Atlanta Album Preview: Untied States

Here at Ohmpark, if a local act really impresses us, we like to evangelize them and give them the attention they deserve, especially artists that don’t get their fair share of respect from the rest of the hypers. Untied States are a great example of a band that I fanboy out for, mostly because their brand of music is not very accessible, but I can’t think of any band in Atlanta who currently possesses two albums I like more than their Ineffable, By Design (2004) and Retail Detail (2006).

They are currently finishing up their latest full-length and I am very excited to hear it. I contacted US‘s Colin Arnstein via myspace to get a little bit of info about it:

“… it will be our first album not recorded entirely at home…Although we did some tracking at home, we recorded a good bit of the record at Atlanta’s Southern Tracks with producer/engineer/member Darren Tablan. ST has been the recording site of Bruce Springsteen’s last two releases and many others of our favorites like STP (if you don’t know I won’t bother telling you), Limp Bizkit., Three Doors Down, Korn, Black Crowes. ;) let’s just say it’s been done well, but perhaps a wee-tad differently than all these guys. It’s an incredible studio and the record already sounds brilliant unmixed.”

“Like always, as with each successive record, our sound has been refined a good bit. we reigned things in in some places but went out on some very long limbs in others. Expect some “rockers” but also some rather fucked up “doom- jazz” wild scene change kinda stuff like gerswin on a bad trip…maybe a very confused depression-era sentiment.
go figure.”

“lyric concepts include: absurdity, death of irony/post-irony, anti-irony, repetitious histories, unlearned lessons, celebrity, instinct, animalism, disillusionment, squalor, abandonment, escapism, good vibrations etc. :) ;) ”

Looks to be interesting as usual. Untied States also expect this to be their first release on a label, but the details of that are still coming. As we wait for it, here are two tracks from their recent 7″ that will also appear on the new record (remixed):

Untied States : Bye Bye Bi-Polar

Untied States : These Dead Birds

Untied States Myspace

Atlanta Album Preview: Thy Mighty Contract

Supergroups can range anywhere from terrible (Velvet Revolver) to ridiculously awesome (Loose Fur, Swan Lake). So far from what I have heard of Thy Mighty Contract, made up of members of Atlanta institutions such as Blame Game, Fag Static, The Orphins, I Would Set Myself On Fire For You, and Narcolepsy, they are definitely leaning in the awesome direction. I think one of the coolest things about this collective is how well each different sound seems to compliment the others. Their self-titled album should be available later this summer, but until then, you can catch them tonight at WonderRoot. Here’s a track from the forthcoming record to jam:

Thy Mighty Contract : Partners In Crime

Thy Mighty Contract Myspace

Live Review: Dead Meadow, All The Saints, Untied States (2/18/2008) The Earl

Last Monday night I caught one of the best shows in Atlanta so far this year. Three seriously kickass bands played some amazing sets. First up was one of my favourites from Atlanta, Untied States. They are currently working on a new album and I really like the new stuff. Also, I think new(ish) drummer Erin Santini’s style blends very well with their sound. If I had to pick the most underrated band in all of this city, it is these guys.


Click here to read the entire post…

Best 2006 Albums Of 2007

Before I inundate you with all of my best of 2007 stuff, I want to do a little addendum to my 2006 top 50 Albums list. Over the course of this year I discovered some albums that came out last year but wasn’t aware of because I wasn’t blogging and researching obsessively then. These albums here should all have deserved to be on my top 50 list because they are all amazing. Despite being released in ’06, though, these albums will always make me think of this year because of all the great times I had with them as the soundtrack. Pick up these essentials:

Beach House : Beach House

Final Fantasy : He Poos Clouds

Midlake : The Trials Of Van Occupanther

Portugal The Man : Waiter: “You Vultures!”

Silversun Pickups : Carnavas

Snowden : Anti-Anti

Untied States : Retail Detail

What Up In The ATL This Weekend?

Lenny’s is where it is at this weekend for Beanstalk:



A pretty good line-up each night and hopefuly if I can stop being sick, I’ll catch one of these shows.

Sovus Radio : Allison 3000

Untied States : Gold And Its Empty Promise

Howlies : Angeline

Thee Crucials : Squares Beware

This Week In The ATL

Here’s my picks for shows to check out this week:

Tonight: Pinback at The Roxy

Tomorrow: Yo Majesty, The Coathangers, Rob Wonder at the Drunken Unicorn.

Wednesday show of “has-beens” that would probably still be cool: Alice in Chains, Velvet Revolver, Sparta at Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre.

Wednesday show that I will actually go to: Untied States, These Are Powers, Gold Painted Nails at the Drunken Unicorn

Thursday show I’m hoping to score a cheap ticket for: Foo Fighters at the Tabernacle

Thursday show I’ll check out late: Je Suis France at the Drunken Unicorn

Saturday show that might be worth driving to Athens for: !!! (chk chk chk), The Field at the 40 Watt

Sunday show of bands that will drive from Athens to the ATL (Also the show I am most excited about this week): Cinemechanica, We Versus The Shark, So Many Dynamos, Scars at the Drunken Unicorn

Hot tracks:

Untied States : I’ll Prove You Wrong (Again)

These Are Powers : Little Sisters Of Beijing

Cinemechanica : Ruins Of Karnac

We Versus The Shark : I Am A Fantastic Battle

So Many Dynamos : Search Party

This Weekend I’ll See You In The A

In addition to our free beer and great music Saturday night, there is a lot of cool stuff going on in the city. Thursday night The Other Sound Festival begins at the Drunken Unicorn with Moresight, Pistolero, Mary O. Harrison, and Envie. Friday night it continues at The Earl with Allnightdrugprowlingwolves, Lay Down Mains, The Press, The Yum yum Tree, Citified, and Fernadina. The Coathangers CD release party is at The Star Bar Friday night. If you’re more hippy than hipster, Dark Star Orchestra are at the Variety Playhouse Friday night. If none of those strike your fancy there is The Pendletons, Auditioning Alice, Sonen, and The Sea Lions at Lenny’s.

Saturday night The National, The Rosebuds, and Doveman are at The Variety Playhouse. The Other Sound Festival continues at Lenny’s with Luigi, Club Awesome, One Hand Loves The Other, The Orphins, The Jupiter Watts, Novelift, Silent Kids, and Disassemble. Another big show Saturday night is The Close‘s final show at the Earl with The Liverhearts and Teen Wheat. Remember, even if you go catch one of the other great shows of the night, our party will be going late so come over for the afterparty.

Sunday The Jupiter Watts are playing the dunch at The Earl and The other Sound Festival ends at 11:11 Teahouse with Untied States, Tenth To The Moon, Jeff Evans, and Batata Doce.

The Press : Noxious Saucy Beast : Trade Blows

One Hand Loves The Other : One Hand Loves The Other : Tortoise

Untied States : Retail Detail : Immaculate

Luigi : Found On The Forest Floor : Mariposa

The Rosebuds : The Night Of The Furies : I Better Run

The Jupiter Watts : Jupiter Watts : Hello

This Weeks Shows In The A

Tommorrow night I’m really excited to check out Porturgal. The Man at the Drunken Unicorn. I’ve discovered this Alaskan band just this year and have absolutely loved their material. Go check out their myspace, go to this show, and then pickup their new album Church Mouth.

Wednesday there’s two really great shows to check out. First, if you go to the suburbs and catch Ted Leo and The Pharmacists and Birds of Avalon, a band we caught earlier this year opening for Beach House who is really great. If you want to stay ITP, three great local bands are playing at the Drunken Unicorn: Moresight, Untied States, and Elevado.

Thursday night Stickfigure Distribution has a great show at The Earl with One hand Loves The Other, Ninetynine (featuring Sleater Kinney‘s original drummer), and Strezo.

Friday night Rob’s House Records has a great show at the Earl with Deerhunter, The Spooks, and Chopper.

Here’s a few tunes to listen to:

Portugal. The Man : Church Mouth

Birds Of Avalon : Bicentential Baby

Untied States : It’s Not Goodbye

One Hand Loves The Other : Don’t Know

Deerhunter : Ponds

A Drunken Blitz Saturday Night (Featuring Nophest and Untied States)

So, here’s what I remember…

At the trap. Newcastle. it begins. Depart with the drizzle. Cryptograms blasts. Cabbage town. Teahouse. 11:11. Bud light kegs. Fill up cups. Beautiful day to chill outside. Lecture on music software. Show and tell. Projector. sample bank. beer. move the mouse. coding the tunes. laptop action. beer. Night falls. where’s the bathroom? beer. more computer jams, now I want a cigarrette. beer. Lots of jars with lots of organic stuff. Suddenly, Cyborg Transvestite. Drum machines. yelling. black dress. big metal plate. banging. dancing, yelling, banging, beats, evil beats, it just died. no, now its back. Cyborg Punk will never die. beer. porching. bum cigarettes. way too harsh a cigarrette. head feels funny. need more beer. beer. kids rapping about suicide bombers. doing interviews with crowd while performing. beer. back to the spaceship. East Atlanta is blurry. maybe that’s me. pizza. pbr. aw yeah. must get to gas station before midnight. millerlite case-ish. ISP Space. chillin. Biggie C. moorish posse. beer. really foggy now. i’m guessing beer. Untied States time. wait, who is that chick on the drums? new line-up? woah. beer. The States bring the noise. hells yaher. beer. I think i’m blind in one eye. maybe both. time to take it back to the park. beer. smoke. too drunk to stay awake. goodnight.

These two artists put on a damn good show at Nophest(4-21-2007) so check it out:

Johan Ess

Graham Coleman

What The Hell Am I Listening To?!?

Atlanta music edition of “What The Hell”:

Moorish Idols: Moorish Idols EP

With these guys it’s hard for me to make comparisons because they’re sound is very unique, but still contains whispers of an uncountable amount of music. Really, if you enjoy the greater spectrum of rock music there’s something here for you. On top of containing 4 stunning songs, the EP packaging kicks ass. Guitarist David Norbery’s sketches in the booklet and personalized CD designs per each different EP give this piece of art another dimension. I urge you to pick this up and give it a listen:

You can pick up a copy of this at Criminal Records, at one of their shows that you need to see, or snail mail via their Myspace page

Untied States: Retail Detail

Students of the school of Sonic Youth, Untied States are quietly one of Atlanta’s best bands. The more i listen to this album, the more I fall in love with it. If you too enjoy the experience of getting into challenging music, get this and you will not be dissappointed:

Buy This Album Here (while you’re there pick up Ineffable, By Design too)

Black Lips: Los Valientes Del Mondo Nuevo

Somewhere between Rock ‘n Roll, Punk, and something else is where Black Lips rocks faces off. This live album was recorded in some craptastic club in Tijuana, Mexico and through-out the performace the band is virtually fighting the tequilla-crazed audience. If you’ve seen the Black Lips, you know this is the perfect setting for these guys. A one-of-a-kind live album that you need to buy:

Buy This Album Here

An ATL Adventure Featuring Akron/Family, Untied States, and Black Lips

Tuesday night (2-20-07) was one for the ages. After a long day, I headed to Little Five Points to check out the in-store Criminal Records performance of Black Lips. This was the first in-store performance I’ve ever checked out, so I got there early not knowing what to expect. After picking up the new Explosions In The Sky, the Black Lips album they were promoting, Los Valientes Del Mundo Nuveo, and the Moorish Idols EP, I discovered that Criminal Records was giving out free PBR for the show. +1 . I went to chat with a taper I saw outside and it turned out to be Rich from Cable & Tweed, who was really cool. The crowd was pretty large despite the drizzling and it looked like a mini mardi gras outside the record shop with all the PBR drinking outdoors. Black Lips came out with guitarist “Old king Cole Younger” dressed in nothing but boots, a cowboy hat, and tighty whities:

Black Lips rocked out hard and had a docile crowd transformed into a rowdy mob throwing more PBR cans at each other than hippies throwing glowsticks at a Phish show by the end. A truly great live band that certainly needed to put out a great live album (and it is a great album). The finale came with the other guitarist, “Ian St. Pe’” lighting a pack of firecrackers hanging from his mouth and swinging it around into the audience. From what i understand, this was one of their tamer performances. You should catch them at the Whirley Ball place in Roswell friday night or the 40 Watt in Athens saturday night. Thanks to Chelsea for the pics:

After meeting up with BiggieC and getting some grub at Six Feet Under, we headed to the East Atlanta Village to catch the nights’ show at the Earl. Untied States opened up and put it down as only they can. One of my favourite bands in Atlanta cuz they just balls to the wall noise rock and I love it. As far as quality progressive music goes in this town, these guys are king. Finally picked up a copy of Retail Detail, and it kicks much ass. Don’t know why it took me so long to get it considering I’ve listened to Ineffable, By Design like 200 times. BiggieC brings you the visuals:

I really didn’t know what to expect with Akron/Family. I had heard a couple of songs and had alot of people who know music suggest them to me, so I bought a ticket. It was an extremely wise decision. They started out with a sweet, beautiful sounding folk slow jam and then blasted out some in-your-face-drog-rock. This schizophrenic style-switching characterized this just simply amazing show. They went from silly 4-part vocal harmonization, to Neil Young-esque rock songs, to sugary lullabyes, to post-rock noise jams, to even pulling out a cover of I Know You Rider from nowhere.

On top of being musical wizards, they put forth one of the most entertaining stage shows i’ve ever whitnessed. These highly animated characters brought an armada of music toys ranging from strumming bells with a bow, to the drummer playing a banjo, to sqeezing stuffed animal sound affects into the mic, to not 1, not 2, but 3 plastic recorders. At one point Miles Seaton was playing his bass with a cellphone.

They engaged the crowd with sing alongs (which i usually hate but these were great) and had huge heart shaped lolly-pops for audience members to dance with. The only thing i didn’t like about the show was the audience talking, which Akron/Family had no problem calling out and rising above. Seriously, why does every person at a show at the Earl gotta talk through the whole thing? wankers.

After performing for about 2 hours straight, they invited much of the audience on stage for one last massive jam and sing along. BiggieC played the hell out of the tambourine while I even got to sing a metal rendition of “circle, triangle, square” into the mic. These guys were the coolest mofos. From my cellphone on stage:

It’s amazing what a bunch of hippies can do when they aren’t locked in the box of the jamband scene and culture. I mean these guys are essentially the greatest jamband on Earth right now. Where the Grateful Dead took folk and American music and pushed it to another planet, these guys drop-kick it into another galaxy. The Widespreads, and the String Cheeses, and the Moes of the world forget what made bands like the Dead and Phish truly great is that they pushed music to a new level, they were pioneers and experimental and progressive. Akron/Family is all of these things and more and I cannot stress to you enough that you must go see this band if you get the chance. Rarely does a band I’ve barely ever heard before become an instant favourite, but these guys are that good. What a night!

Check out Akron/Family

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