Tuesday, February 26, 2013

The Other Side of UMO


Here's Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Ruban Nielson in an unplugged performance at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Monday, February 25, 2013

How To Drink Irresponsibly


Sallie Ford's teaser hinted that all hell was about to break loose at the bar - her new video for Party Kids shows us the full catastrophe.

Smith's Olde Bar will be hosting Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside with Thao & The Get Down Stay Down on Monday, March 18.  I wonder if the video is a preview of what to expect if Ms. Ford decides to waitress rather than perform.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Foxygen, and Wampire at 529 Atlanta, 2/23/13


Last night's show at The 529 was sold out and the club was packed.  The performance-room wall on the far side from the bar, which had been torn down when I went to see Om and Daniel Higgs there last November but had mysteriously reappeared for Lonesome Leash and Iron Jayne in January, was once again gone, effectively doubling the size of the tiny club but still offering no more room in front of the narrow stage.  Only about five or six people at a time can stand in front of the stage and everyone else has to stand behind them, and since the stage is elevated by only about six inches, if some tall people are at the front, the rest of the audience's view is blocked.  As a result, the extra room due to the absent wall offered more elbow room but no more sight lines, and a group of bros had clustered at the front of the stage.  

But one of the odd things about 529's layout is that the entrance to the performance room is near the stage, so that latecomers, instead of approaching from the back and having to worm their way through the crowd up to the front like at most clubs, actually squeeze into the room at the front of the crowd.  


Portland's Wampire were already on stage when I arrived uncharacteristically late last night (it seems that I usually can't help myself and typically arrive for a show in time to be the first and only person at the club).  But I still managed to squeeze into the performance room only about two or three rows back from the stage due to the club's odd entrance. However, during the course of the evening, as more and more people squeezed in after me, I found myself further and further back, although the bros tenaciously held their position  at the front of the stage.

Anyhow, although Wampire sounded crisp and good and satisfyingly loud, I really don't have much to say about them as I had barely got settled in before their set was over.  My loss.



Until I saw them perform last night, I've really had a hard time getting a handle on Los Angeles-based Foxygen.  The band is primarily the songwriting duo of 22-year-olds Sam France (vocals, Olympia, Washington) and Jonathan Rado (guitar/keyboards, NYC), and their touring band includes a backup vocalist, a bassist, and a drummer.  But what is that music they're playing? Glam-folk?  Psych-pop?  Sixties cabaret on acid?


They sound all over the place on records, but now I understand that's the point.  Seeing them perform and clown around on stage (Sam France must have declared "I don't care" at least a half dozen times to as many situations), I get it now - they're simultaneously musical archivists and ironists - archironists, if you will.  They reverently channel 60s-era flower-power folk-pop while skewering the genre at the same time, as you can hear on their song San Francisco, which is actually one of their more cohesive songs - most other songs turn and bend at unexpected moments, frequently morphing into something altogether unexpected.



San Francisco is from their recent album, the aptly named We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic, which was produced by Richard Swift (Damien Jurado, The Mynabirds) and is currently tracking at Number 3 on the College Radio Top 10 Albums list.


Wearing a black-and-red velvet cape on stage, Sam France was the very personification of the rock star.  Depending on how he wore his shades, he was able to channel Joey Ramone, Mick Jagger, Robert Smith, or Ray Davies, all of whom also have had obvious influences on Foxygen's music.





The crowd of bros at the front of the stage enthusiastically greeted each song with fist pumping, pogo dancing and sing-alongs.  In all, it looked like everybody, band and audience alike, had a lot of fun.


Headliners were Portland's Unknown Mortal Orchestra. We last saw UMO perform at the Doug Fir during  MFNW 2011 

Unknown Mortal Orchestra at MFNW, September  8, 2011
Since that time, the band got a new drummer and released a fine new album with the sequel-y title, II.  The epic cover photo from II hung as a backdrop behind the bands during last night's show.


UMO's music has been described as "funky psych-pop future-breakbeats that sound like the product of a group that ate a bunch of acid, turned on the four-track and tried to copy a Meters record" (Willamette Weekly).  Led by the extraordinary guitarist and New Zealand ex-pat Ruban Nielson, UMO are riding the current popular wave of psych-rock enthusiasm, a wave they started in part with songs like Thought Balune, Ffunny Ffrends, and How Can U Luv Me.





The band lists Syd Barrett, Love, Wu Tang Clan, Captain Beefheart, the Mothers of Invention, Soft Machine, Jimi Hendrix, Ariel Pink, Os Mutantes, J Dilla, Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Al Green, The Zombies, King Tubby, and Prince among their influences, and their current sound includes even more doses of soul than before, as evident in So Good At Being in Trouble from the new album, II.



The set was terrific, covering songs both new and old, with lots of guitar exploration and feedback thrown in for good measure.  The band of bros lapped it all up with every bit as much enthusiasm as they had for Foxygen.  They even hung in for one of the longest encore calls I can remember in a long time.



I don't know of any of these bands ever playing Atlanta before, but I find it encouraging to see such enthusiastic reception here for them.  Their sound may be slightly or majorly on the fringe of popular taste,  but Unknown Mortal Orchestra will be on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tomorrow (Monday, February 25, 2013).

Saturday, February 23, 2013

The SweetWater 420 Fest


The lineup's been announced for the SweetWater 420 Fest, although the date has been known for a while now (4/20, duh!).  None of my favorite bands are in the lineup, but how can you go wrong at an outdoor festival in Atlanta during the month of April featuring George Clinton and the P-Funk Allstars, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, and Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears?  Old school funk for an entire weekend!  

There's always Josh Rouse at Terminal West on Friday, April 19 to get your guitar-based singer/songwriter fix before the festival.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Soirée de Poche


French music site La Blogotheque has finally gotten around to posting their Soirée de Poche by Local Natives, recorded last November 22.

It was worth the wait.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Top 10 Things To Do in Atlanta When You're High

This has been done elsewhere before, and Water Dissolves Music does not condone the use of drugs, but if you just so happen to be high anyway and find yourself  in Atlanta, here's a Top 10 list of things to do:

1. Criminal Records


Good music, friendly vibe, cool Little Five Points location, and sooner or later you're going to find your own niche bin.  If you're lucky, there might be an in-house band performance.

2. Georgia Aquarium


You can lose yourself for hours walking underwater and watching the fish.  Just don't start thinking that the belugas are trying to communicate with you personally.

3.  Stone Mountain


A great big stone in the middle of the suburbs (incidentally, also the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan) has to be an allegory for something, doesn't it?  Arcade Fire can probably make an entire concept album out of this place .  Anyway, you've got your aerial trams to ride, your mountaintops to stand atop, and your moats, your boats, and your floats (no goats).  If you're there on the right day, you might also get a laser show, Scottish games, or even Japanfest for your moment of Zen.

4.  Biggar Antique Store, Chamblee


As long as your OTP visiting Stone Mountain, you might as well check out this little gem in nearby Chamblee.  The trick here is to keep quiet as your mind is blown.

5. Buford Highway


As you head back into the city, stop at Orient Center on Buford Highway for lunch, but good luck choosing between Malaysian, vegetarian Malaysian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai.  But what's really going to bake your noodle later on is wondering just what exactly goes on at Infinite Mindscape (two signs below "Pharmacy").

6. Faux Arc de Triumph at Atlantic Station


As long as you're engaged in virtual globe trotting, drive by Atlantic Station and look at the preposterous fake Arc de Triumph.  But there's not much else to do there, so keep on moving.

7. Bellwood Quarry


Fortunately, it's a short drive from Atlantic Station to Bellwood Quarry, which is supposed to become a new city park some day but is now most famous as a set for The Living Dead teevee show.  Technically, getting in there will involve some trespassing, but if you're high you probably already have a healthy skepticism about obeying the law, amiright?  Anyway, big cliffs, jagged rocks, great echoes, and you can fantasize about living a fugitive life there away from civilization and most importantly, away from zombies.

8.  Tanyard Creek Trail


If the quarry gets to rough and hostile for you, come back toward town again and take a relaxing stroll along the Beltline trail through Tanyard Creek Park, where, except for some dogs off of their leash, you'll feel safe and secure once again.

9.  Clermont Lounge

I mean, you've got to be high to enjoy this place.

10. Waffle House


You know you're going to wind up here anyway, so you may as well stop holding out and get some covered and smothered.  Kid Rock got arrested for getting in a fight in one of these once, so watch out.  Interesting trivia note:  you saw the same waitresses that work at the Waffle House earlier dancing at The Clermont.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013