WE Fest Preview -- Eskimo Kiss Records Showcase & Goodbye Throwdown

The Eskimo Kiss Records showcase at the Soapbox in Wilmington is Sunday night, May 30 at 9pm. See our WE Fest preview here & the fest site here.

mp3: The Good Graces -- "Working Title"

My first experience of Eskimo Kiss Records was a sticker on a fire hydrant in Decatur, GA. Later when I moved to Wilmington, NC and wrote a story about Eskimo Kiss, I found out that Eskimo Kiss was started in Wilmington and that founder Kim Ware had moved to Atlanta.

What a weird, wired, small world.

Anyway, Kim is closing up Eskimo Kiss after 10 years and is returning to WE Fest in Wilmington for a shutdown celebration or something. She's bringing along Chapel Hill's North Elementary, which is one of the bands I totally enjoy--and I found out about them thanks to Kim.

Eskimo Kiss has one last release, called "Let's Do Art and Be Best Friends" which is a ten year recap and will be released in June.

The label has a crazy beginning story, so I'll let Kim tell it and talk about "Let's Do Art" after the jump...

I started eskimo kiss records on a cold winter’s day in early 2000. It was snowing, which was somewhat atypical for the southeastern tip of North Carolina. Not a fan of cold weather, I felt sort of trapped, I think both due to the snow and also the confines of our tiny coastal town. Perhaps I was bored.

A few months prior to that snowstorm, which became known as the “Blizzard of 2000,” my then-husband had randomly won an all-expenses paid vacation to Las Vegas. While we were there I hit the jackpot on a slot machine. I came home with $4,000, not a huge sum by most people’s standards, but still, you can do a lot with $4,000. It just so happened that our band was sitting on a record we had just finished recording, wondering what to do with it. Suddenly, we had the money to put it out. And so on that snowy day, we decided it made sense to start a record label.

But since then, eskimo kiss has released 21 records. And me, I’ve divorced, moved
(several times), and fallen in love again. I’ve made lots of new friends, many through this label. I’ve lost some people really close to me. I’ve changed careers. And I’ve written songs about all of the above. Through it all, the only real day-to-day constant has been my label, the songs, and my cat. (I wrote a song about him too.) So as I began putting together this collection of songs, to serve as the final release for eskimo kiss, I realized it’s basically a documentation of the past 10 years of my life. As I listened to all the releases, trying to decide which songs to include, I couldn’t help but think of the moves, the new friends, the old ones … the heartbreak and the happiness that I felt along the way.

More after the jump...

mp3: This Piano Plays Itself -- "Who We Were"

mp3: This Piano Plays Itself -- "Who We Were"

Atlanta's This Piano Plays Itself is busting out an album release party tomorrow night for their new release, As The House.

It's at The Drunken Unicorn with Nomen Novum and Untied States. Still taking this one in, but other people are saying stuff like "Mogwai" and "Explosions in The Sky" and "Slint."

Not sure what I'm going to say yet. The full track list for "As The House" is after the jump...



1. As The House...
2. Who We Were
3. Where We Lived
4. What Happened
5. How We Left
6. When We Got There
7. Why We Stayed
8. ...It Fills With Light

More after the jump...

review: Manchester Orchestra--Mean Everything to Nothing

Manchester Orchestra
Mean Everything to Nothing
Favorite Gentlemen, 2009

Manchester Orchestra: "I've Got Friends"

I know, I know this one has been out for a little while, but I just picked it up. I'd heard a few of the songs and became intrigued. This, for all intents and purposes, is/was a big album for Manchester Orchestra. Their time to make a statement about the hype, about their style, about WHAT IS TO COME. Almost indie to the max in starting their own record label (Favorite Gentleman), they've somehow found fair mainstream success (notice their list of shows punctuated with radio call numbers coming up) all on their own terms. That's not necessarily "indie" in sound, but indie all the way in style.

Hyped big time by Paste Mag, Atlanta's Manchester Orchestra sometimes missed the mark with their early ventures. Lead singer Andy Hull was ahead of the rest of his bandmates, both in talent, maturity and commitment. Hull's strength has always been his lyrics and finally with Mean Everything to Nothing the band matches Hull's vocal intensity. I liked the previous EP, but this destroys it--in its complexity, its subject matter and its heady, hook pop.

Manchester Orchestra is slow-mo Southern punk. This is Pearl Jam with a twinge of the South, CCR with an amped-up attitude and a gothic, almost debilitating fixation on man's relationship with God, rattling between dependence and denial.



The album's opener "The Only One" is built on an opening whine, a melody of little deflection, with Hull's contrasting lyrics on religion and sexuality nestled into a thick fold of clean distortion. "Shake It Out" actually starts out very similarly, except with the energy at another rung up the ladder. The lyrics, (this kid can write) center on individual spiritual realization: "Are you the living ghost of what I need? /are you giving me the best of me./ we, will see."

Try this one on for size: "I am the living ghost of what you need/ I am everything eternally, god just speak." Of course, the genius of this song is its climax at the 3:30 mark or so (it could have ended here) before it delves (or moves, transforms, glides) into some balladeering that is not cheesy, but surprisingly effective. Why, oh why does the song break? The intensity, the speed, all is fine and dandy, but it's like we would forget the point of music if the break wasn't there: music is meaning.

By the third track on the album, I'm not sure how I can keep up with this onslaught of goodness, but Hull and co., keep bringing it in much the same way. "I've Got Friends" seems a bit grander, the guitar parts deeper, the structure a little tighter. But Hull never lets off the pedal, the border of screams vs. non-screams vs. singing is a fine one and the timing is delicate.

The fourth track "Pride" is no slouch, though its quiet trickle into the blistering now-familiar Southern grunge sound isn't as surprising here. In fact, the first half of the album is some of the best modern rock being developed, the second half falls off, though "Everything To Nothing" feels more like the previous band's EP, thrown together quick with a intro shading what is already known. "The River" is Bright Eyes long-view pop with more confidence and no waver in his tender voice.

Essentially, though quibbling with the last half of the album is like expecting every player on a baseball team to hit .400, when only having three hit .500 is almost just as fine. Because the other songs are good, outstanding even, just perhaps not achieving the level of excellence as the first three songs. To bring it back on course: Manchester Orchestra delivers and delivers fast and hard with sweetness, like the UPS man charging into your mailbox, but delivering everyone on the block a box of gold bullion. Sure, it's an inconvenience that the mailbox is knocked down, but no one cares. This is gold.
More after the jump...

Swing South: ATL's Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun

Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun: "Traits of a Traitor (Autonomic Remix)"

This is what I am saying with Atlanta's Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun: the minimalism is over. I've been listening to a lot of good folkish indie rock lately, and I'm ready for something with substance, something that I can't handle in all one listen, something with so many things going on aurally that I pass out from overstimulation.

Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun isn't quite that thick, but they do provide some alt-eletronica rock for all of us to appreciate. It's not all that dance-y, but there are some nice beats. Think Bloc Party. Then they slay with sped-up drone guitars, think Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage. So what we have here is party music for those that refuse to wear high heels except to their own wedding. Bouncy and jumpy with no sense of being club music. They've put out two EPs (most recently The Lightning Exhibit) and and it looks like they are recording again soon.

So open up Photoshop. Pour on the layers. Find some bright colors, but only ones complementary on the color wheel. Add some noise. Some pixelation. Some blur. Find that one tool that makes everything kind of retro in a somewhat, but not too dated way. What you'll get is Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun. And find them on tour in the southeast.

Vid and tour dates after the jump...

Like It Or Not from today the moon, tomorrow the sun on Vimeo.

8/24 - Chapel Hill, NC @ The Cave
8/25 - Raleigh, NC @ Slim's Downtown
8/26 - Norfolk, Va. @ The Boot w/ Whispering Winds
8/27 - Wilmington, NC @ The Soapbox
8/28 - Myrtle Beach, SC @ Fresh Brewed Coffee House
8/29 - Charleston, SC @ Tin Roof
9/4 - Sandy Springs, Ga. @ North River Tavern
9/10 - Brooklyn, NY @ Club Europa Club w/ The Ropes
9/12 - New York, NY @ Resonator Magazine Presents show... (venue TBA)
9/16 - Auburn, Al. @ The Independent w/ The Bandar-Log
9/19 - Atlanta, Ga. @ Other Sound Festival
9/25 - Atlanta, Ga. @ Variety Playhouse w/ Here We Go Magic and The Walkmen
9/26 - Lexington, Ky. @ Buster's Billards w/ Varsovia

More after the jump...

Skid Marks: Atlanta's Death on Two Wheels on tour

Death on Two Wheels, live at Criminal Records in Atlanta. Think Jet, Wolfmother, and The Detroit Cobras and you'll come up with something like Death on Two Wheels. Let's say there is some classic rock Skynyrd-style and some twang to make a mark. To promote their new tour (I guess), the Atlanta-based band is offering their new EP, The Past and The Present for free off their MySpace page. Worth the download, for sure. Upcoming tour dates after the jump...

Jul 9 Nashville @ The 5 Spot w/ The Hardy Boys
Jul 10 Charleston @ The Tin Roof w/ The Hardy Boys, Shovels & Rope
Jul 11 Charlotte @ Evening Muse w/ The Hardy Boys
Jul 14 Griffin, GA @ Eagles Way w/ Molly, Besides Daniel, Dignan, Rova Zetella
Jul 16 Jackson, MS @ Hal & Mal's w/ Signals, The Weeks
Jul 18 Nashville@ The Basement w/Wess Floyd & The Daisycutters
Jul 20 Memphis @ P&H Cafe w/ The Weeks
Jul 22 Chicago@ Angels & Kings w/ The Weeks
Jul 24 Atlanta@ Drunken Unicorn w/ The Glass Ocean, Winston Audio
Jul 25 Columbus, GA @ Gallery 13 w/ Rova Zetella
Jul 26 Pensacola, FL @ Sluggo’s w/ Rova Zetella
Jul 30 Tampa, FL @ Cypress Point Community Church w/ Rova Zetella
More after the jump...

Corn On: Athfest/Corndogorama Picks

Woohoo-AthFest is here. Same wknd as Corndogarama. Why put two really awesome events that close together? Because really you can hit up AthFest Friday and move to Corndogorama on Saturday. Picks follow...

AthFest Friday (6/26) Picks:
So go to the outdoor stage first---

6:40-7:20 p.m. Twin Tigers (Main Stage)
7:20-7:50 p.m. Those Darlins
7:50-8:30 p.m. Dead Confederate (Main Stage)
8:30-9:00 p.m. ExcaliBrah
9:00-10:00 p.m. The Black Lips (Main Stage)

Then the Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records showcase with Tunabunny (10 p.m.) / Forever (11 p.m.) / Cars Can Be Blue (Midnight) / Casper & The Cookies (1 a.m.) @ Cine

Or Circulatory System (9:30 p.m.) / Modern Skirts (10:15 p.m.) @ Nuci's Space

W/ a run to see We Vs. The Shark at 12:30am @ Morton Theater

For Corndogorama on Saturday (6/27) afternoon:
(Located at 470 Flat Shoals Avenue in the East Atlanta Village )

Grab these on Saturday afternoon:
Attractive Eighties Women 12:45
Hip to Death 1:05
Can!!Can 1:30

Then these at night for the main showcase:
Noot d' Noot 8:10
The Judies 8:45
Howlies 9:30
Modern Skirts 10:00

Western Civ/ Dead Confederate is on Sunday (6/28) night.

Oh yeah, here's the Creative Loafing piece on Corndogorama.

More after the jump...

first-person: The Paper Chase @ Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta, June 20

"...I found myself in desperate need of the bathroom. I found it in the bar in the other room while also realizing that it’s a unisex, one-toilet rest area. This brought about long lines and strange conversations as the Pabst was waiting to evacuate like second graders five minutes before recess. After my business was done I sidled up to the bar and grabbed another can to await the coming of The Paper Chase."

Yeah, this first-person is by Josh Rank of Atlanta, who surveyed the scene at The Paper Chase show on June 20 at Atlanta's Drunken Unicorn. Here was our preview and read the rest of Josh's experience after the jump...


At first glance The Drunken Unicorn looks like a barn that should have been demolished eight years ago. Once you go inside, however, you find an underground world almost as expansive as the second level in Super Mario Brothers. To the left you find the concert area, merch booths set up in back. To the right you find a dive bar with a minimal beer selection, which doesn’t really matter since they serve Pabst. Walk a little further and you find MJQ’s, which feels like you found another underground world altogether. One with dance music and breakdancers.

We showed up to the show “fashionably late,” and I’ll blame root beer flavored vodka for that. We only caught the last song of the opening band The Piano Plays Itself, but that was all it took to be impressed. They were a solid indie-rock outfit that I plan on actually seeing in full at one point or another.

A few beers later Attention System began playing. The entire time I watched them I couldn’t stop thinking of Orgy mixed with The Killers. They are one of those bands that are fun to see live but I doubt I would ever be sitting around my living and thinking, “Man, it would be hella sweet to listen to Attention System right now.” The singer kept the show interesting by playing the synthesizer here and there while the Mac laptop provided background noise. I’ve always thought that any band that has synchronized lights either is trying to create ambiance or trying to make up for a lack of creativity. I think they were going for ambiance, but it came across as the latter. The drumming was solid. However, he held to the syncopated hi-hat like he met her in high school and didn’t have the self confidence to think he could find anyone better.

As they left the stage I found myself in desperate need of the bathroom. I found it in the bar in the other room while also realizing that it’s a unisex, one-toilet rest area. This brought about long lines and strange conversations as the Pabst was waiting to evacuate like second graders five minutes before recess. After my business was done I sidled up to the bar and grabbed another can to await the coming of The Paper Chase.

I have seen the band four times before and knew exactly what I was in for. I had brought two Paper Chase virgins with me and had been filling their ears with prophecies of the experience they were about to embark on. Give me a handful of drinks, bring up The Paper Chase, and get ready for non-stop ass kissing for the rest of the night. One might think I wanted to have sex with the entire band from the many conversations I’ve had. “You’ve never heard The Paper Chase? Oh my god. They’re, like, the best band ever! You gotta listen to this…”

We walked into the concert hall moments before they started playing. My face was already smeared with a shitty grin and would remain that way for the rest of the show. They opened with a couple tracks from the new album, “Someday This Will All Be Yours.” I was a little skeptical of the disc my first listen through. After another thirty or so listens I began warming up to it. My high expectations of the band were solidified upon seeing the songs live. The string arrangements on the CD were wonderfully translated into keyboard and guitar arrangements in concert. The cartoon antics of the lead singer John Congleton didn’t fail to meet up with the “You gotta watch when…” I had told my friends beforehand. Throughout the show I continually looked back at my friends with the “Did you see that?” look on my face. They responded with a “Hell yes I did,” expression. Drummer Jason Garner looked as though he hated his drum set and couldn’t wait to beat the hell out of it. This culminated in a piece of drumstick flying past my face before he broke the stick over his knee between songs.

The set list leaned heavily toward new songs. The throwback tracks covered every album besides “Cntrl-Alt-Delete-U.” This even includes the final track from “Young Bodies Heal Quickly,” which I had never seen performed live. The addition of another keyboard/acoustic guitar player added new layers to these old songs while also helping the new songs translate into a live performance. The horror movie sound effects and rubber-fingered guitar parts flew out in abundance, only making my shitty grin grow wider.

Whenever you see a band that you hadn’t listened to before, the most you can hope for after the show is a, “Yeah that was good, I should listen to them sometime.” However, after leaving The Paper Chase, both friends were firm believers in the power of the band. After getting back home, I couldn’t wait to rip back into the root beer vodka and celebrate a night well spent.

Hit up Josh Rank in the ATL (or anywhere else for that matter) at joshrank [at] yahoo.com
More after the jump...