Bored In the USA

Father John Misty at the godforsaken Tabernacle

With a new album coming out next year and on the verge of his next big tour, Father John Misty seems to be channeling his inner crooner (even if he does lift the canned laughter from Swans' Just A Little Boy). 

Stars

Montreal's Stars played The Loft in Atlanta last night. I didn't go (alibi: cold weather and the Georgia-Auburn game), but here are some live clips from their November 10 show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, plus a classic from their 2007 album In Our Bedroom After the War.

For those of you keeping score at home, I've now officially missed more Rocktober shows than I've attended, although I did manage to squeeze in Foxygen at The Loft; J Mascis and Luluc at Terminal West; Polica and Web of Sunsets, also at Terminal West; tUnE-yArDs at Variety Playhouse and Allo Darlin at 529 on the same night; San Fermin and Courtney Barnett at The Loft; Warpaint and Liam Finn at Variety Playhouse; Sharon van Etten and Tiny Ruins at The Earl; Kind Cousin and Givers at Vinyl; Family Crest and Motopony at The Drunken Unicorn; and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and The New Pornographers at The Buckhead Theater. 

I have to catch an early-morning flight to South Florida tomorrow, so I'll miss both Bebel Gilberto at Variety Playhouse tonight and Caribou at Terminal West tomorrow night, so Rocktober will most likely close out later this week with The Allah-Las at The Drunken Unicorn and Quiet Hounds at The Goat Farm.  A lot of missed shows, to be sure, but still a fun little run. 

Phoenix Festival, Atlanta, November 15, 2014

According to the organizer Davy Minor (Deer Bear Wolf), "Amongst the ruins of a derelict motel site in the Lakewood community of Atlanta, Urban Sprout Farms has created a sanctuary for growing fresh produce. On November 15th, a group of champions for the Atlanta arts community are getting together to present a day of music, literature and art to raise awareness for this creative repurposing of land that was once laying to waste."   

The emphasis really was on the visual arts, mostly by graffiti artists covering the outside of the old derelict motel, and installation artists set up in the various rooms.  Musical contributors included Atlanta's Lily and The Tigers.

There were also readings and unamplified acoustic performances over by the skankiest, most overgrown motel pool you'd ever want to see.

We saw performers Landline open for the Fresh & Onlys in only their second-ever performance as a band, and they played again today at Phoenix.

We didn't stay for headliners Little Tybee, even though we saw Brock and Nirvana walking the grounds, and guitarist Josh Martin and bassist Ryan Donald were pulling up in their car just as we were leaving.  Nothing against Little Tybee (quite the opposite, in fact!), but it was the kind of autumn day where it seemed more important to go find out if the Crimson Tide could hold off Mississippi State for three more quarters (they did).  

The day was a nice introduction to the Urban Sprout Farm site and another good merger of music, art, and literature by Deer Bear Wolf,  It would be nice of this became an annual affair.

Meanwhile, In Portland

Fun fact: the lead singer of the Portland band Thanks goes by the name Jimi Hendrix.

Did Someone Mention Teen?

Teen at The Earl, September 12, 2014

Just yesterday, I posted a stream of Alex Schaaf's (Yellow Ostrich) new band, Human Heat, featuring the fine song All Night with T. Lieberson (Teen, Here We Go Magic) singing back up.  Now, here's Teeny with her sisters performing an unplugged acoustic Take Away Set as Teen for La Blogothèque, a warm, summery video for a chilly autumn night.  

This is lovely, but don't expect them to be this quiet when you hear the band live.

Human Heat

Yellow Ostrich at The Earl, Oct. 28, 2011

Yellow Ostrich, a band that I've enjoyed hearing over the past couple of years, have broken up. We've seen YO open for The Antlers at the godforsaken Masquerade and for Ra Ra Riot at The Earl back in 2011, and missed them at The Earl earlier this year.  But according to an email from frontman Alex Schaaf, we won't have a chance to make up for that missed show because "Yellow Ostrich will be playing our final show as a band.  We've had an amazing few years together, and we couldn't be more grateful and satisfied, but the time has come to move on to the next thing."  

"We want to give a huge thanks to all of you, for giving us a chance and listening. Connecting with you guys was the whole point, and we couldn't have gotten as far as we did without you.  We went all over the world with this band, and it was a great ride."

The demise of the band is unfortunate to hear, but the good news is that Alex has already started a new project called Human Heat, and has already released an initial EP, which you can stream below and features some terrific songs, not the least of which is opener All Night, featuring backup vocals by T. Lieberson of the band Teen (and before that Here We Go Magic).  

While we will fondly remember Yellow Ostrich (Marathon Runner, Whale), these songs give us reason to look forward to the next chapter from Alex.

Yacht