deep house Thursdays is joined tonight by Alex Barck of the German collective Jazzanova. Navigating the boundaries between traditional jazz and the more contemporary electronic, chill-out and downtempo genres with a bit of a deep house vibe,  Jazzanova has an extensive list of remix credits and a couple of full-length releases, including last year’s Of All the Things.

Joining Barck will be CaZ Atlanta, a new collaboration between local DJs and producers Mike Zarin and Chris Nicholson.

Listen in as Alex Barck sits in with Jamal Ahmed on WCLK 91.9FM today Thursday at 3:45pm EST. Listen live at www.wclk.com.

Alex Barck of Jazzanova w/ CaZ Atlanta and Karl Injex. $5-$10. Thurs. Nov. 19. 10 p.m. Lava Lounge. 57 13th Street. www.cosmolava.com

(Photo courtesy Mike Zarin)

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You’re from Dahlonega, correct?

Yeah, I’m home and I’m sitting here with this huge view of the Appalachian mountains and it’s great and there are church bells singing some Southern hymn. I was born in Memphis and then I lived in Atlanta for 5 or 6 years — Grant Park. My dad was an Appalachian fiddler and he wanted to learn from a teach who lives up here, named Bruce Molsky. We moved here so he could be closer to the fiddle and banjo people.

Does he still play?

Yeah, his name is John Grimm and he’s in a band called the Georgia Potlickers and he has a music store up here called Vintage Music on the Dahlonega square.

Did your interest in music stem from growing up watching your father play?

Definitely, it’s kind of all he does. He’s always worked like 16 hours a day teaching lessons, doing repairs and selling instruments. In the evenings he’s either playing a show himself or working with a recording engineer or sound engineer somewhere. If I was hanging out with my dad it was always at a concert or at his shop. I used to walk home from school and he would give me a nickel to tune all of the guitars in the shop.

He’s really into Eastern music as well — he was a hippie — so he was trying to give me a classical Indian kind of training where you have to spend years tuning an instrument before you can actually play it.

“Ride That Cyclone” mp3

Larkin Grimm plays Variety Playhouse Sat., Nov. 21 with the Mountain Goats and Final Fantasy. $17.50. 9 p.m. 1099 Euclid Ave. 404-524-7354.

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GUCCI MANE: The Atlanta rapper keeps it way too real on the cover of upcoming album, The State vs. Radric Davis.

With Gucci Mane once again headed back to jail, his new song, “My Own Worst Enemy,” feels particularly apropos. Over a melancholy synth beat from Drumma Boy, Gucci touches on his near-deadly beef with Young Jeezy, his conversations with the currently incarcerated T.I., and his own frequent brushes with the law: “Me, Jeezy and T.I. share one thing in common/All are poets/Role models to young people/Though at times man we still ignore it.”

On Nov. 12, Gucci (née Radric Davis) was sentenced to 12 months behind bars for violating his probation and was removed from a Fulton County courtroom in handcuffs. He is expected to serve about half of that time. A judge ruled that he had not completed community service requirements, that he failed drug tests and that he did not secure permission to travel. The case dates back to a 2005 conviction for attacking a club promoter, and this is the second time he has failed to meet the terms of his probation – the first time last year, sent him to jail for seven months.

The setback seems to come at a bad time for him. The Atlanta-bred rapper is more popular than ever, and his highly anticipated new album, The State vs. Radric Davis, is due Dec. 8. But it has already caused chaos with fans and concert promoters around the country. His past incarceration and probation terms have led to the cancellation of about a dozen shows this year. His absences have left promoters squabbling with his manager and booking agent — and threatening to file lawsuits.

But beyond the allegations lies the allegory. If Gucci is the frog prince of Atlanta trap-rap, impatiently waiting as he has for the better half of a decade to take his turn on the throne, he doesn’t need anything else to stunt his growth. Despite collaborating in 2009 with the likes of Mariah Carey, Black Eyed Peas, Mario and Usher – who’s featured in the current single “Spotlight” from his upcoming album – Gucci’s transition from ‘hood star to pop star remains fraught with hiccups. It’s something the industry may have to come to terms with, warts and all.

Continue Reading “The case of the canceled Gucci Mane concerts”

(Photo Courtesy So Icey/Asylum/Warner Bros)

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Desiree Williams, aka That Retail Chick, is Atlanta’s go-to-girl when it comes to all things retail in urban music. As the manager of Sound Shop in the Mall West End, she makes it her business to break down the business to independent artists desperate to get their grind on.

Tonight, she’s inviting the city to eavesdrop on her conversation with record exec. Rico Brooks. It takes place at 7 p.m. at Desserts by Latrell, 581 Edgewood Ave. 678-705-3409. dessertsbylatrell.com.

For a preview of the conversation, check out this snippet from her recent blog post, The Death of Music Retail and its Effect on Hip-Hop Music:

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Original release date:  Jan. 21, 2003

One-time Georgia boy and former Archers of Loaf frontman Eric Bachmann has a one-of-a-kind voice. On the best moments of Red Devil Dawn, the second album from Bachmann’s Crooked Fingers, his voice soothes like a sedated Tom Waits; on those few cringe-worthier ones he channels Cookie Monster on an oatmeal raisin binge. Thankfully, those latter moments come few and far between. Red Devil Dawn is one of those records which incongruously pairs music and lyrics to great effect — the instrumentation heard here is upbeat, lavish, even orchestral at times, but Bachmann’s lyrics serve to contrast. The sparse “Bad Man Coming” warns of some sort of impending doom, but manages to sound like a love song; “Big Darkness” prays for change in a dying “town where nothing moves,” where “even the vultures have moved on.”

Of course, Red Devil Dawn contains its fair share of actual love songs, and the better ones are simply outstanding. “You Can Never Leave,” despite its creepy title (what gives, Bachmann?), contains some beautiful lines. “You are no father’s daughter,” Bachmann croons. “No man has this much to offer.” And later, it becomes “You are fire, you are water/ When you dance, it is torture.” Further along in the album, though, that love turns to inevitable bitterness, and on the bouncy, horn-kissed “You Threw a Spark,” all that earlier adoration has become accusation and resentment. “So don’t you go claiming that I did you wrong,” Cookie Mon- er, Bachmann, spits, “When you were the one doing nothing at all.” (more…)

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From March 26-28, Knoxville, Tenn., is hosting the second annual Big Ears festival of “visionary music, exploratory art, and southern hospitality.”

Terry Riley will serve as this year’s Artist in Residence for the weekend with a series of concerts celebrating his 75th year on this planet.

The Daily Swarm says,

“One of the most influential musicians and composers of the past century, Terry Riley’s impact and influence on contemporary music and art cannot be overstated. In 1964, his revolutionary composition, In C, launched the Minimalist movement in music and his influence is still heard today in the work of Philip Glass, Steve Reich, John Adams and other classical composers. His subsequent early works, A Rainbow in Curved Air and Poppy Nogood, with their kaleidoscopic, psychedelic atmospheres, sent waves across the musical worlds of the 1960s, strongly reflected in the music of the Who, Pink Floyd, and other rock bands of the time. That influence continues today in the music of Radiohead and Animal Collective and even the National and Bon Iver. It’s no surprise that Terry Riley was recently selected by the London Times as one of the ‘1000 Makers of the 20th Century.’”

(Photo courtesy The Daily Swarm)

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Jon Spencer of Pussy Galore, Boss Hog and Blues Explosion fame rolls through town fronting a new duo, dubbed Heavy Trash, to play the Earl this Thurs., Nov. 19 at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 (adv). $12 (door).

… and if that’s past your bedtime, you can catch an early free show at Criminal Records the same day at 6:30 p.m.

Jon Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray are… Heavy Trash! On stage and in the studio, Jon Spencer has destroyed and rebuilt American roots music with such ferocity and wild abandon it is hard to believe that there is anything left. The trail of musical destruction in the wake of his groovy hate-fuck combo Pussy Galore still smolders with the stench of avant punk trash and nasty garage ooze and grind, while his towering work with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion remains an indelible totem to his enormous mojo spirit and red-hot power of deliverance. He is Daddy Boss Hog! He is the Blues Exploder and Microphone Destroyer! A Gibson Brother! The man who shared a Chicken Dog with Rufus Thomas, got Soul with R.L. Burnside, and enjoyed a greasy Lap Dance with Andre Williams! He is The Man Who Loved too Much!!! Now, with his pal Matt Verta-Ray, he has become Heavy Trash, and is inviting you to a Midnight Soul Serenade.

“Gee, I Really Love You” mp3

(Photo courtesy Press Here Publicity)

Video for Heavy Trash’s “(Sometime You Gotta Be) Gentle” below.

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Skinny Puppy regroups while its release hangs in limbo.

Even Skinny Puppy, the last great industrial band on the planet, is feeling the bite of the flailing global economy. As the group’s surviving members, frontman Ogre (Kevin Ogilvie) and drummer/programmer cEVIN Key (Kevin Crompton) embark on their In Solvent See Tour, they do so empty-handed. In May, the group’s label, the German-based SPV Records, filed for insolvency – the European version of filing Chapter 11. As a result, the group’s 13th studio album, ironically crafted as commentary on the current state of the U.S. economy, is left in limbo with no word as to when it will be released.

“It’s a clusterfuck,” Ogre huffs. “We worked on another album that was to be a throw-away, just to get us away from SPV, but we had a disagreement internally. So Mark [Walk] and I, who work on ohGr records, took it back. It turned out to be some of the best and most productive recording I’ve done in my whole life, so it’s going to become an ohGr record.”

Continue Reading “Skinny Puppy bites back”

(Photo Courtesy Austin Young)

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Much hullabaloo has been made after Arish “King” Khan and the King Khan & BBQ Show’s road manager Kristen Klein were arrested in Christian County, Kentucky last week.  The two were picked up on alleged charges of possession of a controlled substance (mushrooms) and driving on a suspended license.

The full details of the arrest can be read on the Kentucky New Era’s website.

Klein appeared in court yesterday (Mon., Nov. 16), after which the band issued a statement breaking down the situation as it stands now.

“On November 16, 2009 Kristin Klein entered a guilty plea to 2nd degree possession of a controlled substance in Christian County, Kentucky. Ms Klein was driving a rental vehicle that was randomly stopped at a safety checkpoint. Officers located a controlled substance in the cab of the vehicle. Ms Klein was unaware of the contraband and the validity of her license was indeterminable at time of arrest. Under KY law a driver of a vehicle is responsible for its contents. Therefore, Ms Klein entered a guilty plea and is scheduled to appear on April 2, 2010 to provide proof of her valid license.

“King Khan & BBQ Show are driving through the night to make their Los Angeles show at Troubadour tomorrow. Tonight’s show in Phoenix is cancelled, but all further west coast dates and will to be honored. Kristin Klein is safe with the band and continuing her tenure as tour manager.”

Klein explained over the telephone today that despite their best efforts they won’t be able to play the show in Los Angeles scheduled for tonight and are now en route to San Francisco to make it in time to play at the Independent on Wed., Nov. 18.

Klein spoke off the record about the incident, but explained that despite their Canadian citizenship, an international incident was avoided. In other words, no one is being deported and the King Khan and BBQ show can and will go on.

(Photo courtesy Kristen Klein’s facebook)

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Boston-based composer/clarinetist Karl Henning will make his Atlanta debut tonight (Tues., Nov. 17) at 8 p.m. at Emory Presbyterian Church.  Admission is $10/$5 students.

Henning is in Atlanta to perform much of his music for unaccompanied clarinet, and Nicole Randall-Chamberlain will perform his music for unaccompanied flute (and a new work of her own).  Together they will play some of Karl’s music for flute and clarinet duo.

You may recall that Karl’s percussion sextet “Journey to the Dayspring” as one of the works on the inaugural concert of the Schwartz Center.

Complete program for this evening performance below …

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Of all the superstar DJs that come and go like transient memories of summer breezes, David Guetta has the closest connection to Atlanta. One of his main production partners and collaborators is Atlanta-based singer Chris Willis, who’s laced vocals over some of the bigger tracks this Parisian DJ has put forth (think “Every time we touch,” or ” Just a little more Love”).

Willis returns for Guetta’s fourth studio record, One Love, but his name gets lost among a laundry list of a-list collaborators like Akon, Kelly Rowland, Estelle, Kid Kudi, and Will.i.am. Despite the pop credentials, Guetta’s focus remains on the DJ booth, telling DJ Times Magazine:

Being a DJ is my life! This whole thing right now around me, I see stadium shows, I do concert halls, and my management and my record company people are like, “David, you need to go live and to come with that huge live show!” But I really don’t like that. What makes me happy is to DJ in clubs.

Lest you forget, Guetta is known for putting together quite a party (the name “Fuck me, I’m famous” ought to ring a bell), and having produced big name tracks (Black Eyed Peas’ “I got a feeling”) and remixes (Bob Sinclair’s “World, hold on”), dude’s got an extensive track list to choose from.

Sexy Bitch (Feat. Akon)

David Guetta $40-$75. 9 p.m. Opera. 404-874-0428. www.operaatlanta.com.

(Photo courtesy EMI)

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Don’t fret if you’re one of the unlucky ones who didn’t act fast enough to get a ticket for the XX show tonight at 529. The group is playing a free in-store show at Criminal Records in L5P tonight (Tues., Nov. 17) at 8 p.m.

With their self-titled debut, Londoners The xx drift through a mire of boy-girl, twentysomething sexual and emotional ruminations via sparse atmospheres and occasionally evolved pop melodies that hide mostly in the shadows. But when it comes to the surface in “VCR,” “Crystalised” and “Basic Space,” their simple, economical songwriting soars far beyond their years.

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Show up early as it will most likely be huge.

Criminal Records is located at 1154-A Euclid Ave. 404-215-9511.

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Atlas Sound has a new virtual 7-inch single posted as a free download over at Deerhunter’s blog. The A-side features a cover of a bounding pop number called “Doctor” by the old school Doo-Wop group, the Five Discs.

The B-Side is a very slow bout of moonlit harmonica doodling and cooing. If you caught Atlas Sound during the most recent tour with the Selmanaires, you most likely caught a glimpse of Bradford Cox’s introduction of the wretched blues harp. It’s tough to bring said instrument into the fold while maintaining even the slightest sense of sincerity, but he seems to be working it in pretty seamlessly. But to wield it for anything more than subtle texture would be the death of the song — as such its presence alone creates beautiful, psychological tension.

The harmonica’s arrival also coincides with an equally unexpected flare for pop narrative, as portrayed on the flipside of this virtual single. But there’s a push toward conflict as well as Cox seems to have also developed an affinity for mashing-up Neil Young-style stridency, longing and melancholy in one fell swoop. Still, it’s a cool couple of songs that show him expanding his repertoire and embracing some changes stylistically while keeping a grasp on his own musical fingerprint.

“Doctor” mp3

“The Screens” mp3

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Punk rocker GG Allin immortalized as a bobblehead stocking stuffer

That cat Santa? Yeah, he was a big ol’ pimp.

According to a trusted source (Wikipedia), Saint Nicholas of Myra was the dude who served as “the primary inspiration for the Christian figure of Santa Claus.” Apparently, he earned his cake daddy rep after gifting dowries to a destitute Christian’s three daughters to keep them from resorting to prostitution. Guess that would also explain how he stumbled upon his famed greeting: “Ho. Ho. Ho.”

It’s been music to our ears ever since. Each year around this time, we get our bells in a jingle trying to beat jolly ol’ St. Nick at his own game. To lend a helping hand, we’ve rounded up a few music-themed gifts for you to freak the music fetishist in your life.

Mazel Tov.

Continue Reading “Toys (not) for tots”

(Photo Courtesy Aggronautix.com)

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The reissue of Pylon’s second album, Chomp, arrived like a thief in the night in October. Like the DFA-sanctioned reissue of its predecessor, Pylon’s debut full-length Gyrate,  the sound qualities have been greatly improved and some strange odds and ends have been tacked on as well.

Dubbed Chomp More, the reissued album benefits a good deal from the remaster treatment it received for this first-time CD appearance. The brighter cadences and darker nuances of opening number “K,” along with “Yo-Yo,” “Italian Movie,” “Buzz” and the album’s undisputed classic “Crazy” unfurl with the bounce, hazy disco, punk and funk angles that defined alternative rock when Chomp was initially released in 1983.

It’s a natural instinct to blather on about the group’s Athenian cohorts R.E.M. and the B-52’s when trying to qualify what made Pylon such a revered part of Athens’ musical heritage. But Pylon wielded a darker sexual, emotional and cerebral edge. The only thing they had in common with those other bands was time and place. It’s more fitting to drop names like PiL, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Gang of Four and Wire if you’re attempting to peg the group’s post-punk and raw new wave aesthetics. But even those comparisons don’t quite add up either. “No Clocks” and “Reptile” are rigid songs by design, underscoring the group’s signature styles — mechanical rhythms, sparse and chattering guitar lines and Vanessa Briscoe-Hay’s growling mantras that all compliment each other with balanced precision. But there’s a looseness to it all that swells within these songs, and an element of simplicity that taps into the higher functions of musical cognition.

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When James Brown wanted to give Bobby Kennedy his endorsement for president, Bob Patton was the guy Brown chose to deliver the message. Patton’s skills as a music promoter attracted the biggest names in music, including such clients as Al Green, Jerry Lee Lewis, B.B. King, Solomon Burke and Otis Redding. Known as the go-to guy for getting artists exposure in Georgia and beyond for nearly four decades, Patton died Oct. 7 at the age of 70 from an aortic aneurism.

Originally from Ohio, he first worked as a DJ at radio station WDOH in Dayton, playing race music — the tag laid on blues-based music performed by black artists before the term R&B came into vogue. He met Brown while handling promotion for the station and so impressed the Godfather that Brown hired Patton to be his promoter and booking agent from 1968-’77. Brown was in the midst of inventing funk during that era with such hits as “Cold Sweat.”

Brown considered Patton family, often saying that Patton’s daughter was “the Godfather’s goddaughter.” Brown even agreed to buy the promoter a Cadillac after Patton dropped a few hints about not being able to afford one. “So Bob went down and got himself a ’68 Eldorado, baby blue, and drove it home,” Patton biographer Phil Jones reveals. But Patton discovered that as good as his promotional skills were, the Godfather was still in charge. “The next month his paycheck was short and he went to Brown and said, ‘What happened?’ And Brown said, ‘Well, I bought the car and now you pay for it.’”

Continue Reading “Promoter Bob Patton kept James Brown on the good foot”

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The connection between art and spirituality may not be as popular as it has been in previous eras (’60s folk and pychedelia, ’70s funk, ’90s neo-soul movement), but for Fertile Ground it’s never been a passing fad. Easily the most ethereal soul-jazz band since Earth, Wind & Fire, Fertile Ground and dynamic lead singer Navasha Daya have been the “heavyweights of the underground” for over a decade. The Baltimore-based group is currently working on its fifth studio album.

Tonight they headline at the Shrine of the Black Madonna (7 p.m., 946 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd., 404-840-9927) in an appropriately-themed show featuring two other Atlanta-based Mother Earths, spoken-word artist Fhena and enlightened MC SAROC. To get a taste, check out a video clip of Sa-Roc’s performance at the recent Peter Tosh tribute below.

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Eyedrum is hosting its First Annual Ear Ball All-day music and sound-art event to showcase the diversity of the long-standing Atlanta art and music gallery’s programming today, Sat.,  Nov. 14.

Eyedrum will host an all-day extravaganza on two stages, and at site specific locations throughout the building. The First Annual Ear Ball was originally conceived as a fundraiser for Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery, the 11 year old Atlanta arts organization that narrowly averted closing this past summer. The event has since grown into “a celebration of the diversity of music and sound art that Eyedrum has presented to Atlanta audiences over the years,” says Allen Welty-Green, the chair of Eyedrum’s Board of Directors, and organizer of the Ear Ball.

Eyedrum’s Earball kicks off at noon. Sat., Nov. 14. $5-$20 (pay what ever you can). 290 MLK Jr. Drive SE. 404-522-0655.

Click below for a tentative list of acts performing.

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Let’s say you’re a Nick Cave fan. Maybe not even a “fan,” but someone who owns and likes a couple of his records. You might not listen to him much anymore. If someone asked you why you like him, you might talk about that inimitable Australian voice of his. Or you might talk about his songwriting (which has bordered on story writing for most of his career) and the enduring cast of characters he has born – murderers and witnesses and bystanders to the scenes.

Or, if you’re the story-telling type, you would talk about the first time you really listened to a Nick Cave album. It was Tender Prey and you were single at the time, so no one was around to tell you to turn it down. You pulled a bottle of Bushmills out of the cabinet and listened to it over and over again, turning up the volume a little each time until you realized that Nick Cave just sounded best at 10, blaring so loud that your speakers were in a vague sort of danger. You don’t remember how many times you listened to the album that night, but you can recall how the repetition of songs like “The Mercy Seat” were every bit as intoxicating as the Bushmills. You remember waking up the next day with a splitting headache and the needle skipping at the end of the record.

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Those weerdos are at it again. Apparently this is what you get when you combine two ’09 CL Best of Atlanta winners (Hollyweerd, SMKA) with a featured artist from CL’s ’09 Music Issue (A. Leon Craft).

“So What”

A lyrical romp over haunting strings and 808 bass, “So What” is the second leak from SMKA’s highly-anticipated (thanks to this track) re-up, The 808 Experiment Vol. 2.

And the execution is killer — from 808 Blake’s track to A. Leon’s hook to Tuki batting clean-up on the last verse. It’s always good to see MVPs from the same scene come together and score.

Suggestion: Do not dare press play unless you’re prepared to be stuck on rewind for the rest of the night.

Vol. 2 is due in January. In the meantime, check out SMKA’s recently released full-length collaboration with Trimm (Trimm Meets SMKA).

(Illustration by Corey Davis of Mach 5)

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