Local:Atlanta :: Paste

Live Review: Mike Geier's Kingsized Elvis Memorial Spectacular @ Variety Playhouse 8/16/08

By Kristen Shaw, photos by Chad McFarlin on 11:00 AM on August 25, 2008

Mike Geier and his Kingsized Orchestra, along with the Dames Aflame burlesque dancers and El Vez (the Mexican Elvis), put on a show that kept the audience laughing and dancing at every minute-- a fitting tribute to the King on the thirty-first anniversary of his death.... read more

Deerhunter adds tour dates, Microcastle to iTunes

By Chelsea Hicks on 2:26 PM on August 22, 2008

Poor Bradford Cox. All he wanted to do was give away some free music, as he often does via his blog, and what happens? The "Virtual 7" No.4" he intended to pass along to fans somehow morphed into the passage of his entire MediaFire account contents, including many unfinished demos and Weird Era Cont., what was supposed to be a surprise bonus disc included with the upcoming release of Microcastle.... read more

Live Review: Deerhunter @ Vacation Gallery 8/15/08

By Michael Saba, photos by Ken Lackner on 5:54 PM on August 21, 2008

"Where's the Lil Wayne iPod?" Bradford Cox demanded. After a botched attempt at micing someone's iPhone, an MP3 player was ferried in and "A Milli" blasted from the amplifiers. "I don't write shit, cause I ain't got time," Cox growled over Weezy's trademark flow before launching into "Calvary Scars," a track from Deerhunter's upcoming LP, Microcastle.The Deerhunter before us, wedged in a kitschy little DIY gallery in Virginia Highlands, was a different beast than the one manifested on its first two albums. If this (free) live performance was any indication, Microcastle is also a departure from the status quo, gravitating... read more

Live Review: Apache, Electric Shadows @ The Earl 8/16/08

By Eliot Johnson, photo by Danny Gold on 5:00 PM on August 21, 2008

For all the buzz surrounding Atlanta’s rock scene in the wake of the Black Lips and Deerhunter, out-of-town bands on ATLien labels have garnered comparatively little attention. So it was sans fanfare that San Francisco's Apache and New York City's Electric Shadows rocked The Earl on Saturday night in support of The Hiss.... read more

Atlanta Underground Film Festival kicks off

By Julia Reidy on 10:40 AM on August 21, 2008

The Fifth Annual Atlanta Underground Film Festival started last night and continues through Sunday, and will feature a wide variety of experimental, ground-breaking and generally out-of-the box films, from local shorts to documentary features (including Song Sung Blue, the story of a husband-and-wife Neil Diamond tribute duo), comedy, animation and more.... read more

Paste:Local launches in Atlanta

By Rachael Maddux on 7:00 AM on August 21, 2008

When Paste decided to expand our coverage of signs of life in music, film and culture to the local level in vibrant cities around the U.S. with a new initiative called Paste:Local... read more

Informer:Atlanta 8/19/08

By Julia Reidy on 4:36 PM on August 19, 2008

Welcome to Informer:Atlanta! Each Tuesday, we bring you the best in upcoming music, film and culture events in and around Atlanta. Think we missed something? Wanna tip us off to something cool over the horizon? Let us know! (Italics indicate an especially recommended event.)... read more

Catching Up With... Amy Ray

By Josh Jackson on 2:02 PM on August 19, 2008

Indigo Girl Amy Ray released her third solo studio album, Didn’t It Feel Kinder, on Aug. 5. Paste editor-in-chief Josh Jackson recently spoke with Ray about her songwriting, her experiences as a label head and the Indigo Girls’ first album as independent artists... read more

Live Photos: Fringe Binge @ Star Bar 8/1/08-8/2/08

By Jason Reed (photography) on 5:19 PM on August 18, 2008

[Above: Gentleman Jesse and His Men, 8/1/08]Atlanta's second annual Fringe Binge, a two-day punk festival, took place the first weekend in August at the Star Bar in Little Five Points.... read more

Bradford Cox accidentally leaks new Deerhunter, Atlas Sound material

By Julia Reidy, photo by Ken Lackner on 1:16 PM on August 18, 2008

[Above: Deerhunter performs at Atlanta's Vacation Gallery, 8/15]Bradford Cox's uncensored blog posts can be informative, whiny, excited, grateful, often apologetic, and frequently (very frequently) include free downloads of mix tapes, virtual 7" singles and individual tracks from one of his two main projects, Deerhunter and Atlas Sound. The site reads like stream of consciousness, letting every fan in on his every musical and emotional move.... read more

Gringo Star announces debut LP release, tours

By Julia Reidy, photo by Skylar Reeves on 11:30 AM on August 18, 2008

Without a doubt, Gringo Star was the most dramatic act at Atlanta's 2008 Corndogorama. When they overshot the end of their set time by more than 20 minutes, the sound technicians at the outdoor stage pulled the plug on all their equipment-- microphones, amps, P.A., lights, everything. The fit that followed seemed justified to the enthralled audience: It was an unfairly premature end to one of the most enjoyable sets of the weekend, but it certainly was a spectacle.... read more

Deerhunter to complicate your Friday night plans

By Rachael Maddux; photo by Stephen Lindley on 5:11 PM on August 15, 2008

[Above: Deerhunter perform at the Variety Playhouse, 11/30/2007]You were probably going to lay low tonight, watching (or, uh, re-watching) NBC's re-broadcast of last night's women's gymnastics all-around competition (go Nastia!). That's fine, but if you're searching for a less depressing option than comparing your own utter inathleticism to that of "16"-year-old Chinese girls, allow us to suggest Deerhunter's free show at Vacation Gallery & Boutique. It starts at 7 PM at 674A N. Highland Avenue (right next to San Francisco Coffee, the band says) and costs nothing but a few ounces of your hard-earned sweat. And if you just can't... read more

Live Review: Thee Crucials, Can Can @ The Earl 7/31/08

By Julia Reidy; photos by Ken Lackner on 6:00 PM on August 13, 2008

[Photos: Can Can's singer and guitarist in front of their floodlights.]On the way to the Earl on the night of the 31st, the creepy musical swells provided by Album 88's ambient show eerily coincided with the branching lightning bolts shooting, forking across the clouds above East Atlanta. Inside the venue, the pre-show scene was similar: The low lighting in the Earl's back room revealed a glowing red on the walls and a muffled flurry of browns and grays everywhere else. People traversed the wide floor, ambling back and forth like so many slowed down flashes of electricity in the sky... read more

Live Review: Judi Chicago, Noot d' Noot @ Lenny's 7/26/08

By Julia Reidy; photos by Jason Reed on 1:00 PM on August 13, 2008

I should've known something was up when people started driving the wrong way in the emergency lanes up GA-400 South. When I finally saw the truly epic traffic jam that awaited me and thousands of my fellow Saturday night revelers on the Connector, I assumed I was having an unlucky night. I was both right and wrong.An hour and a half later (on a drive that usually takes 15 minutes), I reached Lenny's Bar to attend an edition of Judi Chicago and Noot d' Noot's summertime monthly collaboration they're calling Worming the Starhole (whatever that means). After fretting for an... read more

Live Review: She & Him @ Variety Playhouse 7/29/08

By Julia Reidy; photos by Ashley Melzer on 2:00 PM on August 12, 2008

After folk opener Freakwater, as a celebrity-induced tension fell over the unnaturally hushed Variety Playhouse crowd waiting for M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel to take the stage, my skepticism abounded. I wondered whether all these people were excited about the music they were about to hear, or were they just waiting to see a movie star? I wondered if the music would hold up to "vanity project" scrutiny. (I enjoyed She & Him's recent debut, Volume One, but wasn't floored by it.) I wondered if She & Him performances were as awkward as they'd been rumored to be. I wondered... read more

Artist of the Week: Gentleman Jesse

By Henry Freedland on 5:58 PM on August 10, 2008

Crafting a lyrical hook to stimulate crowd participation is feat enough for most musicians, but Atlanta power-pop maestro “Gentleman” Jesse Smith extends his art to guitar solos. “My rule is that you should be able to sing them,” he says. “That's why I don't like Jimmy Page..." read more

Bradford Cox announces new Atlas Sound album, Logos

By Austin L. Ray on 10:44 AM on August 8, 2008

Bradford Cox sure writes some fun blog posts. We've said it before and we'll very likely say it again as long as he keeps updating, but it's unlikely that dude was bad at sharing as a child. And as long as he keeps making music, he'll eventually steal the Golden Belt of Prolificacy away from Robert Pollard, Ryan Adams or whomever else is flaunting it these days.... read more