Incredible. Simply incredible. Really, I can not think of any other word to describe my weekend at Ultra Music Festival. For those of you who don’t enjoy a good bass thrashing, Ultra Music Festival is a three-day music event held annually in downtown Miami. Ultra always closes Miami Music Week (also known as Winter Music Conference.) During the week leading up to Ultra, famous DJs from around the world take their talents to South Beach, playing sets at various pools, hotels, and clubs. Miami Music Week is more than just a party. Various conferences are held in dedication to electronic music throughout the week.
The moment I bought my ticket, was the moment I began eagerly awaiting my first Ultra/Miami Music Week experience. Spoiler: it lived up to my expectations and more.
In the past several years, the band Grizzly Bear has become one of the coolest kids in indie school. The 2009 album Veckatimest pushed them to the top of many a “Best Albums of the Year” list, and their collaboration with Victoria Legrand of Beach House on the track “Slow Life” made the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack far more enjoyable than expected. It seems that the talent in the group overfloweth the band’s cup; members of Grizzly Bear have individual side projects, including Daniel Rossen’s Department of Eagles (with Fred Nicolaus) and Chris Taylor’s CANT. The beauty of the side acts is that while you can hear that Grizzly Bear je ne sais quoi, the three are all distinct from one another. Department of Eagles got my fanhood in 2008 with In Ear Park. Now, CANT’s excellent debut Dreams Come True has me wondering when someone from Grizzly Bear will release a critically acclaimed hip-hop album.
Dreams Come True is a testament to the great things one can do with a drum machine and a synthesizer and the refreshing delights of genre-bending. To fully appreciate this sonic layer cake, don’t restrict yourself to computer speakers or earbuds. If there was ever an occasion to bring out the serious surround sound, this is it…
Though you probably haven’t worn spandex since you were on your middle school volleyball team, all that is about to change once you see how this designer uses spandex to her advantage. Nico & J jewelry is a very fresh, fun and funky line. The designer behind it all is Jocelyn Negron, 2008 University of Georgia graduate with a BFA in Digital Media and now currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. She stops by Athens every once in awhile to deliver new products.
The Nico & J fluorescent necklaces will for sure get heads turning! Not only are they bright, they were even designed with the intention of evoking a sense of touch. So when people pass you by and beg to touch your necklace…just let them!
Head into Agora in downtown Athens on Clayton Street, for the newest Nico & J pieces! Well, what are you waiting for? – GO!
Stumbling upon Shabazz Palaces was the kind of happy accident that makes me grateful for the Internet. Sure, it has subjected us to things like Rebecca Black, but I find myself awfully forgiving when I’m basking in the glow of new music.
“An echo from the hosts that profess infinitum” is the first single from Shabazz Palace’s debut album Black Up, and it does a hell of a job. A hell of a job being awesome. A hell of a job piquing your interest. A hell of a job sounding good. If I ever find myself in a situation where I need to come off as an intimidating badass, this would be my soundtrack. The beat on “An echo”, coupled with a sample that sounds like a preschool full of wailing robots, is infectious. The track has a dark tone that borders on threatening when soundwave-tearing dubstep breaks in. As evidenced by the random xylophone interlude halfway through the song, “An echo” doesn’t get boring. Another hefty piece of evidence is the fact that I’ve had it on repeat for a long time, and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet.
1889 was an eventful year. Coca-Cola was incorporated in Atlanta. North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington became U.S. states. The Eiffel Tower was completed. The Wall Street Journal was established. Vincent van Gogh painted Starry Night. Famous (and infamous) people born that year include actor Charlie Chaplin and professional ass Adolf Hitler; deaths include President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis and English poet Robert Browning. In Georgia, the YMCA bought a lot in downtown Athens and erected a 3-story building. After decades of serving as a YMCA, movie theatre, Masonic temple, and Methodist worship hall, the Georgia Theatre became a music venue. It drew prominent musical acts from around the world until 2009, when it was ravaged by fire.
It’s been two years, but the Georgia Theatre is back and better than ever! It sports a three-tiered balcony, a lounge, and a rooftop restaurant/bar. Audience capacity has gone up, and if the Grand Opening is any indicator, the Theatre won’t have trouble filling the space. Starting today and running through August 14th, the venue will celebrate its return by hosting acts on an almost nightly basis.
It’s safe to say that there are a lot of great records being released this summer. Today’s album is one that I spent the past year hoping for. I would have written about it sooner, but since my wish was granted in June, I’ve been too busy listening to sit down and write about it. Finally, I’ve decided to stop being so selfish and share…
Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Unknown Mortal Orchestra [Fat Possum, 6/21] Unknown Mortal Orchestra came to my attention a year ago when I heard the track “Ffunny Ffrends”. After less than a minute, I was hooked. The second song that emerged from the ether was “Thought Ballune”, and it only reinforced my opinion that UMO quite possibly epitomizes the term “hook”. Abandoning more clinical musical terminology, Unknown Mortal Orchestra sounds like an afternoon at the park with your best friends in the late ‘60s, replete with Popsicles and/or mind-altering substances. Flavors and combinations are up to you.
Keeping up with the music scene in Athens is hard. If you took a survey of local musicians, you’d likely find that a large percentage of them are involved in more than one band or project. Maybe we have an unusually large population of folks with ADD. Maybe they’re hedging their bets, hoping that one of their three bands will hit it big. Or it could just be that Athens is incredibly lucky to be buzzing with more creative energy than it knows what to do with.
Enter Our New Silence, one of the most original and visionary projects Athens has seen for some time. Described as “creative cultural diplomacy”, Our New Silence is a collective undertaking that links Athens and Java, Indonesia through music.
Finals may be over, but that doesn’t mean the fun has to stop (ouch, did that sarcasm sting, POLS 1101?) Now your ferocious trip to the pool (to work on that perfect shade of “be jealous of this glow” tan) can be perfectly accompanied by a mind-electrifying book! Perhaps your weapon of choice is a sweet romance novella like “Franny and Zoey” or maybe you’ve decided to pick up that worn copy of “The Help” that your mother left at your appartement after her visit last Easter (which seemed to only consist of tips on how you could clean the li mescale off of your gazillion-years-old bathtub.) Either way you’re going to need something to keep your place in that book you’ve been toting around. This is where Miss. Callie Heintzman steps in. Paper bookmarks laden with images of kittens and cute owls are SO middle school, Callie has ever so graciously presented us with a much more swank alternative; little knit bookmarks that hug the side of your pages like baby koala bears, providing you with a brilliant built in pen holder (for all you ex-AP Literature students who still can’t fight the urge to annotate any text in sight,) wonderful bursts of color, and an overall sense of happiness! Callie claims that “they will completely revolutionize your favorite book by adding that extra amount of coziness.” Who wouldn’t want that? I know we do. Now why on earth did sweet little Callie start factoring out these little stitches of sunshine? She was quick to inform me that “the creation of these little gems comes from a delightful combination of my passion for yarn and my love for reading. I have decided that it is only right to share this with the athens community!” So do your fine self a favor and run, YOU, run! Off to Agora you go to snatch up your own little knit marvel for only $10 each before all of the other people searching for what’s new in Coolsville get to them before you do.
Located near the register in Agora. $10 each. Pen included.
The wheels are spinning around Athens tonight! After you cycle your face off for Twilight, come join MAD DECENT WKND for an affair filled with fun & freakazoids. The Chase Street Warehouses will be bringing the heat, so pull out your party pants! DJ HAHA ignites the fire around 10, followed by Benzona, Depressed Buttons, & Paul Devro – the beat brigade from Diplo’s Mad Decent Records. ATL’s Black Dominoes will be rounding things up with a late night set. Come get weird!
It’s time to turn up the volume, Athens!
159 Oneta St / 10pm
//TIX AVAILABLE AT DOOR
10-11 DJ HAHA / 11-12 BENOZNA / 12 – 1 DEPRESSED BUTTONS / 1-2:30 PAUL DEVRO / 2:30-3:30 BLACK DOMINOES
In a town that assimilates itself so religiously to music, one may never consider to bat an eye at the budding scene of style savvy individuals that parade creativity from the depths of their closets. Well, there’s a new band of horses galavanting the streets. Athens Fashion Collective drives itself on a precedent to reinvent fervor for people & how they express themselves. A carpenter, for instance, takes care in mindfully utilizing his chisel to breathe life into an originally crafted chair. We need tools to bare fruitfulness to our expressive faculties and follow the journey of our thoughts to a destiny of finite forms. A musician communicates by means of a vibration in sound & gripping lyric. A painter voices thought with the smudge of a brush. An image in motion captures the twirling head that lives behind the camera. This can be said of any craft; a chemist & his potions, a chef & his sharpened knifes, an accountant & his numbers. Each makes an impression on the senses. We operate a system of symbols used to measure & perceive the world. In this sense, a needle and thread are both tools. Clothing is a tool. Yes, “fashion” wedges itself within the construct of a name which defines a movement, but this collective stands for something more.
