Florida’s Roadkill Ghost Choir were a late entry into the brief “ethereal Southern alt-rock” trend sparked by the emergence of Band of Horses, My Morning Jacket and the like. From that kaput quintet, singer Andrew Shepard has retained his bass playing brother Zach Shepard and traded in the other three for fresh recruits Rhett Fuller,… Continue reading Lo Talker Make Themselves Heard
Tag: Indie Rock
Ron Gallo – Peacemeal
Ron Gallo started off dismissing it all (2017’s Heavy Meta), then he began to question it all (2018’s Stardust Birthday Party), now he seems to understand that the more you know the less you understand, and from there it’s about how content you are with such a bombshell. This year’s Peacemeal is Ron Gallo beginning… Continue reading Ron Gallo – Peacemeal
The Muckers – Endeavor
Well, maybe if 2112 were made in 2021… It’d start like this: I’d hate to call it a warm summer day, but at some point you gotta respect the classics, your elders. So it was a warm summer day and the theme park was seeing to it. The park is named after some candy or… Continue reading The Muckers – Endeavor
The Notwist – Vertigo Days
The Notwist recently joined a select list of bands that continue to release compelling music thirty years after their inception. Like many members of this club the German outfit achieved this milestone by pursuing a steady diet of side projects, and by sidestepping the incessant tour/record/tour grind; Vertigo Days is only the band’s third studio… Continue reading The Notwist – Vertigo Days
PLS! PLS! CRNK THT NW NRCSSST LP!
It might not be a prerequisite that Stephanie Luke has to form a new band with whatever Atlanta musician she’s dating at the time, but it tends to happen more often than not, regardless. And NRCSSST – her partnership with musician/songwriter/producer Dan Dixon of electro-rock group PLS PLS and clearly a man with a vendetta… Continue reading PLS! PLS! CRNK THT NW NRCSSST LP!
IDLES – Ultra Mono
Joe Talbot has no idea what he’s talking about. Ultra Mono feels like the tantrums of a boy who didn’t get his way, and that’s not punk at all. People who think IDLES are punk also think love wins. Punk is frothing at the edge of rabidity and spitting at the dogs on leashes. IDLES were… Continue reading IDLES – Ultra Mono
K Michelle DuBois Returns with a Fever to Tell
K Michelle DuBois has been a cherished treasure of the Atlanta music scene since her early 1990s Babyfat days. After her subsequent band Luigi dissolved in the spring of 2008, she seemed for a while to focus more on supporting roles in the projects of friends rather than an impulsive leap into her own new… Continue reading K Michelle DuBois Returns with a Fever to Tell
Adulkt Life – Book of Curses
Every once in a while, recombinant DNA experiments pay off. Male Bonding was a London garage punk outfit with a promising sound that often came up tantalizingly short on the key dynamics of hooks and transgression. Enter Chris Rowley – onetime member of Huggy Bear, UK standard bearers for the riot grrrl movement helmed stateside… Continue reading Adulkt Life – Book of Curses
The Bats
Heading for the Foothills: The Bats are Finished Logging Tour Miles, but Aren’t Done Making Music We’ve all heard our fill of tales about how Zoom has overwhelmed our lives in recent months. I was recently reminded of its benefits, however, when I connected with frontman Robert Scott and bassist Paul Kean of New Zealand… Continue reading The Bats
Stray Kills to Fill in the Gaps
An assortment of B-sides and rare tracks from the first ten years of The Kills are being gathered for a tidy release called Little Bastards, out Dec. 11 via the Domino Recording Company. Assembled non-chronologically, the 20 tracks are culled from debut EP Blood Pressures in 2002 up through 2011’s “Future Starts Slow” single, oddly… Continue reading Stray Kills to Fill in the Gaps
Violets Highlights Picked for New Compilation
The Violets were an Athens rock band that played all over the place for a few years from the late ‘80s through early ‘90s but I don’t recall them releasing anything other than a 45 for their snarky anti-hippie tirade “I Hate the Grateful Dead,” which got some college radio airplay at the time (and… Continue reading Violets Highlights Picked for New Compilation
Bad Books’ Debut Enjoys Expanded Repress
An expanded 10th anniversary edition of the self-titled debut album from Bad Books – the collaboration between singer-songwriter Kevin Devine and Andy Hull of Atlanta’s Manchester Orchestra – will be coming out this Friday, Oct. 23 digitally and in a 2-LP colored vinyl edition. (Does anyone release albums on plain ol’ black vinyl anymore? Funny how… Continue reading Bad Books’ Debut Enjoys Expanded Repress
The Orange Constant: Peel’s Out
Athens-based band The Orange Constant recently did a vinyl pressing of their third and latest album Peel, the digital edition of which came out back in May. Cozy, inviting and mildly psychedelic, the nine songs leisurely traipse through a dewy field of ’70s reefer-smokin’ rock, including a pair of multifaceted instrumental tracks. Touches of prog,… Continue reading The Orange Constant: Peel’s Out
Yo La Tengo, Awake Under the Covers
Originally included as part of a $300 limited-edition souvenir book made to coincide with a Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibition of the work of Japanese artist Yoshitiomo Nara, a six-song EP by Yo La Tengo titled Sleepless Night will be released to the general public as a significantly lower-priced one-sided 12” vinyl record… Continue reading Yo La Tengo, Awake Under the Covers
Boyracer – On a Promise
Boyracer’s Stewart Anderson long ago perfected a specific strain of breathless, verge-of-falling-apart yet insidiously hooky twee punk. The relentlessly DIY guitarist has churned out an insane number of releases since the mid ’90s with a vast array of bandmates and labels, often on his own imprint in recent years. Arguably Boyracer’s closest shot at wider… Continue reading Boyracer – On a Promise
Burger Records Buried Under Sexual Misconduct Allegations
The sudden collapse of Burger Records dumped yet another dismal steaming layer onto the ever-growing turd pile that is 2020. That it had nothing to do with COVID-19 or the ensuing and ongoing government-imposed economic shutdowns makes it even tougher to take. No, Fullerton, California-based Burger and several of the bands associated with the label… Continue reading Burger Records Buried Under Sexual Misconduct Allegations
Twin Peaks – Side A
I could stand still for the rest of my life. Think about how little difference it would make: I’m a speck of spittle, blowing my chunks around like I could ever be more than a fleeting thought (I’m not). I’m an anemone, blowing about a sea of slime and debris (I am). One day the… Continue reading Twin Peaks – Side A
We Versus the Shark Suck at Goodbyes
We Versus the Shark broke up in 2009, but they didn’t really mean it because six years later guitarist/vocalist Luke Fields, guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Samantha Paulsen, bass guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Jeff Tobias and drummer Scott Smith resurrected the Athens math-rock juggernaut for another round of ruckus. Their last album, Dirty Versions, along with the covers collection Murmurmur, both came… Continue reading We Versus the Shark Suck at Goodbyes
The Mendoza Line’s Third Album Gets Expanded Reissue
Are you as sick of hearing that phony cuddly catchphrase “we’re all in this together” as we are? Especially since it becomes more and more clear every day that we are not, in any conceivable manner, in any of this bullshit together, in fact we are more fractured and divided than ever. Then my cynical/realistic… Continue reading The Mendoza Line’s Third Album Gets Expanded Reissue
Young Antiques – Another Risk of the Heart
It’s a mixed up muddled up shook up world. Down is up, evil is good, dumb is smart, ignorance is bliss. When you take all that into consideration, it makes sense that Young Antiques have never been one of Atlanta’s hippest, most talked about bands. That still doesn’t make it right. This album, as tremendous… Continue reading Young Antiques – Another Risk of the Heart
Pins Spin Again on Hot Slick
Prepare to be treated to a fresh poke in the earhole from Pins. The Manchester post-punk group – now a trio following the departure of their original rhythm section – will unveil their third album, Hot Slick, on May 29th. Based on the samples released so far – the official first single and video “Hot Slick”… Continue reading Pins Spin Again on Hot Slick
Caroline Rose – Superstar
On her fourth album, Superstar, Caroline Rose choreographs a glitzy rise-and-fall scenario for a symbiotic alter ego. The record plays with the idea of it all, stardom and its catches, but it doesn’t get its feelings hurt; it’s got a chip on its shoulder and a tongue in its cheek. For that reason, it’s a… Continue reading Caroline Rose – Superstar
The Strokes – The New Abnormal
The Strokes don’t wanna be your hero. They’re too nice to tell you this, but your poster on the wall doesn’t get them off. Maybe it used to, somewhere towards the beginning. The voice of someone’s generation, be it maybe just a blip in time, The Strokes seized that day nonetheless. They had the Big… Continue reading The Strokes – The New Abnormal
Various Artists – C90
The 1990s was the rare decade that actually started on time – specifically, on April 8, 1990. That was the Sunday when everyone could go to the multiplex to see the latest John Waters comedy and get home in time to watch Matt Groening’s hit sitcom before turning the channel to ABC for a TV-movie… Continue reading Various Artists – C90
Waxahatchee Comes In From the Storm
Katie Crutchfield is no stranger to stylistic shifts. Her band Waxahatchee began life as a lo-fi solo affair which she gradually fleshed out, culminating in 2017’s maximalist and superb Out in the Storm – at which point she took a hairpin turn and released an EP of hushed, stripped-down takes of earlier collaborations. Prepare for… Continue reading Waxahatchee Comes In From the Storm
Everything Has Changed for Best Coast
Always Tomorrow, Best Coast’s fourth album and first since 2015’s California Nights, is described by vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Bethany Cosentino as “the story of a second chance.” Says Cosentino, “After we finished the album cycle for California Nights, something terrifying happened to me. I felt creatively paralyzed. I couldn’t write music. There was so much… Continue reading Everything Has Changed for Best Coast
A Very Loud Death Do the Lurch
Atlanta trio A Very Loud Death – Bryan Peel, Chris Edge, Cole Robertson – contrast booming hard rock with twistier, trickier elements that lend a significantly more curious quality to their music. Their captivating track “Zoetrope” off their newest digital EP (or LP, or whatever’s in between), Ulimatique (available through their bandcamp page), might’ve earned them a… Continue reading A Very Loud Death Do the Lurch
The Growlers – Natural Affair
Dana Point’s merry pranksters release a Furthur bus of Growlers clichés driving on an unpaved road of monotony toward a cliff of career suicide. “And monotony is a slow killer,” golden-age Brooks Nielsen once wrote. After listening to Natural Affair, I would say monotony is a venomous bitch that kills rapid. This album sounds like… Continue reading The Growlers – Natural Affair