A later start on Sunday meant the first act that I caught was This Piano Plays Itself on the second stage. Based solely on the soccer shorts that several of the members were wearing, their “wall of sound” post-rock hit be entirely by surprise. Via an overwhelming number of pedals, the five piece was able to generate an exciting and chaotic amount of sound that was crafted into powerful and accessible compositions.

I unfortunately missed what looked to be a great set by Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun in lieu of US Soccer. I returned in time to catch the end of Grinder Nova’s energetic, big band style rock set. At this point I found out that Jeffery Butzer was going to be playing solo rather than with The Midwives. I was temporarily disappointed, but Jeffery put an end to that with a delightful set of eastern european accordion songs and witty banter with no one in particular.

Next up on the main stage was A Fight to the Death, a five piece that plays in a sort of western/ gypsy folk genre. They make well written and rhythmically complex songs sound effortless and dramatic. Accordion, pedal steel, ukulele, along with traditional rock instruments rotate through the arrangement.

The Soulphonics and Ruby Velle changed things up with some straight up soul music on the second stage. They came across as more of a party band, but Ruby did provide the best female James Brown impression I’ve come across. I’d like to see them in a different environment.

Batata Doce and Cordero made up the world music portion of the afternoon. Both were capable with interesting moments, but neither really grabbed my attention all that much.

Twin Tigers were next up on the second stage and did not disappoint. Young Antiques played a set of pop punk tunes followed by some pretty good bleep bloop sample collage stuff from Mini Destroy. Then Judi Chicago played an entertaining set of electro that the crowd seemed to really dig. These guys know how to put on a show, and the stage/barrier didn’t stop Ben from venturing into the crowd halfway through one song. I believe this was the first time for me to see Judi Chicago sporting a live drummer. While they previously sounded fine without him, I think it is an improvement and certainly helped the sound given the festival atmosphere.

At this point I was more than ready to leave, but I stuck it out through a gradually improving set by Abby Go-Go that closed with a burner that stood out as the song of the festival for me. I waited out Western Civ. Finally it was Dead Confederate, essentially a grunge band to close out Corndogorama. These guys bring it. As far as heavy rock music goes, there wasn’t much more you could ask for from Dead Confederate. The songs were varied and powerful. The band was talented and energetic.

As I’m sure you’ve gathered, I’m not often into the remix culture when it comes to casual listening unless I’ve got my heels on and an adult beverage in hand. I do make exceptions for a handful of dancey tracks including the latest remix from Free Magic. (You may remember him from when we dj’ed together at Graveyard back in December?) He just released a remix of Atlanta indie band, Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun, reworking their song “Never Always Good” into an indie disco track.

[mp3] Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun - Never Always Good (Free Magic vs. Sapesifter Remix)

We reported yesterday about two benefits for BJ, an Atlanta garage rock fixture. Through a friend of Drive A Faster Car’s at Drunken Unicorn, we heard he passed away around 9PM last night which was then confirmed by Henry over at Chunklet. RIP. Henry is also collecting donations via Paypal to help cover funeral costs. Check out that link for info to donate.

In his memory, check out this video montage that was created by We Fun director Matthew Robison and Zack Wilson.

The Gaye Blades - Bobby is a Lover

King of the music blog aggregators, Hype Machine, published a blog post yesterday detailing new security measures they have added to the site in an effort to reduce the potential for artist’s and their promotional teams to abuse the charts on the site.

The post ends with a list of the artist’s believed to have attempted to manipulate the charts on the Hype Machine, including Atlanta band, The Constellations, among them.

When asked to comment on their suspension, The Constellations were completely unaware of the situation, asking “We don’t know what you are talking about, other than Elijah was in ISS [In School Suspension] his whole high school career. Is that it?”

Small town note, this was at the same high school I attended, North Atlanta High School.

There’s some fiery discussion on the blog post about the validity of Hype Machine’s actions. Perhaps these bands are just victims of naive publicists, outdated marketers or overzealous fans? They are leaving it up to you decide. Despite their possibly questionable promotional techniques, The Constellations are a great collection of local musicians and should not be passed up. Just feel free to pitch them some white-hat tips.

[mp3] The Constellations - Setback
[mp3] The Constellations - Perfect Day
[mp3] The Constellations - Love Is A Murder (featuring Cee-Lo)

Atlanta’s “garage rock mascot”, B Jay Womack (A.K.A. Bobby Ubangi), is dying of cancer and friends, journalists and scene alike are trying to raise money to cover the cost of his “green burial” at a Monastery about 20 miles south of Conyers, GA. B Jay played in the Gaye Blades with Jared Swilley (Black Lips) and is a pretty intense local music fixture who also used to played in the Lids and Bobby and the Soft Spots.

A good friend of his, Chad Radford, has the full story over at Creative Loafing. There you can also find a Paypal button that has been set up to accept funds towards this effort and there are two benefit shows happening here in town.

First, the Renegades (who feature Cole, Joe, and Ian of The Black Lips) are playing a show at The Drunken Unicorn tonight. Secondly, Carbonas are reuniting to play on the 4th of July at 529 with Predator, Customers and Barracudas.

Good news! We ain’t so dangerous and according to the Atlanta Regional Commission, we are the second fastest-growing metro area in the US (behind Dallas).

July
02 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl tickets
18 Chicago, IL @ Pitchfork Festival tickets
23 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom tickets
24 Seattle, WA @ Capitol Hill Block Party tickets
26 Brooklyn, NY @ East River State Park

August
08 Montreal, QC @ Le Studio

October
28 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel tickets
29 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
30 Memphis, TN @ Young Ave Deli
31 New Orleans, LA @ Voodoo Experience tickets

[mp3] Black Lips - Drop I Hold (featuring GZA)
[mp3] Black Lips - I’ll Be With You

New video for Wavves song “No Hope Kids” shot by Pete Ohs while Wavves were touring Europe and simultaneously hanging out at playgrounds, doing email interviews, smoking stuff, drinking other stuff, eating breakfast foods and generally rocking out…

The first band to play as I arrived at this years Corndogorama was Attractive Eighties Women. Front man Mack Williams (aka Phoebe Cates) made sure to apologize to any parents who happened to bring their kids along right before introducing a song as “for anyone who has ever drank too much beer and woke up the next day with diarrhea.” They also threw frozen corndogs at the audience.

After ignoring what turned out to be the worst act of the weekend [not AEW], I was pleasantly surprised by Can Can. This three-piece relied on a crunchy punk chords with occasional technical brilliance, relentless drumming, and a singer whose mannerisms bounced between aggressive and flamboyant. My notes also included the words desperate, cocky, energetic, sexual, and awesome.

Next up on the second stage was The Goldest. I had heard a lot about them, but this was my first live experience. It was pleasant, sunny indie pop by a capable but ultimately forgettable band. They did manage to regain my attention late in their set with some excellent vocal harmonies, but overall not my cup of tea.

After a short reprieve from the sun, I returned in time for a taste of Club Awesome’s enjoyable pop punk. Next up was Thy Mighty Contract, an admitted favorite of mine. It might be the fact that the last few times I’ve seen them live have been in art galleries or record stores, or it might be they are improving, but I thought they sounded great and only affirmed my lofty opinions of them.

Sealions set on the second stage was their first with a new drummer after months of playing as a duo. I think they have finally found the right balance between live and programmed instrumentation, as the drummer blended in well but notably added to the group’s energy.

Wizard Smoke is the kind of metal band that sacrifices virtuosity for power. They also tended to sludge along rather than go for any sort of excessive speed (at least until the end of their last song). This, along with the epic structure of their compositions, led to a set that included only three songs. It was hard to tell if the five-piece would display any range or variety in a longer set, but they were good enough to warrant another listen.

Hawks followed by Dropsonic both proved why they are praised by their respective scenes, then The Empties played some decent rock music while all wearing black converse (a possible coincidence given the circumstances).

Noot d’Noot played a short but successful set relying on upbeat dance numbers while veering away from some of their spaced out tendencies. Between on and off rain for rest of the evening, I managed to see The Judies act ridiculous on stage while playing very engaging and dynamic pop music. The last band I caught on day one was The Howlies. As far as retro garage rock goes, this is the best I’ve seen in Atlanta. These guys are entertaining and look like they are having a blast the whole time.