FAME AND FORTUNE: The debut album by Athens rockers Real Wow comes out this Friday, July 18. The band is populated by longtime Athens names Kemp Stroble, Mat Lewis, Charlie Estes and Kris Deason. It’s titled Hello, I Hope This Finds You Well, which is basically an identical title to the Four Eyes album from 2021. In any case, though, this is a pretty tightly wound stew of classic post-hardcore. In addition to the killer arrangements, I was most taken in by Stroble and Deason’s guitar tones, which are well versed in Black Flag, Mission of Burma and other bands of distinction. This energy is most present on tracks like “Remarkable Constitution” and “A Great Feat For A Birdbrain.” At times this gets a little too math-rock for me. but some of you will love it for exactly that reason. On my ballot, though, the closing track “The Porch At The End Of Time” is the winner of the whole thing. The band celebrates this release the same night at Flicker Theatre and Bar along with Father Werewolf and Durham, NC’s Blab School. Look for it at realwow.bandcamp.com.
WILLING TO WAIT: Years ago former Athenian JJ Posway and his then-band Scooterbabe were undertaking the recording of that band’s final album. However, what emerged between the years 2016–2022 was an album non-representative of that band, so it wound up being the debut album, Stalemate, for his next group, “a revolving-door collective project” called Seedbed. Some of you out there will still recognize some of the names on these recordings, such as Dillon McCabe, Terence Chiyezhan, Sebastian Marquez, Michael Buice Jr. and others. This 10-song excursion is full of personality expressed through a few different, but connected, styles. First, listeners encounter the explosive and propulsive indie rockers “Mouse At Your Feet” and “It Comes Around Less Often.” While these characteristics pop up fairly regularly throughout the album, there’s also the art-n-tenderness of “C c c c c c c c c c c,” the space hymnal feel of “Unit 4” and the ironically triumphant defeat of the title track, which closes the record out. Listen in at seedbedga.bandcamp.com.
GLAD YOU’RE HERE: Songwriter and guitarist/singer Scott Roberts is deep into what is, I believe, his fourth decade of music making, and he’s recently moved to Athens after living in Atlanta for the past 37 years. Last year he released Still Kinda Here, which was his first album in a decade. Most recently, though, he’s released the seven-song Unplugged And Unnecessary. On this one he goes back and covers select songs from his old band GrandDad and selected songs from releases dating to 1988, 1989 and 1992. Compositionally these songs are a little different from his most recent work in that they have a youthful sense of urgency about them which, I suppose, is to be expected. The album notes indicate these were tracked in the decade spanning 2012–2022 and recorded on an iPhone. I have a particular affection for the stompy opening song “Angel Of Mercy” as well as the could-have-been-a-hit “Cause For Alarm.” So, welcome to Athens, Scott! And, for the rest of you, explore this and his whole catalog over at scottroberts1.bandcamp.com.
BACK TO THE MIC: One of Athens’ most entertaining MCs, Donny Knottsville, technically retired a few years ago, but he’s now emerged with a new EP, The Chill Mongoose, featuring four collaborations with beatmaker Rubik. The pair have worked together previously, so their pairing here fits like hand in glove. Knottsville, a master of subtlety and reference, gives a sly shoutout to the Drive-By Truckers on the title track, but holds back nothing on the explicit yet comedic “Laser Tag Academy” which also has the best beat of the four songs here. For the uninitiated, Knottsville’s flow is pretty classic hardcore rap, and y’all can find it at donnyknottsville.bandcamp.com/album/the-chill-mongoose-ep.
HEY HO, LET’S GO: Riff factory Boulevard Saints released its self-titled EP a few weeks back, and it starts with a slowed-down Ramones-style intro before sliding into a decidedly 1990s-ish alt-rock song type. Next up, “Rust” is a blue collar sing-along not entirely unlike what a local Social Distortion might produce. The last two songs are a simple and melodic three-chord power pop number (“How’s Road”), and a straight-up cheeky and sludgy heavy rocker (“Norm”). Like most things, this is far from essential, but unlike most things, I found time to enjoy it. Give it a try at boulevardsaints.bandcamp.com.
DO YOU HEAR ME NOW?: It’s been more than a solid minute since I mentioned Spitehound in these pages. But since that time there have been a handful of releases worth checking out. The latest of these is the two-song single Defensive Eater. The title song is a nicely paced merging of an acoustic base wrapped in a slow rock arrangement with some shoegaze touchstones clearly present. The second song, “(coda),” is kinda like a narcoleptic Bert Jansch, and I mean that as a compliment. Check it out at spitehound.bandcamp.com.
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