Whoa. It's a big batch of records and tours this week. So, if you're not actually making your own record, or heading out on your own tour, just read this and live vicariously. Plug in below...

What's That on Your Head?: Athens stalwarts The Whigs will release their newest album, Enjoy The Company, on Sept. 18. The New West Records release is already enjoying some pre-game hype, and the band has enjoyed recent press in big glossies like GQ and Rolling Stone. The group will tour heavily throughout the fall in support of the album, even making an appearance at the Austin City Limits Festival in October. But that's really nothing new for these guys—they've been road dogs since day one. There's a new track (”Summer Heat”) that you can download by navigating the links on the band’s homepage, so why not surf over there and give your clicker a whirl? See www.thewhigs.com for details.

And the Beats Go On: Former member of Athens hip-hop group BlackRose Dynasty Akeem Clarke, AKA Profound Breadth, released his new album this past week. It's titled Still Breathing, and has thus far had one of its tracks ("I'm Okay") dominate the number-one position on the charts over at WUOG 90.5 FM’s "Halftime Hip-Hop Show" for five weeks—the amount of time a song can remain at number one before it is retired. This is the second solo outing for Profound Breadth, but the first under the tutelage of manager Bobby Stamps (who also manages Bubba Sparxxx). You can stream Still Breathing over at profoundbreadth.bandcamp.com and learn more over at www.reverbnation.com/profoundbreadth.

No Idle Hands: Athens' own Lera Lynn is having her busiest year yet. A couple of months ago, she performed on National Public Radio's popular “Mountain Stage” program and did a live session for influential blog Daytrotter. In May, she participated in the live broadcast of Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" at Atlanta's Fox Theatre. Next up for Lynn and crew is a nine-date tour of the U.K. in July that includes slots at the SummerTyne Americana Festival and Cambridge Folk Festival, and then a month-long U.S. tour in August with K.D. Lang before sliding into home at the Austin City Limits Festival in October. Whew. Keep on truckin', y'all. For more information, please see www.leralynn.com.

Friends Like These: Although none of this is a competition, and we are all made of stars, and all that stuff, the fact still remains that the coolest Athens album to be born this week is the collaboration between Killick Hinds and the legendary Henry Kaiser. It's titled Nikola Tesla High School and comes via Hinds' own H(i)nds(i)ght label. Both Kaiser and Hinds played Tesla guitars on this record (hence its name), with Kaiser playing both six- and seven-string Teuffel Teslas, and Hinds on the quartertone, seven-string Teuffel Tesla. The album was tracked only four weeks ago during a single-day session in Bonny Doon, CA. The centerpiece of the album is a 30-minute track named “Lamarck,” and the only proper reaction to it is to draw the shades, put on the headphones and get lost. This is quite possibly the only improvisational album anyone will need for the rest of the year. Go dig it all completely at killick.bandcamp.com/album/nikola-tesla-high-school.

Driving, Idling: White Violet is out opening for wonder-beards Futurebirds on a short tour of the East Coast. Anchored by the dark and moody songwriting of founder Nate Nelson, the band is getting some good road experience before its debut album, Hiding, Mingling, is released on Aug. 14. (Full disclosure: I wrote a one-sheet for the band that is to be sent out with promotional copies of the record. Whether it will ever actually see the light of day is anyone's guess, but I thought I should mention it.) The album will be released under New West's new Normaltown Records imprint, and was produced by Andy LeMaster—both at home and at Chase Park Transduction. For more information, please see www.normaltownrecords.com and www.facebook.com/whitevioletband.

Rest in Peace: Our deepest sympathies go out this week to the family and friends of musician Killian Dane Merritt Ward, who passed away on June 22. Born in Athens in 1990, Ward played guitar in the Colbert, GA-based band Southern Soul (his father, Mike Ward, is the group's vocalist). Known simply as Ki to his friends, Ward worked a day job as a carpenter when he wasn't rocking the night away. A memorial service was held this past Saturday at Danielsville's Shiloh Social Club, and a memorial fund has been established in his name at First Citizens Bank & Trust Company, 35 N. 34th St., Colbert, GA, 30628.