[Mp3] Cottonmouth: “Timeon”
Cottonmouth, member of Athens’ Pretty Bird and formerly of Atlanta’s Sound On Film, is preparing a new album titled Stimulation. Much like the cool Pretty Bird video I posted earlier this year, this track from the yet unfinished album has an abstract and percussive feel to it. Recommended for the more adventurous listener:
- Posted by Davy Minor on November 8, 2010 at 2:42 am
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[VIdeo] Pretty Bird: “Opener”
I received an email containing a video from a mysterious Athens band called Pretty Bird, and it turns out to be the coolest music video I think I’ve seen all year. Pretty Bird‘s music is a bizarre percussive concoction of vocal samples, and though I find it fascinating, I’m not sure I would actually enjoy listening to it very often. But in conjunction with the simple yet effective visual imagery, the total package of this video is rather impressive. I noticed that it was uploaded to the youtube account of now defunct Atlanta band Sound On Film, which though short-lived was one of my favourite local discoveries last year. So I’m guessing there is some connection, but who knows.
Pretty Bird
“Opener”
Pretty Bird myspace
- Posted by Davy Minor on July 14, 2010 at 4:10 pm
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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: Sound On Film, Noot d’ Noot, Adron
Sound On Film @ Drunken Unicorn (6/30/09)
As I continue to dig deep through the Atlanta underground music scene looking for something new, I’m perpetually surprised that the well never seems to go dry. Just when I think everybody in this town doing something special is on my radar, I discover yet another fantastic artist. The newest gem in the rough that I believe is going to blow everyone in this town away in the coming years is Sound On Film. I’ve caught two live shows so far, both of which were extremely impressive, and I’ve just grabbed a copy of their new record, The Eloquent Reginald, and I can’t stop listening to it. Sound On Film‘s potential seems boundless, as they are barely out of high school, and at such a young age they seem more capable and talented then most veteran local bands. You can download their 5 song record below for free, so get on the bandwagon now before everyone else does:
Sound On Film : Julia Was A Lady
Download The Eloquent Reginald for free
Sound On Film myspace
Noot d’ Noot @ Corndogorama 2009
After catching Noot d’ Noot‘s triumphant Corndogorama performance this year, I picked up a copy of their newest release, Cash For Gold, and have been jamming it hard ever since. While I’ve warmed up to it over time, Goofer Dust was just a bit too abstract and ambling for me to really get into, but Cash For Gold seems to synthesize the best parts of their previous jazzier studio work with the brilliance of their funky live performances, resulting in a perfect, best of both worlds blend. On top of the actual music being top-notch, the packaging to the record includes plenty of fun extras, so go pick it up:
Noot d’ Noot : The Occasion
Buy Cash For Gold
Noot d’ Noot myspace
Adron @ Star Bar (6/25/09)
Adrienne McCann popped on my radar a while ago, but after a casual listen to a song or two, I had unfairly wrote her off as as just another ordinary local singer/songwriter, of which this town is filled to brim with. Once she had left us ATLiens behind in search of glory in New York, I didn’t think to check her out again until I heard recently that she was mulling over returning to the dirty south. I downloaded a copy of her new EP, Burdwurld, which she is giving away for free, and now I finally see what all the buzz was about. This city loves to get behind a pretty face regardless, or more often, in spite of actual talent or musicianship, but Adron most definitely has the artistic goods to back it up.
Adron : Renegade
Download Burdwurld for free
Adron myspace
- Posted by Davy Minor on July 29, 2009 at 2:47 pm
- 2 Comments
Photos: Evangelicals, This Piano Plays Itself, Sound On Film @ Drunken Unicorn (6/30/09)
Click here to read the entire post…
- Posted by Kevin Griggs on July 2, 2009 at 2:03 pm
- 2 Comments
