FRIDAY JUL 20, 2018
529 Presents:
IRRELEVANT MUSIC FESTIVAL 2018:
Pylon Reenactment Society
PC Worship
Solar Flower | Night Cleaner | Yukons | Rated Age | Blammo | Rug | + Free After-Party w/ DJ Mannequin Lover!
Pylon Reenactment Society
"When people talk about the beginnings of the music scene in Athens, GA the discussion usually begins “The B-52’s, R.E.M., ….” Those who know will continue the list, “Pylon.” They were every Athens band’s favorite Athens band. Their musical naïveté, southern upbringing, art school smarts, and house-party roots exploded together to create something quite improbably amazing, hitting the listener on mental, physical, and spiritual levels simultaneously. On the surface, their angular guitar parts and propulsive rhythm section had something in common with UK post-punk bands like Gang of Four and PiL. But Pylon was more fun and less studied. And they had a secret weapon in Vanessa Briscoe Hay, whose inimitable vocal textures and phrasing defined the band’s sound for most listeners.
Pylon’s celebrated history came to a sudden end with the death of iconic guitarist Randy Bewley in 2009. Pylon was and always will be Vanessa, Randy, Michael, and Curtis. It is a certainty that the band will not reform with a new guitarist. But hey, kids. Everything is still cool! Vanessa has gathered members of Athens bands Casper & the Cookies, The Glands, and world renowned pianist Damon Denton to create Pylon Reenactment Society. Is it a cover band if Vanessa is singing? Technically, it’s the next best thing. PRS are here to have fun and perform in the spirit of Pylon. Don’t be discouraged! Let’s dance!"
"When people talk about the beginnings of the music scene in Athens, GA the discussion usually begins “The B-52’s, R.E.M., ….” Those who know will continue the list, “Pylon.” They were every Athens band’s favorite Athens band. Their musical naïveté, southern upbringing, art school smarts, and house-party roots exploded together to create something quite improbably amazing, hitting the listener on mental, physical, and spiritual levels simultaneously. On the surface, their angular guitar parts and propulsive rhythm section had something in common with UK post-punk bands like Gang of Four and PiL. But Pylon was more fun and less studied. And they had a secret weapon in Vanessa Briscoe Hay, whose inimitable vocal textures and phrasing defined the band’s sound for most listeners.
Pylon’s celebrated history came to a sudden end with the death of iconic guitarist Randy Bewley in 2009. Pylon was and always will be Vanessa, Randy, Michael, and Curtis. It is a certainty that the band will not reform with a new guitarist. But hey, kids. Everything is still cool! Vanessa has gathered members of Athens bands Casper & the Cookies, The Glands, and world renowned pianist Damon Denton to create Pylon Reenactment Society. Is it a cover band if Vanessa is singing? Technically, it’s the next best thing. PRS are here to have fun and perform in the spirit of Pylon. Don’t be discouraged! Let’s dance!"
PC Worship
PC Worship's new LP Buried Wish is an off-kilter journey through hook-laden alternative rock, experimental tape manipulation, downer punk riffs and long form improv-based psychedelic instrumentals. As the album weaves through the damaged re appropriation of objectionable sounds, it seeks to explore a contrast between the traditional rock band format + instrumentation with outsider experimentalism by exploring new ideas related to composition and unconventional (often homemade) instrumentation. Buried Wish further embodies PC Worship's dedication to categorical ambiguity as it opens with a prelude written for a horn quartet + tape loops and ends with a pseudo-americana, sludge folk song, while throughout the album, continues the familiar PC aesthetic of unfiltered, subconscious inspiration, fueled by dystopian lyrics, eternal guitar solos and vamped out sonic exploration. Buried Wish was written and recorded by Justin Frye in the basement of a condemned building throughout 2016 in Bushwick, which flooded half way through the process. It was sourced from drawn out solo tracking, upright bass experiments, large ensemble improv sessions and random input from various collaborators over the past year, with contributions from Michael Etten, Jessica Papitto, Shannon Sigley, Mario Maggio, Jordan Bernstein, Pat Spadine, Greg Fox, Marilu Donovan, Kassie Carlson and Adam "Junkyard" Markiewicz, among others.
PC Worship's new LP Buried Wish is an off-kilter journey through hook-laden alternative rock, experimental tape manipulation, downer punk riffs and long form improv-based psychedelic instrumentals. As the album weaves through the damaged re appropriation of objectionable sounds, it seeks to explore a contrast between the traditional rock band format + instrumentation with outsider experimentalism by exploring new ideas related to composition and unconventional (often homemade) instrumentation. Buried Wish further embodies PC Worship's dedication to categorical ambiguity as it opens with a prelude written for a horn quartet + tape loops and ends with a pseudo-americana, sludge folk song, while throughout the album, continues the familiar PC aesthetic of unfiltered, subconscious inspiration, fueled by dystopian lyrics, eternal guitar solos and vamped out sonic exploration. Buried Wish was written and recorded by Justin Frye in the basement of a condemned building throughout 2016 in Bushwick, which flooded half way through the process. It was sourced from drawn out solo tracking, upright bass experiments, large ensemble improv sessions and random input from various collaborators over the past year, with contributions from Michael Etten, Jessica Papitto, Shannon Sigley, Mario Maggio, Jordan Bernstein, Pat Spadine, Greg Fox, Marilu Donovan, Kassie Carlson and Adam "Junkyard" Markiewicz, among others.
Solar Flower
"The contemplative riffing of Solar Flower’s debut LP illuminates the kaleidoscopic possibilities of heavy music while reframing a love of psychedelia within an authentic context. Despite the ripping guitars, these songs aren’t prosaic rock and roll tales, but neither are they fantastical myths that eschew reality for sci-fi epics or wandering wizards. Instead, Solar Flower pull from the simple wonder of existence to write songs brimming with the essence of life.
Somehow it’s been 10 years since Ty Segall released his first LP, and though the sonic comparisons are apt, to simply file away You Are on a shelf with a slew of heavy psych records would be to miss the point. Solar Flower’s inspiration is less a fetishization of a musical era, and more of a kindredship with the spiritual ideals of the ‘60s. The album is more about community than cavorting, and even though there’s an obvious appreciation for hippie ambitions, the band’s interpretation of them is richer, integrating a love of nature with Eastern philosophy and never reducing any encounters with awakening to simple catchphrases.
While the group began as an excuse for Dorothy Stucki, Sidrah Mahmood, and Rob Sarabia (Dasher, Mutual Jerk) to jam in the hallway of a storage unit, when they added Bo Orr (Arbor Labor Union) to flesh out guitar textures, Solar Flower took on the form found on You Are. Although Orr and Sarabia were more musically experienced than Stucki and Mahmood, it was important to the band that the songwriting was a collaborative, learning experience in which each member contributed equally. Nowhere is this unity of purpose more discernible than on the record’s vocal mix. Instead of relying on any form of lead vocals, the four voices combine to form a single organism which crescendos and decays with an angelic drone.
Beyond confirming the importance of nature and spirituality to humanity’s existence, the band didn’t elaborate much when I inquired about the intersection between the topics and themes found on the record. The open-ended nature of the group’s response mirrors the magic of the album—ritual without dogma, an interpretive journey which allows the listener to overlay the band’s wisdom over their own spiritual experiences. Each track exhibits this freedom in a unique manner, but perhaps the best example is the album’s closer, “Forms,” which reframes the religious language of rebirth and changing form in the context of a musical experience, specifically dancing. Though the track opens with a fuzzed-out thrown down, it soon coagulates into a harmonic chant which allows for pensive retreat into the listener’s own mind even as our bodies are drawn into the song’s communal rhythm.
Whether the foursome are jamming on a classic garage beat or channeling the circular rhythms of Anatolian rock, the instrumentation on You Are is difficult to separate from the lyrics in part because the chorus of voices so deftly elevate the melodies. The guitar squall veers into Sabbath territory on “Sonic Bloom,” but even at its most vociferous, the riffs are rich and and enthralling as opposed to the dull bludgeon common to many psych revival records. Despite the occasional forays into proto-metal and the band’s desire that the listener feel blissed out, after the album is returned to its sleeve, don’t confuse You Are with a turquoise-studded invitation to hop in the van and zone out. Instead, it’s a thoughtful exhortation to lay down on the forest floor, feel the rhythm of the earth, and embrace the community around you—a message perhaps more prescient in 2019 than it was in the ‘60s." - Russell Rockwell / Immersive Atlanta
"The contemplative riffing of Solar Flower’s debut LP illuminates the kaleidoscopic possibilities of heavy music while reframing a love of psychedelia within an authentic context. Despite the ripping guitars, these songs aren’t prosaic rock and roll tales, but neither are they fantastical myths that eschew reality for sci-fi epics or wandering wizards. Instead, Solar Flower pull from the simple wonder of existence to write songs brimming with the essence of life.
Somehow it’s been 10 years since Ty Segall released his first LP, and though the sonic comparisons are apt, to simply file away You Are on a shelf with a slew of heavy psych records would be to miss the point. Solar Flower’s inspiration is less a fetishization of a musical era, and more of a kindredship with the spiritual ideals of the ‘60s. The album is more about community than cavorting, and even though there’s an obvious appreciation for hippie ambitions, the band’s interpretation of them is richer, integrating a love of nature with Eastern philosophy and never reducing any encounters with awakening to simple catchphrases.
While the group began as an excuse for Dorothy Stucki, Sidrah Mahmood, and Rob Sarabia (Dasher, Mutual Jerk) to jam in the hallway of a storage unit, when they added Bo Orr (Arbor Labor Union) to flesh out guitar textures, Solar Flower took on the form found on You Are. Although Orr and Sarabia were more musically experienced than Stucki and Mahmood, it was important to the band that the songwriting was a collaborative, learning experience in which each member contributed equally. Nowhere is this unity of purpose more discernible than on the record’s vocal mix. Instead of relying on any form of lead vocals, the four voices combine to form a single organism which crescendos and decays with an angelic drone.
Beyond confirming the importance of nature and spirituality to humanity’s existence, the band didn’t elaborate much when I inquired about the intersection between the topics and themes found on the record. The open-ended nature of the group’s response mirrors the magic of the album—ritual without dogma, an interpretive journey which allows the listener to overlay the band’s wisdom over their own spiritual experiences. Each track exhibits this freedom in a unique manner, but perhaps the best example is the album’s closer, “Forms,” which reframes the religious language of rebirth and changing form in the context of a musical experience, specifically dancing. Though the track opens with a fuzzed-out thrown down, it soon coagulates into a harmonic chant which allows for pensive retreat into the listener’s own mind even as our bodies are drawn into the song’s communal rhythm.
Whether the foursome are jamming on a classic garage beat or channeling the circular rhythms of Anatolian rock, the instrumentation on You Are is difficult to separate from the lyrics in part because the chorus of voices so deftly elevate the melodies. The guitar squall veers into Sabbath territory on “Sonic Bloom,” but even at its most vociferous, the riffs are rich and and enthralling as opposed to the dull bludgeon common to many psych revival records. Despite the occasional forays into proto-metal and the band’s desire that the listener feel blissed out, after the album is returned to its sleeve, don’t confuse You Are with a turquoise-studded invitation to hop in the van and zone out. Instead, it’s a thoughtful exhortation to lay down on the forest floor, feel the rhythm of the earth, and embrace the community around you—a message perhaps more prescient in 2019 than it was in the ‘60s." - Russell Rockwell / Immersive Atlanta
Night Cleaner
Yukons
"Comprised of Danielle Dollar on drums, Hannah Lenkey on bass, and José Joaquín Izaguirre on guitar and vocals, Yukons have been lurking in the shadows of the Atlanta DIY scene, cutting their teeth, like so many bands before them, on a steady diet of supporting gigs and house show performances. Their 2016 debut cassette, Ice cream / Death, revealed a group capable of corralling various elements of ‘90s college rock, punk, emo, and shoegaze, and shaping them into taut, emotive songs full of cathartic hooks and a kind of ominous energy. Even their most pop-friendly tracks couldn’t keep an aura of darkness and angst from bleeding through, which is just fine with the Latinx, predominantly female and queer trio, who have taken to calling their sound Latinx Expression rock. “I live in a country that’s disgraced Latinx people,” says Izaguirre. “As a Latinx individual, I feel it’s important to create and speak up right now. People give dirty looks when they hear my Spanish in public now. Half the songs on the summer album will be in Spanish. That’s what Latinx Expression means.” With “Clockwerk,” the lead single from the band’s upcoming first full length, Yukons are looking to step out from the shadows and into the light. Like most of their tracks, it toys with traditional classic rock tropes—guitar-heavy song structures; the brooding, mysterious frontman—before subverting them with a series of off-kilter rhythms and compositional left turns. Listen close and you’ll start to make out the origins of the trio’s compelling template—a bit of Pixies’ manic accessibility, a dab of Slint’s corrosive crunch, a touch of Sleater-Kinney’s jagged urgency. It’s not a new sound by a long shot, but the band plays with eager confidence and an underlying sense of deep anxiety tempered by clear-eyed cool. Life on the margins can be hostile and dangerous, but “Clockwerk” shows it can be plenty powerful, too."
"Comprised of Danielle Dollar on drums, Hannah Lenkey on bass, and José Joaquín Izaguirre on guitar and vocals, Yukons have been lurking in the shadows of the Atlanta DIY scene, cutting their teeth, like so many bands before them, on a steady diet of supporting gigs and house show performances. Their 2016 debut cassette, Ice cream / Death, revealed a group capable of corralling various elements of ‘90s college rock, punk, emo, and shoegaze, and shaping them into taut, emotive songs full of cathartic hooks and a kind of ominous energy. Even their most pop-friendly tracks couldn’t keep an aura of darkness and angst from bleeding through, which is just fine with the Latinx, predominantly female and queer trio, who have taken to calling their sound Latinx Expression rock. “I live in a country that’s disgraced Latinx people,” says Izaguirre. “As a Latinx individual, I feel it’s important to create and speak up right now. People give dirty looks when they hear my Spanish in public now. Half the songs on the summer album will be in Spanish. That’s what Latinx Expression means.” With “Clockwerk,” the lead single from the band’s upcoming first full length, Yukons are looking to step out from the shadows and into the light. Like most of their tracks, it toys with traditional classic rock tropes—guitar-heavy song structures; the brooding, mysterious frontman—before subverting them with a series of off-kilter rhythms and compositional left turns. Listen close and you’ll start to make out the origins of the trio’s compelling template—a bit of Pixies’ manic accessibility, a dab of Slint’s corrosive crunch, a touch of Sleater-Kinney’s jagged urgency. It’s not a new sound by a long shot, but the band plays with eager confidence and an underlying sense of deep anxiety tempered by clear-eyed cool. Life on the margins can be hostile and dangerous, but “Clockwerk” shows it can be plenty powerful, too."
Blammo
"Blammo began as a simple idea between friends hanging outside a Lumpy show. With a mutual love for cool contemporaries like Palberta and Grass Widow, members Sarah (bass+vox), Mariam (drums) and Tyler (guitarist, also frontperson of Mutual Jerk) solidified themselves as “a real band” after stuffy neighbors complained and they acquired a practice space. “It is a hat trick: a Repo Man reference, a Ren and Stimpy reference (it's Log!), and a reference to a zine,” Mariam says of their name. “A Slacker reference too!”, Tyler includes. Sarah describes the band as “bass-driven slacker booty-punk with hyena vocals”, but everyone agrees their influences heavily lean on lady-fronted post-punk of the past such as Delta 5, Kleenex, Suburban Lawns, and The Slits. Having played two shows thus far and with plans to play lots of rad shows with friends, make new songs and demos, and be revivalist P.U.N.K. badasses (while Mariam finishes up their PhD!), Blammo are predicted to be the DIY darlings the ATL music scene definitely needs." -Wussy
"Blammo began as a simple idea between friends hanging outside a Lumpy show. With a mutual love for cool contemporaries like Palberta and Grass Widow, members Sarah (bass+vox), Mariam (drums) and Tyler (guitarist, also frontperson of Mutual Jerk) solidified themselves as “a real band” after stuffy neighbors complained and they acquired a practice space. “It is a hat trick: a Repo Man reference, a Ren and Stimpy reference (it's Log!), and a reference to a zine,” Mariam says of their name. “A Slacker reference too!”, Tyler includes. Sarah describes the band as “bass-driven slacker booty-punk with hyena vocals”, but everyone agrees their influences heavily lean on lady-fronted post-punk of the past such as Delta 5, Kleenex, Suburban Lawns, and The Slits. Having played two shows thus far and with plans to play lots of rad shows with friends, make new songs and demos, and be revivalist P.U.N.K. badasses (while Mariam finishes up their PhD!), Blammo are predicted to be the DIY darlings the ATL music scene definitely needs." -Wussy