Crib Notes

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.

Continue reading…

Show up early as it will most likely be huge.

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

Bookmark to:

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. Vocalist Jamie Smith coos her regrets, apologies and desires with spaciousness and allure, leaving plenty of room to roam in every song. Romy Croft delivers deep, ethereal guitar lines that fit perfectly, but he has the voice of a breathy gorilla with a mouthful of marbles and he ruins the moment every time he emotes. It’s not enough to kill the record, but in an otherwise perfectly sensual balance he’s hard on the ears. (Young Turks) 4 stars out of 5

Bookmark to:

COYOTE BONES: A band that feels your pain.

David Matysiak jokes that if Bruce Springsteen’s brooding Midwestern odysseys Nebraska and The River were meant to be part of a trilogy, the third installment is Coyote Bones’ Niobrara. Along with Jordan Noel (drums) and Heather Kemp (percussion), the former Jet By Day singer/guitarist has crafted an album that flows with unnerving tales about death, stifling religion, lost love and change. “It’s a really personal record for me; one that I had to make,” Matysiak says. “I was going through so much at the time that I became possessed. The record wrote itself.”

Songs such as “Piece of My Spine” and “Out at the Bar” are the ruminations of a damaged man coping with the death of his father and a crumbling relationship amid a new sense of self-discovery.Niobrara is a far cry from the clumsy, basement art party that Matysiak spearheaded with Coyote Bones’ 2007 debut, Gentleman on the Rocks.

Continue Reading “A river runs through Coyote Bones”

(Photo Courtesy Coco Art)

Bookmark to:

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)

Bookmark to:

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…)

Bookmark to:

Like the city itself, the music scene in Atlanta often seems fragmented, in search of its identity. And like the city, it is made up of a host of players, and it can sometimes be difficult to find consistency in its frenzied output. That ain’t all bad; smaller, more insular scenes tend to yield a homogeneous result, and the A is nothing if not all over the place. Below, five reasons to hold out hope for music in our fair metropolis.

1. Over in the trendier-by-the-second East Atlanta Village, the newish 529 has been hosting some of the best local and non-local shows in town for several months now with a decided focus on indie rock’s grittier subgenres. The space is nice, too: it’s tiny, but thanks to the outdoor patio, not claustrophobic, and the band area feels more like a house show basement than a rock club. Down the street, the Earl is still the de facto club in the Village, but 529 is quickly becoming a go-to spot.

2. In Grant Park, Eyedrum has brilliantly bridged the gap between D.I.Y. show space and legit music venue for years now. It has long been known as the place to go for experimental and noise; this past year has seen performances from Chicago avant-jazz hotshot Ken Vandermark and sample-driven duo the Books, among others. Earlier this year, they reportedly faced closure due to the high cost of maintaining the space, but it seems they’ve managed to remain solvent enough to continue for now. In addition to live music, the gallery exhibits some interesting stuff from local artists. (more…)

Bookmark to:

Earlier this week Andy Hopkins of long-defunct acoustic/indie rock/experimental duo FLAP, who is reuniting to play this Friday night (Oct. 23) at 529, checked-in to give us a run down on the band’s history.

-This will be the first FLAP show in over 11 years, so it’s fair to call it a reunion. The band pretty much went dormant when I moved to Chicago in the Fall of 1998.

-FLAP was active between 1989 and 1998, so it would also be fair to call our show the “20th anniversary show.”

-In the early period, between 1989 and 1993, FLAP was primarily just me and Matt Miller, performing as an acoustic duo. We released two cassette albums in this format, Honkey Donkey, and Guitarded.

-In the period between 1993 and 1998 we primarily played as a rock trio, with our drummer Jason Gillis. We released three CDs during this period: PAL, Buldugs Or The Kid Is Hot Tonite, and Flap Am In The House.

-During all periods of FLAP we reserved the right to break away into all kinds of experimental formats, including cheap electronics, and full rock bands with guest singers.

-The reunion show at 529 will focus mostly on the early two-guitar instrumental period of intense jazz-math-grass compositions.

-”Walkin’ The Bug” is from our very first release Honkey Donkey in 1990. Honkey Donkey was recorded quite well by David ‘Zod’ Watkins, and was only (to date) ever released on cassette, the preferred format of the era.

“Walkin’ the Bug” mp3

(Photo courtesy FLAP)

Bookmark to:

Tealights play 529 on Tues., Oct. 20. Tealights’ self-released debut CD, Take Us By Sea (out this month), is a sweeping marriage of laptop textures and bold strings sculpting dramatic moods that are very pretty, but very brittle. Take Us By Sea is the backbone of a musical vernacular driven by dark romanticism set adrift in modern classical and experimental arrangements. Like Claude Debussy on a date with Björk, surrealism and impressionism mingle in the dramatic male/female wailing in “Wait.” The lingering string melodies over front lady Nancy Shim’s cool voice are the weeping heart of the CD. White Hinterland from Portland, Ore., opens the show.$7. 9 p.m. 529 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-228-6769.
Tealights “Clouds” mp3

Har Mar Superstar

Wed., Oct. 21 Imagine a sweat-soaked love child of Ron Jeremy and Meatloaf who’s blessed with the soulful pipes of Stevie Wonder and wearing only a pair of tighty whities and a Cheshire Cat grin — that’s Har Mar Superstar. The hirsute sexual dynamo returns with his fourth album, Dark Touches. La Chanson and Roman Photos warm up the stage for him. $8-$10. 9 p.m. The Drunken Unicorn.

Also on Wed., Oct. 21 All Night Drug Prowling Wolves, GG King and Jeffrey Butzer are playing at 529. It’s a release party for a brand new ANDPW 7-inch, titled “Drank Irish.” $6. 9 p.m. 529 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-228-6769.

GG King “Drug Zoo” mp3
Jeffrey Butzer “Theme For A Tailor” mp3
ANDPW “Drank Irish” mp3

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Last week I caught up with drummer David Prowse whom, along with guitarist David King, make up the Vancouver noise punk duo Japandroids, to discuss everything from their debut full-length Post-Nothing, to life as Canadians on the American road.

Chad Radford:  Your album is called Post-Nothing, which sounds like a loaded title.
David Prowse:  It’s like a dig at how calling something “post-this” or “post-that” has reached a level of ridiculousness. A long time ago Brian started referring to us as post-nothing, and it went up on our Myspace page and kind of stuck. It’s totally a tongue-in-cheek kind joke, so we decided to go with it for the name of the album.

Do you get a lot of post references when people write about you?
We get a million different kinds of weird references. Everybody tries to come up with an original way of labeling the band — one label that our friends like the most is “electromash.” I don’t know what that means or how it describes our band at all… We get all kinds of weird labels like that. No-Fi… Shit Gaze.

Shit Gaze is one of my favorites. It doesn’t sound like a compliment at all though, huh?
No, it certainly doesn’t.

Japandroids “Young Hearts Spark Fire” mp3

Japandroids, Real Estate and Surfer Blood play 529 tonight (Sat., Oct. 17). $8-$10. 9 p.m. 529 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-228-6769.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

The world of indie music is fraught with a serious and ongoing identity crisis: micro-trends come and go, sometimes in the span of months. Truthfully, it’s a bit of a bummer. Who can keep up? Really, who wants to? And is it any wonder, then, that in the face of this interminable whirlwind more and more groups are embracing nostalgia as a musical reference point in itself?

Vancouver, BC’s Brian King and David Prowse, who make up Japandroids, play a totally 2000s sort of lo-fi garage punk imbued with the frenetic spirit of 1990s indie rock. Their debut full-length Post-Nothing traffics in the same kind of unabashedly youthful, fuzzed-out exuberance as a band like, say, No Age, but with a decidedly more personable air about it. Like that group, Japandroids is a two-piece drums ‘n’ guitar operation, with both members tackling vocal duties. But unlike so many trend-hopping up-and-comers, dudes just wanna have fun.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

BEHIND DOOR NO. 3: Spree Wilson

Remember the old game shows? You know the ones where the over-eager contestant would get to chose a prize behind Door No. 1 (a compact cd player!), Door No. 2 (a new leather couch!), or Door No. 3 (a new Subaru!).

This year’s A3C Festival is a little like that.

While the laminated “map” to the events was studied diligently by some of the heads in attendance, by and large East Atlanta Village presented a maze of hip-hop wonders last night, taking a cue from the popular South By Southwest Fest in Austin, Tex. where music lovers wander and pop into bars and venues at will.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

The Sunny Day Real Estate show at Center Stage this Saturday has been sold out for months, but there are plenty of other great shows on which to spend your hard-earned dollars this week. Here’s a list of nine shows going on between tonight and Wed., Oct. 6 that I wholeheartedly endorse, in order of priority.

Of course the smart money is on the Wavves show at the Earl on Sunday night. Recent drama with Black Lips aside, the Wavves  kid puts on a fun show of sweetly damaged California pop melodies ravaged by noise in the most brain-pleasing way. According to singer/guitar player Nathan Williams, the idea behind the group was to create songs that resembled something like Beatles-esque pop filtered through the dissonance of Sonic Youth’s guitar sounds, but due to his lack of skills when it came to recording, the resulting songs more closely resemble something like a mashup of Pavement circa Slanted & Enchanted and the Jesus & Mary Chain circa Psychochandy, wrapped in a Zoloft haze — can’t go wring there. Ganglians and Facehugger open. $10. 8 p.m. Sun., Oct. 4. 404-522-3950. www.badearl.com.

Grizzly Bear needs no introduction, so I won’t waste your time, other than to say that they’re bringing their brand of fey and lofty art pop to Variety Playhouse on Mon., Oct. 5. The show is currently sold out, but keep on eye on the Variety Playhouse’s Twitter page as more tickets are rumored to be made available this week. 8 p.m. Variety Playhouse. 404-524-7354.

Photo by Dale Heise

Tonight Digital Leather plays 529. I’ve yet to hear a recording from this one-time Jay Reatard cohort that I can fully endorse, although word on the street is that the Sorcerer album on Goner is the one to get. Regardless, Digital Leather played 529 a couple of months back and the full-band treatment of what’s mostly the one-man studio project of Omaha resident Shawn Foree, gave sort of a dark, Buzcocks pop edge to these synth-heavy no wave numbers, adding some much needed girth. Thee Crucials and the F’n Heartbreaks open. $7. 9 p.m. 529, 529 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-228-6769.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Helado Negro – “Dahum” from Asthmatic Kitty on Vimeo.

Helado Negro’s musical compositions are an amalgamation of improv performances and happy accidents that are captured, manipulated and molded into final products of hypnotic, post-beat psychedelia via Loops, computers, MPC, samples and live instruments. The man at the center of it all is Roberto Carlos Lange, a producer/visual artist who has collaborated with other artists such as David Ellis, Prefuse 73 and Savath and Savalas, School of Seven Bells, Paul Duncan, Bear in Heaven and more.

“Deja” mp3

Adron, Helado Negro, Jason Ajemian and Social Studies play 529 tonight (Wed., Sept. 9). $7. 9 p.m.

Bookmark to:

Baltimore-by-way-of-Houston songstress JANA HUNTER sings and strums with a brittle quietude that transcends the boundaries of traditional folk emotion with a sparse aplomb that bores deeply into the cerebellum. Hunter’s songs lean more toward lonely and grinding avant-garde than they do the happy, earthy tones of Mother Nature. 

I caught with Jana last week to find out what she’s been up, and here’s how she breaks down:

“I just released a split 7″ with Inoculist, a Brooklyn band, on Heartbreak Beat Records, also from Brooklyn. It’s Inoculist’s “Provenance” with my “Two Cocks Waving Wildly at Each Other Across a Vast, Open Space, a Dark, Icy Tundra” on the other side.

My band (as yet unnamed) and I are working on a full-length (as yet untitled) that we’ll record immediately after the tour that includes this show. It’s be a significant departure from the music I’ve released in the past. I haven’t anything written up, so I’ll just say it’s louder and it has some moving beats.”

Fellow Baltimore act the Crazy Dreams Band – featuring members of Lexie Mountain, Mouthus and Mexcellent – also perform with a brash, guitar-less jam of pop improv, noise and whatever unorthodox sounds they pull out of the air. Rural Georgia noise-folk alchemist Damon Moon and the Whispering Drifters open with a set of creeping, slow-motion freak-outs.

Jana Hunter “Valkyries” mp3

$5. 9 p.m. 529, 529 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-228-6769.

(Photo courtesy Jana Hunter)

Bookmark to:

GG King celebrates the release of his new “Drug Zoo” b/w “Witching Hour,” “the “Letter” 7-inch on Rob’s House Records tonight at 529. In all reality the records probably won’t have arrived yet, but there’s always hope.

According to Rob’s House GG King’s new single is,

another new offshoot from members of carbonas and if you heard their first single on douchemaster you might even think it was the carbonas but this one strays pretty far from that tested sound. ‘drug zoo’ finds gg king mixing a bit of his name sake’s influence with early aussie punk, a few hints of black metal and, to really mix things up, a box tops cover!! a few people might have heard these songs on gg’s last of the night wiggers demos but here they are remixed, mastered and on vinyl! [800 pressed; black vinyl; 100 copies with numbered gg king poster.]

Wizzard Sleeve from Mobile, Alabama also performs. It should also be duly noted that the Pillow Talk DJs have declared this night to be the landlocked bikini beach party event of the summer, and they promise to be spinning records in bikinis. …

GG King’s “Drug Zoo” mp3

$5. 9 p.m. 529 Flat Shoals Ave. 404-228-6769.

Bookmark to:

From CL Fresh Loaf

On Saturday, July 4, 2009, 529 in East Atlanta hosted a funeral benefit for B Jay Womack, aka Bobby Ubangi. The benefit, planned while Womack was still alive, helped raise funds for his funeral. Womack died of cancer on Wednesday, July 1. This image is from the performance by Carbonas, of which B Jay was a founding member. Womack’s funeral was held this afternoon in Conyers.

More photos from B Jay Womack funeral benefit

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark to:

Tiny Vipers’ sole songstress, Jesy Fortino, has a voice so strong and captivating it softens her existential quandaries, but resolves nothing. Life on Earth takes a heavy-duty trip into candle-lit depression via songs more concerned with asking questions than providing answers. In “Time Takes,” Fortino muses “am I crazy for feeling this way?” while strumming into a void of loneliness amid booming layers of texture. “Dreamer” climaxes with a slow, rhythmic gallop filled with dark intonations and a plea: “I’m dying for a way out.” But as each song bleeds into the next, there’s no sanctuary. The 10-minute title track is an ominous testament affirming that the only way out of hell is to tread right through it, and it’s a long, dreary ride indeed. 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Tiny Vipers plays a Criminal Records in-store at 7 p.m. and later at 529 with Balmorhea and Ben Trickey. $7. 9 p.m.

Bookmark to:

The phone call interrupts dinner around 6 p.m. on a Thursday. It’s my girlfriend’s birthday and our meals have just been served up at her favorite Italian restaurant. Normally, I wouldn’t answer at a time like this, not even for my own mother. But the picture of B Jay pops up on my phone’s screen, his arms outstretched like Mr. Bill when he’s about to get squashed. I have to answer.

For the last nine months, Benjamin Jay Womack has been soldiering through terminal lung cancer that has spread to his brain, liver and God knows where else — at the age of 34. I answer, expecting to hear his voice on the other end asking for a ride to get something to eat or a pack of cigarettes. But it’s his roommate Jessica. “I had to put B Jay into hospice care today,” she deadpans. “His hips gave out and he’s having a hard time walking. We’re filling out paperwork with a social worker right now and B Jay wants to know if he can put you down for power of attorney.” I answer yes, envisioning the worst-case scenario as a wave of denial sweeps over me.

One year ago, the man best known by his stage name Bobby Ubangi was a rebel without a pause, partying like a rock star and working as the grouchy door guy at the Drunken Unicorn off Ponce de Leon Avenue. Long considered a mascot of sorts for the Atlanta music scene that nurtured such bands as Deerhunter, Black Lips and Gentleman Jesse, B Jay was a founding member of Carbonas before he got kicked out because he didn’t like to practice. He went on to play guitar and sing in such local garage-punk outfits as the Lids, the Gaye Blades, and Bobby and the Soft Spots. “B Jay is omnipresent around here,” says Jared Swilley of the Black Lips. “He’s been around forever.”

Continue reading “The life and times of Bobby Ubangi”

(Photo by Chad Radford)

Bookmark to:

There are a couple of good shows going on tonight in East Atlanta. If bleak and somewhat feminine, though mostly androgynous new wave electro pop skulk is your bag, Telepathe is headlining a show over at 529. The Living Rooms and Lemonade open. The cover is $8 and the show starts around 9 p.m.

If a catchier, ’60s inspired psyche rock sound is your thing, the Black Hollies from Jersey City are playing at the Earl. Reckless Hearts from Milwaukee and Atlanta’s Stolen Hearts also perform. $8. Doors open at 8:30.

Telepathe’s “Lights Go Down” mp3

(Photo by Eliza Douglas)

Bookmark to:

Who are you?
Seth Bolton.

Describe yourself in three words.
Ready, To, Leave.

Who — dead or alive — would you most like to meet?
Will Ferrel in character as Brennan Huff from the movie Stepbrothers.

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
Michael Jackson ’cause it would probably fall off on impact.

What song do you wish you had written?
“The Bublight” by Joe Meek & The Blue Men.

Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley?
Presley for sho.

LP, CD or MP3?
MP3. Laziness.

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
Free stuff all the time.

If you could end one trend, what would it be?
Me being broke, always.

With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
Bjork.

“How You Do It” mp3

Living Rooms play 529 on Tues., June 23 with Lemonade and Telepathe. $8. 9 p.m.

(Photo courtesy Seth Bolton)

Bookmark to: