Spark & Whisper

Meanwhile, back in California, here's Marin County's Spark & Whisper performing at a house party in Oakland.

Quiet Hounds' Good Bones

Good Bones, a new song by Atlanta's Quiet Hounds, performed back on October 4 at The Swan House as a part of the Hounds' Phoenix & The Swan performance and captured by IndieATL.

Joseph Arthur at Eddie's Attic, Decatur, Georgia, December 11, 2013

It's no secret that it can get rather chilly in Akron, Ohio.  It is known.  Given this, it should be no surprise that Akron's Joseph Arthur, who lived for a while here in Atlanta, was able to warm up a cold December evening at Eddie's Attic.

Shreveport's Dylan LeBlanc opened.  A singer-songwriter accompanied only by his acoustic guitar, LeBlanc has an impressively strong voice to carry him through his material.  At times, his voice reminded me a little of Chris Issak  (without the yodeling).  He came across as endearingly sincere, fitting for a singer-songwriter on the acoustic circuit, and played a half-hour or so set without wearing out his welcome.

We saw Joseph Arthur at last September's L5Fest, and were quite impressed with his songs, his guitar playing, and the emotional impact of the set.  There, he was backed only by a very intuitive drummer, Bill Dobrow, who joined him again last night, but this time he added an additional musician on bass - Mike Mills, formerly of REM. 

Arthur gave the audience a splendid, nearly two-hour, tour-de-force performance, consisting mostly of songs from his fine new record, The Ballad of Boogie Christ.  About half-way through, he used a pedal to loop his guitar part, freeing his hands to paint a spontaneous picture on stage while still singing.  It sounds pretentious, but it didn't come off that way - Arthur apparently is something of a noted artist, creating the cover art for most of his entire discography, including 10 LPs.  

There were so many highlights it's difficult to list them all, but just off the top of my head, there was his epic extended guitar solo during Boogie Christ, a cover of ELO's Showdown, and Dobrow's playing on a Brazilian drum for the last several songs of the set.  As per his custom, Arthur had CDs of the evening's performance recorded right off the soundboard available for sale immediately after the show.  My only regret of the evening is that I failed to buy the CD, but I see that most of his shows are available for download at his website, including a two-night stand on February 10 and 11 of 2010 at Eddie's Attic, so I assume this show should be available some time soon.

A number of people were in the audience primarily to see bassist Mike Mills, a sideman who outshines the frontman in terms of name recognition, but played his sideman role well, providing backing vocals in addition to his bass playing.  Apparently, this wasn't just a one-off, as-long-as-I'm-in-town performance - Mills has apparently committed to playing with Arthur for some time, and mentioned during the show that he was now "in the band."

For the encore, Arthur kicked the lead vocals over to Mills for a cover of REM's Don't Go Down To Rockville, before performing several more of his own songs.

It's beyond me how Joseph Arthur has managed to avoid becoming a bigger star for all these years - he seems like an affable-enough guy, he writes terrific songs, sings well, and is a most impressive guitarist.  Peter Gabriel thought enough of him to sign him after hearing a demo tape, he was a member of Fistful of Mercy with Ben Harper and Dhanni Harrison (George's son), and as alluded to before, has released 10 albums of his own.  I've been listening to Boogie Christ today, and it's a great record.  I'm a fan.

Perhaps with the drawing power of Mike Mills in the band, Joseph Arthur will now get some of the recognition he deserves.

Giant Colors

Giant Colors is the solo project of Atlanta's Bret Reagan (DAMS, Triop, Psychedubosaurus Rex, Lotus Quadrant) and well worth your time to experience.

A Short Vacation derives its name from Reagan's previous Planning A Short Vacation by his Triop outfit.

New Shows

I finally got the Upcoming Shows gadget over there to the right working again and apparently just in time as there have been a lot of announcements today about new concerts coming up in Atlanta.  The most exciting of these announcements, IMHO, is Portland's folk-rock orchestra Typhoon finally coming to town (March 17), and playing at what is perhaps my favorite venue, Terminal West, one of the few stages in town large enough to accommodate the large band.

Back on October 28, 2001, when we saw her play a sold-out and packed Earl, we knew we'd never see St. Vincent perform in a venue that small again.  Since then, she's moved up to Variety Playhouse (May 2012), and then the Cobb Energy Center (October 2012) with David Byrne.  

Today, it was announced that she'll next be playing Atlanta on March 8 at the large Tabernacle to support her upcoming album.  The first song from the album is below. 

Meanwhile, back at The Earl, Portland's Blouse will be opening on March 20 for Brooklyn's Dum Dum Girls, who recently told Brooklyn Vegan that their favorite artist of 2013 was our old friend Jessica Pratt.

Finally, it's been announced that New York's Vampire Weekend will be playing Atlanta's majestic Fox Theater on May 5. 

Not bad for one day . . . 

West Meets East

As we settle into the month of December and the end of 2013, I'm as surprised as anybody to find myself becoming more and more thankful to be living here in Atlanta with its multiple resources and outlets for new music.  If I'm not careful, the rest of this month might be spent extolling the virtues of the local music scene, both the performers and musicians, the venues, and those behind the scenes making it all happen.

F'rinstance, take this video released today by the kind folks over at IndieATL from a set at their Georgia State studio by Portland's Dresses.

Dave Nelson Coming To The Goat Farm

Dave Nelson (right) performing with St. Vincent

As if further evidence of the diversity of Atlanta's music scene was necessary, loop-crazed Brooklyn-based trombonist Dave Nelson will be performing with Atlanta drummer Marlon Patton at The Goat Farm on December 18.  Video artist Lana Vogestad will be contributing to the performance.

We last saw Dave Nelson as part of the David Byrne-St. Vincent Love This Giant brass band.  But to help prepare us for what the evening may hold in store, here are some examples of Nelson's solo work.

Video artist Lana Vogestad has been an artist in residence in Greece and Iceland and has collaborated with musicians in the past, most recently at the Atlanta Film Festival's Sound + Vision event.