RadATL New music

Revisiting Pylon Reenactment Society’s ‘Christmas Daze’


Pylon Reenactment Society’s “Christmas Daze” captures that peculiar mix of frantic motion and quiet clarity that settles in around the holidays. The song was born on instinct during a late-2021 rehearsal: bass player Kay Stanton dropped a riff that snapped the room into sharp focus. Within minutes the group had a new song on their hands. They carried that momentum straight into Chase Park Transduction, tracking the tune on December 29, 2021, while the season’s energy still hung in the air. The song was initially released via Bandcamp on December 1, 2023.

“Christmas Daze” follows a lone traveler who runs out of gas on the way to and from a family gathering. But the breakdown serves as a reset. Instead of leaning into frustration, the song’s narrator reconnects with the small charms that make the holidays worthwhile. Tiny flashes of warmth are found in roadside stillness, the glow of passing decorations, and the quiet pause between obligations.

Pylon Reenactment Society. Photo by Christy Bush

PRS delivers it all with their signature taut and wiry pulse. Vanessa Briscoe Hay’s voice cuts through like a cold wind, carrying equal parts wry humor and wonder. Jason NeSmith’s guitar sparks and coils around Gregory Sanders’ crisp drumming, and Stanton’s riffs propel the music forward. ‘Christmas Daze’ hums with the notion that life moves better when you stay present enough to catch the beauty flickering in every passing second.

If you have enjoyed reading this post, please consider donating to RadATL. Venmo to @Chad-Radford-6 or click on the PayPal link below.

Donate with PayPal

RadATL Atlanta shows

Five Eight and the Ladies Of … ring in the holidays at Smith’s Olde Bar on Fri., Dec. 12

Five Eight photo by Marc Pilvinsky

Five Eight plays Smith’s Olde Bar on Friday, December 12, delivering a jolt of Athens-born punk and pop catharsis for the holiday season. 

Fresh off a year of renewed energy sparked by Marc Pilvinsky’s documentary Weirdo: The Story of Five Eight, the group released their first new single in over six years, a ramped up number titled “Take Me To the Skate Park.” A successful run at SXSW served as a sharp reminder that Five Eight’s fire still burns with undeniable force.


Now, Five Eight is one of the first 100 bands announced to play SXSW 2026. In the meantime, the group hits the Music Room stage with the force of a band that’s lived through triumph, tragedy, and chaos, only to come out swinging.


Their latest single, “I’m Alone,” arrived on Nov. 7, offering a sharp, emotional snapshot of the songwriting depth that has elevated Five Eight from an underdog to a bonafide Georgia music fixture. With a new album slated to arrive next Spring via hardcore label Static Era, the show offers a chance to catch the band as they embark on a bold new chapter.

Singer and guitar player Mike Mantione, bass player Dan Horowitz, guitarist Sean Dunn, and drummer Patrick “Trigger” Ferguson share the stage with the Ladies Of… featuring James Hall, whose hybrid of glam, punk, hillbilly boogie, and dark-edged poetry turns every set into a spectacle. Hall’s presence alone brings an electric gravity to the room—equal parts swagger, invocation, and celebration. Together, Five Eight and The Ladies Of… promise a holiday show that trades sentimentality for sweat, noise, and raw, communal release.

In the true spirit of the season, the Music Room will also feature a photo booth. There will also be blind contour drawings by artist Kayti Didriksen, adding a visual counterpoint to the evening’s sonic fireworks.

Before the show at Smith’s, Five Eight’s Mike Mantione and James Hall make a stop at Criminal Records on Thursday, December 4, hosting a listening party for their new holiday tune “Christmas Without You.”

The Criminal Records in store show is free. Music starts at 4 p.m.

For the Smith’s Olde Bar show, doors open at 7 p.m., showtime is 8 p.m. $20 (advance). $30 (day-of show). $48 (VIP pre show meet-and-greet, includes a signed poster).

If you have enjoyed reading this post, please consider donating to RadATL. Venmo to @Chad-Radford-6 or click on the PayPal link below.

Donate with PayPal

RadATL Atlanta shows

David J, Kevn Kinney, and the Hot Place play Electron Gardens on Thursday, December 4

On Thurs., Dec. 4, David J Haskins of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets fame joins Kevn Kinney of Drivin’ N Cryin,’ and the Hot Place for an evening of songs, spoken words, and sonic revelry at Electron Garden Studios.

For one night only, each act brings their signature wavelenghth of Southern-gothic glow and post-punk introspection to the intimate confines of Electron Gardens in Avondale Estates’ Rail Arts District.

Lisa King of the Hot Place sets the night in motion reading selections from her book of poetry, Dark Queens and Their Quarry: Boneshadows of Motherskin. Framed by hand percussion and the crackling intimacy of her voice, King will read poems that drift between dream logic and ancestral hauntings, dovetailed by an atmospheric backdrop created by sound artist Penny Courtney.

From there, bass player and vocalist King leads the Hot Place—a trio filled out by guitarists Jeff Calder (the Swimming Pool Q’s) and Mike Lynn—delving into a set pulling equally from the shimmering noir-indie pop of the group’s debut LP, The Language of Birds, and the crystalline tension of their 2023 self-titled LP. They’ll slip in a few freshly minted numbers as well as a cover or two—songs that glide between post-punk minimalism and melodic spells sharpened by years of collaboration and collective experience.

Drivin’ N Cryin’ frontman Kevn Kinney follows with a solo set that delivers the kind of stripped down and intimate performance that’s become his signature each time he steps outside the band’s rock ‘n’ roll roar. Kevn’s solo sets take shape like opening a notebook that’s filled with decades of road stories—funny, bruised, wandering, mystical, and deeply human.


Capping the evening, David J, founding bass player of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets, threads poetry, storytelling, and songs from across his vast catalog into a singular performance.


Each number floats like a lantern through a library of obsessions: goth punk standards, solo deep cuts, and hymns of romance and ruin. And yes—expect a few beloved Bauhaus and Love and Rockets classics to work their way into the set as well.

$50. 7 p.m. Tickets must be purchased in advance.

If you have enjoyed reading this post, please consider donating to RadATL. Venmo to @Chad-Radford-6 or click on the PayPal link below.

Donate with PayPal
RadATL New music

Record Review: The Tear Garden, ‘Astral Elevator’

Since Edward Ka-Spel and cEvin Key first merged their creative worlds in the late 1980s—bridging the surreal poetics of the Legendary Pink Dots with the dystopian electronics of Skinny Puppy—their collaboration has always thrived on the outer limits of both realms. Astral Elevator reinforces their hold on that liminal space where mysticism and melody blur into something strange and beautiful.

“Lady Fate” with its spacious and droning melodies rekindles the psychedelic beauty, melancholy, and paranoia of the Tear Garden’s defining masterpiece, 1992’s The Last Man To Fly. Later, “Square Root” emerges like a spectral echo from 1987’s Tired Eyes Slowly Burning, subtly recalling the supreme weirdness of “My Thorny Thorny Crown.” Its interplay of a high, brittle vocal winding around a low, counting voice vaguely personifies a ritualistic dialogue between innocence and gravity—an auditory tether to the project’s origins, rendered here with the clarity that comes from decades of stylish evolution.

Astral Elevator, eschews the impenetrable darkness of 1996’s To Be An Angel Blind, The Crippled Soul Divide and 2000’s Crystal Mass. Here, the group—rounded out by Randall Frazier and Dre Robinson—reaches for a shimmering new plane where memory and revelation become one, and the music drifts like a transmission from some unknown realm that lies just beyond the edge of consciousness.

“War Crier” unravels around a skeletal rhythm, layered with shimmering synths that pulse like a dim heartbeat. Ka-Spel’s voice hovers in the mix like a transmission from a lost frequency—detached yet intimate. “Toten Tanz” channels the darker undertones of Key’s industrial roots, twisting through metallic percussion and vaporous drones, while “Exorcism” leans into rhythmic dissonance; its tension underscored by cascading synths that crackle like static in the ether.

“Swallow the Leader” balances that darkness with warped melodies, unfolding like a carnival waltz in zero gravity. “Chow Mein” delivers the record’s sharpest dose of surrealism, pairing grotesque humor with a hypnotic, playful groove. “Unreal” lands as one of the album’s most striking statements—a reflective confrontation with modern disconnection, holding a mirror to the hollowing effects of AI on human intuition, creativity, and trust in perception. It’s both prophetic and deeply personal, as its synthetic textures frame a lament for authenticity in an increasingly artificial world.

“It Just Ain’t So” and “Always Take the Highway” tap into a lighter strain of the chaotic pulse that propelled “Inquisition” from Skinny Puppy’s Last Rights.

By the time “Undiluted Bliss” fades into focus, the record resolves its internal tension—weightless yet grounded, alien yet profoundly human. Ka-Spel, Key, and Co. refine their own musical vocabulary. The result is a work of hallucinatory grace, and an ascent that is entirely of this moment, yielding a worthy successor to the Tear Garden’s most luminous works.

Press play below to watch Randall Frazier’s video for “In The Name Of” and Cory Gorski’s “A Return.”

If you have enjoyed reading this post, please consider donating to RadATL. Venmo to @Chad-Radford-6 or click on the PayPal link below.

Donate with PayPal

RadATL Atlanta shows

Das Damen and Bebe Buell play the Masquerade (Altar) on Friday, November 7

Das Damen photo by Charlotte Hysen

Das Damen plays the Masquerade’s Altar stage this Friday, November 7, bringing a night of post-punk, grunge, and rock ’n’ roll spectacle. The group’s name carries weight among late-’80s and early ‘90s noise-rock aficionados. Das Damen was the rare band that channelled the fuzzed-out psychedelic sprawl of Sonic Youth with the melodic instincts of the Meat Puppets.

Longtime Atlanta showgoers might recall one of their previous local appearances opening for Nirvana at the old Masquerade in October 1990—35 years ago. The following year, Das Damen disbanded, leaving behind a cult legacy of warped riffs and stoned-out, high-volume catharsis. Now, the later lineup is on the road playing a short Southeastern run that doubles as both a reunion and a rebirth.

For this tour, singer and guitar player Jim Walters, drummer Lyle Hysen, bass player David Motamed, and new guitarist Diego Ramirez are pulling from across the group’s entire catalog, revisiting standout moments from albums such as 1987’s Jupiter Eye, ’88s Triskaidekaphobe, and ’89s Mousetrap. They’ll also roll out a previously unreleased song that’s slated for a possible (or not possible) new LP with the working title Nobody Wants This.

After Das Damen’s proper set, the group will back up singer and songwriter Bebe Buell—Playboy Magazine’s November 1974 Playmate of the month, a fixture of NYC’s rock ‘n’ roll scene, and mother of actress Liv Tyler (daughter of Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler). Buell’s set leans into classic rock ‘n’ roll energy, offering a counterpoint to Das Damen’s heavy grooves.

$26. 8 p.m. (doors). 9 p.m. (showtime). The Masquerade (Altar).
If you have enjoyed reading this post, please consider donating to RadATL. Venmo to @Chad-Radford-6 or click on the PayPal link below.

Donate with PayPal
RadATL New music

RECORD REVIEW: Tortoise sharpens the edges of its hypnotic pulse with new album, ‘Touch’


With Touch (International Anthem/Nonesuch), Tortoise takes a deliberate step forward, refining and reimagining the motoric pulse and Krautrock undercurrents that ran through 2016’s The Catastrophist (Thrill Jockey). The Chicago-Portland-LA-based ensemble has always thrived on subtlety—those interlocking rhythms and textural sleights of hand that reveal new details with every listen. Here, the group hones that language to near perfection. Songs such as “A Title Comes,” “Axial Seamount,” and “Organesson” inhabit familiar terrain, yet each one breathes with renewed clarity and intent. There’s no need for grand reinvention when refinement feels this purposeful.

The album’s cool, monochromatic hue contrasts the warmer analog tones of earlier releases, creating a sense of precision and poise that’s both cerebral and deeply human. The production places every element exactly where it needs to be, crafting an atmosphere that’s minimal yet immersive. “Night Gang,” with its twangy, Morricone-inspired guitar lines, closes the record with an air of cinematic grandeur that is self referential while marking a turn into a brave new world.

Tortoise: From left to right: Jeff Parker, Dan Bitney, Douglas McCombs, John Herndon, and John McEntire. Photo by Heather Cantrell.

With Touch, Tortoise sounds as vital as ever: confident, contemplative, and completely in control of their craft. It’s an album that rewards patience and close listening, unfolding in waves of understated brilliance that reaffirm the band’s quiet mastery of mood and motion.

If you have enjoyed reading this post, please consider donating to RadATL. Venmo to @Chad-Radford-6 or click on the PayPal link below.

Donate with PayPal
RadATL Atlanta shows, New music, Podcasts & Interviews

Randall Frazier & Erik Drost get Orbit Service off the ground while finding their way within the expansive universe of the Legendary Pink Dots

ORBIT SERVICE: Erik Drost (left) and Randall Frazier. Photo by Joep Hendrikx.


The Legendary Pink Dots and Orbit Service are two bands bound by a shared sense of mystery, atmosphere, and musical exploration. Over the years, both projects have cultivated an aura that’s equal parts cosmic and deeply personal—music that drifts between dream states, where melody and texture blur into something transcendent. Now, the connection between the two acts runs deeper than ever. Guitarist Erik Drost and keyboard and electronics player Randall Frazier—both longtime fixtures in the Pink Dots’ ever-evolving lineup—are on the road performing sets steeped in the ethereal tones of both Orbit Service’s Spirit Guide and the LPD’s latest album, So Lonely in Heaven, and the more abstract, experimental energy of Chemical Playschool 23–24.

When the tour stops at Purgatory at the Masquerade on Friday, October 17, expect a performance that stretches perception as much as sound—a collision of meholy, beauty, and otherworldly tension.

In conversation, Drost and Frazier reflect on their creative chemistry and how their paths crossed during the making of 2004’s The Whispering Wall. They trace the evolution of Orbit Service from its early recordings to its current incarnation, and share what it means to inhabit the ever-expanding universe of Edward Ka-Spel’s songwriting. Together, they reveal that for all the mystery and gravity that surrounds their music, the heart of it all remains simple: connection, experimentation, and the pursuit of transcendence through sound.

Before playing a show in Purgatory at the Masquerade, on Friday, October 17, Drost and Frazier took an hour out of their day to talk about collaborating with each other, collaborating with Ka-Spel, and their go-to Waffle House meals while traveling across the United States.

Press play below to listen in on our conversation.



The Legendary Pink Dots and Orbit Service play The Masquerade (Purgatory stage) on Fri., Oct. 17. $23 (+fees). 7 p.m. This is an all ages show.

If you have enjoyed reading this post, please consider donating to RadATL. Venmo to @Chad-Radford-6 or click on the PayPal link below.

Donate with PayPal
RadATL Atlanta shows

Kirkwood Ballers Club feat Bl_ank, FRANKS atl, and more at Eyedrum on Thur., Oct. 16

Every third Thursday of the month, Kirkwood Ballers Club takes over Eyedrum with an open forum for experimental, improvisational, and otherwise adventurous musicians and performance artists. It is the long-standing home to Atlanta’s avant-garde, experimental, and DIY musical underground. This month’s KBC takes place on Thursday, October 16. The lineup for the evening features a headlining performance by Bl_ank, the solo project of Portland Oregon’s electro-acoustic percussionist Will Hicks.

Alchemical String Theory, FRANKS atl, Stench, Anucon, Toilet Envy, RGB & the Hell, Nathaniel Trost, and Momm are also on the bill.

FRANKS atl. Photo by Ben Garden.

FRANKS atl, the two-piece collaboration featuring Frank Schultz (formerly of Duet For Theremin and Lap Steel) and B. Frank Holleran (W8ing4UFOs, ex-Smoke), are releasing a debut album, titled Ode to Lucenay’s Peter. They’re also hosting a Bandcamp release party on Oct. 19. Press play below for an enticing teaser of what they have in store.


$10. Doors open at 8 p.m. Music starts at 8:30 p.m. This is an all ages show. Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery, 515 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd.

If you have enjoyed reading this post, please consider donating to RadATL. Venmo to @Chad-Radford-6 or click on the PayPal link below.

Donate with PayPal
RadATL Atlanta shows, New music

The Legendary Pink Dots and Orbit Service play the Masquerade (Purgatory) on Friday, October 17

LPDs: Randall Frazier (from left), Erik Drost, and Edward Ka-Spel. Photo by Joep Hendrikx.

The Legendary Pink Dots return to Atlanta on Friday, October 17, bringing 45 years of beautifully warped psychedelic mysticism to the Masquerade’s Purgatory stage.

Since forming in London in 1980, the Pink Dots have carved out a singular space in the underground—too strange for pop, too melodic for noise, too abstract for goth, and too open-ended to be called industrial music. Led by enigmatic vocalist and founding member Edward Ka-Spel and rounded out by Randall Frazier (synths, samples, and electronics), Erik Drost (guitar), and Joep Hendrikx (live engineering and effects), the LPDs weave together surreal narratives and immersive, cinematic soundscapes that take shape like dispatches from a fever dream.

The group’s catalog spans countless albums, each one a kaleidoscopic swirl of experimental electronics, post-punk texture, avant-garde noise, and darkly poetic meditations on the human condition. On stage, their shows become ritualistic experiences—hypnotic and theatrical, blurring the line between performance and séance.

Erik Drost (from left), Randall Frazier, Edward Ka-Spel, and Joep Hendrikx. Photo courtesy the Legendary Pink Dots.

The LPD’s latest album, So Lonely In Heaven (Metropolis Records), finds the group at its most evocative, melancholy, and Orwellian in years, layering haunting synths, spectral melodies, and existential poetry into a deeply human meditation on isolation and transcendence. It’s a reminder that even after 40-plus years, the LPDs are still evolving; still chasing the unknown.


Bologna, Italy-based Orbit Service opens the evening with a set of deep, slow-burning atmospherics and haunted melodies. Featuring Frazier and Drost performing together, the duo builds patient, ethereal songs that hum with existential weight. They are the perfect gateway into the LPDs’ strange and beautiful world. The latest offering, Spirit Guide, leans deeper into cosmic territory, expanding its sound with shimmering drones, meditative textures, and a slow, patient gravity that feels like it’s tuning into another frequency.


For the faithful, this show is a rare chance to step back into the Dots’ orbit. For the uninitiated, it’s an invitation to get lost in one of experimental music’s most enduring and imaginative universes.

The Legendary Pink Dots and Orbit Service play The Masquerade (Purgatory stage) on Fri., Oct. 17. $23 (+fees). 7 p.m. This is an all ages show.

If you have enjoyed reading this post, please consider donating to RadATL. Venmo to @Chad-Radford-6 or click on the PayPal link below.

Donate with PayPal
RadATL Atlanta shows

CatFIGHT! FOR YOUR RIGHTS: A Benefit for Planned Parenthood Southeast at the Garden Club Saturday, October 25

Atlanta garage-punk trio Catfight! celebrates 30 years with the second annual “CatFIGHT! FOR YOUR RIGHTS!” benefit show on Sat., Oct 25.  Featuring performances by five bands, the event benefits Planned Parenthood Southeast, and includes information tables about voter registration, reproductive health, overdose prevention, and raffles. Over the years, Catfight! has raised over $7,000 for multiple reproductive rights organizations, as well as the Trevor Project, which supports trans youth. 

DON’T TREAD ON ME: Catfight! Jennifer Leavey (from left), Stacy Kerber, and Katy Graves. Photo by Rose Riot.

The lineup for the evening includes Catfight! (featuring Jennifer Leavey on guitar and vocals, Katy Graves on bass and vocals, and Stacy Kerber on drums) playing new material and old hits), K. Michelle Dubois, the Brower Sisters Band, Yes Dear, and Father Figure.

Info tables provided by Georgia Overdose Prevention, Regulate Guns Not Women, and Planned Parenthood Southeast.

CatFIGHT! FOR YOUR RIGHTS! will be held at The Garden Club at Wild Heaven West End on Sat., Oct. 25 from 4-10 p.m. $20 / $10 for students. This is an all ages show.

If you have enjoyed reading this post, please consider donating to RadATL. Venmo to @Chad-Radford-6 or click on the PayPal link below.

Donate with PayPal