Mastodon celebrate their 21st anniversary among the sharks at the Georgia Aquarium.
On Thurs., July15, Bill Kelliher, Brent Hinds, Brann Dailor, and Troy Sanders play a live-streaming show amid the aquarium’s most elegant predators.
$19.99 (advance). $24 (day of show). T-shirt and poster bundles are available as well. $1 from each poster sold will be donated to the Georgia Aquarium.
The performance will be available on-demand for 72 hours starting July 16 at Midnight Eastern time. Your ticket will grant you access to this replay window.
JUNGLELAND: Original artwork by Paul Frick. Graphic art by Willem Kaiser
There’s a jungle inside the mind of singer and guitar player Andy Browne, and it’s teeming with life. The five songs that make up Lynx Deluxe’s Jungleland EP take shape as an enigmatic reckoning of the self, the spirit, and Southern identity. Heavy rhythms, subtle brass filigree, and percolating keys are pushed forward by arty rock leanings powered by enough muscle and confidence to uphold the group’s ambitions.
Opening number “Jane Goodall” puts a face on part of the music’s veiled metaphors, beginning with the sounds of a screaming chimpanzee in an ecstatic state. The closing song, “Steppin’ On Gold,” brings an even deeper allegory—steeped in the imagery of The Wizard Of Oz—to an intriguing point. Along the way, the musical journey from inner chaos to contentment reveals itself to be an exercise in catharsis, driven by evocative lyrical imagery and compositions that are as thick as English Ivy.
“Jane Goodall,” “The Struggle,” and “Mercy” are bound by a barreling spaciousness and momentum that falls into place with musical unity. Browne’s strained yet soaring and impressionistic voice is accentuated by the ambiance created by bass player Lucy Theodora, drummer Brad Mattson, keyboard player Billy Fields, and guitarist Greg Di Gesu weaving an intense musical web that matches the power of lyrics such as “It’s a struggle to break the chains / It’s a struggle to take the blame / It’s a struggle to let it go / To sit like Buddha in a perfect flow” in “The Struggle.”
Browne’s songwriting resonates with a deeply buried and universally shared note that rings out in all of our minds. In “Saints” and “Steppin’ On Gold,” that note shifts to bolster the uplifting and undeniably catchy essence of each number as they rise out of some vast and mysterious part of the imagination, giving rise to a sense of calmness that’s achieved equally through Browne’s words and the group’s long, interweaving instrumental chemistry. This alone makes Jungleland an engaging chapter for Browne, whose songwriting first left a mark in the mid ‘80s while he fronted Atlanta’s Southern post-punk rockers the Nightporters, a band that also featured bass player Tim Nielsen and drummer Paul Lenz of Drivin N Cryin. In more recent years, his songs fronting the Andy Browne Troupe have revealed themselves to be stepping stones leading to the baroque and Southern alternative rock and pop that Lynx Deluxe brings to life. Jungleland is a true band effort without allegiance to the past, present, or the future. The songs are open-hearted, complete, and flourishing with redemptive fodder for the imagination that’s mysteriously timeless.
The latest single and video released from Disturbios’ self-titled debut album gives the Subsonics’ jangle-punk rocker “See Thru Rhonda” a minimal synth and dadaesque makeover.
The duo at the center of Disturbios, Matt and Rocío Verta-Ray, describe the song as: “Trailer park hijinks. A loaded pistol, a no-good boyfriend but Rhonda takes the consequences.”
In 1995, Matt produced the Subsonics’ classic third LP Everything Is Falling Apart—where “See Thru Rhonda” originally appeared—at N.Y. Hed Studio in New York City. Since then, he’s produced most of their albums including their latest offering, 2018’s Flesh Colored Paint.
The studio is a staple of the city’s punk and rock ‘n’ roll scene, and has turned out albums by everyone from Suicide’s Alan Vega and Ronnie Spector of the Ronettes to Elliott Smith and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion—Matt played in Heavy Trash with Jon Spencer, Speedball Baby, Madder Rose, and more. Both Matt and Rocío work on albums together at N.Y. Hed.
Disturbios is an intriguing departure from any of the aforementioned names. Each song on the new album is tied together in a wash of surf, yeye, new wave, and experimental pop inflections. “Surf Gnossienne,” their take on French composer Erik Satie’s “Gnossienne no. 1,” plunges the song’s rhythms into the depths of psychedelic and avant-garde mysticism.
“Jesus I was Evil” captures the chilling insolence, and the alluring danger of a band that hones a classic New York City proto-punk vibe, while keeping its gaze fixed on a saturated future.
Their reductionist sound paired with the writhing avant-garde imagery of the video reveals wholly new and mysterious dimensions hidden within the Subsonics’ classic.
Kevn Kinney is back in the attic this Friday night, May 7, for a round of acoustic renditions of classic Drivin N Cryin songs, solo numbers, and more. This week, Kevn is joined by Estonian-born Nashville transplant (and former Sturgill Simpson bandmate) guitarist Laur Joamets.
Holly West Crisis Revisited: The songs of the Cheifs, once again, for the last time.
Chattanooga’s death-afflicted surf punk outfit Genki Genki Panic makes the trek to Kennesaw for back-to-back sets outside the brewery.
Between sets, guitarist Chris Moree will switch over to bass and join drummer James Joyce, guitar player Scott Hedeen, and singer Brad Castlen—the personnel from Bob Glassley’s reignited Cheifs circa 2016-2017—to play a six-song set of classic Cheifs numbers.
Kevn Kinney is back in the attic this Friday, April 23. Tune in at Drivin N Cryin’s Facebook page for a two-hour acoustic set of songs about cars and love starting at 8 p.m. It’s free to watch, and it’s a pay-what-you’d like affair.
Also, on April 30, Drivin N Cryin is headlining the City Green Live outdoor concert series. Free. 7:30 p.m. 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs.
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Nearly four years have gone by since Sad Fish released the Take the Bait cassette EP (Godless America) in November of 2017. Much has changed since then.
With their latest single, titled “Deusa,” Sad Fish awakens from its long slumber wielding a more considered Brazilian pop sound, crafted by a new lineup that eschews the eccentricities of the group’s beginnings.
What began as singer, guitar and keyboard player, and main songwriter Arthur Cabral’s project has become a full band, as drummer, percussionist and engineer Lyle Baldes, and bass player Gracie Joo have settled in alongside Cabral and long standing drummer Emma Rubenstein. With the passage of time, and developing chemistry with a dedicated bass player and second percussionist, Sad Fish has learned how to articulate what the group’s previous concoctions of lo-fi Tropicália and psychedelic pop only hinted at—albeit sung entirely in Portuguese.
Cabral hails from Goiânia, Brazil. His innate musical inflections are an indelible part of Sad Fish’s sound, vision, and personality. Experimental time signatures, though, and a genuinely peculiar sense of humor have long been a part of the group’s identity as well. With “Deusa,” these elements are still there, but they’re employed with subtlety as the group remains focused on drawing out rhythms, melody, and a more sophisticated musical experience (a la Sue Jorge, Caetano Veloso, and Os Mutantes).
The video, directed by Bill Guzik, and starring Eliana Heiser, Bishop Harry, and Pete Though, brings the group’s surreal and cinematic inclinations to life with a noirish tale of trickery and human sacrifice.
“Deusa” is the first single from an as yet untitled album that’s due out this Fall—Sad Fish’s first proper full-length.
Sad Fish is playing a live-streaming set of unreleased songs from the new album at Casa Nova on Monday, April 19. Tune in via Facebook, and keep your eyes peeled for more details coming soon.
Sad Fish are (from left to right) Lyle Baldes, Arthur Cabral, Emma Rubenstein, and Gracie Joo. Photo by Klaudia Wski.
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One album later and Antagonizers ATL have ascended from Working Class Street Punk(s) into KINGS!
From the moment the bounding chorus of opening number “Worries” takes hold, a major-chord rock ‘n’ roll stride—carried in the organ and barreling rhythms—distills decades of boot-stomping, fist-pumping sing-alongs, and brotherly hugs into a sophomore album that’s a street punk classic-on-arrival. With KINGS (Pirates Press Records), the group keeps one foot planted firmly in the traditions of Fred Perry Polo shirts and Oxblood Docs. But singer and frontman Bohdan Zacharyj, singer and lead guitarist Richard Henderson, keyboard player Billy Fields, singer and rhythm guitarist Eric Antell, singer and bass player Wynn Pettitt, and drummer Don Tonic push themselves to rise above garden variety oi to become a great rock ‘n’ roll band, punk or no punk.
Part of the group’s strength lies in its snarling three-guitar blitz. But at the core, each song is bursting with positive energy, culminating in an earnest and deeply personal celebration of do-it-yourself pride and allegiance to a moral code that transcends everything else.
“Black Clouds,” the album’s first single, is where Antagonizers ATL’s indomitable spirit and its message shine brightest: Build strength through self-reliance, watch your friends’ backs, and always maintain a PMA (positive mental attitude) no matter what obstacles life throws in your path.
Matt Henson of Tacoma, Washington’s NOi!SE joins in the chant with the lyrics: “Keep on swingin’ and I’m missin,’ too. At least I’m swingin,’ and not cryin’ the blues. I’d rather fail than not try. Give my all ’till the day I die.”
These words project a stylish clubhouse rule to leave your complaints at the door. This record is all about finding strength and integrity through endurance, in a time when knee-jerk hostility is the order of the day. In 2021, this whole dynamic is, once again, the frontier of punk and hardcore, and it’s a thread that ties together songs such as “Trouble,” “Problems” (featuring Chris Doherty of Gang Green), “Us Against the World,” and the album’s title track. … And For all intents and purposes, Antagonizers ATL might just have a hit on their hands with “Hold On Hold Strong.” Here, Monty Neysmith of British ska/reggae legends Symarip adds a touch of his signature Skinhead Moonstomping inflections for what is without a doubt a modern hardcore anthem. With each song, the group remains fast, furious, and proud, while leavening these qualities with genuinely powerful songwriting. Every step of the way Zacharyj, Henderson, and Pettitt reach deep, trading lyrics that transcend politics and expectations with a message of true positivity, delivered in 10 songs of working class punk and rock ‘n’ roll par excellence.
Akron/Family at the Earl on February 20, 2007. Photo by Chad Radford
Sad news made the rounds over the weekend, as word spread that Miles Seaton of Akron/Family has died. He was 41 years old.
I was lucky enough to see Akron/Family play The Earl a few times over the years—in 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2012. The group’s members also made up Michael Gira of Swans group Angels of Light when they played The Earl in 2005.
Akron/Family was the quintessential experimental folk outfit, an offshoot of the “new weird America” scene, blending a cosmic strum and wail over a bed of noisy and psychedelic pleasantries. The group’s sound was a warm and far-out acoustic dirge that was inspired more by the back roads of rural Georgia than the mean streets of their hometown of Brooklyn.
I took these photos at The Earl on February 20, 2007, when Akron/Family was on the road playing songs from the album Love Is Simple (Young God Records). They shared the stage that night with Untied States.
Rest in peace.
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