SONGS FROM THE PIT: Georgia Dish Boys will release their new album, Nine Song Movie, Thursday, Dec. 6 at the Caledonia Lounge. The bill this night is pretty full-on—they’ll be joined by Lydia Brambila, Love My Truck and The Pink Stones. Although only a handful of songs have been made publicly available leading up to the record’s release, the three singles all point to the thing being a solid listen. Overall, the feeling is one of a fight happening one room over from whatever room you’re in. The vocals are howling, the pedal steel is wailing, and even when it slows down—such as on “Heartworn Highways”—the doom is still present. This song really lays it down that there aren’t any more Townes Van Zandts, Rodney Crowells or Guy Clarks coming down the pike. That said, the song itself is good evidence of something new being cut right along those same lines, so Georgia Dish Boys could very well be totally wrong. Cry yourself to sleep in the car at georgiadishboys.bandcamp.com.
NASA GRAMS: A few weeks ago, Space Brother (Future Ape Tapes) released a new album, Prism Music, which rounds out what’s been a really full and creative year for him. As his projects have progressed, he’s often entered areas of writing that are open-ended and ambient-based, but the new record remains pretty beat-oriented and tight—albeit within a really loose structure. That said, by the time it starts to spin into tracks “A Way to Love” and “Hear Me,” if you’re lying down or otherwise chilled out, you’re likely gonna drift off to sleep. Lyrically, Space Brother makes repeated statements about being positive and believing in oneself, and his rap vocals are strong, but this is way more of a musical statement than a lyrical statement. In any case, check out this and his other new work at spacebrother.bandcamp.com.
TUNE IN: Longtime radio host and critic JoE Silva has switched gears recently, but listeners will still be privy to his insight and taste. His long-running Georgia Public Broadcasting show, “Just Off the Radar,” is no more, but in its place is “Athens 441,” which is described in a press release as “an updated version of the program, re-tooled for the 21st Century.” This time around, Silva has taken on co-host and music scene enthusiast and participant Kimberly Sloan (The Proxies). She’ll be joining the program as a fresh voice, and I’m looking forward to hearing her insights and selections. “Athens 441” airs locally Friday at 9 p.m. and Saturday at 11 p.m. on WUGA 91.7 and 94.5 FM.
WINTER SESSION: It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from Sean McDonald, the man and artist behind the MMM Sound label, but he’s got a new album out now appropriately titled The Wait. McDonald often goes through different waves of creativity but generally hovers around electronic mood music, as opposed to straightforward and rote songwriting. And that’s the area this album occupies. When I say “mood music,” I don’t really mean compositions that amplify a listener’s existing mood. I mean what McDonald delivers often amounts to digital instructions and renders specific emotional directives. High points include “Up Shrug,” which features a killer Tycho-type synth top-line and “Who’s There?”, which is both innocently inquisitive and slightly paranoid. It’s often difficult to describe this type of stuff, so in the simplest terms, listeners can expect—to crib a line from Brian Eno—a cool set of tunes that don’t require close listening, but reward it. Head to mmmsound.bandcamp.com to check this all out.
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