Tagged: flagpole

For Flagpole : Eksi Ekso Brown Shark Red Lion The Mylene Sheath The storm is coming. Boston's Eksi Ekso tells us so. Via backing brass and all manner of accompanying strings, the keys, guitar, bass and drums of this orchestral pop trio turn their individual songs into lush, suspenseful compositions. This wide scope, both stylistically and instrumentally, only adds to Brown Shark Red Lion 's foreboding. When voices foretell en masse of impending danger, they've likely got more credibility than [...]

For Flagpole : Ocha la Rocha 30-Plus Members and Just as Many TV Spots It's a far cry from working and playing at Atlanta's Star Community Bar to having songs appear on Hollywood television shows like ABC's "Dirty Sexy Money" and MTV's "The Hills." Somehow, however, Johnny la Rocha and his band Ocha la Rocha seem to be at home doing both...[ Read more ]

For Flagpole : Akron/Family S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT Dead Oceans At what point does lack of identity become an identity in and of itself? Akron/Family, the now-trio sometimes called the only hipster-friendly jam band, has undergone multiple personality changes, each record revealing a new layer in their fragrant musical onion...[ Read more ] Previously, on FOA: Akron/Family @ The Earl, 8/13/09

For Flagpole : Pride Parade Growing Without Growing Up Even big kids need room to grow. After five years as a band—scrapping predecessor Brown Frown, releasing an EP and two LPs with Kyle Spence of Harvey Milk and playing to Athens audiences large and small—Pride Parade needed to stretch out. To record the band's third full-length with the hope of reproducing the effect of its widely adored live show, the quintet retreated to Watkinsville's Full Moon Studio and, with the help [...]

This is a little out of date, but here's the mini-feature I wrote on Bridges and Powerlines for Flagpole Magazine : Bridges and Powerlines New York's Bridges and Powerlines share more aesthetically with composer John Philip Sousa than anyone would have expected—especially them. After producing a debut LP driven by shiny keyboard melodies, the quartet has blossomed into a band that makes near-marches. The tunes feature sweeping arrangements that, though still pop-driven and lyrically balladeering, explore frontlines unlike any the band has [...]

Love me some Carnivores , as we well know ! I think this is my fourth time formally writing about them? No matter! They have a new record out, and it's brilliant. Still officially my favorite Atlanta band. ATL represent! For Flagpole : Carnivores If I'm Ancient Double Phantom The name If I'm Ancient deliberately misleads. The grammatically conditional title of this sophomore record from Atlanta's Carnivores, who, incidentally, [...]

In which I get to call Scotland from my cell phone in my car on my first day at a new job! Flagpole feature: Frightened Rabbit's Winter of Mixed Drinks Are They Half Empty or Half Full? Scott Hutchison is probably an optimist. Listening to The Winter of Mixed Drinks , however, his band Frightened Rabbit's third studio album, sometimes it's hard to tell...[ Read more ]

This is a very cool record from a very cool band. Highly recommended! Playing tonight at Caledonia in Athens. For Flagpole : Calendar Pick: Agent Ribbons w/ Cars Can Be Blue, Dusty Lightswitch, Laminated Cat Friday, Sept. 24 @ Caledonia Lounge With a frilly cowgirl dress for sale on Modcloth.com inspired by their music, and a whole country's worth of road under their belts, the three women of Agent Ribbons prove both more feminine and more forceful than your average group. [...]

For Flagpole : Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Dark Night of the Soul Capitol Dark Night of the Soul almost never saw the light of day. The release of the collaborative record between late Sparklehorse frontman Mark Linkous and former Athens resident Danger Mouse (AKA Brian Burton) was delayed more than a year by Burton's legal battle with EMI and Linkous' untimely death. In 2009, the extensive David Lynch-furnished accompanying picture book was put out along with a blank CD, but [...]

For Flagpole : Efren Always Been A Bleeder Slo Pro In a quiet eddy where gothic Americana, psychedelia and straight-up country swirl together, Scott Leon-O'Day of local band Efren sits holding a guitar. Armed with only his breathy voice, he sings of the hand he's been dealt ("Check It Down") and watches the brackish waters, at times assisted by a trio of instrumentalists...[ Read more ]

Flagpole Feature: Venice Is Sinking's Sand & Lines Featuring Special Guest, The Georgia Theatre When smoke rose above the Georgia Theatre on June 19, 2009, Venice Is Sinking didn't know what to do. It wasn't just that they stood to lose a favorite place, somewhere they'd performed dozens of times and whose owner, Wilmot Greene, had always welcomed them warmly. It was that only the week before, the band had begun a Kickstarter.com campaign to raise the money for the pressing of Sand [...]

In which I talk on the phone with Danger Mouse from the inside of a hot car: For Flagpole : Broken Bells An Unlikely Pairing Breeds Unlimited Creativity In 1995 world-famous producer Danger Mouse wasn't yet called Danger Mouse. He hadn't collaborated with the likes of MF DOOM (to form DANGERDOOM), Gorillaz, Beck, Cee-Lo Green (to form Gnarls Barkley) and many more. He hadn't moved to London to explore his craft, and it would be years before he was on every [...]

For Flagpole : Night Driving In Small Towns Serial Killer Lower 40 Nodding to every seminal and referential pop band from Headlights and Architecture in Helsinki to Mazzy Star and even Belle and Sebastian, Serial Killer , the debut LP from Atlanta group Night Driving in Small Towns, capitalizes on the mild-mannered example put forward by artists like Azure Ray and Eux Autres...[ Read more ]

The famed Athens group has been rehearsing for possible performances

In an interview with Athens rag Flagpole, Doyle says, "over the past 3 years, I've figured out how to fit a verse, chorus and bridge within one 28 second loop."

Writing about a James Mercer project is a little nostalgic for me. Not quite in the his-music-is-SOOOO-important-t o-me kind of way you might expect, though. I mean, there was a time when The Shins were my favorite band (and I'm happy to report it didn't coincide with the release of Garden State , thank you very much). I think that time concluded when I saw them play live at the Atlanta Civic Center (which, to be fair, is a TERRIBLE venue for live music) and it was as if I'd put in the album and pressed play. Boring. The whole [...]

For Flagpole : La Chansons The King and Queen of the Dance Floor Stickfigure Atlanta's La Chansons never meant The King and Queen of the Dance Floor to be anything more than fun, and it isn't. Husband-and-wife duo Greg and Carson Keller released their sophomore album Jan. 26 via local label Stickfigure Recordings; it's 10 songs of frivolous, synth-driven dance pop that break no ground compositionally and showcase often awkward and occasionally even embarrassing first-person lyrics...[ Read more ] [...]

For Flagpole : The Young Sinclairs The Songs of the Young Sinclairs Kindercore Gathered together from highlights of their CD-R and tape releases as well as featuring tidbits of new material, The Songs of the Young Sinclairs is the Roanoke, VA quintet's long-awaited and first proper LP. After producing it in their enigmatically named studio, The Mystic Fortress, The Young Sinclairs joined up with Kindercore to release the 18-song vinyl-only collection that will street Mar. 30. The record, for better or [...]

Remember when this band played at The Earl two years ago? I do . (Gosh, I was a fangirl back then...) How about when they shared a bill at Lenny's with Man Man? Yeah, that was good too . For Flagpole : Yeasayer Odd Blood Secretly Canadian Odd Blood , the eagerly awaited sophomore release from Brooklyn avant-pop prodigies Yeasayer, finds the band expanding adamantly in both more and less traditional [...]

It's a weird place, that intersection between classical composition and pop. Here's my attempt to navigate it via someone who's well-versed at both. For Flagpole : Owen Pallett Heartland Domino Toronto omni-musician Owen Pallett is probably someone whose work you've heard before, though you may not know it. For years doing orchestral arrangements for other artists like Beirut, Grizzly Bear and Arcade Fire, he's helped shape fellow musicians' catalogs, becoming an indispensable but behind-the-scenes staple. For [...]