About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 2011)
MUSIC NEWS AND GOSSIP Epimetheus Would: of Montreal will release its new album, Paralytic Stalks, on Feb. 7, 2012. The band's label, Polyvinyl, is accept ing pre-orders as we speak. Initial tracking was done at Kevin Barnes' home studio, and the album was completed with engineer Drew Vandenberg over at Chase Park Transduction. Although only one track, "Wintered Debts," has been released for preview—and it's a winding seven-and-a-half minute thing that starts acoustically and builds to a melodically noisy completion all the while with a vocal melody that hints at Grand Funk Railroad's "Bad Time"—other influences on the album are reported to be "modern classical, neo prog, pseudo-country." You can test drive it yourself over at www.ofmontreal.net/wintered- debts and pre-order the record via www.polyvi- nylrecords.com. ► From Ashes Rise: Guitar builder Robbie Smith (Black Smith Guitars) has gotten a lot of press over the past few months for the guitar he built from the burned remains of the Georgia Theatre. The guitar will finally go up for auction Friday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. on the Theatre's terrace. Raffle tickets are available now for $5 each, and you do not have to be present to win. Originally sched uled to be auctioned back in October, it looks like the guitar—made from materials sal vaged from the fire- will make its way to a winner's home before Christmas. The fully playable electric instru ment is autographed by Widespread Panic, Davis Causey, Col. Bruce Hampton, The Avett Brothers, Randall Bramblett, Gillian Welch and many more. Raffle tickets can be purchased at the Georgia Theatre box office and vvww.geor- giatheatre.com. Live Transmission: A rare event will happen Thursday, Dec. 15 at Little Kings Shuffle Club when Athens noiseniks Radio:Tahiti will play for the first time in, by my estimation, at least a decade. The group—featuring found ing and perennial members Jon Lestei and Steve Fitzpatrick—was a regular agitation in the Athens scene for several years in the l°90s. Joining them are The Subliminator, Smokedog and Octa P.A., the last two of which also hardly ever play. So, you know, go get some rare listening in. Their Target Is Your Eyes: The Birdhouse, a collective of newer Athens artists committed to exploratory pop music and sound-making, has a new DVD out featuring all-new tracks from Tree Spirit, Muuy Biien, Pretty Bird, Green Gerry, 000, Cottonmouth, Kids and The Circle. Featuring a running time of approximately 40 minutes and available via download and physical discs, the entire thing is, at least reputedly and conceptu ally speaking, supposed to "put your head in the clouds." What it really does, practi cally speaking, is make you feel like you've been staring through a kaleidoscope or at an iTunes visualizer screen for over half an hour. As much as I dig the actual music, I keep thinking the whole thing Ts some sort of hoax-y commentary on music industry hype. If it is, then I applaud all involved. If it's not, and it's meant as a serious event, well, urn, sorry? Go judge for yourself via www.thebird- house.bandcamp.com. Come McnJay It'll Be Alright: On Dec. 17 Nugi's Space will host an event named 4th of July in December: An American Celebration of Holidays and Good Value. Featured per formers are Southern Trespass (The Shit-Hot Country Band's new covers project), Forever Young (Second Sons performing "early-'70s- esque folk-rock covers" like Dylan and Neil Young) and The Pencil Thin Reefer Band (members of Chapped Lips, The Caledonia Nightmare Band, et al.—including me—per forming the hits of Jimmy Buffett). According to organizer Matt Hudgins, "It's just supposed to be dumb, funny, and a chance to see people who usually take music really seriously not do that for a change." Ch, it's on, Hudge! The show costs $5 and will start at 8 p.m. Three on Hump Day: Folk duo The Skipperdees will play Go Bar on Wednesday, Dec. 14, along with Young Benjamin and Bobby Be Good. The former is a project from The Premonitions' Matt Whitaker and gets a tip of the hat from me for un-ironically citing A Flock of Seagulls as an influence. Bobby Be Good is a foursome of fresh-faced Marietta kids now living in Athens who seem to have taken a page from the book of what I like to call the New Sincerity move ment (e.g., Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver). If you miss out on this one, The Skipperdees will play the Athens Farmers Market on the morning of Saturday, Dec. 17. All the aforementioned bands are on Facebook, so look for their pro files there. Next Exit: Last week it was announced that longtime Drive-By Truckers bassist Shonna Tucker had left the band. Although no specific reason was cited, an official statement from dicker said, It's time for me to move on to the next great thing, whatever that may be.' She joined the band in 2003, performed over 1,000 shows with the group, and has a dedicated following of her own among DBT fans. David Barbe will take over bass duties for the band for the foreseeable future. We wish Tucker well in whatever she goes on to do, and we'll do our best to keep readers posted concerning all new developments. Band leader Patterson Hood released a statement that says, in part, "Her charm and spark will be irreplaceable, and her part in our last decade of this band's history is indisput able. We will share in our fans missing of her." To read the full statement, please see www.drivebytruckers.com. Gordon Lamb lhreatsandpromsies@flagpole.com Georgia Theatre Guitar . ■« TACKY * CHRISTMAS .SWEATERS —. 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