Atlanta Music Guide

CD Review: Ellis Paul -- The Day After Everything Changed; Playing Eddie's Attic February 5 and 6

Ellis Paul
The Day After Everything Changed
Black Wolf Records

By Al Kaufman

Boston's Ellis Paul has been writing contemporary folk for almost 20 years. You don't do that by just strumming a guitar and acting all sensitive. Paul is a gifted, poetic writer with with a flair for crisp melodies. His voice, which resembles that of Del Amitri, is light and clear.

Q&A: John Douglas of Ten Story Relapse; CD Release Party @ The 183 Room at Legends, February 13

Stylistically diverse Atlanta rockers Ten Story Relapse have chosen a unique way to celebrate the release of their fifth CD, the intriguingly-titled Buddha & The .38. They’ve decided to combine that achievement — which also happens to coincide with the band's 10th anniversary — with a one-night-only art exhibit hand-picked by Atlanta legend Fay Gold and a benefit for The C5 Youth Foundation of Georgia. TSR’s dynamic vocalist John Douglas sat down with Atlanta Music Guide to discuss the band’s interest in the C5 organization, the new CD, and the secret of playing with the same musicians for 10 years.

How did you become involved with The C5 Youth Foundation of Georgia?

I found out about them about a year and a half ago through a mutual friend and I was just so impressed with the work they do, I wanted to help out in some way. I’d worked with some charitable organizations before, but I’d never seen the dedication these guys have.

What does C5 do, essentially? 

They have a five year program that gives kids opportunities and tools to overcome challenges and obstacles that would otherwise be difficult to overcome. About 300 kids are nominated every year and only 70 get accepted, but they have a 95-percent college acceptance rate, which is pretty amazing.      

So, what can people expect musically from Buddha & The .38?

CD Review: Packway Handle Band — What Are We Gonna Do Now?

Packway Handle Band

What Are We Gonna Do Now?

Self-released

By Scott Roberts

You have to admire the tenacity of Athens’ Packway Handle Band. For nearly 10 years, this hard-working quintet has been one of the only purveyors of traditional (well, mostly traditional) bluegrass music in a town known more for its art- and dance-rock, and on their fourth full-length CD, What Are We Gonna Do Now?, the band answers the album’s titular query by continuing to do what they’ve been doing throughout the past decade — keep playing enjoyable, acoustically-rich music that has a sense of humor and a subtle depth with no regard to trends or fickle audiences.

CD Review: Charlotte Gainsbourg -- IRM

Charlotte Gainsbourg

IRM

Electra

By Al Kaufman

Finally, the often asked question, "What would Beck sound like as a French woman?" has been answered.

All right, so maybe the question was never asked, but with release of Charlotte Gainsbourg's IRM, it has been answered anyway.

Gainsbourg is the daughter of French singer-songwriter, actor and director Serge Gainsbourg (of whom Beck is a fan), and  British actress and singer Jane Birkin. She is an accomplished thespian who recently won the Best Actress award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival for the film Antichrist, which also stars Willem Defoe. She made her musical debut at the age of 12, singing a duet with her father on the song "Lemon Incest" on her father's album, Love on the Beat. The song, about incest and pedophilia between a father a daughter, caused quite a sensation, even in free-loving France, which was the elder Gainsbourg's intention. 

Since that time, Charlotte Gainsbourg's hipness quotient has only increased. Her 2006 release, 5:55, was produced by Radiohead collaborator Nigel Godrich, and for IRM she chose the perennially cool Beck (of whom Godrich has also produced) to twist the knobs. Beck also wrote most of the tracks, plays many of the instruments, and even duets with Gainsbourg on the first single, the bouncy "Heaven Can Wait." 

So Gainsbourg is cool, but can she sing? Well, it's kind of hard to tell. Gainsbourg has a cool, breathy vocal that she never really tests. It co-mingles well with the bed of sounds Beck lays out on IRM, much in the way Beck's own voice fits into his songs. It's nice enough but, like Beck, she will never be thought of as a great singer.

CD Review: Chris Duarte and Bluestone Co. -- 296; Playing Smith's Olde Bar, February 18

Chris Duarte and Bluestone Co.

396

By Sam Parvin

Chris Duarte’s latest album, 396, is funky from the first guitar lick. This guy can really wail, both instrumentally and vocally, and his band, Bluestone Co., rocks so hard you’d think they were a bunch of bayou boys with blues in their blood. There are obvious jazz, rock 'n' roll, blues, and even zydeco influences in his music; the subjects of his songs combine classic blues ideas like drivin’ fast down a dirt road with Chris’s life experiences, with lyrics like “I’m going back Chattahoochee side.”

CD Review: Rebecca Loebe — Mystery Prize; Playing Red Light Cafe, January 26

Rebecca Loebe

Mystery Prize

Self-released

By Scott Roberts

If you had to use one word to describe Mystery Prize, the winning new CD and third release from Atlanta singer/songwriter Rebecca Loebe, “genuine” would be a perfect choice. Some performers just have a certain knack for emanating a quality that makes listeners instantly want to be their best friend, and Loebe is definitely one of those performers. Her crystal clear vocals, occasionally augmented by some sexy, slight scratchiness, drips with sincerity, friendliness, and optimism in the face of adversity throughout the album’s 12 musically diverse tracks.

CD Review: Spoon -- Transference; Playing The Tabernacle, March 20

Spoon

Transference

Merge

By Al Kaufman

Driven by the horn-fueled single, "The Underdog," Spoon went from twitchy indie kids to mainstream successes with 2007's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Transference does not offer anything as remotely radio-friendly as "The Underdog," but it more than makes up for it with its deliciously friction-filled songs.

The Austin band has been making great music since Telephono in 1996. Transference is their seventh CD. What the boys in Spoon have done in those 15 years is grow in confidence and musicality without giving up who they are. In short, they have not sold out. One could say they tried when they signed with Elektra for their second CD, but that experience left such a bitter taste in their mouths that they have remained on the Merge label ever since, making one great album after another.

CD Review: Vampire Weekend -- Contra; Playing Tabernacle April 8

Vampire Weekend

Contra

XL

By Al Kaufman

With their sunny, eponymous debut CD in January 2008, Vampire Weekend became the darlings of the indie crowd. By the end of that year, however, the band's demise seemed secure. People quickly tired of their quirky beats and African-lite influences. Happy music just doesn't have the depth and longevity as its depressing counterpart. The general opinion was that Vampire Weekend would need to transform themselves or die an embarrassing death, a la Sugar Ray.

On Contra, Vampire Weekend decided to do neither. Their fans will thrill to the opening "Horchata," a sort-of pop-calypso full of keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij's plinks and tinkles. It's silly, happy, and bouncy. "Holiday" sounds like the soundtrack for a collage scene in a Jamaican spring break movie. 

But there is more to Vampire Weekend than just fun little ditties that rip off African music. Really. Their sound has expanded on Contra. They juxtapose synth-pop with ska and reggae merrily and seamlessly. "Run" begins as something that would sound at home on Paul Simon's groundbreaking Graceland, then morphs into a synth drenched Depeche Mode sound-alike. But it works on some weird level. It's likable and friendly without being insipid. Even the gentle lo-fi simplicity of "Taxi Cab" offers something on repeated listens. It is something their debut CD was not able to do.

CD Review: Editors -- In This Light and on This Evening

Editors

In This Light and on This Evening

Epic/Fader

By Eileen Tilson

In the music industry, the third time is definitely is the charm. By a band’s third album, they should have formally gelled creatively, perfected their live show, and understand their own talent enough to expand their music to the next level of fans. When Radiohead’s OK Computer was released, it was musically beyond what they had accomplished on their previous two albums allowing them to reach a new audience, without abandoning their original followers. More recently, on Scotsmen Franz Ferdinand’s third album, Tonight, the band branched out by blending their indie rock with electronic pop. They created a band wagon for others, without casting aside those who believed in them from the get go. Unfortunately for Editor’s fans, the band’s third LP, In This Light and on This Evening, moves to unfamiliar territory, lacking the excitement and talent needed to move the music to the next level.

CD Review: The Villains - The Villains; Playing Eddie's Attic February 2

The Villains

The Villains

DCM Records

By Al Kaufman

Remember the '70s? For those who don't, it was a sort of weird time musically. It was the time when country and rock began to merge. It was led by a band from California of all places, The Eagles. If the Eagles formed today, they would be a country band. Whereas back then rock acts integrated twang, today the country acts try to rock, and many of them do it harder than the Eagles ever did. 

The Villains would have fit in well in the '70s. While opening track, "Let's Forget About it Tonight," rocks in a southern-fried, .38 Special kind of way, the rest of the CD settled into a sort of peaceful easy feeling. It's Jimmy Buffet in his more somber moments.