The "we never made it" week in shows.

Tue. 02/12

A: - Hey, what are you up to tonight ?
B: - Dunno, maybe gonna try to catch a show...
A: - Who's playing ?
B: - Dunno
A: - OK, gimme a call when you're downtown and let's meet.
B: - We have a plan.

Fact Not Fiction - Caledonia
Fact Not Fiction is a 4-dude, generic indie-rock band from Northeastern Georgia, with already two albums behind them. They are tight, they definitely know how to play, but the tunes are plain and insipid. I foresee success, in the tracks of Modern Skirts. Count me out.
MP3: Fact Not Fiction - Stars and UFO

B: - So, where are you ?
A: - Oh, I'm just calling it a night, actually. Stick around Flicker, Bell Hollow are playing, they're supposed to be good.
B: - OK, catch you later.

Bell Hollow - Flicker
Bell Hollow is an all-black clad quartet from NYC, currently touring with their sound engineer. As their outfits hint, they play some guitar-based cold-wave inspired dark music. I wasn't especially impressed by their performance: weak vocals (but we were warned not to pay too much attention to it), music too much in the lines of your generic mid/late-80es band, not enough punk-rock in the goth. They were headlining for Misfortune 500, which should give you an indication. Anyway, touring bands always need gas money, so I purchased their latest EP ("Sons of the Burgess Shale") and album ("Foxgloves"). Still mediocre on CD, eh, but it gives the urge to relisten to Vancouver's now defunct The Organ which is (was) far far superior in the same genre. Bah.
MP3: Bell Hollow : The Bottle tree

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Thu. 02/14

B: - Let's go see Blade Runner, there's the final cut at Cine.
A: - Can't do it. Let's meet at Go round 23:00 instead.

I found myself attending the 7PM showing (that was good...), which left me enough time to catch

Sex Robots - Caledonia
Sex Robots are an excellent punk trio from Saint Louis, MO. You may recognize Mario from the famous combo Bunnygrunt. Ah, there's something with the immediacy of pop-punk, the energy, that often leaves me with a smile on my face. And that was the case that night.
MP3: Sex Robots - Take Me Out Dancin'

So it was on springs that I went to Go. Unfortunately, I showed up at 23:15, too late for the electropop-duo of La Chansons, from ATL. Sad, because I'd been told that they were purely adorable (coming from Dan Geller, famous half of Ruby Isle and I'm the World Trade Center, that's a compliment to be trusted), and because I'll never have the answer to the question of whether they don't know enough French grammar or whether their name is a subversive statement. I stuck around for a little while, listening to the tunes of Twin Powers, before leaving for another dance-party at Little Kings where DJ Mahogany was spinning. So many parties, so little time, but always a good one when Mark is behind the tables. And he played some mean Jackson 5...

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Sat. 02/16

B: - Hey, there's a show in this new studio, round 21:00. Fancy coming ?
A: - Er, we'll see.
B: - OK, I'll call you.

The Glow studio was founded in January 2007 by Jesse Mangum and Chase Prince in Jacksonville, FL, and is best known for being where the Black Kids recorded their "Wizard of Ahhhs" EP. Jesse and Chase just relocated to Athens a few weeks ago, and were having their grand opening Saturday. Incidentally, Chase also recently joined Spring Tigers on drums, along with Eli (The Goons) on bass. To celebrate their new venue, Jesse and Chase set up a 4-band show:

Zeeg had already played when I showed up, so can't tell.

Manatella (Alissa, Lauren, Nate and Chris) hail from Jacksonville, FL. Chris recently moved to Jax from Gainesville, FL, home of our friends Oh Sanders for whom he still drums. Manatella just released their latest CD, "Fashionable Neighborhood", filled with jangly guitars. The balance that night was rather sub-par, and one of the guitar amps got possessed by the evil ghost of Eric Clapton and had to be bypassed, but being introduced to their music was still a good surprise.
MP3: Manatella - Eye Spy

The Shylights, from Atlanta, GA is the solo project of Josh Blanton. The night was warm on the deck, the beer was cold, I was with some friends that I don't have the luck to meet as often as I wish, so I missed it.

Lazerstar is Chase Capo, from Jax also, and also a solo project with a laptop, keyboards and guitar (occasionally). Imagine that a universe where Kevin Barnes came from Northern Florida and never met Bryan, Derek, Andy, Dottie or Jamie and you'll get a somehow good idea of what it's like: pop-fresh, electro-camp, irresistible. Highly recommended if you're into neon blue spandex bike shorts (or not).
MP3: Lazerstar - My myopic vision (last drop mix)

[Edit 02/18: moved files to fileden]