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.

Kisses at The Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta, July 25, 2013

Last night, LA's Kisses headlined a very satisfying show at The Drunken Unicorn, but the real revelation of the evening was the terrific set by a new (to me at least) band, Atlanta's Palace Wolves.

Palace Wolves were formed last year by songwriters Ryan Pace (guitars, keys, vocals) and Shannon Small (guitars, keys, vocals), along with Matt Katis (keys, programming).  Last May, they released their first EP, simply called 12 for the year they started.  I don't know how many gigs they've played prior to last night (their web site indicates they've played at least 5 sets before, all at the Unicorn), but if they continue to perform the way they did, word of mouth should quickly propel them to the upper echelons of the local music scene, if not onto the national stage. 

Here's standout song The Desert from 12, which ably demonstrates the band's skills:

You can stream the entire EP at their Soundcloud page, or download the individual songs.

Sealions' singer Joey Patino even gave them a special shout out during his set, much more than the usual "How about that opener, huh?"  I can't recall his exact words, but he expressed his own sincere pleasure at hearing Palace Wolves great set.

Not that Sealions didn't themselves deliver a terrific follow-up set.  We've seen Sealions a couple times before, back in October 2010 opening up for Metric at The Tabernacle and in March 2012 at The Goat Farm for the Atlanta Film Festival's Sound + Vision event ("Dude-I-Was-There!" video below).  As usual, last night they performed a satisfyingly loud set of slightly psychedelic guitar rock with touches of dream pop.

The headliners were LA's Kisses.

Kisses are Jesse Kivel and Zinzi Edmundson, and to say that their sound is anything less than sunny, happy, and delightfully summery would miss the mark.  These guys would make Cayucas sound introverted and mopey by comparison.

Naturally, the entire audience was up and dancing throughout the set, or at the very least swaying in place, and one particularly exuberant couple at the front of the stage set the tone for the rest of us, and even got Zinzi dancing along up on stage. Meanwhile, Jesse projected an extremely likable and engaging stage persona, and I don't think there was a person in the audience who wasn't won over well before the end of their set.

This was the band's first East Cast tour and first time playing in Atlanta, and they weren't sure what to expect.  Jesse asked for the air conditioning to be turned down, a rare request for a Southern California band in Georgia and one you'll never hear at the sweaty Masquerade or even The Earl.  They also weren't sure how they'd be received, so they played their usual encore song to close their set, and then were a little nonplussed when they were called back for an encore and had nothing else prepared. They managed to come up with something, though, a relatively longer song that nicely built up to a hip-shaking finale.  

So, three good sets by three good bands, and the discovery of one new band worth getting enthusiastic about.  Not bad for a Thursday night.

Dude, I Was There!

Sealions at The Goat Farm, March 29, 2012

Last year, Atlanta dream-pop band Sealions performed as part of the Atlanta Film Festival Music Experience at The Goat Farm.  Fittingly for a film festival, the IndieATL crew caught the whole thing on video, projecting the images in real time behind the band as they played and later posting the videos on YouTube.

Here are Sealions performing Indian Summer at the event.