Crib Notes

Clockwise from top: Tommy Chung, Mario Schambon, Jason and Herb Harris (Photo by Carl La Pan)

Atlas Sound fires up the tour machine once again, this time Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox has enlisted the Selmanaires to serve as his backing band for this show of ghostly pop. Stereolab-esque post-rock Brits Broadcast play in support of their latest release, Broadcast & The Focus Group Investigate. The Selmanaires pull double duty as they open the show Thursday night, Oct. 14. $15. 8:30 p.m. The Earl. 404-522-3950.

Chad Radford: So what’s up with the Atlas Sound tour; the Selmanaires are the Atlas Sound band for the tour with Broadcast and you’re opening the shows as well?
Tommy Chung: Yes. Bradford has been collaborating with Broadcast for a little while and we were always jealous because Broadcast has been one of our favorite bands pretty much since they became a band. Bradford asked Herb if we wanted to go too, and it was like, ‘let me think about it… Um yeah!’ A week later Bradford said he was sick of being a one-man sampler show and asked how we felt about being the backing band too. It sounded cool so we did one practice with him before a Dirty Projectors show and within the first ten minutes he asked us to play that show. We learned four songs, stretched them out and did like a 10-minute cover of “What Goes On” by the Velvet Underground.

We’ve always had a connection with Deerhunter. Our very first show out was in 2003 with Deerhunter at MJQ before the Drunken Unicorn even existed. It was Deerhunter, Tabitha and we were the openers — back when we were still stand up bass, Wurlitzer and acoustic guitar. After that we pretty much played with Deerhunter every month at Lenny’s. It feels like things have come full-circle now that we’re playing with Atlas Sound.

The Selmanaires “Resonance Alright” mp3

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With the ink still drying on their recently-signed, four-album deal with Virgin Records, the Constellations make a pit stop at the crib tonight before returning to their tour through the midwest and other spots on the map. A couple of people have asked me why the hell (!) the Constellations didn’t make CL’s recent Best of Atlanta issue. And it’s a valid question. The band shot out of the blocks since dropping Southern Gothic last year, and they’ve crafted a potent, unexpected indie-pop sound considering the cats that comprise the local supergroup of sorts, including members from Trances Arc and Snowden.

Expect tonight’s show to double as a homecoming celebration, featuring the premiere of the Constellations’ new video for “Perfect Day.” Special guests include Falcon Lords, Future Shock and Prince Presto. $10. 9 p.m. Sat., Oct. 10. Lenny’s, 486 Decatur St. 404-577-7721. www.lennysbar.com.

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On Tues., July 21 Lenny’s hosts the Crowd Control “performance battle,” which pits artist against artist in a battle where the applause determines the winner. Style, wit and skill are factors, but a strong song and performance are what push the winner to the top. The whole thing is set up as a single elimination tournament where each round is judged by crowd response and measured by a noise meter.

The first round features four head-to-head performances where each group plays a 3-minute song. The winner moves on the to round two and so on.

What’s at stake?
First prize:
$200 Cash
A Demo Trk From Mindzai Studios
4 hours studio time @ Mindzai Studios
$100 in CD Duplications
A 10 min. feature performance
at the next months Crowd Control

Runner-up:
1 Demo Trk From Mindzai Creative Studios
4 hours studio time @ Mindzai Creative Studios
$100 in CD Duplications

Contestants must register in advance by contacting Scott Weatherwax at 404-222-9337 or online. Early Registration is $40. Registration is open until show time, but if you wait that long you will most likely be an alternate. Cost for registering the nights of the show is $50.

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To celebrate CL’s annual music issue we asked a random mix of Atlanta tastemakers, critics and promoters to share their greatest playlists.

Bean Summer
Video artist/Lenny’s promoter

Top 10 Playlist
1. Roger Miller “Chug-a-lug” Golden Hits
2. Talking Heads “Once in a Lifetime” Best of the Talking Heads
3. Summer Hymns “Trouble” Clemency
4. God Speed You Black Emperor “The Dead Flag Blues” F# A# (Infinity)
5. Alejandro Jodorowsky “Psychedelic Weapons” From the Holy Mountain soundtrack.
6. Beck “Hollywood Freaks” Midnight Vultures
7. John Oswald “Power” 69 Plunderphonics 96
8. Johnny Cash “Busted” Blood, Sweat and Tears
9. Throbbing Gristle-everything they ever did!
10. Thurston Howl III “Still Lives with my Moms,” Featuring: Master Fuol-Skillionaire.

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Who are you?
Rhys Webb, the Horrors.

Describe yourself in three words.
No-thank-you.

Who — dead or alive — would you most like to meet?
Joe Meek.

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
You!

What song do you wish you had written?
“Johnny Remember Me” – John Leyton.

Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley?
Presley.

LP, CD or MP3?
LP always.

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
The French Anarchist look circa 1789.

If you could end one trend, what would it be?
Kill all hippies.

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

The Horrors play Lenny’s with the Kills and Magic Wands on Mon., April 27. $15. 9 p.m. Lenny’s Bar, 486 Decatur St. 404-577-7721.

(Photo courtesy of the Horrors)

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Chad Radford:  Your 7-inch came out a few months back. Now that you’ve had some time to ruminate, what are your thoughts on your first release after Carbonas?
Greg King:  We just laid down a bunch of new songs and they are a whole lot better.

Are you playing with the same line-up you had with the first single?
I sang and played all of the drums and the guitars and Chris Van Etten played the bass. [Gentleman] Jesse hasn’t been playing with me since we did the recording. Clay Kilbourne has been playing guitar and Mike Beavers from Predator has been playing drums.

Are you going to put out a G.G. King full-length?
Oh I don’t know. I’ve recorded six songs and they’re demo quality. It’s pretty raw and it might make a better 7-inch. I think a whole album would get kind of tiresome. I’ll probably do it with Douchemaster, but I want to send it around to a few other places to see if anyone is interested, and to see who’s going to give me a massive budget to go and record.

Are you going to stick with the name G. G. King?
I really wish that I hadn’t picked that name, but I already got a record with that name on it, so I’ll stick with it. As soon as we started getting the record covers printed I started getting all of these great ideas for names, and thought crap. It’s totally retarded. But it does kind of plays into my obsession with when cool bands and musicians shit the bed and do something terrible… And it’s an obvious reference to Dee Dee King from the Ramones doing his solo rap stuff which is pretty much unbearable.

G. G. King plays tonight, Sat., April 11 with Jay Reatard and the Stolen Hearts at Lenny’s 9 p.m. $10. 486 Decatur St. 404-577-7721.

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“See Saw” mp3

“Always Wanting More” mp3

Jay Reatard plays a free show at Emory Performing Arts Studio, 1804 N. Decatur Rd. 8 p.m. Fri., April 10. On Sat., April 11 Jay Reatard plays at Lenny’s with Gentleman Jesse, GG King and the Stolen Hearts. 9 p.m. $10. 486 Decatur St. 404-577-7721.

Chad Radford: Your MySpace headline says “New record almost finished.” Do you have a name for it yet?
Jay Reatard: Yeah, it’s Watch Me Fall. Pretty positive title … unless I change my mind in the next three days, that’s what it’s going to be called.

Is the line-up on the record the same one that you’ve been working with for a while?
Yeah, on the recording itself the majority of the songs are just acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass and drums. And then on a few other songs there is Farfisa and a little bit of piano and on two other songs there’s some cello and a couple mandolin parts. I’m not really going into like R.E.M. and “Losing My Religion” territory just yet, but I wanted to use some different kind of non typical rock instruments in the context of a rock song.

Is it going to be in the same kind of tone as Blood Visions?
No, it’s a drastically different record. On the surface it might appear really different. The content of the songs and the general aesthetics of the songs are the same, but the way that they are delivered is different. The songs are a lot longer, there are only 12 songs and I didn’t even know it until I threw it on the computer to start sequencing it and I was like ‘wow man, there are quite a few songs on here that are like four minutes long,’ which is twice the length of most of my songs, but there are still a lot of songs on there that are really short. I’d like to say that in theory it’s a punk record but it’s really not. It’s kind of like a dark pop record I think.

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It’s a big weekend for shows in Atlanta. Sadly Morrissey sold out the Variety Playhouse quickly (rightfully so). But if you weren’t one of the lucky ones who got tickets, there are still plenty of other noteworthy things going on.

On Friday night Mi Ami is playing a show over at 529. Personally, I’m not a fan of this CD by any stretch and it has been the subject of much debate between me and about a dozen other people who wholeheartedly disagree with me. I spent about a week and a half trying to figure out what it is that makes people clamor for this group, but each listen only made the singer’s absolutely unbearable vocal screeds that much more maddening. By its very nature the the heavy rhythms and deep bottom end of the music demands a physical response. Perhaps the live show will persuade me to think otherwise.

If you’re looking for something more in the vein of traditional rock and roll, Howlies are playing the CD release party for Trippin With Howlies at the Star Bar.

On Saturday night the Fourth Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra plays at Eyedrum. 4WAKO is a nine piece jazz orchestra playing original compositions and arrangements that combine West African influenced rhythms with Eastern European Klezmer melodies. Daniel Clay opens the show.

Selmanaires play a show at 529 on Saturday night. According to vocalist and guitar player Tommy Chung the group will be unveiling an almost entirely new set of songs. (more…)

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For today’s Roll Call we call out Yelawolf.

Who are you?
Yelawolf.

Describe yourself in three words.
Work, working, worked.

Who — dead or alive — would most you like to meet?
Jesus.

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
Girls slap people.

What song do you wish you had written?
I only have songs I wish I didn’t write.

Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley?
Who the hell is Elvis Presley?

LP, CD or MP3?
Live show.

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
To stop trends.

If you could end one trend, what would it be?
Starting trends

With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
The last bottle I saw spinning gave someone a concussion.

Yela Wolf plays a CD release party at Lenny’s tonight (Fri., Dec. 12th) for his latest EP, Arena Rap. Adult Film Stars, Lee Harvey Oswald, Hollyweerd and Rittz also perform. FREE 9 p.m.

(Photo courtesy of Yelawolf ).

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For this edition of Roll Call, we call out Atomic Boogie’s John Barton.

Who are you?
John Barton, guitar and vocals for the band Atomic Boogie

Describe yourself in three words.
Rockin’ guitar cat!

Who — dead or alive — would most you like to meet?
Jerry Lee Lewis

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
Britney Spears

What song do you wish you had written?
“I Walk the Line” by Johnny Cash

Elvis Presley or Elvis Costello?
Elvis Presley

LP, CD or MP3?
LP

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
I would like to start a trend of more rockabilly guitar players without the generic pompadour look!

If you could end one trend, what would it be?
I would like to end the “Country Pop Nashville Syndrome!”

With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
Drew Barrymore — great lips!!

Atomic Boogie heads tonight’s roots/rockabilly lineup with Rat Rod & the Rusty Rebels, and King Daddy Polecats. $7. 10 p.m. Lenny’s, 486 Decatur St. 404-577-7721. Bring canned goods to support Atlanta Community Food Bank’s holiday drive.

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Remembering JAX, a benefit show in memory of Jax of Binkis Recs, is scheduled for Saturday, November 8 to raise funds for his family. $10 donation. 3-6 p.m. Lenny’s, 486 Decatur St. 678-760-9152.

Performers will include Clan Destined, Eddie Meeks, Senor Kaos, Ekundayo, Stahhr tha F.E.M.C.E.E., Great Scott, Mojo Swagger, Dropbombz, Melaphyre, Marq Spekt, Transistor Fist, Ozy, Jaws of Life, and Ness Lee. DJs: Mafioso, Fudge, Synthesis, and Rock Most.

Though the door price is $10, concert-goers are encouraged to contribute more. In addition, Jax’s wife, Lisa, will also be accepting contributions via her PayPal account, according to the show flier. To access, enter her email address, ejwatts77@yahoo.com.

Check out the Binkis Recs blog for classic footage of Jax breaking down his lyrics, performing, and featuring in videos.

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Editor’s note: Christopher “Jax” Thurston collapsed onstage and died of natural causes due to hypertension, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiners Office. He was 32.

Read CL’s Dec. 3, 2008 cover story on Jax, with exclusive interview excerpts from family, friends and collaborators.

Jax of Atlanta’s legendary indie hip-hop crew Binkis Recs suffered a heart attack collapsed while onstage at Lenny’s last night and was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital.

According to close friend and Binkis crew member Flux da Wondabat, Jax was performing the title track from his 2007 solo album, Sharper Images.

“He was performing onstage and he just passed out in the middle of his verse,” said Flux. “We went to the emergency room and then they came out and gave us the word.”

Formed in 1997, the Binkis Recs trio (Jax, Flux, Killa Kalm) quickly established itself as a true alternative to the commercial, crunk sound that defined Atlanta near the end of the millennium.

“Atlanta is weird because it’s two scenes,” N.Y. native Jax told CL in 2005. “It’s the natives and the transplants. And the scene that most people know — the OutKast and Ludacris — are all from here. A lot of us on the underground level are from somewhere else.”

The group’s name still speaks volumes — the acronym BINKIS stands for “Before Ignorant Niggas Killed Intelligent Songs.” They released several CDs, including 2003’s The Reign Begins. Though most failed to register commercially, their impact among Atlanta’s independent hip-hop scene is still felt.

“Binkis Recs paved the way for what a lot of younger Atlanta hip-hop musicians are able to do right now,” says former ATF Records label mate and friend, J-Mil of Collective Efforts. “A lot of people don’t even know that DJ Drama got his start with these brothers.”

While he was reminiscent of rap’s golden era, Jax believed in pushing music forward, as evidenced by these lyrics from the song “Shift,” featured on his ’07 release: “‘88 is not coming back/Nobody can replace Rakim or G. Rap/Slick Rick or Kane/’94’s gone/You can’t imitate Nas, Biggie or the Wu-Tang/It’s just not the same/What you should do is take lessons from the eras passed/The eras made/And apply it to your own era/Leave a legacy using your own lyrical weaponry.”

Jax had recently purchased a home with his fiancé, whom he planned to marry before year’s end.

“A lot of people forget what kind of sacrifices independent artists make in an attempt to give people options in music. Jax gave his life to the culture, and that’s a hard thing to do,” says J-Mil. “While I want to celebrate his life, I can’t help but miss the brother. I know I’m not alone.”

As for Flux and the Binkis Recs crew, “personally, he meant everything. He embodies what Binkis is; he was Binkis,” says Flux. “As far as hip-hop is concerned, that’s what Binkis is and what hip-hop is. We just continued on with the creativity and enjoyed doing it and having fun.”

Click here to see more photos of Jax.
Click here to visit Jax’s MySpace page.
Click here to listen to music from Jax.

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No metal band that’s worth its salt is scared of a little rain. So when talk of moving Corndogorama’s headlining act Zoroaster to the inside stage at Lenny’s spread throughout the crowd Sunday night, the natives became restless. Black clouds rumbled overhead and icy fingers of lighting stretched across the nighttime sky. But rather than tuck tails and seek shelter, Zoroaster raised its fists to the heavens and called down the thunder into a career defining performance.

The Zoroaster experience is not as defined by songs, as it is by the low, gut-pummeling rumble and head-nod rhythms that emanate from the wall of Orange and Sunn amps that wrap around the stage.

In the battle between Zoroaster and nature’s fury, Zoroaster emerged victorious on this night. And in their wake, a battlefield littered with half-eaten corndog sticks and bleeding eardrums were all that remained of “The Year of the Mustard King.”

Not a single drop of rain fell during Zoroaster’s show, and even though the band braved the elements, sadly, not many Corndogorama goers braved it out with them. Last year, Mastodon held down the same closing spot on the bill. It was a historic performance and the place was packed. Homeless people gathered around on the sidewalk across the street to throw their fists in the air and there was hardly enough room in the whole parking lot to accommodate the masses. But this year was different.

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Lenny’s in Old Fourth Ward will have to find a new location when its lease expires in two years. The sale of the strip mall in which it’s located at the corner of Decatur Avenue and Boulevard was finalized today for $3.3 million to a group of investors.

“For us, it just means in 2-3 years we’ll probably have to move again,” says Bean Summer, the music venue’s booking agent. “On a larger scale, I think it’s a horrible trend for the city. I think they’re pushing out culture and making really ugly choices. They’re losing control of whatever the beauty of Atlanta is becoming. What are we going to do as a city if we have miles and miles of apartments and nothing to do?”

He stresses that the popular music venue is not closing and hopes they’ll own the next location or relocate to a neighborhood less likely to force another move. Lenny’s moved to its current location in August 2006 after its old spot on Memorial Drive was sold.

“I hope people know that we’re going to keep going and we’re going to keep booking shows,” Summer says. “Yeah, we’ve had a lot of ‘public issues’ that have happened to us, but somehow we keep going. But you never know when a tornado is going to hit and gentrification is going to push us out and out.” (more…)

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On Friday, April 19^th, starting at 4 p.m. and running well into the wee hours of the morning, Lenny’s Bar is hosting an all day and night rock show/art auction/dance party.

All of the art is original work created on debris that was collected from the streets of Cabbagetown the day after the tornado hit. There will be some big name artists donating work including R. Land, Gus Fink, and H.C. Warner.

The bands that are playing include:
The Khans
Sunday Drive Bye
Phoenix For Saints
Synchro Nine Factor
Quench
Black Daniels
Lazer/Wolf
Slim Chance & the Convicts
More bands TBA

There will also be stand up comedy from the Relapse Improv. Players and a charity raffle with prizes from Criminal Records, Adult Swim, The 5 Spot, The Brew House, El Myr, Southside Tattoo and more.

Price for entrance is $5 during the day and $8 after 9 p.m.

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(photo by Shawn Brackbill)

Drummer Damon Che brings his reformed second-generation version of DON CABALLERO back to Atlanta Wed., NOV. 7. The group is hailed as an innovator of the heavier side of Chicago’s instrumental post-rock/math-rock scene of the ’90s. The music is muscular, streamlined and unfolds with robotic perfection. Like-minded local bands Chopper, Lay Down Mains and Bernard open the show with their own takes on rock precision. $10. 9 p.m. Lenny’s, 486 Decatur St. 404-577-7721. www.lennysbar.com.

For more to See & Do, click here.

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OK LAPTOP: Judge R. Garcia

(photo by Nophi)

It’s that time of year once again when Atlanta’s finest amateur computer music heads leave the safety of their bedrooms to compete in a battle of wits, skill and mouse play at the Atlanta Laptop Battle III final competition.

Eight of the city’s finest laptop virtuosos, who have thus far made it through two semifinal competitions earlier this year, are now going head-to-head for the grand prize: over $1,000 in software and a ticket to Seattle to compete in the National Laptop Battle Championship this December.

The aliases for this year’s eight finalists include: Andrew Provine, Charlie P (both of whom perform together in the band Random Rabbit), pH, Josh Clayton (DJ for 91.1 WREK-FM’s “The Mobius” show), Dr. Maximilian Reinhart, El Hadron, Citizen Green and Poodleface.

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