Ohmpark’s Top 20 Atlanta Albums Of 2009
Most of the time in this city, bands rise and fall based on who they know and how exciting they are live. But for this list, I’ve considered only what is contained on their recordings. Over the course of the year I’ve given roughly 75 records from inside the perimeter a spin, and these are the essential twenty that I recommend listening to most. There are actually many records that I really liked that just missed the cut, so this was very tough to piece together, especially the final spots.
Looking at this list and comparing it back to my favourite local stuff over the two years before, it’s apparent that music in this city just keeps getting better. Atlanta’s independent music scene is running deeper than ever both in terms of quality and quantity of music being produced. Outside of Brooklyn, you’d need quite a compelling argument to convince me anywhere else in America has a better scene right now. Promising young bands keep popping up out of nowhere, and the veterans keep delivering the goods. It sure makes my job here a lot easier to have so much great music to blog about.
On a technical note, anything that has been released over the holidays I’m grouping in with my 2010 lists, and so a couple of albums on this list were released over the holidays last year. Take a gander:
20. Noot d’ Noot: Cash For Gold
19. Harken The Hands Askew: Thou
18. Slushco: Sometime Tonight
17. Sound On Film: The Eloquent Reginald
16. Thy Mighty Contract: Thy Mighty Contract
15. Club Awesome: Dynamos
14. Jungol: Places
13. Lee Harvey Oswald: Lee Harvey Oswald
12. The Selmanaires: Tempo Temporal
11. Tealights: Take Us By Sea
10. Deerhunter: Rainwater Cassette Exchange
9. Slushco: The Silver Surface Demos
8. The Orphins: Wish You Well
7. Mastodon: Crack The Skye
6. Lotus Plaza: Floodlight Collective
5. From Exile: Monolith
4. Nomen Novum: Paradises
3. Untied States: Instant Everything, Constant Nothing
2. Atlas Sound: Logos
1. Nomen Novum: November
In the Atlanta music scene, 2009 was the year of Nomen Novum. While most musicians take a whole year to scrap together enough decent songs to fill a good EP, the prolific Nomen Novum were able to drop two virtually perfect full-lengths, plus a great live EP, and they’re already posting new stuff to their myspace.
Although, all five records at the top of my list were legitimate contenders for Atlanta album of the year, and I would have probably been content with any ordering between them. The other 3 records to round out my top 5 each happened to be crafted over about 2 years, and the extra time and care in putting them together just right payed off. A big mistake I notice younger bands make is trying to push out a record too quickly on some arbitrary time scale and in the end get stuck with something that is less than what they are capable of producing. Atlas Sound, Untied States, and From Exile all spent more time than they probably wanted to on their respective albums, but the extra effort was well worth it in the end.
Looking back over this list after I finished it, I noticed that it is almost entirely dominated by veterans of the scene, and mostly by artists I was already familiar with before starting this blog. There is only one true first recording from its respective musicians to make the list. If I were to make a “Best Atlanta Artists of the Decade” shortlist, most of those artists would have an album included on this list, so I feel like it is a good snapshot of not just where the scene is at today, but where it has been heading for the latter part of the ’00s. There is so much diversity in sound and so much talent in this city, and if you have any interest at all in Atlanta’s music scene, don’t let anything on this list slip by you, because all twenty are well worth giving a listen.
- Posted by Davy Minor on December 13, 2009 at 10:20 pm
- 3 Comments
Photos: The Other Sound Festival 2009: Selmanaires, Book Of Colors, A Fight To The Death, Grand Prize Winners, Club Awesome, Falcon Lords, Untied States, Author’s Apology, Los Buenos @ Star Bar
Los Buenos:
Author’s Apology:
Untied States:
Falcon Lords:
Click here to read the entire post…
- Posted by Kevin Griggs on September 27, 2009 at 4:13 am
- No Comments
Corndogorama 2009: Saturday (Day 1)
All photos by Clint Miller
We got a later start yesterday than I would have liked and didn’t make it to Corndogorama until The Goldest began their set. I loved their EP, but in previous occasions thought their live show was a bit lacking. This time they sounded really good.
I got some lunch at the Australian Bakery, which has served as our Corndog home base for escaping the heat and grubbing, and then caught Sonen. Their set at last year’s corndog was lackluster, but this year it was not enjoyable at all. The vocals were very loud in the mix, and these two so called “vocalists” have no business singing. It was hard to even give the music underneath much of a chance with how bad the vocals were.
Next, Nomen Novum played one of the better live sets I’ve seen them do. They started out with some guitar loop build up songs and then moved to more electronic stuff near the end. While the duo churned out the tunes, they were joined by a dancer for this set who even contributed some neat sound effects using blades of grass.
Click here to read the entire post…
- Posted by Davy Minor on June 28, 2009 at 1:10 pm
- 37 Comments
Underground Hottlanta: Club Awesome
Often times I become frustrated with bands that put all of their effort into costumes and stage presence at the expense of their music, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a good show. There is a difference between enhancing your performance and distracting from your lack of talent. Good music can be a fun too, and Atlanta’s Club Awesome are great example of how to achieve on both of these levels. Sure, the “Whyte Tygre” suit and the pool parties are a gimmick, but underneath the flash there is real substance to their art.
I first got a handmade copy of their debut album, Dynamos, well over a year ago, but it seemed to just recently get a proper release. Returning to the album and jamming it hard again has been just as enjoyable as the first time I was rocking it, the true test of a good record. Bands known for being energetic live often have trouble reproducing their magic on a recording, but this album manages to translate their over-the-top stage act into pure sonic intensity perfectly. There are a horde of bands in this city competing to be the “funnest”, but as far as studio work goes, the party doesn’t get much better than Dynamos.
Here are some videos from their recent performance at Criminal Records:
Starting today, Club Awesome are hitting the road for a micro-tour with fellow Atlanta goodness Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun. So if you are in any of these cities, be sure to catch a show:
Club Awesome & Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun Tour Dates:
5/20: Murfreesboro, TN @ The Temptation Club
5/21: Asheville, NC @ Stella’s
5/23: Chapel Hill, NC @ Mansion 462
5/24: Wilmington, NC @ WE Fest
- Posted by Davy Minor on May 20, 2009 at 12:33 pm
- 1 Comment
Live Videos: Club Awesome, Brass Castle (8/6/2008)
Here’s some videos from last night’s show at the Drunken Unicorn. I had to leave early so I didn’t catch Cheeseburger, but our ATL bands rocked it out, and I thought Club Awesome was particularly on top of their game for this one:
- Posted by Davy Minor on August 7, 2008 at 12:26 pm
- No Comments
Atlanta Album Previews: Club Awesome, Tenth To The Moon
Club Awesome earlier this year at Lenny’s
Club Awesome are students of The Orphins school of post-punk-dance-rock, but they bring their own fun, distinct flavour. I bought a special, handmade version of their new album, Dynamos, back in April, but it still hasn’t come out yet officially. Evilsponge has it for release on September 9th on their great review of it, but I have a hunch that if you came down to the show tonight with Brass Castle and Cheeseburger at the Drunken Unicorn you could get a copy. See you there! Here’s a track from it:
Originally formed in 2002, Tenth To The Moon‘s self-titled LP will be their debut album (not counting CDRs), so it’s been a long time coming. The experimental group lead by Mitchell Foy (Pineal Ventana) and Doug Hughes also now includes Ohmpark favourite Sean Moore (Lid Emba, Envie). They “feel perfectly confident saying you haven’t heard anything quite like it” and I certainly agree with that, so this is only for the more adventurous listener. They are having their CD Release show at The Star Bar tomorrow night with Ice Caps, Falcon Lords, Missile Command and Rev Rebel and the Sound Supreme, so check it out. Here’s the opening track from Tenth To The Moon:
Tenth To The Moon : House On Stilts
Tenth To The Moon at our WonderRoot show:
Did I mention both of these shows are FREE!!!
- Posted by Davy Minor on August 6, 2008 at 5:26 am
- No Comments
Record Store Day In Atlanta: Dead Confederate, The Coathangers, Club Awesome
I spent a few hours last weekend at Criminal Records for their Record Store Day celebration. Here are the three local bands who played there that matter most:
Dead Confederate:
We’ve been talking about them for a while now around Ohmpark and the justified hype is starting to get some traction on the webs post-SXSW. Earfarm spent some time with them while they were down in Austin and has a bunch of cool material. Speaking of SXSW, you can get an entire performance here. Southern Shelter has just put up a show on their site where Dead Confederate played nothing but Sonic Youth covers at The 40 Watt in Athens earlier this year here. A sample:
Dead Confederate : Silver Rocket (Sonic Youth cover)
At Criminal:
They are touring steadily this summer, so go check them out:
23 May – Seattle, WA @ KEXP
24 May – Quincy, WA @ Sasquatch! Festival
28 May – Washington D.C. @ DC9
29 May – New York, NY @ Piano’s
30 May – Asbury Park, NJ @ The Saint
31 May – Philadelphia, PA @ The Khyber
1 June – Boston, MA @ TT the Bears
4 June – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
5 June – Asheville, NC @ The Rocket Club
6 June – Knoxville, TN @ Barley’s
7 June – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
14 June – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
17 June – Santa Fe, NM @ Santa Fe Brewing Company*
18 June – Flagstaff, AZ @ Orpheum Theatre Flagstaff*
19 June – Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre*
20 June – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern*
24 June – Sacramento, CA @ Empire Room*
25 June – Bend, OR @ Midtown Ballroom*
26 June – Spokane, WA @ Big Easy – Spokane*
5 July – Rothbury, MI @ Rothbury Festival
* w/ Drive by Trucker
The Coathangers
The Coathangers quick rise to ATLien elite status last year is an interesting phenomenon, and while I’m not the biggest fan of bands getting popular in this town solely because of their stage act and attitude rather than their music, these girls back up their their brash aura with clever lyrics and catchy tunes. I stumbled across this great remix of one my favourite Coathangers songs on the ‘net last night:
The Coathangers : Parcheezie (Griff Remix ft. Fitzgerald)
Here they are doing that song last Saturday:
And Kimcriminal has one up too, she has tons of vids of in-store Criminal Record performances you an check out here.
They are also on summer tour, so go to a show:
2 May – Atlanta, GA @ The Star Bar
9 May – Atlanta, GA @ Smith’s Old Bar (500 Songs For Kids)
15 May – Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
16 May – Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor
23 May – Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
7 June – Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
9 June – Nasheville, TN @ Springwater Supper Club
10 June – Hot Springs, AK @ The Exchange
11 June – Fayetteville, AK @ New Deli House *
12 June – Wichita, KS @ Barleycorns *
13 June – Norman, OK @ Opolis *
14 June – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada *
15 June – Austin, TX @ Emo’s *
2 July – Detroit, MI @ Alvin’s
3 July – Cleveland, OH @ Now That’s Class
6 July – Charlotte, NC @ Snug Harbor
* w/ El Paso Hot Button
Club Awesome
Atlanta’s Club Awesome, known for their pool parties and “Whyte Tygre” suit, are what I would describe as in the greater post-punk/post-pop vicinity. I arrived too late to get some video of their show, but I did pick up a handmade advance copy of their debut album, and it is really good. Here’s a track:
Club Awesome : Trainwreck
They have a few shows coming up:
3 May – Atlanta, GA @ Smith’s Olde Bar (500 Songs For Kids)
25 May – Wilmington, NC @ Soapbox (We Festival)
29 June – Atlanta, GA @ Lenny’s (Corndogarama)
5 July – Atlanta, GA @ Star Bar (July 4 Weekend Fest)
- Posted by Davy Minor on April 24, 2008 at 1:02 pm
- No Comments
Club Awesome On WREK Tonight!
Club Awesome will be performing live on Georgia Tech campus in the student center tonight from 10pm to 11pm. The performance will be broadcasted live over Georgia Tech’s radio station WREK 91.1. If you are not in the Atlanta area and want to catch a little ATL flavour, you can still stream the show at the radio station website. If you don’t catch this post in time for the show, they will have the performance up at their website for a week afterwards.
- Posted by Davy Minor on February 26, 2008 at 5:09 pm
- No Comments
