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threats & promises
Russ Hallauer Releases New Album
PLUS, MORE MUSIC NEWS AND GOSSIP
By Gordon Lamb threatsandpromises@flagpole.com
FOUNDING FATHER: Russ Hallauer (Sunbrain, The Lures)
released his third solo album this week and it’s named
Suspect Wings. He enlisted some heavy hitters for his band
on this one including William Tonks, Rob Keller, Adam
Poulin, John Evans and his daughter, Keira Hallauer, who
also did the album’s artwork. It’s available digitally and on
180-gram vinyl. Hallauer’s music has long reminded me
of Basement Tapes-era Bob Dylan, and this new record is
no different. It’s much cleaner in both recording quality
and execution than that raw document, but the spirit and
vibe is always quite similar. On another note, Hallauer is a
decades-long undersung hero of the Athens music scene via
his Ghostmeat Records label. He first started releasing com
pilations in the early 1990s, then full length albums by art
ists, had a huge hand in the
development of the 1996
CD version of the Flagpole
Christmas album (and
maybe more; I can’t remem
ber!) and the AthFest com
pilations. This newest solo
album of his is also courtesy
of Ghostmeat Records, so
check it out at russhallauer.
bandcamp.com. Do your
self a favor and read the
whole Ghostmeat story
over at ghostmeat.com and
let your mind be blown by
how many artists you know
today that he worked with
in their infancy.
PRESS THE EJECT AND GIVE ME
THE TAPE: It’s been just over a
year since I mentioned any
thing about J Anderssen,
who makes music and art
under the name Ihlyatt.
Anyway, they dropped a
new album this past week
and named it Whose Roots
are Stars in the Human Mind, Russ Hallauer
and it runs five tracks long.
This record keeps very close to the theme of 2019’s Fetch,
which is to say, its melodies are buried deeply behind sheets
of noise, static, scrapes and other audial obscurantism.
None of that should be taken as criticism though, because
given the chance, this album is emotionally powerful, even
if one takes the inward-dream approach of using it for med
itation. If employed as a soundtrack to daily life, it casts
wide shadows across even the sunniest of days, and oddly
inserts pangs of unheralded nostalgia at specific moments.
To wit, the nearly inaudible vocal sample in the final min
ute of the 10-minute-long
“Untitled.” Your mileage will
undoubtedly vary, but go
ahead and step on the gas
at ihlyatt.bandcamp.com
anyway.
dancehall songs with “Queen Seeva” being a full on pop
tune. The second two, sung by King, are in his tell-tale tra
ditional reggae style, and he really gives his best on these.
Dig it at echobassrecords.bandcamp.com.
THEY HAVE RISEN: Chances are really good you’ve not been hit
up to donate to a Kickstarter campaign for quite a while.
Here to redress this grievance is Easter Island. The group
just launched a new fundraising campaign for its second
full-length album which has been six years in the mak
ing. So far, the band has worked at five different studios
across Athens, Atlanta and Denver. Member Ethan Payne
made note to tell me, though, that drums were recorded
at Mike Albanese’s studio and the album was mastered by
Joel Hatstat. The goal is a rather ambitious $12,000, and
as always, there are several tiers of pledges available. The
URL for the campaign, as is Kickstarter’s wont, is pretty
unwieldy, so please just head
to Kickstarter.com and
search for Easter Island,
or head to facebook.
com/easterisland
band to find all rel
evant info there. ©
radio report
WUOG 90.5 FM’s 10 Most-Played Recordings
Feb. 26-Mar. 3
SANIBONANI Y’ALL: On his
newest album, prodigious
producer of all things Razzi
King is joined by South
African vocalist Queen
Seeva. The four song excur
sion is named South Africa
to the West Indies and the
liner notes cheekily declare
“International for tha peo
ple!” The first two tracks
are pretty much modern
1. Of Montreal UR FUN (Polyvinyl)*
2. Needle Teeth Expiration Date EP (Self-Released)*
3. Caroline Rose Superstar (New West)
4. Glass Beach The First Glass Beach Album (Run For Cover)
5. Waax Big Grief (Dew Process)
6. Corridor Junior (Bonsound/Sub Pop)
7. Allah Las LAHS (Mexican Summer)
8. Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band Nightmare Forever (Castle Face)
9. Kelly Hoppenjans OK / Feel Better Now (Self-Released)
10. Georgia Seeking Thrills (Domino)
* local release ■ Get the latest WUOG news, including the live in the lobby schedule, at wuog.org.
10 FLAGPOLE.COM | MARCH 11, 2020