SATURDAY JUL 28, 2018
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."
YOU
The new project from Gavin and Brian Caffrey Perez-Canto is a return to basics for the brothers. When they first started playing music, Brian played guitar because Gavin wanted to play drums, and YOU is a return to the familial formula, with each displaying their love for various forms of punk, classic emo, and indie rock while Brian’s jagged guitars and Gavin’s voice compete for primacy.
By Gavin’s count the brothers have been in four bands together, and YOU is in part an effort to stay connected even as he prepares to move to Philly at the end of the month. The seven diverse tracks off Yuh seem designed to catch the listener off guard as the brothers demonstrate their disparate songwriting, as well as a collaborative ease which comes with time and familiarity.
From his emotional drumming in Places to Hide to his agitated vocal stylings in Fishmonger, Gavin has demonstrated a variety of talents, most notably an ability to distill pro-labor, anti-cop, and anti-capitalist rhetoric into razor-sharp punk while fronting Fishmonger. Both his drumming and vocals are more varied on Yuh, but even though the music is more wide-ranging, Gavin still intones with relentless focus and energy. His social activism and push for systemic change within Atlanta and the country as a whole is key to his songwriting, but he engages with these topics with a frankness that is more exhilarating than academic.
On Yuh, Gavin is able to focus his thoughts into snippets of emotion that take the form of blurted musings and flashes of contemplation. Though the EP is fairly short, he covers a wide variety of topics, from metaphysical problems like the nature of the mind, to social ills like gentrification, to more humdrum matters like bad landlords and being broke. Each theme is distilled into its most basic elements, whether that be fear, joy, anger, or despondence, and nowhere is that more evident than in the unshackled rager, “Cops.” This isn’t the first track that he’s has addressed the police state in America, but it’s the most primal and instinctual. He relishes in his id with repeated lines of “I hate every cop, more and more every day,” and it’s a satisfying whirlwind of energy that tapers into the weary, deconstructed math rock of “Changes.” From there he dives into the details on “Happy,” an undercover almond milk commercial that serves as the emotional plateau of the album and the jumping off point for his perspectives on deeper matters.
Throughout the album, Brian’s meticulous guitar work acts as a foil to Gavin’s reflexive vocals, and even the heaviest bits course with an agility inherent to methodical songwriting. His detailed riffs also match a deep concern with the final product. He does, after all, run Studio 168 where the album was recorded and founded the Athens’ tape label Star Rats Records, which is releasing the album.
Gavin teamed up with Deborah Hudson of Art School Jocks for vocals on “Mind” and “New,” but Hudson’s production of “New” is the record’s crowning achievement. The minimal synth lines combined with Gavin’s detached vocals deftly communicates the reality of fading lives and identities in gentrifying neighborhoods. It’s hard to know whether the shift in sound is a one-off for the brothers, whose true love remains punk music, yet it’s further evidence that even with so many projects under their belt, neither shows signs of stagnation.
The new project from Gavin and Brian Caffrey Perez-Canto is a return to basics for the brothers. When they first started playing music, Brian played guitar because Gavin wanted to play drums, and YOU is a return to the familial formula, with each displaying their love for various forms of punk, classic emo, and indie rock while Brian’s jagged guitars and Gavin’s voice compete for primacy.
By Gavin’s count the brothers have been in four bands together, and YOU is in part an effort to stay connected even as he prepares to move to Philly at the end of the month. The seven diverse tracks off Yuh seem designed to catch the listener off guard as the brothers demonstrate their disparate songwriting, as well as a collaborative ease which comes with time and familiarity.
From his emotional drumming in Places to Hide to his agitated vocal stylings in Fishmonger, Gavin has demonstrated a variety of talents, most notably an ability to distill pro-labor, anti-cop, and anti-capitalist rhetoric into razor-sharp punk while fronting Fishmonger. Both his drumming and vocals are more varied on Yuh, but even though the music is more wide-ranging, Gavin still intones with relentless focus and energy. His social activism and push for systemic change within Atlanta and the country as a whole is key to his songwriting, but he engages with these topics with a frankness that is more exhilarating than academic.
On Yuh, Gavin is able to focus his thoughts into snippets of emotion that take the form of blurted musings and flashes of contemplation. Though the EP is fairly short, he covers a wide variety of topics, from metaphysical problems like the nature of the mind, to social ills like gentrification, to more humdrum matters like bad landlords and being broke. Each theme is distilled into its most basic elements, whether that be fear, joy, anger, or despondence, and nowhere is that more evident than in the unshackled rager, “Cops.” This isn’t the first track that he’s has addressed the police state in America, but it’s the most primal and instinctual. He relishes in his id with repeated lines of “I hate every cop, more and more every day,” and it’s a satisfying whirlwind of energy that tapers into the weary, deconstructed math rock of “Changes.” From there he dives into the details on “Happy,” an undercover almond milk commercial that serves as the emotional plateau of the album and the jumping off point for his perspectives on deeper matters.
Throughout the album, Brian’s meticulous guitar work acts as a foil to Gavin’s reflexive vocals, and even the heaviest bits course with an agility inherent to methodical songwriting. His detailed riffs also match a deep concern with the final product. He does, after all, run Studio 168 where the album was recorded and founded the Athens’ tape label Star Rats Records, which is releasing the album.
Gavin teamed up with Deborah Hudson of Art School Jocks for vocals on “Mind” and “New,” but Hudson’s production of “New” is the record’s crowning achievement. The minimal synth lines combined with Gavin’s detached vocals deftly communicates the reality of fading lives and identities in gentrifying neighborhoods. It’s hard to know whether the shift in sound is a one-off for the brothers, whose true love remains punk music, yet it’s further evidence that even with so many projects under their belt, neither shows signs of stagnation.
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
Blessingxx
In Blessingxx, Saul Shin Hudson uses song-writing to uncover the winking and silvery web of poetry ever-suspended amongst the people, events, and actions of their life. Blessingxx is life recited with love for queerness and color and restorative justice and desire, ritual, and consent. Blessingxx attempts to unite the lyrical preoccupation of artists the likes of Bill Withers, Bruce Springsteen, and Liz Phair with the liveliness and catharsis of pop acts like Grimes, SZA, Kali Uchis, Solange, and Madonna.
In Blessingxx, Saul Shin Hudson uses song-writing to uncover the winking and silvery web of poetry ever-suspended amongst the people, events, and actions of their life. Blessingxx is life recited with love for queerness and color and restorative justice and desire, ritual, and consent. Blessingxx attempts to unite the lyrical preoccupation of artists the likes of Bill Withers, Bruce Springsteen, and Liz Phair with the liveliness and catharsis of pop acts like Grimes, SZA, Kali Uchis, Solange, and Madonna.