One week from today, Secret Stages kicks off its second year in downtown Birmingham, AL, just a couple of hours away from Atlanta via I-20.  Just like last year, the lineup pulls together carefully curated bands from all over the Southeast, with a few wild cards thrown into the mix, too.  This year’s big name is cultishly adored Merge institution Lambchop, an appropriate headliner for a festival that tends to feature a lot of skewed americana.  Other names of note are Savannah metal trio Black Tusk, Florida electro-poppers Sunbears!, Memphis rapper Cities Aviv, and warped noise rockers Dope Body from Baltimore.

The rest of the lineup is all over the place, ranging from indie rock to punk to jazz to folk.  Hip hop and the avant garde are making particularly strong showings this year, too.  Atlanta will be represented by Lucy Dreams, Brainworlds, Social Studies, Arablak, Baby Baby, Bare Essentials, and Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel, a surprisingly eclectic group that should give you some idea of the breadth of the lineup.

This festival is one of my favorite regional events.  Most of these bands have yet to break out of their respective local scenes, but the lineup is largely dud free.  It’s a great chance to wander around and discover a bunch of new music.  And it’s cheap.  Weekend passes will only set you back $25, and for $60 you can go VIP, which includes free food and drinks.  Definitely worth the trip to Birmingham.

Check out the full lineup after the jump.

A.J. Haynes (Shreveport, LA)
Adam Faucett (Little Rock, AR)
Androcles and the Lion (Athens, GA)
Arablak (Atlanta, GA)
Au Ras Au Ras (New Orleans, LA)
Baby Baby (Carrollton, GA)
Bare Essentials (Atlanta, GA)
Black Tusk (Savannah, GA)
The Black Twig Pickers (Blacksburg, VA)
Brainworlds (Atlanta, GA)
Buffalo Killers (Cincinnati, OH)
Cities Aviv (Memphis, TN)
City Champs (Memphis, TN)
Cortney Tidwell (Nashville, TN)
Davey Williams (Birmingham, AL) & Andrew Raffo Dewar (Tuscaloosa, AL)
David Dove (Houston, TX) & Damon Smith (Houston, TX)
Dead Fingers (Birmingham, AL)
The Deep Dark Woods (Saskatoon, Canada)
Dennis González Yells at Eels (Dallas, TX)
The Dirty Streets (Memphis, TN)
Dope Body (Baltimore, MD)
Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel (Atlanta, GA)
Fargo (Mobile, AL)
FisherGreen (Birmingham, AL)
Floating Action (Asheville, NC)
Frank Fairfield (Los Angeles, CA)
Furrows (Jackson, MS)
Future Virgins (Chattanooga, TN)
Hail the Titans (Montgomery, AL)
Hartle Road (Columbus, MS)
Hiss Golden Messenger (Durham, NC)
Invisible Hand (Charlottesville, VA)
James Wallace & the Naked Light (Nashville, TN)
Japanese Women (Montgemery, AL)
Jeff McLeod (Montgomery, AL)
Junior Astronomers (Charlotte, NC)
Justin Peake (New Orleans, LA)
K.L.U.B. Monsta (Birmingham, AL)
Kenosha Kid (Athens, GA)
Kid Daytona (The Bronx, NY)
Kill Baby Kill (Anniston, AL)
The Lackadaisies (Shreveport, LA)
Lambchop (Nashville, TN)
Lauderdale (Muscle Shoals, AL)
Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires (Birmingham, AL)
Lost and Found (Birmingham, AL)
Lucy Dreams (Atlanta, GA)
Lydia Burrell (Louisville, KY)
Lydia Loveless (Columbus, OH)
Machines Are People Too (Chattanooga, TN)
MackONE (Birmingham, AL)
Marina Orchestra (Knoxville, TN)
Morningbell (Gainesville, FL)
Mr. Invisible (Charlotte, NC)
Natural Child (Nashville, TN)
Nightmare Boyzzz (Muscle Shoals, AL)
The Poison Kitchen (Birmingham, AL)
Preston Lovinggood (Birmingham, AL)
The Reneaus (Nashville, TN)
Rev. John Wilkins (Memphis, TN)
River City Tanlines (Memphis, TN)
Robert Ellis (Houston, TX)
Shooting Out The Lights (Oxford, MS)
Shovels & Rope  (Charleson, SC)
SKIP (Orlando, FL)
Social Studies (Atlanta, GA)
Solid Sender (Birmingham, AL)
St. Paul and The Broken Bones (Birmingham, AL)
Sunbears! (Jacksonville, FL)
The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt (Murfreesboro, TN)
Terry Ohms and Them (Birmingham, AL)
Tetsuo (Murfreesboro, TN)
Twin Tigers (Athens, GA)
The Urns (Birmingham, AL)
Vicious Cycle (Dallas, TX)
Water Liars (St. Louis, MO)
Wooden Finger (Jackson, MS)
Younger Siblings (Birmingham, AL)

See you next month.

The new album from Athens’ The Viking Progress is a collection of character sketches, with each track adopting the point of view of someone facing the end of the world.  That sounds like a drag, but the record is a lot less ponderous than it reads on paper.  Viking Progress mastermind Patrick Morales uses his central conceit to paint distinct, humane portraits of eight different points of view, and the focus is more on core values and past experience than it is on the impending end times.  Morales sings these sketches over carefully sculpted folk, tastefully decked out with strings and the occasional horn line from Neutral Milk Hotel’s Scott Spillane.  Check out lead single “The Couple” below to get a feel for the project.

The Viking Progress will be celebrating Whistling While The End Is Near‘s release with a show at The Earl tonight.  The opener is Adron, and the headliner is Oryx and Crake (who generously lent out cellist Matt Jarrard to Morales for Whistling).  Oryx haven’t played a show since December and will be debuting new material at tonight’s show, so it should be a good one.

Tonight is the second ever Atlanta Music Roundtable showcase, and I’m really excited about this lineup.  Our goal with AMR has always been to celebrate local music, and I think the 3 acts on tonight’s bill are among the area’s best emerging bands.  The night will begin with some left field weirdness courtesy of drone enthusiast The Electric Nature.  He doesn’t play locally often, so show up early.  Next up is shoegaze upstarts Lucy Dreams, who pair their dreamy washes of sound with an underlying current of propulsion.  Closing it all out is Nigredo, the mercurial post-metal outfit that might still be Atlanta’s best kept secret.  We’re happy to have all three contribute to what we feel is a pretty diverse and exciting lineup.  Plus, it’s only $5, and what else are you going to be doing on a Tuesday anyway?

Go here for the relevant Facebook page, and go here to read Promising Chord’s excellent interview with Nigredo from earlier this week.

See you at The Earl.  Doors are at 8:30, show at 9:00.

A Storm of Light, Mustard Gas and Roses, Demonaut - Monday (3/19), The Earl, $10.

Brooklyn’s A Storm of Light does post-metal that doesn’t skimp on the metal.  Their sound is plenty atmospheric, and expansive enough to include elements drawn from a range of non-heavy genres, but they remain a metal band above all else.  This isn’t just post-rock with a little extra distortion.  I don’t know much about openers Mustard Gas and Roses beyond the fact that it’s the solo project of Mike Gallagher, former guitarist for departed post-sludge titans ISIS, but that’s all I really need to hear.

SwingSet, The Magic Math, High-Water Railers - Wednesday (3/21), The Earl, $7.

Locals SwingSet produce the kind of crunchy power pop that inevitably leads to Superchunk comparisons.  But that’s pretty good company, right?  Lots of words and lots of guitars.  They play The Earl tomorrow night with The Magic Math, a folk-pop unit out of Birmingham that infuses their bright acoustic numbers with a healthy dose of smartass wit.

SBTRKT, Machinedrum - Thursday (3/22), The Masquerade (Heaven), $20.

My interest in dubstep pretty much begins and ends with SBTRKT.  I don’t hold the crimes of the aggressively dumb brosteppers against those who are doing interesting stuff on the fringes, but it’s just not a genre that really appeals to me.  I’m a big fan of SBTRKT’s self-titled debut, however.  It’s packed with airtight songs where the bass supports rather than overwhelms, and you don’t need a PhD in the last 20 years of electronic sub-genres to dig into it.

More shows worth checking out after the jump.

Monday (3/19)

Deleted Scenes, The Mad Flight, The Long Shadows – 529, free.

A Storm of Light, Mustard Gas and Roses (ex-ISIS), Demonaut – The Earl, $10.

Cousin Dan, Secret Music – The Masquerade (Purgatory), $5.

Neon Indian, Purity Ring – The Masqerade (Hell), $15.

Ghost Mice, Kelsi Grammar, Places to Hide, Christian Perez – WonderRoot, $5?

Tuesday (3/20)

Poliça, Sleepy Genes, Dark Room – Drunken Unicorn, $6-$8.

Miniature Tigers, The Chain Gang of 1974, Geographer, Pretty & Nice – The Masquerade (Purgatory), free.

Wednesday (3/21)

Swing Set, The Magic Math, High-Water Railers – The Earl, $7.

Backwoods Payback, Order of the Owl, King Giant – Star Bar, $7.

Thursday (3/22)

Aleon Craft, Gotta Be Karim, Methuzulah, Clan Destined, Blctxt – 529, $5.

Gardens & Villa, PLS PLS, Cloudeater – The Earl, $10.

Youth Lagoon, Dan Buoy (of Akron/Family), Miracles of Modern Science – Drunken Unicorn, $10.

Moonlight Bride, Young Orchids – Star Bar, free.

SBTRKT, Machinedrum – The Masquerade (Heaven), $20.

Justice – The Tabernacle, $27.

The Woodgrains, Backwords, Some Community, Cassandras – WonderRoot, $5.

Friday (3/23)

Alcest, Deafheaven, Uberchriist – 529, $8-$10.

Ponderosa, Thayer Serrano, Abby Go Go – The Earl, $10.

Grandfather, Big Jesus, Moondogs – BeAtlanta House, free.

Saturday (3/24)

The Left Field Experiment:  Teebs, Sonnymoon, Time Wharp, Divine Interface, DJ sets from Dr. Conspiracy, Ty-vishnu, and more – 529, $8.

Mind Spiders, Barreracudas, The Golden Boys, Skin Jobs – The Earl, $8-$10.

Brain, Ponykiller, Cassandras – Drunken Unicorn, $6.

Have Gun Will Travel, 13ghosts, Sodajerk – Star Bar, $8.

The Joy Formidable, A Place to Bury Strangers, Exitmusic – The Masquerade (Heaven), $16.

And That Is Why, 40 Hells, The Kooties, Hungy Hungry Humans – Jack’s Pizza, free.

Sunday (3/25)

Metronomy, Friends – The Masquerade (Hell), $12.

Odd Future – The Taberncale, $25.

Our December show went so well that we couldn’t wait 12 months to do another one, so here we are.  The second ever AMR show and the first of 2012. We chose three acts that we feel are among the area’s most promising up-and-comers.  Come out and hear tension and release from post-rock pummelers Nigredo, dreamy waves of shoegaze from Lucy Dreams, and expansive psychedelic soundscapes from The Electric Nature.   This is a group that might not typically share a stage, but there’s a sonic adventurousness to all three that we feel ties the bill together.  Cover is $5.

If you are unfamiliar with the Atlanta Music Roundtable, go here to catch up.  Then check out samples from all three acts below.

Tickets here.  RSVP here.

Nigredo

Lucy Dreams

The Electric Nature

Radiohead, Other Lives – Thursday (3/1), Philips Arena, $69.00. Sold Out.

Everything Radiohead does feels like an event.  Album announcements, release strategies, tour dates….they do nothing the conventional way, and it generates an extra layer of excitement around everything they do.  It’s been over a year since Radiohead quickly announced and released the polarizing The King of Limbs, but the band is just now getting around to touring behind the damn thing.  Thursday’s show at Philips Arena is one of only a handful of Southeastern tour dates, and they probably won’t make it back this way for at least a few more years, so seize the chance to catch the most acclaimed rock band of the last 15 years do their thing.

Heartless Bastards, The Fling, Tiger! Tiger! – Friday (3/2), The Earl, $15.

Heartless Bastards frontwoman and sole constant member Erika Wennerstrom is constantly tweaking, expanding, and redefining the basic blues rock sound established back in 2005 on the Bastards first full length album.  Each new record has found the band branching out into previously unexplored territory, with Wennerstrom’s staggering voice as the only constant.  The recently released Arrow sounds like her classic rock album, foregoing the combination of classic country and dense wall of guitars that marked 2009′s The Mountain in favor of something a little more streamlined.  They’re one of my favorite active live bands, so I strongly recommend catching them on Friday at The Earl.

Dr. Dog, Purling Hiss – Sunday (3/4), Buckhead Theatre, $19/$22.

Philadelphia road warriors Dr. Dog just released Be the Void, their seventh and possibly most representative album.  The production finds a middle ground between the lo-fi experimentation of their earlier releases and the sleeker, more modern sound they’ve presented on their last couple of records.  It’s a good fit, and probably the closest approximation of their live show the band has ever delivered.  But these guys still need to be seen live to be fully appreciated.  The albums are fine and all, but none of them capture the energy that has made them such a powerhouse live act.

More shows worth checking out after the jump.

Monday (2/27)

Stallone, WYMYNS PRYSYN, Nigredo – 529, free.

Agent Orange, Burns Like Fire, El Caminos, Bullets Are Good Food – The Masquerade (Hell), $10.

Tuesday (2/28)

Better Than Something (Jay Reatard documentary) – The Earl, $8.

Slowriter, Winter Sounds, Sleepy Eye Giant, Brother Hawk – The Masquerade (Purgtory), $8.

Wednesday (2/29)

The Left Field Experiment:  10th Letter, Unda, t8er(tot), Somatoad, DJ sets from Divine Interface and Psych Army DJs – 529, free.

Shearwater, Lily and the Tigers – The Earl, $12.

W.I.C., Clan Destined, Joe Stu – The Drunken Unicorn, $7.

Thursday (3/1)

Twin Tigers, Abby Gogo, Grass Giraffes – 529, $?.

Dexter Romweber Duo, Obro and the Longshots, Andrew and the Disapyramids – The Earl, $10.

Wild Child, Faithless Town, We All – The Drunken Unicorn, $6.

DRI, Homicidal, Death of Kings, Sadistic Ritual – The Masquerade (Hell), $14.

Friday (3/2)

The Contraverse, Fischer Price’s My First Hip Hop Show (Britt from A. Grimes), Ryan Rulon, The Kill Fist – 529, free.

The Life & Times, Pls Pls, Silent & Listen – The Drunken Unicorn, $6/$8.

The Electric Hearts, Pillage & Plunder, The Claymores – The Masquerade (Purgatory), $6.

Ben Trickey, Christopher Paul Stelling – WonderRoot, $5(?).

James Leg, Dead Rabbits – Star Bar, $8.

Saturday (3/3)

Hawks, Man Handle – 529, free.

Th’ Legendary Shack*Shakers, The Compartmentalizationalists, The Dirt Daubers – The Earl, $12.

Jack of Hearts, New Terminus, Ex Norwegian – The Drunken Unicorn, $6.

Sunday (3/4)

Dinosaur Feathers, Grandchildren – 529, $5/$7.

Bare Wires, Predator, Factory – The Earl, $7.

Dr. Dog, Purling Hiss – Buckhead Theatre, $19/$22.

Halmos’ debut EP is 5 tracks of blunt, thick sludge metal delivered with a stoner rock ethos.  The songs are centered around dense riffs generously stretched across mostly 5+ minute running times, with the tempos rarely rising above a crawl.  It’s stoner metal pared down to its most essential elements.  Lean, bruising opener “Datura” is the best of the lot.  Stream it below, and buy the whole thing for $5 over at Halmos’ Bandcamp.

The band is celebrating the release with a headlining show at The Masquerade tonight.  Order of the Owl, Demonaut, and Wolves and Jackals round out a solid as hell local metal lineup.  Admission is free, and the band will be selling a limited edition of 20 signed and numbered physical editions of the EP.

The first single from The District Attorneys’ forthcoming full length moves the band’s California country rock sound a little closer to classic power pop.  ”Confusion of Trust” squeezes vocal harmonies and hand claps into a sun-drenched package that breezes by in a tidy 3 minutes.  When I wrote about the band’s last EP, I worried that too much studio time might take away from their characteristic warmth.  I had nothing to be concerned about; the added layer of polish just brightens the colors.  This is tight, economical songwriting, but there’s an off-the-cuff vibe here that lends the song an appealingly shaggy mood.

Download “Confusion of Trust” below.  Slowburner (the band’s full length debut) will be out on April 24th.  You can catch the band tomorrow night at The Masquerade opening for Moon Taxi and Apache Relay.

[MP3] The District Attorneys – “Confusion of Trust”

Flyer after the jump.