Corndogorama is the best local music fest in Atlanta, so that is the biggest deal this week. We will have our guide to Corndog' soon, but there is also a ridiculous amount of other great shows going on in town this week, so here's some:
Tonight I urge you to catch Times New Viking, The Preakness, Gold Painted Nails at The Earl. The Preakness : Demons
Wednesday night I'm going to catch the Russian Circles, Daughters, Sorry No Ferrari show at The Drunken Unicorn.
Friday night Islands will be at The Masquerade. It is also the last ever night of Decatur Social Club. I'm going to try and hit both of those and Corndog', so that should be a long day and night.
Here are a few of the hott tracks rolling around the big series of tubes:
There' a new Beck album produced by Danger Mouse about to hit stores soon. Rumours say it could suddenly drop from the sky like In Rainbows or the new Nine Inch Nails albums, but not necessarily for free. It is tentatively titled Modern Guilt and is supposed to have a '60s psychedelic feel. I've even heard rumours that Cat Power appears on it. I'm excited:
Ratatat is another great artist with a new release dropping this summer. Everyone I know has fallen in love with these guys since their 2006 Classics blew up. In addition to creating high quality, crowd pleasing original instrumental jams, they do some stellar remixes, Volume 2 of which you can download for free from their myspace. LP3 hits stores July 8th, and here's a preview:
Finally, I have been jamming the new Islands album, Arm's Way, hard since it came out yesterday. It certainly has its share of flaws, of which most everyone reviewing is paying a lot of attention, but there are a plethora of amazing things going on that have me hooked. Just like how many people who loved the Unicorns didn't like the direction Islands took things originally, many people who were really into Return To The Sea may not have wanted them to go they way they did for this one, but if you take it for what it is, it kicks some major ass. They just did a Daytrotter session, including a Brian Eno cover, that you can check out here, but here's a really different version of "The Arm" from it:
After catching Islands a couple of times at SXSW, I have been on a serious tear with them lately. There is something special about an album that I can legitimately get obsessed with two seperate times. From the ashes of The Unicorns when Alder Penner left the band, Nicholas Thorburn and drummer Jamie Thompson formed Islands in 2005, and they recorded this instant classic album. Featuring guest appearances from members of Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade, I think that Return is a paradigm of how great music has become this decade. If you've never tried this one out, jam these tracks and videos and then go pick it up:
Of course the reason I bring this up is because Islands are about to release their follow-up album to this one, Arm's Way, on May 20th. Jamie Thompson left the band between the two LPs, so now Islands seems to be completely Nick Thorburn's own project now, with a retooled band around him that sounded incredibly tight at SXSW. Here is another track that is floating around the Internets from the upcoming album:
I'm getting very excited about this one. The Islandsare on tour as of next week and their last date is here in Atlanta on May 26th at The Masquerade. Don't miss it. Here is the new album cover to ponder:
Videos: Islands at SXSW (3/13/2008) Cedar Street Patio
If there is one band that SXSW got me re-obsessed with, it is Islands. Return To The Sea has been back in my rotation and I am eagerly awaiting the new album. Here are some vids from one of my favourite shows in Austin:
Yesterday I started my day at Emo's, but it was so crowded and I wasn't really digging the bands I heard so, I dipped out across the street to the Brooklyn Vegan party at Emo's Annex (there are about 700 different Emo's venues) because the BV party the night before was so much fun. I caught a band called WHY? that was pretty good.
After that, I decided to just walk up and down the main strip and listen to the music coming from each bar and try to discover some bands I hadn't heard of. Outside some Irish pub I heard a really intriguing band, so I went inside to check them out. It was a band from Dublin, Ireland called Delorentos. They were total dance-rock, like Bloc Party before they started getting all soft and lame. I got a live video, but Google video is acting hella lame today, so I can't post the plethora of vids i took yesterday until a later date. But I did manage to find their official video(although I don't think it is their best song):
After some more walking around I heard another band that sounded promising from a dive called Agave. The Brooklyn, New York trio Appomattox rocked really hard, doing loud post-punky rock.
After that it was time to head back to the Annex, where I caught Men, members of Le Tigre doing the laptop DJ thing. The day before, me and Biggie C were discussing this new trend where bands go DJ and how most of the time they aren't that good at it, but this was an exception as they rocked the dance floor hard.
After that, it was time for Phosphorescent, one of the artists I was most excited about seeing at SXSW. He put on a great performance, doing much heavier versions of his stuff than I would have guessed considering how soft and low-key the album is.
Near the end of the show, I noticed Matthew Houck kept looking at someone in the crowd and cracking up laughing. I finally heard someone screaming stuff at him and turned around. It turned out to be Miles Seaton of Akron/Family acting like he was an obsessed fan. For the Phosphorescent finale, he came down into the audience and sang to the Akron/Family boys:
After that, we stuck around and caught Holy Fuck. I'm not much of a dancer and these days it takes something really special to get me to throw down, but Holy Fuck is just the perfect combination of dance music and noise for me to get really into it. You ATLiens who will be around town on Monday really need to go down to The Drunken Unicorn and catch them playing with A Place To Bury Strangers and Atlanta's badasses All The Saints.
After a short break in the onslaught of great shows, I went and caught Islands. They played almost nothing but new material, and it sounds great. I took a ton of videos, so expect those to show up here sometime in the next few weeks.
After that, it was on to Mohawk's patio to catch one of then night's best line-ups. I got there just in time to catch the end of another Phosphorescent set, where he closed with a 10 minute vocal looping jam. After that, I discovered another great act from California called Bodies Of Water. Really cool stuff with lots of vocal harmonizations. They will be at The Earl Monday night with Sons And Daughters so there is another hot Atlanta St. Patty's Day show you can catch.
Then it was time for Evangelicals. I have been in total love with their new album, so I had been really hyped up for this show. They did not disappoint. They came out with massive blacklights and a fog machine, dressed in a style that was half goth, half candy-raver, and went through songs off the new record. Again, expect many live videos to pop up around here in the near future.
Next up on the outdoor stage was Bon Iver. They went through a handful of the beautiful songs on For Emma, Forever Ago, and wow did they sound good. If you have yet to pick up this album, you are missing out.
After that, we switched up things entirely by seeing Indian Jewelry. I would describe their sound as Liars meets Atlanta's Subliminator. It was a spectacle of strobe lights and minimalist percussionists that were there more to dance than to make music. Very interesting show.
We closed out the night at Emo's Outside stage. I got there just in time for the end of Islands' set, but this time they closed with the amazing "Swans (Life After Death)". Unfortunately, the one dark moment of the entire festival came as some sound guy walked out on stage with a few minutes left in the song right and the PA shut off. They actually cut off their last song. Nick Thorburn found a microphone that was still hooked into the PA and yelled "Fuck SXSW!" Everyone started booing, it was a crazy scene.
After that debacle, We ended our night with an awesome set from Austin's The Octopus Project.
It's on to more music, so I'll holla at you later.
My number one favourite musician, Jim O'Rourke, has a new album coming out this year! He is also reissuing some old stuff. We will celebrate with some Videos:
An Atlanta DJ we heart, Treasure Fingers, is blowing up and Brooklyn Vegan has a TF post full of treasures. Amidst all his touring, he will be doing the FUCKYESSS this upcoming Thursday night at The Drunken Unicorn late with another great ATL DJ, Le Castle Vania. If you haven't been to one of the FUCKYESSS shows, you're missing out because they are really fun. Also, at the TF myspace page, you can download his 40 Minutes In The Champagne Room mix for free. We jammed it at the Ohmpark party a few weeks ago and it was off the hook.
One Hand Loves The Other : Tortoise (Treasure Fingers mix)
The Roots' next album will feature guest appearances from Mos Def, Common, and Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump. Really? Fall Out Boy?
Slipknot, Disturbed, Dragonforce, Mastodon, and a bunch of other metal bands will be at Lakewood Amphitheater on August 1st for The Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival (Mayhem Fest has a nice ring to it).
Thurston Moorejust dropped an itunes EP called Live from SoHo, that is pretty much what the title says. I guess I have to finally go get an itunes account.
The new Death Cab For Cutie album is calledNarrow Stairs.
Pretty much every single Of Montreal cover you could ever want can be found here.
Langerado has a full schedule coming sometime next week. We'll also have a Langerado preview super-post some time next week. On the festival tip, it is rumoured that the Bonnaroo line-up gets dropped next week too, so stay tuned for all the exciting festy news.
Dream Theateris releasing a digital EP on march 31st.
Peter Moren of Peter, Bjorn And Johnis releasing a solo album called The Last Tycoon in April.
The New Pornographers and Okkervil Riverwill be in Athens, Ga at the Georgia Theater on April 17th but no Atlanta date.
Witch, featuring J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr) on drums, is releasing their second album, Paralyzed, on march 18th.
Del The Funky Homosapien and Aceyalone will be at A3C 2008 hip-hop fest at the Midtown Music Complex March 20th-22nd.
Porcupine Treeis releasing an EP of a live performance featuring only Steven Wilson and John Wesley doing rare material from last year called We Lost The Skyline.
Here's another video from the kickass Yeasayer show two weeks ago at The Earl. "Sunrise":
The Echo Project has revealed what artists are playing which days. I also just realized Elevado is on the line-up. I've been jamming their latest release hard lately:
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