V.
* "'W'" *
BUCKHEAD
r H E aT^
3110 Roswell Rd NW • Atlanta GA 30305
Thursday, October 13
THE MASQUERADE & SWEETWOOD PRESENTS:
COLD WAR KIDS
GIVERS
Saturday, October 15
LITTLE BIG TOWN
ERIC PASI.AY
Thursday, October 20
BLUE OCTOBER
lAmDynaniite I PLAIN JANE AUTOMOBILE
Friday, October 21
DEER TICK
VIRGIN FOREST I DEAD PEOPLE
Friday, October 28
BUCKHEAD THEAT RE & AC ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS:
THE JAYHAWKS
TIKI MERRITT
Friday, November II
BUCKHEAD IHEATKE A WINDSTORM PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS
IRON & WINE
MARKETA IRGLOVA
Sunday, November 20
BUCKHEAD I HEAI RE & AC ENT ERTAINMEN I PRESENTS:
LYKKE LI
FIRST AID KIT
Sunday, November 27
THE AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT
MONA I THE DROWNING MEN
Thursday, December 15
BUCKHEAD I HEAT Rl & AC EN I ERIAINMENT PRESENTS:
DREW HOLCOMB &
THE NEIGHBORS
Tickets available at ticketmaster
and Box Office 404.843.2825
and www.thebuckheadtheatre.com
FB Page: The Buckhead Theatre
Twitter: @BuckheadTheatre
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Mfln HUDGINS
& HIS SHIT-HOT
COUNTRY BAND
Hitmakers. Vol. 1
Independent Release
There's much more to Matt
i Hudgins & His Shit-Hot Country Band
than the tact that they somehow landed
on the greatest band name ol all time;
the debut lull-length studio album from
Ihe group is a definite keeper
First of all. Hudgins' songwriting
is truly unique classic outlaw style
converges seamlessly with a modern
eye for wit, giving the songs a sense
of awareness typically uncharacteristic
ot country music Hitmakers. Vol 7s
opening track, ‘Going Home," begins
like a standard homesick country
ballad, but it winds up being a humor
ous lambasting ol the South, “rolling
pines" “fishing line" and “mama's
cooking" are replaced by "obesity,"
“blue law Sundays" and “meth addic
tion " Similarly. “Poor, Poor Hudge
(Fuckup II)" is a genuinely saddening
lament as well as an obviously, inten
tionally ironic piece ol melodrama
Lastly (but not least ly), this
records production is exceptional It s
lust dirty enough to capture the music's
outlaw country style, bul it's just
clean enough to showcase the skills
ot Hudgins' 10-piece band, as well
as Hudgins own honest voice I tried
thinking o! any criticisms worth noting
but to no avail, this album is iust too
damn strong
And dang, you can download it all
for just $5 at hitshotcountryband band-
camp com Fifty cents a song 7 That's
less than a Coke
Kevin Craig
Matt Hudgins is playing at the
Melting Point on Thursday Oct 13
JACUZZI BOYS
GLAZIN'
JACUZZI BOYS
Glazin'
Hardly Art
01 the versicolor Florida indie tide
that s been rising nationally in recent
years. Miamis Jacuzzi Boys have
! been setting the leading pace from
| their own side of the tracks Alongside
1 vanquard Sunshine State bands like
Surter Blood Viernes and Lil Daggers
! they ve been garnering a mountain of
| legit critical love But emerging novi
i on tasteful Sub Pop sister label Hardly
' An is a quantum leap in their career
launching them from garage-punk
upstart to certified breakout
With some probing psychedelic
edges. Jacuzzi Boys have long shown
more ambition than the rigid coniines
of basic punk rock And that expansive
tendency continues here with power
pop currents, glammy effects and a
heart ot pure rock and roll. On the
molormg side, the title track and "Cool
Vapors' are good, vintage-souled
romps Other, breezier picks include
the sweet power-pop bop ot "Automatic
Jail" and the beach-party killer “Libras
and Zebras" With the exception of
the thrilling, polluted blare ol “Silver
Sphere (Death Dream),’ however,
Glazin' represents a more hemmed
sound that somewhat blunts the force
they're capable of Yes, it s a little sun
nier and a little less urgent, but their
attack is still direct and concise Most
importantly. Ihe clearer delivery proves
that it's the strength of their songs, and
not any other secondary thing, that's
gotten them this far
Bao Le-Huu
Jacuzzi Boys play The EARL in
Atlanta on Monday. Oct 31
WILD RAG
Wild Flag
Merge
Wild Flag boasts an mdie-rock
all-star pedigree Janet Weiss (Sleater-
Kinney, Quasi The Jicks) on drums.
Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney, The
Spells) on guitars and vocals. Mary
Timony (Helium. The Spells) on guitars
and vocals, and Rebecca Cole (The
Minders) on keys and vocals. (For fos
sils who remember the '90s and things
called record labels, it's Kill Rock Stars
meets Matador issued by Merge)
The band's songs combine fluidly
ntty garage guitars, the occasionally
60s-tinged shoop-shoops and a whole
lot ot swagger At the bands EARl
show this past spring in Atlanta. Wild
Flag ripped through a grooving ver
sion of the Stones “Beast of Burden."
a good signpost ot the band's intent
It Wild Flag has a shortcoming it's
that it's too charming, too quickly The
albums lead-off track Romance' is
excellent, a driving rocker packed with
surprising mood shifts, handclaps
and guitars ricocheting from channel
to channel T he rest ot the album has
its high points -"Glass Tambourine"
delivers a trippy Grace Slick/Jetterson
Airplane kmda vibe. “Electric Band
bring the Velvet Underground to mind
and Boom" is the kind of grown-up
sensual rocker that Nick Cave's been
writing recently —but none is as
memorable as Romance
Six years after Sleater-Kinney
released its final album The Woods
Wild Flag does sound like a reason-
atle continuation ot that albums bold
sound, especially on the extended
guitar-jam segments of tunes like
Racehorse" and Black Tiles" But
this isn't S-K20 especially thanks to
Coles organ which adds extra texture
to the band*: sound It anything the
contributions ot Timony and Cole
bring Weiss and Brownstein full
circle, connecting the wide-ranging
improvisations of The Woods with
Sleater-Kinney’s earlier concisely vol
canic tunes
Chris Hassiotis
Wild Flag plays the 40 Watt Club
on Saturday. Oct. 22
CSS
La Liberacidn
V2/Cooperative Music USA/
Downtown Records
In the middle ol the last decade.
CSS struck the global hipster popula
tion like a shockwave Irom Brazil on
the wings of scrappy dance jams and
unmitigated cheek But alter their
meteoric debut, a couple key things
have tempered their heat First, their
less-than-prompt output is problem
atic for a band whose fashionable,
in-the-moment spirit is predicated on
immediacy Second, their once-punky
template moved toward sleeker waters
a la The Sounds which isn't a problem
il you can match their urgency and
sharpness Unfortunately. CSS only
does that to a limited extent here
The crown jewel is the title track,
an excellent Spamsh-language punk
song that could pass for Davila 666s
little sister Another worthy. Iikeminded
song is the barbed, rolling rocker “Fuck
Everything.’ Meanwhile, “I Love You*
is a primetime number big enough to
dance next to STRFKR And “Hits Me
Like a Rock,' an electro-reggae duet
with Bobby Gillespie, also stands out
But because CSS*1ive shows are throb
bing, hot-blooded affairs, the general
half-heartedness of this recc'dinq is
perplexing La Liberacidn simply lacks
the spark and grab of prior work But
Lovefoxxx will still rock both her ass
and yours oft live, though
Bao Le-Huu
CSS plays the 40 Watt Club on
Wednesday. Oct 26
GUN PARTY
Special TV Microwave Computer
Independent Release
Special TV Microwave Computer is
a strange little record With a wink and
a pat on the ass this young Atlanta-
via-Athens six-piece oilers up a sure-
to-be-divisive debut that trades in good
taste for good old-fashioned rock-and-
roll tun It's unironic kitsch garishly
flamboyant, unsexy, lyrically question
able and most ol all. aggressively
uncool. And yet—it works
Making schizoid prog rock tor the
drama kid set. Gun Party combines
hammy choruses, beefy power chords
and glammy boy-girl vocal work—
often to humorous effect. Take “DBV.“
which turns a heavy doom rill with a
crunchy bassline on its head with the
absurdist refrain “Dead bitch vagina"
Or consider “Possessions," a sort of
downtempo dad-rock meets post-punk
dance number, which explores the
myriad euphemisms for male mastur
bation: “When I walked in you were
choking on your hotdog"
Still. Special TV Microwave
Computer will be a difficult proposition
for some But others—say, those who
“get" the obscure pleasures of John
Waters, or those with the acquired
taste for the lighter side of prog—will
appreciate Gun Party's bizarro world
of campy earnestness and twisted
brilliance
Christopher Joshua Benton
DODO FERREL1E
Hide the World
Two Sheds Music
Athens stalwart Dodd Ferrelle has a
voice you can trust It's gripping, stern
and honest, and it rings with the confi
dence of a man who has seen it all On
Hide the World h\s textured tones have
a worn and rugged quality that suggest
he's been through the ringer and back,
and yet there is also a palpable pas
sion in his delivery, a sort ol quavering
urgency that suggests Ferrelle may be
down but he’s not out
“You control me. you bought and
sold me." he snarls on album opener
"Control" against a backdrop of blar
ing, defiant horns It's the first of many
fights Ferrelle wages before Hide the
World ms ils course On “Sucker
Punch' he feels the sling ot a town
that'll “throw you to the ground and
kick you when you're down" The liner
notes reveal that this tune was in fact
inspired by the darker underbelly ot
Athens—maybe that s why the guitar
line sounds so awtully close to "Losing
My Religion .’ Alter facing his demons
in this world, he prepares himself lor
redemption in “Halt Broken.' laying
down his burdens and his pam in
search of his true soul before strug
gling with the loss ol another on
"Empty Room'
But tor all the battered and broken
lyrics, the mood remains triumphant
And when love is in the equation,
Ferrelle gets downright jubilant—like
on the rollicking “Such a Beautiful
Thing" or the sweet, gently finger-
picked ballad “Then I Thought of You."
Backed by some of Athens finest,
including William Tonks David Barbe
John Nett Noel Blackmon and more.
Ferrelle captures the highs and lows
of the human spirit in a style to which
fans ot Elvis Cosiello or Heartland
rockers like Springsteen will easily
relate
Michelle Gilzenrat
16 FLAGPOLE COM OCTOBER 1?. ?P 11
