Crib Notes

It’s easy to forget the good folks at Paste magazine are based in Atlanta since they’re so good (too good, perhaps) at avoiding hometown favoritism.

But in Paste’s September ’08 cover issue, Best of What’s Next: 26 Emerging Artists You Must Know, two local yokels actually made the cut: Janelle Monae and Andy Hull.

Both are artists we’ve talked up (and sometimes down) in the pages of CL. Hull is best known as the lead for Atlanta indie rock act Manchester Orchestra. But his solo set, Right Away, Great Captain is a stripped-down concept album about a sailor from the 1600s, with each song representing journal entries to his captain and family.

Monae, whose Metropolis: The Chase suite was re-released last week, was the topic of CL’s music feature last week, along with her Wondaland Arts Society label. Metropolis is another conceptual release that tells the story of an android from the future who must be destroyed when she falls in love with a human.

But Atlanta has no monopoly on fresh talent. Check the full list for such artists as Wale (Washington D.C.), the Everybodyfields (Tennessee), Black Kids (Jacksonville, Fla.), Mugison (Iceland) and more.

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In its July issue, Decatur-based Paste magazine celebrates its list of the 17 coolest record stores that have outlasted the digital era, and Atlanta’s own Criminal Records made the cut with its enormous inventory of CDs, vinyl, magazines, comic books and DVDs.

“The resources on the Internet are supplements to actual record stores, not replacements,” said Josh Jackson, Paste editor in chief. “The digital era has its benefits, but I hope we can keep opening up new ways of discovering music without losing the best of the old.”

Look out for the soon-to-be released July issue of Paste for its complete listing of the 17 Coolest Record Stores in America, or click here to read it online.

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