Crib Notes

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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The funeral for Maserati drummer Jerry Fuchs will be held at the Catholic Church of St. Ann in Marietta on Tues., Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Fuchs died in the early hours of Sun., Nov. 8 after suffering a fall down an elevator shaft in Brooklyn, NY. He was 34 years old.

Earlier this week WNYC posted a tribute to Fuchs.

(Photo courtesy www.myspace.com/7549671)

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More than one member of the band The Sunglasses sports a fading, blue-green, prison-style tattoo of the letters F.I.D. Drummer Ray Fleming wears it on his arm, while the others don them on less visible parts of their bodies. When asked about it, they give each other a shifty look before Fleming sheepishly offers, “It stands for ‘Fuck It Dude.’” While that isn’t necessarily the Atlanta-based band’s philosophy, it’s a credo that drives the brash and arty post-hardcore rhythms of its newly released debut album Bad Happy (Trans Ruin/Dark Wolf Records).

It isn’t easy to describe the sound that Fleming, along with drummer Daniel Deckebach, bass player Zach Rivers and vocalist Josh Lyner have concocted. Songs such as “100 Names,” “Chut Brittany” and “Smoke It” swing wildly between noise rock, grunge and drug-damaged pop, with math rock leanings. “I usually try to come up with the stupidest riff I can think of and morph it into a nasty pop song,” Deckebach explains. By stupid, he means unorthodox. “I can’t really shred on guitar so I’ll think, what sounds really ridiculous and doesn’t make sense with these weird-sounding chords, but then have it tie the whole song together.”

Continue Reading “The Sunglasses get Bad Happy“

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Jay-Z's camp tapped Goose's talents as a producer, but ultimately passed on his tracks.

Welcome to CL’s annual catalog of impotence: the 11 Least Influential. You’ll meet folks who tried to achieve an ambitious goal, but fell short (or, in Goose’s case, more than made up for the difference); people who’ve devoted themselves to a personal mission in near-total obscurity; and ordinary Joes who can’t get anyone to pay attention to them. Every day until the full issue hits the streets on Nov. 11, we’ll bring you a new story of failure — some noble and heroic, others abject and pathetic.

Subject: Alex Goose
Failing: Can’t get any play from Jay-Z

Atlanta-based music producer Alex Goose has big dreams, and bigger gonads.

After being contacted this summer by a New York-based A&R rep working closely with Jay-Z, the burgeoning producer jumped at the chance to submit beats for the legendary MC’s album-in-the-making, The Blueprint 3.

He says the A&R rep was so impressed with his work for such Atlanta-based artists as Brittany Bosco and Danny! that he came to Atlanta to hear what the Goose was cooking. “He was telling me, ‘I’d love to get some of these [beats] to Jay, for sure,’” recalls Goose, who estimates he submitted 20 to 25 tracks for consideration. “A few months later he hit me up and was like, ‘Hey, I got word back from Jay that he didn’t really hear anything that he wanted to use for the album.’”

With such name-brand producers as Kanye West, Timbaland, the Neptunes and No I.D. getting first dibs at the highly-anticipated release, a virtual unknown just didn’t have the pull to earn himself a placement.

“You know it kinda sucks,” he says. “Jay would say, ‘It’s politics as usual.’”

Continue reading “11 Least Influential Countdown: No. 8 — Alex Goose”

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By Mark Hibbard

Over the past few years our nation’s love affair with beer has grown considerably. Pubs are now tap houses and the beer aisle is constantly swelling and expanding, threatening to encroach upon the noble wine racks that have held sway over discerning palates. As far as trends go, this is a good one. It has opened up a new market for enterprising drunkards and has forced even the king of beers to rethink their model. Wimpy light beers no longer rule the roost, and the mighty hop’s relevance is getting stronger by the day.

In a city that has deemed happy hour unsavory, going to one of the local breweries is a great way to get an early buzz on the cheap. The initial plan was to hit up Sweetwater, but for the third time in six months I was reminded after the fact that it is best to get there early. (more…)

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Butch Hancock, Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, better known as Lubbock, Texas’ hard luck country legends the Flatlanders play Smith’s Olde Bar tonight (Tues., Nov. 10) in support of their latest record, Hills and Valleys.

The first time around, Jimmie Dale and the Flatlanders’ self-titled 1972 debut, which only appeared as an 8-Track, was the big bang of the alt. country universe.

Since it’s 1990 CD reissue, dubbed More A Legend Than A Band, the Flatlanders have basked in their mystique, and since ‘02 have been continually churning-out solid, Lone Star State tales that swell with personal and political turmoil and a songwriter flare that recalls a more elegant time for country music.

The Flatlanders play Smith’s Olde Bar tonight. $30. 7 p.m. (early door). 1578 Piedmont Ave. 404-875-1522.

Hills and Valleys mp3 sampler

(Photo by Will Van Overbeek)

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This week Of Montreal’s Jamie Huggins, a.k.a. James Husband, released the video for “Window,” from his solo debut, A Parallax I via Spinner.com. The album was released Oct. 20 via Polyvinyl, and is the culmination of 12-years worth of song writing, and was recorded between 2003 and 2008.

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BRAVO DARLING: Kandi Burruss' star is brighter than ever.

When Kandi Burruss reveals, during a recent telephone interview, that her favorite expletive is “motherfucker,” it’s almost too cute to bear. As if we really needed another reason to root for the Atlanta native, come to find out she likes to cuss up a storm, too.

“My mouth is bad sometimes,” she says, smiling through the phone. “I have to wash it out with soap. Luckily y’all don’t get to see that ’cause you can’t really say bad language on TV.”

It’s probably one of the few character wrinkles of Burruss’ that wasn’t excessively ironed out over the course of Season Two on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” While NeNe Leakes transgressed from fan fave to villain with a vengeance, newbie Burruss stole the hearts of viewers with her down-to-earth, charmed demeanor and an off-screen plot line that earned an outpouring of sympathy.

Considering all the tribulations and B.S. Burruss has publicly endured in recent months — from the gossip blogs that initially made a mockery of her relationship with former fiancé Ashley “A.J.” Jewell to the shocking tragedy that claimed his life before the season finished airing — it almost seems as if her decision to be on the show was cursed from the start.

Continue Reading “‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ star Kandi Burruss revels in the gift and the curse with Fly Above“

(Photo Courtesy Tremedia)

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I’ve always been a sucker for sweet, simple harmonies, and especially those of the male/female variety. Maybe it was this predisposition that suckered me in, or perhaps it was the Chomp and Stomp-driven Sweetwater haze, but whatever it was, the Honey Dewdrops moved me.

Hailing from Scottsville, Virginia, the rootsy duo, consisting of vocalists Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish, passed through Atlanta this past weekend for only the second time in the band’s several-year long existence.

“One of the players in Peachtree Station, Steve Schaaf, found us and suggested we play [Chomp and Stomp]. Since we were going to be down there for another show that was canceled, we went ahead and booked the show — so glad we did,” the band explains via email.

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WITHIN THESE WALLS: Times New Viking gives Born Again Revisited the business.

Noise rock has never been mainstream; instead, it has historically targeted a narrow base of dogmatic fans and been released via small boutique labels on home-dubbed cassettes. In recent years, however, a larger crowd has taken notice, and as goes the crowd, so go those who want to sell ‘em stuff. In 2004, for example, indie giant Sub Pop released Burned Mind, a harsh, uncompromising record by Michigan trio Wolf Eyes. Concurrently, such tastemakers as Pitchfork began to pay closer attention. It all seemed to signify a paradigm shift: Noise, it would appear, was the new big thing.

Continue Reading “Noise innovators Times New Viking raise the roof”

(Photo Courtesy Michael O’Shaugnessy)

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CL was saddened to learn that Jerry Fuchs, drummer for Athens’ band Maserati, as well as the Juan Maclean, !!! and Turing Machine, died in the early hours of Sun., Nov. 8 after falling down an elevator shaft in Brooklyn, New York. He was 34 years old.

According to a New York Times report:

At about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Mr. Fuchs, 34, who had attended a benefit party on the building’s seventh floor, was stuck on a freight elevator between the fourth and fifth floors, friends and the police said. He had been trying to jump out of the stalled car when his jacket got caught on something, causing him to fall to the bottom of the shaft. Another man, who was not identified by the police, was riding with Mr. Fuchs in the elevator but safely jumped to a fourth floor hallway.

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Bob Weston Self-portrait

Mastering Engineer at Chicago Mastering Service Bob Weston (Shellac, Mission of Burma) discusses what made the reissues of the Jesus Lizard’s Touch & Go records, Pure, Head, Goat and Liar sound better and louder.

Chad Radford: Did you have any reservations about whether or not the Jesus Lizard’s records should be touched-up?

Bob Weston:  Well, “no” is the simple answer. But the question is wrong. We didn’t “touch them up.” That implies that we took the mastered versions from the original mastering jobs and made some changes to those. Instead, we did an entirely new mastering job from scratch… Like the records had just been recorded and mixed the week before we started.

There have been major improvements in analog to digital conversion quality, and in digital audio level metering in the years since these records were first mastered. Simply playing the stereo master tapes back through modern mastering-grade analog to digital converters will immediately make the CDs sound a lot better. And then the ability to properly meter the digital audio as it is being converted allows us to take advantage of all the headroom allowed in the digital audio domain. Whereas in the past, engineers needed to be more conservative with digital audio levels in order to prevent any digital “overs” (which would cause the Master CD to be rejected by the pressing plant).

Even if we had done nothing different from the original mastering sessions in terms of processing the sound with equalization and compression, these new masters would immediately sound better and louder.

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Mac McNeilly (right)

Chad Radford:  You’re a local guy, or you used to be.

Mac McNeilly:  Yeah, I grew up in Atlanta and have a lot of really fond memories of hanging out there, but ever since ’89 I’ve been making Chicago and the Chicago area my home.

How did you make the jump from playing in Atlanta bands like 86 and Phantom 309 to the Jesus Lizard?

Well, 86 played a show in Austin, Texas, and I met David Yow. He and David Sims were at the club where we played. We introduced ourselves to each other and I said ‘I like the way you sing and I like Scratch Acid,’ and he said ‘I like the way you play drums.’ So we both said something like maybe some day we can do something together musically. It was one of those things where you say something that would really be a great thing to do, but don’t think anything will come of it. We traded numbers anyway and I got a call from David Yow a couple of years later. He said ‘we’re putting this thing together in Chicago and we have an EP that we’ve done with a drum machine. I can send you a tape because we want to put a live drummer in there and actually be a band.’ When they did the EP it was just a recording project. I don’t think they had any plans to make a rock band out of it, but they changed their mind and I went up in the summer of ’89 to try out. I was playing bass in Phantom 309, but I’m not a bass player and it was a way for me to get back to playing drums. David sent me a tape of the EP and I really liked what I heard. It was the kind of music that I could really adapt drumming to so I went up and it clicked right away.
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First the Nobel Peace Prize, now this. Forget the haters, it’s the lovers that Prez Barack Obama can’t seem to shake. (more…)

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