This week-end in shows

Fri. 02/08

The Buddy System [40W]
Fifth show of our friends from the Buddy System, and a new animation ! TBS keep their CMYK trademark, but exit the cats, the cute monsters and evil horses. This time, Mat and Lauren's actual profiles appear face-to-face in their respective color, each pronouncing part of the lyrics. Musical departure as well from TBS' usual pop, as the song ends in a tribute to 2-tone (well, with some variations that you can guess). Excellent tune, quite original, one of their best so far. Moremoremore !


Dancer vs. Politician [Flicker]
Sanni Baumgärtner's Dancer vs Politician used to have two incarnations: one in Berlin (EU), and one in Athens, GA. Now that Sanni moved back to Athens for good, she recomposed the band's line up. The emotion is still intact, don't worry, you'll recognize the quiet and soothing ballads of "A City Half-Lost", a highly recommended album that has a very special place in my heart.
MP3: Mach Dich Los
MP3: Justin Fairborn


Sweet teeth [40W]
Sweet Teeth is a super band composed of members of Dark Meat, Long Legged Woman, among others. If you have never seen Sweet Teeth, picture some drony, hypnotic, improv' jam, with a million people on stage. It's actually better than you may fear.
MP3: Improvisation.


Mouser [40W]
I only caught a bit of Mouser, which is OK, as a little goes a long way. There are nights where the chaotic horn section really support the band, other nights where they don't. I can't tell which one was which, I wasn't very attentive.


Knyfe Hyts [40W]
More psychedelic heavy droning with Knyfe Hyts, a trio from Brooklyn, NY, who made me believe I was in the middle of some sun dance.

And then, I had to leave to attend some friends' dance party. And yes, I ruled the floor, thanks to the loveliest help possible. "Daft Punk is playing in my house, my house..."
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Sat. 02/09

There should be some kind of law or city ordinance for restaurants to have two waiting lists in parallel, one for kids under 24 (unaccompanied, I won't shoot myself in the foot more than necessary) and another for the rest of us normal people (put ironic smileys where suitable). Else, you'll end up waiting far too long before switching to another place, and you'll eventually be late for the first show of the evening:

Andy From Denver [Flicker]
Andy plays a very short set, so it's easy to miss most of it. I caught only three songs, about half the set, and that's a shame. It seems I missed some episode involving the famous Nintendo power-glove I mentioned in a previous post.

Miwa Gemini [Flicker]
Miwa Gemini, with Brian (on xylophone) and Sasha (her porcelain cat) delivered us her gentle, endearing ballads. Her cover of "Que sera sera" got the whole audience singing. Miwa's new album, "This Is How I Found You", will be released on Mar. 18. It definitely has a Southern feel to it, more so than on "Forgetful Ocean": in a way, it reminds me of Julee Cruise. You want it.
MP3: Crazy Over You
MP3: Forever For Never
MP3: Sad about Joe


Ham 1 [Flicker]
Athens' Ham 1 were headlining. Their shows remind me a family reunion where the cousins grab their instruments and start rocking out (supposing that on top of being great people, your cousins are also very talented musicians). Their first self-titled album had one of the best melancholy pop-folk song ever, "The Gift", that fortunately is now played live on a regular basis. The latest album, the excellent "The Captain's Table", was released last September on Orange Twin. Check the video of "Saluki", a track that would have fitted well on the second half of The Pixies' "Bossanova". A new album has already been recorded, and it should be available online some time next month. For now, there are no plan for the release of an actual CD, which definitely cuts costs, time and worries.
MP3: The Gift
MP3: Hare Lipped Bust
MP3: White Rat


Dark Meat / Face Off [40W]
Special evening at the 40W, organized like the day before by Mercer West. Take a member of the ever-expanding Dark Meat band/collective, pair him or her with another musician not from the band (a "civilian"), and give them 10 minutes. You can end up with some surprising moments. The last piece I managed to catch was disappointing, however, with some naive video made of old and new U.S. propaganda pieces overlaid by some droney keyboards and guitar that could have been interesting if the white-mask-wearing duo that was on stage had actually bothered writing a full tune, and not just an intro. Oh well.
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As a friend noticed, between Dark Meat and Ham 1, that was a butcher's delight night. That observation initiated another discussion: we already have several super-bands in Athens (Sweet Teeth, Supercluster...), all connected one way or another to Dark Meat. There's the need for a new one, The Vegan Option. Apply within.

[Edit 02/11: some spelling/grammar corrections]
[Edit 02/12: Go check out Mike White's photos of Friday evening !]

Gossips

And now for some random gossips:
Casper and the Cookies will play their last show Athens show of the winter on Fri. Jan 25th at Farm 255 (of all places...). They'll be hitting Japan like a power-pop tsunami on Feb. 5th for a 9-day tour promoting the release of "Optimist Club" on Waikiki records.

Talking about Cookies, on Thu. Jan. 24th, Flicker will host the premiere of a new band composed of Joe R. (guitar), Jim H. (drums) and two other guys whose name I forgot (sorry). The name of the band isn't cast in stone as I write this line, but expect something along the lines of "Joe Rowe's Coming-Out Party". Or maybe not.

Sat. 24th Andy from Denver / The Lolligags was short (4 songs for Andy, 5 for the Lolligags), but really excellent. Andy played a slightly more subdued set than the day before at Flicker, without suggestive dances nor powerglove, but endearing nevertheless. The Lolligags quickly won over the part of the audience who were only discovering them, and Leslie overcame her natural shyness to give us some sweet moves.

Andy will spent 21 days at the end of March, beginning of April on the road for a East Coast/ MidWest show with Keith John Adams. More about that when we'll get closer to the dates.

The Lolligags just spent the week-end recording two new songs with Jason NeSmith at his Bel-Air studio. "Best behavior" isn't fully mixed yet, but amateurs of English education will be pleased. "Carnival" is also still in draft, but we have a hit here already: think Siouxsie meets DM meets Goldfrapp meets the Cure, with a killer groove. 2008, the year of twoth, remember ? By far the most exciting song I've heard all year. Sorry, I can't post anything now, so go and visit their myspace page. Oh, and there are rumors of remixes...

And... That's all for today. Stay warm, I'll be near the carousel.

With a little help of my friends...

Some random news, mostly plugging friends.

The Lolligags are playing a free(?) french-colored show at Go Bar on Saturday, Jan. 19th. Opening will be Andy from Denver, the new "band" of Andy G., of M(arshmallow) Coast fame. "Band", because Andy plays solo, guitar, keyboards and sequencer. The show will be another Budding Helping Buddies production, which already brought us the Lodger, Spring Tigers, Black Kids, and "Control".

Mike W. from Deadly Designs posted pictures of the last PCC/Casper show (cf previous post).

Hillary B., half of the famous Team Brown, posted some videos of yesterday's Yo La Tengo show (this one, that one, and that later one).

"Return to Horse Mountain", the new track of the Buddy System, kicks ass, as the audience of their Saturday Jan. 12th show at the Georgia Theater could witness. It starts western, it ends kung-fu, there are evil horses and their dark overlord, I'm a fan. Lauren, marry me.

Update 01/17/2008:
Well, turns out that the Buddy System just posted the clip of "Return to Horse Mountain" on Youtube. Check their myspace page as well to listen to their new song, "Watermarx". Thanks guys !




(Flyer artwork by Eric H.)