Authors | Flagpole Magazine | Athens, GA News, Music, Arts, Restaurants

Blog posts by Gabe Vodicka, Editor

Record Store Day is Nigh

Blog: Homedrone

Aside from being a high holy day (get it?) for a certain segment of the population, tomorrow, Saturday, Apr. 20, is also Record Store Day, the day when music geeks line up around the block for a chance to buy ultra-limited releases from their favorite bands.

By Gabe Vodicka | April 19, 2013
Tickets for Athens Symphony Pops Concerts Available Monday

Blog: Culture Briefs

Free tickets for the Athens Symphony Pops Concerts, which will be held May 3 and 4 at the Classic Center, will be available starting Monday, Apr. 22 at the Center's box office. The two concerts, both of which will begin at 8 p.m., will mark the closing of the Athens Symphony Orchestra's 2012-2013 season.

From the press release:

By Gabe Vodicka | April 18, 2013
Big Boi Signing Lunchtime Autographs on Clayton Street?

Blog: Homedrone

This tip just came in: Apparently Big Boi, who's performing tonight at the Georgia Theatre, is signing autographs and taking pictures with fans in the parking lot next to Agora on Clayton Street at noon today. So, now. Go!

By Gabe Vodicka | April 18, 2013
UPDATE with Mark Richt Disavowal: David Richt and Colt Ford's 'Dawg Bite' Video Will Haunt Your Dreams

Blog: Homedrone

If you were convinced, as was I, that Dodd Ferrelle and S.N.I.P.A.'s "Go Dawgs (Sic 'Em Woof Woof Woof)" represented the glorious pinnacle of UGA-football-anthem inanity, it's time to readjust your worldview.

By Gabe Vodicka | April 17, 2013
More AthFest Performers Announced

Blog: Homedrone

Reptar

AthFest has announced a new slew of bands set to perform at the three-day festival this June, to add to the first wave of artists, which we revealed a couple weeks ago.

By Gabe Vodicka | April 17, 2013
Manor Sues Gucci Mane Over No-Show

Blog: Homedrone

As the Athens Banner-Herald reports, downtown Athens nightclub Manor is suing Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane for agreeing to perform on Halloween—and taking an advance paycheck for the appearance—and then, uh, not showing up.

As we reported back then, Manor owner David Ippisch sent a letter to fans apologizing for the debacle, saying in part (errors his):

By Gabe Vodicka | April 15, 2013
Let's Dig the Awesome New Daft Punk Track Before It's Everywhere and We Hate It

Blog: Homedrone

In case you haven't heard by now, the highlight of Coachella this past weekend was not, as you might expect, a live performance, but the unveiling of a minute-and-a-half teaser for Daft Punk's hotly anticipated new album, Random Access Memories (out May 21).

By Gabe Vodicka | April 15, 2013
Al Roker Lecture Rescheduled for Apr. 25

Blog: Culture Briefs

NBC weatherman/weirdo freakazoid Al Roker was set to deliver the 2013 Holmes-Hunter Lecture back in February, but a nasty snowstorm sidelined him. (Yeah, I really do think.) Now, the university has announced that the event has been rescheduled for Thursday, Apr. 25 at 2:30 p.m. in the UGA Chapel.

From the press release:

By Gabe Vodicka | April 12, 2013
Dream Boat Gets Remixed by Bear in Heaven

Blog: Homedrone

Here's a canny, deconstructive remix of "Sea to Sky," a tune from Dream Boat's debut album Eclipsing, courtesy of Bear in Heaven's Jon Philpot. In his hands, the song is transformed from ethereal folk tune to skittery slice of EDM-pop. Singer Page Campbell's yawning vocals are here utilized as textural element, a melodic foil to Philpot's machine-gun drums.

By Gabe Vodicka | April 11, 2013
New Dead Confederate Streaming Early on Spotify

Blog: Homedrone

Last month, we shared a stream of the first single from Dead Confederate's upcoming album In the Marrow, the slow-rolling "Vacations." The album doesn't come out officially until Apr. 16, but now, you can stream the whole damn thing, thanks to Spotify.

By Gabe Vodicka | April 9, 2013
Dream Boat, Outer Spaces to Play Flagpole's My_Athens Event

Blog: Homedrone

Dream Boat

In last week's Art Notes, we told you about My_Athens, the Instagram-based art show that's taking over the Bottleworks gallery all April long. This Friday, Apr. 12, Paste Magazine will present a musical showcase featuring locals Easter Island and T. Hardy Morris. Pretty cool, I guess. But the real throwdown will happen the next Friday, Apr. 19, when Flagpole presents performances by Dream Boat and Outer Spaces.

By Gabe Vodicka | April 9, 2013
Stream New Futurebirds (UPDATED: Full Album Streaming)

Blog: Homedrone

Back in February, we reported that Futurebirds, that ever-evolving local band of country-rocking brothers, was set to release its second full-length album, Baba Yaga, via Mississippi label Fat Possum on Apr. 14. That's, like, next week, so make sure you've got your affairs in order. Below, stream a song from the record.

By Gabe Vodicka | April 8, 2013
Deerhunter's Josh McKay on Playing 'Fallon'

Blog: Homedrone

On Tuesday, Atlanta noise-rock outfit Deerhunter was the musical guest on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," and the band played the title track from its upcoming album, Monomania. It was a hell of a performance: aside from the hedonistic, scuzzed-out glory of the tune itself, frontman Bradford Cox (an Athens native) appeared as a bandaged-up version of his new alter ego Connie Lungpin, sauntering off stage near the end of the song and wandering down a 30 Rock hallway, eventually pausing to wait for an elevator.

By Gabe Vodicka | April 4, 2013
AthFest Announces First Wave of 2013 Artists

Blog: Homedrone

Patterson Hood

AthFest, the local music and arts festival that is the yearly centerpiece of the AthFest Educates! nonprofit foundation, has announced the first wave of performing artists for 2013.

By Gabe Vodicka | April 2, 2013
Help New Sound of Numbers Press New Vinyl

Blog: Homedrone

The use of Kickstarter and its ilk has become such a widespread tool for bands that it's hardly news anymore when a group embarks on an online fundraising campaign to put out this or that record, to finish this or that documentary. And it wouldn't be an overstatement to say the system is often abused, what with every Joe Schmo on the block asking an invisible fanbase for $3,000 to properly record his debut album of polka-tinged Ween covers.

By Gabe Vodicka | April 1, 2013
The New Song from The Dream Scene is the Best Thing You'll Hear All Week

Blog: Homedrone

If you haven't been paying attention, you've been missing out one one hell of a creative evolution over in The Dream Scene's camp. The nebulous project, the brainchild of Javier Morales (Grass Giraffes, Quiet Hooves), has existed in some form for years (if you're unfamiliar, check out Morales' excellent collection of Christmas covers), but Morales has only relatively recently begun treating it like a real-live band, performing knock-em-dead, Prince-would-be-ashamed sets at various locales like Go Bar and Farm 255.

Flagpole's Gordon Lamb called the group's work "pop music for twilight sleep and futuristic Olympic games"; Impose Magazine said it was "like an 'L.A. Law' nightmare."

By Gabe Vodicka | March 28, 2013
Pretty Bird Talks Athens, Art, Forward Motion

Blog: Homedrone

Love 'em or hate 'em, over the past couple of years, the Birdhouse Collection has been responsible for some of the most vital and uncompromising music in Athens. From the sneering, propulsive art-punk of Muuy Biien to the subversive, retro-fi love-pop of k i d s, the collective has spanned the stylistic gamut, existing largely in an intensely insular state, self-supportive and self-assured.

It should come as no surprise, then, that its most vocal members are both brainy and brash; they bear the mark of self-confidence that is both the root of creative genius and the most glaring fault of many a foregone micro-scene, collapsed in on itself from the force of sheer self-love.

Flagpole recently sat down with members of the collective's most experimental-minded group, the polarizing a capella/freakout squad known as Pretty Bird, for a beer and a chat about how the Birdhouse fits in the grand scheme of Athens music and how—or if—it will sustain itself going forward.

By Gabe Vodicka | March 27, 2013
Clarke County School District Recognized for Music Education Efforts

Blog: Homedrone

The Clarke County School District (CCSD), in association with AthFest Educates, has been named one of the 2013 Best Communities in Music Education by the National Association of Music Merchants, thanks to CCSD's commitment to arts education.

By Gabe Vodicka | March 26, 2013
Watch a Video for Easter Island's "You Don't Have a Choice"

Blog: Homedrone

Here's a new music video from local post-rockers Easter Island. The essence of the tune—the pensive and melodic "You Don't Have a Choice," from the band's well-received 2012 album Frightened—is captured nicely by the bright, affecting clip.

By Gabe Vodicka | March 25, 2013
More Jason Aldean Tickets on Sale Friday

Blog: Homedrone

Live Nation has announced that it will release an unspecified number of additional tickets to the Jason Aldean show at Sanford Stadium, which happens Saturday, Apr. 13. The concert, which also features country stars Luke Bryan, Jake Owen and Thomas Rhett, will be the first ever held between the hedges, and a whopping 60,000 people have already purchased tickets.

By Gabe Vodicka | March 21, 2013