This is a pretty solid week for music here in Atlanta, with a variety shows all through the week at a variety of venues. You'll also notice that I've drastically reduced the number of listings to only include those that I think are interesting and noteworthy (you might think other shows are worth mentioning, but to quote The Big Lebowski, "That's just, like, your opinion, man"). To be honest, though, while I would like to say that the fewer listings are to not distract the reader from the many fine shows throughout this week with write-ups of lesser bookings, the truth of the matter is that I've run out of time and patience writing up descriptions of each and every show in town.
As always, please keep in mind that musicians and night-club proprietors lead complicated lives and I'm prone to errors, mistakes, typos, and fubars; it's advisable to confirm any of the information below on your own before making plans.
MONDAY, APRIL 4
A 404 Day celebration show headlined by Atlanta's own garage-rock band The Black Lips and featuring The Difference Machine, who we saw open for Algiers (see Saturday night) last year at Terminal West.
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| The Black Lips at Shaky Knees, 2015 |
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| The Difference Machine opening for Atgiers at Terminal West, September 22, 2015 |
TUESDAY, APRIL 5
Gender-fluid performer Ezra Furman is a thoughtful lyricist taking his poetic inspiration, songcraft ideas, and even a few fashion cues from Bob Dylan. Furman sings in a nasally style similar to the Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano while making unpretentious indie folk/indie pop that's raw, deep, and achingly sentimental.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6
Beirut was originally the solo musical project of Santa Fe native, musical prodigy and multi-instrumentalist Zach Condon, and later expanded into a band. The band combines a wide variety of styles, from pre-rock/pop music and Eastern European Gypsy styles, to the alternately plaintive and whimsical indie folk of the Decemberists, to the lo-fi, homemade psychedelic experimentation of Neutral Milk Hotel.
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| Beirut at Georgia Theater, September 2011 |
The power ambient duo Sunn O))) (pronounced simply sun) is a drone metal band from Seattle that formed in 1998. The band is primarily known for its synthesis of diverse genres including drone, ambient, noise, and extreme metal, and for its extremely loud live performances. Comprised of guitarists Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson, Sunn 0))) took inspiration from the early works of the Melvins (see Sunday night) and Earth (Sunn 0))) actually began as an LA Earth tribute band). Sunn 0)))'s approach typically incorporates droning guitars, feedback, distorted bass, and other sound effects.
Greta Kline’s musical output as Frankie Cosmos exemplifies the generation of musicians born out of online self-releasing. Daughter of actors Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates, Kline initially built a reputation with her prolific catalog of bedroom recordings and as a performer and advocate of New York’s All Ages DIY scene. Eskimeaux is the recording project of songwriter and producer Gabrielle Smith, who started releasing experimental and noise albums in 2007. and developing the sound over the years into the realm of more structured songwriting, EDM, and more recently, beat-driven and poetic bedroom pop.
Young Fathers (Aisle 5)
Some praise from The New Yorker: "The members of this Scottish troop are rappers, just barely. They squirm around categorization so nimbly that just about any comparison you can conjure—Joy Division, Saul Williams, the Raincoats, the Ronettes—fits if you squint just so. It’s best to take them as they are: “G” Hastings, Alloysious Massaquoi, and Kayus Bankole spent many nights sulking through dance halls in Edinburgh before they formed a group and starting noodling around with karaoke equipment. They soon flash-recorded two demo tapes, employing rattled ragga, tender soul hooks, and snow-static noise to jump from sound to sound with impressive ease. All three members are vocalists and percussionists, a shared versatility that manifests across the pop harmonies and stomping rhythms that seem to glue the avant sounds together. Dead, their 2014 début, snagged the prestigious Mercury Prize and subsequently charted for the first time, a testament to how far ahead the trio just might be."
Young Fathers (Aisle 5)
Some praise from The New Yorker: "The members of this Scottish troop are rappers, just barely. They squirm around categorization so nimbly that just about any comparison you can conjure—Joy Division, Saul Williams, the Raincoats, the Ronettes—fits if you squint just so. It’s best to take them as they are: “G” Hastings, Alloysious Massaquoi, and Kayus Bankole spent many nights sulking through dance halls in Edinburgh before they formed a group and starting noodling around with karaoke equipment. They soon flash-recorded two demo tapes, employing rattled ragga, tender soul hooks, and snow-static noise to jump from sound to sound with impressive ease. All three members are vocalists and percussionists, a shared versatility that manifests across the pop harmonies and stomping rhythms that seem to glue the avant sounds together. Dead, their 2014 début, snagged the prestigious Mercury Prize and subsequently charted for the first time, a testament to how far ahead the trio just might be."
THURSDAY, APRIL 7
The ultimate musician's musician and a much-respected session player, David Lindley has added his melodic string playing to albums by a lengthy list of artists, including Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt, Rory Block, Ry Cooder, Warren Zevon, Terry Reid, David Blue, James Taylor, David Crosby, and Graham Nash.
FRIDAY, APRIL 8
Headliners Stokewood are an alternative pop band from Atlanta, and Today The Moon Tomorrow The Sun are an Atlanta synth-pop band. Opener Brooklynn performs "soul pop & roll."
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| Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun opening for The Joy Formidable at Park Tavern |
Combining a knack for infectious melodies with a quirky sense of humor and a vaguely avant-garde aesthetic borrowed from the New York post-punk underground, They Might Be Giants became an unlikely alternative rock success story as they reinvented themselves throughout their career. Referencing everything from British Invasion to Tin Pan Alley, John Flansburgh and John Linnell built up a huge following on college campuses during the late '80s. The grouTp retreated to its cult following in the mid-'90s, when they produced children's music and soundtracks as well as albums for their adult fans.
SATURDAY, APRIL 9
The bands will play following a screening of Burn To Shine 6, the sixth installment of Brendan Canty (Fugazi) and Christoph Green’s Burn to Shine film series. The film was curated by Lee Tesche of Algiers and was shot on a brutally humid southern day in the summer of 2007 in a blank single-family home in a rapidly changing part of East Atlanta. Featuring Cryptograms-era Deerhunter, a very raucous Black Lips, an early performance from The Coathangers, Shannon Wright backed by The Shipping News, Mastodon playing acoustic for the first time, and the final filmed performance of The Mighty Hannibal, this Burn To Shine captures some bands at the height of their powers, a few local legends who have since disappeared, and others that have gone on to much wider success.
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| Algiers at Terminal West, September 22, 2015 |
Little Tybee is a progressive psych-folk band featuring the lead vocals of acoustic guitarist Brock Scott, the eight-string guitar wizardry of Josh Martin, and Nirvana Kelly's violin and viola.
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| Little Tybee at The Earl, November 20, 2015 |
Bleached features sisters Jennifer and Jessica Clavin. After Mika Miko disbanded in 2009, Jennifer moved to New York and spent a stint as Cold Cave's keyboardist and backing vocalist in 2010 and 2011, while Jessica played with the band The Cold Showers. When Jessica returned to L.A., the sisters began Bleached and eventually adopted a cleaner, more structured sound as evident on the band's first full-length, 2013's Ride Your Heart.
Into It. Over It., The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, The Sidekicks, Pinegrove (Hell at The Masquerade)
Into It. Over It. is the emo-pop recording project of Chicago-based songwriter Evan Weiss, a prolific emo-pop veteran of numerous bands. The large-ensemble group the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die formed in Connecticut in 2009, drawing inspiration for their somewhat atmospheric emo/indie sound from giants of the genre such as Sunny Day Real Estate and Cap'n Jazz, but also incorporating some of the drawn-out orchestration of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky.
Also this:
SUNDAY, APRIL 10
If you want your Sunday night to be loud and noisy, consider The Melvins, the first post-punk band to revel in the slow, sludgy sounds of Black Sabbath. Their music is oppressively slow and heavy, only without any of the mystical lyrics or the indulgent guitar solos; it's just one massive, oozing pile of dark slime. The fathers of grindcore, Napalm Death pushed the envelope of metal to new extremes of ear-splitting intensity, rejecting all notions of melody, subtlety, and good taste to forge a brand of sonic assault almost frightening in its merciless brutality. Although the music of Japanese noise rock band Melt Banana sounds noticeably different from any sort of traditional punk, it contains some punk elements: shrieking vocals, overdriven guitars, and one-and-a-half-minute songs. Melt Banana's unique style, however, comes as a result of the distinctly piercing vocals of lead singer Yasuko O., as well as the frenzied, effect-charged playing of guitarist Agata. Searing, intense, and mind-blowingly fast are perhaps the first adjectives that come to mind when listening to Melt Banana's music.
John Sebastian (Eddie's Attic)
At the extreme other end of the musical spectrum from The Melvins, Naplam Death and Melt Banana, Lovin' Spoonful founder Jogn Seabastian will provide music at Eddie's for those who want their Sunday night to be quiet, gentle and soothing.
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