Crib Notes

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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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.

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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…)

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A recording of last night’s Lotus Plaza live debut at Eyedrum is available for download via the Deerhunter blog.

It’s a soundboard recording that was captured by Eyedrum’s resident sound guys Nathan Brown and Robby Kee, and for such a quick turn-around the recording is shocking smooth.

Do yourself a favor and give it a listen.

(Photo courtesy Kranky)

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Who are you?
Dan Melchior

Describe yourself in three words.
Blah blah blah.

Who — dead or alive — would you most like to meet?
They’re all dead! William Blake.

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
It’s a long list. I don’t know, let’s say Bill O Reilly.

What song do you wish you had written?
The McDonald’s jingle.

Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley?
Elvis Presley (although I would’ve chosen Boston over Elvis Costello)

LP, CD or MP3?
LP.

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
Talking in regional accents (and not valley girl/guy isms) for people under 25.

If you could end one trend, what would it be?
Twitter.

With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
Keira Knightley (with a little more weight).

Dan Melchior und Das Menace play Eyedrum with Gentleman Jesse, Sat., June 13.  $7. 8 p.m. 290 MLK Jr. Dr. 404-522-0655.

(Photo courtesy Dan Melchior)

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On Sun., May 10 Creative Loafing celebrates the second of two record release parties for our 12-inch LP compilation the Mixt A Vol 1 at Criminal Records at 3:30 p.m.

The record includes 10 songs from the likes of Predator, Grip Playaz, the Balkans, the N.E.C., A. Leon Craft, Anna Kramer & the Lost Cause, Mums F.P., Stanza, Carnivores and Zoroaster featuring Brent Hinds from Mastodon.

The record is strictly limited to 500 copies. The first show happens at Eyedrum on Thursday night. The $10 cover the door gets you into the show as well as a copy of the record. The N.E.C., Grip Playaz, the Balkans and A.Leon Craft are all scheduled to perform. Doors open at 7 p.m. Music starts at 8 p.m.

The second record release party goes down at Criminal Records on the afternoon of Sun., May 10. The Carnivores, Stanza, Mums F.P. and Predator are on the bill. There is no cover charge to attend the show. LPs will be on sale at the store for $10 and the music starts at 3:30 p.m.

In addition to the 10 songs on the LP, dozens of bonus tracks will be included in a free download that includes songs by Abby Go Go, All Night Drug Prowling Wolves, Batata Doce, the 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra, the Coathangers, Danny!, Pill and many more.

» Music Issue ‘09

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CL’s Chanté LaGon and Chad Radford discuss the first of two record release parties celebrating our 12-inch LP compilation Mixt A, Vol. 1, taking place tonight, May 7, at Eyedrum. The N.E.C., Grip Plyaz, the Balkans and A. Leon Craft all perform. Cover is $10 and includes a copy of the limited-edition vinyl. Doors open at 7 p.m. Music starts at 8 p.m.

Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.

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Baltimore-based noise duo Abiku plays Eyedrum tonight. According to their Myspace page, the best comparison they have ever received is that they sound like “the Locust dryhumping Controlled Bleeding.” So if that even makes sense to you, you will love it if for no other reason then they dropped Controlled Bleeding’s name which actually does say a lot about them.

The music lurches from a melodic-to-ambient simmer, to an off-kilter electro/avant-garde grind in a hazy mashup of ’80s industrial beats and manic female vocals.

Likeminded local surf/thrash/noise metal acts El Fosil and Chapel Hill, N.C., noisemaker Gray Young also perform.

$?. 9 p.m. Eyedrum. 290 MLK Jr. Drive SE. 404-522-0655.

(Photo courtesy Abiku)

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Subtlety and restraint are two words that aren’t often used to describe the work of Chicago sax man Ken Vandermark. As a member of seminal free jazz and improvisational ensembles Vandermark 5, Spaceways Inc., Caffeine, and too many others to name, he’s done more to further jazz music over the last two decades than seems humanly possible.

The frenetic pace of his output traverses a wide range of sounds, reaching from a traditional European approach to spontaneous freakouts. Vandermark’s latest offering is a collaboration with Dutch counterpart Ab Baars of ICP Orchestra titled Goofy June Bug. It’s bound by a lingering tension that builds between every note and skronk, flourishing in whispered silence before breaking into wild, blood-boiling chaos.

Both Vandermark and Baars alternate between saxophone and clarinet over a careening rhythm section of Wilbert De Joode (double bass) and Martin Van Duynhoven (drums). The spaciousness of a tune like “Straws” makes its omnipotence clear from the onset. Other more ominous pieces, such as “Honest John” or the quivering confusion of “Then He Whirled About,” ebb with an aggressive sound, but the music walks on insect legs, scuttling out of the light before revealing its true form.

Chad Radford:  You’re a pretty busy guy.
Ken Vandermark:  Yeah, a little bit. There are a lot of interesting people out there to work with, so I try to keep busy by working with them all.

Goofy June Bug is a more restrained album than what I’m used to hearing from you.
There were some other pieces that didn’t end up on the record that are more aggressive sounding. What Ab did with the CD, which I thought was interesting, was focus on the group in a way that would keep it from being a free jazz blow-out album. I’m always challenging myself to work in different ways, and in working with Ab’s trio, which has a really strong identity, we dealt with the music in a more oblique and abstract way, rather than throw it right into your face. That was refreshing.

Ken Vandermark & Ab Baars Trio play Eyedrum on Wed., April 15. $15. 8 p.m. 290 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Suite 8. 404-522-0655.

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Drummer Bill Salas is the new guy in These Are Powers, but the fascist cadences of his hallucinogenic beats give direction to the ghost-punk traipse at the center of All Aboard Future. “Easy Answers” establishes a rigid, slow-motion dub/industrial framework at the album’s onset. Vocalist Anna Barie’s elated banshee cry in “Life of Birds” is at once horrifying and alluring, as it jams the senses with a mashup of too many mixed signals. TAP is the rightful heir to the legacies of Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, Coil, Suicide and so on. Prior to All Aboard Future, likening them to such an esteemed lineage felt like wishful thinking. But in light of the hypnotic rush of “Parallel Shores,” the creeping and mechanical plod of “Double Double Yolk,” and the clutter of damaged bass swells in “Blue Healer,” the sonic pedigree is undeniable.

The Chap, Lyonnais and Balkans open. $7. 9 p.m. Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery, 290 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Suite 8. 404-522-0655.

(Photo by Michael Flack)

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The Black Lips' Ian St. Pe (right) looks uncertain as he backs up Hannibal at a January 2007 performance.

CL’s very own Chad Radford flew to New York City last week to interview James Shaw, aka the Mighty Hannibal, for this week’s cover story. Now Hannibal has returned the favor and finds himself in Atlanta prepping for tonight’s show at Eyedrum to celebrate the third anniversary of Mighty Hannibal Day.

Chad sat down for an interview with the soul legend yesterday at AM 1690 to discuss his political past and tonight’s show where Noot d’ Noot and his wife Delia Gartrell open.

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Eyedrum, 290 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. 404-522-0655. www.eyedrum.org.

(Photo by Chad Radford)

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Could this be the slice of irony Soulja Boy intended?

From the Eyedrum website:

About Niggaz With Gratitude
We are Niggaz With Gratitude. Based in Atlanta, Ga, we combine Hip Hop, Punk, Rock, Jazz and a few other genres to culminate our sound. Why name a group of black rockers, Niggaz With Gratitude? Because we are united as a band to say out loud, in our songs, that we are proud to be African Americans. We are forever thankful to White people for bringing our Black ancestors to this wonderful country of America. It is truly the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. As long as you pay your taxes of course… Seriously though, If our ancestors weren’t stolen and enslaved into this country we would still be in Africa. We’re happy to not be there. HIV, poverty and Maleria would be our only options. Here we have everything. And it’s because of White people that we do. We know our message might be a little unconventional, but every African American says what we say to themselves. We just have the balls to say it out loud! If we come to your town you will get ROCKED! We are on a mission from God to take rock music back for the people.

www.niggazwithgratitude.com

(note – this show is actually a film shoot for a satire mockumentary)

Surely, last week’s presidential election stole some thunder from their punchline. Shame on you, Barack Obama!

Niggaz With Gratitude perform and shoot mockumentary at Eyedrum. Donations requested. 9 p.m. Tonight. 290 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. 404-522-0655. Visit the band’s MySpace page to hear music.

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I caught up with Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery’s Executive Director Robert Cheatham this morning. Naturally, with Eyedrum’s tenth anniversary happening this Saturday the conversation went there.

In addition to the normal rounds of music, sound installations, visual arts and mingling that goes on at these kinds of functions, Eyedrum is hosting its first awards ceremony in which they are giving out “Eddie awards” to folks in the community who have done their fair share of heavy lifting for the arts, but often go unsung.

Chad Radford:  What are the Eddies?

Robert Cheatham:  About two or three years ago I was pissed off with some of the awards ceremonies that Eyedrum had been invited to but didn’t win anything, so I wrote a letter to the board and said there needs to be an awards ceremony for the rest of us. It was sort of a tongue-in-cheek thing. The upper echelon was congratulating themselves left and right. So I proposed it, but over time my anger subsided, and with it my interest in the awards subsided, and then when we started talking about the tenth anniversary someone brought it up again.

Who decides the awards’ categories and winners?

There is a small committee of a few people – Eyedrum board members and other people from the community — that formed to decide who gets what and who gives them out.

What are some of the categories?

There’s one for “Best Atlanta Arts Activist,” “New Arts Administrator,” things like that. The awards themselves are basically modified thrift store items. They’re divided into two categories: Eyedrum stuff that’s given out to board members and things like that. There are also awards aimed toward the larger community, and those are handled a little more seriously. I’m getting an award for being the “Biggest Tool.” You can take that for whatever meaning you can find, but it’s pretty much for hanging the the walls and uplifting local discourse… that sort of thing.

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This Saturday, Oct. 11, Atlanta’s longest running, and totally volunteer-run nonprofit art and music gallery is celebrating 10 years of keeping Atlanta from completely falling prey to gentrification and big box strip malls.

Ten years is a solid run for Eyedrum that has seen comrade DIY and outsider strongholds, like IAG, ISP and Art Farm go the way of the Dodo. It is a time that also saw Eyedrum grow from being a handful of dedicated members giving it their all at the Trinity Ave. location, to a nationally respected Atlanta-based arts organization that boasts a board of over 20 members.

The celebration this Saturday, dubbed “A 10 Year Affair,” features performances from several local musical acts, including Judi Chicago, the Hotels, No Face and Matthew Proctor, along with DJs Zano and Chris Daresta. There is also an awards ceremony in which “Eddie Awards” are given out in recognition of Atlanta’s deserving but unheralded artists and venues.

There will also be a screening of the locally-produced documentary film, Eyedrum: The 10 Year Affair commemorative DVD.

WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008, 8 p.m.-midnight.
WHERE: Eyedrum, 290 MLK Drive, Suite 8, Atlanta 30312
How Much: $10 for non-members, members asked to make a donation. Friend-level memberships will be available for $25, a $10 discount. Tickets available in advance through Criminal Records, Decatur CD, Ella Guru or online here. Also you can charge by phone at 1-877-725-8849.

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On Wed., Oct. 1 Lukas Ligeti returns to Atlanta to play Eyedrum in support of his latest CD, Afrikan Machinery (Tzadik). Lukas is the son of renowned 20^th Century avant-garde composer György Ligeti. Much like his father, the younger, Brooklyn-based Ligeti thrives on the fringes of experimental musical ideas and practices, but his compositions focus on percussive experimentation and crafting rhythms and drones that land in the realm of post-minimalism. Electronica, jazz and indie rock in some form or another have fallen into his repertoire from time to time as well, but his work has very little to do with Western pop music by any means.

Afrikan Machinery is a swirling collection of polyrhythms and ethnic sounds that are mashed, chopped and screwed into varying tempos and sensory slurring constructs that on the surface defy a sense of order. But there is an underlying structure that weaves in and out of each number.

An array of plinks and plunks bounce off of each other as lines of minimal rhythms that are pieced together by a barrage of sounds intertwine to form something that is much greater than the sum of it’s parts.

It’s a hypnotic balance of chaos and design, improvisation and focused ideas that are as blissful as they are world-weary and anxiety inducing; and capture Ligeti at his finest musical moments. This show marks Ligeti’s first stop in Atlanta since playing Eyedrum with Raoul Björkenheim back in June of 2004. I had a chance to catch up with Lukas shortly before he left for the current tour.

Chad Radford: What you will be playing at your show in Atlanta, and will this be a solo performance?

Lukas Ligeti: I’ll be playing solo on an instrument called marimba lumina. It’s a kind of electronic marimba, a very sophisticated midi controller, built by Don Buchla from California, and you can get information on it at www.buchla.com. The sounds I play come mostly from my laptop – samples for the most part, recorded during my travels, often in Africa. The music is part composed / part improvised, and made to be played live on electronic percussion.

Local percussionist / composer Klimchak opens the show with an aural collage of clashing electronic and acoustic beats and textures. $8. 9 p.m. Eyedrum. 404-522-0655.www.eyedrum.org

(Photo by Chris Woltmann)

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This Friday night (Sept. 26th) Eyedrum hosts the Atlanta premiere of Michael Tully and Matthew Robison’s (We Fun: ATL Inside Out) documentary film Silver Jew. The film follows Silver Jews main man David Berman on a spiritual quest to the Western Wall (A.K.A. the Wailing Wall) in the Old City of Jerusalem to embrace his Jewish roots … And play a few shows. Doors at Eyedrum open at 9 p.m. and the film starts at 10 p.m. Admission is $5.

Proceeds from door sales are being donated to B Jay Womack (a.k.a. Bobby Ubangi) of local bands the Gaye Blades and the Soft Spots, who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Chad Radford: How did you you come to be involved with making Silver Jew?

Matthew Robison: David and I met in a club where I was playing, and he humbly introduced himself and his (then) girlfriend Cassie. I had read one of his poems in Mean Magazine, but didn’t know much about Silver Jews. I always understood him as an artist, but admittedly never played his records over and over. I do know most of them very well, and for a few months put together a band to be called Walnut Falcons to play Silver Jews covers. So I like the songs very much. The attachment to the music increased when I used some studio tracks in the doc and began to associate them with the work.

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Next Friday night (Sept. 26th) Eyedrum hosts the Atlanta premiere of Michael Tully and Matthew Robison’s (We Fun: ATL Inside Out) documentary film Silver Jew. The film follows Silver Jews main man David Berman on a spiritual quest to the Western Wall (A.K.A. the Wailing Wall) in the Old City of Jerusalem to embrace his Jewish roots… And play a few shows. Doors at Eyedrum open at 9 p.m. and the film starts at 10 p.m. Admission is $5.

Chad Radford: How did you you come to be involved with making Silver Jew?

Matthew Robison: David and I met in a club where I was playing, and he humbly introduced himself and his (then) girlfriend Cassie. I had read one of his poems in Mean Magazine, but didn’t know much about Silver Jews. I always understood him as an artist, but admittedly never played his records over and over. I do know most of them very well, and for a few months put together a band to be called Walnut Falcons to play Silver Jews covers. So I like the songs very much. The attachment to the music increased when I used some studio tracks in the doc and began to associate them with the work.

I knew when David told me about the Israel shows that it would be something remarkable for him whether or not it was documented. In a few moments I went from wanting to go and write about it to my then (and now) preferred medium of video. When I got his blessing to document I promised that he would at the very least have high-quality home movies.

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Monday nights are always a hard sell, but there are a couple of noteworthy shows going on around tonight.

First and foremost Derek Lyn Plastic is playing a 7-inch release party for his brand new She’s Go A U.T.I. 4-song 7-inch EP tonight at 97 Estoria in Cabbagetown.

Who would have thunk a 7-inch EP with a title like She’s Got a U.T.I. would show off major artistic growth for Derek Lyn Plastic? Believe it.

The four songs that make up the latest release from Atlanta’s burgeoning icon of discomfort are cut from the same vampy and paranoid cloth of synth-driven punk jams that made his previous singles so addictive. But there’s an added level of precision and intensity in his delivery that makes it clear Mr. Plastic isn’t just working out his social demons for the sake of it.

To read the rest of the story click here and to stream mp3s from Derek Lyn Plastic’s “She’s Got A U.T.I.” 7-inch click here.

… and if if the avant-garde thing is more your speed, CONNCET 9,  JERKAGRAM and QUR’ANOSAURUS HEX are playing over at Eyedrum. The droning and mysterious ensemble Conncet 9 revels in the dark resonance of real-world sounds and textures but manipulates them to take on a much more cluttered and haunting hue than their naturally occurring order. Jerkagram is a noisy and reactionary improv/psych-rock outfit from Connecticut that bashes out aggressive and ramshackle art-rock clusters of rhythm and dirge. Qur’anosaurus Hex opens the show and there’s a distinct possibility that Atlanta’s very own Duet For Theremin and Lapsteel will perform as well. $5. 9 p.m. Eyedrum. 404-522-0655. www.eyedrum.org.

(Photo courtesy of Derek Lyn Plastic).

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The sound of ecstatically beaten drums was what greeted me on my first trip to Eyedrum and the energy of a happy throng of art and music lovers is the feeling that stays with me. Rising Appalachia played Concrete Pandemonium III, a collection of music, art, poetry and activism meant to unite a community and inspire a little joyful communing. The duo will soon be taking separate trips to far-flung countries and will return with a new name (R.I.S.E) and a new feeling (revived).

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(Photos by Tara-Lynne Pixley)

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If you want edgy, talk to Randy Castello. He’s earned a rep for nurturing emergent sounds and scenes as the talent buyer for Drunken Unicorn and the man behind Tight Bros Network promotions company. When he announced his split from Drunken Unicorn last week (due to undisclosed, irreconcilable differences), it sounded like the perfect time to talk to him about his evolution and how he has, in turn, affected Atlanta’s.

Continue reading Spotlight.

(Photo by Megan Macksey)

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