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'Coffee S' du.b
“Yes madam. I am drunk. But in the morning t
will be sober and you will still be ugly."
- Winston Churchill
Walter's Coffee and Pub
Happy Hour Specials 4-9 S1.00 Wine Night Mondays
Pimento
Cheese
Burgers
Ham
Biscuits
Fried
Chicken
Trout
Salad
And
More!
TIMBER
For Never and Always
Independent Release
For Never and Always, (he latest
release Irom Daniel Aaron’s Timber, is
an album chronicling one night stands,
nights out and laments for love both
ill-used and lost. Timbers guitar, pedal
steel and banjo provide twang, but the
xylophone, accordion and keys carry
tITe tracks into the alt-country genre,
providing embellishment that takes
the often minimalist singles to the next
level as on “Said and Done,’ where
horns briefly punctuating the tune
resonate.
With its quick cadence, driving
bass line and harmonica accentuating
the bridge. ‘Next to You.’ a stand-out
track, attests to Aaron’s love of the
chase with the refrain ‘and darling keep
me guessing when I wake up next to
you in your room.’ “Train.* another
fast-paced number, is propelled by a
driving guitar solo that makes you feel
as though you were traveling down the
tracks. “South,’ with its reliance on
cliches, sometimes using state mottos
for the various women populating the
tune, is the weakest song, but perhaps,
delivered live has the potential to woo
many a Georgia girl into the sack. And
“Damn I Love the Bar." a traditional
rock refrain, captures a bleary night
with the image ’Spent all my cash
on strippers and liquor / convincing
myself I don't miss her.’
At first listen. For Never and
Always doesn't grab you. but with
repeated plays, it's one of those local
albums that grows on you.
Deirdre Sayre
Timber is playing at SchoolKids
Records on Saturday Sept. 22 at 4 p.m.
HAM1
The Captain's Table
Orange Twin
If someone who'd never been to
Athens asked me what the city sounded
like, no longer would I reach for good
ol' trusty R E M.; I would hand this
hypothetical stranger a copy of The
Captain* Table, the second album from
local band Haml. And I mean that in all
the good—and bad—ways possible.
Ham1 is the brainchild of
schoolteacher Jim Willingham, and
its permanent personnel includes
former Olivia Tremor Control members
Eric Harris and Pete Erchick. The
sound is largely straightahead rock
and roll, with trombone, cello and
keys adding color. Whenever Chris
Sugiuchi’s trombone pipes up. the
listener might detect a whiff of Neutral
Milk Hotel, but Hamfs music owes
as much to R.E.M. and Pavement as it
does to the Elephant 6 collective that
provided much of its membership.
The surf-guitar instrumental “Saluki," •
with sleeker production, could even
have fit comfortably on the Pixies’
Bossanova As a frontman, Willingham
recedes into the background a bit; the
lyrics don’t stick in the listener's mind,
except for a few references to 9-to-5
drudgery on “White Rat’ and “How Can
You Watch TV With a Dead Person?’
and the purposefully inane back-and-
forth on “Methmouth." His vocals are
amateurish, alternately endearingly
and annoyingly so. Dozens, if not
hundreds, of singers have turned vocal
limitations into assets, and Ham1
would only benefit from Willingham
figuring out how best to use his
distinctly Athenian voice—the voice
of an educated Southerner, where the
accent leaks through only occasionally.
And so it’s no surprise that The
Captain's Table sounds like Athens.
This is music for drinking PBR under
Christmas lights on a collapsing porch.
It's music for standing around on a
chilly fall night on Washington Street,
wondering how you're going to get
home. It’s music for hanging around,
clearing your head, figuring out what
you want to do. Sometimes it's good,
sometimes it’s good enough.
Gardner Linn
Ham 1 is playing at the 40 Watt
Club on Friday, Sept. 21.
Red Legs
The Iceberg Theory
A
RED LEGS
The Iceberg Theory EP
Independent Release
Local group Red Legs makes its
debut sound graceful and second
nature, but this isn't dense foliage. The
poison ivy thicket Red Legs likes to
play around in is smack dab between
the forest canopies of Southern rock
and the grassy meadow of power-
pop. Uncomplicated melodies, joyful
strumming, some orchestration, a little
balladry ... you'll find you've stumbled
into a smoky (and strange-smelling)
backstage room with the Violent
Femmes and the Lemonheads
The EP has only six songs. “Shall
We Dance?’ and "The Captain Always
Goes Down With The Ship’ come
handily pre-rnanufactured with sing-
along choruses. (Neutral Milk Hotel
pokes its head out in the latter's outro.)
“Static Relief’ would make a fine slow-
dancer at spring indie-rock proms.
The Iceberg Theory is a pleasant
little EP with some pleasant little
songs, but that doesnl get many
bands noticed, really. Red Legs doesn't
play out much, though an EP release
show last weekend at Little Kings was
enthusiastic. These songs have to be
amped up for the live setting. If the
band throws a high-volume conniption,
the kids will dance with the fury of a
thousand Zeuses. because the songs
have the potential to be contagious on
contact.
Scott Reid
Red Legs is playing at Farm 255
on Saturday, Sept. 29.
ZOROASTER
Dog Magic
Battle Kommand
On debut full-length Dog Magic,
Atlanta trio Zoroaster collects its
heaviest influences into a five-course
meal of epic, gloomy and always
heavy metal. Those influences are
obvious but carefully executed in the
six tracks that thunder and drone over
an ambling 60 minutes. The band is
never shy about slithering around in
a track from the Southern sludge that
metal masters Eyehategod and the
Melvins perfected, into the bottom-
heavy repetition of Sleep, followed by
a dip into drone, before dwindling out
with a little psychedelic synthesizer
noodling. Zoroaster is all over the place
stylistically, but it’s not a problem.
Several of Dog Magids songs
are serious headbangers. For a more
gratuitous homage, vocalist Will
Fiore sings on ’Terminally Charged’
as if Cronos of Venom and other
early black metal misanthropes were
fronting Black Sabbath. The main riff
in “Tualatin" veers close to yesteryear's
nO-metal, but Zoroaster kr jps it all in
good fun. The last couple of minutes
drone out thanks to some unusual
instrumentation (theremin anyone?).
Dog Magic could stand to be rawer.
The production by Atlanta's Living
Room is sometimes too clean. Metal
is raw. Metal needs raw. Regardless,
it's exciting that Georgia has constant
proponents of the metal subgenres, and
Zoroaster is a welcome addition. The
gauntlet hath been throwneth downeth.
Scott Reid
WILMA
Pieces of the Album Pieces EP
Independent Release
After years ol rarely appearing
onstage, Wilma Pittard lately seems to
be everywhere: performing in Sordid
Lives (see Out There! for details),
playing in the Heart of Georgia Singer/
Songwriters Tour in November, working
on an album with producer Matt Yelton
and having her SBng ’Winterville’
proclaimed the official ditty of that little
burg. ThatS quite an achievement for a
woman who used to sutler from serious
stage fright.
There’s nothing on this Pieces ol
the Album Pieces EP that sounds less
than fully self-confident, nor should
there be. Pittard has a lovely, assured
voice lhat neither overpowers nor is
overwhelmed by the simple, acoustic
arrangements. Titles like “Peace’ and
“Moody Forest.’ the latter recorded
for the Nature Conservancy, imply a
slight hippie bent, but there’s not much
meandering or musing on the power
of sunshine and love. It's more about
some delicately picked guitar work
accented with an occasional bit of
steel that demonstrates the glittering of
nature rather than talking about it.
Wilma knows her dicta of creative
writing classes well: show, don't tell.
Hillary Brown
SWEET TEETH
From the Fourth Hand of the
Buddha the Lotus Was Born
For the Seventh Time
Thor’s Rubber Hammer
Finally, Athens' at-iimes-prolific
experimental scene is making its way
to recorded formats' Or so I've gotten
my hopes up with the release of Sweet
Teeth’s debut EP. Just a few months
ago, Long Legged Woman dropped
the Newtown Nights EP, and its delay-
pedal-ridden fog was captivating. Both
Justin Flowers and Gabe Vodicka of
LLW also trip in Sweet Teeth alongside
some of the core members of Dark
Meat. The expansively titled release
consists of one nearly 23-minute piece,
titled “Morning Raga’ and recorded
live at the 40 Watt—it sure tries hard to
live up to its demanding name.
This is. for the most part, full-on
tribal jamming with a little psych-drone
thrown in. Things start oft slowly
with a disembodied voice reporting
and ranting on corporations, etc. I’m
typically not a big fan of dialogue field
recordings in music, particularly when
they're used to anchor a long track.
Here the voice rambles on for more
than half the duration, eventually fading
into background texture. It's not until
the 17-min. mark when the bordering-
on-spiritual vocals of Page Campbell
(Hope For Agoldensummer) burst into
the jam Before tnis. it's down to the
trance of the drums, the high-frequency
noodling, and the eastern droning ring
ol guitars to carry the vibe
Sure, it all works, but at the
same time, the jam's one step away
from collapsing. The drums are just
missing a little oomph, a little ol the
control necessary for a mostly locked
groove As a show and therefore a live
document, it's highly enjoyable But as
a release, it merely shows a promising
group ol people with wonderful, much-
needed ideas. It's more than enough,
however, to pique interest in what
Sweet Teeth does—or more to the
point, tries—next.
Michael Wehunt
Sweet Teeth is playing at the Secret
Squirrel on Thursday, Oct. 25.
NEWS & FEATURES I ARTS & EVENTS I MOVIES I MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE 1 CLASSIFIEDS
32 FLAGPOLE.COM • SEPTEMBER 19,2007