Radfest – Rad/ATL

January 16, 2024January 17, 2024 RadATL New music

Song premiere: Loud Humans ‘Charm Offensive’

Since March of 2018, Loud Humans have amassed a steadily growing arsenal of bittersweet indie rock tunes, based mostly around the songwriting of singer and guitar player Jimmy Ether.

The trio, rounded about by underground rock scene vets Ether (the Ether Family Presents, Spiral, and Monkey Boy) alongside bass player Dain Johnson (the Plastic Plan), and drummer Kip Thomas (Fiddlehead, Freemasonry, Chocolate Kiss, Haricot Vert, and more) has fleshed out a florid lo-fi charge by pressing pretty and folksy chord progressions through a wall of sound. Case in point: “Charm Offensive.”

“I use a few alternate tunings in the vein of Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, or Jimmy Page’s acoustic riffs, and we fuzz them out,” Ether says.

“Charm Offensive” offers the first look at Loud Human’s forthcoming EP, which remains a work in progress. The title of the EP is yet to be determined, and “Charm Offensive,” as it appears here, is a raw early mix—the group playing live in the studio with a vocal overdub.

“The new EP is kind of a part 2 to our see, lioning. EP,” Ether adds.

Here, his voice carries a bold and unpolished presence as he careens through dynamic, energetic lyrics that are driven home by a sense of urgency that’s reminiscent of Guided By Voices’ vocalist Robert Pollard.

Johnson and Thomas’s rhythms move at the speed of post-punk and indie rock a la Sebadoh, Mission of Burma, fIREHOSE, and the Wipers.

In the interest of full disclosure, Thomas is the publisher of Record Plug Magazine, the DIY music rag that keeps this writer’s voice in the mix.

All three members of Loud Humans also play in the band Victory Hands alongside Shawn Christopher, crafting a darker, heavier noise rock dirge.

Both Loud Humans’ see, lioning. EP and the forthcoming EP are tentatively slated to appear as flip sides of a 12-inch release that’s due out later in 2024. The proper digital release will most likely arrive in May.

In the meantime, press play above and catch their set headlining Radfest at Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery on Friday, January 19.

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January 6, 2024January 25, 2024 RadATL Uncategorized

Radfest returns! Friday, January 19 at Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery

Radfest is back after a three-year Global pandemic hiatus! RadATL’s founder celebrates one more year around the sun, this time at Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery on Friday, January 19.

This year’s show features performances by seven post-punk, post-hardcore, and pure noise greats spread across two stages.

Athens-based cassette label \\NULL|ZØNE// gets the party started with a showcase of Georgia-bred noise acts including x.nte, Grant Evans (of Quiet Nights), and label boss Michael Potter’s own project The Electric Nature. Each act is cranking our short, powerful sets that challenge the traditional notions of what music is, and what it can be. Potter has been on the frontier of this scene for a long time, and it’s been far too long since his last Atlanta appearance, so it’s great to have him back.

Gebidan marks its live debut. The recently founded four-piece features Mike Patton of Orange County’s late ‘70s hardcore outfit Middle Class. The group is often hailed as the first North American hardcore act EVER. Patton’s musical resume also includes time spent playing with Jack from TSOL in the band Cathedral of Tears. He was also in Eddie And The Subtitles, and Trotsky Icepick. But really, check out his credentials on Discogs to see that he worked as a producer and backup vocalist on the Adolescents’ self-titled “blue album.” He also produced the Minutemen’s “Joy” single, along with a handful of other Minutemen releases.

Patton lives in Georgia these days and is singing and playing bass with the new outfit. Gebidan’s first recordings find the group embracing a more abstract, psychedelic take on indie and alternative rock songwriting. Great stuff!

WREK 91.1 FM’s “Destroy All Music” co-host and bass player Tony Gordon teams up with guitarist Curtis Stephens for tONY cURTIS. Together, they create a scrapping, smoldering grind of earth rattling textures. Gordon (also of FREEBASS, Zandosis, and Charlie Parker fame) is well aware of the power of subtlety, especially when it’s blasted at maximum volume. The 11 numbers that make up their latest release tc2 lull the ears and the brain into a meditative state by commanding a deeper level of ecstatic listening. Beyond rhythm, beyond melody, and beyond the drone lie the pure sonic textures of steel strings, and they are teeming with abstract beauty and limitless possibilities for the imagination.

Whiphouse brings a high-energy and death-afflicted punk dirge to the stage. It’s one of my favorite new bands to emerge from these parts in quite some time. Lots of homies in this group! Michael Keenan, Mike Bison-Beavers, Debbie Beat, Stanley Jackson, and one of my favorite former interns Kelly Stroup! It’s just an awesome assemblage of people tearing up on stage the only way they know how.

Loud Humans close out the show. More info. coming soon.

This is an ALL AGES SHOW! Doors open at 7 p.m. $10 gets you in. Fri., Jan. 19. 515 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. Park in the lot across the street if the side street and front lot are full.

Thanks to this year’s sponsors! Eyedrum, Topo Chico, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Record Plug Magazine, The Tight Bros. Network, and to Dain Johnson who created this year’s magnificent flyer.

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February 20, 2021February 20, 2021 RadATL New music

New Loony tune: ‘Dead Heat’ (practice tape)

In January of 2020, Loony took the stage at 529 to play Radfest with Purkinje Shift and W8ing4UFOs—my birthday party. It was a Sunday afternoon “matinee” show that ended up going well into the night. Who knew we were so close to losing live music for much of the coming year?

A week before the show, singer Anela DeVille, bass player Silas Fiction, guitarist Scott Price, and drummer Isaac Makin got together for practice and recorded the “Dead Heat” demo that you see and hear above.

Over the last year, the group’s lineup has paired down to just Fiction and DeVille fleshing out six songs that they hope to release by this summer via Die Slaughterhaus Records. For these six new recordings that are currently in post-production, Price played guitar, and Amos Rifkin of A Rippin’ Production filled in as temporary drummer. While a permanent lineup has yet to take shape, Fiction and DeVille are pressing forward. First up: “Dead Heat.” Although this recording is a rough demo, it’s a solid sneak peek at the group’s full-throttle charge. It’s also an homage to one of Joe Piscopo’s finest/most absurd acting roles, Detective Doug Bigelow in the 1988 action-comedy sci-fi cult sleeper, Dead Heat.

“I had written those riffs, and later that day we watched Dead Heat,” Fiction says. We both loved it!”

LOONY: Silas Fiction (left) and Anela DeVille. Photo by Eric Gessler

Together, Fiction and DeVille penned the lyrics as a summary of the movie. “It’s so ingenious, and it had us laughing so hard,” DeVille says. “We wanted to make it known how badass this movie is. Those who haven’t seen it need to watch it in order to know what we are talking about.”

The music is inspired by So. Cal hardcore/nardcore Thrasher Magazine skate rock aesthetics of the ’80s. It’s music for fans of TSOL, RKL, Agent Orange, Agression, JFA, McRad, Doggy Style, Vision Street Wear, pulling off slappies and smith grinds, and getting awesome. Check out the lyrics below.

Dead heat
Back from the grave
Nothing to do
No one to save

Dead man walking
Cannot be shot down
Terrorizing
The entire town

Dead heat
Back from the grave
Falling apart
Slimy decay

Infinite lives
Soul cannot be found
Decomposing
Time is running out

Dead heat
Back from the grave
Dying to live
Willing to trade

Time is running out!

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