Mary Magdalan at the Drunken Unicorn on Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
"For all that Los Angeles has a reputation for being a bastion of mainstream conformity, it's also always had a darker side. Over the years L.A. has produced groundbreaking alternative bands like Jane's Addiction or X. Mary Magdalan is the latest band to chronicle the seedy underbelly of the city. Mary Magdalan is a female singer backed by co-writer Gzus H. and other musicians and this is their first release (being sold through their My Space page).
Mary is the daughter of 2 heroin addicts and was herself a drug addict for many years before getting clean and finding solace in music. And Pity Girl does undoubtedly reflect that experience with all its attendant anger and fucked-up sadness. I often have trouble marrying up celebrity drug addicts with the music they produce as it simply doesn't seem to be an accurate reflection of their life and feelings. However, Mary and her band have done an excellent job in capturing the intense emotional experience of drug addiction. She has an amazingly strong voice, screaming with raw emotion and raging against her situation. Sometimes her vocal delivery is so fast and accurate that it has more of a rap influence. But she is always backed by some really strong metal --- furious drumming and powerful guitar riffs that create an almost overwhelming wall of sound. They've also managed to produce some really catchy songs in the likes of Rehab and I Should Kill You." - Pussy Rock Fanzine
Recently featured on MTV’s The Jersey Shore,VH1’s Beverly Hills Fabulous and VH1’s Mob Wives. Eryn Woods is a 21 year old Louisiana native out to redefine the image of the “pop princess.” The black swan of the bubble gum world, Eryn has been touring the nation and rallying her “kupcake” army in an effort to change the status quo. “Everything isn’t glitter and glam, even with all the fame,” notes Woods. “It’s about finding yourself and maturing, and owning the blood, sweat, and tears, it takes to get there.”
Eryn’s career gained momentum in 2005 after reaching the semi-finals of Gospel Dream, a nationally televised solo vocal competition, where she caught the eye of Grammy nominated singer Kelly Price. Her musical pedigree includes five years of vocal training and over 12 years of combined musical study.
“Hollywood” conjures up the images of “making it,” and this is at the core of Holl.E.Woods. The entire album is centered around the dichotomy of what the general public deems as “normal” and what is “real,” and celebrates the individuality of people.
Cass McCombsBand with lights by Jake & Mollie will be performing at the Drunken Unicorn on Tuesday, July 12th, 2011.
"Singer-songwriter Cass McCombs named his fifth album WIT'S END, not WITS' END. The distinction is slight, but telling. Because "wits" usually refers to an overall sense of sanity while "wit" is more commonly associated with one's cleverness or humor. And this record does not mark the end of McCombs' good judgment. Quite the contrary. However, it is not funny or quick or especially nimble-minded. Over the course of his previous four albums, McCombs fashioned himself an enigmatic vagabond in the classic Dylan mold, yet it wasn't until 2009's Catacombs that his enigma started to feel more like a complement than a crutch. While he may have let his wit get the better of him before through knowingly obtuse lyrics and showy arrangements, WIT'S END fittingly leaves those days behind. This is a gorgeous album of despair, the most believable evidence yet that McCombs is living up to his own legend.
Catacombs had McCombs stripping away the instrumentation he had built up around his songs, ending with a bare naturalism that suited him well. And WIT'S END goes even further, its empty spaces and deliberate tempos matching the album's immense loneliness. To get an idea of how desolate, exactly, consider that opening track "County Line"-- an inching ballad about severe unrequited love with its own frighteningly real, syringe-filled junkie video-- is the jauntiest thing here. Catacombs highlight "You Saved My Life" saw McCombs voicing startling sincere and direct affection; if someone played it at a wedding, grandparents might not blink. The direness of WIT'S END suggests the California-born singer may need some more saving; if someone played these songs at a funeral, sons and daughters would bow their heads solemnly.
So yeah, this record is a downer. But there's rare beauty in such darkness, too-- just look at forebears like Leonard Cohen, Elliott Smith, and Nick Drake. Or even Edgar Allan Poe. Because, along with its mopiness, WIT'S END is creepy as hell. Its gothic eeriness embodies not Poe's famous tales as much as his more ethereal and lovelorn poems. In the author's 1827 verse "Spirits of the Dead", he characterizes the titular ghosts as comforting-- "a mystery of mysteries!" And that same infatuation with wispy denouements is all over WIT'S END, but much like Poe's spirits, McCombs' songs bring life to their withering characters over and over again.
Take the seven-and-a-half-minute elegy "Memory's Stain", in which a shared thrift-store sweater leads to ruminations on the unwashable blots that reside in our subconscious only to pop up without warning. "Boozing is the highest aim when spittle won't get out Memory's stain," he sings, before a breathy bass clarinet takes over for the back half, its unique low tones planting many new memories of its own. And closer "A Knock Upon the Door" tells what could be a centuries-old tale of the tumultuous relationship between a minstrel and his creative muse. The song's repetitive verse-upon-verse structure stretches out to nearly ten minutes, but more oddball sounds-- the baroque, recorder-like chalumeau, a metallic dink in place of a snare drum, and the ominous door tap itself-- keep things intriguingly askew. "The Lonely Doll", meanwhile, holds its story of a drunken louse and weeping woman aloft over a pillow-y Hammond B3 and brushed drums, the woozy lilt a convincing callback to Leonard Cohen's 1967 debut LP.
In a handwritten note to Stereogum, McCombs recently wrote, "I know people get lonely because I do, so that's what I end up writing songs about, how you get lonely sometimes and come up with these big ideas that give you meaning for a second but then leave you like everything else leaves you." The statement is economical and accurate, if overly modest. Because while there are lots of musicians trading in loneliness out there, most of them often veer into a self-pity that can leave listeners even more far gone. But the intangibility of WIT'S END makes it a more realistic and reliable companion, its elusive secrets offering a queer comfort. At the start of his first album, A, Cass McCombs posed the question, "Is it dying that terrifies you, or just being dead?" On WIT'S END, he's come up with an answer; on "Buried Alive" he sings, "If I'm alive or dead I don't really care, as long as my Soul's intact." He's got soul to spare." - Ryan Dombal, April 22, 2011 / Pitchfork
Swarming guitar fuzz, bass waves, insistent drum throbs and Jana Hunter’s redolent, charred voice are the core components of Baltimore’s Lower Dens. Hunter, sometimes known for intimate, ghostheavy weird-fi, now writes and plays with a group that might get filed under new wave, or drone pop, or post-punk. With due deference to her solo work, we’re very glad.
The band’s debut full-length record, Twin-Hand Movement, is eleven perfect songs long. From opener “Blue & Silver” (anxiety mounts at a quick clip until the final climactic release) to “Plastic & Powder” (a churning, narcotic slow-burner) to “Hospice Gates” (penultimate album cut, proud weirdo anthem, possible creative zenith), not one is a space-waster. They’re rife with the survivalist paranoia one expects from residents of a post-urban port hole (and this particular songwriter), crafted methodically and beautifully, and carry the listener enthusiastically out into the rolling breaks of industrial filth-water.
Lower Dens formed in early 2009, when Hunter set about finding a full-time band. They spent the rest of the year sweating in attics and basements, and only stepped out of the shadows to do a quick tour and record. Twin-Hand Movement was recorded by Chris Freeland (ex-Oxes drummer; proprietor of Beat Babies, Baltimore), mixed by Chris Coady (at his DNA, NYC), and mastered by Sarah Register (of the Lodge, NYC and the band Talk Normal.)
Revocation had to cancel due to a member having pneumonia! Wolves & Jackals and Death Of Kings are still playing.
Revocation returns with a new album of masterful modern metal in Chaos of Forms. Unforgettable songs bend, stop, twist, and shred at virtuosic levels while exploding with frenetic energy. As future classics “Cradle Robber”, “Dissolution Ritual”, “No Funeral”, “Cretin” and more show, each aspect of the band has been honed to deadly perfection and brings to fruition the promise that (the previous full-length) Existence Is Futile hinted at. Chaos of Forms proves beyond doubt that REVOCATION are masters of their craft and metal’s finest new band.
"absolutely godlike death/thrash." - Decibel
"a whirlwind of methodical metal in its highest form; aggressive, heavy, challenging, melodic and oftentimes, dare I say, fun as fuck to listen to." - Metal Maniacs
"Taking the excellent dynamics of Pestilence with the visceral intensity of Sepultura and the technical prowess of Carcass combined with shredding extensive leads and solos Revocation are a band that is going places." - Masterful-Magazine.com
Wolves & Jackals is a destructive, unrelenting force preparing for the apocalypse that will consume us all. Patrons of God's left hand, they incite the legacy of pain and suffering onto mere mortals. Words spoken through them. The gospel of death.
Coming out of Atlanta, GA, Wolves & Jackals fuse together styles from thrash (Slayer, At the Gates), black metal (Behemoth, 1349), death metal (Suffocation, Carcass), and hardcore (Burnt by the Sun, Converge) to construct a driving force of speed and vigorous brutality. LaMar George unleashes pain and torment with his screams and terror through his guitar. Troy Bedingfield lets forth Hell Fire through his solos. Michael Green storms on the drum kit, shattering nerves with every strike. Mikhail Loginov shakes the bowels of hell with his bass. Together, they trigger the bloodthirsty onslaught on humanity that is Wolves and Jackals.
Swank Sinatra at the Drunken Unicorn on Friday, July 8th, 2011.
Swank Sinatra is a D.I.Y. Rock n’ Roll band that formed in Atlanta in September of 2004. Our goals are to melt faces and take names. We want to climb a tall mountain just to start an avalanche. We would sail a ship just to watch it sink. We would rob the rich just to give to the poor. We are the ever living, ever breathing, light at the end of the Rock n' Roll tunnel. We are aggressive, fun, and frantic.
In all reality, Swank Sinatra is the brainchild of the slightly disturbed minds of Bob Place and Brandon Pittman, friends since childhood. Now joined by Randy Garcia, we are surely a force to be reckoned with. We have been fortunate enough to play such wonderful events as: New Orleans Jazz Festival, Dragon*Con, 500 Songs For Kids, and Nophest just to name a few. We have also played live for Comcast OnDemand, as well as been featured on XM Satellite Radio, as well as other various forms of radio and television. We have played a lot of shows, met even more cool people, and even learned a little along the way.
Swank Sinatra is simply here to provide people with Rock n' Roll music that will make you move and not give a shit. We have released 2 records so far, and are currently working on our newest release “El Terrible” which is set for release in 2011. We enjoy writing songs about homeless people, pirates, ladies, shoes, ships, our hate of disco, and breakfast. We also enjoy long walks on the beach and candle-lit dinners. Much like the Highlander, there can be only one Swank Sinatra.
"“It is all about the look, right? We are all so hip to death,” ponders John Breedlove, frontman for local post-punk outcasts Hip to Death while mocking trend victims with genuine contempt on the band’s upcoming album, Punk Will Never Die, But You Will.
Breedlove evokes an allegory of a wannabe surfer dude to capture the essence of his music. “The album has some really grimy punk elements to it. Picture a poser going surfing for the first time and really bailing. Crushing the reef against their skin and cutting his or herself really bad, getting back on it and trying it again. Now, whether folks like it or not, that poser earned some respect by taking the fall. This album is the soundtrack to that.”
Releasing albums on cassette tape has been catching on lately, and sure enough, HTD’s album will arrive as a transparent red tape. But Breedlove denies that he’s jumping on anyone else’s train. Rather, releasing the music on cassette is an ode to his past. “I had tapes all throughout high school,” he says. “I was a Sonic Youth junkie and grunge addict. I wore baggy corduroy pants and used to skate with an old Sony Walkman tape player. Putting it out on cassette is a way to rehash old memories.”
Though Hip to Death keeps it raw and untamed musically, the band likes to keep it real when it comes to matters of the Atlanta scene. “Have a heart and be good to each other,” he adds. “Don’t be scared to play with different bands every now and then. Come get some!”" - Nadia Lelutiu / Creative Loafing Atlanta
Mind Powers was born in Columbus, Georgia. Fresh from the womb, the band began to construct their own brand of rock. Drawing influences from punk and noise rock, comic books, and hangovers, the band describes their sound as "Nerd Noise." They prove the title true in their music, which contains many tongue-in cheek references to sci-fi films, video games, superheroes, and influences such as Mclusky, The Stooges, and Black Sabbath shine through.
The young three piece have been writing and roaming the southeast for just over a year now, and in May they will release their first EP, titled "Ampeaters."
Monitors from Birmingham, AL are starting the show.
"Monitors is Jackie Sullivan's, formerly of Tin Kitchen and Little Lungs, new band out of Birmingham, Alabama. Jackie plays drums on this release. It's a departure from her emo and pop-punk influenced bands of the past, but awesome all the same. Monitors is more of a good ol' rock 'n' roll band-- something you can dig if you're into bands like Ted Leo & the Pharmacists or Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. That's pretty sweet, I must say. What you get are two rock ragers and a slower song." - Star Beat Music / Star Beat Music
Reptar at the Drunken Unicorn on Thursday, July 7th, 2011.
"After conquering the Southeast, what could be next for this backbeat-infused sex-pop foursome?
“We were thinking about Mars,” drummer Andrew McFarland said. “We’d like to just take that over, and devote the entire planet to synthpop.”"
-Red and Black 9-25-09
"Reptar played at my house, and people were standing on the washing machine and on countertops. There were over 100 people jumping up and down and going wild. We heard a snap, and the house was sagging after that and people were chanting, “Break the floor! Break the floor!” But I couldn’t blame them all for it because, you know, it was a Reptar show."
-Flagpole 4-28-10
Qurious is not so much a band as it is a vessel. A vessel transports you into the dark far reaches of space and back, in an attempt to impart in their listeners a new-found, alien third-person perspective on the world and the infinite natural beauty that surrounds. Such a voyage is fueled through the production of ethereal musical landscapes constructed with hypnotizing vocal melodies, dance-inducing synthesizers, and found-samples gathered along the way. Your guides/abductors for this trek are a duo composed of one part singer/songwriter Catherine Quesenberry with a specialty in vocals, korg, and a secret weapon, and one part Mike Netland, engineer of samples, beats, and robo-phonetics. They’re coming to your planet, to your venues, to your homes. Their songs will draw you in like a sound-wave tractor beam. Don’t be scared though. They’re just Qurious.
Bitter Children will be the first performer of the evening.
Every so often you'll be drinking a glass of water, and tilt it down in such a way that the water will bounce off of itself and make a little "kerplop." Take that sound and repeat it over and over, until you get a "kerplopkerplopkerplopkerplop." THEN get all your friends and bang on whatever seems fit. Add bubbles and that's pretty much it.
We want to play the game at the highest level. We want to become THE currency by which youth culture is bought and sold. We want to SAVE ROCK AND ROLL so that our t-shirts will be worn in the next summer action blockbuster by millionaire placeholders. We want to scare old white people and enthrall their children, so that we may in turn become soft and rich and fearful of the next wave of youth culture marketing. We have our first reunion tour planned. We will kill on t-shirt sales alone. We realize that we are not selling music; we are selling product, and our product is progress. We want to antagonize established artists and then patch things up at awards ceremonies, creating ratings bonanzas for everybody involved. We want to donate all of our blood money to fashionable causes. We want to preach about the evils of capitalism from expensive microphones in million-dollar studios. We want it all.
Slowriter is the music of Bryan Taylor. Bryan toured and played guitar in The Chariot (2008-2010) and wrote/recorded for their album 'Wars and Rumors of Wars'.
"When you really dig independent music, whether as a fan or a blogger, there’s almost no better feeling than stumbling upon a promising young band that no one’s ever heard of… especially when that band is as talented and exciting as New Animal. Just two dudes from Atlanta, Kris Hermstad and Derek Burdette have labored over 15 tracks and 75 minutes of music in styles ranging from bedroom pop to exp. psych pop to anthemic kraut rock. The more the merrier — they don’t fit some simple category, no “RIYL” recommendations abound. Seemingly from the heart, or from the mind, or from the gut, but at least from somewhere within. They don’t cop someone else’s sound and fuzz the hell out of it to mask their theft. They aren’t hopping on the latest genre bandwagon. Listen for yourselves!" - I Guess I'm Floating
Saredren Wells is performing at the Drunken Unicorn on Saturday, July 2nd, 2011
Saredren Wells’s debut LP, “Memories are Hunting Horns…,” is unmistakably a product of and tribute to his home. As Wells describes, "When I started making the album, I wanted it to be a kind of homage to the city of Louisville, to its musical past and the artists who we all, as Louisvillians, grew up listening to." To that end, Wells made a real effort to connect the dots of his musical past. He contacted many of his childhood artistic heroes, including David Grubbs (Gastr del Sol) and Brian McMahan (Slint, The For Carnation), who became something akin to spiritual advisers, and Rachel Grimes (of famed chamber collective Rachel's), who he asked(she politely obliged) to oversee him in his string writing efforts. Wells then tracked the album with a string of Louisville luminaries, doing initial work with Paul Oldham(of Palace Brothers fame) and Parlour/Sapat's Steve Good(who engineered an Evergreen 7” Wells was fond of growing up) before finally settling in with friend and producer Kevin Ratterman (Elliot, Wax Fang), who served as a kind of project supervisor, helping to piece everything together and capture whatever final performances were needed. Wells then travelled to Louisville's historical artistic sister city, Chicago, IL, doing final touch-ups and mixing both at John McIntyre's (Tortoise) SOMA Studios and Steve Albini's (you know who Steve Albini is) Electrical Audio. Looking back, Wells figures he worked with just about every artist that influenced him while he was growing up. “It's pretty amazing, really. I got to meet and work with many of the people who have made this city what it is, and with their help and encouragement I made the record I've always dreamed of making.”
The Romans will be performing second this evening.
Somewhere in-between the small glimmer on a metal paper clip and the pulsing rising sun you will find the sound of The Romans. Think of what it would be like to not think at all and just feel the energy of mankind moving in new directions in commerce, science, nature, art, etc. and from there eat a small piece of the most exquisite german chocolate and wash it down with the best cup of coffee on a blistering cold day by a fireplace in a cozy shop and you’ll hear remnants of their sound. Screaming guitars strong like the walls of ancient coliseums and drums so powerful and in synch with natures own rhythms you would swear it’s the entire empire marching into battle. All supporting vocal melodies that soar like haunted platitudes lingering long in the brain like an x lover. The word “Romans” itself conjures up strength and something magnificent- so wake up and dont be the last to say you’ve heard it.
Gay Porn is an experimental no wave duo with electronica/jazz influences. Members reside in Brooklyn NY and have been praised for its band name by director/currator Jim Jarmusch at ATP 2010 and recent coverage in SLAP Skateboard Magazine as being "most ellusive new band... contemporary an simplified approach in the vein of Ian Curtis singing over Miles Davis loops".
The Booze at the Drunken Unicorn on Friday, July 1st, 2011.
"Surefooted, totally convincing 21st-century take on that late-’60s Stones sound. It’s a pleasure and more than a little of a relief to hear a band with the talent and aptitude to handle this particular twangy, rough-edged side of the rock idiom with clean production technique and honest to goodness songwriting chops. Weary I get of muddy, fatigued by excessive reverb. From the crisp acoustic strumming to the resonant bend of that countrified guitar to the spot-on backing singers, “Kick Me Where It Hurts” oozes both authenticity and proficiency. This is a highly recommended combination for anyone seeking a future in this brave new digital music world of ours.
And this thing isn’t just about a retro vibe. Vocalist Chaz Tolliver brings his own slightly vulnerable oomph to the Jaggeresque performance, greatly assisted by the song’s lyrical and melodic fluidity. Note how the chorus is very close in melody and spirit to the verse and yet completely separates itself. This makes the song feel really really solid, even as Tolliver sings like someone not quite recovered from his previous night’s binge. I think the pivotal moment is when we modulate from major to minor (first heard at 0:38), grounding us in a moment of poignancy (listen to Tolliver’s plaintive “Mama…”) before rolling onward. The lyrics, meanwhile, shine with an offhanded, Let It Bleed-like dexterity. “Stumbled on the D train in my military coat,” the second verse begins, just perfectly.
“Kick Me Where It Hurts” will be found on the the album At Maximum Volume, to be released next month on Underrated Records. It’s the hard-working band’s fifth in four years. MP3 via Underrated. Thanks to Consequence of Sound for the lead." - Fingertips Music Blog
Gun Party are the third band that is performing as part of this event.
From the pits of Georgia comes an eclectic hornet's nest of melodic mayhem. A fusion of indie dance rock and daddy issues, Gun Party has been known to cause uncontrollable seizures of dance.
here are a few photo's of the Eryn Woods "Holl.E.Woods" CD release show that occured at the Drunken Unicorn on Friday May 27th, 2011 with Love Megan T and Sky Hy
Tinsel Teeth at the Drunken Unicorn on Wednesday, June 29th, 2011.
due to all the tree radiation, dying bees, cell phone sex, nude planets being discovered, global whoring and organic mutagen biomagnitude, yr gonna find yrself surrounded by monsters. big ones, small ones, really fucking average ones, some have pitbulls for arms. some melt like ice cream in the sun. some have chocolate skeletons. some have tinsel for teeth. some are teachers, cops, presidents, authors, escape artists, bullshit artists, art school students, nurse sharks, etc. in conclusion, we want to fuck yr ears on the first date. we want to find audio equations and sound combinations that will collapse your senses and make your neurons splinter, snap and reroute. you may wet yrself a little.
The Blow on Monday, June 27th at the Drunken Unicorn.
The Blow is the moniker of Brooklyn, New York-based musician Mikhaela Yvonne Maricich, who has recorded several albums for K Records. Jona Bechtolt, aka YACHT, was also a member of The Blow from 2004 to 2007.
The music of The Blow is a sparse combination of Khaela's vocals and electronic dance beats. Performances often incorporate short monologues - in fact, Khaela has toured extensively with her longer monologue "Blue Sky Versus Night Sky". Khaela is formerly of the band The Microphones. Before 2002, The Blow went by the names "Get the Hell Out of the Way of the Volcano" and "Get the Hell Out of the Way of the Wave".
Khaela Maricich is also a visual artist. She has held a number of exhibitions of her drawings and illuminated paper sculptures in Seattle, Olympia, and Portland. She was an artist-in-residence at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art.
Swank Sinatra on Saturday, June 25th, 2011 at the Drunken Unicorn.
Swank Sinatra is a D.I.Y. Rock n’ Roll band that formed in Atlanta in September of 2004. Our goals are to melt faces and take names. We want to climb a tall mountain just to start an avalanche. We would sail a ship just to watch it sink. We would rob the rich just to give to the poor. We are the ever living, ever breathing, light at the end of the Rock n' Roll tunnel. We are aggressive, fun, and frantic.
