Live Review: The Coathangers (9/4/2007) Criminal Records
Last Tuesday afternoon I went down to Little Five Points to catch the Coathangers doing a free in-store performance at Criminal Records. The uber-hipsters were out and about in what seemed an almost surreal scene. The theme for the day The Coathangers were going with was “Dreams Come True”, a reference to their out-of-nowhere ascension in the Atlanta music scene. They repped it well with an armada of props including balloons, bubble machines, pink clouds, miniature live horses, a live monkey, candy gift packs, and a unicorn pinata. They played outside the front door of the store to a huge crowd, and even Mastodon’s Brent Hinds came to check it out. As they played what i thought to be a good set, there were a couple of things that struck me. First, the music was really good for as much as their reputation for being bad musicians is floated around, and i feel like on a sonic level they have a really interesting vision that has enormous potential if they can improve and master their instruments. Secondly, despite the over-the-topness of their image, and the props, and the hype, there’s something about them that feels really genuine. It felt like they really don’t take themselves that seriously and they seem to be more surprised about how big they’ve become than anyone else. I bought a copy of their self-titled album and have been pleasantly surprised by what a good album it is too. I thought it might be a bunch of filler around already popular songs like “Nestle In My Boobies”, but there is something interesting going on throughout.
So my take on The Coathangers now is this, i like them, and they may be over-hyped relative to all of the great talent in the Atlanta music scene, but they aren’t just some hacks playing dress-up and they certainly have the potential to become one of Atlanta’s greatest but they will now have some high expectations to live up to, which comes with any band that blows up so quickly, and hopefully they are up for the challenge. They will be at the 40 Watt in Athens with the Black Lips and The Selmanaires Wednesday night and at the Drunken Unicorn Thursday night with Shock Cinema, Dragons Of Zynth Chainstereo, and The Skylarks (formerly the band Variac) so check them out for yourself.
Coathangers : The Coathangers : Shut the Fuck Up
Coathangers : The Coathangers : Parking Lot
- Posted by Davy Minor on September 10, 2007 at 4:58 pm
