Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Tomorrowmilland

Were the 1980's really that bad (see 8/19/10 below)? There's good music to be found in any decade, if you know where to listen. There are always forward-thinking musicians creating visionary sounds. Predictions of the future that were made in the past can be amusing when they're inaccurate (like the Jetsons, jetpacks, or Disney's Tomorrowland), but they're startling when they come true. Prognosticators, weathermen, and fortune tellers never have to admit they're wrong: they can always blame the future for failing to live up to their predictions.

The early 1980's, in particular, were actually a great time for music. After the first wave of punk dismantled rock convention, post-punk addressed the burning question, "What next?" One dedicated student of post-punk created
a ten disc collection of mixes from 1981 to point out the magnitude of musical invention in that year alone. In his book Independence Days, Alex Ogg describes "a cadre of groups who wanted to phase-jump to a new universe of sonic possibility." Ogg argues for "shifting the common perception of 'year zero' to 1978 or 1979 and the dawn of post-punk rather than the established reading of 1976."

Last month, I saw the band
Raymilland on the closing night of the Athens Popfest. Unlike our poor boy who believed in chance, the men of Raymilland fully grasped the intricacies of the modern dance. They absorbed the lessons of Father Ubu and took off for parts unknown, leaving a cosmic trail of datapanik in their wake. Raymilland was one of the openers for Mission of Burma. Having finally seen MoB, I realize that the horrible truth about Burma is their greatness. Have we failed to live up to the future that they predicted for us?

Buy the Raymilland compilation
here.
Listen to Mission of Burma's set from Popfest
here.
Buy the Moving Parts Wrong Conclusion
here.

The Moving Parts: Max Ernst (1978)

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Rocktobtlanta and Halloweethens

Monday, 10/18/10: School of Seven Bells at the EARL

Wednesday, 10/20: Los Campesinos with Johnny Foreigner at the
Variety Playhouse

Saturday, 10/23/10: Bettie Serveert with Magnapop at the
EARL

Saturday 10/30/10: E.S.G. at the New Earth Music Hall in Athens, as part of the
Next to Last Fest

Sunday, 10/31/10: Fiend without a Face at the
EARL Halloween Bash

Tuesday 11/02/10: JEFF the Brotherhood at
529 (for freeee)

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Burning Down Your House

The Jim Jones Revue arose like a phoenix from the ashes of Thee Hypnotics. The JJR played four songs on Daytrotter this summer, including one from their brand new album, Burning Your House Down (which comes out this week).

If you usually avoid the type of performers featured on Daytrotter, do yourself a favor and make an exception. Or you can listen on myspace. I generally eschew "A meets B" comparisons, but if Little Richard or Jerry Lee Lewis fronted the MC5 or the New York Dolls -- or if the members of NRBQ were into truckstop speed rather than wacky tobacky -- the resulting musical maelstrom would sound a good bit like the Jim Jones Revue. No shit.

The JJR will be hitting a few major American cities this month: Sept 14 NYC; Sept 15 Chicago; Sept 16 Seattle; Sept 17 Portland; Sept 19 SF; Sept 20 Santa Cruz; Sept 22 San Diego; Sept 23 LA; and Sept 26 New Orleans. Then they return to Europe. You lucky bastards.