Photos: Les Savy Fav, Twin Tigers (1/23/09) @The Earl

Twin Tigers:

More Twin Tigers photos here

Les Savy Fav:


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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

Humpday Randomnimity

So first, let’s break down the Bonnaroo line-up:

First, I think it’s hilarious that NME and the AP totally got punked and reported that Led Zeppelin is headlining. Since they deleted their mistake, here it is immortalized:

The weirdest thing is that NME had announced earlier in the day that they would be announcing a “surprise headliner” at midnight, so the conspiracy theorists out there are going to believe there is a chance that they will add Led Zeppelin late after tickets go on sale (because LZ would instantly sell out the fest), to give the ‘roo loyalists a easy shot at tickets first. Considering everyone denied Metallica was playing when that rumour broke earlier, it is certainly possible but doubtful.

So, Metallica. Hmmmm. I’m just going to say that i think they are being a little risky with some of their line-up choices for a rare fest with an almost completely non-violent history. It will be an interesting experiment to see how that crowd does, but I’m a bit pessimistic on that front. Although, there have only been a handful of ‘roo headliners over the years that have been really awesome in my opinion, so it’s not the worst thing to me (plus now i can get a nap Friday night between the day acts and the late-night acts). It’s the smaller acts that I always like best anyways. Plus, Pearl Jam is really great live. Also, I’m just gonna say, Jack Johnson isn’t necessarily bad, but I can think of like 100 better headliners off the top of my head, and he has to headline both Coachellas and Bonnaroo? Coooooooooooome ooooooon.

Regardless of all that junk at the top of the list, there is a lot to be excited about. Sigur Ros is probably the biggest for me since I love them and have yet to see them. The other names I’m going to be excited to see include Iron & Wine, Broken Social Scene, Mastodon (ATL represent!), !!!, The Fiery Furnaces, Jose Gonzalez, Minus The Bear, Battles, and The Sword. Things I’ve seen a million times that are still pretty cool to catch again: Phil Lesh, My Morning Jacket, The Allman Brothers, Death Cab For Cutie, Ben Folds, and Dark Star Orchestra. Others I’ll probably check out if nothing great is going on include Kanye, Robert Plant, Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Talib Kweli, Gogol Bordello, Rilo Kiley, Tegan & Sara, Vampire Weekend, and Black Kids.

Overall, its decent but not their best line-up. I’m still going cuz I love this fest. A Mars Volta addition would really set it off though.

Speaking of The Mars Volta, Pitchfork finally reviewed The Bedlam in Goliath, and while they still gave it a terrible score, they finally back-tracked a tad bit from the absolute hate they have for this band and moved to a more “well we don’t like them, but I can see why others do and they are awesome in certain ways we don’t put much value in” position (I’m paraphrasing here). While I appreciate the sentiment, they still laid down some serious presumptuous elitism. Like when the ‘fork makes claims that TMV championing prog-rock (or as i would put it, innovating a musical epistemology built on innovation) “couldn’t be more averse to real progress in rock music”, it just makes me realize how one-dimensional they are in their music taste and while they have been a huge driving force of this current music revolution going on, they are sometimes missing the point. In essence what is going on is about diversity, not about a singular idea or sound. When you value 3 LCD Soundsystem songs that are nice on the dancefloor surrounded by a ton of boringness and repetition over an album where they make every single second on it count, well, I’m just not gonna ever jump on that bandwagon.

Ok, now I am gonna get all pitchforky on you and serve up a glass of haterade. I bought the new The Selmanaires, Anna Kramer, and The Whigs albums a couple of weeks ago. I’m a cheerleader for the local acts as much as the next person, but while I think these are all fine albums in their own right and I know the rest of the Jo-Ja big dawgs are touting them endlessly, these are far from the best acts or albums that Georgia has to offer. They are all copycatting played out styles, and bringing nothing new to the table. There are sure to be plenty of people who will genuinely love these, but I like a bit of innovation, a touch of avant-garde, an artist who takes chances, I like something unique and different, and I hear none of that on these albums. The Selmanaires seem to be only one of these three that I believe have real potential to be something special, but I always find myself thinking about 25% of what they do is amazing, and the other 75% is totally uninteresting. I understand that they are like a library of styles and that they are making very deep musical references, but they don’t bring a new perspective to their reference points except sometimes they water them down. They sound like a history book to me. I think they just lay too safe sometimes, and if they really went for it they could be great. Again, The Air Salesman is not a bad album, but if I were to compare it to other ATL albums I consider great, like, I don’t know, an Untied States album (or the new Slushco EP that is getting absolutely no press except here), I don’t think it stands up.

Ok, enough digression, here’s some news:

Iron & Wine and Califone will be at the Variety Playhouse on April 14th.

The Breeders will be at The Loft on June 13th.

Modest Mouse are working on an EP.

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