This Week's Shows (2/15 - 2/21)

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, FEBRUARY 15

Kid Cudi (The Tabernacle)

Cleveland rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, film composer, and music video director Kid Cudi is also the bandleader/sidekick to host Scott Aukerman on IFC's Comedy Bang Bang, at least until Weird Al Yankovic takes over soon.  In addition to his own recordings, he appears along with rapper Future on Track Two (Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1 • Pt. 2) of the new Kanye West album, The Life of Pablo.  

Spray Paint, Shepherds, Onchi, Death Stuff (529)

Punters On A Barge, last year's album from Austin's gritty post-punk band Spray Paint, "would be perfect dancefloor fodder for your next paranoid post-apocalyptic party in the Forbidden Zone" (Bill Pearis, Brooklyn Vegan).  A trio of Atlanta-area bands, Shepherds, Onchi, and Death Stuff, open.

Bryson Tiller, They (Center Stage)

Second night of the 22-year-old Louisville singer/songwriter/rapper's sold-out two-night stand at Center Stage.  

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16

★Hey Marseilles, Bad Bad Hats (The Earl)

Hey Marseilles are a folk-rock sextet but sound almost like a mini-orchestra as they feature a string section (cello and violin), guitars (electric and acoustic), keys, accordion, and drums, giving their full-bodied songs a memorably rich texture. On their most recent, self-titled album, Hey Marseilles go for an even bigger rock sound without losing their characteristic intimacy. Opener Bad Bad Hats are a trio out of Minneapolis featuring the vocals of Kerry Alexander.

Mara, Small Reactions, Newark Wilder (529)

Mara is the solo project of Vera Vera's Jordan Parker, who wrote the songs alone in his bedroom, channeling the dark vibes of Vera Vera into a more intimate and ethereal sound that he describes as "phantom pop” or “garage gaze.”  The music of Atlanta's Small Reactions has tinges of new wave and post punk; it's often angular, sometimes surfy, and generally quick.  Clinton Callahan of Small Reactions (and Hello Ocho) will also be performing as Palm Lines at 529 on Friday night (see below).  Newark Wilder, who just headlined a showcase set at The Mammal Gallery last week, open and if you miss them here, they'll be headlining at The Drunken Unicorn on March 26.

Marty Friedman, Holy Grail, Anger Within (Hell at The Masquerade) 
Marty Friedman began his career as a solo recording artist but is best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist for Megadeth, which spanned nearly all of the 1990s. Friedman has resided in Tokyo since 2003, where he has hosted Japanese television programs, and has continued to record solo records, often embarking on adventurous musical forays far removed from his work with Megadeth, including an album with new-ager Kitaro.  On this tour, he is supported by Holy Grail, a metal band out of San Diego. Atlanta's Anger Within fuses metal, hardcore, and militant, death-like vocals to create a brutal, non-compromising form of heavy thrash.

Beacon, Natasha Kmeto, Group Sound Therapy (Aisle 5)
Brooklyn duo Beacon explore the dark side of melody by fusing the deceptively sweet melodies of R&B with an intoxicating undercurrent of darkness, drawing on influences as disparate as Warp’s back catalogue and Underworld.  Natasha Kmeto is an electronic producer/vocalist dedicated to the art of emotional engagement, combining her sensuous voice with a dancefloor ethic.

Bernie Sanders (Morehouse College)
Vermont's Senator Bernie Sanders is a democratic socialist currently running for President of the United States of America.  His Feel The Bern Tour comes to Atlanta to engage students on his policies and platforms and to explain why he is the best candidate for the presidency.

Ides of June, Ghosts of the Kodiak, Paradigm, Elonzo Wesley (Atlanta Room at Smith's Olde Bar)
Atlanta's Ides of June have been influenced by many different styles of rock music and try to deliver as much soul, emotion, and all out rock 'n' roll energy as possible.  Ghosts of the Kodiak play indie-style rock, and Paradigm are a metal band from Kennesaw.  Singer-songwriter Jeremy Davis formed indie-rock band Elonzo Wesley after moving from Atlanta to Charlotte, naming the band after his father, and has released three LPs and two EP’s.

Bad Ash Allstar Team (Red Light Cafe)
Bad Ash Allstar Team is a community of Atlanta musicians that play frequent tribute jams, this time another tribute to the late David Bowie.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17

Grizfolk, Knox Hamilton, The Well Reds (Vinyl)
LA's Grizfolk are an alternative rock quintet with a distinctive sound that forges sharp, raw vocals with edgy electronic textures and heavy guitar and drums.  Their video for song Troublemaker merges themes from Thelma and Louise and The Walking Dead, and if I'm not mistaken, features the Walking Dead's Josh McDermitt (Eugene) as the character driving the car.  Little Rock's Knox Hamilton and Atlanta's Well Reds open.

Ballyhoo! (Terminal West)
Baltimore's Ballyhoo! are a rock band with punk energy and pop reggae grooves.

Digigost, Grand Prize Winners From Last Year, Meek Freaks, Erv Lockett (The Earl)

Digigost is the alternative/soul/industrial project of singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Jericko Digigost.  The sound of Atlanta's Grand Prize Winners From Last Year has been compared to Outkast-meets-Green Day; the band played a benefit show here at The Earl back on January 14.  Meek Freaks and Erv Lockett open.

Billy Joe Shaver (Eddie's Attic)
Texas troubadour and legendary outlaw Billy Joe Shaver's finest songs prowl and punch with welterweight fury, and his Long in the Tooth LP was voted best country album by Rolling Stone. This show has sold out, so if you're planning to go and don't have tickets, well . . .

Foxtrot & The Get Down, The Instructors, Bearing Torches, The Young & The Elder (Atlanta Room at Smith's Olde Bar)
As demonstrated on their debut EP Sold the Soul, Foxtrot & The Get Down has crafted a sound comprised of rock, blues, soul, and Americana.   The Instructors are an Atlanta collective spanning jazz, funk and reggae genres. Lead singer Jon Ellison of Kansas City's Bearing Torches pushes his powerful, jagged-edged vocals to soaring heights with Bon Jovi-like swagger, aided by driving guitar riffs and tribute chords.  The Young and the Elder compose songs with strong melodic lines, densely packed rhythms, and introspective lyrics about life's twists and turns, dead ends and successes.

The Gordon Vernick Quartet (Red Light Cafe)
Every Wednesday, The Gordon Vernick Quartet perform a few numbers then invite other musicians and singers to join them on stage for a jam session. The quartet features Kevin Bales on keyboard, Marlon Patton on drums, Craig Shaw on bass, and Dr. Gordon Vernick on trumpet.  There's no cover charge and plenty of free parking. Whether you're a professional or amateur musician, you're welcome to sit in; everyone who wants to perform will be given a chance to play.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18

★Nikki Hill, Southern Ska Syndicate (The Earl)

Nikki Hill’s unique voice mixes raw rock and soul dynamics with the strength, passion, and honesty of blues shouters of the past, creating a breath of fresh air with her authentic approach to American roots music.  Openers Southern Ska Syndicate just headlined the Hollyfest VIII at the Star Bar back on February 6.

Breaking Benjamin, Starset (The Tabernacle)

Wilkes-Barre's Breaking Benjamin was founded in 1999 and after several successful LPs, the band entered an extended hiatus in early 2010 due to the recurring illnesses of frontman Benjamin Burnley, who remained the sole member of the band until late 2014, when the band's current lineup was announced. Despite the lineup changes, Breaking Benjamin's formulaic hard rock style and angst-heavy lyrics, swelling choruses, and crunching guitars has remained remarkably consistent. Starset's musical style blends the progressive aspirations of Muse with the open-hearted approach of emo and muscular power of tourmates Breaking Benjamin; their style is described by founder Dustin Bates as "blending symphonics with electronics with riff-driven, baritone guitar hard rock." 

Morgan Heritage, Blackalicious (Terminal West)

Morgan Heritage, who have been called the "Royal Family of Reggae" and the "Rolling Stones of Reggae" (in large part due to their electric stage shows), have established themselves as one of the premiere live groups on the reggae circuit. Blackalicious is an American hip-hop duo from Sacramento made up of rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel, noted for Gift of Gab's tongue-twisting, multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's classic beats.

Ron Pope & The Nighthawks, Truett (Variety Playhouse)

Nashville-based artist Ron Pope crafts indie pop rock songs.  Opener Truett is a blues guitar virtuoso with a powerful singing voice.

Frosted Orange, The 200s, Samadha (529)
A funk/jazz show headlined by Frosted Orange, featuring ex-members of Atlanta's former Noot D'Noot. The 200 is a quartet featuring Atlanta Funk Society's Ian Newberry. Samadha, the jazz/improv vehicle for Little Tybee/Adron keyboardist Chris Case, opens.

Chris Case with Samadha at Smith's Olde Bar, January 20, 2012

denitia and sene, Keithcharles Spacebar, Haunted, Command (Aisle 5)
The chilled-out, futuristic, electro-soul vibes of Brooklyn duo denitia and sene moves seamlessly between pure pop, subdued electronica, and slinky R&B with a sound that brings to mind everything from Massive Attack and The Fugees to the shadowy late-night atmospherics of The XX.  Their LP His & Hers may have been one of the comfiest albums of 2013. Atlanta's Keithcharles Spacebar plays experimental hip-hop and soul.  Haunted and Command open.

Enforcer, Warbringer, Cauldron, Exmortus (Hell at The Masquerade)

Enforcer, a metal band from Stockholm, are supported on this tour by Ventura, California thrash metal band Warbringer.  Toronto's Cauldron and Whittier, California's Exmortus open.

Til Someone Loses An Eye, James Leg, The Bohannons (Star Community Bar)
Aileen Loy and her band, Til Someone Loses An Eye, just headlined the Bloody Valentines show at The Earl, and will play the Star Bar with Port Arthur, Texas' psychedelic punk-ass rock 'n' soul Fender Rhodes maniac James Leg. Openers The Bohannons are from Chattanooga and make heavy rock ’n’ roll that is equal parts Motörhead and Neil Young, with lead guitar chops that rival both.

Piper Lou-Renee, Hunger Valley String Band, Scott Low & The Southern Bouillon (Atlanta Room at Smith's Olde Bar)
The music of Kansas' Piper Lou-Renee, who has appeared on America's Got Talent, is a fusion of folk and country. The Hunger Valley String Quartet is a bluegrass quartet from Smyrna.  Athens' Scott Low has been writing and playing songs for a long time and has dabbled in punk, jazz, bluegrass, rock, blues, folk, Americana, and country.

Patrick Sweany, Rod Hamdallah, DC Rail (Music Room at Smith's Olde Bar)
On any given night, musical omnivore Patrick Sweany might swing through blues, folk, soul, bluegrass, maybe some classic 50s rock, or a punk speedball.  Atlanta's Rod Hamdallah has been tearing up southeast music halls with his delta blues and garage-rock sounds since he was 17. Openers DC Rail are a blues-rock band.

The Georgia Crackers & Rev. Jeff Mosier (Red Light Cafe)
The Frank Hamilton Folk School kicks off its inaugural concert series with a journey back to 1920s old-time and country music with The Georgia Crackers and a performance by Jeff Mosier, one of the more eclectic musicians Atlanta has to offer. A portion of the proceeds will benefit FHFS and its continuing development and community involvement.

Kristy Lee (Eddie's Attic)
Kristy Lee is an Alabama-based singer-songwriter known for her powerhouse vocals. Lee calls the pure, raw emotion of her sound dirt road soul.

Steve Baskin (Steve's Live Music)

Steve Baskin writes, records and plays a unique blend of smart, energetic pop and Americana rock 'n' roll. In 2015, Baskin released his third full-length release, Dead Rock Star.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19

★Pylon Reenactment Society, Dressy Bessy (The Earl)

I first discovered Athens' Pylon after moving to Atlanta back in 1981, and immediately fell in love with the band's new wave sound.  Pylon had everything: the propulsive, Sara Lee-style bass of Michael Lachowski, the post-punk guitar of Randall Bewley, but most especially and notably, the fiery vocals of Vanessa Briscoe. As much as fellow Athenians REM and the B-52s, Pylon's role as elder statesmen of alternative rock is unassailable.  Legend has it the band practiced in a studio in downtown Athens which they called the "40 Watt Club" as it was lit by a single 40-watt light bulb; the Athens nightclub takes its name from this legend.  Sadly, guitarist Randall Bewley passed away in 2009, but The Pylon Reenactment Society features their original vocalist, now Vanessa Briscoe Hay.  Opener Dressy Bessy is an indie band from Denver associated with the Elephant Six Collective (guitarist John Hill also plays with The Apples in Stereo). This year's Kingsized LP is their first in eight years.

Dave Mason’s Traffic Jam (Variety Playhouse)
Dave Mason was a founding member of the classic rock band Traffic along with Steve Winwood, although Mason's subsequent participation in the band was disjointed; he left the band following the recording of their 1967 debut album, Mr. Fantasy, only to rejoin halfway through the sessions for their next album, Traffic, after which he left again. Traffic later re-formed without Mason, although he went on and played and recorded with Paul McCartney, George Harrison, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Fleetwood Mac, Delaney Bramlett, and Mama Cass Elliot.  Feelin' Alright, one of Mason's best known songs, was recorded by Traffic in 1968 and later became a huge hit for Joe Cocker in 1969.  Mason also wrote the song Hole in My Shoe for Traffic, which was disliked by the other three members of the group, who felt that it did not represent the band's musical or lyrical style, and it sounds today almost like a parody of 60s psychedelic pop.  To my mind, Dave Mason was the more pop-oriented songwriter for Traffic, the Paul McCartney of the band if you will, while the rest of the band were more adventurous, experimental and jam-oriented. While Dave Mason is unquestionably rock royalty, it's ironic that he calls his band "Traffic Jam" considering his contentious  relationship with both Traffic and with jam sessions.

Excision, Figure (The Tabernacle)
Excision (Jeff Abel) is a Canadian dubstep producer and DJ.  Opener Figure is Evansville, Illinois' Joshua Gard's bass-heavy music project.

Larry League, Danny Wolf, Pollari, Lil Yachty (Heaven at The Masquerade)
Atlanta's Larry League is an alternative hip-hop/rap band consisting of Larry LoudPack, DJ Dolphin Tits, Bert Sausage, and Randy Provolone.  Atlanta's Danny Wolf opens, along with Pollari and Lil Yachty.  I'm no authority on alternative hip-hop, but do these guys really have a big enough following to warrant the big Heaven stage at the godforsaken Masquerade?

Archer, Dead Reckoning, Inviolate (Purgatory at The Masquerade) 
Santa Cruz's Archer delivers uncompromising and unrelenting ass-kicking hard rock and heavy metal music.   Dead Reckoning mixes old and new metal elements with the goal of creating something powerful, lasting and unique. Atlanta's Inviolate opens.

Chris Hunt, Deku, Palm Lines, Transcend All Identities (529)

Chris Hunt is an Atlanta-based producer who, following the dissolution of his band Cloudeater, began focusing on a new personal and intense sonic project, his Tomb and Tomb II EPs. This show will be the release party for Tomb.  Deku is Brett Leggitt, an Atlanta producer who makes loop-based experimental electronic music,and Palm Lines is Clinton Callahan of Hello Ocho and Small Reactions (see Tuesday night),  Transcend All Identities opens.

Finish Ticket, Vinyl Theatre, Irontom (Terminal West)
Finish Ticket is an alternative/indie pop band from the Bay Area. Vinyl Theatre are a Milwaukee-based quartet with a buoyant synth-based alternative-pop sound. Malibu's Irontom opens.

Zoogma, Turbo Suit (Terminal West)
A late-night EDM set at Terminal West.  Oxford, Mississippi's Zoogma's sound is an eclectic fusion of electronica, rock, jazz, world, and hip-hop.  Turbo Suit is a versatile Indianapolis trio that includes a live tenor sax in their electronic music.

★Salsa Chest, White Lion Shim Sung and the Lightning Orchestra, The Hecks, Vision Kaushik, Tan Korean (The Mammal Gallery) 
According to the good folks at The Mammal Gallery, Salsa Chest "gives your grandma the excuse she wanted to kick her slippers off and slide across the linoleum."  White Lion Shim Sung is a new Atlanta funk/afrobeat/pop super group led by Travis Murphy and backed by the deeply grooving Lightning Orchestra. The Hecks are "Chicago's finest weirdo best rock band" and have a tense, stripped down sonic sound that manages to be beautiful, distressing, and unique all within three to four minute spans.  Vision Kaushik allegedly always wants to be in a slow dance and Tan Korean is Giriami Deleuze.  If you want to know what any of all of this means, watch the video below or, better yet, go on down to South Broad Street and check it out for yourself.

Carrie Newcomer (Eddie's Attic)

Carrie Newcomer is an American singer, songwriter and author who has produced 15 solo CDs and has received numerous awards for her music and related charitable activities. She has collaborated with authors, academics, philosophers and musicians and in 2009 and 2011, she traveled to India as a cultural ambassador, including musical performances organized by the US State Department, and in 2012, she made a similar trip to Kenya on behalf of the Interfaith Hunger Initiative. Her range of causes, activities, collaborations and philosophies significantly influences her music.

Eliot Bronson, Caleb Caudle (Eddie's Attic)
Atlanta-by-way-of-Baltimore singer-songwriter Eliot Bronson will headline the late show at Eddie's. Winston-Salem's Caleb Caudle will open.

Wrenn, Zale, Kara Claudy (Music Room at Smith's Olde Bar)
Athens' Wrenn is armed with a voice that can be sultry, lilting, playful, or bold; her music can be B-52 quirky or Beatle melodic, but always fresh to the ear.  Zale is a young singer who combines her classical training with love of the blues narrative and rock 'n’ roll attitude.  Kara Claudy is an Atlanta-based singer-songwriter whose dynamic lyrics are informed by a multicultural identity and international upbringing.

Saturn Valley, Musical Mindz, Professor John (Atlanta Room at Smith's Olde Bar)
Athens' Saturn Valley has a distinct, improvisatory style with jazz, funk, synth-pop and heavy prog influences.  Musical Mindz are instrumentalists who play as an ensemble and occasionally back up vocalists. Atlanta bassist/producer Professor John combines electronic instrumentation and live bass guitar in hip-hop and R&B settings.

Barry Richman & Friends (Steve's Live Music)
Barry Richman, an Atlanta transplant from the Big Apple, has been performing his psychedelic blend of original music all over the Southeast.

Cissy, Robot Party, heY! ALLigator, Spines (Star Community Bar)
Headliners Cissy are a noise/grunge band from Atlanta who will be opening for Illegal Drugs at The Drunken Unicorn on March 4.  Robot Party (formerly the Rotating Point Source) is a five-piece rock/dance/pop band originally from Statesboro and now settled in Atlanta whose music draws on everything from Nirvana to Lady Gaga. heY! ALLigator is a variety/crunk/hip-hop/punk-rock duo from Auburn. Atlanta's Spines had to drop out of last week's showcase at the Mammal Gallery featuring Newark Wilder, but they plan to open this show.

FrazierBand, Kristina Murray, Battlefield Collective (Red Light Cafe)
FrazierBand inventively mix rock and newgrass via infectious hook-driven pop tunes, adding textures from a variety of influences, including jazz and psychedelic jam rock. Kristina Murray’s music is steeped in troubadour storytelling, southern rock grit, and the audible legacies of country queens of yesteryear. Battlefield Collective is high-energy, in yo' face mix of bluegrass, Americana, punk rock, and roots.

Cosmic Charlie (Aisle 5)
Athens' Cosmic Charlie claim to be a Grateful Dead cover band for folks that are ambivalent about Dead cover bands. Rather than mimicking the Dead exactly, Cosmic Charlie taps into the Dead's energy and style as a foundation on which to build.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20

Big Head Todd & The Monsters, Mike Doughty (Variety Playhouse)

Colorado's Big Head Todd & The Monsters will bring their good-time, jam-band sound to Variety Playhouse, supported by Mike Doughty, formerly of Soul Coughing.

Soul Coughing at Criminal Records, 1994

Corey Smith, Lanco (The Tabernacle)

Georgia's Corey Smith is an Americana singer and guitarist.  Nashville's Lanco were described by Rolling Stone as "country's Imagine Dragons, full of arena-ready pop hooks and chant-along choruses."

Andrew Ripp, Swear & Shake, Act As If (Vinyl)

Andrew Ripp is a singer/songwriter from Chicago.  Nashville's Swear & Shake play postcard-perfect indie folk with an undercurrent of sly humor.  LA's Act As If open.

Daley (Center Stage)

24-year-old UK singer-songwriter is redefining the way R&B and soul not only looks but sounds and feels. This is a re-scheduled show from October 5, 2015.  

Agent Orange, In The Whale, El Capitan and the Band With No Name (The Earl)

Agent Orange, the original SoCal punk/surf power trio, is one of only a handful of bands who have been continually active since the earliest days of the West Coast punk scene. In the Whale is a high energy, two-piece rock band from Denver.  El Capitan and the Band With No Name will open with their strange mixture of spaghetti western trumpets, surf-rock drums and reverb drenched electric guitars.

Yamin Semali, Boog Brown, Melaphyre Etheoryall, Dirty Rotten, Willi Dudat, DJ Rock Most (529)

Yamin Semali is a member of hip-hop collective Clan Destined, as well as a solo performer.  Boog Brown is Atlanta-by-way-of-Detroit artist and musician Elsie Swann.  Atlanta's Melaphyre Etheoryall make soulful revolutionary hip hop.  Dirty Rotten are New York City's Joe Stu and Atlanta's Shred TVT fusing together the raw grittiness of the dirty south with the rugged realness of the hip hop’s birthplace.  Atlanta's Willi Dudat opens and DJ Rock Most will provide a DJ set.

This is your brain on EDM

ScottyATL, Spodee, QuickTrip (Hell at The Masquerade)
A showcase featuring three rising, up-and-coming, Atlanta rappers.

G Jones, Bleep Bloop, Yheti (Terminal West)
An EDM bass show headlined by Santa Cruz's G Jones.  Support act Bleep Bloop is a bass music producer out of Northern California and the founder and head of 710 Records.  Yheti is the bass fusion project of Ohio's Tyler Holler.

Studio Le Bradshaw, Lady of the Lake (Atlanta Room at Smith's Olde Bar)
Studio le Bradshaw is the pet project of Alex Bradshaw. His upcoming debut album draws influence from 60's British  folk and psychedelia like Davey Graham and The Moody Blues, as well as modern artist such as Johnny Flynn and Fleet Foxes. Lady of the Lake front woman Emily Stilwell's gentle jazz chords and crooning, yet powerful voice are fortified with an impressive lead guitar and string instruments.

Blood on the Harp, Ex-Wives, Cold Heart Canyon, Revenge Beach (Star Community Bar)
Blood On The Harp is an Americana/bluegrass band from Atlanta.  Ex-Wives call their sound "outlaw shoegaze;" this will be an EP release show for  the Atlanta quartet. Fold Heart Canyon are a bluegrass/pop band, and Athens' Revenge Beach will open with some surf rock, desert rock, and spaghetti-western and Italian-horror soundtracks. On a related note, don't you agree that the Star Bar consistently produces the best show posters?

Sonia Leigh, Carl Anderson (Eddie's Attic)

Singer-songwriter Sonia Leigh relocated to Nashville in 2012 from her longtime home of Atlanta, and quickly won over the approval of audiences there with her gritty vocal delivery and bold, disarmingly honest approach to songwriting. Carl Anderson melds classic Nashville instrumentation, Muscle Shoals flourishes, and West Texas poeticism into "a perfectly balanced musical pastiche."

John Hammond, Amy Black (Eddie's Attic)
Blues legend John Hammond remains one of the world's premier acoustic blues artists. A Blues Hall Of Fame inductee with 33+ albums to date, he is one of a handful of artists who can say they have been steadily working and recording for over 50 years.  Muscle Shoals' Amy Black will open this late show at Eddie's.

Escape Vehicle, The By Gods (Red Light Cafe)
Escape Vehicle play gritty, down-home, whiskey-drenched rock 'n' roll with a touch of outlaw country. Nashville-based band The By Gods breed hook-laden, roll-your-windows-down rock, respectfully reminiscent of their early- to mid-90’s alternative predecessors.

Scarlett Hill, Jimmy T (Steve's Live Music)
Scarlett Hill is a country band built on modern folk and Americana roots, and driven by tight harmonies and twangy guitars and banjos. Jimmy T has been performing Americana decades before the genre even had a name and blends the core elements of Americana - rock, country, R&B, and folk.

Yuppie Scum Band (Steve's Live Music)
Frustrated bankers, techies and lawyers by day, the Yuppie Scum Band will entertain a late-night audience at Steve's with a collection of favorite classic rock, dance, and party tunes.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21

Voivod, Vector, Eight Bells, Death of Kings (Heaven at The Masquerade)
The musical style of band's band Voivod has changed several times since their origin in Quebec back in the early 1980s, and there's still no one else quite like them.  Starting out as a speed metal band, Voivod have subsequently added a mix of progressive metal and thrash metal to create their own unique metal style.  For this show, they will be supported by Philadelphia progressive thrash metal outfit Vector, and Portland.'s Eight Bells, who explore the dark sonic realms with ethereal, haunting female vocals. Openers Death of Kings are an Atlanta-based metal band.

Mother's Finest, Von Grey (Terminal West)

Mother's Finest;s sound has been described as a fusion of funk, rock, gospel, R&B, metal, and jazz, and as "Afro-Euro mosaic soul electric."  Von Grey, Alpharetta's indie-folk quartet of young sisters, have appeared on David Letterman, but still deserve greater recognition.

Von Grey at Oakland Cemetery, May 20, 2012

Native Suns, Auspice, Capillaries. No Way Out, Fuiste (Purgatory at The Masquerade)
A showcase featuring five rising, up-and-coming Atlanta rock bands. Native Suns play alternative rock and will be headlining this show, and Auspice list their genres as "alternative, punk, indie, emo, whatever."  Capillaries are an instrumental quartet.  Our Way Out is an alternative rock band from Acworth that formed in 2013.  Fuiste will open with loud collage rock.

Johnny A (Eddie's Attic)
Massachusetts-based guitarist and bandleader Johnny A has been captivating serious students of the six-string guitar from working-class bars to international amphitheaters and his virtuosity has earned him the rare honor of having his name placed on a signature Gibson guitar.

Malcolm Holcombe, Nine Years Apart (Red Light Cafe)

Malcolm Holcombe, a folk/Americana performer of national stature, celebrates the release of his new album Another Black Hole.  Nine Years Apart are a duo out of Decatur consisting of Justin Hylton on guitar and vocals and Jessica Almand on fiddle and vocals.

Mike Doughty, Terminal West, Atlanta, November 20, 2013

Last night, Mike Doughty, formerly of the band Soul Coughing, performed at Terminal West.  New York's Moon Hooch opened.

Moon Hooch are a trio fronted by two guys on saxophones and backed by a drummer.  On first impression, their dance-oriented music is not dissimilar to moments of Big Gigantic, but unlike Big Gigantic, whose music I once described as consisting of all climaxes without any build up or release, Moon Hooch aren't afraid to vary their approach and to throw in some skwonk and experimentation. In fact, I don't think they're afraid of much of anything.   

It was my first time hearing Moon Hooch, and I enjoyed them a lot.  EDM meets avant-jazz, with a little old-fashioned funk thrown into the very modern mix.

The equally eclectic Mike Doughty headlined.  Doughty's music exists at the intersection of rock, hip-hop, and post-beat jazz.  He was the front man for the former band Soul Coughing, and one of my favorite concerts of the 1990s was Soul Coughing's free outdoor set in front of the old Criminal Records location on Moreland Avenue in Little Five Points.  I got a new printer just yesterday, and was able to scan in some of my old photographs of that set.  I'm not sure of the year of these pictures, but I believe it was about 1993 or so.  

Although I loved the Ruby Vroom album and their subsequent recordings, after that show, I didn't see Doughty again until 20 years later when I saw him, again at Criminal Records (although now at the new location), during last September's L5Fest.

During the L5Fest, he performed Soul Coughing songs solo, accompanied only by his acoustic guitar.  Last night, he had a band, or at least a very able drummer and an acoustic bassist, and he played electric guitar, keyboards, and turntables. It was all quite different, although equally enjoyable, from his L5Fest performance, and he included Screenwriters Blues in his set list. 

So, since L5Fest was the beginning of the surfeit of seasonal concerts that I call "Rocktober," and one of the highlights of L5Fest was Mike Doughty's performance, it seems appropriate to end Rocktober with this bookend, second performance by Doughty.  In other words, that's it for the longest Rocktober yet.

In a related note, I almost didn't go last night.  I got lazy and convinced myself that I just saw Doughty two months ago and it wouldn't be worth the $25 ticket to see him again so soon.  But I rallied at the last minute, but even driving there I decided that if I couldn't find a parking space in the nearest lot to Terminal West, I would just turn around and go home.  When I pulled into that nearest lot, it was full and several other cars that also couldn't park were turning around and leaving.  I turned around too, ready to go home, when suddenly, as if from nowhere, a young woman walked back to her car, got in and drove away, suddenly leaving the only open space in the lot right in front of me. Well, if the cosmos was going to be that obvious in its message that I should go, who was I to say "no?"     

Little 5 Fest, Sept. 14, 2013

After hearing 5 to 11 bands a day during Bumbershoot and MFNW, it felt a little odd, disorienting even, to be back home and hearing no live music at all for days on end.  Fortunately, the organizers of the Little Five Fest, the Little Five Points community's music festival, which last year was held on September 29, moved the date up to September 14, my first Saturday since coming back from the Northwest.  I like to think they did this just to satisfy my jones for hearing multiple bands in one day.

The L5Fest actually began with a few sets at L5P's Star Community Bar on Thursday and Friday, which I didn't attend, but on Saturday the venues expanded to include an outdoor stage behind the Star Bar, a very small performance space in the basement Vinyl Lounge of the Star Bar, The Criminal Records and Wax 'n' Facts record stores, and dj sets at the Elmyr Restaurant next to Variety Playhouse.

The bands performing were almost all exclusively up-and-coming local Atlanta bands (with a few exceptions), and the event gave me lots of opportunities to discover new (to me at least) bands as well as hear some of my local favorites.

This is really just a small, one-day community event, so it would be unfair to compare it to Bumbershoot or MFNW (or for that matter, Atlanta's Music Midtown or Shaky Knees Festival).  Even the smaller events I went to in Portland, the Marmoset party and the OPB party at Mississippi Studios, were off-shoots of MFNW, so comparisons are not appropriate.  But given what it was, the L5Fest was a fine day of music, with a rich and interesting lineup that illustrated not only the diversity, but also the interconnectedness, of the Atlanta music scene.

When I arrived, the band Starfighter were playing at the outdoors stage behind the Star Bar.  We've seen Starfighter at the 2012 Tunes From The Tombs event at Oakland Cemetery, but as I had just arrived and wanted to get a little more oriented to the festivities, I didn't stay around long.

Upstairs and inside, the band Factory were playing the Star Bar stage.  

Factory were new to me, but appear to be Naomi Lavender (Muleskinner McQueen, the Dracula rock opera) and Alice Kim, formerly of São Paulo, Brazil, along with half of the Young Orchids (guitarist Michael Kai and drummer Tak Takemura), and Zombie Zombie's Stuart Roane on bass. (Okay, I only recognized Naomi and looked the rest up on line).

Their music has been described as "possibly the dreamiest dream pop" in Atlanta, to which I concur.

Following Factory, I went over to Criminal Records in time to hear the last couple of songs by Fit of Body.

Fit of Body is Atlanta's Ryan Nicholas Parks, who performs solo accompanied only by spare samples and keyboard loops. Commenting on his song Deserter, Dummy Mag wrote, "There’s something rather elegant about the sparseness of Deserter. . . Listening is like chasing half a dozen unravelling balls of wool down a hill in slow motion. It’s an enchanting muddle, and I look forward to more."

Back at the Star Bar, it was the band Mammabear, the Brit-pop-influenced project of Atlanta's Kyle Gordon. To be honest, I actually wasn't expecting to watch them, but while walking past the Star Bar from Criminal Records on my way to the outdoor stage, their tuneful rock caught my ear, and I would up staying, listening to, and enjoying them.   

Back at Criminal Records, I heard Feast of Violet, which is the solo project of electronic musician Allen Taylor of Mirror Mode and Lotus Plaza.  Taylor also has a new project with Mood Rings' William Fussell called Promise Keeper who played later in the day, but we'll get to that in due time.  Meanwhile, as Feast of Violet, Taylor played a great set of ambient electronica.

For some reason, most of the acts that I wanted to see were at the Criminal Records in-store stage, and Feast of Violet was followed by Atlanta's Adron.  We've seen Adron lots of times before, but this performance was unique in that she played solo, and instead of performing material from her fine CD Pyramids, she instead performed a few Brazilian covers, some Portuguese songs she'd written herself, and some other material she doesn't usually perform with her full band. It was a wonderful set, a primer to her approach to Brazilian pop and neo-bossa-nova sound as well as an opportunity to hear her play some new material.  

Mike Doughty played next and was really the anomaly to the L5Fest lineup, in that he wasn't from Atlanta and was an already established musician in his own right.  But here's the odd synchronicity - some 20 years ago, I heard Doughty's former band, the terrific Soul Coughing, give a free in-store performance at the old Criminal Records location (still in L5P, but around the corner on Moreland Avenue instead of its current, Euclid Ave. location).  Their 1993 set blew me away at the time, and I thought their combination of folk-rock, hip-hop, and jazz was just about the coolest thing imaginable, and Doughty's post-hipster approach to singing was the epitome of cool.  For various reasons, Soul Coughing broke up in 2000, but I still followed Doughty's subsequent solo career, including the fine albums Skittish and Rockity Roll.  

Both he and I, as well as Criminal Records, have changed a lot since that 1993 show, and Doughty now has a new album coming out of beloved Soul Coughing songs rearranged, or as he puts it, "re-imagined," for solo performance.  His nearly hour-long performance yesterday at Criminal Records was of this new-old material, and it still sounds great in its new format.

Almost immediately after Mike Doughty's set, Atlanta's Dog Bite took the Criminal Records stage.  Dog Bite is primarily the vehicle for singer and guitarist Phil Jones, formerly of Washed Out's touring band, and much of that dreamy, chilled sound remains in their music.  We've seen a lot of different line-ups to Dog Bite in the past, including one that had Mood Rings' (and Promise Keeper) William Fussell on guitar, and another that had powerhouse drummer Sarah Wilson of Odist on drums.  Yesterday, he had Young Orchids' (and Factory's) Tak Takemura on drums, and Shepherds' Jonathan Merenivitch on guitar.  Merenivitch also plays for Janelle Monae, and as we shall see later, for Del Venicci, and his playing added significant contributions to Dog Bite's sound yesterday. 

Eric of Criminal Records assured the audience that Dog Bite is going to go on to great things, and someday we'll look back in fondness at the chance to have seen them perform an in-store show like this.  Their Sound Cloud page says that "Dog Bite combines all your hopes and dreams, fuses them with grapes and butterflies, and then lays them out on a tray with sliced oranges."  If that's a little abstract, here's a sample from their forthcoming LA EP.

After Dog Bite, I finally left Criminal Records and wandered into the tiny Vinyl Lounge in the Star Bar basement.  The band is TV Dinner, a new one on me, but what the heck is this music they're playing?  Rock? Jazz? Chip tunes? Space-age pop? Some sort of fusion of all four?  The instrumental band defies any easy categorization, but I still loved their sound, as apparently did the small number of people able to squeeze into their performance space.   This is what I love about these kinds of events - discovering something new and out of the ordinary, just as I did last year in this very same room with Spencer Garn.

There are apparently a number of bands across the country that go by the name "TV Dinner," but I did find this BandCamp by a "TV Dinner" that included "Atlanta" among their taglines.  The songs include vocalists, which they did not have at their L5Fest appearance, but the backing band does sound like it could be them (but I'm still not completely sure).

You can't judge an album by its cover, and you can't judge a band by their t-shirts.  Atlanta's Calm White Noise wore Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective t-shirts so I thought I might like them and was correct. They played a type of electronic rock that would have satisfied fans of both bands while sounding like neither.  

Oh look!  It's our old friend Jonathan Merenivitch (Shepherds, Janelle Monae) who we saw barely an hour or so ago playing guitar for Dog Bite in Criminal Records, now in the Wax 'n' Facts record store playing guitar for Del Venicci.  We've seen Del Venicci at the Artlantis event earlier this year (where Shepherds played earlier, but Merenivitch did not play with Del Venicci), and when they opened for Mikal Cronin at The Earl (when they did include Merenivitch).

 The performance space was so tiny that the quartet couldn't even all stand together but were spread out among the rows of records, and customers found themselves trapped between the performers for the duration of their set.  Unfortunately, I arrived in time only to hear the last few songs of their set. 

Meanwhile, back at Criminal Records, as indicated earlier, Allen Taylor (Feast of Violet, Mirror Mode,  Lotus Plaza) was performing with Mood Rings' William Fussell as Promise Keeper.  Anything these two guys touch is going to have an ambient, dreamy feel to it, and their Promise Keeper performance was no exception.  I don't know where this collaboration is heading, but I like it and hope that it leads at least to a CD or two.

Back at the outdoor stage (it's been a while since I had been there - the last time I headed that way I got hijacked by Mammabear into the Star Bar), these guys were playing surf-rock instrumentals as Fiend Without a Face to a delirious crowd.  A sort of Southern version of Los Straightjackets.

Upstairs in the Star Bar, Hollywood, Florida's Beach Day (not to be confused with Beach House, Beach Fossils, Dirty Beaches, or the Beach Boys) were playing infectious, garagey, 60s-influenced power pop.  

Back outside, The Coathangers performance was in full swing.  The Coathangers are an all-female band that play raw, noisy, near-perfect punk rock.  Their dissonant and cathartic vocals bear only the most casual of relationships with harmony.  For some reason, they played last night as a trio; keyboardist Candice Jones was apparently absent. 

A mosh pit usually develops during a set like this, but the pit last night was pretty much confined to one fairly well-defined area of about 6 to 10 people.  However, one person in particular seemed more aggressive than the rest, and soon a few women outside of the pit area called security over to complain about his crossing the line.  The guards didn't intervene, but their presence temporarily subdued the person to just pogoing in place. That is, until bassist Meredith Franco jumped off the stage into the audience and the moshmaster decided to he just had to punch her.  

That was the line not to be crossed.  Security and several of the audience who were fed up with his antics anyway proceeded to give him a fairly vigorous ass-kicking, dragging him out of the audience and throwing him up against the porto-potties, while drummer Stephanie Luke got up screaming "Who punched my sister?" and demanding that he be ejected (she was apparently under the impression that he was hiding inside the porto-potty and not crawling away behind it).  The band then closed their set with an improvised (I'm pretty sure) chant of "Don't punch my sister." 

This is not a band you want to mess with.  Just because I can't resist it, here's one of my favorite videos, The Coathangers performing Hurricane, one of my favorite of their songs.  Shot at The Goat Farm. 

There's nothing like a full-throttle punk performance and a little unexpected mob violence to get the adrenaline flowing.

Let's see, what else was there yesterday?  Oh yes, back at Criminal Records, the fine band Women's Work put on one of their typically fine performances of Southern Gothic songs.

The band's music revolves around the tension between the gentle vocals and viola playing of frontwoman Lindsey Harbour and the almost shoegazey guitars of the rest of the band.  It sounds unusual (and it is), but it works.  Plus, they're recently added a new backup singer to the band.

Back at the smoky Star Bar, The N.E.C. put on a strong and loud showcase of their guitar-driven psychedelic rock.

The audience for Atlanta's PLS PLS ("please please") filled Criminal Records to hear their melodic "electronic infused alternative rock" (their description).

Here's another Goat Farm video.  I was at this event earlier in the evening, but the cold temperatures drove me off before PLS PLS performed, so last night was my first time hearing them.

Joseph Arthur is an American singer-songwriter from Akron, Ohio, although he lived in Atlanta for a time in the early 1990s, where he recorded a bunch of home demo tapes, one of which he dropped off to Eric of Criminal Records.  Before his set began last night, Arthur was presented with that very tape by Eric, who told him that he has never listened to it, "not once," as he's been given hundreds of demos over the years. But Peter Gabriel apparently did, and signed Arthur to Real World music.  Last night, Arthur seemed genuinely touched to be given the relic of his early career.  

Arthur played a nearly hour-long set accompanied only by a drummer.  His poetic lyrics were layered over a sonic palette generated by a number of distortion pedals and generous loop effects, making one quickly forget the limited number of musicians on the stage.

It was a wonderful performance, full of nuance and beauty.  Kimmy Drake of Beach Day was in the audience, enjoying the set.

There were still several more bands scheduled to play at The Star Bar to conclude the L5Fest, but after Joesph Arthur, I called it a night.  By my count, I had seen 19 bands (a new single-day record!), including some local favorites like Adron, The Coathangers, and Dog Bite, discovered several new bands like Factory and TV Dinner, and heard established music stars Mike Doughty and Joseph Arthur.  

Last year, the L5Fest, held as it was on the 29th of September, marked the start of Rocktober 2012.  This year, with the number of shows coming up, I can't decide if it marks an early beginning to Rocktober 2013, or if it's the coda at the end of the Bumbershoot/MFNW Labor Day marathon.

Or if it matters.