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
An Atlanta Mp3 Trilogy: Harken The Hands Askew, Little Tybee, Adam Bruneau
A meticulous five years in the making, Thou is the beautiful new record from Harken The Hands Askew, the solo banner for O’ Brother guitarist Aaron Womack. It is very atmospheric, droney sort of experimental stuff, but with a whole lot more traditional song structure than one would expect from that description. It strikes an almost perfect balance between its very basic lo-fi pop foundation and its more quirky and risky elements. I’m really digging this more and more, so check it out:
Harken The Hands Askew : Growing Up is Hard
Harken The Hands Askew myspace
As of late, I have been hearing a lot of noise about Atlanta newcomers Little Tybee. I have yet to catch them live, but I did pick up a copy of their fresh new record, Building A Bomb, and after a couple of listens I can see why they are impressing so many people. The nearly 50 minute record drags at places and this outfit would greatly benefit from sharpening things on the songwriting side of the equation, but even at its weakest moments this music is still rather enjoyable. Little Tybee will have a bright future ahead of it if they can build upon the vast potential displayed on this newest release:
Little Tybee : Building A Bomb
Local musician and all-around artistic powerhouse Adam Bruneau often drops some nice gems on his blog and his newest installment featured a lovely cover of a Pixies song guest starring one David McClung on guitar. I thought it would round out this trilogy nicely, so enjoy:
Adam Bruneau : The Thing (The Pixies cover)
- Posted by Davy Minor on November 17, 2009 at 5:14 am
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What Up In The ATL?
There is a lot going on this week in Gotham City. MLK and Obamaroo celebrations are commencing. Les Savy Fav tickets will probably be gone any second now, so if you want to go to that, buy them now. Stickfigure is doing their yearly showcase at The Drunken Unicorn from Wednesday to Saturday, and each night’s lineup is great. And of course don’t forget about our 2 Year Anniversary show going down Saturday night at WonderRoot for free. The Best Shows in Atlanta January 19 – 25:
Monday:
Projexorcism, Sonic Suicide Squad, Tiny Concept @ Eyedrum
Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun @ Graveyard
Tuesday:
Cassavettes @ Corner Tavern
Wednesday:
Sorry No Ferrari, The Subliminator, Harken The Hands Askew @ Drunken Unicorn
Thursday:
Strezo, Tealights, Envie, Nerdkween @ Drunken Unicorn
Wildcat revival, Revolutionary Youth, Nothing Lost, Gold Standard, Paper Knives @ WonderRoot
The Long Shadows, The Electric Cycles, Abby Go Go @ Star Bar
Friday:
Les Savy Fav, Twin Tigers @ The Earl SOLD OUT
Antic Clay, Retconned, Backseat Dreamer, Warning Light @ Drunken Unicorn
Saturday:
This Piano Plays Itself, Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun, Kebert Xela, Onset @ WonderRoot
Bird Names, Nomen Novum, Quiet Hooves, El Possil @ Mint Gallery
The Feeding Fingers, Entertainment, Tenth To The Moon, Lid Emba @ Drunken Unicorn
Les Savy Fav @ Whirlyball
Sunday:
Fucked Up, The Carbonas, Bukkake Boys, American Cheeseburger @ The Earl
The Machine (Pink Floyd cover band) @ Variety Playhouse
Harken The Hands Askew : Heartache
Fucked Up : Days Of Last
Les Savy Fav : The Slip
Tiny Concept : Drinking Wine Song
- Posted by Davy Minor on January 19, 2009 at 2:08 am
- 1 Comment
