Posts Tagged ‘Athens’

OF MONTREAL – ” Rune Husk “

Posted: January 15, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Hailing from Athens, GA., of Montreal have carved their own niche — establishing themselves as a band that thrills fans with compelling live performances, delights critics with their constant innovations, and continually showcases their musical evolution by drawing from a different set of influences for each album.

Primary songwriter Kevin Barnes pours emotion — heartbreak, frustration, elation, whimsy — into lyrics that shift from adopted personas to invented alter egos to unobstructed views directly into his psyche.

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WAREHOUSE – ” Super Low / Reservoir “

Posted: October 1, 2016 in MUSIC
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Warehouse 'super low' (pre-order)

Taking inspiration from the 1980’s Athens, GA scene (Pylon, R.E.M., The B-52’s) and having a mutual taste for Stereolab and Abstract Expressionist visual art, Warehouse invoke a post-punk style characterized by the spidery and interlocking guitar riffs of Alex Bailey and Ben Jackson, filled by the effortless drums of Doug Bleichner and the agile racing bass riffs of Josh Hughes. The full and textural sound provides a unique body for vocals, added by Elaine Edenfield, whose lyrics can be described as sidewinding and oblique, oscillating quickly between melodicism and contrary roughness, using vocals as more of a physical tool of expression than as a glossy harmony to the sound.

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‘super low’ is a more concise continuation of ‘Tesseract,’ while still carrying the prior album’s organic and wildly sprawling nature. Largely written in a notorious punk house that was torn down to build a parking garage, the album was finished in a new environment: across from a food mart called ‘super low.’ The title connotes stark change, but it also hints at the additional psychological undertones of the album’s meaning, to move down into more darkly subconscious and deeply endogenous areas of yourself in order to work through them and out. Also contrastingly literal, it denotes Warehouse’s self-evident, uncontrived and rough-around-the-edges nature.

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ADAM TORRES – ” Some Beast Will Find You By Name “

Posted: September 13, 2016 in MUSIC
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Austin folk singer/songwriter Adam Torres debuts the beautifully surreal video for “Some Beast Will Find You By Name“, a foreboding, achingly melancholy ballad taken from his new LP Pearls To Swine, out now on Fat Possum. Watch the haunting, fever-dreamlike visuals,

A decade ago, Adam Torres was 22 years old, living in Athens, Ohio, and balancing college with musical aspirations. He had released a solo album in 2006, but he was spending substantial time as a member in a modestly successful folk rock band. Working toward someone else’s creative vision in a town with little music industry left him “disillusioned” and “disappointed with indie music.” 

Fast-forward to 2011. Now living in Austin and pursuing graduate degrees in Latin American studies and public policy at UT, Torres attended a house concert and started feeling the allure of being a part of a local music community again. Although he had quit performing by then, he never stopped practicing and writing music. “For a while it became a private thing,” he says. 

Instead of being disillusioned, Torres was inspired to finish a set of songs that stemmed from his travels in Ecuador, where he had studied abroad in 2009. After assembling a stellar backup band that included former Shearwater member Thor Harris,  Matthew Shepherd (Dana Falconberry) and Aisha Burns (Balmorhea), he recorded an album. The result, Pearls to Swine, comes out September. 9th. 

The collection of contemplative, transfixing folk songs hinges on restrained percussion, gorgeous strings by Burns and the singer-songwriter’s voice, a wavering, gentle falsetto that he employs as effectively as any instrument. It’s in his voice that Torres’ Native American influences emerge. Born in Albuquerque to a mother raised on a Cochiti Pueblo reservation and a father from a Mexican-American family that claims Apache chief Geronimo as a distant relative, Torres also has been given the name See-Ru, which means “bluebird” in the Cochiti Pueblo Keresan language.

“Art is the most direct means of reminding anyone what it means to be human,” says Torres, adding that his album captures the “beautiful possibilities” and “ugly truth” of life. After many migrations, maybe the place Torres has been trying to reach isn’t a place at all. Maybe this is his most important destination yet.

Taken from “Pearls to Swine”, out now on Fat Possum Records

NEW WIVES – ” Hi I’m Alive “

Posted: August 26, 2016 in MUSIC
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Athens, Georgia’s premiere doom pop trio & bedroom recordists New Wives, comprised of Drew Kirby, Matt Anderegg and Zach Gastley. HI I’M ALIVE :: at last released on August 5th, 2016 via Marching Banana Records.

This is our first full-length album, written during the year 2014 with the intent to blend the lighter pop leanings of our debut white EP with the explosiveness of the black EP but perhaps with a bit more vision and overall cohesion in sound, a blending… So this is a pop record written during (& also ushering in the conclusion of) the first period of this band, the “live” period, where our songs were fast and loud and punchy and meant to be heard & played in someones living room or backyard or comparable venue for casual collegiate thrillseeking.

Our next album is tentatively titled YOU & I ARE EARTH and we will probably spread back out and try more longform stuff – like the closer here, “Lisa (Reprise)”, the only song to break the 5-minute mark and the final track composed for this album. Next album will also have Zero unnatural/effected distortion.

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MOTHERS – ” Easy As Possible “

Posted: July 16, 2016 in MUSIC
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If we’re totally honest it’s quite rare that the deluxe edition of an album really adds anything new to the joys of the original. That said, with an album as good as the Mother’s debut, When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired, we’re more than willing to test out our theory. This week the Athens quartet have confirmed details of a deluxe digital edition of their debut, which will feature five previously unreleased tracks.

Mothers have also shared the first of those tracks, in the shape of Easy As Possible. The home demo was recorded between finishing their debut record and the album’s release and is the first indication of where the band’s music may go next. Easy As Possible builds around a pulsing, plodding keyboard line, rich with complex echoing tones and gentle twinkling distortions, Kristine Leschper’s haunting vocal enters, as bassy synths and fluttering processed beats drift in and out of earshot. It feels rough around the edges as demos often do, but in its unpolished, almost unfinished mood arguably lies much of its charm. It shows a band willing to experiment with a variety of song writing methods and musical textures , and it’s utterly thrilling. Many of these new tracks were showcased on the band’s superb recent tour dates, and the deluxe album’s release will coincide with European dates at the back end of the summer. If you haven’t seen this band yet, you’ve obviously not been listening to us and we don’t know what you’re waiting for.

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The deluxe edition of When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired is out July 29th via Wichita Recordings.

MOTHERS – ” It Hurts Until It Does’nt “

Posted: October 25, 2015 in MUSIC
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Kristine Leschper has been writing and performing under the moniker Mothers, attracting a small but fiercely devoted ring of admirers in her hometown of Athens Georgia. Last year, the trajectory of her music changed becoming increasingly more dynamic and complex, and her solo project soon expanded into a full-fledged band featuring Matthew Anderegg on drums, Drew Kirby on guitar and Patrick Morales on bass. The group’s first proper single, the emotionally empowering and feverish “No Crying in Baseball,” earned them some well-due attention from the blogosphere, but as it turns out, the track was also a bit of a decoy.

Mothers’ debut LP, due out sometime in 2016 and recorded by Drew Vandenberg (Of Montreal, Deerhunter, Toro y Moi), will feature a more discordant sound, one that brandishes elements of post-hardcore and math rock while presumably maintaining the spirit of the off-kilter art rock they’ve been unveiling up until now. With that said, it’s unclear whether the band’s latest single, “It Hurts Until It Doesn’t,” will appear on their debut or whether it’s another stylistic outlier meant to purge any traces of their formative songwriting approach before hitting the public with more trenchant material in the future. In any case, the track, and in particular Leschper, are a revelation.

Although the song glides dexterously from passage to passage, there’s something of Wire’s jagged melodicism and Protomartyr’s clenched-fist dramatics that infect it with a feeling of revolt and inner turmoil. Leschper’s distinct voice is elastic enough but what impresses me the most is the way in which she stretches and pulls it into a hardened coil that turns even the simplest of phrases into a moment fraught with existential upheaval. “I felt your love for a little while / But never had the guts to give myself up / I said that I could be just what you wanted / As if I could ever keep a promise” she sings in the second verse, but is she feeling wounded about her loss? Or is her self-awareness a mark of her power and resiliency? The truth is likely somewhere in between, and by deftly walking that emotional tightrope, Leschper is able to pull the song’s conflicted tension behind her like a dark and ominous cloud.

 

MOTHERS – ” It Hurts / No Crying In Baseball “

Posted: October 22, 2015 in MUSIC
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About time we had another interesting band from Athens Georgia , The bristly “No Crying In Baseball” is just one mode of many for this young Athens-based band. The project has its roots in Kristine Leschper’s powerful voice and hard-line lyricism, and the rest of the group supports that weight with a considered and compelling restraint. Their songs toe the line between free-falling folk and embittered punk, somewhere between baring your soul and baring your teeth. Mothers are kristine leschper – guitar, vocals // matthew anderegg – drums // drew kirby – guitar // patrick morales – bass

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R.E.M – ” Chronic Town ” Released 10th August 1982

Posted: August 14, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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R.E.M.-Chronic-Town

On this day (August. 10th) in 1982: Athens, Georgia alternative rock band R.E.M. released the ‘Chronic Town’ EP, the first result of their signing with IRS Records the previous May; the tracks had been recorded with producer Mitch Easter back in October, 1981 when the group was considering setting up their own label; the disc provided the first extended illustration of R.E.M.’s signature musical style – jangling guitars, chords played in arpeggio, murmured vocals & obscure lyrics – & introduced such early, lo-fi classics as “Gardening At Night” & “Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)”.

I.R.S. released Chronic Town in August 1982 as its first American release. Reaction to the EP varied; one I.R.S. radio promoter said that many of his contacts at universities radio didn’t know what to make of the record, but added, “The Georgia stations and some of the more together college stations across the country jumped on it.” The band filmed its first video for “Wolves, Lower” to promote the record. The EP sold 20,000 copies in its first year.

“Chronic Town” is five songs that spring to life full of immediacy and action and healthy impatience. Songs that won’t be denied.” NME praised the songs’ auras of mystery, and concluded, “R.E.M. ring true, and it’s great to hear something as unforced and cunning as this.

The debut 5 track EP from R.E.M. titled ‘Chronic Town’ was the beginning of a long love affair for many of us with the boys from Athens, GA. The original vinyl EP R.E.M. labeled the A side (tracks 1–3) as the “Chronic Town” side and the B side (tracks 4 and 5) as the “Poster Torn” side.

 

All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe.

Side one – “Chronic Town”
  1. “Wolves, Lower” – 4:10
  2. “Gardening at Night“ – 3:29
  3. “Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)” – 3:54
Side two – “Poster Torn”
  1. “1,000,000” – 3:06
  2. “Stumble” – 5:40

OF MONTREAL – “Empyrean Abbatoir” and ” Bassem Sabry “

Posted: January 8, 2015 in MUSIC
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A year and change after releasing “Lousy With Sylvianbriar”, the Athens glam crew Of Montreal return in a couple of months with their new LP Aureate Gloom. According to frontman Kevin Barnes, the album is both inspired by the “mid to late ’70s music scene in New York” and by his own recent divorce. The band already shared first single “Bassem Sabry,” and now they’re letting us hear “Empyrean Abattoir,” which moves from ADD psychedelic jangle to bratty glam-punk so quickly and effortlessly that you almost don’t register it happening.

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R.E.M – ” Radio Free Europe ” First TV Appearance was on the Letterman Show

Posted: November 28, 2014 in MUSIC
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REM perform “Radio Free Europe” on David Letterman. REM’s first ever television appearance. 10-06-1983 the band also played “South Central Rain” was it really that long ago I was working at Virgin Records on the singles counter and the album Murmer came in and it was the beginning of the love for this band from Athens, thanks to Martin Silvers

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