The Atlanta Mess-Around

Atlanta institutions such as Rob’s House Records, Die Slaughterhaus Records, Douschemaster Records, and Triple D’s are teaming up to put together a festival called Atlanta Mess-Around going down in a couple of weeks. I’m not the biggest fan of garage/punk rock in the world, but there is no denying that many of these bands are very good. Also, every event I’ve attended put on by these folks have been a ton of fun. Paste did an interview with the heads of all three labels that you should check out. The full schedule goes like this:

Click here to read the entire post…

DIY Nation: Rob’s House Records

Last Saturday I spent my afternoon at Rob’s House in East Atlanta. Rob’s House Records is an Atlanta music label that puts out 7″ vinyl records of ATL bands such as Deerhunter and Black Lips. Some cool articles to read up can be found here, here, and here. Last Saturday they had another of the many free parties that they do. We arrived just in time to grab a beer off of the keg and listen to Bobby And The Soft Spots do a short set in the tiny basement. I’m not the biggest fan of this trend of local bands trying to copycat the Black Lips, because they always seem to come off as a cheap ripoff to me, and this was a particularly uninspired attempt. After that we chilled out with the guys from Elevado and Missile Command and watched some pyromaniac build a huge fire. When the keg died, the other band, The Subsonics, performed. They have apparently been around for a very long time (their first album came out in 1992) and while I had heard of them before this, I really didn’t know anything about them. The chick drummer played the entire time standing up, and was pretty good. The frontman just ruled his guitar. They slashed through a ton of short surf-punk-rock jams off one of the largest setlists I’ve ever seen a band write out. Here’s a few videos:

Overall, my second time at Rob’s House was very fun again. They know good music, they throw good parties, and they are just another example of how the ATL underground music scene kicks major ass.

Bobby:

Can you spot the superstars?

Subsonics:

Subsonics Myspace

Rob’s House Records Myspace

I recommend checking out this one:

Coming soon from Rob’s House:

Gentleman Jesse / Joseph Plunket – Split 7″
Baby Shakes – Tell Me Now 10″ (heart-shaped)
The Weakends 7″
Demon’s Claws – Fucked on Ketamine 7″
Slab City – Friday Nite Boy 7″
Hipshakes – Live at Rob’s House 7″
+ represses: Carbonas, Cheveu, SIDS, Fe Fi Fo Fums

If you’re going to SXSW, we’ll see you here:

A Weekend In The A (featuring Sebadoh, Snowden, From Exile, Tenth To The Moon, Lid Emba)

Last weekend I tried to hit up as many different shows as possible. First, i went and checked out the Snowden and Selmanaires show at Rob’s House (Records). Rob’s House was just some dude’s house in East Atlanta. They had a keg for people to drink and a tiny basement where the bands played to a tightly packed crowd of 30-50. The show time said 3pm, but i got there at 5pm and was still able to catch the end of The Selmanaires set. Snowden played next and rocked the basement out. I really like the idea of taking a typical keg party, adding some great bands and doing it early in the afternoon. Good stuff.


Snowden in Rob’s Basement

After hitting some bars up and taking a smoke break at my house to listen to an album or two, i headed to the Earl to catch the Jupiter Watts show. i stayed for an hour and pretty sure i didn’t see the Jupiter Watts but was way too drunk at this point to concentrate on doing a good review, so I’ll have to come and see them again. I made it back to my neighborhood and hung out with the boys in From Exile late night as they did a mini-acoustic set:

In May, From Exile is going on tour on the east coast and Ohmpark will be taking it on the road with them chronicling this journey. We will have more details on that as soon as the tour is completely booked, but it is going to be a fiasco and I hope our non-ATL readers will come check them out. They just purchased an old prisoner transport van for the trip:

On Sunday i finally got a chance to check out the ISP Space. I have to say that i like it. It is very small, but the concept and the vibe are great. I had no idea who any of the bands playing were before i went, but i was very impressed with two of them. Lid Emba is Sean Moore playing on drum machines, a drum set, and a synth. Really cool ambient, noise, experimental electronic stuff. He closed with a really interesting mash-up/reinterpretation of Black Sabbath‘s War Pigs, and despite being one of the most over-covered songs of all time, it was still stunning. I got a copy of his debut album, Reason Isn’t Radar, and after an initial listen, I really like it.

Next up was Tenth To The Moon. This three piece consisted of two older gentleman on bass and keys, and some crazy kid fronting the band switching around from vocals, to drums, to drum machines. I guess on a broad scale I would call it experimental noise-dance. At one point the vocalist pulls out a huge metal shield that is plugged into the sound system that he beats to death with his drum sticks. Really good music and a very entertaining live show that you should check out.

I finally made my way over to Sebadoh at the Variety Playhouse just in time for Lou and the boys to come on. I’m not very familiar with Sebadoh, but they were really good. An enjoyable relic of the ’90s. I have to say I enjoyed seeing Lou Barlow solo or Dinosaur Jr much more, but it was cool to see another manifestation.