Ohmpark’s Top 40 Songs of 2011

Now that this blog only covers local music, I decided that all of my year-end lists this year will be Atlanta music specific. There’s plenty of sites that do national/international lists anyway. So then, this is my 40 favourite songs of the year by artists affiliated with Atlanta. I spent a lot of time with each of these songs, and if you are unfamiliar with any of them, I strongly suggest you click on the song titles below to give them a listen.


40. “Black Leaves” by Slowriter

39. “A Letter To The FDA” by Where Are We?

38. “Nerve Pop” by Small Reactions

37. “Tomorrow’s Garden” by Imagination Head

36. “Barcelona” by Dark Room

35. “Islands” by Kinisi

34. “The Battle of East & West Virginia” by Mediocre Machine

33. “Santa Maria” by Beachtapes

32. “mandelbrotset” by Time Wharp

31. “Control” by Young Again

30. “Who’s In Bed” by Jungol

29. “Children” by Vocabulary

28. “Black Lion” by Places

27. “Movie Night” by Easily Suede

26. “Edita V” by Balkans

25. “Passion Seekers” by Little Tybee featuring Adron

24. “Q ‘n’ A” by Spirits and the Melchizedek Children

23. “Lights lights” by Beachtapes

22. “Breathe” by Exact Index featuring Casey Harper

21. “No Tomorrow” by Places

20. “Far From The Best” by Cassandras

19. “Things I Like” by Vocabulary

18. “I Think It’s Working” by New Animal

17. “Pacer” by BOSCO

16. “Rise Up” by Cassandras

15. “Creature Lives” by Mastodon

14. “They Don’t Know” by New Animal

13. “Sweet Melinda” by Places

12. “cuspcake” by Time Wharp

11. “Out There” by New Animal

10. “Ivan” by We the Lion

9. “History” by Little Tybee

8. “Old Monster” by Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun

7. “Wicca Chimes” by Nomen Novum

6. “Lift You Up” by New Animal

5. “Distinguished Critter” by Places

4. “Still In Mind” by New Animal

3. “Water Story” by Wowser Bowser

2. “Millennials” by Nomen Novum

1. “Two Faced” by Living Rooms






[Stream] Balkans: “Edita V”

Through various 7 inches and mixtapes, Balkans have shown flashes of genius, but almost all of their catalog sounded more like sketches of ideas than fully formed songs. So I was interested to see what they would do with a full length format. Unfortunately, about half the record is songs that were previously released, and the other half is songs that sound lacking despite occasionally containing some nice elements. Balkans serves as a satisfactory introduction to the band, but for those of us who have had to endure years of premature local hype, the “best of the Balkans” plus filler is underwhelming and anti-climatic. This band certainly possesses the tools to make great music. It just seems like they don’t know how to use them. But I’m sure the record will find an audience, as there is no shortage of demand for catchy, familiar, disposable music these days, and if that’s your bag, it’s worth checking out. And even though the majority of the release doesn’t appeal to me, there’s no denying that this is a really good song:

Edita V by Balkans

[Videos] Nameless Goatfarm Festival (All The Saints, Balkans, Abby Go Go)

Last weekend’s throwdown at the Goat Farm was definitely a fun one. Local videotaper Iflimbands got a ton of killer vids from the day, so here are a few to check out, and then dive on in to his youtube account to watch the rest:

Iflimbands Youtube


All The Saints:

Balkans:

Abby Go Go:

More videos here