[Stream] Hopi Torvald: “Almanac Vol 12 – December”

Hopi Torvald, the solo project of Tree Creature‘s Nathan Brown, released a lot of material over the course of 2011, including his Almanac series where he unveiled one song for each month of the year. His final installment in this series is a beautiful ambient piece he did on his out of tune piano. Give it a listen and then go check out his entire catalog:

Hopi Torvald blog

Ohmpark’s Top 25 Albums of 2011

Back in 2009, I listened to approximately 75 records that came out of Atlanta that year. This year, I blogged about roughly 75 records, and for every album I discussed, there were at least five I listened to and didn’t blog about. The quantity of music being made in this city is growing exponentially, and the Atlanta music scene runs extraordinarily deep. So needless to say, this was the most difficult year-end list to put together yet.

On a technical note, my 2011 year-end list eligibility extends through the 2010 holiday season because I like to be able to spend enough time with a record to properly evaluate it. So, any record that was not widely available before Thanksgiving this year will go into consideration for 2012.

Here are my twenty-five favourite albums from Atlanta this year:


25. Cassandras : Hari Pari Mandala Gosthi




24. Dark Room : Gothic Picnic




23. We The Lion : Boy Oh Boy




22. Easily Suede / Carey : Good Health Guide




21. Cassandras : Cassandras: 3 Songs




20. Book Club : Ghost




19. Warning Light : Wild Silver




18. Djarum : Don’t Let Me Down




17. Places : The Future




16. Nomen Novum / Magicicada / Tree Creature : Three Way Split




15. The Back Pockets : Fast Cloud Slow Cloud




14. Lid Emba : Terminal Muse: Blue




13. Vocabulary : Faded Days




12. Time Wharp : later.




11. Atlas Sound : Parallax




10. Mastodon : The Hunter




9. Places : Half-Dones




8. New Animal : Eleven Songs




7. Places : March




6. Spirits and the Melchizedek Children : We Are Here To Save YOU!




5. Lyonnais : Want For Wish For Nowhere




4. The Electric Nature : Mount Analogue




3. Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun : Wildfire




2. Little Tybee : Humorous To Bees




1. New Animal : New Animal

The story of Atlanta’s independent music scene in 2011 was the rise of a new wave of artists that came out of nowhere and upped the ante on everyone else. Only four acts on this list (veteran mainstays Mastodon, Atlas Sound, The Back Pockets, and Nomen Novum) have appeared on my best Atlanta album lists in either 2010 or 2009. That’s a symptom of the fact that there’s a new generation of local musicians dominating the scene. And at the head of this new class is New Animal.

New Animal‘s meteoric rise over the course of 2011 is unparalleled. Without a label backing them, with very little major publication support, and without even playing a single show ever, New Animal became one of the Internet’s buzziest bands early on in the year solely based on the strength of their 75-minute self-titled masterpiece. It’s hard for me to think of another record with fifteen songs where I love each and every single one. And what’s even more impressive is that they continued to output new material seemingly on a monthly basis, creating a catalog in one year vaster and more compelling than most artists do over a lifetime. There is simply no musical artist in the world that’s had a more impressive year.

My #2 and #3 spots went to outfits that have been on their own upward swing lately, each respectively creating an epic record that delivered on all the brilliance and potential they had displayed in recent years. My #4 is probably the most inaccessible record to come out of the city this year, but if you can find your way inside, it’s a monster. And my #5 goes to a band that I had previously written off, but there’s no denying what an amazing album they’ve put forth.

Of course, everything on this list is spectacular, and if you missed one, be sure to pick it up.

[Video] Tree Creature: “The Westernmost Part of the Island Large”

“The Westernmost Part of the Island Large” is a cut from the 3-way split tape with Nomen Novum and Magicicada.

[Stream] Hopi Torvald/ Magicicada: “Split 01″

Nathan Brown, one half of Atlanta’s Tree Creature, has been releasing a lot of new material lately on soundcloud under the moniker Hopi Torvald. On top of his own stuff, Hopi Torvald has also started a series of collaborations with other artists, and I’m really digging a two track split between him and Magicicada, an experimental Atlanta artist that I’ve been remiss not have mentioned on this blog up until this point. So, listen to what happens when two powerful forces in drone combine, and be sure to dig deep into both of these artists:

Hopi Torvald/ Magicicada split 01 by HopiTorvald


Hopi Torvald soundcloud

Magicicada website

[Mp3] Magic Apron: The Purling Waters

Magic Apron, a project centered around Dayvid McClung, has been making music in Atlanta for a long time. But over the last few months, Magic Apron has digitally released five records worth of material spanning across its years of existence. The latest offering is a beautiful forty-five minute ambient piece titled The Purling Waters that features Robby Kee of Tree Creature. You can give it a listen below, and then be sure to go the Magic Apron blog and grab the rest:

Magic Apron : The Purling Waters (PCRC 005)

Magic Apron blog

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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Photos: Shark Bite Tapes Showcase @ Eyedrum (5/9/09)

Cedro Denado:

Inbalso:

Kristen Calvarese:

Offerings:

Rat Bastard:

Tree Creature:

More photos here

Shark Bite Tapes myspace

Photos: Tera Melos, Cinemechanica, Tree Creature at Eyedrum in Atlanta, GA (4/30/09)

Tree Creature

Cinemechanica


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