Live Review and Photos: Black Moth Super Rainbow, Serengeti and Polyphonic at The Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta, GA (7/29/09)


All photos by Clint Miller.

Wednesday I got to see Black Moth Super Rainbow with openers Serengeti and Polyphonic at the Drunken Unicorn. I wasn’t aware of BMSR having much popularity so I was surprised when the show sold out. Maybe they are starting to get the recognition they deserve.

Serengeti and Polyphonic opened, yet they had major computer malfunctions that crippled their set. They are composed of David Cohn (Serengeti) and Will Freyman (Polyphonic) on laptop and various electronic instruments making the beats. Very shortly into their set the computer crashed and the rest of the set was crippled by technical difficulties. The rapping was terrible. It was really muddy and incomprehensible at most times. Also, due to the fact that I was dressed up in a Dharma jumpsuit (from TV’s LOST) I chose to sit outside for most of their show. It was just way too hot to endure their terrible set. They ended their set early due to the technical complications.

While waiting for Black Moth to set up I got to know some of the fellow Atlanta area fans. I was surprised as to the number of people on psychedelic drugs. Some kid wearing a dancing bears shirt asked if I wanted to purchase any “mush”. If you can’t figure that one out, go ask your local D.A.R.E representative. Also because of the jumpsuits my friend and I were wearing we had to pose for a quick photo as well as a barrage of “Oh hell yeah nice jumpsuits!”

Black Moth Super Rainbow opened their set up with two separate videos, which were hilarious. The first was a mock YouTube style video where a guy rags on one thing or another. It was pretty hilarious. I remember the line, “Now you all know the mainstream bands that totally blow like Creed or Nickelback or Linkin Park. Well I’m here to tell you about 5 bands from the underground who totally suck.” then proceeded to go off on BMSR and how “Goth” their music is, and how the only types of people who can possibly find enjoyment in their music are total and complete douche bags. Even though his statements were continuous he was wearing something different every five to ten seconds. This video was followed by something even more hilarious and totally epic. Eric from Tim and Eric Awesome Show had his own little video. Of course, being in Atlanta, the crowd totally loved this. Eric made us all repeat that we were not douche bags or even “DBs” for liking the Black Rainbows featuring Super Goth.


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A Random Mp3 Trilogy


Oh No! Oh My!

I just got finished listening to Oh No Oh My‘s new EP Dmitrij Dmitrij and it was pretty damn awesome. This was my first exposure to this Austin, TX band, and they are upbeat, poppy, and sound really, really good. I highly recommend checking it out. Cable And Tweed has been touting this band for a while, so thanks to Rich for the tip. Here is the single that is making its way across the blogosphere:

Oh No Oh My : Be A Star

Buy Dmitrij Dmitrij: [MP3]




I’ve been listening to the new Tobacco album a lot lately, it is such a chill jammer. It is a shame this album came out so late in the year, because it could have been the ultimate summer album. Anyway, instead of giving you another track from that, I’m going to go old school and give you a track from Tobacco‘s band, Black Moth Super Rainbow. As a bonus, the song is remixed by The Octopus Project:

Black Moth Super Rainbow : Drippy Eye (The Octopus Project remix)

Buy Fucked Up Friends: [MP3] [CD] [LP]

In a case of can’t-tell-if-it’s-ironic-or-not, Tobacco has hired the star of those anti-smoking “truth” commercials, Derrick Beckles, to direct and act in his music videos. Here are two to check out:





Au

Emusic is giving away a sampler album for CMJ 2008, going down in New York right now. To close out this trilogy, I give you a track from it called “Sleep” by Au, the closer of their amazing album Verbs. While many bands have been doing more conservative takes of Animal Collective this year (seriously, I can’t finish El Guincho‘s album without being bored, even though it sounds nice), Au takes the aesthetic and goes completely in a psychedelic direction that is fast becoming a favourite of mine from this year. David already talked about them a bit and dropped some tracks, but here’s one more (and go get this thing right now!):

Au : Sleep

Buy Verbs: [MP3] [CD] [LP]

The New New: Beach House, Deerhoof, Tobacco

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

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

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

Tobacco : Truck Sweat

Monday Mash-Up

One of the dudes from the Black Lips recently shut down a big Atlanta Magazine photo shoot with a fire extinguisher. Typical.

Pitchfork interviews Bradford Cox (Atlas Sound/Deerhunter). Also typical.

Atlanta’s Attractive Eighties Women have a live album out this week:

AEW sound ’80s hardrock like their name would denote, but with really funny lyrics full of Atlanta references. Check it out:

They Shoot Hipsters, Don’t They

Pandamonium

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Live Review: Aesop Rock, Black Moth Super Rainbow, DJ Signify & Blockhead 11/12/07 Baton Rouge, LA

On Monday night Aesop Rock made his way to a small club in Baton Rouge called the Spanish Moon. I had been looking forward to this show for quite a while but not because of Aesop Rock. I was more interested in seeing the psychedelic electro-pop outfit Black Moth Super Rainbow who toured with the Flaming Lips recently. Their new album Dandelion Gum is one of my favorite albums of 2007.

DJ Signify and Blockhead had already taken the stage by the time I had arrived, but even before I got there I had been notified via text message that “they’re tight as fuck” and that I had already missed a good Rakim mix-up. The short portion I heard (about 15-20 minutes) was jam packed with up beat hip-hop including a Big Daddy Kane mix-up. The set was different sounding than most DJ sets I’ve heard. They didn’t do much scratching but they did cut up and mix a lot of different songs that you wouldn’t expect to go together. It was a great way to get a mostly hip-hop crowd on their feet and dancing.


Black Moth Super Rainbow took the stage next and the hip hop crowd didn’t really know what to think of them. For being a mostly hip hop crowd in Baton Rouge though I expected this. Most of the set was new songs and they sounded great live. The bassist (who looks similair to Brian Posehn) really knew how to make the mostly electronic group sound more organic. However this wasn’t one of those indie pop shows where all you have to watch is a few kids up on stage in tight pants trying to play instruments. These guys have talent and also a great visuals show. They played random videos that included: Richard Simmons work out videos, an interview with 3 women wrestlers, soft core porn, and clips from random kids shows. These clips seemed to sync up pretty well with the music, but that could have just been the beer doing that. I had high expectations for BMSR and they surpassed them.



When Aesop Rock took the stage I really wasn’t expecting all that much. I had seen him at this past Bonnaroo and wasn’t too impressed but this show left me with a better impression of him. He had the same people with him(DJ Big Whiz and Rob Sonic) but something about this show just seemed better. Although it might have been because I wasn’t trying to keep my eyelids from shutting the whole show like I was at Bonnaroo. He and Rob Sonic were on time and really knew how to present live hip hop in a way that most rappers don’t know how. He played a lot of songs from his new album including “Coffee” and “Bring Back Pluto” as well as playing some of the songs off Labor Days that made him famous like “No Regrets” and he ended the show with a requested “Daylight.” This show made me realize why Aesop Rock is one of the few constantly touring hip hop artists like The Roots and Jurassic 5.





All in all this show lived up to the hype I had given it. This show rolls through Atlanta on Tuesday the 20th and I advise you all to get there early because the opening acts are great!