REMEMBER TWO THINGS: Total Recall Recordings just released two cassette tapes of releases from earlier this year. First is the three-song, two-minute-56-second-long demo from Häxorna. The whole thing is basically traditional, speedy hardcore that’s over before it barely begins. Next up is the four-song, four-minute-52-second-long Golden Lines by Joro Path. This one’s a little weirder and more beholden to a crust-punk tradition, especially opening song “Prophecy” and closing track “Procession.” The main thing with these, really, is the environmental disaster and economic inefficiency involved in plunking down six bucks for a hunk of deteriorating plastic which, in the best-case example above, contains fewer than five minutes of music. You can side-step this quandary by enjoying these digitally at totalrecallrecordings.bandcamp.com. If you want to take the purchase plunge, head to totalrecall.bigcartel.com and they’ll get you sorted.
JUST CHECKING IN: Although he released the whopping 100-track collection More Music For Games this past January, Big Gray (aka Lucas Jensen) just released the relatively conservative two-track Sonifications last week. The opening track, “Sonifications 1,” follows a prescriptive ambient path right up until its midpoint when it begins to be pushed along by a killer drum rhythm that remains for over a full minute. By the track’s end, it has shapeshifted nicely into a more open space. The second track, “Autumn Brushes,” is a nice sketch of an airy but driven tune that doesn’t seem fully realized yet but sure is a nice listen. Find this and more at biggray.bandcamp.com.
WHAT A STEAL!: The Athens Cotton Press (149 Oneta St.) will host the FoxSaid Fest: Music & Arts Festival Saturday, July 27. The full event runs from 9 a.m.–10 p.m. Events from 9 a.m.–5 p.m. include the artists market, acoustic outdoor performances, indoor kids activities and performances on the kids stage. In a parallel setting, from 12–10 p.m. will be the indoor main stage performances. Kids 10 and under are free, and for everyone else it’s $10 in advance or $15 at the door. Other amenities include a beer garden, food trucks on site and a community art board. Dollar-for-dollar, this is the summer’s best entertainment value so far. Featured performers include Gail Langer Karwoski (storyteller/author), The Magic of Evan Dupree (illusionist), DJ Mahogany, Kemp Jones (author/musician), The PG Show, Amanda Martin (music therapist), Sutherland, Hawk Proof Rooster, Mayberry Wine, Tracy & Jeff, Candace & Stephan, Honeychild, Clay Leverett, Jim White, T. Hardy Morris, Don Chambers, Dodd Ferrelle, String Theory, The New Orleans Jazz Stompers, Rick Fowler Acoustic Band, The Hobohemians, Immaterial Possession, Cicada Rhythm and The Pink Stones. A portion of the proceeds are being earmarked for the benefit of the Clarke County School District art program. For more information and advance tickets, please see foxsaidfest.com.
FIRE IN THE SKY: The sometimes quiet, sometimes loud, but never terribly far away Space Brother just released a new album on Spain’s Tataki Tapes label named Calling Planet Earth!. Earlier this year he released the 19-track, all instrumental album Of Time. The artist, born Donald Whitehead, described the new album to me as his “most sample-heavy record to date, with lots of dialog from ‘90s heavy hitter forgotten movies.” These snippets of the perhaps-familiar, though, don’t readily translate into an easy listening task. Indeed, this is a heavily layered album that thoroughly embodies the experimental trajectory that Whitehead took off on many years ago. That said, this isn’t unenjoyable at all, and even takes up the mantle of Whitehead’s old hip hop-based projects on tracks like “Project Montauk.” The album also features the first appearance of rapper Donny Knottsville anywhere for a while on the song “Tomb Raider.” This is a song with a beat made by Robitussin and the vocals are always slightly ahead of it. Find this at tatakitapes.bandcamp.com, and if you want to do the ol’ catalog deep dive, head to spacebrother.bandcamp.com.
AIN’T LIFE GRAND?: By today’s standard, it might first appear that the new album from Widespread Panic is an EP, but the six songs on the band’s new release Snake Oil King fill the record up just fine. It starts with the heavy rocker “Little By Little,” followed by the peaceful and wistful “We Walk Each Other Home,” which, itself, is similar in construction to the faster “Small Town.” The only song with a distinct Southern flair here is the nearly 8-minute “Tackle Box Hero.” Stream this wherever you do that sort of thing, or just go over to widespreadpanic.bandcamp.com. For all other information, please see widespreadpanic.com.
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