Crib Notes

Remember Deerhunter? Not the Deerhunter, mind you, of Brooklyn Vegan hype or Pitchfork Best New Music fame, and not the Spike Jonze/Trent Reznor-hanging Deerhunter, but Atlanta’s Deerhunter. Remember when they gigged tirelessly, I mean, all the damn time, at the Drunken Unicorn here in town, or at the sweaty, dank Caledonia Lounge over in Athens? Above all, do you remember Turn It Up Faggot? Yeah, the one with a Black Lips’ dick on the cover. Notoriously effusive frontman Bradford Cox would just as soon have you purge it from memory — he’s trashed the band’s grimy, lo-fi debut in interviews, citing, among other apparent pratfalls, the band’s musical immaturity at the time.

While it’s definitely true that the songs on Turn It Up Faggot lack a certain cohesiveness aptly displayed on Deerhunter’s following recordings (say what you will about Cox and his occasionally impish ways, the guy knows how to put an album together), there exists throughout the record a gnarled, raw sort of furor that is nowhere to be found on, say, Cryptograms. Chalk it up to artistic evolution, if you will — obviously, a band must grow, mature, change; if not, you’re Kiss. With all the best groups, though, there’s usually a good deal of intrigue, if not all-out enjoyment, to be found by examining and absorbing their earliest work. In this case, TIUF, ugly scabs and all, contains some revelatory stuff. (more…)

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I went to the Wavves show at the Earl and all I got was this crappy iPhone pic

Despite Nathan Williams’ insistence on the phone a couple of weeks back that drummer Zach Hill would not be playing with Wavves when they came through Atlanta, Hill was most definitely holding the sticks last night. The Hella drummer who once broke his hand beating his kit at Echo Lounge several years back still hits with helicopter speed and precision — which makes an unexpectedly brilliant counterpoint to Williams’ loose strumming and ooohhh wwwooo wwwooos.

No, there was no drama at the show, as all parties involved in the Black Lips scuffle from last weekend give off the appearance of having moved on; everyone aside from the meat heads in the audience who pissed and moaned about it after the show.

Precautions had been taken to prevent any sort of incident nonetheless. There was a cop stationed in the parking lot keeping watch over Wavves’ van, and the bartender looked a bit sheepish while pouring bottles of beer into plastic cups saying, “Sorry, but I’m not allowed to serve out any glass bottles tonight because they’re afraid somebody might throw one at one of the bands …”

Really …

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MAKING WAVVES: Nathan Williams loves the attention.

As the saying goes, there’s no such thing as bad press, and Nathan Williams, the guitarist/vocalist behind San Diego’s noise-pop duo Wavves, has learned it’s true. After an onstage temper tantrum at the Primavera Sound Fest in Barcelona last May, Williams became the man that bloggers love to hate. He even took a public lashing from Black Lips singer/bassist Jared Swilley, who suggested he stop playing music altogether. (See more on their ongoing beef.)

“It has legitimately helped,” Williams humbly admits regarding the criticism. “I’m new to this, so it’s a trip to see how these things work.”

Williams’ hissy fit caught the music world’s eye, but his sloppy California pop melodies and distorted coos have kept people’s attention. He is by no means a virtuoso, but his songs are fun, hypermanic, no wave dust devils that unwind in loose, chaotic motion, usually alongside drummer Ryan Ulsh (who will play with Wavves in Atlanta), or more recently Zach Hill of Hella.

Wavves “Cool Jumper” mp3

“Continue reading “Wavves’ Nathan Williams just wants to have fun”

(Photo courtesy Shore Fire Media)

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JARED SWILLEY OF BLACK LIPS

In case you’ve missed the excitement, Buddyhead.com has a pretty entertaining run-down of the ridiculous brawl that came to a head this weekend between Wavves’ manager and Jared Swilley of the Black Lips.

The whole situation is just plain annoying, not to mention Swilley’s comments in the interview reinforce some pretty gnarly, negative stereotypes about southerners. In the interview with Buddyhead, Swilley admits to approaching Nathan Williams of Wavves (whom he has publicly dissed) at Daddy’s Bar in New York and saying, “You’re that faggot from Wavves and I don’t like you!” — sounds like fighting words to me.

Swilley also issued the following warning to Williams: “He’s coming to Atlanta October 3rd [4th] and we’re gonna get ugly on him. We’re gonna destroy their van, we’re gonna destroy their faces, we’re gonna get crazy on em’. Nasty style.”

NATHAN WILLIAMS OF WAVVES

If I were Williams, I would take heed. Truth be told, the Black Lips are like a gang. If you mess with one of them, you mess with all of them, and Atlanta is their turf. Then again, it sounds like the Wavves crew rolls the same way. Looks like Oct. 4 is going to be a legendary night when Wavves plays the Earl.

(Top photo by Chad Radford)
(Bottom photo courtesy Wavves)

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The second song from the forthcoming All Mighty Defenders album (featuring Black Lips, King Khan & BBQ), due out Sept. 22 via Vice Records, hit the internet this week. The song is titled “Cone of Light” and it falls on the heels of “Bow Down and Die.” Click below to hear them both.

“Cone of Light”

“Bow Down and Die”

(Photo by David Waldman)

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Word spread a few weeks back that the house at 54 Moreland Ave., where directors Brendan Canty ( Fugazi) and Christoph Green filmed Burn to Shine Atlanta, had finally come down after leaving the project in limbo for two years.

But there is still much work to be done before the finished product will materialize.

Chad Radford:  Where does Burn to Shine Atlanta stand now that the house has come down?

Brendan Canty:  We still have a lot of work to do with this thing. Touch & Go went out of business so we’re trying to find a home for the project, but we think we know where it’s going to go. It won’t delay the release, but I honestly don’t think that it will come out until the Fall. That’s the best hope. November, but realistically speaking maybe even January.

Why did you pick Atlanta for this project?

There are so many factors that go into making one of these:  One of them is having a house that’s going to be torn down, but also having somebody who really wants it to happen on a local level. In Atlanta our Friend Lee Tesche was saying let’s do this, this is great. So we kind of went on his energy. In Chicago it was Bob Weston in Portland it Was Chris Funk, and in Seattle it was Ben Gibbard. Credit has to be given to these guys for being ground troop organizers. All of those guys were really into it and they had the bands together. That kind of energy carries us a long way.

On top of that there are a bunch of bands that we love Atlanta. I mean really, I love Deerhunter, I love Black Lips, I love Mastodon. Atlanta is just such a great music town. Do you feel like you were undeserving?

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After almost two years of waiting in limbo, Burn to Shine Atlanta is back on. The house at 54 Moreland Ave., where the Atlanta installment of directors Brendan Canty (Fugazi) and Chrisoph Green’s Burn to Shine series was filmed on July 29, 2007, came crashing down at 9 o’clock this morning.

In a nutshell, Canty and Green’s Burn to Shine works like this: They find a house in a city that is on the verge of being demolished in the name of urban progress. They fill it with as many of the strongest bands from the local music scene that they can round-up, film them playing in said house, and when all is said and done they document the house’s destruction. Atlanta is number six in the series and falls on the heels of Washington D.C., Chicago, Portland, Louisville, Ky., and Seattle.

Bands who performed for the Atlanta shoot include the Liverhearts, Selmanaires, Shannon Wright, Deerhunter, Black Lips, Delia Gartrell, Mighty Hannibal, Coathangers, Carbonas, All Night Drug Prowling Wolves, Snowden and Mastodon.

A gallery of photos from the sweltering, sweat-soaked day spent in the Hepatitis factory of a house can be found at chadrad.blogspot.com

Over the two years that have passed since they filmed in Atlanta, Canty and Green have fully edited the audio and video from whole day, and now that the house has been demolished they hope to have the DVD released by the end of the summer.

(Photo by Lee Tesche)

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From Vice:

This morning, Stereogum premiered the first slab of lo-fi gutter gospel from super group The Almighty Defenders, a meeting of might between Atlanta garage goblins the Black Lips, Berlin-based soul punker King Khan, and Mr. BBQ himself, Mark Sultan. Conceived during the Lips’ Berlin exile (after their VBS-documented ejection from India), the band’s self-titled debut is a madcap, liquor-drenched revival, a blissfully fucked up realization of one of garage rock’s most fitting collaborations. “Bow Down And Die,” the “booming, chivalrous third song,” is an off kilter, beer-swilling chant-along that borrows just as much from choral church music as it does from skuzzball rock n roll.

The Almighty Defenders “Bow Down and Die” mp3

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This week’s CL cover story, “The Life & Times of Bobby Ubangi: How Atlanta’s garage rock mascot saved himself before dying,” chronicles local music fixture B Jay Womack’s battle with cancer. The video montage was created by We Fun director Matthew Robison and Zack Wilson.

The following mp3s cover musical output from the Lids on up to some of his most recent songs that appear on Inside the Mind of Bobby Ubangi.

The Gaye Blades “Bobby is a Lover”

The Lids “Something to do”

Bobby Ubangi “That’s Alright”

Bobby Ubangi “Not My fault”

The Soft Spots “Can’t Get her Off”

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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)

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Ever since that whole debacle went down with the Black Lips having to flee India to avoid going to jail, I’ve been getting daily phone calls from the Mighty Hannibal asking me if I know anything about the Black Lips and King Khan teaming up to cover one of his songs for a new record they recorded while exiled in Berlin. The answer has been a categorical no until yesterday when Vice announced that it will be releasing the self-titled debut LP by the Almighty Defenders, a new collaboration between the Black Lips, Khan and his longtime cohort BBQ, or as his friends call him Mark Sultan. It’s important to note that no track list has been revealed yet, but Hannibal assures me that they’ve covered what he calls a “bad ass damn version” of his song “I’m Coming Home.”

“They really did it up right and it teaches me something about my own song,” Hannibal says.

The album, according to Vice, is “brimming with soul, earnest shouts, cries and hand-claps over post-modern gospel-rock anthems.” The whole thing was recorded at Khan’s Moon Studios and will be released on LP and digitally via Vice Records on Tues., Sept. 22.

Almighty Defenders @ Amsterdam Brewery from NOW Magazine on Vimeo.

(Photo by David Waldman)

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Starting this Friday, director Matthew Robison’s Atlanta music documentary We Fun will be playing on Pitchfork.TV for one week and one week only. Inside sources tell us that this will be a slightly edited version from what screened last month as part of the Atlanta Film Festival.

To get specific about it, the much ballyhooed flaming vagina scene has been trimmed considerably.

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It’s official, both the Black Lips and Deerhunter are playing at 529 Thurs., April 2. Doors open at 9 p.m. Cover is $20. The show is a benefit for Bobby Ubangi, a.k.a. B Jay Womack, who was diagnosed last year with stage IV small cell lung cancer.

There will be no pre-sale tickets for this show. Admission will be granted on a first come, first serve basis. Barreracudas open the show.

Black Lips “Short Fuse”

Black Lips “Starting over”

Black Lips “I’ll Be With You”

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… and if you’re still lurking around after Ricky Powell’s DJ set at Criminal Records, the Black Lips are sitting up for a 5 o’clock in-store to celebrate the release of 200 Million Thousand.

When they’re done, Austin, Texas high-concept rockers …Trail of Dead will play an in-store at 7 p.m. Both shows are free.

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Earlier today Crib Notes reported that the Black Lips had to flee India to avoid going to jail over allegations of indecent exposure on the television show, “Campus Rock Idol.”

Vice magazine caught up with drummer Joe Bradley to get his account of what happened.

What happened in Chennai? Who got “indecent”?
Well, we hadn’t had a chance to get even the slightest bit drunk the entire time we were in India, so Jared bought a bunch of whisky before the show. The venue was some weird, shitty auditorium at a college. Things were uncomfortable to begin with; no eating inside, no smoking outside or anywhere really. The show was sponsered by Nokia, Honda, and VH1 and they had these crappy production projections on advert screens on either side of the stage. The college had these wireless mics though, so Jared got jazzed up on whisky and started pumping up the crowd by cursing at them, getting them to repeat things like “When I say ‘weak-ass’, you say ‘bitch’! Weak ass?” “BITCH!” “Weak ass?” “BITCH!” The crowd was eating it up but I think we only ended up playing like, seven songs. Eventually things got really energetic and Cole mooned the crowd then proceeded to kiss Ian while Jared continued ramping up the crowd, which eventually led to him taking a running dive into the audience. Really, our tour manager was the only one freaking out. No one tried to put a stop to the show. We even told the crowd “Remember! there’s only 4 of them (security) and 150 of you.”

Read the rest of the post on Vice.

(Photo by Nick Gazin)

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Update:  Brontez responds here.

In the October issue of Maximum RocknRoll Brontez from the Bay Area multicultural Queercore/pop/Electroclash leftover whatever you want to call it band Gravy Train!!! writes a scathing installment of a column, called “She’s Over It” in which he points some pretty damning words at Jared Swilley from the Black Lips, painting him as a racist.

The column begins with a disclaimer, “TO ALL COLUMN READERS: I’M ABOUT TO TALK HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLA SHIT (be warned…)“

From there he begins the column with “Fuck Jarrod [sic.] from the Black Lips.”

In his column, Brontez tells a story about hanging out at B Jay Womack’s, which is known to the locals as “The War Room,” after Gravy Train played a show at The Drunken Unicorn a few months back. He goes on to include some pretty illicit details, such as “Everyone was popping shrooms” and “…doing shitty coke…” He also adds that he got cozy with a “hot hooker boy on the couch.”

From there he describes a party that sounds like a scene lifted straight out of Gummo. A tanning gun was being passed around and Brontez claims that Klan jokes, immigration jokes, and various racial and ethnic jokes were thrown about so flippantly that afterward one member of Gravy Train!!!, keyboard player/dancer FUNX (who is of both Jewish and Latino descent) felt so alienated that she cried afterward for not speaking up.

This is perhaps the best part of Brontez’s rant:

“My homegirl had to sit down in the other room and come down on shrooms and listen to those hipster redneck motherfuckers talk all of this insane pro-Klan shit about how ‘the Mexicans’ need to ‘quit complaining’ and pull themselves out of poverty like the Irish Catholics…”

Anyone who knows or has spent any time around the Black Lips, whatsoever, knows that they like to test the limits of acceptable social behavior, but racists they are not. Brontez’s account sounds like he was having a bad trip, and because of his admitted drug use, his story seems to be a bit suspect.

(more…)

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After three years in the making Chunklet Magazine # 20 dropped this week.

Chunklet’s 20^th issue arrives on the the magazine’s 15^th anniversary, and features interviews with comedians Paul F. Tompkins and Zach Galifianakis, as well as stories on music journalists, drug appreciation and Whirlyball with Arcade Fire, the Shins, Queens of the Stone Age, Black Lips, Deerhunter, Mogwai and more.

If you order the magazine through Chunklet.com it comes with a free split 7-inch that features Zach Galifianakis and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.

For his side of the record Galifianakis joined up with comedian AD Miles, producer Jon Brion and Fiona Apple to record a song, titled “Up In Them Guts.” The b-side features a Ted Leo song titled “Rock’n'Roll Dreams’ll Come Through.” The first 500 copies come as a picture disc 7-inch.

To celebrate 15 years of “chafing America’s ass,” Chunklet will host a two-day blow out on Sat., Oct. 11 and Sun., Oct. 12^th at the 40 Watt in Athens. The show on the 11^th features performances from Deerhunter, Twin Tigers, Gentleman Jesse & His Men, and comedian Brent Weinbach. The show on the 12^th features performances by of Mastodon, It’s Casual and comedian Brian Posehn.

The show on the 11^th starts at 9 p.m. Tickets are $8 in advance / $10 Day of Show. The show on the 12^th starts at 9 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance / $22 Day of Show. Or you can $15 advance tickets at School Kids Records.

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The show at Rob’s House this Saturday, July 26th was a well-kept secret… sort of. There wasn’t as much as a peep on the internet or in the local media about the Black Lips playing a free house show in East Atlanta, but word-of-mouth brought about 100 – 150 people out, which actually made it about the perfect sized crowd.

The flier that you see to your left didn’t even show up until the day of the show.

Regardless, the basement at 1318 Ormewood Ave. felt like a scene from Dante’s Infero as Predator, Gentleman Jesse and Carbonas exploded in a haze of smoke and unbearable heat. Sweat-soaked bodies packed the tiny dungeon as Gentleman Jesse played its final show before bassist Dustin Nigro moves off to NYC. This show also served as a successful test run for the group with new guitarist Adrian Barrera (also of the Hiss).

For many long-time but estranged fans, seeing the Black Lips in a basement was a refreshing reminder of the days when most local venues wouldn’t even give the group the time of day for fear of property damage. Back then the Black Lips had nowhere else to play but house shows. Seeing them tear it up in such a cramped and sweaty environment was a return to the good old days. It was also the last show at Rob’s House before the label’s founder Trey Lindsay moves off to New York as well.

Could there have been a better way to bring an end to the era? The show was a visceral return to form that literally brought it all back home.

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For this year’s music issue, directors Chris Dortch and Matthew Robison gave CL two exclusive video clips from their upcoming Atlanta rock documentary, We Fun: Atlanta, GA Inside Out.

The first clip features yours truly waxing nostalgic about my first encounter with the Black Lips. During the interview we talked a lot about the musical climate within the first few years of millennium change. It was a different town back then. Danger Mouse was just the DJ name for Brian Burton who was churning out primitive but brilliant trip-hop with his Pelican City moniker. Scott Heron’s Prefuse 73 and Savath+Savalas were on the upswing. Richard Devine was churning out great albums and playing shows, and Cat Power was well on her way to moving mountains in New York. As a result Atlanta held a strong art house / coffee shop intelligent music scene. But when the most talented and lauded artists around town moved on to the greener pastures of NYC, the local scene just petered out. Enter the Black Lips.

I first made the Black Lips guitarist Cole Alexander’s acquaintance in the spring of 2002. There was a knock on the door that was so faint that I almost didn’t hear it. The knock came from a young and doe-eyed guitarist, Cole Alexander, who timidly offered me a copy of the Black Lips “Ain’t Coming Back” 7-inch. The photocopied sleeve was too big for the plastic outer sleeve, yet he’d managed to cram it in, paying no attention to the bends and dog-ears he caused in the process.

The record was scratched all to hell, and the b-side was even scuffed with a dusty shoe print. The four songs on this poor piece of wax were a mishmash of noisy and far-away garage rock rhythms and hiss. He was grateful that I was willing to listen to the record.

While recalling this for Dortch and Robison, I was reminded of the famous story of when Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis met British journalist and Factory Records owner Tony Wilson. Curtis promptly called him a bastard. I got off pretty easy with the Black Lips. Nevertheless, while telling the story Dortch and Robison’s faces lit up as though I had just given them something to turn into a legend.

The second clip is footage of Bobby and the Soft Spots performing live in the basement at Rob’s House Record HQ in East Atlanta.

Download

Download

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WE FUN TRAILER: Episodic chaos

Last week Nashville filmmakers Christopher Dortch and Matthew Robison (Silver Jew) unveiled the first substantial look at their Atlanta rock scene documentary film, titled We Fun: Atlanta, Ga. Inside Out.

The film is projected for an August release date.

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