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!

Humpnight Randomnimity

I just wanted to say thanks to Elevado, This Piano Plays Itself, Eric Guenther and Ben Wetzelberger of From Exile, and Missile Command for playing our One Year Anniversary party last weekend and thanks to all of you for coming out. It was truly an epic event. Here's some pics from the night:

Missile Command:



Elevado:



This Piano Plays Itself:





Biggie C video taped almost all of the sets, so expect videos posted soon. Just an extra note, in all of the madness of the DJ Douschebag set, I spilled beer on my laptop, so until I get a new one in a couple of weeks, I'm borrowing computers to blog, so I will be limited a tad bit in my posting.

Tomorrow night you can catch Missile Command at The Earl:



Portishead's new album, Third, is out in April.

Stars will be in Athens, Ga at the Georgia Theater on March 22nd, but is skipping Atlanta.

Tokyo Police Club have also forsaken Atlanta to play in Athens, Ga on April 7th at the 40 Watt. They also have their first full length album out called Elephant Shell.

Lil' Wayne got arrested for having drugs on his tour bus.

Passion Of Weiss had this Chris Rock video up today and I remembered how much I loved it when it came out back in the day:



Yeah Yeah Yeahs are working on a new album.

Liars' Angus Andrew suffered a back injury but it is unclear if this will affect their upcoming tour. Remember they are scheduled to play The Earl with No Age on Valentines Day.

Bradford Cox has posted demos and out-takes from their Fluorescent Grey EP on his blog.

Pine Magazine interviews Matthew Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces. I can't wait to see them next week.

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

Be Your Own Pet have a new album, Get Awkward, out on March 18th.

The Coachella East fest will be called "All Points West Fest".

Scott Weiland is talking Stone Temple Pilots reunion.

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The Mars Volta has a new solo album out February 5th called Calibration. TMV's The Bedlam in Goliath comes out Tuesday. I'm about to freak out waiting to hear these.

Tapes 'N Tapes have their second album, Walk It Off, coming out on April 8th.

The Streets have a new album coming out in April.

The guys from Hot Chip have side projects.

Black Moth Super Rainbow will be at The Drunken Unicorn on March 10th.

Midlake are working on a new, "darker" album.

Pelican will be at The Drunken Unicorn on March 12th.

Mike Doughty will be at The Melting Point in Athens, Ga Sunday night.

You want to watch Amy Winehouse smoking crack? ok, sure:



Feist "I Feel It All":



Saul Williams "Sunday Bloody Sunday":



The Mars Volta "Wax Simulacra" on Letterman:

Ohmpark One Year Anniversary Party!

This Saturday night, come join us as we celebrate an entire year of blogging. We have two of our local favourites playing, Elevado and This Piano Plays Itself and a few surprises. The show is free and we're going to have some kegs of beer for you to drink for free too. Also, we're going to be raffling off tons of prizes including a pair of tickets to see Super Furry Animals, The Fiery Furnaces, and Holy Fuck at The Variety Playhouse in a few weeks. There's just no reason to miss this one. See you Saturday!

Ohmpark's Top 10 Best EPs Of 2007

An EP, or Extended Play, is the sweet spot between a full album and a single. Typically between 10 and 25 minutes, although what has come to define the difference between EPs and LPs can sometimes be blurred. Usually EPs get a bad rap, as it carries with it connotations of being "less-than" and not good enough to be a proper album, but I like seeing variations in the art medium. There are EPs like Alice In Chains' Jar Of Flies and Radiohead's Airbag/How Am I Driving? that beat most full lengths. Also, EPs afford an artist the chance to showcase things that don't fit in the context of a larger piece of work, or explore a different sound without moving fully in that direction. Anyways, I'd take an EP of nothing but the goodness over a full-length comprised mostly of filler surrounding a few good songs any day.

In 2007 I actually heard many great EPs. A few of which I'll give honorable mentions that just missed this list that are worth-while include Joanna Newsom And The Ys Street Band, Vampire Weekend, and Black Kids' Wizard Of Ahhhs, of which I've come around a little bit on now that I've listened to it more. Here are the 10 most essential short-length albums of 2007:


10. Animal Collective : People



This EP feels more like a single, but the title song is so good that it makes this short release something special. The two songs that lie between the studio and live versions of "People" are both really cool too. People was the prologue to a banner year for the Collective.


9. Illinois : What The Hell Do I Know?



A collection of simple songs that touch on everyone from The Flaming Lips, to Beck, to Wilco in sound. There is nothing groundbreaking on this seven track collection, but Illinois do what they do well, and that's write some really sweet jams. I'm excited to see what this Pennsylvania band will do next.


8. Elevado : This World Is On Fire



On the bigger and longer side of the EP spectrum, Atlanta's own Elevado put forth one of the better local releases of the year. This self-produced effort bounces around stylistically while retaining a very connected whole piece of work. Standout songs like"Postcard From Four Walls Down", "Song of A Purple Man", and my favourite, the early-Floydy "Hypnopaedic Sunshine", kick ass and anchor this sonic journey.


7. Parade : Answer Me



I've found over the course of the year that every time I revisit Answer Me I fall in love with a different song. It seems no matter what mood or state of mind in, something on this 5 track release speaks to me. Parade are one my favourite bands in Atlanta and if you read this blog, they are mandatory listening.


6. Deerhunter : Fluorescent Grey



The local hype-monsters followed up the epic Cryptograms with this four song EP, of which the two pieces are inextricably linked and many are treating the two as one whole. I tend to treat Fluorescent Grey as Deerhunter in its most accessible and "poppy", which they also do really, really well, and more a short sequel. Either way, it's over 16 minutes of pure gold.


5. Plants And Animals : With/Avec



I've just recently gotten hip to this Montreal group and have fallen in love with this EP. At 4 songs and 25 minutes, this band can jam with the best of them while never ambling to something that doesn't feel deliberate. They do rootsy yet epic folk soundscapes that remind me of Jim O'Rourke, Sufjan Stevens, The Grateful Dead and Jeff Buckley at times, and make this release feel bigger than a full-length as you immerse yourself in it.


4. Porcupine Tree : Nil Recurring



This 28 minutes-plus spanning prog-jam fest is a collection of 4 songs from the Fear Of A Blank Planet recording session. I tend to treat it as an epilogue to FOABP, mostly because i like the ending to Nil Recurring better. It has guest stars like King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp and FOABP songs completely redone into new songs. If you have yet to look into this band, now is the time.


3. Portugal. The Man : It's Complicated Being A Wizard



Before going in a blues-rock direction with Church Mouth, Portugal. The Man released this electronically driven piece of work, comprised of a first 23-minute song and then followed by the same song broken up into a track for each movement, creating an endless loop of music. In addition to the gimmick of the EP's structure is some of the best tunes this young and talented Alaskan outfit have done. Don't overlook this album.


2. Grizzly Bear : Friend



Grizzly Bear's follow-up to last year's mind-blowing Yellow House is longer than many full albums and packed full of redone songs, unreleased gems, and guest appearances from all sorts of indie superstars, most notably to us ATLiens is Deerhunter's Bradford Cox (Atlas Sound). Despite the jumbled mess of sources, the album itself is a fairly cohesive listen and musically it is top-notch. With this latest installment, this band is fast becoming one of my favourite of the decade.


EP Of The Year:

Moorish Idols : Moorish Idols



At less than 17 minutes, Moorish Idols make the most of it in their debut release, just pure sonic euphoria from start to finish. Lyrically the stories and characters pull you into a beautiful piece of work that is an aesthetically pleasing experience on every level. While the sound is fairly conservative relative to most of what I love, they do what they do perfectly, and it's hard for me to think of a four song succession from this year that I enjoy more. I'm looking forward to seeing what these guys do with the vast amount of potential they possess.

Friday Night Free-Style

So the big local fiasco that happened last week that we hadn't talked bout yet was the MF Doom show. Apparently MF Doom came out way late in the morning, lip-synced to 20 minutes of a CD, and a bunch of people don't even think it was really him (he always wears a mask). From the MJQ promoter via myspace:

Many apologies go to all of you who came out to the MF DOOM show last night at MJQ and paid $30 of your hard earned money only to watch him lip sinc for 20 minutes at 1:30 in the morning. This was by far one of the single worst experiences I’ve had as a club promoter and I sincerely apologize if you walked away feeling cheated. To make matters even worse MF DOOMS appointed doorman took off with all the money from the door after the show! As soon as we realized the money was stolen we decided to help ourselves to all of MF DOOMS merchandise which included a bunch of T shirts and posters. So, in an effort to make it up to everyone who walked away feeling cheated, we’re giving away all the merchandise for free so come and get it while supplies last!! And if that’s not enough, feel free to let MF DOOM aka Daniel Dumile know how you really feel by calling him at his home in Kennesaw Georgia.

DANIEL T DUMILE
4038 MAXANNE DR NW
KENNESAW GA 30144-2147
(678) 445-0992

All the best,

Randy Castello / Tight Bros Network

Damn.

Ruby Isle have decided to start covering whatever song is #1 on the blog mp3 aggregator Elbows each week and releasing it for free. This is such a cool idea. Here's their cover of Beach House's "Gila" (you can listen to the original here):

Ruby Isle : Gila (Beach House cover)


So, Xiu Xiu and Fucked Up have filed a lawsuit against RJ Reynolds Tobacco for using their names, plus tons of other indie groups, in a Camel cigarettes add in Rolling Stone magazine without their permission. Add this douchiness to running Bob Dylan cover stories every three months and having no clue what the best music of 2007 was, and Rolling Stone may be more out of touch than MTV.

Lou Reed will be the keynote speaker at SXSW.

Beck's Odelay is getting the "Deluxe Treatment" and will be available with lots of extra goodies at the end of next month.

David Byrne interviews Thom Yorke on In Rainbows.

The Long Blondes have a new album out in April.

The Smashing Pumpkins are digitally releasing an acoustic EP called American Gothic on January 2nd.

Snowden is so hott the television show CSI Miami has used their cover of "Time Of the Season":



If for some reason you read this in time to check it out, Snowden are DJing tonight at DSC.

A cool show I recommend checking out tomorrow night:



I've been spending a ridiculous amount of time listening to albums from this year i hadn't got a chance to listen to until now to make sure I leave no rock unturned for my Top 50 albums list. I'll try to update my "heavy rotation list" sometime over the next few days, but until then, listen to these tracks of the stuff I've like best and then go get the album:

Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew : Spirit If... : Gang Bang Suicide


Plants And Animals : With/Avec : Lola Who?


Yeasayer : All Hour Cymbals : Sunrise


Jesu : Conqueror : Conqueror


Cloud Cult : The Meaning Of 8 : Chemicals Collide


Illinois : What The Hell Do I Know? : What Can I Do For You


I 'm chilling at Octane coffee shop right now because Comcast is horrible and my internet service through them basically doesn't work, so between that and me chillaxing for the holidays, posts will be sparse. My year end lists are taking a little longer than expected because i take them very seriously and i don't want to miss anything. I would anticipate my best EP list up around Christmas and my best LP list up right before New Years. Happy Holidays and Thanks for reading Ohmpark!

Live Review: The Echo Project

The newest fest to spring up in this golden age of weekend festivals was right here in Atlanta last weekend. My crew ran 5 cars deep last Thursday afternoon in very little traffic or delays (just me making a few wrong turns) on the way to The Echo Project. We arrived around 5pm to find a very empty field:



We setup camp and commenced drinking at our campsites. Thursday night Dubconcious performed about 50 feet from our camp, which was almost at the entrance of stage area. One very nice thing about a small festival as opposed to, say, Bonnaroo, is most everyone is a short walk to all the action. Friday we went to the stages before noon and were rewarded with a Flaming Lips sound check. They performed at least 2 full songs and treated it as a mini-performance:





We then checked out Elevado next, and now that I know their new album well, it was very enjoyable. They seemed to be having some issues with the sound equipment, and were not very happy about. Frontman Justin Sias was hilariously crazy jumping down in the audience to dance around, crawling under the stage and disappearing for a while and then for the finale laying motionless in the audience clutching a ghetto trombone. Between how good this band is and all they do with ISP, i definitely put them in the high echelons of Atlanta's kickass music scene. The Echo Project security tried to stop me from taking pictures with my cellphone because i didn't have a photo pass, but since no one will give me a photo pass, we gotta go guerrilla:







Next band I caught was The Benevento-Russo Duo. They played a typical, but thoroughly enjoyable set:



Unfortunately Snowden cancelled due to a family emergency, so I opted for drinking in the beautiful weather for a while before catching the end of Cypress Hill. I joined a gaggle of spun-out kids to wait for the Flaming Lips right up front and it well worth it. I had seen the Lips so many times since Yoshimi that I had actually gotten sick of their act but decided to give this band I had once loved another chance after a 15 month Flaming Lips hiatus. It was a wise decision as i had a blast in the thick of what was probably the best show and clearly the biggest crowd of the weekend. Musically, I'm a big fan of most of the stuff they never play these days, so I was very happy with the Zaireeka track they did. They also kept the usual suspect cover songs to a minimum. Wayne joked around about how much weed smoking was going on and appeared to be all about inaugurating this little fest. Echo seemed to be billed to me from the beginning as a fest for the old-school Bonnarooers and it lived up to that billing with plenty of party favors and glass pipe vendors to go around. Experience the party:















After the end of that, we caught The Album Leaf, and they were really, really good. They are a band I've casually listened to a few times before, but never really absorbed, and I'll be looking into them hard now.



I ended the night catching most of the second Disco Biscuits set. I'm very picky with my jambands, but these guys prove to me time after time that they have something special that the rest of the noodlers lack.



Saturday i missed many of the great early day shows due to intoxication, but here's a couple photos of good shows from our resident Echo Project guru Benjammin:

Futureman:


God Is An Astronaut:


The highlight of Saturday would be Rabbit In The Moon. It had been about 5 years since I had seen these guys, and they were exactly how I remembered them. They had a few new tricks, but it was the same cheesy but mind blowing audio/visual experience that is perfect for tripping out. The best way I can describe this group is the raver's answer to Gwar:







After being dumb enough to double-check whether The Killers still sucked, I caught Treasure Fingers' set, complete with Snowden, Pink Floyd, and Justice remixes:



Sunday I started the day with Man Man, and realized that they are the headies of gypsy-rock, while Gogol Bordello is more like some good mids. Up to this point, not one single show was dissappointing, but the rest of the day would be a little bit of let down musically. Spoon is just too vanilla and boring to see live, RAQ sucked, Umphrey's McGee is just marginal, The Roots are still a karaoke show (although the side-project Bob Dylan jamout thing they did was really cool), and the first set of Phil Lesh I stayed around for didn't offer me much reason to stick around for the second.

Overall, i had hoped this fest would be like the first couple of years of Bonnaroo but smaller, and that's exactly what I got. The people, though, were a toned-down version of the nu-hippies, who were certainly down with the vibe, but probably weren't wearing tie-dyes much back home. The estimated attendance was 15,000, but for most of the fest, especially the first few days, there were a lot fewer than that. At the fullest point, the property only appeared to be half-used. The security team the fest employed seemed to be extremely efficient and even came into our campsite a few times looking to nab the prohibited glass containers, but they allowed everyone to party to the fullest, so they walked that thin line very well. The weather was beautiful, blue skies all weekend long with some really cold nights. In terms of pure fun, this has been my favourite festival of the year and am looking forward to many great October weekends on the Hooch in the future. Thanks to Sleo and Benjammin for the assorted phlogs. Some visuals of the event:

Humpday Randomnimity

The Echo Project has revealed what artists are playing which days. I also just realized Elevado is on the line-up. I've been jamming their latest release hard lately:

Elevado : This World Is On Fire : Song Of A Purple Man


There's a bunch of cool stuff going on at Islands/The Unicorns camp.

Islands : Return to The Sea : Swans (left After Death)


Somebody died at a recent Smashing Pumpkins show.

ok, here's bunch of great random tracks for today cuz that's the kind of mood i'm in:

Caribou : Andorra : After Hours


The Fiery Furnaces : Gallowbird's Bark : Tropical Ice-Land


Cyann & Ben : Sweet Beliefs : Let It Play


Eddie Vedder : Into The Wild : Society


Grandaddy : The Early Demos : You Want Me Back

I Heart The A

Not much blogging over the long weekend while I was out enjoying the beautiful weather and sweet events. I spent alot of time in East Atlanta including the East Atlanta Strut and the Go Funk Yourself uber-house party. The really fun weekend is mostly a blur to me and I don't have much objective journalism for you, so here's some tunes from some of the artists I might have seen:

Parade : Answer Me : Lunch Lady


Anna Kramer : Anna Kramer : I Can't Take It


Elevado : This World Is On Fire : Postcard From Four Walls Down


Howlies : Howlies : Angeline




This week is fairly enormous for great shows. Tonight I'm going to see Bjork and Klaxons at the Fox. Diplo is going to be at MJQ tonight too. Wednesday night at Lenny's is Zoroaster's CD release party featuring Daath. Wednesday night is also the beginning of Atlantis Music Conference, Atlanta's answer to South By Southwest. Thursday night John Vanderslice and Bishop Allen will be at The Earl. Pretty much every venue in town has an interesting show Friday night but i like the Eyedrum show with Vietnam, Random Violets, Subliminator, and Tree Creature. Saturday night is just ridiculous. Do Make Say Think and Atlanta's Moorish Idols are going to be at The Earl. Queens Of The Stone Age are at The Tabernacle. Girl Talk and Dan Deacon are at MJQ. Then Sunday night The Apples In Stereo will be playing for free at Piedmont Park(Park Tavern).

Bjork : Volta : Wanderlust


Queens Of The Stone Age : Era Vulgaris : I'm Designer


Zoroaster : Dog Magic : Brazen Bull


Do Make Say Think : You, You're A History In Rust : In Mind


Girl Talk : Night Ripper : Give And Go


Moorish Idols : Moorish Idols : Fer-De-Lance