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Strange Dreams
Visuatizations/TuneCore
Before he left Athens for* Brooklyn
two years ago, Keith Godfrey's solo
. output sounded like that of a lost Neil
Young: quiet, country-laced laments
in transition and almost ready to leave.
Now that he has returned and formed
Visualizations with Jesse Stinnard
(Tunatxjnny) and Chase Prince, his
slow, deep melodies are grunged
down, and his voice is more conf i
dent Strange Dreams is a four-track
hallucination, experimenting with
psychedelia layered over once-calming
sounds. Bird chirps become frantic
beeps, and Godfrey is not yelling, but
his voice covers the scene as if from a
loudspeaker. Something happened to
him in New York, and the metronomic
quality of Strange Dreams speaks of
the perpetual wakefulness that inhabits
the c9y. Nowthst Visualizations is a
local band, they day music ftat could
persuade an Athenian to leave his
open spaces for the reverberations of
the big city. What’s stilt here is a slow
romance, with iyridthTffldicate that
Georgia
Athens Horse Party
Wyatt Strother has a prodigious
ear for melody, and Georgia, his lat
est effort with his band Werewolves,
is filled with well crafted pop songs.
StrotherS gifts seem intuitive; his best
songs appear effortless and cohesive in
a wholly natural way. These songs are
so immediately involving that they feel
utterly new, even H they do not radically
depart from pop norms.
StrotherS banjo forms the back
bone for many of the songs, beginning
alone before a band joins in, followed
by a full complement of strings, horns
and backup singers. The record is at
its best when embracing its anthemic, ;
maximalist bent. The slow starts seem
an unnecessary hesitation, but then
perhaps the exuberance that ensues is
more striking for this gradual build-up.
Though toe album is deeply
personal, Strother is at pains to pres
ent it in a larger context. In keeping
with the tide, the lyrics make mention .
of local points of rderence, such as
Highway 78, Augusta. Sampled audio
culled from films and other sources
introduces issues of racial and social
justice. These efforts are awkward, but
Strother's instincts are correct. In his
lyrics, he is stilt struggling to connect,
but in the music itself, Werewolves has
already found that connection.
Marshall Yarbrough
the sane person who could strum one
warm guitar coukf record between fM
concrete walls andsay the same thing.
Visualizations is (tee for a full-length
release at the end of the year. Listen
closely for the crickets. ‘ •
L ' , #• Sydney Skrtkin
THE ROOKY HUBS
The Rodney Kings
Gypsy Farm
With their self-titled release, The
Rodney Kings have made something
lots of people wilt fmd sonicaily
offensive. However, listeners who
enjoy toe purity of DIY punk rawness
may find something interesting about
this record—if they search feverishly,
that is.
If you’re looking for lo-fi, look no
further; fidelity doesn’t get much lower
than this. I’m fairly certain that the band
traveled to 1982, found a concrete
garage and recorded this album on
an old, malfunctioning voice recorder.
Bootlegs of eariy-‘80s Descendants
concerts are more discernible than this.
The Rodney Kings’ sound is some
where between Dead Kermedys and
Black Flag, with a bit of indie garage-
rock sprinkled in for modernity^ sake.
Besides the two welcome solo Wuriitzer
tracks, every song is one-io-three
minutes too long, putting this aibum
squarely into the “art punk* category.
Since all the vocals sound like
they’re being shouted through a mega
phone, the only clues as to what these
songs are about come from the titles
(zombies, bones and girls come up).
If this band has anything to say and
actually wants people to hear it, lyrics
should be included. Then we could at
least read along.
Kevin Craig
Wowser Bowser
Adair Park Recordings .
Atlanta’s Wowser Bowser has
divided its self-titled album into eight
songs and one remix, but each of tt<ose
tracks is really its own matryoshka doll
sel Hie Garden* tells a never-ending,
dream-within-a-dream sequence in
which vocalist George Pettis either
takes listeners into successively deeper
raoon no«s or wmgs mem closer
to wakefufryffs - Iwasaskwp in the
garden, when somebody woke me/
Yfes, somebody woke me/ to tell me
toat 1 was asleep in toe garden, when
somebody woke me to tetl me... * That
Wowser Bowser sometimes recalls
a British band called "Everything
Everything,* introduces and reintro
duces synthesizers and guitar riffs in
•hypnotic polyrhythms and delivers
calls and responses In thick, nearly
indistinguishable layers is really just
the icing on the cake (within a cake).
Wowser Bowser zounds playful
and kaleidoscopic, but the band obvi
ously worked hard to deliver its care
free feeling. "Water Story* begins with
programmed drums that punch like a
typewriters keystrokes. When Pettis
sings “Where is my little boatJ that
which I had made to float" Catherine
Quesenberry joins the search, and their
chorus builds before breaking in an
ecstatic “wah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ahl*.
"Water Story^s repeating voices and
melodies go to an even bigger height
later, and almost all of Wowser Bowser
stays true to its welt woven range of
patterns. The album combines the plea
sures of hearing beautiful sounds and
their echoes, forgetting which came
first and wondering why that distinction
ever mattered.
Alex Dimitropoulos
Wowser Bowser is playing at the
Georgia Theatre on Tuesday, June 5.
s
Body Faucet
Vagrant Records
On the one hand, the "you're only
as good as your last record* barometer
is pretty fair (and, quite often, strikingly
accurate). On the other, it can be tragi
cally unfair—and in the case of home
town boys Reptar, can make a band its
own worst enemy.
Body Faucet doesn't have the same
immediate appeal as the stellar, bom
bastic EP Ob tangle Ftiz, rail, because
Afro-beat, disco-dance rock doesn’t
have the same luster in 2012as it did
this time a year ago, let alone a few
years ago.
As the band's brand spreads and
its producer becomes fancier (Animal
Collective guru Ben H. Allen), Body
Faucet does feel somewhat expected.
Whereas Oblangle slapped you to
attention with unexpected quirk, Faucet
seems content to keep that attention
only in short spurts, as. if the band •
didn't know how to show its full hand.
Yet any missteps are far from fata!
The full package is clean and crisp,
showcasing sonic growth while giving
an overall fidelity facelift to the band
(though debatable if that was needed)
The boys are strongest when they cut
straight to the point in their new wave
homages (-Orifice Origami," ‘Sweet
Sipping Soda*).
Groundbreaking? No, not really.
But Body Faucet shows enough bril
liant flashes and youthful energy to
remind us that toeyll have more shots
at greatness ahead.
Alec Wooden
O
MSTRO
00^09 ondfua
Do You Want to Change
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Q Participation will include 5 in-person assessments, including 4
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Q There is no cost for the treatment.
□ You will receive up to $395 for participating.
□ Call 705-542-8350 for more information.
JUKE 6,2012-FUGPOLE.COM 13