Thrown Into the Deep End
The Rapid Rise of Black Kids
originally published September 24, 2008
Black Kids
As far as hotbeds of music go, Athens is good at cultivating acts but not so good at breaking them into the mainstream. That's because much of the national music media focus on larger, less insular, more media-friendly cities that are easier to cover - New York, Los Angeles, Omaha, Austin. Our bands that break out, bands like Of Montreal, Dead Confederate and The Whigs, get attention not because of performances they put on here, but rather because of the stellar shows and killer tunes they take on the road. So, it came as a big surprise last summer when Black Kids - an unknown band out of Jacksonville, FL - gained an unprecedented amount of hype, hope and attention due to a performance at the 2007 Athens Popfest.
A rave review on the tastemaking site Pitchfork turned ears towards the band's ebullient, infectious pop music, and almost overnight the band was wrestling with major label offers, international tours and online dissection of the songs on its debut EP Wizard of Ahhhs. Packed with sharp, jangly, reverb-soaked guitars and luxurious synths, the album reveals another Athens connection - it was recorded in Florida by producer Jesse Mangum, now an Athens resident and head of The Glow Studio. "I didn't know anyone in the band before we worked together," says Mangum. "They were one of the opening bands at some show I went to see in Jacksonville Beach, and I thought they were far better than whoever I had gone to see. I was about to open my recording studio to the public, and I had been looking for a band to come in and record a free demo - really, so that I could be sure all of my equipment was functioning properly!"
The results of those recording sessions became the Wizard of Ahhhs EP - originally just demos posted to the band's MySpace page but then seized upon and raised up by the Internet hordes. After some tough touring and struggling with the fast rise to fame, the band settled a little, re-recorded some tracks, laid down some new ones, and dropped the debut full-length Partie Traumatic in July on Columbia Records. The result is a much glossier, professional-sounding album. "With respect to the actual songs, I think a lot of people have come to feel stronger about the ones on P.T. that weren't on the EP than the ones that were on the EP," says vocalist/guitarist Reggie Youngblood. "'I'm Making Eyes at You' and 'Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo)' come to mind. As far as production, we've lost some listeners with the release of the full-length, but I think we've gained far more. Obviously, many people who dug the lo-fi sound of the EP have been put off by the glossiness of P.T. On one hand, this isn't totally beyond my comprehension. I love a lot of lo-fi stuff, too. But on the other, it's like, these are fucking pop songs, right? Have you heard New Order's records?"
Since the release of the EP has faded, and the band's full-length debut is out, the group has been able to relax a little in terms of meeting expectations - once you're pegged as a hot new act, crowds expect a hot show and hot songs, says Youngblood. "We were thrown in at the deep end. Sink or swim. Fortunately, I think we've swam for the most part. We've had to work really hard to improve our live show. (We'd been practicing only every other week or so when we started to get all this attention, so we've had to 'grow up' as a band very quickly.) Since the release of the album, I'm relieved to be able to say that we're settling into things. In a sense, it seems like you cease to be a 'buzz band' once you release the damn album, and then people can actually judge the music for what it's worth and become a little less concerned about the hype surrounding the band and the band's backstory."
Mangum, whose The Glow Studio here in town has continued to work with Jacksonville bands as well as Atlanta and Athens acts, says, "Naturally, I was very happy to be involved with such a critical success, especially so early on in my career as a producer/engineer, but I also felt the same way about it as the band did: that it was all happening a bit too fast. Black Kids were/are a great band, but at that time they simply weren't ready for all of the attention that they were getting. They had to work extremely hard at breakneck speed in order to become what they needed to be to keep up with their hype. I couldn't have done it, myself. I would have broken under the pressure."
Black Kids' immediate future entails a tour of the United States that'll run through October, then it's over to Europe through November and on to Japan in December. Youngblood says the band will remain based out of Jacksonville for at least the next six months, although the attention has opened up opportunities for change. "We've recently begun to discuss the possibility of living somewhere else while we write and record the next album," he says. "We like Paris a lot right now. And London, NYC, Portland, Seattle, Stockholm, Athens and San Francisco."
As an example of how the Internet can accelerate a band's career, Black Kids provide a prime case study, and although it can be an inspiring story for aspiring superstars, their experience is the exception from the norm. With the glare of the spotlight shifting to other acts, the band can now be met on its own terms - something with which its members are infinitely more comfortable. Hype can be brushed aside, all the hundreds of thousands of words written can be boxed up, and Black Kids can do what they do so well - be a band and play some fine, fine pop songs.
WHO: Black Kids, The Virgins, Magic Wands
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 24
HOW MUCH: $10 (21+), $12 (18+)
Fleet Foxes
Turning Skeptics Into Believers
originally published September 24, 2008
Fleet Foxes
In the stagnant, unremitting heat of some anonymous August afternoon in Athens, upon traversing through the woods that separate the grocery store from my home, I caught myself swept up in a fantastical lie after receiving the phone call of a purported Bigfoot discovery in the North Georgia mountains. Initially, my reliably cynical instincts told me that something was rotten in Denmark, but soon enough my passions were aroused beyond their usual state of comprehension upon seeing the video footage confirming the sightings that were apparently newsworthy enough to interrupt the Olympic games.
Moments later, I’ve got Fleet Foxes’ Casey Wescott over the phone choking on his own words. “Do you realize what this means?… This ends all debate between the skeptics and believers!” It felt cheap to introduce our acquaintanceship with such sensationalism, but somehow the conversation (which proved to be much more exciting than the rote Q&A that would ensue) seemed apt given the band’s sudden exposure and their geographic ode to the aforementioned region, “Blue Ridge Mountains.” For conversation’s sake, I’d found myself swallowing down the whole exchange with a healthy dose of cognitive dissonance: if artists lie in order to tell the truth, so do journalists. Thankfully, I’m just a music fan.
In more ways than one, I would soon discover that there was more to this investigation than meets the eye. Despite what seems like abrupt career success, the band had been at work for two years before completion of their debut LP, Fleet Foxes, creating a work of staggering genius beyond just another spontaneous phenom of the blogosphere. So, if you’re like me and have been tuned into all of the Fleet Foxes hype, don’t buy into the hearsay, or go chasing Bigfoot - listen for yourself. The band’s kaleidoscopic blend of Appalachian folk, baroque pop and SoCal harmonies is just as elusive as an 800-pound, seven-foot gorilla-man.
As an endangered species, Fleet Foxes are not the type of band to follow the pack. “Heard Them Stirring” is an instrumental interlude that flows freely from one moment to the next, capturing the essence of The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds title track with the addition of sacred motet-like harmonies. The overall effect will likely lead you to the same logical conclusion: if CSNY, America and The Beach Boys were avatars in some bizarre 17th-century remake of the Final Fantasy RPG video game series (of which the soundtracks Fleet Foxes lead man Robin Pecknold has been known to cite as a major influence) where the characters miss their connecting flight over Tennessee and end up befriending The Shins and My Morning Jacket, they would likely watch the sunrise together just to pass the time, and after deciding to collaborate from the sheer profundity of it all - churn out something akin to the Fleet Foxes. The somber romanesca strumming of “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” sounds strikingly similar to “Greensleeves,” except rather than wallowing about unrequited love, Pecknold pontificates on the premonition of his own death. These otherworldly visions are more than a hobby for the group’s singer/songwriter, which become a lyrical thread throughout the album: “In the quivering forest/ where the shivering dog rests/ I will do it, grandfather/ Wilt to wood and end” Pecknold resonates from the mountainous chasms of his vocal chords on “Blue Ridge Mountains.” Unfolding like a musical choose-your-own-adventure, the track progresses from an Allman Brothers' “Midnight Riders"-esque ballad to a ritualistic peasant dance that pulses alongside jittery folk melodies via Wescott’s piano doubled by Skyler Skjelset’s contemplative mandolin.
All allusions aside, there’s something about the fact that the band’s music possesses so little in common with anything familiar that makes it so alluring. In their adopted Seattle music den, the only thing Fleet Foxes share with the Seattle of the '90s is their occasional flannel shirts. The lively Bruegel peasant painting that graces the LP’s cover adds an air of nostalgia to the album’s already pastoral qualities, inspiring listeners to long for a home that’s far removed from our own historical amnesia. It all boils down to the classic search for authenticity - an ongoing search for a unique, albeit accessible sound that lies beyond immediate grasp of category. “I’m inspired by life,” Wescott says. “Our intention is merely to communicate an idea to the audience,” he reiterates, sounding like a lofty professor of a graduate music composition course.
In the studio and onstage, the band relies entirely on the “primitive elements” of acoustic instrumentation, while shying away from quantized, cut-and-paste performances that would tend to produce anything less desirable (or more predictable) than a fleeting moment. There’s an almost tangible dialogue going on here. A sum-total of the band’s musical parts that amounts to something greater than mere rehashed folk revival. In a sense, Fleet Foxes have opened a space for folk music in the same way that Sigur Rós created a glacial rift in the fabric of musical space-time. Somewhere after losing yourself in 10th listen of the album, you’ve become utterly convinced that if a tree were to fall in the forest, and nobody was there to hear it, it would unwittingly reproduce the sound of Fleet Foxes, and Bigfoot might even be there as witness. We’d never know…
Jump to a week later. News reports confirm that the Bigfoot “discovery” was nothing but a giant rubber Halloween costume in a box of ice. Rubber. Thanks, CNN. This shouldn’t have come as a shock, but for some reason it was entirely disappointing. Sometimes the truth and the desire to believe in something don’t feel all that different. In a state of numbness, we’ll even opt for the lie over the truth, so long as it feels right. “Lie to me if you will at the top of Beringer Hill/ Tell me anything you want, any old lie will do/ Call me back to you,” Pecknold yearns to his beloved in “Ragged Wood,” in spite of his better judgment, proving that maybe Pecknold and I aren’t all that different. Alas, all Bigfoot speculation has now been replaced by a fully-fledged belief in Fleet Foxes. Fresh off a tour with indie-rock veterans Wilco, news reportings now predict sightings of Fleet Foxes on Sept. 30 at the Georgia Theatre, and this is the kind of hearsay that forms a lasting impression.
WHO: Frank Fairfield, Fleet Foxes
WHERE: Georgia Theatre
WHEN: Tuesday, Sept. 30
HOW MUCH: $10
Chemical Burns
Stereolab Tweaks Signature Sound on New Record
originally published September 24, 2008
Eleven albums into its career, Stereolab is still tweaking its signature sound. While Chemical Chords, Stereolab’s 4AD debut, maintains the group’s tried-and-true formula of lounge-pop meets Krautrock, the grooves on the new record are a little more pop-focused, direct and concentrated. For a group consistent almost to a fault, the change is noticeable and, as it turns out, intentional.
Tim Gane, Stereolab’s mastermind since its inception in the early '90s, says that while the group made a conscious decision to write concise songs, “it wasn’t the intention necessarily to make a more ‘poppy’ record. And in fact," says, Gane, “I don't think it is particularly more ‘poppy.’ Actually, I think some of the songs run contrary to pop logic.”
To be fair, some of the songs on Chemical Chords are dense offerings that use traditional pop song architecture as a jumping off point for other musical pastures.
In the Stereolab canon, Chemical Chords stands strongly. After Stereolab released its first record, Peng!, in 1992, it quickly became the band whose name you wanted to drop at parties. Stereolab was hip and new and foreign (three of the most important traits a new artist can posses in the minds of most hipsters). With French vocals and danceable rhythms, Stereolab sounded like a digital and more formulaic (not in a bad way) version of the Talking Heads.
Gane says the group first realized its international popularity when it ventured from England - where the various international members of Stereolab first had communed - to America.
“[We] had record labels buzzing around us and a lot of musicians and bands saying they liked us - hip and famous people coming to the concerts, etc.,” says Gane. “Before that I never thought our ideas would travel very far and that we were a distinct minority taste.”
Indeed, one would think that the sundry styles of music that Stereolab seamlessly combined into its own sound would prove unmarketable. Some of Stereolab’s influences were styles of music that hadn’t been popular in America for decades, if ever. However, the group succeeded in combining bossa nova, pop and Krautrock without ever sinking to the level of kitsch.
“My musical tastes have always been at the fringe,” says Gane. “My first introduction to music was the post-punk and new wave. I moved into the electronic noise cassette scene at the turn of the decade, as well as the experimental/electronic/minimalist scene. I decided to form a group that combined these earlier influences with my latter ‘pop’ ones. I was interested in repetitive minimalist rock in combination with naïve melodies and harmonies. There were other groups trying similar things, but I felt like Stereolab didn’t sound quite like anything else at the time.”
Part of Stereolab’s initial and enduring success has to do with the Gane’s own artistic biases.
“I always liked collage, the Dada-ist type in the beginning, which I suppose are now quite obvious influences,” says Gane, “but as a teenager then they opened my eyes to so many new interpretations on how to look at something, and this definitely leaked into how I began to look at music. I also began to like animation films, and I remember thinking I wanted to make music that looped around like that and did similar things to the mind.”
Stereolab’s unique style of looping melodies and looping vocals has been co-opted or straight-up cribbed by a variety of bands. Post-rock bands like Tortoise owe a debt of homage to Stereolab (and interestingly, Tortoise’s resident genius John McEntire plays on and has produced multiple Stereolab records).
Another aspect of Stereolab’s appeal was the uniqueness of its twin female vocalists, Laetitia Sadier and Mary Hansen. The duo's sing-song and playful lyrics - sung in French - helped define the group’s sound. However, in December 2002, Hansen was tragically killed when a truck hit the bicycle she was riding. The process of mourning the loss of their friend was difficult for the members of Stereolab.
“I don’t know how we adjusted,” says Gane. “After a time we just carried on. We took one step at a time and did the thing that seemed most natural to do. I didn’t want any falseness about the situation and no melodrama, just to have honest feelings and take it as it comes. We are, of course, thrown into many situations and locations where we naturally think of Mary, sometimes this is sad and sometimes a good laugh thinking about all the silly things.”
Gane and the remaining members of Stereolab still have some tricks up their sleeves, and though perhaps the band no longer is as relevant as it once was in terms of pushing boundaries, its music is still smart and eminently listenable. However, Gane has no plan to vastly overhaul Stereolab’s signature sound, partly because he doesn’t plan that far into the future.
“I don't have a master plan,” says Gane, “and I am only thinking about the present. I prefer to run into ideas spontaneously, at the time, so to speak, and it would be a bit depressing to have everything all mapped out.”
As for Stereolab’s live shows, the hypnotic music translates well to a live setting. Despite Gane’s penchant for strange art, his shows are not stylized affairs. Rather, they are constructed to offer fans a true glimpse of the musicians who have created such a stellar catalogue of music.
“Our shows are the complete opposite to that,” says Gane. “I am totally influenced by Throbbing Gristle in that you should be exactly the same onstage or off, otherwise everything becomes too much cabaret.”
WHO: Atlas Sound, Stereolab
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Saturday, September 27
HOW MUCH: $15 (Advance)
Terry Tunes Tailgate
Start Rocking Early
originally published September 24, 2008
The late-night music scene can be immensely rewarding for those willing and able to put in the long hours, but for the day-jobbers, family folk and “regular people” in Athens, it can be an impenetrable and inaccessible entity. Looking to ameliorate that divide between audience accessibility and the dug-in habits of local musicians, the UGA music business program - part of the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business - is adjusting the scope and aim of its outdoor Terry Tunes concert series, as well as putting on a concert series at Nuçi's Space, the local musician’s resource center.
For years Terry Tunes was a polite daytime affair during the week. The school sponsored jazz bands, marching bands and salsa groups to perform at noon, offering wandering students and faculty a chance to relax for a minute. Since the institution of the music business program a few years ago, though, the school has since recruited local rock acts - still of a more palatable, mainstream-friendly sound like Modern Skirts or Bain Mattox. This year another change is underway, as the series moves from a weekday to a gameday, taking over Herty Field on Saturdays when football crowds swarm through town.
Randall Bramblett
“The Terry Tunes concert series is one we used to do on Friday afternoons, but we decided to move it to Saturdays to reach more people, including alumni,” says Bruce Burch, a longtime songwriter who works as director of the music business program. “It basically is a promotion for our program as well as some of the artists we are working with at New West [Records], such as Randall Bramblett. We also want to feature some of the artists who are up-and-comers such as Sonia Leigh and Blue Flashing Light.”
Sonia Leigh kicked off the series three weeks ago playing on the Saturday of the UGA/Central Michigan blowout. This Saturday sees the Athens mainstay Randall Bramblett perform, and his rough-edged Southern styles should go over well with the UGA/Alabama crowd. The polished-to-a-sheen, oversize rock of Blue Flashing Light takes the North Campus stage on Oct. 11 for the Tennessee showdown, and things wrap up on Oct. 18, the day of the UGA homecoming game against Vanderbilt, with Tongue and Groove kicking out acoustic and electric party-friendly covers.
Says Burch, “Our goal for the Terry Tunes also is to raise awareness for our program, not only with students but with alumni. We are still a new enough program that a lot of people are just now finding out about us. We hope to do other concert series throughout the year.”
A series of concerts organized, promoted and set up by the program's students also takes place at Nuçi's Space starting this week, allowing the students an educational experience while raising the profile of the local non-profit resource center's mission to provide support for the local scene.
“The main goal with both the series at Nuçi's Space and with Terry Tunes is to give the students some real-world, hands-on experience in promoting, producing and staging a concert,” says Burch.
Local acts Pholksinger Josh and Stegosaurus are confirmed for the first show at Nuçi's Space on Thursday, Sept. 25. The following shows on Oct. 23, Nov. 6 and Nov. 13 are still being confirmed.
WHO: Randall Bramblett, Blue Flashing Light, Tongue and Groove
WHERE: Herty Field
WHEN: Sept. 27, Oct. 11, Oct. 18
HOW MUCH: FREE!
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