Monday, January 13, 2014

Shit I Missed


I had every intention of going out Sunday night to see Speedy Ortiz at WonderRoot, but I guess after Takenobu on Friday and Ohmpark Fest 2 on Saturday, I just ran out of gas.  

My loss.  Must have been a great show.







And weren't we just wondering during Ohmpark Fest where Del Venicci was?

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Ohmpark Fest 2, Atlanta, January 11, 2014


We don't remember if we were at Ohnpark Fest 1 or not, or even when it was held, but last night we had a blast at Ohmpark Fest 2.  The evening was curated by Davy Minor, the founder of the now-defunct Ohmpark.com, and as Brock Scott of Little Tybee said at one point form the stage, if you were new to Atlanta and unfamiliar with the local music scene, you couldn't have devised a better introduction to the cream of the crop of Atlanta music.  While some luminaries were conspicuously absent (The Coathangers, Dog Bite, and Women's Work, and were was Del Venicci?), we have to agree with Scott's assessment.

The event was held at both the redoubtable Earl and the nearby 529, and one $10 cover got you into both venues all night.  The bouncer even readmitted us to 529 late at night after our wrist stamp had somehow worn off.  We didn't get there until nearly 10:00 and missed several bands, but we were still reminded by what we did see how the Atlanta cup runneth over.

SPIRITS AND THE MELCHIZEDEK CHILDREN


It was our first time hearing SATMC, and although we've liked the videos and what we've heard so far, live they were even better than we dared to have hoped.  Fronted by a three-guitar attack, they occupy a psychedelic middle ground somewhere between hard rock and metal, and kick-started the evening off in a great way, although we still don't know what Melchizedek Children are.



SEALIONS




We've seen Sealions several times before, and to be honest, it's been a hit-or-miss affair.  After some performances, we walked away convinced that they were next-level electro-pop geniuses, and other times we left wondering what we had been so excited about (although, to be fair, they've never sounded bad). Last night, though, was the best I can ever recall hearing them sound, and they had the normally inattentive Earl audience dancing.



LITTLE TYBEE



Deja vu all over again - we just saw Little Tybee last month on the very same stage, but it was a pleasure hearing them again.  If anything, the sound mix was better than last time, although it may have been that last time we were just standing right in front of Josh Martin's guitar amp, as it seemed to drown everything else out.  No such problem this time, and on second listen, we think we like Little Tybee's cover of Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes even better than the original.



ADRON


One of the pleasures of living in Atlanta is getting to hear the neo-bossa nova of Adron pretty much as often as you could want, and last night's set was as warm and tropical as ever.  Adron is certainly a unique artist guided by her own muse, and deserving of far wider recognition, and last night's set included a cover of a song by Brazil's Os Mutantes.



HELLO OCHO


Hello Ocho did not take the 529 stage until 1:20 Sunday morning, but the crowd was as boisterous and excited as for any band all evening.  The tiny club was packed, and as soon as the band started playing, everyone was dancing, jumping, and rushing the stage in joyous appreciation of the music.  But how to describe that music?  Prog?  Math rock? Mutant jazz fusion?  All of these labels could apply to parts of all their songs and not to others, and last night the label finally came to us - Zappaesque.  With their quirky song structures, abrupt meter changes, vibraphone and trumpet solos, and humorous lyrics ("I want to take you grocery shopping, I want to spend all of my food stamps on you"), they are certainly rooted in Roxy and Elsewhere-era Zappa, but they are equally informed by everything else that's followed since. Between the energetic music, the energetic crowd, and the sweaty ambiance of the intimate club, their set was probably the most fun we had all night.  We didn't get home until well after 2:00 a.m. and were certainly dragging butt the next morning, but it was well worth it.



So, there's your basic primer of Atlanta indie music - the heavy rock of SATMC, the dance-friendly electro-pop of Sealions, the folk rock of Little Tybee, the tropicalia of Adron, and the WTF of Hello Ocho.  If you throw in last night's country-pop of Lily & the Tigers and the orchestral looping of Takenobu, you'll get a pretty good idea of the diversity of the scene here.

We hope to bring more of this to you right here in this blog this coming year.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Takenobu at The Earl, January 10, 2014


This early 2014 weekend, as a matter of fact the second weekend of the new year, has the potential to be a pretty good showcase of Atlanta bands, what with Saturday night's Ohmpark Fest 2.  But things actually started off on Friday night with a set at the redoubtable Earl by three local bands, headlined by Atlanta's Takenobu, although as it turned out, the audience was primarily there to see Lily & the Tigers.   


Openers Beau Victrola were new to me, although frontman Victor of Beau Victrola, Molotov Pipedream, and The Dandyls (and probably other bands as well) has apparently been around for a while now.  Beau Victrola appears to be Victor and whoever he wants/can get to play with him, which in the past have included such Atlanta luminaries as Nirvana Kelly of Little Tybee and Adron.  For this gig, he had a bass player and keyboards with no percussion.  

His music is hard to classify, but for lack of a better description, I would call it sweetly psychedelic folk pop in the tradition of Syd Barrett, played with a sardonic, one-raised-eyebrow manner in the fashion of Foxygen.  Here's a sample:      


When Beau Victrola took the stage sometime between 9:30 and 10:00, The Earl was still filling up with noisy patrons wanting to see Lily & The Tigers.  One of the unfortunate characteristics of Earl audiences is to talk loudly, especially around the bar, during a performance but last night the crowd was especially loud and disrespectful to the performer, even by Earl standards, not only back by the bar but even by several gaggles of young women right up front by the stage, who were far more interested in greeting each other, taking group pictures, and chatting about whatever than they were in listening to a band that was not Lily & The Tigers.   Victor tried a couple of times to get them to quiet down, at least a little, and compared playing the club last night to being in a high-school cafeteria, with the stage the table where the cool kids were hanging out and the rest of the club where all of the jocks were chatting loudly and not caring one little bit about the cool kids' table.  

Which was really unfortunate, as I liked what I heard form Beau Victrola, and wish I could have heard more of them over the din of the crowd.  Victor actually seemed a little relieved at the end of the set, and no one seemed to much notice when he walked off stage.  Their loss.


Things have changed considerably for Lily & The Tigers since we've seen them last, not the least of which is their new-found popularity.  By the time they took the stage, The Earl was quite full with an audience there primarily to see Lily & The Tigers.  I don't remember them being this popular back when I saw them open for Viva Voce and for Shearwater.  They have a new, Kickstarter-supported album coming out, and if that is the reason for their increased popularity, it says a lot for the power of Kickstarter to get a band's fan base involved and mobilized.

One of the things that I've always liked about Lily & The Tigers was their odd instrumentation.  In past performances, singer Casey Hood's acoustic guitar was backed and augmented by stand-up bass, violin, and woodwinds, giving the band a unique, gothic, almost baroque sound.


The violin and woodwinds are now gone, and the band on stage last night was a trio, Casey on guitars and vocals, stand-up bassist Adam Mincey, and the fine guitarist Jared Pepper. Their forthcoming album, The Hand You Deal Yourself, was recorded up in Vermont, which seems to have changed the band's sound as well, with less of a southern gothic vibe and more of a generic folk-country sound.  The audience seemed to love it, however, based on both the size of the crowd, the relative attention paid to the stage, and several of the young women up by the stage putting away their cell phones long enough to dance along to several songs.  I'm happy for the band and their success, even if I do prefer their older sound.


Takenobu headlined, and much of the audience stayed around after the Lily & The Tigers set for at least the first half of his set before reverting back to chatting and eventually leaving altogether. 

We last saw Takenobu at 529, and were quite impressed with his performance. Takenobu plays cello, using loop pedals to build up layers of sound for him to play over, much in the manner of Andrew Bird.  As before, he was accompanied by a violinist, and the virtual string section that the two were able to create on stage using just their two instruments was astounding.


To keep things varied, he occasionally switched from a standard cello to an electric version, and brought a drummer on stage with him for the electric cello songs, switching formats every four or five songs or so.  The man, Nick Ogawa, is a true artist, and Atlanta is fortunate to have him in its midst, although it's unfortunate for Mr. Ogawa that he's not more widely recognized.  He would more than hold his own opening on tour with someone like Andrew Bird, or Kishi Bashi for that matter, which might provide him the exposure he deserves.

The audience was significantly smaller by the end of his set, most of the Lily & The Tigers fans having departed, but a small crowd remained to encourage Ogawa to come back for an encore, an unexpected cover of The Pixies classic, Where Is My Mind? 

My first show of 2014, then, was three local bands, including a new discovery, a revamped favorite, and a reliable artist.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Pickwick


Brass band arrangement of Halls of Columbia by Pickwick, the greatest band you've never heard of.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Hello Ocho



IndieATL's first video of the year, showcasing the indie prog of Atlanta's Hello Ocho.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Palace Wolves

Palace Wolves at The Drunken Unicorn, July 25, 2013
Here's a fittingly epic fan-produced video for the equally epic song Lights That Fade by Atlanta's Palace Wolves.



Tuesday, January 7, 2014