Club Notes

Back In The Ring

originally published January 18, 2006

After Casper & the Cookies retro rock the WUOG 90.5 FM Robot’s banquet upstairs at Tasty World on Thursday night, Jan. 12, the indie college crowd and its music moves downstairs where Marx and Engels meet Ben and Jerry in the form of The Ice Cream Socialists. This young indie-pop crew of formerly Atlanta-based local freshmen is eclectic and psychedelically kaleidoscopic, to a glorious fault. While lead vocalist and keyboard player Ben Austin has that Buddy Holly/ They Might Be Giants nerd-rock vocal thang going on, the ladies in the band balance him out with great harmonies while contributing bold and colorful accordion and violin. Snaps of sound from the band bear small hints of the Gorillaz and a large one of Pachelbel, and before I know it, I’m no longer a virgin in the indie-pop Canon in D Major stakes. Who says the first time ain’t the greatest? The Ice Cream Socialists also play up campy musical numbers with a raucous cabaret vibe, like a cherry vanilla Dresden Dolls blended with chocolate coated clusters of Flash to Bang Time, sugary Rocky Horror crumbles and a Venice Is Sinking swirl - the enthralling treat you can eat between meals that won’t leave a bad taste in your mouth. I predict big things on the local scene for this band of vibrant and talented performers.

With burning chords flying, Ben Keller bends his jazz and arena rock influences to join the members of local alt-country rock four-piece Timber, who in their own words start off “as loud as shit” and have shaken off their usually laid-back moody country vibe for the night. The volume drops a little and the smooth Americana vibe builds while Bo Bedingfield continues to kick out barroom rock anthems on drums, driving the warmly passionate vocals of Dan Nolte and bassist Brandon Reynolds. In honor of anything that ever made it onto a WB soundtrack, “Don’t Let Go” is the deeply melodic third number from a band that played solidly throughout ‘05 and clearly plans to continue that momentum into ‘06. Tonight, Timber shows a devotion to the kind of powerful alt-country rock that fellow locals Ken Will Morton & the Wholly Ghosts often grace our stages with, earning both bands comparisons to Ryan Adams and Son Volt.

The crowd has well and truly dispersed by the time new Floridian trio Enoch takes to the stage. Formerly a solo performer, Enoch Rawk recently arrived in Athens from Ft. Myers along with several other Just Me Records recording artists who are backing this avant-noise-pop-zeitgeist on keyboards, mandolin, shakers, tapping sticks, bells, xylophone (or is that a glockenspiel?) and more. Enoch is a slippery creature to grasp, with its acoustic guitar and indie singer-songwriter vocal base, surrounded by off-kilter psychedelia and charmingly melodic nuances. Respect is definitely due to anyone who can combine simple, sweet folk music with such jarring yet complementary and rudimentary soundscapes. This may turn off some audiences, while still garnering avid followers.

The lineup revolves to focus on the work of Tim Denson (Starlite Motel), evolving into the slightly more conventional singer-songwriter sound of Captain #1’s acoustic indie-pop. Think Will Johnson’s The Carlton Chronicles meets Art Garfunkel. Captain #1 and Enoch are starting a 14-show tour which will land them back here in Athens at the end of the month, whereupon the trio may call Georgia home for a while as they promote and build from their new split EP Color What You Want. While it could be said that Enoch and Captain #1 are two sides of the same face, the latter is a more comfortable fit for those looking for more soothing harmonic indie pop - with occasional glances towards a relatively contemporary sound, albeit with a rough tilt towards sparse Flaming Lips-style indie-pop perfection.

While Friday night is just too nasty outside to make the blustery journey into downtown, Saturday night brings welcome coercion in the form of friends and food combined with the music of the Dromedary Quartet in a jam-packed Farm 255. I’ve seen the Dromedary boys Andrew Reissiger and Rob McMaken in many permutations before, but tonight is my first exposure to the Quartet. Immediately the light and jazzy quiet storm of Jeff Reilly’s drums add a world of volcanic ashen tone to McMaken’s high and flighty fast-picked mandolin. The vibe soon lifts to a light samba with a distinctly Mediterranean warmth, as the ambient tones of legendary local bassist Neal Fountain effortlessly converse under the spicy instrumental ebb and flow, all building to a crescendo under Reilly’s rolling cymbals and eventually pulling up on a dime. Watching Fountain play bass and listening for the aural link between his nimble flowing fingers and the gliding, booming tones emanating from the speakers is entertainment in itself, even if it is a mere fraction of the overall show, which goes on to include more intricate acoustic guitar magic, banjo, cumbus and dulcimer.

After dinner, we move on to the Caledonia Lounge where Geoff Reacher has pulled a big crowd. The audience thins out before local five-piece Flash to Bang Time gets to show off its new wave-y Siouxsie-et-al-meets-Kate-Bush-and-David-Bowie collage, which excels in presence, but tonight lacks in clear arrangement and definition.

Ben Gerrard Ben Gerrard is a radio journalist and writer living and working in Athens. Club Notes is a weekly look at the local club scene.

Ben Gerrard

Ben Gerrard is a radio journalist and writer living and working in Athens. Club Notes is a weekly look at the local club scene.