MAKE YOUR OWN MUSIC: Athens multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and music instructor Julia Nyunt just released her second single of the year, and it’s named “Good Feeling.” It straddles a super-fine line between being straight-up R&B and simply R&B-adjacent. It’s got all the horns and swingy rhythms of early-mid 1970s soul, but also a decent smidge of self-care comfort à la Edie Brickell, although I would say Nyunt’s voice is stronger. The single released earlier this year, “Radio,” is similar in tone and vibe, but without the pronounced horn arrangement. It’s a smoother and, indeed, lovelier exhibition of Nyunt’s vocal skills, which are absolutely spot on. Find each of these on Spotify, and for more information, please see facebook.com/JuliaNyuntmusic.
READY ORR NOT: As promised a few weeks ago, when Flagpole premiered the video for lead single “We Stuff,” the new album by Joe Orr is out now on Arfus Records. It’s titled Very Much Alive and, once again, Orr has delivered an album packed with hooks that suffers only from lack of editorial oversight. Not only do the songs “Make It Work (Let Me Go Berserk),” “Book Report” and “Satan and His Rapidly Approaching Army of Winged Henchmen” not belong on this album, they don’t belong on any album anywhere ever. Now, that said, when Orr is dialed into his pure power pop sensibilities, he not only delivers, but sounds more confident in doing so. Nearly any of these songs could be singles. Especially “Lovin’ Me, Lovin’ Me, Lovin’ Me,” “Feels So Real” and “High School Is Over” which starts with what could’ve at one time been a great opening riff for an Alice Cooper track. And while it didn’t appear so at first listen, closing song “Please Cooperate” shares similar intellectual aesthetics, and decidedly not musical ones, with Game Theory, which was a nice connection to realize, even if Orr didn’t intend it. You can find this digitally on all major streaming services, and find physical compact discs in local shops as well as at arfusrecords.com. For more information, you can try the rarely updated facebook.com/joeorrband or the much more frequently updated facebook.com/arfusrecords.
THIS IS WHAT YOU GET: The new self-titled EP from Go Public is out now. This is a legitimate Athens supergroup composed of Jay Domingo (The Dignity of Labor), Adrian Finch and SA Rawls (each of Masters of the Hemisphere and then Elf Power and Still Flyin’, respectively), and Sam Gunn (Iron Hero). And what they’ve made is, indeed, super. The seven songs here are so completely representative of the band’s chosen aesthetic and sound—heavily rhythmic and propulsive, aggressive post-punk—that it’s almost as if the past 40 years never happened. It’s a nearly perfect marriage between everything that was ever loved about A Certain Ratio and pre-1986 Public Image Ltd. Each song is so stupendously composed, arranged and performed, I can’t even be bothered to recommend specific ones. There is, however, something of an Easter egg available to careful listeners. Knowing these dudes’ pedigrees and ages, no one will ever convince me that the horn riff in “Fresh Neg” isn’t an interpolation of the vocal melody from Genesis’ “That’s All.” Find this as quickly as you can over at gopublic.bandcamp.com.
GROWLERS SOLD AND SERVICED: Thrash monsters Beast Mode have loosed the hounds of hell and dropped a new single named “The Forge.” It’s from the group’s upcoming EP, Seventh Solstice, which is due for release Feb. 17. In a press release the band said the title track was “originally written in 2019 for a mock ‘supergroup’ project under the name ‘Ølengeist,’” which I’m assuming is a goal lost to the ether now. The new single was written specifically for this release. The upcoming EP also features re-recordings of two songs—“Becoming the Beast” and “Blasphemy”—from the band’s 2016 album Blood Moon. Find the new single at beastmodega.bandcamp.com, and keep up with the guys via facebook.com/BeastModeGa.
MUSIC AND MEMORIES: The Hey, You! Hoe-Down Music Festival & Art Auction happens Saturday, Dec. 10 from 2–8 p.m. at Athentic Brewing Company. This event is a benefit for the Carrie Fischer Siegmund Fund for Classroom Innovation. Siegmund, who died last December, is remembered as a beloved instructor and professional with Clarke County Schools. She was specifically dialed into instructional technology, and at the end of her career was director of innovation and learning design at the Northeast Georgia Regional Education Service Agency. This fundraiser is in support of the The Carrie Fischer Siegmund Grant, which is to be “awarded to an educator who seeks to inspire through innovative, interdisciplinary, and meaningful learning that results in a long-lasting impact on students.” The live music lineup includes Climbing Cedars, 38 Strings, Red Oak String Band, EDDie halfasS (sic) and Custom Concern. There is an art auction, too, with works from Dan Smith, Marisa Leilani Mustard, Jason Thrasher, Jamie Calkin, Sarah Cook, Elise Siegmund and more. This event is free and open to the public. For more information on the fund, please see bit.ly/SiegmundClassroomFund, and for more event-specific information, please see facebook.com/athenticbrewing.
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