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Reverie Rush is the heart-wrenching bedroom pop solo project of Athens, GA-based multi-instrumentalist, Andy Barton. Written after moving from Athens to Atlanta and back again in the span of a year, Barton’s debut release, the Beginners EP, drops today (as in, right here, right now).
“I lived in the city for about a year or so to try and give Fake Flowers, the band I was playing in at the time, a shot,” said Barton of the EP. “It was a pretty rough period, with a break-up, a dead end job and the eventual (first) dissolution of Fake Flowers…at first, coming up with these songs was just a means to help process a lot of the sudden life changes I’d experienced, but it became clear pretty quickly that I had to put together a cohesive document of that period of my life, like my very being required it.”
The five-track EP was written by Barton and recorded with former Fake Flowers bandmates, Jake Chisenhall (Delorean Gray) and Freeman Leverett. Check out the premiere below, and scroll down for Barton’s track-by-track breakdown below!
“Taking On Water”
“Taking On Water” was actually the last track composed for the EP. The chord progression had been floating around since the early days of the project, but it wasn’t until we went to record that it received a full arrangement and really came together. From the get-go I knew the EP needed an instrumental intro, though. I had envisioned this sad, shoegaze-y score playing over an image of someone lost at sea, their little ship taking on water. Jake and Freeman really helped execute that with their additions to the arrangement, which we just kind of jammed out in just a few takes.
“Coming up for Air”
“Coming up for Air” channels, by far, the darkest themes and elements of the EP. It’s all about grief and guilt and letting your loved ones down. I felt like I’d reached an all-time low, and getting all these feelings out in song served as a much-needed moment of catharsis. Writing this song presented a moment of clarity, where I was able to completely acknowledge that I’d made some pretty big mistakes that put me in a dark place, but I could also just as easily work towards bettering myself, and by extension, bettering others — that I could come up for air.
“What Have We Become?”
“What Have We Become?” kind of came about after playing around with a lot of dreamy, jazzy major 7th chords that reminded me of Fake Flowers songs. I wanted a guitar-driven song on the EP, something really urgent to express how I felt after moving back to Athens and trying to start anew. I was really pleased with how we were able to incorporate all the different guitar tones I really like: there’s jangle, there’s fuzz, there’s some post-punk influence, there are some shoegaze elements.
“Out of Sight”
“Out of Sight” was probably the second to last song I wrote for the EP, and as such it definitely reflects a more serene, level-headed perspective, bordering bittersweet. The ballad of the record, I wanted to give it a kind of loungey/crooner vibe, especially in the chorus. Jake and Freeman were listening to a good bit of bossa nova at the time, so I think that rubbed off on me, here. Freeman’s Thundercat bass line in the outro is easily one of my favorite recordings on the EP; it was completely improvised and pulled off in just a few takes. He finished tracking it, and I just started busting out laughing; it was so good.
“Run Its Course”
“Run Its Course” is the song that’s the most special to me, as it was the first one I wrote for the project, and the first song that I really ever wrote to completion. Once I’d gotten the verses finished, I was acutely aware of how much of a caricatured sad guy I probably sounded like, so I wanted the chorus to acknowledge that and poke fun at my own mope in a tongue-in-cheek way. I didn’t really know how to end the song initially, but Jake was really instrumental in solidifying the arrangement for the outro. Writing and recording that vocal section with him was one of the most personally gratifying musical experiences I think I’ve ever had.
Day One of Shaky Knees kicked off bright and early with a set from Cymbals Eat Guitars over at the Ponce de Leon stage. Not a bad way to jump start your day, with front row head-banging right at the crack of noon. The lineup for Friday was overwhelming in the best way, with no down time from one kickass band to the next. We’re genuinely surprised we even found time to eat anything. We ran straight from Cymbals to Zipper Club, then on to Temples followed quickly by Margaret Glaspy (hero), and from Glaspy we hauled over to Car Seat Headrest. Post Car Seat at the Peachtree Stage, we made it to The Growlers on the Piedmont Stage for half a set, and then booked it back to Ponce to catch everyone’s new favorite band, Pinegrove.
Pinegrove’s set was one of the most anticipated of the day for us (although, with this bottomless smorgasbord of fantastic artists, it was hard to choose which set to get the most pumped for), and we weren’t alone. Though the Ponce stage was the smallest of the three, the New Jersey band commanded a crowd, and personal space was impossible to find. The six-piece folk rock band took us through most of 2016’s Cardinal, only leaving off third to last track “Waveform,” which…yeah, we get. Even though we’re probably never going to see them play our favorite track “Peeling Off the Bark” from 2015’s Everything So Far, they did pull out “Angelina,” “Problems,” “The Metronome,” and “Recycling” from their debut release, so we were more than satisfied. They also played big guns “Old Friends” and “Aphasia,” and ended with our latest on-constant-repeat obsession “New Friends” for the finale.
From Pinegrove, we settled in at the main (Peachtree) stage for Wolf Parade, followed immediately by Portugal. The Man, and then Cage The Elephant.
Cage The Elephant. Photo courtesy of aLIVE Coverage
Matt Shultz’s presence as Cage The Elephant frontman Friday at Shaky Knees is not the first time that crowd chatter has compared him to Mick Jagger. Shultz’s stage presence is memorable, to put it lightly. While he isn’t exactly Jagger, he has surely proven himself as an epic (and we don’t throw that word around too often) performer time and time again. Cage’s Shaky Knees set was mega high energy and captivating.
Post-Cage, we fought our way to a good vantage point at the Piedmont Stage for Pixies‘ set, which was a lot easier to obtain after a third of the crowd dispersed halfway through the set once the band finished “Where Is My Mind?” (really, guys?). Side note: bless Shaky Knees for booking the Pixies for two years, first in 2015 and again this year. Anyone who missed this set made a huge mistake. We’re still reeling.
Legends in their own right, headliners LCD Soundsystem took the stage Friday night of Shaky Knees like the kings of electronic rock they are. They walked onto the stage to the Peech Boys’ anthemic “Life Is Something Special,” a fitting opener to one of the best and most highly anticipated sets of the weekend. James Murphy then commenced orchestrating a giant festy dance party as the group worked through a setlist that catered to all, especially lovers of their debut self-titled and 2007’s Sounds Of Silver, breaking down into a beautiful, swaying close with “All My Friends.”
Day Two
Day Two was definitely the slower day of the festival, on top of being the rainiest of the three. (Though to be real, it only seriously rained for about five minutes and was a welcome refresher from the heat.) While Friday and Sunday both boasted lineups that were destined to have us well over our daily “steps” goals with all of the time-overlap sets we’d be running to, Saturday’s offerings gave us a little more down time to catch some shade or, you know, actually taste the food truck fare we were scarfing down.
The day started promptly at noon again, this time over at the main stage for North Carolina duo Flagship followed by LA’s The Record Company, and then on over to the Piedmont Stage for British pop singer Bishop Briggs, who you may recognize from her mega hits “River” and more recently “Wild Horses.” Since “River” first released in January 2016, Briggs has been rapidly climbing the charts. While her soulful performance was a great introduction for new fans, we would love to see Briggs break away from sounding exactly like her recordings and bring something extra to her live performance. We’re super excited to see what is in store for the emerging artist, and we’ll be keeping an eye on her for sure.
Dr. Dog. Photo courtesy of aLIVE Coverage
Dr. Dog was the most anticipated set of the day for us, and we posted up at the Piedmont Stage to catch the psych rock band for their early evening set. The band took the stage and wasted no time on teasing the audience, launching right into fan favorite “How Long Must I Wait” off of 2012’s Be The Void, later on also gifting us with tracks “That Old Black Hole,” “These Days, and “Heavy Light” from the same album. The rest of the set consisted of a good mix of their catalog, surprisingly lacking heavy focus on this year’s Abandoned Mansion and also exploring 2013’s B-Room as well as 2010’s Shame, Shame, with a couple of tracks from 2008’s Fate and last year’s The Psychedelic Swamp for good measure. They closed the set with their signature cover of Architecture in Helsinki‘s “Heart It Races.”
Day Three
Day Three was a beast. Starting off with Hoops at the Piedmont stage at 12:30 p.m., it’s hard to pinpoint what the highlight of the day was between sets from Whitney, Hamilton Leithauser, Fruit Bats, Third Eye Blind (might be a real contender, because #nostalgia), The Shins, Ryan Adams (who basically just made fun of The Shins the whole time), and Phoenix.
Fruit Bats. Photo courtesy of aLIVE Coverage
That said, we’re a little bit nuts for Fruit Bats over here, and we were front row rail for the entire set, taking enough videos to make our phones complain that we were running out of storage. Our obsessive fandom was rewarded later on during The Shins’ set, when Fruit Bats frontman Eric D. Johnson (former member of The Shins) jumped in with them on tambourine.
Despite personal favorites, it has to be acknowledged that Phoenix was genuinely, indisputably incredible. Their hour-and-a-half set was masterful, complete with the coolest backdrop we’ve ever seen—a slanted mirror aerially reflecting the stage below, with the floor projecting trippy visual effects. The entire surrounding crowd was near hysteria throughout the entire show up until their encore which included—obviously—2009’s smash hit “1901.”
Phoenix. Photo courtesy of aLIVE Coverage
Final Thoughts
We’ve talked about this before, but we are all about the sustainability factor of refillable water stations in lieu of plastic bottles, and Shaky Knees was one of the first festivals we ever saw implement this system. We’ve been seeing this more and more on the festival circuit, and we’re so glad that it’s becoming a best practice. Shoutout to Shaky for being proactive here.
Also want to note that Centennial Olympic Park is a great location. When they hosted the festival at Central Park in 2015, we thought it was perfect and wondered if it could get any better. Plenty of shade, stages far enough apart that their sound didn’t step on each other…it seemed like the ideal spot to plant this festival, and when we heard about the move in 2016, we were skeptical. It turns out our doubts were unfounded. Yes, Centennial is a smaller park, but this didn’t, as we worried, result in overcrowding. There were less stages than before, but this mainly resulted in easier transition from stage to stage without feeling like you had to leave a set 10 minutes after arriving in order to be on time for the next. In short, this festival is excellently planned, and runs like clockwork. We’re believers.
Since its inception, Shaky Knees’ consistently stellar lineup has made it stand out, and it remains one of our all-time favorite festivals, from soup to nuts. The bottom line is, the lineup is always unbeatable and, more importantly, uncompromising. Keep it up, guys, and we’ll keep insisting that this is the festival that should not be missed.
10-piece retro-rock band Kilroy Kobra has been busy gaining a following in the Atlanta music scene, having just released their debut LP Man of the World back in September. The 10-piece band includes: Michael J. Barnard on drums, Michael Denness on percussion, Zachary Harrison on trombone, Andrew Rowland on trumpet, Edward Gloria on bass, Matt Petino on guitar, Tommy Uribe on guitar, keys and lead vocals, Joshua Seckman on synths, and vocalists Carly Jones and Asiel “ZaZu” Langely.
Frontman/producer/multi-instrumentalist Tommy Uribe met the majority of his bandmates within the past year—Harrison and Rowland through Barnard—but he says that he wrote all of the material on their debut album long before actually forming the group.
To form the band, Uribe claims that he first sought out musicians online. “Eventually, I started hitting people up over the Internet,” he says, laughing. “I found our bassist via Craigslist. He had friends in another band that was breaking up, so they ended up being our brass players. So we’re all still kind of getting to know each other, but it’s been awesome.”
While the band may seem like a hodgepodge of different personalities, their sound is cohesive, tailored, and, yes, diverse.
Uribe says that to draw inspiration, the band used Spotify to create a playlist where each band member added five songs that they liked monthly. This helped the members get a feel for everyones’ tastes and visions.
The bandmates come from a variety of musical and cultural backgrounds, bringing a unique edge to their sound.
It’s hard to know where each of us come from, since we are 10 people,” Uribe states. “We come from a lot of musical backgrounds. I come from a Latin American background, but I’m really into psych rock, so it’s kind of a mixture. But everyone kind of brings their own flavor. It’s exciting to bring all of our genres together. Honestly, I kind of want to live in a more compassionate world, and I find the best way to do that is through music.”
The diversity definitely comes through in the band’s unique sound. Uribe grew up simultaneously listening to Latin American music and classic rock (The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, all that good stuff). Now, he says he can’t seem to find many genres that he doesn’t feel inspired by. These unique combinations of sound drive the tone of the band.
The cultural melting pot of Atlanta also serves as inspiration for the group. The singer says that having an audience open to combinations of sounds allows the band to experiment. “The audience of music listeners here are very open to a lot of different genres, and that’s what I want to do: I wanna challenge listeners to listen to many genres,” Uribe says. “Find the similarity in music instead of the difference. It’s more rewarding that way, I think. There are so many different cultures (musically and literally) here in Atlanta that we should celebrate that, in an inclusive way. Why can’t hip hop and psych rock bands share the stage? Why can’t a funk band play a Latin song? Those questions seem ridiculous for obvious reasons, but why aren’t there more artists locally doing this? So, why not us?”
Uribe tells me that the new group is still figuring out how to write together. Since the lead singer had originally written alone, there has been a bit of a learning process for the musician. He felt that writing alone was too much of his “own flavor,” and that adding new musicians with individual sounds added a lot to the texture of the overall result.
He reveals that the band has already started writing new material together. “After we recorded the whole album as a band, it just all came together. Now, two or three people are mostly getting into the songwriting, and everyone else is kind of adding their ideas on as we go. It’s a collaborative effort for sure.”
This unorthodox group recently released a new project in the form of a visual album entitled Man of the World.
When asked about the process for the album, Uribe says, “a few of the songs in Man of the World were songs written while I was in another band, Otium, that just didn’t work out but that I wanted to hold on to. As that band started to slowly break up, I started going to the Atlanta Institute of Music and Media and was introduced to the creative world of recording. That led to an infinite source of inspiration due to me not having to rely on other people to come up with musical parts, changes in the song, other creative ideas—it was just all me, and I was learning to become inspired in other instruments I wasn’t skilled at thus eventually learning how to play those instruments, including it in my recordings, etc. I started having so much fun with it that I thought I’d purposely plan out an album with all the musical choices I’d love to make in a perfectly tuned album for my taste. So I did precisely that.”
The young musician goes on to reflect that he listened to his favorite albums in detail before recording, paying attention to song order, music theory, and the overall execution of the albums.
“I applied certain things I learned from all my favorite records, wrote a bunch of new songs and added some old song ideas that I re-worked to make sense in Man of the World.”
But, Uribe says, there was still something missing; he needed input from artists with different perspectives to give his album texture.
“Once I got to the end of making and recording the album, I couldn’t help to notice that eventually everything sounded like it was just me—duh, no shit! It didn’t sound alive and collaborative. The reason I say that is because, being from South America, the musical culture that I grew up in was a collaborate party. Everyone is involved, no matter what the topic of the music or the feeling, everyone is just trying to have a good time and letting the music come from within everyone.”
Kilroy Kobra also puts significant effort and thought into the band’s live shows. The frontman assures that improv and audience involvement are to be expected from the band’s unique performances. Ever inspired, they also try to mesh other types of art into their production, as well as having themed shows and special guests from time to time.
Kilroy Kobra is currently collaborating and writing with different hip-hop performers in Atlanta, so be on the lookout for new material.
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R A // R A // R I O T . photo by Nikki Greene
When Ra Ra Riot announced they were hitting the road to promote Need Your Light, I was anxious to see how the new material would translate to the stage. When I heard they’d be bringing Sun Club AND PWR BTTM with them, I was ecstatic. Then I found out these three would be playing steps away from my humble abode, so it only made sense that it quickly became the hottest ticket in town…Safe to say the ATL was in for a treat.
PWR BTTM
Mission to shred.
P W R // B T T M . Photo by Chris Hunkele
With all the press this band has received over the past six months, I was prepared for a letdown. The hype machine is a monster and has the ability to create novelties out of anyone with a hint of talent and quickly reduce them to a fading trend. I was worried I’d see into the eyes of the beast, but PWR BTTM put that notion to bed in about a minute and thirty seconds. They’re playing their first round of SXSW showcases this week and they’ll be one of the hardest acts to see. Usually I’d say you should never wait in line longer than ten or fifteen minutes to see a band at South by, but they’re different. Fresh. Dramatic. Unapologetic about their in your face queer agenda. And I like it.
Ugly Cherries is the best song I heard last year. The finger tapped riffs are replicated with ease under the lights and the drums are even heavier in person. Their song 1994 has been following me everywhere over the last few weeks, so I was happy to belt out a few ooooh woo oooh oohs as they tore through that track. I haven’t seen a band shred like this since my last Diarrhea Planet show – but Liv and Ben do it with one guitar. I was most impressed with their ability to flawlessly harmonize through complex rhythm changes throughout the set and put together the right amount of peaks and valleys present on their full length record.The makeup and gowns were on point too: A+ in the wardrobe department.
What I really enjoy about PWR BTTM is they sing about the same things all bands do: love and heartbreak, loneliness, having fun and wasting time. The only difference is they tell it from a perspective that few people want to have a conversation about. The true power of their music is that they’re getting to the bottom of how society views gender and homosexuality. It’s just a bonus that it happens to be really great rock & roll.
SUN CLUB
You gotta eat the pops…
S U N // C L U B . photo by Nikki Greene
Sun Club stepped on stage looking mismatched and a little confused. In setup, they appeared to struggle with where everything was supposed to go, and it took at least a song before all the cables were assigned to their respective 1/4” jacks. Even during their set which includes two drummers, loads of vintage gear, an ironing board, and a collection of antique dolls, they look more like a yard sale than a band. If any of the thrifty Ra Ra Riot fans who sold out the two hundred plus capacity venue were looking for a bargain, they came away with a steal in Sun Club.
The Baltimore five piece played through their debut full length, The Dongo Durango with a maelstrom of energy. When the house lights lowered, it was as if these guys became conduits possessed by some supernatural presence and the audience was treated to a live exorcism. Bassist Adam attempts to shake the demons loose from his head while drummers Devin and Kory beat them into submission. Shane almost speaks in tongues over psych-surf guitar licks while Mikey bounces around the stage, crying out heavily delayed chants from his soul. The whole show is an experiment in chaos. It makes sense that they recorded most of their album live, because I can’t imagine these dudes sitting still for longer than ten or fifteen minutes.
In the end it all comes together for Sun Club. Amidst the room rattling drum beats and driving bass lines, their punchy guitar tones pierce through the walls of reverb to provide sophisticated melodic support for the sometimes spastic vocal rhythms. For a band with little apparent structure, they are able to corral all the moving parts just long enough to produce a cohesive musical experience that can only be described as fun.
Thanks guys – I had a damn ball.
RA RA RIOT
All the feels.
R A // R A // R I O T . photo by Nikki Greene
The night closed out with the seasoned headliners providing professional level entertainment to the sold out venue. Fixtures of the indie music scene for over ten years, Ra Ra Riot have become a polished collection of musicians. Their unique brand of classical infused dance-rock almost sounded too big for the room – like we were part of an intimate listening party. Rarely do I leave a show in awe of the musical talent of a band, but they seriously impressed me. Something about violins and cellos inserted into a rock band changes everything – it sounds complete, composed, and purposeful. This band pays attention to the details.
The set list was heavy on recently released Need Your Light, which translated nicely to the stage, but included hits like Dance With Me and Beta Love to the delight of all. It was Ghost Under Rocks however that got everyone moving and put arms in the air.
Over the years, Ra Ra Riot has put together a catalog of songs for any emotion. They hit on all of them tonight.
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R A // R A // R I O T . photo by Nikki Greene
The move to go backstage was sudden. Without a choice, my friend and I were told, “Let’s go,” as Lockett Pundt’s cousin (a friend from home) told us to follow her backstage, along with the rest of Lockett’s close relatives. Guitarist, Lockett Pundt leads us up multiple flights of stairs to Georgia Theater’s “backstage.” Bradford sits on an ottoman, surrounded by his family members. His aunt is sewing a “Volvo” patch on his red jacket. Notorious Deerhunter dog, Faulkner, greets us, and Cox relates family stories as if he had known us for years. It seemed as if we were an audience to Pundt and Cox’s family affairs, but in no way did it feel like intruding. Cox’s bubbly humor and Pundt’s stoic poise created the atmosphere of a friendly hang out, and the same is true of their performance.
We left backstage to leave the family members to their pre-show reunion and found a spot on the balcony, right above the stage. Bitchin Bajas opened with an instrumental, psychedelic jazz sound. Their combination of saxophone and keyboard offered a smooth transition to Deerhunter’s loud, pop rock style. With the theater packed, Deerhunter enters onto a neon stage in front of what one security guard predicted as “close to a thousand” audience members. Cox honors those who saw their show at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta (Deerhunter’s origin) the night before. Guitarist, Josh McKay, greeted the audience as an Athens native. Cox joked, “We loved Athens so much we imported their guitarist.” Deerhunter dedicated various songs from their new album, Fading Frontier, to their family members. Cox dedicated “Take Care” to his mom, who watched from the VIP section.
I found my gaze leaving the stage throughout the set to watch audience members. People swayed back and forth, a guy jumped up and down out of rhythm to the songs, couples stood together. On stage, Cox invites the boys of Bitchin Bajas to join them, and the show eventually became an extended jam session between good friends. Songs like “Snakeskin” played longer for a 5-minute, ambient collaboration. The song ends as Cox slowly kneels on the floor, eventually hovering over his guitar on the stage floor. It’s obvious the other band members are unsure what’s happening. Pundt leans to Cox and laughingly asks the audience if there’s a doctor around, because Cox had “seized” and “couldn’t get up.” Cox immediately stands up and laughs about Pundt’s inadequate delivery of the joke.
The band continued their set for a twenty-minute encore before Cox thanked the audience and told us goodbye. The show harbored a sense of familiarity and friendliness. Deerhunter performed in such a way that audience members, or myself at least, felt comfortable. In no way did the band members seem “untouchable,” instead they were welcoming and real. Of course, Deerhunter is on their way to wider recognition, but it was obvious as I watched backstage and from the balcony above, family and friends play a large part in Deerhunter’s success and will continue to keep them grounded, and their warm interactions with the audience will keep us all coming back for more.
It’s been about a year since the boys of Amsterdam Station released their seven song EP, Stories from the Subtext. The EP came to initiate the band’s plan for a full-length album in the coming new year. Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, the band consists of Greg Jarvis, Andy Potash, Schafer Gray, and Chris Connelly.
With an alternative rock style, Amsterdam Station opens their EP with “Warden.” “Warden” exhibits a catchy, sonorous bass melody, balanced with a fluid vocals and stark guitar riffs, “City of the Dead” follows with a classic violin sound and a haunting chorus. Slower songs like, “White Dove” and “Love is a Martyr,” exemplify the band’s flexibility. While they produce heavy hitting rock ballads, AS also knows how to serenade their listeners. Furthermore, Stories from the Subtext offers cohesiveness among the tracks. The EP begins with a post-apocalyptic feel and ends on an optimistic note with “Sons and Daughters of the Revolution.”
Although the band is still developing, and will inevitably make a few changes in the future, they’ve started off on the right foot. Their sound comes together with meaningful lyrics. AS essentially encourages their listeners to hear the story behind the sound.
Don’t be fooled by these guys’ rock style, they have a soft side. In light of the holiday season, Amsterdam Station has graced us with their harmonic rendition of “Happy Xmas (War is Over).
Find more of Amsterdam Station on Soundcloud. Stick around for new material in May 2016.
Shaky Knees has an incredible lineup this year. If you’re overwhelmed by the sheer amount of bands or just want to see one you’ve never heard of before, check out Vinyl’s top five picks for each of the fest’s three days.
Day One
The Strokes
As Friday’s headliners, it seems like an obvious choice to see The Strokes. The New York based rock band hasn’t toured extensively in close to a decade and with Shaky Knees being only one of four announced live shows this year; this is not one to be missed.
James Blake
James Blake is a fantastic musician and producer. Though he borders the line of being an alternative act and doesn’t quite qualify as a rocker, his unique fusion of R&B music and post dubstep electronica is sure to entrance any passersby.
Death from Above 1979
Death from Above’s sophomore record came a decade after its first and the wait ended up being well worth it. Though the band has toured the world and back to promote it, there’s no telling when there’ll be another opportunity to see them. Do it.
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats are one of the most prolific rock bands releasing 15 studio albums in 20 years. Recent single “The Legend of Chavo Guerrero” is a perfect introduction into an album about wrestling and it’ll certainly be interesting to see how this translates live.
Kaiser Chiefs
The Leeds-based band isn’t hugely known in the states. However, one spin of any of Kaiser Chief’s five studio albums shows extreme replay value. Shaky Knees is one of a handful of 2015 appearances the band will be making, and their live shows do not disappoint.
Day Two
The Avett Brothers
Saturday’s headliners have become somewhat of a music festival mainstay in the last few years. Though the group began in the early 2000s, their 2007 album Emotionalism caught the attention of famous producer Rick Rubin. Its work with Rubin propelled the band to the top of the Billboard album charts where each subsequent release has charted in the top 10. The Avett Brothers continue to push the boundaries of folk music and seeing them would definitely be time well spent.
Wilco
It’s been awhile since Wilco has released a new studio album (almost five years, but who’s counting?), but the vast back catalogue the band tours with remains unparalleled. One moment the band will take listeners back to “Too Far Apart” off the 20 year old A.M. before slingshotting to a rarity off last year’s compilation. Jeff Tweedy’s strength in leading the band has always pushed them towards new sonic territory and this is not an opportunity to be missed.
Interpol
As a 90s child, the influence of Interpol on contemporary alternative – and rock — music is undeniable. The group was one of the pioneers of post-punk revival music alongside bands like The Strokes and The National before going in its own direction. The heavy blend of lo-fi sounds; restless guitars and penchant for contrastingly gloomy lyrical content have kept the band in the game setting the bar higher for other alternative bands. 2014’s El Pintor showcased a strong, gloomy stylistic restraint that will be interesting to see live in the context of its more up-tempo cuts.
Neutral Milk Hotel
No, you shouldn’t go see NMH just to see grown men cry to all three parts of “King of the Carrot Flowers.” Upon its release in 1998, In the Aeroplane over the Sea was met with lukewarm reception. It wasn’t until a decade later that the genius of Mangum’s hybridization of psychedelic music with low-fi pop music straight out of the 1960s was realized. By then it was too late as the band had taken an indefinite hiatus until the dust was brushed off in 2013. This is the band’s last leg of the tour before another indefinite hiatus and is quite possibly its last Atlanta show for the time being.
FIDLAR
To fully understand what FIDLAR is all about, one must first understand what the acronym stands for – go ahead, Google it. With that mantra firmly in mind listen to its self-titled debut — but don’t take it TOO seriously. The surf punk band sings about everything from getting high to making fun of guys who can’t surf without ever coming across as a joke. Subtle choices in the instrumentation demonstrate a punk band with far more musical knowledge than you’d be led to believe with fleeting moments of acoustic guitar and banjo. Vinyl isn’t liable if you head bang too hard.
Day Three
As Shaky Knees draws to a close, organizers have devised a clever power punch to get crowds staying until the very last minute. A dizzying performance by Tame Impala waits for those as a reward for surviving what looks to be an unbearably hot weekend. A Ryan Adams set waits for those looking to cool down between heavier rock shows and a Best Coast set is there for everyone who’s been impatiently waiting for the new record.
Tame Impala
Australian psychedelic rockers Tame Impala rose to prominence in 2010 following the release and critical acclimation of Innerspeaker. Here in 2015 the band is set to make one of its first few live performances behind its just announced third LP Currents. Its live set revolves around a highly complex light show that always captivates the audience so this is the perfect set to end this year’s Shaky Knees.
Ryan Adams
Ryan Adams has laid the foundation for his career by releasing 14 albums in 14 years with each one being starkly different from the rest. His recent self-titled record seems like a far more organic progression than him starting a punk band with rich vocal intonation and a tight arrangement of drums, electric guitar and acoustic guitar. With a massive back catalog, there’s going to be something for all fans at Ryan Adams’ set.
Old Crow Medicine Show
In the upper echelons of folk music sits Old Crow Medicine Show, a group that has inspired many other contemporary bands throughout its existence. Don’t be fooled by the genre though as the band can match the intensity of other headliners The Strokes and Pixies with its highly energetic set. Expect soaring crowd sing-alongs to the choruses and several covers of seminal country classics.
Panda Bear
As one of the co-founders of the highly acclaimed group Animal Collective, Noah Lennox has made quite a name for himself outside of the band as Panda Bear. His material takes a decidedly different direction with the occasional gurgling synth, nonsensical lyrics and a root in ambient rock. In his shows he frequently recreates each song live using a variety of synths onstage instead of relying on a backing track – oh, and he does it completely solo too.
Best Coast
Best Coast’s big make or break moment will be its first show following the release of its third LP California Nights not even a week earlier. After dividing its fanbase with a noticeably polished sound on its last album, legions of listeners are waiting in the wings to not only hear the new record but to also see vocalist Bethany Cosentino pull off a captivating set. Don’t fret if another band is scheduled to perform at concurrently as Best Coast will also be playing a night set on a different day.
Whoever decided opposites attract must have been talking about Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn combining EDM with indie folk vocals straight from the hills of Appalachia at a sold-out Variety Playhouse on Jan. 15.
The duo, based out of Durham, N.C., started the show off with a high-powered rendition of “Could I Be,” a track that perfectly showcases Sanborn’s ability to mirror and echo Meath’s poetic lyrics about making it big with hypnotic bass.
Meath hijacked the crowd’s attention with her expertly executed verses during “Dress” and ended the track by borrowing: I woke up like this, from Beyoncé’s “Flawless” – very much to the crowd’s delight.
“Coffee,” which is arguably Sylvan Esso’s most popular song, featured more subtle rhythmic bass lines from Sanborn and was beautifully delivered with a raw vocal authority and climax that really ignited the crowd’s excitement.
“Hey Mami” begins low and slow with Sanborn’s skillful looping of Meath’s voice, as the piece quickly morphs into an all-out dub pop free for all, followed in perfect succession by the enormously danceable “H.S.K.T.”
Ironically, “Play It Right,” which touted lyrics like; When the sounds come together so close to my face/ It’s no wonder we wonder, was a track by Meath’s earlier project, Mountain Men, that Sanborn remixed back in 2013, launching their creative endeavors.
In the end, the duo played all ten tracks from their self-titled (and only) album. Meath extended her gratitude to the crowd for embracing their sound and debut.
During the encore, the duo performed a new song for the first time with more of a math rock influence. Sanborn admitted to Vinyl after the show that the song was so new that it “doesn’t even have a title yet.”
Despite both Meath and Sanborn’s successes in their previous projects that highlight their own personal talents, they have managed to combine their contrasting musical perspectives into one cohesive and unexpectedly thrilling musical experience. Sanborn’s powerful beats breathe life into Meath’s eerie indie croons; both are incredibly proficient in their respective sounds, but the way they come together is truly magnetic.
Approaching the box office at Terminal West on Tuesday night, I could hear what sounded like an acoustic version of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.‘s “Beautiful Dream” and I had to check my watch. Doors at 8pm. Music at 9pm. And there’s an opener, right? It’s not even 9:30. How can this be? Am I really missing the show? And one of my favorite songs at that? Sh*t.
I walk inside and indeed, it is true. Detroit boys Daniel Zott and Joshua Epstein are on stage, instruments in hand, singing away. It was only after the next song (which they explained was written for the first album but didn’t make the cut) that I learned what was happening here. The opening act didn’t show. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. was opening for themselves. Sort of awkward. Sort of awesome. They continued with a couple covers, admitting they were killing time, ended with The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows,” and let the crowd know they’d be back out in a bit.
Returning to the stage after the typical 20ish minute break, the duo are now joined by a live drummer and multi-instrumentalist in the backstage to fill out that bigger sound we were missing in their stripped-down opening set and clad in different outfits (Daniel even dropped the blanket he had wrapped himself in and wrestled his guitar strap over). Like a whole new band, right?
Beginning the “real” set with “Morning Thought,” the first song off their 2011 album It’s a Corporate World, they cruised through a handful of familiar favorites employing the energy and explosiveness we’ve come to love from these guys, with Joshua wasting no time hopping off stage and getting down into the crowd only three songs into the set.
Their newest single, “James Dean” was prefaced with an anecdote explaining that they released the track without the knowledge or consent of their record label, and albeit lacking label support, it’s gone on to be the most successful song they’ve ever put out. Personally, it’s not a favorite. But the crowd most certainly had a more palpable reaction than to any other song so far in the evening, which included some great ones… (“Don’t Tell Me”, “Simple Girl”, “Vocal Chords”…)
Following the new with the old, next up was “When I Open My Eyes” trailed by one of my favorite songs of the evening “Run” off their 2013 release The Speed of Things. This one was a close second to the super-melodic “War Zone” which came up after they played another new one, titled “In the Middle.” This new song was much more promising than “James Dean”… I kept thinking of “Burning Down the House” every time they went into the chorus. Not a bad thing at all.
The telephone mic Josh had been using on and off throughout the show gets called into action to mic his sax for “War Zone,” and they closed the main set out with the anthemic “Almost Lost Detroit” before returning with “A Haunting” to open up the encore. Complete with bubbles galore and the most wild light show we had seen thus far in the evening, they continued with arguably their biggest hit and certainly most dance-inducing song “If You Didn’t See Me [Then You Weren’t On The Dancefloor]”.
The evening closed on a make-you-want-to-hold-hands-with-the-person-next-to-you note with “Nothing But Our Love” and both Joshua and Daniel immediately bolted from the stage to the merch booth, embracing clamoring fans and happily signing countless autographs.
If opening for themselves wasn’t already a fairly big hint, this was a true sign that this couple of Detroit boys, despite their success, haven’t lost their humility and gratitude for their supporters. A good reason to keep on loving Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and coming out to enjoy their rowdy and shamelessly enjoyable live shows.
Party in the Park took over Centennial Olympic Park this Saturday, May 17th to a huge crowd of flower headband adorned teens, hipster parents with well-dressed hipster children and drunken college students alike. The weather had cleared up perfectly, amidst horrid rumors of yet another rained out outdoor Atlanta event.
Aside from an already impressive lineup featuring the likes of Girl Talk, MGMT, The Joy Formidable, Minus the Bear and Stokeswood, Party in the Park featured a food village including vendors from Chick-fil-A and Papa Johns and an exclusive tent by the Party in the Park sponsors, the one of a kind Desperados tequila flavored beer.
The Desperados Tent, conveniently located in an ideal concert viewing space, was open strictly to those over 21 years old and featured a graffiti artist and various acts throughout the night – including sword swallowers, acrobatic dancers, and hula-hoopers in full body makeup.
Desperados, the new beer by Heineken, is blended with tequila barrel-aged lager. This mixture tones down the bitterness typically associated with beer and adds a smooth, sweet flavor because of its spirits influence. Desperados is perfect for a night out with its unique style, taste and dynamic packaging.
The crowd was enjoying themselves laying in the grass, in the Desperados tent or just arriving during Stokeswood high energy, easy-listening set that suited the mood instilled by the beautiful weather and environment of Atlanta’s day long festival in the park.
Desperados in hand, I joined the crowd seated on the grass and waited for Minus the Bear to take the stage. The crowd welcomed the Seattle, Washington natives with loud cheers. Starting their set off with “Summer Angel” off their 2010 album, Omni, Minus the Bear brought loud energy and a twangy guitar sound to re-energize the crowd. Mid-guitar change, Jake Snider welcomes the crowd and tells us how excited he is to be back in Atlanta—with a few references to the legality of pot in Washington with answering whoops and cheers thrown in—and proceeds to play a crowd favorite off of their 2005 album, Menos El Oso, “The Fix.”
Dave Knudson brought an amazing energy whenever he took center stage with an equally incredible response from the crowd, especially during his guitar solo in “The Fix.”
Minus the Bear ended their set with “Pachuca Sunrise,” which Jake Snider delivered beautifully.
Hailing from North Wales, The Joy Formidable was next to take the stage. With Ritzy Bryan as lead vocals and guitar and Rhydian Dafydd as bass and backup vocals, the two create a powerful force of energy and put on a fervent performance. Matthew James Thomas intense drum-banging added to the loud punch the band brought on. Overall, the Joy Formidable put on a powerful punch, playing crowd favorites like “Maw Maw Song” and “Whirring” and got me even more pumped to see one of my favorites, MGMT.
MGMT’s performance was everything I expected it to be – trippy visuals, a seemingly half-lucid Andrew Vanwyngarden and a performance that was exuded then filtered through a kaleidoscope of whimsical talent. Whether you were standing in the middle of the crowd in right by the stage or lying on the hill faraway watching MGMT’s performance as the sun set, both experiences would have been equally blissful.
By the time “Kids” came on, I had gotten to the lying down part of the show. When the first few notes were played though and recognition swept the crowd, everyone around me ran towards the crowd because of how infectious the energy was.
One of my favorite parts of MGMT’s performance only lasted a few seconds, but its simplicity and beauty was mind blowing. While some of the band members were changing out their instruments, Vanwyngarden began strumming the chords on an acoustic guitar to Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Dream” and sang a few lines of the timeless song.
Last to take the stage was Gregg Michael Gillis, better known as Girl Talk –and I say that loosely, because Girl Talk as well as about 50 festival-goers all took the stage together. Girl Talk was hidden behind two inflatable sneakers and a huge table, but his energy was explosive as the stage was filled with guys and girls dancing. The entire crowd was dancing and jumping along to the entire set – his first in three years.
Aside from the rambunctious, and sometimes inappropriate, ramblings of the hype man, British Nick, Party in the Park was one of the first outdoor Atlanta event in a while to deliver on all fronts – good drinks, an excited crowd, beautiful weather and amazing music all day.
