[Mp3] Mirror Mode: “Hexa”

Double Phantom Digital’s latest free release is a six song EP from Mirror Mode, a new project by Allen Taylor (Feast of Violet/Kolossi) and Dan Wakefield (Ominous Castle). The duo composes dreamy pop built on lush and ambient electronic arrangements that after a couple of listens I’m really enjoying. Give it a spin yourself:

Mirror Mode : “Hexa”

Download/Stream Veils

[Mp3] The Runaway Five (Live @ Eyedrum 9/8/10)


The Runaway Five is Lockett Pundt (Deerhunter, Lotus Plaza) and Dan Wakefield (Ominous Castle, Abby Go Go)

The Runaway Five : Live @ Eyedrum 9/8/10

Ifilmbands has video of the performance here.

You can download Warning Light‘s set here and Young Again‘s set here. Photos of the three acts are here.

Thanks to Robby Kee and Nathan Brown for this.

An Atlanta Mp3 Trilogy: Abby Go Go, Ominous Castle, Facehugger

Abby Go Go:

photo by virginia derosa

Last week I finally caught Abby Go Go live, a band I had been hearing about for some time. They do the gritty garage rock retro thing that is so hip in this city these days without falling in the common pitfall of sucking too hard. They flesh out the psychedelic strains of that sound well, reminiscent of brethren bands The NEC and All The Saints. I found myself really loving the more jammed out sections, especially the instrumental they closed their set with. The more pop structured parts the band employs are bit too derivative and forgettable for me, but this outfit certainly has plenty of potential and talent to build on.

Abby Go Go : Nothing All The Time

Abby Go Go myspace




Ominous Castle:

Ominous Castle is a Abby Go Go side project of sorts that is a little more adventurous and experimental than the AGG. I picked up a copy of their Chainsaw EP from Vacation recently, which was handmade with a white piece of paper with nice permanent marker artwork of an ominous looking castle stapled around the CD. While Abby Go Go may find broader appeal in this city due to their style being so trendy, I find myself much more fascinated by this particular project because it has much more of its own identity and is far less safe. Here is the title track from their great 4 song EP that you should pickup at your local record shop:

Ominous Castle : Chainsaw

Ominous Castle myspace




Facehugger:

A variation on their crazy album cover art for And Here I Am

When I bought the new Ominous Castle CD, I bought a new EP from Facehugger as well. Facehugger is a band that has also been making a lot of noise around town and actually shares a member with OC, so it rounds out this trilogy nicely. If OC was a few steps in a more avant-garde direction than AGG, then Facehugger is even further along that spectrum. Upon listening to the 5 song release titled And Here I Am, I appreciate their weird-without-abandon approach and I think this act could very well develop into something special over time, but I don’t think this record necessarily possesses the most successful results from what is possible from these guys. It certainly has its moments though, like the panning washout at the end of the EP. Here is a track from it:

Facehugger : Missed Connections

Facehugger myspace

Live Videos: Bambara, Ominous Castle @ Drunken Unicorn (2/21/09)


Bambara

I arrived at this show blotto, so unfortunately I didn’t get a decent video of Untied States, who were headlining. They are about to drop their newest record finally, and based on some of the early, unmixed stuff they let me hear, it is going to be fantastic. While my inebriation might have affected my objectivity a bit, I thought all three bands on the bill sounded great. Bambara is fast becoming one of my favourite up-and-coming Athens bands.

Ominous Castle:


Bambara: