Bits and Bobs: Ludacris, Jenny & Johnny, The Drums, Cee Lo

- Ludacris will be helping Tower Beer, Wine & Spirits reopen its Doraville location on Saturday, and in return the liquor store is giving Luda a $10,000 donation for his Ludacris Foundation, which supports Atlanta youth and the community. We love it when everybody wins.

- Jenny Lewis and her beau Johnathan Rice just dropped their Jenny & Johnny record, I’m Having Fun Now, and you can download a free mp3 of “Animal” HERE.

- Fellow hipsters The Drums have premiered a video for “Down By The Water” on Stereogum. They will be playing The Loft with Surfer Blood on September 15.

- The final fabulous video for Cee Lo’s “Fuck You” has arrived, and we just love it. Go check it out on Idolator if you’re somewhere that’s alright with a few dozen F-bombs.

Bits and Bobs: Black Lips, NARIP, Kylie Minogue, FUN

- Spin has been talking to Black Lips about the Atlanta hooligans recording a new album, and they also chat about the usual other stuff: skulls, Osama Bin Laden, the Braves.

- Local lass-around-town Eileen Tilson (who heads up Leslie Fram and husband’s artist management company Tipping Point Entertainment Group) has been appointed to the board of NARIP (The National Association of Record Industry Professionals) in Atlanta. Congrats Eileen!

- The wonderful Kylie Minogue has been pretty busy this week. First she did a crazy surprise gig at an out-of-the-way pub in England (which you can check out on Idolator) and then she performed “Get Outta My Way” on “America’s Got Talent” (which you can check out on Zap 2 It). We love the huge video montage behind her, documenting all the past Kylies – definitely a bonus for the fans! Now she just has to do a proper American tour, and actually stop down here.

- Those popular indie pop kids from New York who call themselves FUN will be coming back to Atlanta for a show at The Loft on December 11. Tickets for this gig happily go on sale a lot sooner – September 2.

Bits and Bobs: Vonnegutt, Big Boi, Beach House, Eels, Goat Farm

- Local rap-rockers (it’s not as bad as it sounds, really) Vonnegutt are planning on re-releasing their EP, The Appetizer, again on Big Boi’s Purple Ribbon label, but this time with Manchester Orchestra’s Favorite Gentlemen label on board too. The lads have been making themselves known recently, with their “Follow Us” collaboration for Big Boi’s recent release, and even performed the single on “Late Show with David Letterman” last night. Check out the video over on Idolator. You can also download single “Bright Eyes”.

- Beach House are coming back to Georgia, but won’t be playing Atlanta. They will be stopping off at the 40 Watt in Athens instead, on October 16. Tickets go on sale August 27 at 10 a.m.

- Spinner is streaming the new Eels album Tomorrow Morning right now.

- Sounds like the Nameless Festival went down a treat last weekend at Goat Farm. Ohmpark has videos of All The Saints, Balkans and Abby Go Go all performing at the too-cool-for-school “venue.”

Q&A with Wild West Picture Show; Playing Reunion Show at Eddie’s Attic, August 27

By Scott Roberts

One of the busiest and most beloved bands on the local Atlanta scene during the 1990s was Wild West Picture Show. Their ahead-of-the curve blend of country, rock, and punk influences never failed to please crowds and fill bars and clubs in the metro area and beyond. After more than a decade of working on myriad other musical ventures, the original members (bassist Brillo, drummer Michael Lee Gamble, singer Keli Mercadante, and guitarists David Robinson and Bill Shadle), as well as a few latter-era players, have decided to do a one-off reunion at Eddie’s Attic on Friday, August 27. AMG wanted to find out how and why this reunion came about, so we asked gregarious bassist Brillo a few questions; we also asked lovely lead singer Keli Mercadante the same questions, but she graciously deferred to Brillo’s answers.

So, how did this reunion come about?

Well, when I knew that I would be getting out of prison and Michael Lee contacted Keli, David Robinson and me, I knew that I had to get involved. We really did miss playing together and had talked about doing a full-on, old school WWPS reunion for years.  David Robinson agreed to fly in from Portland to do the show and I think that Keli had already planned to do the annual WWPS birthday party with us so things just kind of fell into place; plus my parole officer is pretty cool about letting me playing Eddie’s Attic. … Continue Reading

Bits and Bobs: Dead Confederate, Cee-Lo, Klever, Jason Isbell and More

- Dead Confederate are streaming their new album, Sugar, here right now. Check it out and then go see them play their in-store at Criminal Records on Sunday, where you can get the CD and get it signed.

- In other awesome Georgia people news, Cee-Lo just released a video for his new song, “F*ck You,” which is just the lyrics popping up against a colorful background, but we love it. The tune has a sweet early ’70s, late ’60s soul vibe, but the lyrics are, as you can guess, pretty grumpy. Check it out here.

- East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern is going to be hosting a showcase for killer record label Slow Roast with Klever, Craze, Kill The Noize, 12th Planet and Rob Wonder. Tickets are on sale now at the link below.

- Locally-based mag Paste is launching their first tour, with ex-Drive-By Truckers man Jason Isbell, Langhorne Slim and others. The tour stops at The EARL on October 28. Paste has the scoop on their website, of course.

- And finally, we were sad to hear that Michael Been, vocalist and guitarist of ’80s band The Call and father of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s Robert Been, has passed away after suffering from a heart attack. He was touring in Belgium with BRMC as a sound engineer.

Bits & Bobs: The Ting Tings, Big Boi, John Legend, The Roots, Free Energy

- The Ting Tings have put up a new song, “Hands,” on their Facebook page for all their fans to listen to (you must “like” the band first in order to be able to listen). It’s a bit more moody than their debut, but still oozes fun, just in a more ’80s, Duran Duran kinda way. We like it.

- We’re happy to hear that Big Boi will be playing three shows in Atlanta in the next couple of month: supporting STS9 at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on August 28, Opera on September 4 and the Tabernacle on September 28. Creative Loafing‘s Crib Notes has the scoop.

- The world is in a bit of a rough place right now. Luckily we have folks like The Roots, John Legend, Common and Melanie Fiona to tell us things might be alright. Legend is about to release his collaborative record, Wake Up, with the Roots on September 21, and we’re given a little taste of it with the title track, a cover of Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes’s 1975 hit “Wake Up Everybody.” These fellas have good heads on their shoulders – nice to see someone does. Check out the video over on Idolator.

- Finally, Free Energy is offering up a free download of the Fool’s Gold remix of “Bang Pop” on Stereogum. For those interested, Free Energy is playing The EARL with Titus Andronicus on September 20.

Q&A with Debutaunts; Playing Vinyl, August 13

By Alec Wooden

It’s hard for band’s to stand out these days – no one knows that better than bands themselves. Atlanta-via-Gainesville indie-pop quartet Debutaunts is no exception; respecting the challenges ahead of them to break out but feeling more at home than ever with a new city, a new record (Why Can’t We Have Fun) and a good outlook for what lies ahead.

You guys are newcomers to the Atlanta scene, so describe your sound for those yet to hear you.

Jazek Creacy: We all have way different backgrounds in music. It was all just a culmination of everything we wanted, because we’re all together on it. One person isn’t saying, “This is how it’s gonna be, this is how it’s gonna sound.” So it all came together like that.

Jonny Shupert: With our first record, it was a little bit more progressive and we tried not let anything influence the music. And then on the new one (Why Can’t We Have Fun), we kind of went back to our roots, like Motown, ‘60s rock, ‘80s rock – but mostly pop. This is not my quote, but from another review, someone said, “If Madonna and the Smiths tried to write a Beatles song.”

Creacy: The older records were way more progressive. But we realized that it’s 10 times harder to write a truly good pop song.

Why do people consider “pop” a dirty word?

Jeff Margaritondo: People don’t appreciate “commercial” music. But it doesn’t have to be “commercial” to be “pop,” which is the distinction that a lot of people fail to make. … Continue Reading

Q&A with Murray Attaway of Bomber City; Playing The EARL with Tiger! Tiger!, August 13

By Scott Roberts

During the “golden age” of southern jangle-pop in the 1980s, few bands had the energy, humor, eclecticism, and pure musical chops of Marietta’s (and later, the World’s!) Guadalcanal Diary. After the band broke up near the end of that magical decade, singer/songwriter Murray Attaway enjoyed a respectable solo career, re-formed the band briefly near the latter part of the ‘90s, and then seemed to mostly disappear from the public radar. He has now emerged with a new band, Bomber City (which includes, among others, former Diary guitar hero Jeff Walls), who recently made their debut in Athens, and will make their Atlanta debut this Friday the 13^th at The EARL. With varying degrees of seriousness, Attaway recently answered a few questions from Atlanta Music Guide.

How long has Bomber City’s lineup been together?

We started last fall as a result of my fielding myriad requests for performances via Facebook, etc. But Jeff (Walls) and I have made some version of music together since 1981, and, really, before that, as early as mid-70s. Pat Patterson [drums], Diana Crowe (vocals) and Jeff and I were in the original incarnation of Hillbilly Frankenstein. Billy Holmes (keyboards, violin, guitar, whatever) did some work with me on a couple of film scores in the 90s. And, now, Pat, Phyllis (Walls – bass), and Jeff are in a band called the Nairobi Trio. So this is a very new band that has been together for a very long time. … Continue Reading

Q&A with Hot Hot Heat; Playing Masquerade’s Hell Stage, August 31

By Alec Wooden

Now in their second decade as one of Canada’s finest musical exports, there aren’t many places Hot Hot Heat hasn’t been. International tours. Their music in movies. TV. Commercials. Video Games. Three EPs and nearly twice as many LPs. To be sure, they’ve been busy since their 1999 inception. Not that there’s any thought of slowing down; as leader Steve Bays points out, they’re probably the most comfortable they have been at any point in that stretch. Fresh off the June release of Future Breeds, the band’s latest studio album, Bays discusses the new record, his favorite Canadian artist and which song he always wishes he’d written.

Talk about Future Breeds. Are you happy with the way it came out?

This was the first time we’ve had the confidence to make an album without asking for the opinions or help of a producer, engineer or record label. This blurred the line between writing, rehearsing, experimenting and recording so it has a strange energy that I don’t hear on many records. The older I get, the more important it is to me to carve out a unique little niche in the world and create a musical identity that will stand a chance at resonating beyond just the album cycle. I need to feel like we’re doing something that represents freedom of expression and rebellion from the restrictions of the typical rock machine, and I think Future Breeds pushes us closer towards those goals. … Continue Reading

Bits and Bobs: The Felice Brothers, The Love Language, The Drums, Downtown Restaurant Week

- After the departure and consequential heart surgery of drummer/singer Simone Felice, The Felice Brothers are back and are off on tour. They’ll be coming to Atlanta for a show at The EARL on November 6.

- In other coming-to-The-EARL news, the lovely Love Language are coming on September 3!

- Perfect summer (evidenced in the video below) indie pop band The Drums are finally coming to Atlanta for a show at The Loft with Surfer Blood. Tickets go on sale July 30.

- Downtown Restaurant Week started yesterday, and actually runs for two weeks until August 8. There are a ton of great $25 and $35 prix fixe menus to choose from, but we personally will be going for Spoon, The Social, BLT and Thrive.