Friday Free-Style

Ok, to start off, I have two corrections to make. First, in the post "Atlanta Album Preview: Nomen Novum" I had listed what I believed to be a possible tracklisting to Nomen Novum's upcoming debut album, November, but I in fact gave you the possible tracklist Nomen Novum's second album comprised of songs they are performing live already. The tracklist for November looks like this:

intro / new coke
permanent makeup
I collect things/pow-pow
little witches
don't look up
my face her body
parallel eyes
that's a moray
precious moments
hand-me-downs

Expect it to be available in the month of which it is named, and another Nomen Novum to follow.

The other correction is from my last "What The Hell Am i Listening to?!?" post. I claimed Sorry No Ferrari's EP The Get Down Syndrome had been released "recently", when in actuality it had been released back in 2006. I had incorrectly thought that it was the new record they are currently finishing up, but obviously it is not.

So, in both cases, there is more great music coming than I expected.


Broken Social Scene will be at The Variety Playhouse November 19th.

My Brightest Diamond will be in Atlanta December 7th.

Phosphorescent will be at the Drunken Unicorn November 7th.

The Rosebuds will be at The Earl December 1st.

Castanets will be at The Drunken Unicorn November 21st.

A Armada will be at the Drunken Unicorn November 14th

Mastodon's Brent Hinds punched King Khan in the face.

Speaking of which, Neurosis's Scott Kelly is making a guest appearance on the new Mastodon album.

Sound Tribe Sector Nine is doing 4 nights of NYE shows at The Tabernacle.

Wilco goes to work on a new album next month.

Pink Floyd's Rick Wright died making it official that i'll never get to see Pink Floyd. :(

Langerado moves to Miami, in the same park they have Ultra music fest. This is a very lame development.

My Bloody Valentine claims to be working on two albums.

M.I.A. has a clothing line.


TV On The Radio "Golden Age":



Annuals "Confessor":



Au "RR v. D":

Live Show: Built To Spill (Live Melodies Of The Future)

I noticed that this compilation of live shows is available back on the torrents, so I went through my vault and dragged it out for you. There was a longer gap between Built To Spill's last two albums, Ancient Melodies of The Future (2001) and You In Reverse (2006) then in any point before that. So when at ATP Fest in Los Angeles back in 2004 Built To Spill unveiled a set almost entirely comprised of new songs, it was a really big deal for us BTS fans. This compilation contains some cuts from that legendary bootleg, other songs they wrote and worked out live during the Pre-You In Reverse era (2004-2005), and then a bunch of sweet cover songs. Particular favourites of mine are Ozzy's "Mr. Crowley", the reggae-jam version of "Cortez", and a new song that (much to my disappointment) didn't make the cut on the album, "Oh Yeah". Enjoy:

Built To Spill
Live Melodies Of the Future

1. Saturday 2004-09-11
2. Liar 2004-11-07
3. Done 2004-11-06
4. LIfe's A Dream 2004-11-06
5. Traces 2004-11-07
6. Going Against Your Mind 2005-06-10
7. Gone 2004-11-06
8. Oh Yeah 2004-11-07
9. The Wait 2004-11-06
10. Wherever You Go 2004-11-06
11. While My Guitar Gently Weeps 2005-09-17 (George Harrison)
12. Conventional Wisdom 2005-09-11
13. They Got Away (working title) 2005-10-10
14. Cortez the Killer (Neil Young) 2003-10-23
15. I Try (Macy Gray) 2000-06-25
16. Linus and Lucy (Vince Guaraldi) 1998-10-26
17. Imagine (John Lennon) 2001-09-22
18. Dream Police (Cheap Trick) ??????
19. Mr.Crowley (Ozzy Osbourne) 2000-06-25
20. Freebird (Southern Men who need to listen to more Neil Young) 2001-09-22

Download Lossless Torrent Here

Live Review: Sigur Ros (9/17/2008) United Palace Theater, New York, NY

Last Wednesday while we were still in New York we headed up to the northwest corner of Manhattan for me to finally see Sigur Ros. The venue was situated in a Spanish speaking neighborhood where all of us Sigur Ros fans stuck out. The venue itself was very cool, it combined the ornateness of The Fox Theater with the massive churchiness of The Tabernacle. We made sure to get in our seats way in the back of the top balcony just in time for the show to start.

We were absolutely positive there was no opener for the show, and being so far back it was hard to tell who was on stage, so when the band started up right after 8pm, we thought it was Sigur Ros. Everyone around us was talking, the band was playing really low key, quiet stuff, way more low key than Sigur Ros, but sounded really similar. Finally near the end of the 35 minute opening set after not being able to recognize a single song, we did some iphone research and realized that it wasn't a set break for Sigur Ros, but in fact a band called Parachutes had opened for them. We had totally punked ourselves. Parachutes weren't bad, but they sounded like a watered down version of the headliner.

So then Sigur Ros came out as a 4 piece. Apparently this tour is the first time in a very long time they performed without other musicians on stage. Despite being without the other instrumentation, it didn't feel like their sound was too thin or minimalistic or anything. They blasted the room loudly at all of their many climaxes, and it sounded great. The show was pretty much everything I thought it would be. They played a great set that included almost everything I could have asked for, and it all sounded flawless. I would like to see them again in the future with the added strings and marching band and all of that spectacle, but none of that took away from this brilliant performance.

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:55:40]
01 Svefn-G-Englar
02 Glósóli
03 Ny Batteri
04 Fljótavík
05 Við Spilum Endalaust
06 Hoppípolla
07 Með Blóðnasir / Svo Hljótt
08 Heysátan
09 Viðrar Vel Til Loftárása
10 Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur
11 Sæglópur
12 Hafsól
13 Gobbledigook
14 [encore break]
15 All Alright
16 Popplagið

You can get the entire show in mp3 or FLAC here.

Awesome photos here

Tonight In The A: The Mars Volta, Sunset Rubdown, Indian Jewelry, Tree Creature

Sunset Rubdown

I plan on getting to the Tabernacle early to set up for The Mars Volta show starting at 8pm and then a few hours later heading to The Earl to catch Sunset Rubdown (and Nomen Novum is opening!). I am extremely excited about both of these shows, so it's gonna be a helluva night. Also, Indian Jewelry is playing with Atlanta avant-garde artists Tenth To The Moon and Tree Creature at Eyedrum. You really need to go to one of these:

The Mars Volta : Agadez

Sunset Rubdown : The Taming Of The Hands That Came Back To Life

Indian Jewelry : Dirty Hands

Tree Creature : Nautilus Now Silver Implodes


Tree Creature

The New New: Beach House, Deerhoof, Tobacco

You can listen to the A-side of Beach House's upcoming 7" that drops October 21st here:




Deerhoof has a new vidoe for "Get Born" from thier upcoming album Offend Maggie:



A member of the Pennsylvania experimental group Black Moth Super Rainbow (who is a band you really need to check out if you haven't yet) named Tobacco just released a single from his solo album Fucked Up Friends due out October 14th:

Tobacco : Truck Sweat

All Tomorrow's Parties NY Day 2 (Saturday): This Festival Is Cool And All, But I Sure Wish Jack Johnson Was Here

Just Kidding. I noticed in the programs/schedules we got that they joked about a big thing that set ATP apart from other festivals being "that no one selected or even wanted Jack Johnson", and if you read this blog regularly, you know I can appreciate that sentiment.

We stuck around until last call at the bar at The Raleigh Friday night, so the first band I was able to catch on Saturday was the end of Growing's set. The 10 minutes or so I saw, I thought sounded great. I'll be looking hard into this noise jamming duo now. After that I gave a short listen to The Drones and Wooden Shjips, but neither was really up my alley. I watched Fuck Buttons next, and damn their set was serious. I listened to their album and thought it was decent but it didn't really hit me as something special, but catching them in a live setting totally sold me on these guys. The two dudes used all sorts of cool devices stacked on a table including a toy mic audio recorder sent through some interesting effects resulting in sweet distorted vocals. Their sound came off to me somewhere between Holy Fuck and Indian Jewelry, which is a great place to be.

After that I decided to start partying and enjoying the facilities. The resort ATP was being held on was kitschy and weird, and at first seemed like sort of a dump. But around the second day we were starting to appreciate how cool a venue this actually was. It was really nice to have an entire resort completely to ourselves, and often times you would see the artists walking around, catching shows, and hanging. We hung out in their children's playground for a bit and tried out some strange playground equipment I had never seen before. We hung out by the pond with all of the drinkers and smokers and chilled. The place had a lot of amenities, but was crappy enough that a festival crowd couldn't do too much damage to it. Well, they probably could.

Anyways, I checked out about half of Edan's set, and that was really good. I've found myself getting really bored of hip-hop these days, a genre I used to love. I mean, the new Lil' Wayne is incredible and all, but it is still pretty much the same old thing rappers have been doing for 20 years. But Edan and his partner for this show Dagha brought some originality to the game. I particularly liked how they utilized a delay pedal to accent certain syllables instead of having a "hype man" yell the last word of every line. Another trick I enjoyed was when Edan did a rap referencing all types of classic records while Dagha would shuffle through them and display each record he was referencing. I love a show that can be fun to watch and exhibit feats of musicianship and skill at the same time.

I did some more partying, caught a little bit of OM, thought it was cool but I wasn't really in the mood for it, then did some more partying. Next up for me was Low. They really impressed me because I only liked a few of the songs from their last record, but they were making me love absolutely every minute of their "slowcore" set (which is a funny yet accurate for this band genre title). The amount of intensity they can can pack inside of such downbeat, soft, and pretty sounding stuff just dazzled me.

By the time Thee Silver Mount Zion Orchestra began their set, I realized I had been partying too hard and could not properly appreciate it. I went and grabbed some food and drink some water, and got myself back to a manageable level of intoxication. I then returned back to the second stage, laid down in the back, and just let the rest Mount Zion's epic two hour set wash across me. This may have been the show I enjoyed most all weekend. I am about to obtain every bit of material from this project I possibly can and get obsessed for a while, so expect more of that around here. In addition to their top notch music, I loved how the dude would respond to every single bit of crowd heckling and yelling and call people out and talk smack . All around, this show was just: Wow!

I caught the last part of Shellac's set and felt the same way about it that I did when trying out their records: it wasn't bad, but nothing amazing. Among many other basic indie rock facts I learned over the weekend, I hadn't realized this was Steve Albini's band, and they did a little question and answer part at one point that was interesting. After that Lighting Bolt set up on the ground to the right of the stage with a big circular mirror hanging above them so everyone could see the chaos going on at the center of that sonic tornado. What a day!

I'll have my Day 3/Wrap-Up post as soon as Biggie C gets all of his photos posted, probably around the end of the week.

Here's a video of Shellac from ATP NY:

What Up In The ATL?

I'm heading back to Atlanta as fast as possible because this is a monster week of music:

Tonight The Liverhearts are at the Drunken Unicorn.

Tomorrow night Suite Unraveling, Pirate Pussy, Untied States are at Eyedrum.

Wednesday night I plan on hitting both The Mars Volta at The Tabernacle and Sunset Rubdown and Nomen Novum at The Earl. If that's not enough, Indian Jewelry are at Eyedrum.

Thursday night Ratatat is at The Masquerade.

Friday night Stereolab and Atlas Sound are at The Variety Playhouse.

Saturday night Cut Copy is at The Masquerade.

Go see some shows!

All Tomorrow's Parties NY: Late Night Lightning Bolt

I'm suffering from a seriously vicious hangover right now, so my full Day 2 exploits will have to wait until I get back, but I will leave you with a little taste of the killer Lightning Bolt set finishing off another fabulous day of music:

All Tomorrow's Parties NY Day 1 (Friday): Don't Look Back, There are 3000 Hipsters Standing Behind You

After a great week in NYC (of which I will have more reports on when I get back), we headed to the Catskills for ATP. The event is taking place at a resort called Kutshers, but we were staying at the other official resort called The Raleigh. I overheard someone describe The Raleigh as "straight out of The Shining", and that pretty much nailed it. This has got to be the weirdest place I have ever stayed.

We then headed up to the festival after checking in and had to wait in a very long line to exchange our tickets for wristbands. Festivals being marred in logistics issues always seems to be the case, and ATP was no exception, but nothing I haven't come to expect. After getting my press pass secured and grabbing some grub from their "food court" consisting of two food booths, we headed right down in front of the main stage, and Atlanta's greatest music fan, Kenny Crucial, was holding down the rail right next to us most of the night. I made it down there a few songs into the Meat Puppets doing their II album just in time to hear one of my favs, "Plateau". The Meat Puppets were really good, and since this was pretty much their only album that I knew well, it was a greatest hits show for me. The guitarist was shredding hard and their bassist had such a goofy on stage persona.

Next up was Tortoise doing Millions Now Living Will Never Die. I made a point to not really listen to any of these albums before heading up here so they would feel fresh, and for some reason I hadn't really listened to any Tortoise in forever despite them being one of my "entry bands" into good music so long ago. As they did their set beautifully, I realized that I still knew this album frontwards and back, and it was so enjoyable to listen to. I know I haven't really mentioned this band much around Ohmpark since I started it, but there is no doubt in mind that these guys are some of the best of the best.

After that it was time for Thurston Moore doing his Psychic Hearts album. As much as I am obsessed with Sonic Youth, I really never got into this album the few times I had listened to it before. Now, I will take listening to Thurston any time, any day, and the set was great, with Steve Shelley on drums again, but I have to say that Psychic Hearts is not exactly in my upper stratosphere of SY related music. But regardless of my hang ups, it was certainly a crowd pleaser with the older hipster crowd that populated this thing. While there were a few "pubesters" rolling around, the audience for this festival has been pretty damn cool so far.

Finally, it was time for the event I was most excited about, Built To Spill performing Perfect From Now On. There is probably no album that has more personal meaning to me than this one, and my highest of expectations were not disappointed. I had seen them play abridged versions of songs from PFNO many times, but for this one, they played the most loyal versions of the songs I have ever heard, only adding a few extended jams here and there. After they finished out the album, they did a stunning rendition of "Goin' Against Your Mind" to close out the set. They did an encore consisting of one my favs, "Stab" and closed with "Car" complete with a 15 minute jammout at the end. There is just no way i can describe accurately how great this set was for me.

Anyways, I have to run and catch some more music. More updates coming, and Biggie C is taking some gorgeous photos we will have for you next week.

Live Videos: This Piano Plays Itself, Sorry No Ferrari (9/12/2008) Lenny's Bar

Last Friday night before I headed OTP, I went down to Lenny's to catch two Ohmpark favourites. This Piano Plays Itself unleashed two new, fantastic songs from the new album they are currently working on (the first and third video below). Also, this was the last show for Sorry No Ferrari's drummer David Ragsdale, and they demonstrated their brilliant musicianship yet again. Here's some vids from two of Atlanta's hottest:

This Piano Plays Itself:







Sorry No Ferrari:

Film Review: Christmas On Mars (By The Flaming Lips)

Yesterday we headed down to the East Village to catch one of the many screenings of The Flaming Lips long-awaited sci-fi movie Christmas On Mars. The theater was quite small, and there seemed to be only about 15 other people at this showing. Before the film started, they showed an interview with Wayne Coyne about the movie. It was a little too long and gave away a little too much about the movie, but Coyne is always an interesting person to hear talking. The opening scene audio-visual assault of the senses was right in line with their over-the-top psychedelic live shows and at first I thought the whole film would be nonsensical imagery, but the film then quickly gave way to dialogue between characters and a real plot. Without giving too much away, the movie takes place on new colony on Mars on Christmas Eve (hence the name) where the crew is dealing with essential equipment failures and facing questions about whether a baby about to be born from some artificial womb will survive.

Much of the film felt like a Kubrick throwback, but almost the entire thing came off like a spoof of sci-fi movies as a whole while trying to take itself seriously at the same time. This is a delicate balance to achieve, and I enjoyed it mostly for its comedic aspects where the film excelled. The sets were put together with almost no budget, and it was neat to see what they used to put them together, again adding to the laughs. And while there were many moments you were laughing at the film, there were also plenty of times you were laughing with the film. The boss of the colony or captain or whatever he was did an extremely entertaining comedic relief role, a type of role I typically hate. In fact, it seemed like every single character had its own distinct brand of humour it brought to the movie and most were great.

The other strong suit of this film was the audio/video sync ups and effects. Their mastery of freaking out the human senses comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with their spectacular live shows, but they used Christmas On Mars as an opportunity to be even more meticulously mindblowing to your eyes and ears. I think it was particularly striking to me because they're tools were much more nuanced than what they employ live. Most of the film is black and white, yet they still had plenty of eye candy going on, and all of the tricks felt much more purposeful here than the random ridiculousness of The Flaming Lips on stage.

The film won't change your life or anything and maybe the 7 year hype that has surrounded this thing probably created big expectations that it could never have lived up to, but overall I thought it was a very fun, interesting movie that I will probably watch a few more times and still enjoy. As far as Christmas movies go, this one is hard to beat.

What Up In The ATL?

Can you feel the excitement for Atlantis this week? I know I'm thinking about cutting my New York trip short to make it back in time. Just Kidding. If you don't know, Atlantis Music Conference & Festival is like SXSW's evil, midget cousin where they take every really bad, made for pop radio artists from Atlanta, put them in the same crappy venues you would never go to that these artists always play anyways, and act like the whole thing is some big deal. We could really use a music conference in this town that doesn't suck.

Anyways, there are a few shows that are worth checking out this week in the A:

Tonight you must go see Mogwai, Fuck Buttons at the Variety Playhouse.

Wednesday night The Selmanaires are at The Earl.

Thursday night Hope For agoldensummer are at The Earl.

Saturday night don't miss Dead Confederate, Wax Fang, and Twin Tigers at The Earl.

Sunday These Are Powers and Jana Hunter are at Eyedrum.

Ohmpark Does New York

Ok, kiddies, it's field trip time. We're taking this show on the road for the next week and a half and heading up to the music mecca that is New York. Tuesday we will be catching a screening of the Flaming Lips' new sci-fi movie Christmas On Mars, Wednesday I'll get to see Sigur Ros without being unconscious, Thursday night we'll be catching Atlanta's Nomen Novum playing in Brooklyn, and finally next weekend we'll head into the Catskills to experience what I think is this year's best festival line-up, All Tomorrow's Parties New York. Before I hit the road though, I'll be down at Lenny's tonight catching two Atlanta bands we heart, This Piano Plays Itself and Sorry No Ferrari. So either I'll see you in the A, or the NY.

LL Cool J : New York, New York

Live Videos: The Liverhearts, The Coathangers (9/6/2008)

Last Saturday I dropped by Lenny's to check out the Totally Titties Two breast cancer research benefit. I got there just in time to see The Orphins leave the stage. I keep botching every attempt I make to catch them. Next, The Liverhearts brought it hard and made the trip well worth it. This was their first show in about 3 months. Their new bassist had some technical difficulties early, but once those were ironed out, they blasted the songs from Ornament I am now intimately familiar with, and it was so good. I stuck around for The Coathangers, but I have to say that each time I see them, it gets less enjoyable. They just seem so superficial and the songs are not aging well with me at all. They are going to have to up the ante and bring things to another level on their sophomore album due out early next year to keep me interested in these ladies.

The Liverhearts:







The Coathangers:

Live Show: Autolux (10/21/2001)

(credit)

I'll be catching these guys at ATP next weekend. They have released a new song on their website that you can download a wav file of for free here. It sounds great. A live show for you:

--AUTOLUX--
Oct. 21, 2001
El Rey Theatre
Los Angeles, CA
*opening for Blonde Redhead

RECORDING:
Core Sound Binaural mics (modified positioning, with bass rolloff)->Sony TCD-D8 DAT recorder [44.1kHz]

GENERATION: DAT(M)->.wav [44.1kHz]->CDWave editor (track splits)->FLAC [level 8]

SETLIST:
1. 23 Watt Apple Juice
2. Angry Candy
3. Sub-Zero Fun
4. Sugarless
5. Future Perfect
6. Robots In The Garden
7. Here Comes Everybody
8. Blanket
9. Turnstile Blues

Download Lossless Torrent Here

13 Day Mission Drops New Album Digitally

Atlanta's 13 Day Mission just released an album comprised of assorted improv sessions and jammers they have recorded over the last two years. It is a sprawling, non-cohesive collection that highlights the many dimensions to this very talented post-prog instrumental outfit. They are using a variation of the pay-what-you-want model, offering the album at a donation of either $5, $10, or $15. I'm just finishing my initial listen right now, and so far I'm enjoying it thoroughly. As long as you aren't one of the clueless haters of jammy, psychedelic bands like The Mars Volta or Pink Floyd, you should really check these dudes out. Here's a non-representative sample:

13 Day Mission : Blues

You can catch 13 Day Mission tomorrow (Thursday) night at WonderRoot with some other great bands for the kick off of Other Sound.

Atlanta Album Preview: Nomen Novum

The debut full-length album from Nomen Novum is getting closer to being finished. They revealed some details recently on their myspace:

"November" will be mixed by Erik Olson around the end of September. Tracking has begun on the new record -- it is very different. Initial tracklist:

Ultrasound
The Color of Water
Silenios
Me in a Dark Alley
The Garden
Paradises
(Your Heat is Like a) Lovewave (Baby)
Miracles Cum True
Mah-Mah-Lade
King of the Bees

In case you forgot, Erik Olson produced their previous project's self-titled Moorish Idols record, which happened to be our favourite EP from last year. Nomen Novum are doing a small tour after playing the Other Sound Festival tomorrow night
and before opening up for Sunset Rubdown later this month.

Nomen Novum Tour Dates:

Sept 11 - Atlanta, GA @ WonderRoot %
Sept 14 - Philadelphia, PA @ Tritone $
Sept 17 - Wilmington, DE @ Mojo 13 $
Sept 18 - Brooklyn, NY @ The Charleston
Sept 19 - Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light *
Sept 24 - Atlanta, GA @ The Earl ^

% w/ 13 Day Mission, Thy Mighty Contract, Chopper
$ w/ Remote Islands
* w/ Royal Bangs
^ w/ Sunset Rubdown

Here's a few classic tracks from David Norbery and company:

Nomen Novum : Green Greener Greenest


Moorish Idols : Clouds Forming

New Marnie Stern: "Ruler"

Here's the third track Ms. Stern has released from her eagerly-anticipated-by-me upcoming album, This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That. The album drops October 7th on Kill Rock Stars, and this is Marnie's favourite from it:

Marnie Stern on iLike - Get Sidebar

A Random MP3 Tetralogy

I got four hott tracks for you:


The Raveonettes

I jumped on The Raveonettes bandwagon earlier this year after loving their newest LP Lust Lust Lust. Now they are releasing a series of 4 EPs digitally before the end of the year, starting with one that just came out this week ,The Raveonettes Remixed. You can get it for free here. A preview:

The Raveonettes : Aly, Walk With Me (Nic Endo remix)




One of the blog sensations right now is Empire Of The Sun, a pairing of two dudes from other blog sensations. Currently there is only one song available complete with a video and remixes from these guys, but I hear an album is coming soon. The song itself, though, is an all-around crowd pleaser that I think anyone should be able to enjoy:

Empire Of The Sun : Walking On A Dream



Deerhoof's Offend Maggie

The new Deerhoof album is dropping October 7th, and if you are one of the first 500 people to pre-order it, you get handwritten sheet music for the entire album included. Interesting first listen. If you haven't looked into this band yet, you are seriously missing out.

Deerhoof : Offend Maggie



Department Of Eagles

Finally, Grizzly Bear is one of the bands that I obsess about more than almost any these days, so I'm pretty intrigued by this Daniel Rossun project called Department of Eagles. Their newest LP, Ear Park, is available early next month and I can't wait. Be amazed:

Department Of Eagles : In Ear Park

Live Videos: Evangelista (Carla Bozulich), Xiu Xiu (8/23/2008) @ The Drunken Unicorn

A few weekends ago I checked out this show because I've really enjoyed the last two Carla Bozulich albums and was very excited to see her. It was pretty good, but she was suffering equipment issues and her set got cut way short as the show was running behind because of it. Although she nailed the vocal parts pretty dead on live, so that was cool. You'll notice in the last video she goes into the crowd and starts falling on people in the audience as she was belting it out, and totally knocks the glasses off someone I was with.

Xiu Xiu was very impressive live, but I just don't enjoy their music that much. I mean it's good and all, I just can't seem to get into it. Their setup looked like a drum set had been dipped into that ooze that mutated the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They had the biggest cymbals I have ever seen and maybe the largest quantity of percussive equipment I've ever seen on a stage, half of which I didn't recognize.

Evangelista (Carla Bozulich):







Xiu Xiu:

What Up In The ATL?

This week the Other Sound Festival is going on Thursday through Saturday. You can purchase a $12 pass to all three nights at Criminal Records, Parkgrounds, or hit up the Other Sound myspace.

The line-up for this year is:

Thursday, Sept. 11th @ WonderRoot: Chopper, Thy Mighty Contract, 13 Day Mission, Nomen Novum and North Elementary ($5 door)

Friday, Sept. 12th @ Star Bar: Pink Police, Attractive 80's Women, the Preakness, Warm in the Wake, Icecaps, Grand Prize Winners and Calabi Yau ($5 before 9pm, $7 after 9pm door)

Saturday, Sept. 13th @ The Earl: Dropsonic, the Booze, Missile Command, A Fight to the Death, Rev Rebel & the Sound Supreme and Yardwork ($8 door)

Those are some sweet looking shows. If you have to pick one, that WonderRoot opening night looks damn impressive. Other shows worth checking out this week:

Wednesday night The N.E.C., All The Saints, and Adventure @ Star Bar or So Many Dynamos @ The Masquerade.

Thursday night Wild Sweet Orange, What Made Milwaukee Famous, and The Goldest @ The Earl

Friday night This Piano Plays Itself, Sorry No Ferrari, and Elegant Trash @ Lenny's

Saturday night Silver Jews @ Variety Playhouse

Tonight In The A: Totally Titties Two

I plan to stop by Lenny's and check out the breast cancer research benefit going down this evening. The Orphins, The Liverhearts, Fag Static and Strezo all on the same bill is pretty sweet. Should be a fun time.

The Orphins : Crayons In The Cold

Friday Free-Style

M83 will be at The Earl November 11th.

Evangelicals will be at The Drunken Unicorn October 9th (Don't miss this one!)

The Jeffrey Lewis Band will be at The Drunken Unicorn November 4th (Another can't miss!)

Plants And Animals will be at The Earl October 22nd.

No Age will be playing Athens, Ga at The 40 Watt November 14th.

Indian Jewelry returns to Eyedrum September 24th with Tenth To The Moon.

Dragonforce will be at The Tabernacle November 21st.

Pelican will be at The Drunken Unicorn November 9th.

Jaguar Love (featuring members of Blood Brothers and Pretty Girls Make Graves) will be at The Earl October 28th.

Of Montreal and Fiery Furnaces will be doing some tour dates together in Florida in December.

Ratatat and Panther are playing The Masquerade September 25th.

The Octopus Project will be at The Earl October 19th.

The Walkmen will be at The Earl October 3rd.

Ra Ra Riot will be at The Drunken Unicorn October 10th.

Listen to a new Marnie Stern song here.

The Dead are reuniting for a spring tour next year.

Sonic Youth are trying out some new songs live.

Sufjan Stevens is scoring the music to a new Natalie Portman film.

Smashing Pumpkins are going to drop new single via Guitar Hero.

Deerhoof interview.

Akron/Family Daytrotter session, get it now!

Go vote for the Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize" to become Oklahoma's official state rock song.

The Mars Volta and N.E.R.D. have been added to Voodoo Music Fest.

Rage Against The Machine at the RNC lead to 102 arrests.

Jeff Tweedy playing a new Wilco song:



Deerhoof:



Air France:




Rage Against The Machine at the RNC (In crowd acapella, pretty cool):

2 More Low Key Bands Worth Your Time

I have some extra internet time again today so I figured I could enlighten some minds with some more under the radar artists.

First up, I have my education.



my education first emerged in 1999 as a trio and is currently in the shape of a five piece with Brian Purrington on guitar, Chris Hackstie on more guitar, James Alexander on viola, Scott Telles on bass, and Christopher Stelly on drums.

The Austin-based instrumental quintet composes wordless songs through vast, gorgeously orchestrated soundscapes. From squealing electric guitar wails to screeching viola yelps, the band's music has all the vocals it needs, drawing its narrative tension from ambient dischord.

Each track on the group's new album, Bad Vibrations, offers a buildup and release that's equally commanding and cathartic. But with all the musical strife, much of the album proves tranquil and soothing in its atmospheric nature, as the band paints a beautiful musical picture with layers of brooding instrumentation.

Here's a couple tracks:

Arch - Bad Vibrations - my education

Aria - Bad Vibrations - my education

And Here's a video of the title track to the new album:



Next up, I have The Photographic.




The Photographic is a duo that makes epic, complex and entirely instrumental rock songs. Their latest album, Pictures of a Changing World, is an ever-evolving collage of sounds featuring multi-instrumentalists Jamey See Tai and Chad Blevins. Guitar loops with variations of one melody play against a soaring chord progression and rapid, cymbal-heavy drumming.

The music of The Photographic is cinematic. The group often pairs a visual component with their live shows with images projected behind the duo by Tai's brother, Jesse See Tai.

Here's an example of a live show:



And some tracks:

Milli Rode to Heaven on the Back of an Orca - Pictures of a Changing World - The Photographic

We Were Fed Poisoned Bread - Pictures of a Changing World - The Photographic

Enjoy!

A Couple Low Key Bands Worth Your Time...

So it's been a while since I have participated in the whole blogosphere thing, so I figured the best way to get reacquainted is to give you guys out there a taste of a few things flowing through my personal rotation right now.

First up, we have Au.



These guys have an interesting sound reminiscent of the carnivalesque Elephant Six stuff coming out of Athens for the last decade. The band is the work of multi-instrumentalist Luke Wyland. Begun back in 2005 while finishing up his degree from the Massachussetts College of Art and moved across the country to find its roots in the thriving community of Portland, OR. It's now a working live band with an ever changing roster of players. It's sound is vast and "deftly treads a narrow bridge between the loose-associations of the backwoods freak-folk crowd and the more formalized concoctions of art-poppers like Brian Eno." Here's a couple tracks to get you going...

Au - Are Animals

Au - rr vs. d

Here's a video, for their song Boute...



Next up, we have High Places.



High Places' trunk-rattling impulses are juxtaposed with a spacious, almost tranquil atmosphere, with Rob Barber's percussion chiming and floating rather than physically hitting, and Mary Pearson's sweetly flat vocals layered to the point that her lyrics often become indistinguishable. They hail from Brooklyn, NY and are treading in some similar water as some other NY counterparts you might recognize called Animal Collective. The tracks below are off a collection of their EP entitled 03.07-09.07 but they have a full album dropping September 23 on Thrill Jockey which finds them finally in a studio delving into better recording techniques for their material.

High Places - Head Spins (Extended Version)

High Places - Banana Slugs/ Cosmonauts

And here's a video of some new material from a concert in London...



Lastly, I have The Lord Dog Bird for you guys.



This is moniker for the debut solo album by Wilderness guitarist Colin McCann out now on Jagjaguwar, in all its four-track humbleness. "The guitars squeal, the drums clank and the vocals crackle, and the effect is an album that evokes the moods of a cranky, disillusioned living-room recluse." McCann's vocals match the mournful croon of Bonnie "Prince" Billy's Will Oldham with the intense fervor of Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum. The result is emotive lo-fi music that sounds gritty and biting. Here's a slice...

The Lord Dog Bird - The Shedding Path

The Lord Dog Bird - The Gift of Song in the Lion's Den

Hope you guys enjoy!

A Random MP3 Trilogy

(credit)

After Deerhunter's Microcastle leaked, I only listened to it a few times and put it away. I rarely listen to advanced copies because I hate getting used to an album when it is not the final, finished product and I don't want to be too tired of an album by the time I can suggest a link to buy it to you blog readers. But since I'm told that Microcastle is now available on itunes, I decided to start digging into it hard. Together with the Weird Era Cont companion album floating around on the interwebs, the two make for an epic triumph (Although I've been trying to save getting deep into Weird Era until it gets more fall/winter to get the full experience as intended). All weekend long at the beach house, we had a daily, serious Microcastle jam session. It was sort of like a religious experience.

It has been brought to my attention that we have been "kinda riding their jock a bit" lately, but I say we haven't been riding their jock enough. Right now, not only is Deerhunter the best band in this city, but they may be this entire continent's best band of the last two years as soon as this thing drops for real. You haters out there need to get on the bandwagon. My fav song from Microcastle:

Deerhunter : Micocastle : Nothing Ever Happened

Pre-order Microcastle here


These days I get a ton of promo emails to check out tracks or artists, and while I do my best to give them all a legitimate shot, often that isn't the case. But persistence combined with great music is hard to ignore, and I finally started looking deep into the mp3s sent to me from an act called Immuzikation. Alfredo Lapuz Jr. is an Athens, Ga based musician who is involved with the acts Collective Efforts and Velveteen Pink, and most notably to me, does blog song mash-ups under the name Immuzikation. I'm a sucker for both a clever mash-up and savvy use of aggregators, and he is a master of both. Here's a little something by him combining Santogold with Atlanta exile Treasure Fingers:

Santogold - Unstoppable + Treasure Fingers - Come True Tonight (Dub Mix) = I've Got to Be True (Immuzikation Blend)



(BONUS: get a remix of a song by The Death Set from Treasure Fingers here)


And while we're talking aggregators, I decided for the final track on this trilogy, I would go randomly grab the number one hottest track on elbows.ws and see if it was cool. It turned out to be a band I've never heard of from Brooklyn, Ny called School Of Seven Bells doing a song called "Conjur". They are the newest project from Secret Machines' Benjamin Curtis. Their debut album, Alpinisms, is due out at the end of October. The song itself turned out to be pretty sweet and I'm looking forward to listening to their album. See, the blogosphere's wonders never cease:

School Of Seven Bells : Conjur

Live Show: 13 Day Mission, Beatrix Kiddo, Miles From Pangea, The Jungle (8/23/2008)

13 Day Mission

I checked out the The Hijacking Music Collective audio-visual extravaganza the weekend before last at WonderRoot before going to catch another show, and it was a very cool scene. I only stayed long enough to finally catch 13 Day Mission for the first time and they jammed out ridiculously. If you're into psychedelic music, this local clan is not to be missed.

First some 13 Day Mission video:





Then, here are some large mp3s from the night:

13 Day Mission @ WonderRoot

Beatrix Kiddo @ WonderRoot

Miles From Pangea @ WonderRoot

The Jungle @ WonderRoot

I'm sure plenty of other goodies from the night will emerge, so keep up with all of these kids at their studio's blog, The O Zone Lair.

Dead Confederate: New Songs, Tour

Dead Confederate @ The Earl (6/7/08)

Dead Confederate just posted three new songs to their myspace that you can listen to now. The tracks will be featured on their debut full-length, Wrecking Ball, due out September 16th. The tracklisting looks something like this:

1. Heavy Petting
2. The Rat
3. Goner
4. It Was A Rose
5. Yer Circus
6. All the Angels
7. Start Me Laughing
8. The News Underneath
9. Flesh Colored Canvas
10. Wrecking Ball

You can watch crazy-badass live videos of tracks 5-7 here. They will be doing an in-store acoustic performance at Criminal Records September 2oth at 4pm before playing their record release show at The Earl later that night. All of the new stuff rocks so hard, I can't wait to hear the whole album. Do yourself a favour and catch them live:

Dead Confederate Tour Dates:

September 11 - Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
September 12 - Augusta, GA @ Sky City
September 18 - Macon, GA @ The Hummingbird
September 19 - Athens, GA @ 40 Watt %
September 20 - Atlanta, GA @ Criminal Records (4pm acoustic show)
September 20 - Atlanta, GA @ The Earl % *
September 23 - Chattanooga, TN @ JJ's Bohemia % *
September 24 - Birmingham, AL @ The Bottletree % *
September 25 - Little Rock, AK @ Sticky Fingerz *
September 26 - Austin, TX @ Emo's (ACL afterparty) * ^
September 27 - Dallas, TX @ The Cavern *
September 29 - St. Louis, MO @ The Bluebird $
September 30 - Lawrence, KS @ Jackpot Music Hall $
October 1 - Omaha, NB @The Waiting Room $
October 2 - Madison, WI @ The Annex $
October 3 - Milwaukee, WI @ Mo's (MMJ Afterparty) $
October 4 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas
October 6 - Cambridge, MA @ TT The Bears $
October 8 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Khyber $
October 9 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge $
October 10 - Brooklyn, NY @ Union Hall
October 13 - Baltimore, MD @ Talking Heads Club
October 14 - Carborro, NC @ Cat's Cradle ^
October 16 - Nashville, TN @ Exit/In ^
October 17 - Oxford, MS @ Proud Larry's ^
October 25 - New Orleans, LA @ Voodoo Music Festival

% w/ Twin Tigers
* w/ Wax Fang
^ w/ Heartless Bastards
$ w/ Catfish Haven

What The Hell Am I Listening to?!?

The theme for today is Atlanta artists. In fact, all of these acts are on the Atlanta label Stickfigure. I find myself liking so much of their roster.

Sorry No Ferrari



If you read Ohmpark regularly, you know I'm a fan of this mathy, posty 4-piece instrumental outfit. They totally destroyed it at the WonderRoot show we put on over the summer and this 5 track EP they have recently put out displays they are just as impressive on record as they are live. They will be at Lenny's next Friday night, so don't miss what may be their last show with their current drummer:

Sorry No Ferrari : Tuba Toothpaste

Buy The Get Down Syndrome here

Sorry no Ferrari Myspace


Nerdkween



Nerdkween, the moniker of Monica Arrington, has been making lo-fi, ethereal pop music since the beginning of this decade, but just now released her first proper full-length album, Synergy. The album employs low-level electronic distortion that contrasts the gorgeous and minimalistic ballads she performs, creating an interestingly contradictory feel, combining the very human, naked emotions of her songs with a very unnatural, technological aura. Even though the distort-your-music-production craze of this year is starting to wear a little thin on me, the utilization here is unique enough to rise above being just a gimmick. Plus, the music is beautiful:

Nerdkween : If

Nerdkween : Earning My Disgrace

Buy Synergy here

Nerdkween Myspace


The Subliminator



The word speaking and theremin playing avant-garde artist known as The Subliminator, aka Serson Brannen, returns with his sophomore album, Rake. This latest effort brings everything you would want and expect from his dark, experimental project. While you definitely need to be in the right mood to jam this one, I think it is a rather accessible album for something so crazy and over the top. Dive into the abyss:

The Subliminator : Howl!

The Subliminator : Appliances

Buy Rake here

The Subliminator myspace

What Up In The ATL?

Ah, back to the old bloggy mcblog blog...

Tonight I recommend checking out The Poison Arrows, Nomen Novum, and Lay Down Mains at The Earl. I have been listening to Lay Down Mains' new album, Mama, Go Rest On High, and it is pretty good. There is nothing really out of the ordinary on it, just a nice collection of hard rocking songs. They sort of remind me of a less focused and jammier Liverhearts.

Lay Down Mains : Mama, Go Rest On High : No Canon

Tomorrow night you can go see Icecaps, Missile Command, Pistolero, Black Skies at The Star Bar and/or Le Castle Vania's Fuck Yesss Dance Party at The Drunken Unicorn late night.

Pistolero : Thieves And Murderers

Saturday night the show at The Drunken Unicorn looks interesting with Cadillac Jones, Van Heineken, Rizzudo, The Khans, and Snowden's Jordan Jeffares DJing.

Rizzudo : 17th Street