His Clancyness

Genius all over the world stands hand in hand, and one shock of recognition runs the whole circle round.

- Herman Melville

Thanks and a tip of the hat to Fanfarlo for making me aware of this.

School of Seven Bells

Here's School of Seven Bells playing an acoustic set on the concrete campus of Georgia State University (Georgia's Great University) for indieATL.

Don't know if I have anything to say about this, other than how come I don't know about these Georgia State gigs?

More Pickwick

The good news:  Pickwick, the best band you've never heard of, have released another new video, this time for their song Hacienda Hotel, a favorite here at MDW.

The bad news: their tour plans, which include several dates with Neko Case, don't include anything in the American South.  

Foxygen

Foxygen at 529, February 23, 2013

Since appearing at Atlanta's 529 late last winter, Foxygen have had their fair share of trials and tribulations, including an apparent meltdown at SXSW, reported tensions among band members in social media, altercations with concert security, and lots of cancelled dates.  Now frontman Sam France has broken a leg falling off stage, requiring surgery, a metal rod, and physical therapy.

Any of this is enough to break up lesser bands, and I hope all this doesn't mean last winter marked Foxygen's last and only appearance in Atlanta.  Here's hoping they hold it together and keep on recording and touring.

Anticipation

Not that I'm counting or anything (okay, I actually am), but it's 16 more days until I see Seattle's Ivan & Alyosha at Bumbershoot.

18 more days until Glasgow's Chvrches at Portland's MFNW.

Wooden Indian Burial Ground

After winning first-come, first-served tickets on Monday for Thao & The Get Down Stay Down at the KEXP Music Lounge during Bumbershoot, I've managed to snag tickets to several more KEXP shows, including Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, Superchunk, ZZ Ward, and Charles Bradley, "the Screaming Eagle of Soul."  I literally can't go near my computer without tickets to shows falling in my lap (okay, literally, I can, but you know what I mean).  

This is a good thing, of course, but it's causing me to have to rearrange my festival schedule. F'rinstance, since I'll be seeing Sallie Ford at 12 noon on Sunday, I can skip her Saturday-night set at the Plaza Stage and instead go see Washed Out at the Fountain Lawn.  Fortunately, none of the shows I've gotten into are scheduled during any "must-see" sets, although I'll be cutting it pretty close post-Superchunk to see alt-J.

But anyway, there are no longer any "dead zones" in my Bumbershoot schedule, or times where I'm forced to choose between several bands of whom I've never heard.  I won't even be seeing The Flavr Blue, even though I posted a video of them here to get myself better acquainted.

The schedule for MFNW is even stronger, and there's only a handful of bands on that schedule that I don't know.  One such band is Portland's Wooden Indian Burial Ground, who'll be opening for Unknown Mortal Orchestra at Branx following Animal Collective's set at the lovely Pioneer Courthouse Square (Portland's Living Room).  But based on this video for Heliocopter, I'm pretty impressed - they may be the only band in the world that could hold their own after a set by Animal Collective. 

New Kishi Bashi

Kishi Bashi at The Earl, March 14, 2013

Speaking as we were yesterday about Kishi Bashi, it's coincidental that some new music has surfaced this week from the Japanese violinist/pop auteur. Here's Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It! from his forthcoming second LP.