[STREAM] Wowser Bowser – “E Dialeda Ho”

Wowser Bowser traffics in fun. There’s a high level of craftmanship in everything they do, but the end result is a distilled shot of dance-pop bliss. It’s not something that should really be overanalyzed. “E Dialeda Ho” is the fourth single to surface from upcoming debut To the Pleasant Life!, which is looking like it might be the first great local record of the year. The oddball sweetness of George Pettis’ lyrics is lifted by the headphone candy of the electronic programming, and the hooks sink in on the first listen. It’s mostly just a lot of fun.

Check out a stream of “E Diadela Ho” below. To the Pleasant Life! will be released on Tuesday, and they’ll be giving a CD to everyone who comes out to their album release at the Drunken Uncorn on Friday.

2012
01/22
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Savannah Stopover Releases Initial Lineup

The Savannah Stopover Music Festival has just released its initial lineup , and there’s some seriously good stuff on that list.  The festival started last year as a way of taking advantage of the glut of touring bands making the annual pilgrimage to SXSW, positioning the Stopover as an excellent alternative for regional residents who won’t be trekking out to Austin this year.  Personal highlights include The Love Language, The Men, Prince Rama, and Royal Baths, but there’s really something here for indie rock fans of most stripes.  Little Tybee and Christ, Lord will be ably repping Atlanta.

This is just the first round of bands, too.  There will be another announcement by February 1st, and the final lineup will include over seventy bands.  The festival takes place March 7th-10th, with four-day passes selling for $75.  Individual day passes are $30.  All that ticket info can be found here.

Full lineup after the jump.

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2012
01/17
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This week’s shows (1/17/12-1/22/12)

I’m bringing back weekly show previews.  Each week I will preview between three and five shows, with an additional list of other shows that I feel are worth a look.  These will typically go up on Monday, but I’m giving myself a pass this week since yesterday was a national holiday and all that.  Here’s what’s worth checking out this week…

Delicate Cutters, Sirsy, Bobby Cool - Wednesday (1/17), Smith’s Olde Bar, $5

Birmingham’s Delicate Cutters pull together expressive fiddle, lively piano, and frontwoman Janet Simpson’s gorgeous vocals into malleable indie-folk that glides gracefully between the uptempo and the melancholy. They eschew the overly mannered style favored by too many of their NPR-ready peers in favor of messy, recognizable emotion, and the music is all the better for it.

Cass McCombs, Frank Fairfield - Thursday (1/19), The Earl, $10/$12

Californian folk nomad Cass McCombs released two well-received albums last year, the somber Wit’s End and the slightly more rocking Humor Risk. But he received nearly as much attention for eccentricities that include an avoidance of permanent addresses and a preference for conducting interviews via snail mail. His songs contain some of the mysetery of his persona, but he always offers a way inside, lacing his lyrics with enough sharp imagery and sharper observations to pique the interest of even the most casual listeners. He’s a unique talent, and this should be a great show.

Powerkompany, Rebecca Van Damm, Daniel Clay - Friday (1/20),  Smith’s Olde Bar (Atlanta Room), $8

Venice is Sinking violinist/vocalist Karolyn Troupe moonlights as Marie Davon in Powerkompany, her collaboration with husband Andrew Heaton (Packaway Handle Band). The duo play atmospheric, slow-burning folk fleshed out with electronic textures. They seemed to still be getting their sea legs when I caught them at Nophest back in August, but when everything clicked, it was pretty mesmerizing. I’m sure they’ve only gotten better since then.

Check out a list of other worthwhile shows after the jump.

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2012
01/17
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[MP3] Spirits and the Melchizedek Children – “Land Tied”

I’m a little late on this one, but I couldn’t just let it pass without posting.  Spirits and the Melchizedek Children played a killer run through the entirety of their 2011 album We Are Here To Save YOU! at our Atlanta Music Roundtable show at The Earl last month, but before they did, frontman Jason Elliot opened the set solo with a new song.  The song was recorded and released by the band as a tease of their upcoming album, where the song will probably appear in a much different form.  This version is quiet and bare, featuring only Elliot’s voice and electric guitar, and it showcases the ethereal sense of melody that was so strong on the last album.

[MP3] – Spirits and the Melchizedek Children – “Land Tied” (live at The Earl)

2012
01/10
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[LIVE REVIEW] O’Brother at The Masquerade, 1/6/12

O'Brother

I’ve got to come clean here and admit that I slept on O’Brother for way too long. They just didn’t seem like something I would be interested in. I had them pegged as an Alternative Press kind of a band, if that makes any sense at all. The kind of outlets that were covering them and last year’s tour with Thrice and La Dispute reinforced that totally unfounded perception. I didn’t even get around to listening to Garden Window (their full length debut) until my AMR compatriots Moe and Christina sang its praises in the roundtable. They were right, Garden Window is an incredible album, and nothing like what I had unfairly assumed their sound to be like.

The chugging sludge of Isis is probably the most obvious touchstone here, but the band changes gears constantly.  They can move from moody instrumental passages to stretches of aggressive, melodic rock without ever sounding indulgent or pandering. Everything makes sense. The album shoots for epic and gets there, the band’s ambition matched by their good taste (they borrow from the best) and a finely honed sense of build-and-release dynamics.

Garden Window‘s running time is even epic at 64 minutes, so it’s impressive that the band decided to play the album in its entirety at Friday night’s show at the Masquerade, which was scheduled to celebrate the album’s physical release. They managed to maintain the record’s intensity, with the album’s pacing translating well enough to the stage. Their strength as both a live and studio band is their ability to build deliberately toward cathartic peaks, and that was in full effect on set highlights like “Poison!” and “Cleanse Me,” both of which deliver heavy, anthemic climaxes after minutes of patiently sculpted atmosphere. The nuance of the record exists on-stage.

O’Brother chose excellent support for their hometown release show, too. Athens’ Manray got things started at 8:00 with their breakneck math-rock moves, which sounded a little more Drive Like Jehu-ish than usual (always a good thing). I don’t think I could ever get sick of seeing these guys play. Big Jesus was next, with a Weezer cover, a couple of new songs, and most of their self-released EP. The non-EP cuts were a little rough, but the arena-sludge riffs on “Ribs” and “Hairteeth” are pretty undeniable live. Nigredo was the final opener of the night, and they honestly threatened to steal the show. Their heavy take on post-rock can leap instantly from pin drop silence to a full-on blast, the kind of thing that leaves an audience with its collective jaw on the floor. They could seriously blow up once they get a record out there.

The night belonged to O’Brother, though. I’m glad to be disabused of my perceptions and now consider myself a fan. I hope they can cross further into more metal and indie circles, because they can definitely find an audience there.

2012
01/09
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Atlanta Music Roundtable ’11: Best Local Albums of 2011

In case you haven’t heard by now, the Atlanta Music Roundtable is a series of collaborative posts covering the past year in music. Ten local music bloggers came together to discuss ten music-related topics, and we’ve been posting the results of that collaboration all week long. Today is the last day of AMR2011, and our final two posts will be about the year’s best albums. This particular post focuses on the best Atlanta albums of the year, and the range of responses speaks to the quality of the local scene. You can read our discussion of the best non-local albums this afternoon over at I’m a Bear, Etc.

The response to this year’s roundtable has been incredibly gratifying, and I’d like to thank everyone who’s read and shared the posts, as well as everyone who showed up to The Earl for our show on Wednesday night. It was amazing to see that many people show up on a weeknight for an all-local lineup. People even showed up on time! Big thanks to Little Tybee, Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun, New Animal, and Spirits and the Melchizedek Children for performing. Bands like those are the reason we bloggers have something to talk about in the first place.

Finally, I’d like to thank my fellow bloggers for indulging this idea for the second year in a row. This project wouldn’t have gone anywhere if the Atlanta blogging community wasn’t filled with such awesome people. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished together.

Below is a list of all the previous AMR2011 posts in case you need to play catch-up. You can also see a full list (including links) at atlantamusicroundtable.com.

Day 1: Most Underrated (Ohmpark), Mediums and Formats (Hijacking Music)
Day 2: Break Out in 2012 (Max Blau), Best and Worst (Latest Disgrace)
Day 3: Favorite Shows (Wholly Roller), Visuals (BeAtlanta)
Day 4: Best EPs/Songs (Promising Chord), Best Places to Buy and Hear (Atlanta’s A-List)
Day 5: Best Local Albums (Little Advances), Best Non-Local Albums (I’m a Bear, Etc.)

Check out our discussion of the best local albums after the jump.

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2011
12/23
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Mea Culpa Mixtape ’11

In reviewing the year’s local releases for list making and roundtable purposes, I realized that I never got around to writing about some of my favorites.  The 14 songs on this mix are all from releases I wish I had blogged about earlier, with at least 3 of the represented albums holding down spots in my current top 10 list.  I should have mentioned all of these releases much sooner, but better late than never, right?

Download it.

Tracklist:

Dark Room – “Climb Up” (get Stutter for free here)

Gold-Bears – “Record Store” (buy Are You Falling In Love? here)

Shepherds – “Tears of a Clown” (get Holy Stain for free here)

Tele Noir – “Pity for the Pretty Ones” (get Pity for the Pretty Ones for free here)

deadCAT – “manmenmade” (get Sleep-P for free here)

Lucy Dreams – “VHS” (buy Vivian here)

BOSCO – “Pacer” (get Pacer for free here)

Places – “Peaceful Conditions” (get The Future for free here)

Jack of Hearts – “Fake Your Love” (buy Hard Feelings here)

What Happened to Your Fire, Tiger? – “Phalanx” (buy What Happened to Your Fire, Tiger? here)

Spirits and the Melchizedek Children – “Welcome” (buy We Are Here To Save YOU!! here)

Cute Boots – “The Fire” (follow Cute Boots here)

Vocabulary – “Children” (get Faded Days for free here)

Cassandras – “Rise Up” (get Hari Pari Mandala Gosthi for free here)

2011
12/07
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AMR ’11 Albums and EPs Poll: We Want Your Help

You’ve probably heard about the Atlanta Music Roundtable by now.  If you haven’t, you can get the gist from that graphic above.  Basically, 10 local writers will be talking about the year in music, and we’re throwing a big show on 12/21 to celebrate.  What we haven’t really told you yet is that we will also be putting together a pair of lists:  one for the year’s best local albums, and another for the year’s best local short form releases (EPs, 7″s, digital singles, etc).

We’d like some help putting these lists together, so we’re inviting the Atlanta music community to contribute.  If you are somehow involved with local music, we’d love for you to submit a top 10 list for each category.  Those submissions will be tallied up, and we will share the results as part of our roundtable coverage.  The poll isn’t open to the general public for a couple of reasons.  First of all, we don’t really want bands campaigning for this.  We want to determine which 2011 albums were popular with the local community, not figure out who’s the best at working social media or badgering friends, family, and co-workers into voting.  Furthermore, limiting the submissions in this way increases the likelihood that our respondents will have been exposed to a broader spectrum of local music during the past 12 months.

With that said, we will be incredibly lenient about what we consider part of the Atlanta music community. We obviously welcome submissions from musicians, promoters, photographers, producers, and other similar types, but everyone’s welcome to make a case for why they should be included.  We’ll be generous, this is mostly just a way to prevent spamming.

Full details and rules after the jump.

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2011
12/06
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[MP3] Christ, Lord – “I Was”

Christ, Lord sounds like a band out of time. They dress up dusty folk music with sounds borrowed from vaudeville and jazz, creating something that can’t be tied to the current decade (or any other decade, for that matter). The closest modern references are fellow appropriators Tom Waits and Beirut, but Christ, Lord establish an identity of their own, eschewing the Brechtian weirdness of the former and the romantic sweep of the latter. This is more grounded and direct; much of the pleasure comes from the sincerity with which the band approaches the antiquated sounds produced by their chosen instruments, including accordion, violin, trumpet, and stand up bass. There’s no winking here, just a genuine appreciation for a combination of sounds not typically heard in modern indie music.

The band is following up last year’s excellent full length Magnalia Christi with a live album that will feature both old and new songs. You can download a new one titled “I Wish” below, and after the jump you can watch a video taken during the recording sessions that features a couple of old ones.  The band will celebrate the release of the album with a show at The Earl on December 7th.

[MP3] – Christ, Lord – “I Was” (live)

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2011
11/30
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[STREAM] Mediocre Machine – “Nannaboozhoo

I referred to Mediocre Machine as “something-rock” when they played my house back in June because I couldn’t come up with an accurate, succinct way to describe them. After listening to the new Chunk. EP, I’m still at a loss. The EP is broken into five tracks, but it plays out like one continuous piece of mutating oddball rock that moves fluidly from idyllic to paranoid to playful.  Imagine a less sinister Mr. Bungle, maybe. Give opening track “Nannaboozhoo” a shot below, but you won’t really get the full picture unless you head over to their Bandcamp and hear the whole thing in sequence.

2011
11/29
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