Black Lips And Gringo Star Team Up On Tour

Black Lips at The Variety Playhouse last year

Two of the bigger ATL bands, Black Lips and Gringo Star, have each been out conquering seperate parts of the world, but just last night crossed paths and did a show in New Jersey together. They will be doing another show together in Brooklyn Thursday night, so you New Yorkers should go check out our ambassadors. Other dates:

Black Lips:

June 3 - Boston, MA @ Bank Of America Pavilion %
June 5 - Brooklyn, NY @ Ridgewood Temple +
June 6 - Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place
June 7 - Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore %
June 8 - Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore %
June 9 - Columbus, OH @ LC Amphitheater %
June 10 - Cincinnati, OH @ National City Pavilion %
August 1 - Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza

+ w/ Gringo Star
% w/ The Raconteurs


Gringo Star:

June 3 - New York, YN @ Piano's
June 4 - New York, NY @ The Knitting Factory (main space)
June 5 - Brooklyn, NY @ Ridgewood Temple *
June 11 - Athens, GA @ The 40 Watt #
June 12 - Atlanta, GA @ Vinyl #
July 19 - Augusta, GA @ Soul Bar
August 22: - Montgomery, AL @ Head On The Door

* w/ The Black Lips
# w/ Colour Revolt

The Black Lips last night:



Gringo Star at Chicago's Double Door doing one my fav songs from the A Fir-Ju Well days:




Gringo Star last year at Smith's Old Bar

Black Lips Touring With The Raconteurs

The A Town's merry pranksters are going to be opening for a handful of dates on The Raconteurs North American tour. Currently, their tour van broke down, they are stranded in Norway, and their new hotline is down. Bummer. Black Lips US Dates (with The Raconteurs):


05/27/08 Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
05/28/08 Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
05/30/08 New York, NY @ Terminal 5
06/3/08 Boston, MA @ Bank of America Pavilion
06/4/08 Montreal, QUE @ Metropolis
06/5/08 Toronto, ONT @ Ricoh Coliseum
06/7/08 Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore
06/9/08 Columbus, OH @ LC Amphitheater
06/10/08 Cincinnati, OH @ National City Pavilion
08/1/08-08/3/08 Lollapalooza @ Grant Park

Black Lips : Veni Vidi Vici (Capt Crunk Remix)

What Up In The ATL?

This is an incredible week for live shows in the A. Get it started with the trailer to the upcoming documentary on the Atlanta music scene We Fun (this looks awesome!):

Official WE FUN Trailer


The Gaye Blades (featuring Jared Swiley from the Black Lips) will be at The Drunken Unicorn tonight with Coffin Bound and Mammals.

Wednesday night RJD2 is at the Variety Playhouse. I caught him last year at about this time and I didn't really dig it. So if you're smart, you'll go local and check out The Good Moods, The Hotels and Goodnight Mush. at The Drunken Unicorn:



The Good Moods : Jericho


The Good Moods : Old Jersey Trees



Thursday night the Free ISP/Pine Magazine showcase at The Star Bar is the place to be:



Lovesick Scientist is Justin Sias (Elevado) produced by Brian Slusher (Slushco). Go Listen!

A Fight To The Death : Old Black Chains


Cassavettes : My Heart Your Beat



Friday night I'm going to the 11:11 Teahouse to catch 13 Day Mission, Beatrix Kiddo, and Miles From Pangea. I'm working on a piece about these great bands that will be out in the next couple days and I highly recommend checking this one out:




Saturday night is an ATL superstar supernight:

Enon, Howlin Rain, All Night Drug Prowling Wolves, Nomen Novem (featuring members of Moorish Idols) are at The Drunken Unicorn.

The Mourdella (Jessica Juggz's band) CD Release show with Chopper (featuring Colin Mee of Deerhunter), The Coathangers and West End Motel (featuring Brett Hinds of Mastodon and Tom Cheshire of All Night Drug Prowling Wolves) is at The Earl. Looks like Tom Cheshire is gonna have a busy night.

Mourdella : Brink Of Catastrophie


Mourdella : 'Til You Bleed


You can cap off your week with Dunch (the Sunday brunch/dinner) at The Earl featuring The Jupiter Watts doing a low-key set.

Jupiter Watts : Felix (1/4/2008 version)



Damn, the ATL is just too fun!

Friday Free-Style

Yes are doing a 40th anniversary tour and will be in Atlanta at the new Verizon Wireless Amphitheater at Encore Park on August 4th. Tickets go on sale today at 10am so go get them.

La Blogotheque is really cool in case you didn't know, and here's the Black Lips sessions:

SPLIT BLACK LIPS #1 3 SONGS TIED
by lablogotheque

SPLIT BLACK LIPS #2 EVERYBODY'S DOING IT
by lablogotheque

Outkast's tour manager died of a drug overdose. Here's that new new Outkast:

Big Boi featuring Andre 3000 & Raewkon : Royal Flush


Atlas Sound has another hott track at his blog.

Apple is talking about offering unlimited access to the itunes library for a fee.

Lollapalooza early bird tickets are on sale now, but there is still no official line-up.

This year's installment of Camp Bisco July 17th-19th includes Disco Biscuits (3 nights), Snoop Dogg, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist, MSTRKRFT, !!!, Lotus, DB, Amplive, and more.

Outside Lands Fest in San Francisco, Ca August 22nd-24th will include Radiohead, Tom Petty, Beck, Wilco, Primus, Regina Spektor, Devendra Banhart, Broken Social Scene, Andrew Bird, Black Mountain, Bon Iver, and more.

Chris Strawn of Atlanta's Brass Castle has a solo album, I Left My Hat In Hades, out now.

Andrew Bird is blogging for the New York Times.

Listen to Dirty Projectors cover Bjork's "Hyperballad" here.

The Flight Of The Conchords self-titled LP comes out April 22nd and you can see the tracklist here. Jam a track:

Flight Of The Conchords : Ladies Of The World


Stream the new Black Keys album here.

Fleetwood Mac plans to join the reunion club next year, possibly with Sheryl Crow. (?)

Emo kids are getting attacked in Mexico.

You can get the Die! Die! Die! show at The Earl last week from Have You Heard.

Girl Talk has a new album out very soon and will be in Athens, Ga at the Georgia Theater tonight.

Read about the new Of Montreal album here.

I didn't get any recordings of Bon Iver at SXSW, but others did, so go listen.

Nine Inch Nails will be at the Gwinnett Arena August 13th.

Southern Shelter has a show from Hardy Morris and Brantley Senn of Dead Confederate.

Pearl Jam is finally touring around the south a bit this summer, but not Atlanta.

Creative Loafing has a piece about Silent Kids.

Be Your Own Pet will be at the Variety Playhouse May 23rd. Universal cut three songs from their new album, Get Akward, because they were too violent. This is the same label that has released albums from Eminem, 50 Cent, Marilyn Manson, and Nine inch Nails. Obviously, Jemina Pearl could kick all of their asses. Check their new vid:




More new videos:

Phosphorescent:



WHY?:



Raveonettes:

Video of the Day: The Black Lips at GSU 1/22/08

This video is from the finale of the Black Lips show in the courtyard at the campus of Georgia State University. I really have to throw some props out to these guys they weathered some cold, rainy weather on just a small break from an overseas touring schedule to play this little show for WRAS. This finale creates some madness from the crowd and you just have to watch to see what I mean. Once again guys, you put on a hell of a live show!!



Also, I want to let you know that the Digital Arts and Entertainment Lab (DAEL) has YouTube channel of Atlanta bands getting filmed in studio on campus. If you want to see what's shaking in the Atlanta scene check out some of their videos for some fantastic performances!

Here's another video from the Selmanaires to give you more of an idea of how the studio shows function:

What Up In The ATL?

There are some hott new local releases out this week. First, The Selmanaires's second LP, The Air Salesman, is now available:



Also, Anna Kramer & The Lost Cause's The Rustic Contemporary Sounds of comes out today:



You can stream both albums here. They are are also both doing an in-store performance at Criminal Records at 7pm tonight.

I think this has been available for a while, but I just found out out about it. The newest Slushco EP:



Info and tunes on the Slushco Myspace. Buy it here.

The Black Lips are playing a free show at GSU today at noon:



After kicking ass last Saturday night at our One Year Anniversary Party, This Piano Plays Itself will be on WREK 91.1 FM at 10pm tonight. Don't miss it!

Tonight, there's a show:



Tomorrow night, the Stickfigure 2008 Showcase begins with 4 nights in row at the Drunken Unicorn featuring some of Atlanta's greatest up and coming artists:

Tomorrow night: Music For People, Sorry No Ferrari, Bigpenguin, Zandosis
Thursday night: Entertainment, The Feeding Fingers, Tenth To The Moon, Lid Emba
Friday night: Retconned Cover Band, Fur Elise, Tree Creature, Sailor Winters
Saturday Night: One Hand Loves The Other, Envie, The Subliminator, Killick!, Nerdkween

It's $5 for each night of the showcase, and if you like good music and are not familiar with many of those names, do yourself a favour and hit up atleast one of those, because every night is a killer line-up.

Thursday night at Lenny's is a stellar show with Perestroika, Chopper (ex-Blame Game, Deerhunter), Fag Static, and maybe even The Orphins (90% sure according to the Lenny's site)

Friday night at Lenny's there is this:




Friday night The Whigs are at The Earl and there's also this band called Manchester Orchestra that is rumoured to be from Atlanta at The Loft.

For the hippies, Friday night Perpetual Groove is at The Variety Playhouse, and Saturday night Col. Bruce Hampton is at The Loft and The Machine (Pink Floyd cover band) is at the Variety Playhouse.

For the hipsters, Saturday night Anna Kramer And The Lost Cause and The Selmanaires are having their dual CD release show at The Earl.

What a great week for music in Atlanta!

Friday Free-Style

Radiohead did a DJ set on BBC 1 and you can listen to it here. It's pretty rad, you should really jam that today.

Black Lips are doing a bunch of record store shows while they are on tour:

2/5 - Portland, Oregon: Jackpot Records, 6:30 pm
2/8 - San Francisco, CA: Amoeba Records, Berkeley, 6:30 pm
2/17 - Denver, CO: Twist & Shout Records, 2:00 pm
2/24 - Dallas, TX: Good Records, 4:00 pm
2/26 - Lawrence, KS: Love Garden Records, 1:00 pm
2/29 - Madison, WI: Mad City Music, 6:30pm
3/10 - New York, NY: Other Music, 6:00pm
3/21 - Memphis, TN: Shangri-la Records, 6:00 pm

Full Black Lips tour schedule here. Also there's this out:



You can get it here.

Thurston Moore did a soundtrack for a forthcoming porno.

Colin Meloy's (The Decemberists) solo acoustic live album is coming out soon.

The Fiery Furnaces are getting election crazy and holding a caucus to determine what theme they will choose for their next record.

Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs worked on the soundtrack for the upcoming movie Where The Wild Things Are. The rumor going around when Deerhunter cancelled those shows opening for Grizzly Bear and Sparklehorse back in early 2007 was that Bradford Cox went to work on that with Karen O. That would be cool if that is true.

A six-year-old girl lied about her dad dying in Iraq to win Hannah Montana tickets.

Austinist reports on more bands added to the SXSW line-up, including British Sea Power, Dizzee Rascal, Q Tip, N.E.R.D, David Banner, and Dolly Parton. Here is the full list right now.

Dinosaur Jr are kicking off the Winter X-Games.

Vampire Weekend "A-Punk":



Clinic have a new album coming out and will be at The Earl on May 25th.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin have a new album out in April.

Eels have some new releases.

The Attractive Eighties Women CD release party show got cut short when some chick threw a glass at the lead singer when they played this song. They have made an EP out of the performance available for free here:



99X is about to be gone.

If you want a good resource to find handbills to shows, go here.

My Morning Jacket have a new album due out in June.

The complete broadcast (An hour and a half) of the Radiohead 93 Feet East webcast from two days ago:

Humpday Randomnimity

Tonight is for this:



Radiohead is coming to Atlanta! Also, In Rainbows debuts those chart things at number one.

The Mars Volta have made an adventure game called Goliath The Soothsayer to promote the new album out in a few weeks (I can't wait!). Check it out.

Black Lips are doing a free show:



Black Lips " Veni Vidi Vici":



Justice is going to be in Orlando, Fl, but not Atlanta. Kinda lame.

Caribou is also skipping Atlanta, but will be in Athens, Ga on April 2nd and then they are doing 5 Florida shows.

Man Man also picks Athens over us on March 8th. They have a new album out on April 8th called Rabbit Hands.

Vampire Weekend will be at The Earl on March 9th. Video:



Blitzen Trapper will be at The Drunken Unicorn on March 20th.

The Coathangers are releasing a new 7" in March.

Jose Gonzalez will be at The Variety Playhouse March 2nd.

Bill Callahan (Smog) will be at The Red Light Cafe on February 25th.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks (which now includes Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney on drums) have a new album called Real Emotional Trash coming out on March 4th and will be at The Variety Playhouse March 26th.

Black Mountain and Blood On The Wall will be at The Earl on February 15th.

The Black Keys have a new album, Attack & Release, produced by Danger Mouse out on April 1st.

The big labels are shying away from DRM.

Creative Loafing interviews Yo La Tengo, who will at The Variety Playhouse Saturday night.

Barack Obama is chatting with hip-hop heads like Jay-Z and Kanye West.

Frank Black has a new release out in March.

Morrissey is trying to do a show in Iran.

You can stream the new Xiu Xiu album out January 29th on their myspace. New Vid:



Cool Silver Jews interview here.

Trent Reznor talks sales numbers from the Saul Williams Niggy Tardust album release experiment.

Review of Jon Brion's NYE show here.

New Thurston Moore video:



Eddie Vedder "Guaranteed":



Iron And Wine "Boy With A Coin":



MGMT on Letterman:



The Fiery Furnaces "Duplexes Of The Dead":

What Up in The ATL?

Another year of shows begin! This Friday night i highly suggest going to Lenny's and checking out Graboids and Sleep Therapy.

The Graboids : Infinite Delay : Tremolo


Monday night I'm going to this:



Dan Deacon : Spiderman Of The Rings : Okie Dokie


Wednesday night there is a great show right here in my neighborhood:

I CAN FLY HOUSE: fag static,benard,sorry no ferrari,worn in red all ages 9pm/Donation

Next Friday night Club Awesome and Envie are at The Earl:



Next Saturday night is all about Yo La Tengo!

Yo La Tengo : I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass : Pass The Hatchet, I think I'm Goodkind


Also, there is another Whirlyball 7"/concert where if you buy the record at Criminal Records, it is your ticket to see the bands on it play at this interesting OTP venue:



Other great January Shows:

1/18/08 Yeasayer, MGMT at The Earl
1/19/08 The Jupiter Watts, Luigi at The Earl
1/21/08 Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow at The Loft
1/24/08 Feeding Fingers, Tenth To The Moon, Lid Emba at The Drunken Unicorn
1/24/08 Chopper, Fag Static at The Drunken Unicorn
1/26/08 The Selmanaires, Anna Kramer at The Earl (Dual CD release show)
1/29/08 Ween at The Tabernacle
1/30/08 High On Fire, A Life Once Lost at the Earl
1/30/08 Super Furry Animals, The Fiery Furnaces, Holy Fuck at The Variety Playhouse

Photos: Black Lips, Deerhunter, Snowden, The Selmanaires - 11-30-07 @ Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, GA

The Selmanaires








Snowden










Deerhunter






Black Lips

Post-Monday Mash-Up

Yo La Tengo have added some southern dates to their freewheeling tour where they play acoustic versions of songs and tell stories of the band's long history. They will be at the Variety Playhouse on January 12th and Lambchop's Kurt Wagner will be opening. That show is gonna be so awesome!:



The Black Lips are involved with two different movies. First, they are playing a fictional band in a movie called Let It Be, that is about the story of the movement in underground American music that was known as D.I.Y. Also, they will be featured in Chris Dortch II's upcoming documentary on Atlanta's underground music scene, We Fun, featuring other ATL superstars such as Deerhunter, Mastodon, The Selmanaires, The Coathangers, Anna Kramer and Jessica Juggs.

A great local show to check out this week:



Liars and No Age will be at The Earl on Valentine's Day.

The Selmanaires an Anna Kramer And The Lost Cause are having a dual CD release party at The Earl on January 26th. The Selmanaires:



Silversun Pickups have a remix EP coming out in a couple of weeks.

Marco Benevento of The Benevento-Russo Duo has a solo album called Invisible Baby dropping February 12th.

Ween will be returning to The Tabernacle on January 29th.

The Breeders have a new album coming out in April.

Gnarls Barkley have a new album due out in spring of 2008.

Super Furry Animals will be at The Variety Playhouse on January 30th.

Tom Petty is playing the Super Bowl.

Read up about Atlanta's Battery 5.

Remember the Regins Spektor re-scheduled show is tomorrow at The Tabernacle.

Black Lips Hit The Road

...and they're coming back with Quintron And Miss Pussycat. From the 'fork:

11-30 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse *#
12-05 Athens, GA - Georgia Theatre *
12-07 Charlotte, NC - Neighborhood Theater
12-08 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel
12-15 Meredith, Australia - Meredith Music Festival
12-18 Sydney, Australia - Oxford Art Factory
12-19 Melbourne, Australia - The Arthouse
12-21 Melbourne, Australia - The Tote
02-01 Denver, CO - Bluebird
02-04 Seattle, WA - Neumos ^
02-05 Portland, OR - Dante's ^
02-06 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall ^
02-08 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall ^
02-09 Pomona, CA - Glasshouse ^
02-10 Costa Mesa, CA - Detroit Bar ^
02-13 San Diego, CA - Casbah ^
02-14 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey ^
02-22 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
02-23 Austin, TX - Emo's Outside
02-24 Dallas, TX - The Loft %
02-25 Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck %
02-26 Omaha, NE - Waiting Room %
02-28 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry %
02-29 Madison, WI - Memorial Union (University of Wisconsin) %
03-01 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium %
03-02 Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall %
03-04 Columbus, OH - The Basement %
03-05 Oberlin, OH - Club Dionysus %
03-06 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick %
03-07 Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Small's %
03-08 Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place %
03-10 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom %
03-11 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg %
03-13 Cambridge, MA - Middle East %
03-14 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's %
03-15 Washington, DC - Black Cat %
03-16 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 %
03-20 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge %
03-21 Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone %
03-22 Atlanta, GA - The Earl %

* with Deerhunter
# with Snowden, the Selmanaires
^ with Pierced Arrows
% with Quintron, Miss Pussycat


How about I hit you old school:

Black Lips : Born To Be A Man 7" : Hippys


And ofcourse the Quintron and Miss Pussycat:

What up In The ATL?

It's Atlanta Superstar Week!

Wednesday night we got a big show for you. We've got two of Atlanta's biggest music icons, Preston Craig and Kenny Crucial (Mack Messiah), performing live. Plus some great up-and-coming bands like Morning State, The Pendletons, and Delta Co. On top of all that, it's to raise money for Atlanta's Refugee Community. Be there:



And that's not all kiddies. The Atlanta superstars are all over the place this week with a very exciting line-up Friday night at the Variety Playhouse. This town's greatest hipster bands, Black Lips, Deerhunter, Snowden, and The Selmanaires will all be on one stage together:



If for some weird reason you aren't into that show, GWAR will be at The Masquerade Friday night. Saturday night Atlanta superstar week continues with Anna Kramer opening for Southern Culture On The Skids at the Earl. Next Monday night you can choose between a Shannon Hoon-less Blind Melon at the Masquerade or seeing The Sword at the Earl.

Cool Winter shows that you needs to knows:

12/13/07 The Orphins, The Liverhearts at the Earl
12/31/07 (NYE) The Black Lips at The Drunken Unicorn
1/4/08 Graboids at Lenny's
1/7/08 Dan Deacon at Eyedrum
1/21/08 DJ Shadow + Cut Chemist at The Loft
1/24/07 Chopper (members from ex-Blame Game, Deerhunter), Fag Static at the Drunken Unicorn
1/26/08 The Machine at Variey Playhouse
1/30/08 High On Fire at The Earl
3/1/08 Beach House at The Earl
3/20/08 Acid Mothers Temple at The Earl

Yeah, those look like some killer shows!

Humpday Randomnimity

First, some quick show reviews from the last week. Last Wednesday night at the Orange Peel in Asheville, NC, which is a great venue to see a show, I caught Porcupine Tree and the opening band 3. Stylistically, 3 was something i would never like, what i would describe as dark-cheesy-metal-rock, but they were so good at it that it was thoroughly enjoyable. The two goofy percussionists were the highlight of this band for me, and they did a great drum solo near the end. Porcupine Tree came on next and did a beautiful set with almost all of Fear Of A Blank Planet and their new EP Nil Recurring plus a few other goodies. Steven Wilson, the genius behind this thing, plays every show barefoot for some reason, so that was interesting. PT will be here in Atlanta on October 29th at The Roxy, so I highly recommend you go catch that show, and if you still haven't listened to their new album or EP, now is the time to pick those up because they are some of the best music to come out this year. Some phlogs from Benjammin:







Porcupine Tree : Nil Recurring : Nil Recurring


The other great OTP show I caught in the last week was Earlimart at The Bottletree in Birmingham, AL Monday night. After getting lost for half an hour, i found the place and it was more of a restaurant than a music venue, but it was still pretty cool. It also seemed like most of the people there had no interest in seeing Earlimart (some local band played first and I think most people were actually there to see that). I was able to catch most of Office's set and it was terribly mediocre. I haven't listened to any of this Chicago band's studio stuff, but live they didn't really show me anything interesting. The venue had a big projector screen come down and play videos between sets instead of a curtain, so that was a nice touch. Earlimart came on as a five-piece with fake fall leaves across all of their equipment. They did a heavy dose of Mentor Tormentor with some other jams for a short and sweet set. I've really fallen in love with this album and this band so check them out. Some pics:







Some live video action:



CMJ fest in New York is in full swing right now and Atlanta's own Morning State has come out of the studio where they are working on a new release to do a show with Peter and Bjorn (minus John), Black Kids, and Zambri this Saturday night, so if you're up there, catch it.

Looking for a show to catch tonight? Here's two good choices:





A great show i recommend checking Friday night:



Here's the Black Lips on Conan last week:

Atlanta Shows Say Yeaher!

I got the new Black Lips album yesterday and it is rad. Here's an interview and song they did on 99X yesterday morning:

Black Lips Interview


Tonight there are two great shows going on. I'm going to Peter Bjorn And John and Clientele at the Variety Playhouse. Equally as cool is the Meat Puppets and Atlanta's Morning State are at The Earl.

Thursday night you can choose between The Coathangers at the Drunken Unicorn, Dead Confederate at the Earl, or Andrew Bird at the Variety Playhouse.

Friday night the Carbonas are at the Drunken Unicorn.

Saturday night it is all about the East Atlanta Strut Fest here in the A. The after-party at the Earl features Howlies (formerly Moresight), Elevado, Anna Kramer, and The Preakness. I might be going to Athens, Ga that night to see Akron/Family at the 40 Watt.

Akron/Family : Love Is Simple : Ed Is A Portal


Carbonas : Carbonas : Count Me Out


The Meat Puppets : Meat Puppets II : Lake Of Fire


Peter Bjorn And John : Objects Of My Affections : Let's Call It Off (Girl Talk remix)

Word On The Street

Colin Mee, guitarist for Deerhunter, has parted ways with the band. Hear what he has to say about it here. The drama continues for these guys, but hopefully everyone involved continues making great music and the hype is justified.



Speaking of hype, Creative Loafing did a story on The Coathangers and the blowing up of said band. I'm reserving any real judgement about this band until I listen to the album and see them today at Criminal Records, but listening to their songs makes me laugh, and that's cool.



ISP Space is closing down. I have to say that this is a bummer to me because I really enjoyed the shows I saw there.

Here's some Black Lips news from their myspacing:

The Black Lips' newest opus, Good Bad Not Evil which you can stream in its entirety onMySpace this week, comes out September 11. For the momentous occasion, Black Lips are doing a special show at MJQ in Atlanta. How do you get into the show? Well, it's easy. Starting Tuesday, September 4, Good Bad Not Evil will be available for pre-order at ye olde Criminal Records. If you truck down early to pre-order the record, you not only get a spiff-tastic DVD of Black Lips Live in Israel which you can't get your paws on anywhere else, but you get the secret handshake invite to the show on September 11. Assuming the show doesn't sell out before release date, there will be CDs available as your ticket in at MJQ on the day of the show, but why would you risk it? Oh, and you only get the DVD if you pre-order or buy at Criminal on release date. So if you've got nothing to do on Tuesday during your lunch break besides sneak a couple of pints, head down to Criminal and pre-order that gem and get ready for the show.

Here's a video @ Radio Har-Hatzofim, JERUSALEM ISRAEL:



Okkervil River will be at The 40 watt in Athens, Ga October 3rd.

Wondering what the chicks from Sleater-Kinney have been up to? Check this out

Burn To Shine, a cool film series where they have a bunch of bands from a city play a song in a house about to get demolished, is about to do one in Atlanta featuring Mastodon, Deerunter, Black Lips, Snowden, The Selmanaires, The Coathangers, and Shannon Wright.

The internets are exploding with rumours that My Bloody Valentine will be reuniting and playing Coachella next year. Let the 2008 festival line-up speculation madness begin!

You can stream the great new Minus The Bear album here.

Remember that Midlake is at The Earl tonight. Don't miss it:

Check out this video: Midlake - "Roscoe"



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Atlanta Music Updates

Saturday night I went to Lenny's for their one year anniversary show. Unfortunately Atlas Sound, Bradford Cox of Deerhunter's solo/side project, did not show up and Psychic Heart's mini-set didn't start until after 11:30pm, but at least Snowden kicked ass as always. Stickfigure Distribution has just reissued their self titled EP debut release. Here's a sample:

Snowden : Snowden : Good News


Buy Snowden Here



Also, here's the title track from last year's Anti Anti:

Snowden : Anti Anti : Anti Anti



Deerhunter's Blog has got some really cool stuff on it, including mp3s from their first release, a split 7" with Alphabets featuring their former-now-deceased bassist and of which there were only 300 copies pressed. Check it out here:



They are about to be doing some serious touring, so go check them out:

Aug 30 2007 9:00P
Black Cat Backstage w/ Clockcleaner Washington DC, Washington DC
Aug 31 2007 7:00P
Seaport Music Festival w/ Battles New York City, New York
Sep 1 2007 9:00P
Ottobar w/ Soft Circle, High Places Baltimore, Maryland
Sep 6 2007 8:00P
Neumos w/ Grizzly Bear Seattle, Washington
Sep 8 2007 9:00P
Doug Fir Lounge w/ Bobby Conn Portland, Oregon
Sep 27 2007 8:00P
Drunken Unicorn w/ No Age, Fag Static, Cut Teeth Atlanta, Georgia
Sep 28 2007 8:30P
Mercy Lounge w/ No Age, Bows and Arrows Nashville, Tennessee
Sep 29 2007 8:00P
The Wire presents Adventures In Modern Music Festival @ Empty Bottle w/ No Age Chicago, Illinois
Oct 1 2007 8:00P
Canopy Club / Club Void w/ Nudge Urbana, Illinois
Oct 2 2007 8:00P
Southgate House Newport, Kentucky
Oct 25 2007 8:00P
Elevate Festival @ Dom im Berg Graz, Austria
Oct 26 2007 10:00P
Bad Bonn Dudingen, Switzerland
Oct 27 2007 8:00P
Palace St. Gallen, Switzerland
Oct 28 2007 9:00P
Kaserne w/ Frog Eyes Basel, Switzerland
Oct 30 2007 8:00P
Recyclart Brussels, Belgium
Oct 31 2007 8:00P
Maroquinerie Paris, France
Nov 1 2007 8:30P
Tanned Tin Festival @ Auditori i Palau de Congresos w/ The Ex, Xiu Xiu and many more! Castellon, Spain
Nov 2 2007 6:30P
ATP presents Release The Bats @ The Forum w/ Liars, Black Lips, Deerhoof, and Fuck Buttons London, United Kingdom
Nov 3 2007 8:00P
Nasty Fest VIII @ The Faversham w/ The Black Lips Leeds, United Kingdom
Nov 4 2007 7:30P
ABC2 Glasgow, Scotland
Nov 5 2007 8:00P
The Village Dublin, Ireland
Nov 6 2007 8:00P
Liars Club @ The Social Nottingham, United Kingdom
Nov 7 2007 8:00P
Saki Manchester, United Kingdom
Nov 9 2007 8:00P
Vera Groningen, Netherlands, Groningen
Nov 10 2007 8:00P
Tivoli w/ Dirty Projectors Utrecht, Netherlands, Utrecht
Nov 13 2007 8:00P
Debaser Malmo, Sweden
Nov 14 2007 8:00P
Garage Oslo, Norway
Nov 15 2007 8:00P
Debaser Slussen Stockholm, Sweden

Here's a track from their first LP:

Deerhunter : Turn It Up Faggot : Tech School


The Black Lips new album, Good Bad Not Evil, hits stores on September 11th. They are on tour right now too, and their live shows are amazing, so hit one of these up:

Aug 30 2007 8:00P
The Roadhouse Manchester
Aug 31 2007 8:00P
The Social Nottingham
Sep 1 2007 8:00P
The Faversham Leeds
Sep 2 2007 8:00P
Optimo Glasgow
Sep 3 2007 8:00P
Fibbers York
Sep 4 2007 8:00P
White Heat London
Sep 6 2007 8:00P
The Cellars Oxford
Sep 7 2007 8:00P
The Engine Rooms Brighton
Sep 12 2007 8:00P
40 Watt Club Athens, Georgia
Sep 13 2007 8:00P
Cat’s Cradle Carrboro, North Carolina
Sep 14 2007 8:00P
Sonar Baltimore, Maryland
Sep 15 2007 8:00P
Black Cat Washington, DC, Washington DC
Sep 16 2007 8:00P
Khyber Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sep 18 2007 8:00P
Bowery Ballroom New York, New York
Sep 19 2007 8:00P
Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, New York
Sep 21 2007 8:00P
The Middle East Upstairs Cambridge, Massachusetts
Sep 22 2007 8:00P
La Sala Rossa Montreal, Quebec
Sep 23 2007 8:00P
The Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, Ontario
Sep 25 2007 8:00P
Magic Stick Detroit, Michigan
Sep 26 2007 8:00P
Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, Ohio
Sep 27 2007 8:00P
The Mad Hatter Covington, Kentucky
Sep 28 2007 8:00P
Logan Square Auditorium Chicago, Illinois
Sep 29 2007 8:00P
Mad Planet Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Sep 30 2007 8:00P
Triple Rock Minneapolis, Minnesota
Oct 2 2007 8:00P
The Waiting Room Omaha, Nebraska
Oct 3 2007 8:00P
Grand Emporium Kansas City, Missouri
Oct 4 2007 8:00P
The Loft Dallas, Texas
Oct 5 2007 8:00P
Emo’s Austin, Texas
Oct 6 2007 8:00P
The Engine Room Houston, Texas
Oct 7 2007 8:00P
One Eyed Jacks New Orleans, Louisiana
Oct 11 2007 8:00P
Richard’s On Richards Vancouver, British Columbia
Oct 12 2007 8:00P
The Crocodile Cafe Seattle, Washington
Oct 13 2007 8:00P
Dante’s Portland, Oregon
Oct 15 2007 8:00P
Great American Music Hall San Francisco, California
Oct 17 2007 8:00P
Glasshouse Concert Hall Pomona, California
Oct 18 2007 8:00P
The Casbah San Diego, California
Oct 19 2007 8:00P
Troubador West Hollywood, California
Oct 20 2007 8:00P
Echoplex Echo Park, California



Here's a few classics:

Black Lips : Let It Bloom : Not A Problem


Black Lips : Black Lips : Freakout


The newest band to break out in the A-town is The Coathangers. This all female four-piece is releasing their debut, self-titled record on Rob's House. Here's a couple tracks from it:

The Coathangers : The Coathangers : Nestle In My Boobies


The Coathangers : The Coathangers : Don't Touch My Shit!


They will be doing an in-store performance at Criminal Records next Tuesday:



They are also on an extensive tour:

Aug 31 2007 9:00P
PERFORMER MAGAZINE PRESENTS: The Drunken Unicorn w/ Beat Beat Beat and Cola Freaks Atlanta, Georgia
Sep 4 2007 7:00P
Criminal Records- Album Release InStore! Atlanta, Georgia
Sep 7 2007 8:00P
Star Bar CD Release Show w/ Chopper Atlanta, Georgia
Sep 12 2007 9:00P
40 Watt Club w/ The Black Lips and The Selmanaires!! Athens, Georgia
Sep 13 2007 9:00P
Drunken Unicorn w/ Chainestereo [TMNGW], and The Skylarks (formerly Variac) ATL, Georgia
Sep 14 2007 9:00P
Circle Bar w/ RATZINGER! New Orleans, Louisiana
Sep 20 2007 8:00P
Atlantis Music Conference '07 Atlanta, Georgia
Oct 10 2007 8:00P
Radio show @ WSBF in Clemson, SC Clemson, South Carolina
Oct 15 2007 9:00P
Show with JAY REATARD and BABY SHAKES at LENNYS! Tha dirtay dirty, Georgia
Oct 24 2007 8:00P
Coathangers 2007 tour w/ Snowden, Ponderosa@ The Drunken Unicorn Atl, Georgia
Oct 25 2007 8:00P
Coathangers 2007 Tour w/ 63 Crayons@Caledonia Lounge Athens, Georgia
Oct 26 2007 9:00P
Coathangers 2007 Tour (blackbeard's lost weekender fest)@The Cave Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Oct 27 2007 9:00P
Coathangers 2007 tour w/ The Griefs, The Points, +1 TBA@Fight Club Washington DC, Washington DC
Oct 29 2007 8:00P
Coathangers 2007 Tour w/ Sudden Walks, Guilty Faces@Cousin Larrys Danbury, Connecticut
Oct 30 2007 9:00P
Coathangers 2007 Tour w/ DEMONS CLAWS, The Konks, Hospital Rats@PAs Lounge Somerville (Boston), Massachusetts
Nov 4 2007 8:00P
Coathangers 2007 Tour w/ DEMONS CLAWS, Human Eye, Terrible Twos@Lager House Detroit, Michigan
Nov 5 2007 9:00P
Coathangers 2007 Tour w/ DEMONS CLAWS, Jail @Cactus Club Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Nov 6 2007 8:00P
Coathangers 2007 tour w/ DEMONS CLAWS, Cococomas @Ronnys Chicago, Illinois
Nov 9 2007 8:00P
Coathangers 2007 tour w/ DEMONS CLAWS @Murphys Memphis, Tennessee
Nov 10 2007 8:00P
Coathangers 2007 tour w/ DEMONS CLAWS @ Saturn Bar New Orleans, Louisiana
Nov 11 2007 8:00P
Coathangers 2007 tour / DEMONS CLAWS, Wizzard Sleeve, Hibachi Stranglers@Blind Mule Mobile, Alabama
Nov 14 2007 8:00P
Coathangers 2007 tour w/ DEMONS CLAWS @ The Drunken Unicorn ATL, Georgia

Humpday Random Tracks

Listen to the track, click the pic for 411:

I finally listened to The Trials Of Van Occupanther thanks to Lern. You can file it in the large stack of great 2006 albums I missed. Luckily they will be at The Earl September 4th.



Midlake : The Trials Of Van Occupanther : Roscoe


This is the hottness all over the internets rights now:



Okkervil River : The Stage Names : Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe


Just listened to this EP for the first time this week:



Yeah Yeah Yeahs : Is Is (EP) : Isis


A little local flavor I hadn't put up yet:



Black Lips : Good Bad Not Evil : Cold Hands


Finally, an early leak:



Maritime : Heresy And The Hotel Choir : Guns Of Navaroe

Monday Mash-Up

Snowden is playing a show next Saturday to make up for missing Corndogorama. It is supposed to be their last Atlanta show before going and making their next record. It will also feature Psychic Hearts and Bradford Cox of Deerhunter's solo project Atlas Sound. Yaher!



Akron/Family has a new album coming out September 10th called Love Is Simple. Remember they will be in Athens, Ga at the 40 Watt on September 15th and I highly recommend checking them out because they were one of the best shows I've seen all year. Check it out:



The new season of PBS's Austin City Limits TV show begins in October and will feature Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, The Decemberists, Wilco, Regina Spektor, Explosions In The Sky, Lucinda Williams, and others.

The new Prefuse 73 album called Preparations comes out October 23rd.

Eddie Vedder's anti-George Bush comments during the Pearl Jam Lollapalooza show got edited out of the webcast by AT&T.

Nine Inch Nails are working on a TV show based on their latest album Year Zero.

Cat Power is doing another covers album.

Amy Winehouse has got some drama.

Remember the Black Lips are playing the Clairmont Lounge Thursday night. Here's a video for a track from the upcoming album:

Theree other good local shows this week include Slow Motion Crash at The Masquerade Tommorrow, From Exile at Lenny's Wednesday night, and The Orphins and Moorish Idols at ISP Thursday night..

Beach House and Grizzly Bear are touring together, but unfortunetly nowhere near Atlanta. You out of town readers need to go see this if they are playing near you. Here's the video for Beach House's "Master Of None":



Ok, Here's some new videos. New Devendra Banhart:



Chemical Brothers:



Bjork:

Friday Free-Style

Black Lips will be at the Clairmont Lounge Augsut 16th:



The hot show to go to tonight is:



Peter Bjorn And John are going to do a show as Kanye West's backing band.

So the indie version of those terrible Now That's What i Call Music compilations has been revealed and here's the track list:

This Is NEXT Volume 1 (due out August 21st):

01 Bloc Party - "The Prayer"
02 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Cheated Hearts"
03 Sonic Youth - "Do You Believe in Rapture?"
04 The Shins - "Phantom Limb"
05 Spoon - "The Underdog"
06 Bright Eyes - "Four Winds"
07 Cat Power - "Lived in Bars"
08 Neko Case - "Hold On, Hold On"
09 Of Montreal - "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse"
10 Deerhoof - "The Perfect Me"
11 The Hold Steady - "Chips Ahoy!"
12 Cold War Kids - "Hang Me Up to Dry"
13 Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - "Colleen"
14 M. Ward - "Chinese Translation"
15 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - "Satan Said Dance"

Neil Young's Greendale is going to be a graphic novel.

Atlanta's own Black Lips and Deerhunter are playing All Tommorrow's Parties Halloween fest in London with Liars and Deerhoof.

Speaking of Deerhunter, Bradford Cox had a little more to say on his robbery:

I just wanted to post something to let you guys know that Lenny's is not a dangerous place. Everyone there was extremely helpful and nice that night. They are like family to us and I didn't mean for this event to put them in a negative light. They have armed security and are now hiring police as well. It's a rad venue and I still plan on playing there whenever we have the chance. Please help spread the word that Lenny's is not sketch town. And be safe. The reason we got in trouble was because I was wasted and we parked on a shady street a few blocks away. Stick with friends. And hope your friends are as good as Lockett. :)

bradford

An Arctic Monkeys side project is in the works.

Get a limited edition Thurston Moore tape here.

Here's the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the Late Show:



New Black Keys video:



New White Stripes video:

Friday Free-Style

Let's get today started with a new Liars video:



One of the guys from Klaxons broke his leg stage diving.

Black Lips' new album, Good Bad Not Evil, hits stores September 11th. Vid:



Vegoose added the following acts:

• Mastodon
• moe.
• M.I.A.
• Robert Randolph and The Family Band

You can watch a streaming Flaming Lips show here tonight and tommorrow.

Joanna Newsom will be back in Atlanta at the Woodruff Arts Center Symphony Hall on Saturday November 17th.

The Long Blondes will be at the Earl on November 12th. I'll have more on them for you next week but for now:



Listen to some new Fiery Furnaces songs from their upcoming new album here.

Madlib in Bollywood? check it out.

Final Fantasy will be at The Drunken Unicorn November 6th.

More Tegan And Sara:



Tori Amos will be in Atlanta somehwere on November 14th.

Band Of Horses' new album drops October 9th.

I leave you today with Sonic Youth from a recent Daydream Nation show:

Shows In The ATL

Shows getting announced left and right (click to get tickets):

08/17/2007: Good Friday Experiment (The Earl)
09/12/2007: Black Lips, The Selmanaires, The Coathangers (The 40 Watt, Athens, Ga)
09/13/2007: The Coathangers (The Drunken Unicorn)
09/15/2007: Akron Family (The 40 Watt, Athens. Ga)
09/17/2007: Blonde Redhead (The 40 Watt, Athens, Ga)
09/22/2007: Do Make Say Think (The Earl)
09/24/2007: VHS or Beta (The Earl)
09/25/2007: The Sea And Cake (The Earl)
09/25/2007: Bloc Party, Deerhoof (City Hall, Nasheville, TN)
10/06/2007: Yard Dogs Road Show (The Variety Playhouse)
10/14/2007: Earlimart (The Earl)
11/16/2007: Tegan And Sara (The Roxy)

Hopefully I can catch all of these.

Monday Mash-UP

MTV is all on Atlanta's nuts and the Drizzle showed me this video featuring Deerhunter, Snowden, and Black Lips.

Marnie Stern will be at The Drunken Unicorn on July 26th.

Built To Spill is doing a bunch of touring but nowhere near here.

Austin City Limits Festival has announced a partial line-up including:

White Stripes
Bjork
Peter, Bjorn and John
Joss Stone
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Decemberists
Rose Hill Drive
Andrew Bird
Augustana
Robert Earl Keen
Beau Soleil
Gotan Project
Indigo Girls
Heartless Bastards
Andy Palacio

The ACLFest rumors blog is reporting these bands are confirmed:

• Blonde Redhead
• Decemberists
• White Stripes
• Bjork
• Joss Stone
• Heartless Bastards
• Peter, Bjorn and John
• Rodrigo Y Gabriela
• Rose Hill Drive
• Augustana
• Beau Soleil
• Gotan Project
• Indigo Girls
• Andy Palacio
• Stephen Marley
• The Little Ones
• Raul Malo
• Jones Family Singers
• Eli Young Band
• Kevin Gordon
• Ben Kweller
• Jake Owen
• The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker
• Charlie Musselwhite
• Andrew Bird
• Sara Hickman
• The Jellydots
• Kings of Leon
• Ryan Bueter
• Christina Bell
• Robert Earl Keen
• Rev. Horton Heat
• Asleep at the Wheel
• Blue Mother Tupelo

ACLFest happens September 14th-16th in Austin, TX and the full line-up is supposed to be announced this Thursday. Tickets are already on sale and they go pretty fast.

The Disco Biscuits' own music festival, Camp Bisco, has announced its line-up and it includes Infected Mushroom, Amon Tobin, Girl Talk, Holy Fuck, STS9, and of course Bisco themselves. This fest takes place in New York on August 16th-18th.

There is a Smashing Pumpkins tribute album coming out featuring The Deftones and Ben Kweller.

!!! want to get to work on a new album.

You can download some Grizzly Bear tracks from their Daytrotter session here. Don't miss that link! Here's one of the tracks: He Hit Me

Here's a douche bag of music videos:

Bjork : Army Of Me (At Coachella 2007) :



Bjork : WanderLust (At Coachella 2007) :



Fiona Apple : Across The Universe



Liars : Let's Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack



Serena-Maneesh : Sapphire Eyes



Nirvana : Smells Like Teen Spirit



Tori Amos : Smells Like Teen Spirit

7 Shows In 5 Days

Obviously the big show this week is TV On The Radio at the Variety Playhouse friday night. It's sold out, but tickets are currently still available for the show Thursday night at the 40 Watt in Athens. Here's five other great shows this week.

Tuesday April 10th:

Ratatat, 120 Days, Despot at The Loft (9:00pm/18+ $14 ($16 under 21))



Wednesday April 11th:

Gringo Star (CD Release), Phonograph (NY), Morning State at The Earl (9:00pm/21+ $7)



Thursday April 12th:

Black Lips, Snowden, All Night Drug Prowling Wolves at Lenny's Bar (9:00pm/21+ $10 suggested donation for Jessica Juggs benefit)

Bobloblaw79, thanks for these videos from 3-27-2007:





Friday April 13th:

Continue And Save, Parade, The Winter Sounds at Lenny's Bar (9:00pm/21+ $5)



Saturday April 14th:

The Orphins, Moorish Idols, The Subliminator at ISP Space (9:00pm/all ages free(donations))

Live Show: Black Lips (2-24-2007) 40 Watt, Athens, GA

Black Lips will be performing at the Earl next Wednesday March 21st so get a preview and go check them out:



Black Lips - 2/24/07
40 Watt Club - Athens, GA

(click to listen)(If you know song names missing, post in commetns please)

01) Intro
02)
03)
04) Boomerang
05)
06)
07) Hippie, Hippie, Hoorah
08) Sea Of Blasphemy
09) Not A Problem
10) Dirty Hands
11) Buried Alive
12) Take Me Home (Back To Boone)
13) Ain't No Deal
14) Fairy Stories
15) M.I.A.

www.myspace.com/theblacklips

Source: Neumann KM-184(DIN)> Lunatec V2> Nomad Jukebox 3
Transfer: Nomad Jukebox 3> Firewire> Cool Edit Pro(DSP)> CDWave> FLAC Frontend

Recorded and transferred by Sloan Simpson

DOWNLOAD LOSSLESS FILES HERE

Video: Black Lips in Tijuana

Courtesy of the excellent new web tv station VBS.tv from the makers of Vice magazine.

In true Vice fashion all of these videos and web sites may not be suitable for work. (NSFW)










and a show about them searching for moonshine in North Carolina:

What The Hell Am I Listening To?!?

Atlanta music edition of "What The Hell":

Moorish Idols: Moorish Idols EP


With these guys it's hard for me to make comparisons because they're sound is very unique, but still contains whispers of an uncountable amount of music. Really, if you enjoy the greater spectrum of rock music there's something here for you. On top of containing 4 stunning songs, the EP packaging kicks ass. Guitarist David Norbery's sketches in the booklet and personalized CD designs per each different EP give this piece of art another dimension. I urge you to pick this up and give it a listen:

• Why Are We Whispering

You can pick up a copy of this at Criminal Records, at one of their shows that you need to see, or snail mail via their Myspace page


Untied States: Retail Detail


Students of the school of Sonic Youth, Untied States are quietly one of Atlanta's best bands. The more i listen to this album, the more I fall in love with it. If you too enjoy the experience of getting into challenging music, get this and you will not be dissappointed:

• My Cause Is My Curse
• It's Not Enough

Buy This Album Here (while you're there pick up Ineffable, By Design too)



Black Lips: Los Valientes Del Mondo Nuevo


Somewhere between Rock 'n Roll, Punk, and something else is where Black Lips rocks faces off. This live album was recorded in some craptastic club in Tijuana, Mexico and through-out the performace the band is virtually fighting the tequilla-crazed audience. If you've seen the Black Lips, you know this is the perfect setting for these guys. A one-of-a-kind live album that you need to buy:

• Stranger
• Not A Problem
• Hippie, Hippie, Hooray

Buy This Album Here

An ATL Adventure Featuring Akron/Family, Untied States, and Black Lips

Tuesday night (2-20-07) was one for the ages. After a long day, I headed to Little Five Points to check out the in-store Criminal Records performance of Black Lips. This was the first in-store performance I've ever checked out, so I got there early not knowing what to expect. After picking up the new Explosions In The Sky, the Black Lips album they were promoting, Los Valientes Del Mundo Nuveo, and the Moorish Idols EP, I discovered that Criminal Records was giving out free PBR for the show. +1 . I went to chat with a taper I saw outside and it turned out to be Rich from Cable & Tweed, who was really cool. The crowd was pretty large despite the drizzling and it looked like a mini mardi gras outside the record shop with all the PBR drinking outdoors. Black Lips came out with guitarist "Old king Cole Younger" dressed in nothing but boots, a cowboy hat, and tighty whities:



Black Lips rocked out hard and had a docile crowd transformed into a rowdy mob throwing more PBR cans at each other than hippies throwing glowsticks at a Phish show by the end. A truly great live band that certainly needed to put out a great live album (and it is a great album). The finale came with the other guitarist, "Ian St. Pe'" lighting a pack of firecrackers hanging from his mouth and swinging it around into the audience. From what i understand, this was one of their tamer performances. You should catch them at the Whirley Ball place in Roswell friday night or the 40 Watt in Athens saturday night. Thanks to Chelsea for the pics:



After meeting up with BiggieC and getting some grub at Six Feet Under, we headed to the East Atlanta Village to catch the nights' show at the Earl. Untied States opened up and put it down as only they can. One of my favourite bands in Atlanta cuz they just balls to the wall noise rock and I love it. As far as quality progressive music goes in this town, these guys are king. Finally picked up a copy of Retail Detail, and it kicks much ass. Don't know why it took me so long to get it considering I've listened to Ineffable, By Design like 200 times. BiggieC brings you the visuals:









I really didn't know what to expect with Akron/Family. I had heard a couple of songs and had alot of people who know music suggest them to me, so I bought a ticket. It was an extremely wise decision. They started out with a sweet, beautiful sounding folk slow jam and then blasted out some in-your-face-drog-rock. This schizophrenic style-switching characterized this just simply amazing show. They went from silly 4-part vocal harmonization, to Neil Young-esque rock songs, to sugary lullabyes, to post-rock noise jams, to even pulling out a cover of I Know You Rider from nowhere.







On top of being musical wizards, they put forth one of the most entertaining stage shows i've ever whitnessed. These highly animated characters brought an armada of music toys ranging from strumming bells with a bow, to the drummer playing a banjo, to sqeezing stuffed animal sound affects into the mic, to not 1, not 2, but 3 plastic recorders. At one point Miles Seaton was playing his bass with a cellphone.



They engaged the crowd with sing alongs (which i usually hate but these were great) and had huge heart shaped lolly-pops for audience members to dance with. The only thing i didn't like about the show was the audience talking, which Akron/Family had no problem calling out and rising above. Seriously, why does every person at a show at the Earl gotta talk through the whole thing? wankers.



After performing for about 2 hours straight, they invited much of the audience on stage for one last massive jam and sing along. BiggieC played the hell out of the tambourine while I even got to sing a metal rendition of "circle, triangle, square" into the mic. These guys were the coolest mofos. From my cellphone on stage:





It's amazing what a bunch of hippies can do when they aren't locked in the box of the jamband scene and culture. I mean these guys are essentially the greatest jamband on Earth right now. Where the Grateful Dead took folk and American music and pushed it to another planet, these guys drop-kick it into another galaxy. The Widespreads, and the String Cheeses, and the Moes of the world forget what made bands like the Dead and Phish truly great is that they pushed music to a new level, they were pioneers and experimental and progressive. Akron/Family is all of these things and more and I cannot stress to you enough that you must go see this band if you get the chance. Rarely does a band I've barely ever heard before become an instant favourite, but these guys are that good. What a night!









Check out Akron/Family

Releases Of The Week

The High Llamas : Can Cladders



Explosions In The Sky : All Of A Sudden I miss Everyone


Black Lips : Valientes Del Mundo Neuva


Noriko Tujiko : Solo