Crib Notes

A fire that ignited outside Atlanta’s Masquerade Music Park Saturday night has been extinguished, with no reported injuries. The fire did, however, destroy a storage space separate from the music venue.

Around 10 p.m., three Atlanta Fire Department engines responded to the venue’s open-air music park.

Witnesses said they walked outside to find plumes of smoke billowing from the the rear of the venue. Another witness standing in a nearby parking lot said he saw smoke as well. He said he walked to the rear of the venue and found flames had already engulfed trees and were spreading to nearby booths.

Firefighters managed to contain the blaze to a fenced-in area that stored portable toilets. All of those toilets — an estimated 20 — appeared to be destroyed.

The main venue, which tonight was hosting a punk rock showcase, was not impacted.

Firefighters did not immediately know what caused the fire. Witnesses said the blaze appeared to have started in the portable toilet storage area.

CL attempted to take a photo of the damage but was told by firefighters we were not appropriately dressed to enter the scene. You know, because of the contents of the burnt portable toilets and the fact that we were in sandals. Tessa from Drive a Faster Car has pics from Twitter of the blaze.

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By Azia Squire

Taking Back Sunday with Anberlin and Envy on the Coast. $25. 6:30 p.m. The Masquerade (HEAVEN), 695 North Ave. 404-577-8178. www.masq.com.

Fresh off the tense departure of guitarist/vocalist Fred Mascherino (who inspired “Capital M-E”) Taking Back Sunday has a new line-up, sound and album, conveniently titled New Again. “Sink Into Me,” the album’s first single best illustrates the changes, as it’s more stadium rock than the angst-ridden instrumentation and depressed guitars the band usually pulls off so well.

One element missing from this album is Taking Back Sunday’s penchant for duel vocals. The absence strips some of the songs of the uniqueness heard in earlier releases such as “Cute Without the ‘E’ (Cut From the Team),” the first single from Tell All Your Friends. Released when John Nolan of Straylight Run was still in the band, the track’s strength is the evident solidarity of the two vocalists (Adam Lazzara and Nolan) fighting each other for dominance. Now it seems like lead singer Lazzara is mostly fighting his own voice, and it leaves the melody a bit thin.

One of the tracks on New Again that dodges the thin bullet is “Everything Must Go,” on which Lazzara passionately handles the music alone. “Cut Me Up Jenny” is catchy and energetic, much like “Phasers Set to Stun” from the second album Where You Want to Be. Other highlights include “Swing” and “Summer, Man.”

With only one vocalist, the revamped Taking Back Sunday line-up will take a bit of getting used. But overall, Adam Lazzara has proven that whether there’s Fred, or John Nolan, or heck, even Jesse Lacey, he’s all fans really need for a decent TBS album. (WEA/Reprise) 4 out of 5 stars

Taking Back Sunday with Anberlin and Envy on the Coast. $25. 6:30 p.m. The Masquerade (HEAVEN), 695 North Ave. 404-577-8178. www.masq.com.

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By Sarah Bakhtiari

Updated

PEACHES, DRUMS OF DEATH. $20. 7 p.m. Mon., June 15. Masquerade (Heaven). 404-577-8178. masq.com.

Canadian singer Merrill Nisker, better known as Peaches, is known in the electronica genre for her sexually explicit material and provocative shows. With rather blunt songs on sex, gender roles, and more sex, her new album I Feel Cream echoes the same messages heard on such past releases as Fatherfucker, but with a more melodic sound.

Since debuting with Teaches of Peaches in 2000, the electroclash queen has remained fairly consistent with her synth-punk sound. With I Feel Cream however, Peaches has released her most pop-sounding album without yet despite its electronic classification. The songs are catchier than ever, but still miles away from popcorn territory. Sounding like former roommate Feist, Peaches takes a different route on a few songs by singing in a soft, almost angelic voice — something fans have rarely heard. (more…)

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Who are you?
Kathy Foster.

Describe yourself in three words.
Musician, artist, lover.

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

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
Violence is never the answer.

What song do you wish you had written?
None, I like things just the way they are.

Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley?
Costello.

LP, CD or MP3?
LP!

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
Honesty in politics.

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

With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
The Strokes.

The Thermals play the Masquerade on Sat., May 16 with the Shakey Hands and Point Juncture, WA. $12. 8 p.m.

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The Contamination Tour is a rite of passage for burgeoning metal bands. Neurosis, Mastodon, the Dillinger Escape Plan, Nile, High On Fire, Cephalic Carnage and dozens of other acts have all appeared on past line-ups. The Contamination Tour 2009 continues the legacy as German headliners Obscura make their American debut in support of a new full-length for Relapse due out in February.

Fellow new Relapse signees, South Carolina’s Graves of Valor and Abysmal Dawn from Los Angeles, round-out the bill.

Tickets to the show are $12, BUT!!! If you send an e-mail to Crib Notes with “Contamination 2009″ in the subject line, you will be entered into a drawing to win a pair of tickets to the show at the Masquerade on Wed., April 29. Winners will be picked at random.

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By Sunni Johnson

There’s a reason why I don’t go to a lot of shows at the Masquerade. For one, I am not a neu-metal or new punk fan, and I also don’t like paying $8 for a shot of whiskey.

On Friday, April 10, Dan Deacon played in Hell, the downstairs dance club section of the old North Ave. venue. “Dance club” means the audience stands in a strange rectangular area nestled between balconies which anal security guards won’t let you chill on (read: animal pen). That’s ok; it’s not uncommon for the atypical Dan Deacon fan to want to be as close as possible to the dude during his set.

I was skeptical about his white jumper clad backing band but found they only complemented Deacon’s energy raising abilities without overshadowing his electronic melodies that always tend to crescendo into a modernized mosh-pit of neon accessories and dirty hair.

The Masquerade pulled the plug on Deacon and company as the beginning of the ever popular “Crystal Cat” began to waft through the humidity engulfing the room. Apparently, the cause of the severance was Atlanta’s legal curfew for underage kids, of which there were many at the show that night.

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A funny thing happened to electro on its way out: Bands started to play it, as in with instruments and stuff, added some punk swagger, embedded a catchy hook and a few loops, and now the crowd can’t get enough. Tonight you have two absolutely brilliant shows to bring your A dancing game to for razor-sharp synth lines and four-to-the-floor beats.

In case you missed last Thursday’s amazing Cut Copy show at the Masquerade, you’ll get a chance at redemption with the Presets. Bringing an edgier, harder sound than their fellow countrymen, this Sydney-based punk/dance duo will kick your ass as you shake it. Last time through Atlanta they paired up with their fellow Aussies, but this time around they headline; here they are playing “Yippiyo Ya” during last year’s show:

Mr. Preston Craig will rock the decks ‘n effex before the main show, setting the mood right.

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DIPLO, ABE VIGODA, BOY 8-BIT, TELEPATHE, PAPER ROUTE GANGSTAZ Internationally renowned Hollertronix party DJ and electro-funk icon Diplo heads up this traveling caravan of cutting-edge artists. Tropicalia-inflected underdogs of the L.A. post-punk scene Abe Vigoda, along with Mad Decent, Boy 8-Bit, Paper Route Gangstaz and NYC abstract electro duo Telepathe fill out the bill with a roster of divine sounds, fringe art punk and hip-hop that’s more concerned about pushing the arts than posturing. $12. 8:30 p.m. The Masquerade. 404-577-8178. www.masq.com. — Chad Radford

MAGNETIC MORNING is a collaboration between Interpol drummer and recent Athens transplant Sam Fogarino and Swervedriver singer/guitarist Adam Franklin. Their debut full-length, A.M., balances spaced-out quietude with a roar of guitar resonance. At the heart of it all is a shared admiration for lush pop tones. In their hands, songs are alternately pushed to the brink of sensory overload before being reeled back in for a dose of psychedelic melancholy. Sleep Therapy and Creepy also perform. $10. 9 p.m. The Earl, 488 Flat Shoals Road. 404-522-3950. www.badearl.com. — CR

(Photo Credit: Christy Bush)

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