It’s Thanksgiving week, and normally I’d put something kind of lighthearted here about gratitude, reflection, etc. The fact is, though, none of you need that this year. While those things remain good and necessary, I think we’re all pretty much fed up with feel-good advice and vague directives. So, let me just speak for myself and say that I’m personally thankful for the way so many of you have risen to the occasion during a year in which anyone would have forgiven laziness. There’s been an incredible amount of outstanding music from our town this year, and I still don’t know how all y’all did it. We don’t know yet exactly what our scene will look like in the coming months, if not years, but if it was indeed always about the music…then we’ve got that covered. So thank you.
ANOTHER HEARTY HELPING: The sun never seems to set on Seth Martin & The Dish Boys. While it’s been incredibly inspiring and impressive to see how productive the Athens scene has been during 2020, Martin and crew are now on their third full-length album of the year. At the end of last month, they released the nine-song Sending Out My Love, which they recorded with engineer Zeke Sayer (The Humms) out at Gypsy Farm on the actual stage of Clem’s Shoal Creek Music Park. This is easily my favorite recording from the band. It’s lyrically impressive and shows an increasingly mature songwriting style, and, beyond that, the arrangements are those of a band in a nice lockstep of purpose. The Southern jam styling of “Just Driving Around” is a certain highlight, especially with the tinkling background piano. Additional standouts include the rockin’ “Sha Na Na,” the simple and lovely “Please Be Good To Each Other” and opening track “Living In This Country.” You can dig this immediately over at sethmartinandthedishboys.bandcamp.com. At the time of its release, vinyl copies were available for free, too, and there might be some left. Who knows? Drop ‘em a line at georgiadishboys@gmail.com, and see what they say.
TRYPTOPHAN EVENING POST: Although I know some among you are gonna take the risk and gather up in a traditional way during Thanksgiving, for those more attuned to remaining distanced, the Flicker DeadStream has you covered for the evening. On Thanksgiving evening, they’ll host the fourth of the Normaltown Records series of shows. Featured acts this night are Cicada Rhythm, Earle Grey and a special guest. The stream begins at 8 p.m., so put on your fat pants and tune in. If you want to leave the house anyway, you can head down to Flicker itself, which assures us that the stream will be shown outside with appropriate social distancing rules in place. For more information and ease of access, please see facebook.com/flickerbar.athens.
MOSES SUPPOSES HIS TOESES ARE ROSES: Newer Athens band The Dazy Chains, who released a two-song EP back in April, have an album planned for next year and just released its title track, “Ascend,” about a week or so ago. Technically, the jammy-pop-grunge tune runs 5:40 long. In reality, though, its natural end occurs around 3:37, but then you get almost two minutes of guitar solos. It’s as if no one had ever heard “Layla” before and was like, “You know what this needs? A whole bunch of stuff at the end!” While sufficiently performed, the coda is really a reprise of the earlier melody with flourishes thrown in. Oh, the tune itself? Actually not a half-bad kinda psych-y reimagined Pearl Jam-type track which may well be your, uh, jam. You can find this on Spotify and keep up with the band at facebook.com/thedazychains.
LOAD OUT: Musician’s resource center Nuçi’s Space will once again host its Black Friday ReWired Gear Sale on Friday, Nov. 27 from 5–10 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 28 from 12–10 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 29 from 12–5 p.m.. It takes place at the 40 Watt, and a portion of sales will be donated to the club’s employee relief fund. The organizers are assuring the public that this event is sanitary and will maintain appropriate social distancing requirements. This sale is cashless (cards, checks and online payments only) and packed with tons of musical gear—and not just instruments. There’s PA equipment, amplifiers, recording gear and more. Proceeds from ReWired help keep Nuçi’s Space on its righteous path of music community support and suicide prevention. For more information, please see nuci.org or facebook.com/nucisspace.
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