What Up In The ATL?

Sunday I went to The Earl for Dunch and caught The Jupiter Watts doing a really nice, chill performance:





Check out this video of Mastodon in the studio working on their follow up album to 2006's Blood Mountain:



Deerhunter are doing a show in New York this weekend where they will play the new album they are currently recording, Microcastle, in its entirety. I really hope they do the same thing here in the A soon.

The Lasch will be at Lenny's tonight.

Tomorrow night the place to be is The Drunken Unicorn for HEALTH, Club Of Rome, and One Hand Loves The Other.



HEALTH : Triceratops


Club of Rome : Let's Go USA


Thursday night you can catch Colin Meloy (The Decemberists) at The Variety Playhouse or go local and check out The Howlies, The Orphins, and The Hotpipes at The Earl.



The Orphins : Camp Cryotop


Colin Meloy : We Both Go Down Together


Friday night I highly recommend going to the This Piano Plays Itself CD release party at Under The Couch. I can't wait to hear their album.



This Piano Plays Itself : There Are Segments Of Revolving


And Sunday night is the Explosions In The Sky show at The Variety Playhouse. The originally scheduled show is sold out, but they added an afternoon show that same day, so go get your tickets before it sells out too.

There are some cool DIY shows going this week too if you like house parties:

141 Moreland Ave is hosting Pool Party, P. S. Elliot, Bandolier!, it's Elephant's, Wrister Tuesday night.

I Can Fly House is hosting Capsule, Furnace, Fag Static, The Sunglasses Wednesday night.

Torrent of The Day: Explosions In The Sky (5/5/2007) (DVD)

As I write this, tickets for the Explosions In The Sky show in April are still available, but I doubt they will be much longer, so go get yours now fool! Here's an awesome 3 camera mix DVD of a show from last year:

Explosions in the Sky 2007-05-05 Vancouver, BC [3-Cam] (NTSC)

An insane amount of work was put into this. I'm guessing close to 50 hours. The biggest reason was that I pretty much had to do this twice as my HD died when I had it complete the first time around. Angles were mixed in FCP, menus made in photoshop and authored in DVD Studio Pro. 24p and film damage filters were added to try to 'average' out all the angles. I was thinking of doing full motion menus, but Apple Motion had a steeper learning curve than I thought. No selling/ebaying and all that stuff. I don't make a penny off of this and neither should you. I've got plenty more where this dvd came from, most which would kill this one. I'd hate to have to have to stop sharing because of a couple of bad apples. I won't be seeding 24/7, so no whining. oh and a waffles invite would be much appreciated.


Explosions In the Sky DVD
May 5, 2007
Croatian Cultural Center
Vancouver, BC

Videography
Angle 1: Brian Conolly; HV20 -center
Angle 2: Jeffrey Mew; TRV950 -right (jeffmewATgmail.com)
Angle 3: Steven Mew; TRV18 -left
Transfer: Angles 1-3: MDV-M > firewire > HD

Audio
Brian Connolly; AKG C1000S > Edirol UA-5 (Oade T+ mod) > S/PDIF > Microtrack (16/48)
Transfer: WAV-M > HD

Post Production: Final Cut Pro > Compressor > DVD Studio Pro

Menus/Chapters/Song selection

Lineage: MDV-M > DVD-M
Video format: MPEG-2, 720x576 29.9 fps (4:3) NSTC, Color, ~8050 kbps (monolingual)
Audio format: Dolby Digital AC3, 48000 Hz Stereo, 448 kbps
Audio type: Stereo (2 Channel)

sample: http://firmdragon.blogspot.com/2007/...-05052007.html

Setlist
01.) Introduction
02.) First Breath After Coma
03.) Welcome, Ghosts
04.) With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept
05.) Your Hand in Mine
06.) Greet Death
07.) Catastrophe and The Cure
08.) The Only Moment We Were Alone
09.) Outro

Total: 1:10:58 / 4.17GB

Thank You Explosions in the Sky.

Here's some vids of the DVD:

"First Breath After A Coma":



Welcome, Ghosts":



If you can't download the DVD and want to just watch the rest of the vids online, go here.

Get Your Tickets Now!

Sleo just picked up our tickets to some of the hot 2008 shows. At Variety Playhouse they said that the Explosions In The Sky show in April is about to sellout, so if you want to go, act now! I'm sure the Yo La show in a few weeks will sellout too, so jump on it. And don't forget the trifecta of Super Furry Animals, Fiery Furnaces, and Holy Fuck!

Explosions in The Sky : So Long, Lonesome (Eluvium Mix)


Fiery Furnaces : Ex-Guru:

Dethklok Free Show Tommorrow Night! Explosions In The Sky, Fiery Furnaces, Holy Fuck, Super Furry Animals Next Year!

There are so many concert announcements going on right now it's hard to keep up. The fictional band Dethklok from the Adult Swim cartoon Metalocalypse will be playing at Center Stage Thursday night. The first 450 people in line get in the show. Thanks to It Covers The Hillsides on the heads up. Get a taste:



Explosions In The Sky are returning to Atlanta April 13th, this time at The Variety Playhouse. Here's 22 minutes of EITS bliss:



And what promises to be an amazing show, Fiery Furnaces, Holy Fuck, and Super Furry Animals are all playing a show together at The Variety Playhouse on January 30th. Super Furry Animals are dropping a new album on January 22nd, The Fiery Furnaces' Widow City from earlier this year is one of the year's best, and I've been jamming the new Holy Fuck album, LP, like crazy lately. It is some top tier psychedelic dance music. Check it:

Holy Fuck : LP : Royal Gregory


Holy Fuck : LP : The Pulse

This Week In The A

Here's the shows in Atlanta that we recommend checking out this week:

Tonight: Parade (who if you read this blog you already know is awesome) and Exit Clov (A band from DC that you need to know is also awesome) at Lenny's

Exit Clov : MK Ultra

Tomorrow Night: Enon (A cool northeastern band), Love Of Diagrams (Rockers from down-under that we caught earlier this year), and Untied States (Another local band we love) at The Drunken Unicorn

Enon : Mirror On You


Wednesday Night: Tori Amos (Always a great show) at The Fox theater

Tori Amos : Space Dog (Live from 6-11-1998)


Thursday Night: Smashing Pumpkins and Explosions In The Sky at the Fox Theater (I bet you can score some tix to the rescheduled shows if you're crafty)

Explosions In The Sky : Remember Me As A Time Of Day


Friday Night: Jens Lekman (Dude from Sweden who has the internets all buzzed up) at The Drunken Unicorn

Jens Lekman : And I Remember Every Kiss


Saturday Night: Joanna Newsom (OMFG!!!!!!!!!!) with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at The Woodruff Arts Center

Joanna Newsom : Monkey & Bear

Torrent Of The Day: Explosions In The Sky (5-6-2007) (DVD)

You can watch the show in google video, and download it below:



Explosions In The Sky 2007-05-06 Seattle, WA (NTSC)

Explosions In The Sky
Neumo's
Seattle, WA
2007-05-06

Audio Taper: Jarod Watson
Audio Location: DFC, ~35' from stage lip. MBHO's NOS and LSD2 Blumlein. Mics 10' on stand.
Audio Source: MBHO 603/KA100LK (Channels 1 & 2) & Studio Projects LSD2 (Channels 3 & 4) > Edirol R4 (Channels 1 & 2: Busman W Mod, Channels 3 & 4: Busman T Mod, @ 24/48)
Audio Lineage: Edirol R4 > USB > Adobe Audition 2.0 (cropping, fades, mix to stereo, mute LSD2 source -3db, boost stereo mix +8db, dither)

Video Taper: Brian Connolly
Video Location: Stage-Right, front row
Video Source: Canon HV20
Video Lineage: DV(m) > firewire > Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 (sync w/ audio) > TMPGEnc Xpress 4.0 (to .m2v) > DVD-Lab Pro 2.0 > DVD5

Setlist:
01. intro
02. Memorial
03. With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept
04. Welcome, Ghosts
05. The Only Moment We Were Alone
06. Greet Death
07. Catastrophe And The Cure
08. The Moon Is Down

Notes:
Here she is. Big thanks to Jarod for handling audio in the back (which sounds amazing) while I did video up front.
Even though this is a single camera DVD, it looks pretty damn good I think. Enjoy.

March Wrap-Up

A quarter of 2007 is over and it was a lot of fun. So far, 2007 is turning out to be a great year in music delivering stellar albums, great shows, and an unprecedented amount of good American music festivals shaping up. I've noticed some interesting trends. For instance, In 2005 it was looking like Arcade Fire and Bloc Party we're going to ascend to greatness and that Modest Mouse had lost everything good about it. One respective album from each band later, Arcade Fire and Bloc Party don't feel so much better than the rest of the pack(although that could easily change) and I can't think of a bigger, better, more important American band in the last 13 years than Modest Mouse.

Anyways, March was a busy month for Ohmpark. Ichuda reviewed the Mastodon show and the Red Sparrowes show. Biggie C got some good pics of the Grizzly Bear show and the Sparklehorse show:





I sat down with the boys from Passer By. Biggie C got some fantastic photos of The Slip and Gringo Star:





Sleo did a review of one of the moe. shows in Atlanta. I did a write-up on the Producer Battles at Apache Cafe's World Famous Mic Club. Biggie C got some shots at the Beach House and Birds Of Avalon show:



Me and Biggie C went to the Explosions In The Sky, The Paper Chase, and Eluvium show:



Biggie C caught the 404 Noise and Experimental Festival:



Biggie C dropped the first Ohmpark Mixtape and wrote a heart-felt letter to Joanna Newsom. Annereade reviewed the new Modest Mouse album. And Biggie C shot up the Kid Koala and Samadha show.

We hope you're enjoying Ohmpark and remember if you have any suggestions or comments or want to hip us to a band or some news or a show, hit us up at: info@ohmpark.com

Thanks for reading!

Post-Binge Randomness

Boozing is fun, hangovers not so much. Tonight I'm checking out the RJD2 & Busdriver show at the Variety Playhouse and you should too. Here's a Busdriver video:



The biggest news to me from the weekend is that Sonic Youth will be performing Daydream Nation in its entirety at Pitchfork Music Festival this year. I have my tickets, do you have yours?



Speaking of great Chicago festivals, Peter Bjorn and John are supposedly confirmed to do Lollapalooza.

Actress Minnie Driver has a second album coming out featuring cameos from artisits such as Ryan Adams and Liz Phair. I had no idea she had a first album.

Lily Allen is bored of singing her songs.

The Polyphonic Spree have a new album coming out in June.

The Clientele have a new album due May 8th and will be going on tour with Beach House.

The Walkmen's singer got arrested at SXSW.

The new Modest Mouse record came out today. Modest Mouse will be playing at the Masquerade Music Park on May 5th. Here's a sample: People As Places As People

High Sierra Music Festival has announced the line-up.

Leftover Salmon have ended their hiatus and will make wookies dance again.

Bjork is touring but nowhere near Atlanta.

Listen to an Explosions In The Sky show on NPR from the weekend here.

Silverchair has a new album out March 31st called Young Modern.

Steely Dan will be at Chastain Park on Mat 11th.

Interviews wrap-up:

• Hold Steady
• LCD Soundsystem
• El-P
• The Jesus and Mary Chain

The Smashing Pumpkins have announced their first North American date in Canada. While we wait on American dates, here's some videos:

Live Review and Photos: Explosions In The Sky, The Paper Chase, Eluvium (3-13-2007) Lenny's

It seemed like forever since i had raced down to Criminal Records to scoop up the last 2 tickets for this show. I had no idea who was even opening for Explosions In The Sky until a couple days earlier. Me and Biggie C arrived one minute after the supposed door opening time and were barely able to secure a spot in the front row. Lots of kids with "X"s on their hands were already setup. After The crowd quickly grew behind us, Eluvium came through the audience and climbed on stage right next to me. With all three bands' equipment cluttering the small stage, it seemed to be the only way to get up there. Eluvium's new record, Copia, is really good and I've been jamming it a lot over the last month or two so i was very excited when I learned he was on the bill. Eluvium is the stage name of Seattle's Matthew Cooper. He plays really ambient and distorted music on a keyboard and guitar. His performance was much more "wall-of-sound" than I had expected from the very mellow album, and continued a trend of being way too loud to not have earplugs(I'm stupid, I know i should be wearing earplugs to shows but they are just annoying to me). Looping each instrument into massive sonic waves, it was even better than I expected. The underage kids surrounding us were not impressed but good music taste often takes a while to develop. I'll post some Eluvium tracks next week. Biggie C with some pics of a very dark stage: (click to enlarge)







Shortly after that, The Paper Chase took the stage. i didn't really know anything about these guys, but they were great, and very very loud. I heard one of the kids around me describe them as "jagged noise-pop"(which they obviously found on Wikipedia), and that's them exactly. Front man John Congleton was extremely entertaining between singing great, Jamming some amazing, piercing guitar lines, and dancing around in a really awkward way. The rest of the band was going at it like machines and it was well worth the damage it did to my eardrum. I'll have some songs from these guys next week too: (click to enlarge)







So, for those who don't know, Lenny's has just recently moved to a new building down the street from the old one. I was not a big fan of the move at first because I liked the old, crappy, tiny place and that building has a lot of history (like this DVD I have of Cat Power with Steve Shelley drumming there back in 1995 when it was called Dottie's) But the new place is pretty cool, especially the murals across the wall. That said, it was a very unfavorable location for an Explosions In The Sky show. First, the stage is very short and the EITS dudes are often on the ground playing with their pedal gear so most could not see what was going on. The sound setup and "shotgun" building shape combined with the thick sea of people made for greatly different volumes depending on how far away from the stage. Being lucky enough to be in the very front, my concert experience was quite different than most people I've talked to who also attended the show.

While EITS was setting up, all three of the axe wielders came on stage with an old suitcase containing about 7 pedals each. After setting up, they then laid down the rock. The entire set was pretty much one big crescendo. I really can't remember a show where the music had such a steady building momentum. I remember seeing Mogwai twice last year and thinking it was rather "underwhelming" and kid of wondered if post-rock could really grab you in a live setting and EITS proved that i could. The venue exploded in cheers at the Set's conclusion and after the crowd roared for what i thought was an impressive plea for an encore, One of the guys came out and said they didn't have anything else. Encores sometimes seem so cheesy to me that it doesn't bother me when a band comes and just puts forth the show with no bells or whistles and just kicks ass with pure sound. The way the entire show built up and let loose, I can understand why it would be hard to just throw another song in afterwards. Overall, a great show and i highly recommend you check out EITS when they come back (they said they'd be back in the fall). Hopefully they will play in a venue better suited to them. Just make sure to bring some protection for your ears because all I could hear afterwards was ringing until I passed out.

(click on image to see the full size)

What The Hell Am I Listening To?!?

Some really good stuff:

Menomena


This Portland 3-piece's Friend And Foe is quickly becoming one of my favourites of the year. Describing this band is difficult for me, a little Clouds Taste Metallic era Flaming Lips, maybe a touch of old school Modest Mouse, maybe a touch of Morphine. I don't know. Give these tracks a listen, and if you like, go get the album because every song on this thing is great.

• The Pelican
• Wet And Rusting

Buy Menomena : Friend And Foe


Explosions In The Sky


Their new album, All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone, is a great example of a band that just does their thing, and gets better and better. Many may think that this album sounds very much like most of their others, and that's somewhat true, but some bands just do what they do masterfully, and that's all they need to do. Sometimes a band just doesn't have to head off into another direction (Modest Mouse comes to mind). Give a listen to a great band in their prime:

• The Birth and Death Of The Day
  
• It's Natural to Be Afraid
  

Buy Explosions In The Sky : All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone


Do Make Say Think


Another great post-rock album i've been listening to is DMST's You, You're a History In Rust. Part of the Broken Social Scene extended family, these guys are really awesome. Where the new Explosions In The Sky record works to perfect an already "classic" style of post-rock, this album takes alot more liberties and avoids any derivative labels. Enjoy:

• The Universe!
  
• Herstory Of Glory
  

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


Final Fantasy


I knew when I did my top 50 List of 2006, that i would miss some albums that deserved to be on it because I had only a limited amount of time and resources. He Poos Clouds is the first one. Final Fantasy (aka Owen Pallett) is a violinist/vocalist who played with Arcade Fire on tour and even did some of the string arrangements on their new album, Neon Bible. This second full album as Final Fantasy is just simply phenonemal. You really need to get this:

• This Lamb Sells Condos
  
• Song Song Song

Buy Final Fantasy : He Poos Clouds

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

Video Of The Day: Explosions In The Sky

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