Photos: Tealights, Venice Is Sinking, This Piano Plays Itself @ The Earl (11/9/09)

This Piano Plays Itself:

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Live Review: The Other Sound Festival 2009 (9/19/09)

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Photo by Kevin Griggs

The rain has been causing death and destruction across Atlanta for nearly two weeks now, and it tried its hardest to dampen the fun at The Other Sound Festival last Saturday. I got to Little Five Points early enough to get some grub and catch Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun kick off the event, but unfortunately the outdoor stage they were slated to play on got rained out for the day. It was quite unfortunate that the weather washed out so many great acts on the lineup, but there was still plenty of top notch artists left to perform. And while TTMTTS didn’t get to play a set, I did learn that they are just finishing up their next record, an EP which is set to drop next month, so that’s exciting news.

This Piano Plays Itself opened the fest inside of Criminal Records and sounded really nice on the great PA system there. They played a similar set to what they unleashed on Corndogorama, comprised of 3 new, long songs that will be on their forthcoming record. Only three months into their current 5 piece incarnation, and the band is becoming clearly more and more tight and consistent in this formation. I recently listened to some rough mixes of parts of the new album that they have been recording since returning from their summer tour, and it sounded very impressive. Look for that to drop around the beginning of next year. I know regular readers around here are painfully aware I’m squarely on this outfit’s bandwagon, but they continue to make the most of their vast potential and exceed my high expectations for them.

After that I celebrated the time honoured tradition of free PBRs at Criminal Records in-store performances. It seemed just about everyone was suffering various degrees of a hang over, including myself, and a few PBRs helped get me ready for a nice mid-afternoon Yo La Tengo set. By the time they went on, the entire store was completely packed full of people all the way back to the front door. They played a stripped down electric set that included a couple from the new record, a Beatles cover, and they finished it off with a great “Mr. Tough”. I didn’t get any of my personal faves from them, but I didn’t expect to in this setting, so it wasn’t really a disappointment at all. As always, they accompanied their wonderful music with charming banter between songs. Afterwards they signed things for people and did lots of record digging before and after their set. They are one of the rare bands that are both phenomenal musicians and extraordinarily nice people, and I hope they return to Atlanta again very soon.

A few PBRs later, The Orphins took the stage and jammed out a set full of tunes from the new record and classics from back in the day. There are not many bands in this city that want to make me dance, but these guys and gal are definitely one of them. They are able to combine punk intensity with mathy precision unlike almost anyone. Also, I can never get enough of the “steel drum” guitar sound. The Orphins are just such a consistently stellar live band, and The Other Sound was no exception for them.

The Criminal Records portion of the festival closed out with a solo set from Jeffrey Butzer, who did a typically enjoyable set. Mr. Butzer is the master of between song banter with his audience, and he had several humourous things to say this time as well. His easily likable stage presence enhances his live shows, but I have to say that there is something about a one man band setup that makes it hard to capture and hold on to the attention of an audience. While Jeffrey Butzer plays this role almost better than anyone I’ve ever seen utilizing so many instruments at the same time, it still seems to work against him a bit in tandem with music so light and minimalistic. Overall it doesn’t manage to engage me as much as I would like it to, but despite that, a Jeffrey Butzer solo live performance is still pretty damn good.

I took a brief break from the action to go back to my house and recharge a little bit and afterwards headed to the Star Bar for the second half of the fest. After more alcohol consumption, I caught Los Buenos, a new project from former members of the now defunct Batata Doce. Despite the name, this Justin Sias lead group was more reminiscent of Elevado than the world music centric Batata Doce. For a very new band, I thought they sounded great and I hope this line up sticks around for a while.

After some drunken conversations, I only caught the very end of Author’s Apology, and really didn’t hear enough to make any sort of judgment whatsoever. I went back upstairs and caught Untied States next. This was the standout set for me of the entire festival. I’m probably going to be talking about their new, yet to be released record a lot in the next few months, but obviously I think it is pretty amazing, and their live show was of the same caliber. The now 5 piece lineup behind Untied States masterminds Colin Arnstein and Skip Engelbrecht is completely different than last time I saw them, and probably the best supporting cast they have ever had. The drummer alone brings so much to this group. Colin was dressed in an army nurse uniform for this one, and it’s interesting how theatrical this band comes off just simply playing their hearts out on their instruments. These guys are criminally underrated and represent the pinnacle of serious and artful music in this city, so if you haven’t looked into them yet you are losing.

I caught a few songs of Falcon Lords downstairs, but they were a joke, literally. I then tried to wait it out to see Club Awesome next, but the steady supply of beers all day finally took its toll and I had to head back to the house.

Even though the weather tried to sabotage the fest as much as possible, it was still a very fun event overall. Getting Yo La Tengo dropped on the bill was a pretty awesome boost to help counteract the rain. I think The Other Sound was a great snapshot of what’s going on in the local indie scene right now. There is so much great music happening in this town at the moment that it would be impossible to gather it all together for one day, but they did about as good a job as they could. I have to give everyone involved with the fest mad props for assembling such a great lineup. Outside of Yo La‘s time slot, the turnout wasn’t spectacular, but there was a good crowd throughout the entire time I was there, especially considering everything else going on the city that it was competing against. I noticed a ton of ATL superstars in attendance, and I got to meet some new folks and chat it up with some cool peeps I already knew. I saw many of the different artists I like mingling together. The whole thing gave me a very positive feel on where things are heading right now in Atlanta. Between the many musicians and artists and the various people supporting the scene in a multitude of different ways, there is a lot of talent out there right now, and it feels to me like it is coalescing together into something special.

Photos: The Other Sound Festival 2009: Jeffrey Butzer, The Orphins, Yo La Tengo, This Piano Plays itself @ Criminal Records

This Piano Plays Itself:

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Yo La Tengo:

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Photos: Fishhawk, Nerd Parade, Tree Creature, Nomen Novum, This Piano Plays Itself, Larvae, Jungol, Onset @ Nophest 2009

Photos 1 – 11, 17, 18, 20, and 24 by Clint Miller
Photos 12 – 16, 19, 21 – 23, 25 – 35 by Kevin Griggs

Onset:

Jungol:

Larvae:


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On The Road: This Piano Plays Itself 2009 Tour Journal



Photos of This Piano Plays Itself‘s homecoming show at 97 Estoria (8/3/09) by Kevin Griggs

It’s been quite a while now since I spent three weeks on the road with Atlanta’s This Piano Plays Itself. The experience was phenomenal for me, so I wanted to revisit it one more time here on the blog. While I was on the road, I figured that inundating you readers with nothing but stories about the same band for three weeks would be overkill, but on the other hand, I think those stories are well worth telling, so the following post is an extraordinarily long exposition detailing my account of the epic road trip.

Week 1: Shove It Down Their Throats

Early Monday afternoon after the 4th of July, Justin came and picked me up and brought me over to the TPPI Bro Hostel Headquarters so we could all load our personal gear into the van. They are very lucky to have a friend in a successful band who has a 15 passenger van and trailer that they can borrow for their touring needs. It was a rather luxurious travel vessel for the six of us. Next we headed over to their practice space to load up their band gear. As they were bringing everything outside, I was struck by the sheer volume of equipment these guys utilize. I really can’t think of another band as unknown that uses as much stuff. They were a bit pessimistic at first as to how they would load all of it in the trailer, but one of the guys from Gringo Star happened to come by and say hi and the well traveled tour veteran reassured us that all of it would fit, and after some gear Tetris, it did just barely. After this trip I have a ton of respect for bands who arm themselves to the teeth with technology. Not only does it makes loading, unloading, and setting up difficult, but the more gear you have, the more essential items can break, and being at the mercy of suspect sound systems and sound guys are some significant hurdles to clear when not using a conventional stage setup. I can see why so many bands these days take the path of least resistance and go lo-fi.

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On The Road: The Midwest

When this trip began, I was probably least excited about the show and following off day in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, but it ended up being the most fun we’ve had all tour. Saturday night This Piano Plays Itself played a raging house party that reminded me of classic Home Park house parties back in the day. Here’s a video of their triumphant performance:

The rest of our stay in Michigan, we were hanging out with the guys from local band Prussia. We ended up chilling out in what can only be described as a mansion, swimming in the pool, relaxing in the hot tub, shooting pool, and getting really drunk. The whole Michigan experience was a blur, but everyone had a phenomenal time. The guys from Prussia were the most hospitable hosts imaginable, and I had some great conversations about music with them, half of which I can’t remember. But I have been listening to their new EP since then, and it is really cool. Here is a sample, and then you can go download it for free from their myspace:

Prussia : The Witch Was A Preemie, God Bless Her Evil Soul
Prussia myspace

Monday and Tuesday we had shows in Cleveland and Columbus Ohio respectively, both of which were pretty weak in attendance to say the least. In Columbus we did play with some pretty decent bands in a really cool venue that had a tree growing through it though. Overall, our Ohio experience was under par for rest of the tour so far. The Pittsburgh show they had scheduled got canceled, so we decided to go camping in the backwoods of Pennsylvania. We ended up at a camp and discovered a little too late that it was a confederate themed campgrounds and overrun with a strange breed of northern rednecks. The experience was very strange and a little scary, but ended up being yet another hilarious misadventure on this roadtrip that can only be described as epic. I just drove the van and trailer across New York City in rush hour traffic, so now it is time to party again.

On The Road: Tennessee

Right now I’m hanging out at a weird cafe in Memphis, Tennessee where This Piano Plays Itself will be playing later tonight. Getting on the road with a band and sharing the experience really helps put perspective on things for me, and if you ever have the chance to do the same, I can’t recommend it enough. Each day and night is a new mysterious adventure for a mostly unknown touring band, wrought with obstacles to be overcome. It is a long, arduous road to travel, booking shows in cities where no one has heard of you, financing the gas and food, finding places to crash each night, there is so much to take on. Of course, there are plenty of upsides to the experience as well.

The first show of this tour in an “anarchist bookstore” in Birmingham, Alabama Monday night ended up getting canceled due to almost nobody showing up. But the band set up their gear anyways and played a set comprised of instrumental jams I’ve never heard them perform before to a couple of friends who came up from Atlanta, myself and the bookstore staff. It was a fun kickoff party and a truly special set, and luckily I caught most of it on video that I’m saving to post up here one rainy day in the future. Last night they ended up playing their first real show in Chattanooga to a decent crowd and then most of us stayed up until dawn talking about silly stuff.

Since I’m in Tennessee, I figured I would talk about a few of my favourite Tennessee bands. Knoxville’s Royal Bangs are getting closer to finishing up a new album to follow up last year’s We Breed Champions (my #17 album of 2008). I was on the fence about the new material when I caught them playing in Atlanta a few months ago, but the recorded versions sound great. Here is one of them that has just hit the blogosphere:

Royal Bangs : My Car Is Haunted
Royal Bangs myspace
Royal Bangs will be at The Earl July 18th and October 16th.

At one of the final shows at the 1084 House last summer, we hosted Nashville’s Jeff The Brotherhood to a packed out crowd on a Monday night. I know the guitar/drummer duo thing is a bit overused at this point, but it is hard for me to recall anybody pull it off better live than these guys. Here’s a track to preview:

Jeff The Brotherhood : I Don’t Nee Your Tas-T
Jeff The Brotherhood myspace
Jeff The Brotherhood will be at The Earl November 12th

My biggest Tennessee crush band right now is Murfreesboro’s Blastoids. Since I’ve been talking about them plenty lately, I’m just going to drop a live video on you:

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On The Road With This Piano Plays Itself

Our friends This Piano Plays Itself have invited me to tag along for their summer tour again, so I am taking the blog on the road for the next three weeks. I would expect that my posting will become less frequent as I am not sure when I will have Internet access. Last year I documented the band’s adventures on the road for a week, but this year I’ll be playing around with the format and will be using the journey as more of a setting rather than the primary subject of my posts. Anyways, if you are an Ohmpark reader in any of these cities, come on out and catch a show:

This Piano Plays Itself Tour Dates:

7/6 Birmingham, AL @ Greencup Books
7/7 Chattanooga, TN @ JJ’s Bohemia
7/8 Memphis, TN @ P & H Cafe
7/9 St. Louis, MO @ The Tap Room
7/10 Chicago, IL @ The Dark Room
7/11 Pontiac, MI @ @ 26 Union St
7/13 Lakewood, OH@ Bela Dubby
7/14 Columbus, OH@ The Treehouse
7/15 Jeannette, PA @ The Keynote
7/16 Brooklyn, NY @ Goodbye Blue Monday
7/18 New York, NY @ Pianos
7/20 Charlottesville, VA @ Twisted Branch
7/21 Richmond, VA @ The Camel
7/22 Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
7/23 Carrboro, NC @ The Reservoir
7/24 Asheville, NC @ The New French Bar
7/25 Clemson, SC @ Mellow Mushroom
8/1 Athens, GA @ Go Bar
8/3 Atlanta, GA @ 97 Estoria

This Piano Plays Itself myspace

Hold down the ATL for me!

Photos: Evangelicals, This Piano Plays Itself, Sound On Film @ Drunken Unicorn (6/30/09)

Sound On Film:

More Sound On Film photos

This Piano Plays Itself:


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Corndogorama 2009: Sunday (Day 2)


All photos by Clint Miller

I made my way into the festival to grab some breakfast, and then caught the end of The Slackey Family, who weren’t very memorable. As soon as that ended, This Piano Plays Itself unleashed a sonic assault that brought most of the sparse festival crowd over to witness. Their set was only comprised of two newer songs, but they were probably each about ten minutes long. This was the first show with Doug from the now defunct Athens band Kebert Xela in the lineup, and this new 5-piece incarnation was blissful controlled chaos.

Next up were two bands that would broadly fit in the genre of 90′s Frat Rock. I would guess these bands would kill it in Buckhead, but totally weak sauce for Corndogorama.

Get Small:

Niagra Mohawk:

Then Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun (someone needs to coin a short, catchy nickname for this band) took the main stage and played a stunningly compelling set, as they always do. It is hard for me to think of another young band in this city that combines accessibility with more talent than these guys and gals. I definitely wish this set would have been longer.


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Ohmpark Mixtape #7: Atlanta Outkasts

Operatin under the crooked American system too long
OutKast, pronounced out cast
Adjective meaning homeless, or unaccepted in society
But let’s look deeper than that
Are you an OutKast?
If you understand and feel the basic principles and
fundamental truths contained within this muzik, you probably are
If you think it’s all about pimpin hoes and slammin cadillac do’s
You probably a cracker, or a nigga that think he a cracker
Or maybe just don’t understand
An OutKast is someone who is not considered to be part of the normal world
He is looked at differently
He is not accepted because of his clothes, his hair
His occupation, his beliefs or his skin color
Now look at yourself, are you an OutKast? I know I am
As a matter of fact, fuck being anything else
It’s only so much time left in this crazy world
Wake up niggaz and realize what’s goin on around you
Poisonin of the food and water
Tamperin of ciggarettes
Disease engineering control over your life
Take back your existance or die like a punk
This is Big Rube, sayin right on to the real, and death to the fakers
Peace out

-from Outkast’s “True Dat (Interlude)”


This week Creative Loafing dropped their yearly Music Issue. The theme was mixtapes, and they created their own rather lengthy list full of Atlanta artists. They are even having some shows next week and a 10 song LP available from the artists they showcased in the issue. They also had a bunch of random people drop some guest mixtapes. Although I wasn’t invited to the cool kids convention, I figured I would play along anyways. Below are ten songs from musicians that get me excited about what is possible in Atlanta. They don’t adhere to any sense of some monolithic scene because each act is pursuing their unique vision. Many of these musicians are a little too “artsy-fartsy” or “good” to get their fair share of credit from some of the hype-maker dinosaurs around the city, but hey, that’s what I’m here for. Of course I’m leaving out a ton of other great ATLiens, but I think this is a pretty good litmus test to determine if this blog is for you because this is what Atlanta music means to me:

Untied States : I’ll Prove You Wrong (Again)
Slushco : Photograph
Nomem Novem : Permanent Makeup
All The Saints : Farmacia
Tree Creature : Rise Of The Bear Thing
Lee Harvey Oswald : Slore
Lid Emba : Rib Cage
Tealights : Passport
Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun : The Lightning Exhibit
This Piano Plays Itself : There Are Segments Of Revolving And Revolting

The last three songs on the mix are from bands all playing together at 529 tonight so I recommend you join me in attending. Also, go check out the Creative Loafing music issue and download their mixtape.

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