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FIERY FURNACES: Eleanor Friedberger (left) bites her lip.
(All photos by Perry Julien. More photos of Atlanta shows featuring Fiery Furnaces, Ween, Alanis Morissette, Mutemath and Matchbox 20 below the jump.)
Saturday night, the potent Atlanta heat penetrated whatever claimed to be air-conditioning at the Earl. Fiery Furnaces singer Elizabeth Friedberger patted her head and commented on the heat. From their early performances, their music has taken a decidedly jazz free form with Matt’s soulful B-3 blues licks. If the Georgia humidity had more of an opportunity to soak in would that have brought more jack to those funky grooves? She and her brother originally hail from the Chicago suburb of Oak Park Illinois. Trust me, those Chicago summers can get brutal. Regional influence may be more than a question of temperature.
My thesis advisor professed it was the mother tongue, the language actually passed down from the mother, that most affected our psychological makeup. Pam Howe of the Atlanta band Ph Balance was a devotee of Paul Weller and I got to know her on the Weekends dance floor while we all rocked out to Brit dance music. But I swore that her Southern drawl got thicker as she performed under the lights of the Echo Lounge.
Deerhunter brought its experimental sound to open the Saturday night show at the Earl. Jesus and Mary Chain is oft-cited as one of their influences, although there is certainly none of that Glasgow swagger that always accompanied the Reid brothers. Deerhunter closed the set with Fluorescent Grey described by Bradford Cox as a song about necrophilia. One only needs to hearken back to the scandal at the Walker County crematorium for local inspiration. The heat and close summer quarters might make us feel that the dead are not that far away.
In the post-electronic age, regional character may give way to other influences. Many Northern transplants would have never ventured south without vigorous doses of air-conditioning. And as the air-conditioning blasted the café dance floor at MJQ and the DJ played New Order, we might as well have been as far from an indigenous Atlanta culture as possible.
Both Deerhunter and The Black Lips extend that DIY sound that has become associated with Rob’s House and the Stickfigure label. There is a frustration borne of Atlanta suburban living, uniform and lifeless. The facelessness has encouraged hordes of kids to move to East Atlanta and Cabbagetown to soak up the ghosts that still haunt the city. There seems an almost staccato drone that emanates from the cicada and the mocking bird. It only reminds us of the summer swelter.
RECOMMENDED: As most Atlanta music fans give praises to that loveable hot dog dipped in corn batter, I will be heading to Chicago for the Pitchfork Festival. Chicago locals The Pony’s and Ken Vandemark are exciting additions to the lineup. The Atlanta-Athens area is well -represented with Of Montreal, Mastodon, Deerhunter, and Cat Power.
Not to be outdone, Corndogorama will be graced by a set by Mastodon on Sunday
