Lost Post #1 - week 13

"Where did time go" was the motto of that week: following the lateness pattern initiated the previous week, I ended up missing most shows.

Tue. 03/04
I was pretty thrilled to hear that the HEAP (ex HEAP project) was playing at Caledonia, along Diet Rock Stars and Kenosha Kid. For once however, the show was early and on time, with HEAP opening, so they were already done by the time I showed up. Pity, for I'm a big fan. HEAP is fronted by Bryan J. Howard on bass and vocals, accompanied Jeff Rieter (bass), Ian Werden (drums), Jim Wilson aka Diego Catalan (percussions), Paul Kim (keyboards) and a horn trio (Jeff Crouch on trumpet, Marcus Gilley and Chris Costigan on sax). It's groovy in an indie-meets-funk way, it's roughly Athens response to Morphine, it's unique in our area, it's definitely worth many listens. An album is in preparation and should hopefully be available in June. A couple of shows will be announced before that. Stay tuned.

So I moved next door to the 40 Watt and caught Bomb The Music Industry!. BTMI! is a collective from Baldwin, NY, formed in 2004 around Jeff Rosenstock, with members as famous as Matt Kurz (the Matt Kurz one) or Jeff Tobias (We versus the Shark, Pegasuses XL). It's punk, with some horns: that's not sufficient to qualify it as ska, but that gives a nice Mano Negra feel to it... They ranted against our local institution, Flagpole, maybe because the journal nominated them for the Worst Band Name of 2007, category "OMG Get Excited!!!!". Anyway, that was the last night of their tour, they had to go back to their day jobs in Brooklyn, NY just after.

Pegasuses XL were headlining and celebrating the release of their first album, The Antiphon, on Ernest Jennings Record Co. Very efficient show, Becky "Cars Can Be Blue" Brooks on backing vocals on The Big Haunt. No running-around-the-block pre-show antics this time, just a big group hug, but the feeling was there.

I highly recommend you to lend an ear or two to Antiphon, for it is a very homogeneous album that you should find filed under electro-punk-rap. It doesn't sound as Add N to X-meets-Ladytron than their first EPs, it doesn't have the brutal impact The Midnight Aquarium had (I guess the surprise effect gets diluted with time), it is surprisingly subdued: at a time when twee kids listen to Bearsuit, one would expect Pegasuses to be more in your face. Take a song like Marathon Mansion from the Antiphon and compare it to Run the Gauntlet from their first EP: both are great, mind you, but my preference goes to the second. Still, go and get Antiphon, you won't be disappointed.

MP3s
Pegasuses XL - Run the Gauntlet
Pegasuses XL - Marathon Mansion
Pegasuses XL - The Big Haunt (that's the hit!)

Pictures of the 40W show are available on Mike White's site.
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Wed. 03/05
A gazillion bands were playing at Little Kings that evening: Madeline, Heather Hines and Liza Sullivan (ex Flash to Bang Time), Ham 1, Nana Grizol, and we ended with the unfortunately too scarce Circulatory System. As usual for this kind of occasion, it's more of a family reunion than an actual evening of shows. Well, it is both, let's say.

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Fri. 03/07
Second round for Liza backing up Heather Heyn (Vicariously Through Cats) at Flicker this time, with Andy From Denver headlining. I already gave reviews of Andy's shows, so I won't keep you longer. Andy put a very nice stunt by recording some of his between-songs banters, which gave a rather hilarious and surrealistic view of his mind's inner workings ("Oh, to fight the stress, I could just picture everybody naked. Not the guys, though, not the guys."). Andy is currently touring for 2-3 weeks with Keith John Adams in the East Coast/Midwest starting 03/20, so catch the mates while you can.

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Sat. 03/08
If you have any idea of my whereabouts on that day, drop a line...


Photo by Mike "Deadly Designs" White

Super Ash Wednesday

No, I didn't vote (I'm not allowed to in the States), no I didnt' get to eat any bugnes, but I let the good times roll by attending a show in the Hidden Hamster, a famous DYI venue a few blocks away from my place.

Christopher's Liver opened the evening. I don't have to introduce them if you leave in Athens. If you don't, Christopher's Liver is a duo of very kind people, Christopher Ingham on guitar, Laura Swindall on drums, who play some very heartfelt folk-pop. It's lo-fi, it's a tad off-kilter at times, but that's just charming. The duo will soon take a break for a few months, as Christopher planned to spend some times in Lyon, FR. The bugnes' season will be over, but that shouldn't matter much, eh ?

Vytear is Jason Begin from Philadephia, PA, playing solo keyboards, samplers and loops for a fairly efficient cocktail of electro/drum and bass/industrial jungle, with the occasional reference to Aphex Twin. That kind of danceable electro is relatively uncommon in our neck of the woods, so that was a pleasant surprise. And Vytear produced the first album of our next band:

Pony Pants, a trio from Philadelphia, two brothers (Steve and Ryan Ellis) on guitars and Emily Kovach on vocals, with a drum machine for the beats. They play some kind of dance-punk with heavy metal riffs. Even if I'm slowly getting used to metal and its derivatives, it stills tend to get on my nerves rather quickly. However, it worked great with them.

Athens' Pegasuses XL closed the evening with their heavy synths and live beats, after a fairly long break (a couple of kids got robbed by gun-point on the other side the venue, which brought us police forces but got us rid of the polo-shirt parasites. Everything's fine, don't worry). The show was chaotic, with shoes and pants flying around, but that was exactly the point: they were full of energy, unashamed and unabashed, they were having lots of fun and it was quite communicative. Mercer West (Mouser, Quiet Hooves and many, many more...) even joined them for an harmonica jam, certainly an highlight of the evening. Remember that their EPs are available for donation download at Quote Unquote Records, and that their next record, "The Antiphon", will very soon be available on EJRC.

A side note as conclusion: DIY venues such as the Furtive Ferret provide a service to the indie community, it's a place where to discover new bands or support the ones you know already. The donations may be on a voluntary basis only, that doesn't mean it's free. It's not a keg party, it's a show. Don't look offended when you're asked for a spare buck, it helps the band to pay for gas. Kids nowadays...

MP3:
Christopher's Liver: Thank you for the nostalgia...
Vytear: Milli Vanilli Midi Moves
Vytear: Keyed
Pony Pants: Slay The Ego
Pony Pants: Haircutz
Pegasuses XL: Run The Gauntlet
Pegasuses XL: Every House Is Not A Homie

[Edit 02/08]: Spelling corrections.

A week in gigs

I'm behind in posts, so let's wrap up this week in shows:


Mon., Jan. 21st - 40W
Tin Cup Prophette + Murder Mystery + Little Francis

Despite one of the coldest nights of the winter so far in Athens, and... a Monday (glad you follow), there was a non negligible audience (understand about 40, 50 people) for that show. I assume that the Hillary's laudative review of Murder Mystery in the Flagpole and Gordon's plug helped, or maybe was it just the presence of Tin Cup Prophette, or the debut of Little Francis who brought their friends as support.

I caught only a few songs of TCP, but was still impressed. Amanda Kapousouz had definitely a huge stage presence, huge like in 8.5 months pregnant. Nevertheless, that didn't prevent her to give us a nice soothing dose of her folksy trip-hop. Highly recommended to fans of Portishead.

Murder Mystery is a quartet (3 guys, one gal) from NYC, currently promoting their first album "Are you ready for the heartache cause here it comes". They play what would be lazily described as indie pop with slight country western overtones, or a musical equivalent of sherbet: it's refreshing, quite enjoyable, but not filling. The show itself was fairly OK. They lost some points for complaining about the lack of dancers (only a couple of people were actually dancing, while the rest of us were cosily sitting on their chair), and for trying to play games with the Athenians: "Athens is a hip town, right ? So you'll know what cover we're about to play...". FYI, that was an Orange Juice song, "Poor Old Soul" if I remember correctly. All in all, a good show, but nothing extraordinary. Their album is definitely worth listening a couple of times. Of the two MP3s linked with this post, "Honey Come Home" is the most representative.

Little Francis are four dudes, three on acoustic guitars and the last one banging on some stuffs. Don't ask me more, I was not paying attention and left in the middle of their song, it was cold.

MP3: Tin Cup Prophette:Going Numb
MP3: Tin Cup Prophette:Speak or Spill Down
MP3: Murder Mystery: Love Astronaut
MP3: Murder Mystery: Honey Come Home


Thu., Jan 24th - Flicker Bar
Joe Rowe's Coming Out Party

First show of Joe Rowe's (of The Glands and Casper and the Cookies fame) new band. Joe sings and plays keyboards, along with fellow Cookie Jim H. on drums, Eli on guitar and Adam on bass. Good solid indie-rock, great first show (sounding even better when you know they practiced only four times as a 4 piece), with a cover of Echo and the Bunnymen as a bonus ("Villiers Terrace"? "Do it clean"? I'm not sure. Correct me in the comments). Most (all) of the songs were actually written for Joe's other, semi-aborted projects, The Ice Caps and The Goons. Guys, congrats again, and we want another show very very soon!
MP3: JRCOP: Green Umbrella



Thu., Jan 24th - Caledonia Lounge
Attached Hands - Caledonia Social Club

Attached Hands are a duo playing live keyboards on pre-recorded samples, with some psychedelic animations in the background. Boards of Canada, anyone ?

Caledonia Social Club is a shoegaze jam experiment involving members of Local bands such as Maserati, A. Armada and others. Fairly efficient, but you definitely have to be in the mood. It took me 15 min. to realize that in fact, no, not that night...



Fri., Jan 25th - Go bar
The Buddy System - Pegasuses XL

The Go Bar was packed for the third Buddy System show, so packed that it was easier to brave the cold and watch the animations from the outside patio than trying to peep through the crowd. If you still don't know anything about the Buddy System, I can't really do anything for you: check some previous posts, and go and see their coming fourth show on Sat., Feb. 2nd at the Caledonia Lounge, where they'll support 63 Crayons and an exciting band of Roenoke, VA, The Young Sinclairs . Note that Friday was the premiere of the Buddies' new animation,"Nature's Tiny Realm".

Because of conflicting schedules, I missed Pegasuses XL. Shame, shame, shame on me.


Fri., Jan 25th - Farm 255
The Ice Cream Socialists - Casper and the Cookies

Because of conflicting schedules, I missed the Ice Cream Socialists, but frankly... Casper and the Cookies delivered us an strong, honest show, mostly consisting of songs from the "Optimist Club". After all, that show was more a live practice before their Japan tour than anything. No big surprises here, a good time for all the family.


And that's all for this week. Stay tuned for more goodies.