DAGMAR SAYS: The new, self-titled full-length by Dagmar Vork came out a couple of weeks ago, and hoo boy, it was worth the nearly two-year wait. Nearly everything here is so subtle it scintillates. The detached art-school cool, the deceptively simple rhythms and melodies, the half-buried vocals—all of it. Broken down to its elements, it’s 10 tracks composed via guitar-bass-drums-keys, but listeners are jerked out of complacency pretty quick with the backward-tracking 26-second jolt of “Sometimes”—which also closes the whole album out several tracks later. The gentle album opener “Infiniti Beverly Hills” does little to prep the ears for the pulsating slow-grind urgency of “Four Windows,” either. Significantly, nothing here sets out to prove anything to anyone. It just is. I caught a breath of fresh air during the wholly unpretentious and pretty melody of “Doesn’t Hurt at All,” and “Tommy’s Head” follows much the same route. Just about the only things here that really announce themselves as rock songs are the one-two punch of “Timber” and “OMW,” but even then, we’re talking Velvets, not Van Halen. January ain’t so bad right now, and you can go ahead and improve yours at dagmarvork.bandcamp.com.

EVERYBODY IS A STAR: Athenian David Lee has assembled rare and mostly unseen footage from the two legendary Atlanta International Pop Festivals into a singular documentary. Alex Cooley Presents: Time Has Come Today will be screened and presented along with a Q&A with Lee at UGA’s Special Collections Libraries Saturday, Jan. 26 from 4–7 p.m. I cannot tell you how excited I am to see this. These festivals, during the summers of 1969 and 1970, were a cultural touchstone for the now nearly-forgotten freak scene of the Deep South and the teenagers who couldn’t get to California or wherever they were wearing flowers in their hair. The 1969 event happened at the Atlanta International Raceway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway) in Hampton, and 1970’s festival happened at the Middle Georgia Raceway in Byron. They were the work and, in all seriousness, art of Georgia promoter and steadfastly good dude Alex Cooley, who died in 2015. The lineups featured Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker, The Allman Brothers Band, Poco, Canned Heat, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Chambers Brothers, Grand Funk Railroad and a mind-boggling selection of others. The doc also includes scenes from the Texas International Pop Festival (held over Labor Day in 1969) near Dallas, with which Cooley was also involved. This event is free, open to the public and will surely pack out, so don’t slack, hippie.

GOOD TO BE KING: It’s been a little minute since Athens rapper Kxng Blanco released his new album Crown, but it came out right before the news-reporting element of this column took its annual winter nap. That said, I’m on it now. Blanco cuts a hot line here that equally brings the party (“End My Day”), delivers self-effacing humor combined with some questionable backbone flexing (the X-rated bro jam “Friday Night”), and grooves on the bootstrapping “Crown Intro.” Easily, though, the most standout track is “Knew Better,” which features Athens all-stars Dictator and Cassie Chantel. All in all, Blanco keeps improving, and this collection is tightly produced, with the beats easily keeping a steady tempo throughout. His drive is palpable, and once he coalesces his inner voices into a singular personality, he’s gonna shine a lot brighter. Go chew on this at soundcloud.com/kxngblanco.

DOUBLE DOSIN’: Psychic heartbreakers Love My Truck continue to leak out bibs and bobs. To wit: the two-song Straight to Lazer Disc. Melodically, it’s a bit more mainstream and predictable than previous releases, but it’s also more fully fleshed-out production-wise, so, you know, six of one and a half-dozen of the other. I don’t know much, admittedly, but I do know Gram Parsons would crack a grin at the pedal steel intro on “Never Can Tell” and, most likely, the song itself. Dig this at lovemytruck.bandcamp.com.

ON SALE NOW: AC Carter (aka Lambda Celsius) has assembled a killer-looking event for Mar. 1–2. It’s named Ad·Verse Fest, and it’ll happen at Go Bar, the Caledonia Lounge and Flicker Theatre and Bar. Featured artists include RaFia, Superbody, SONATORE, Video Tronic and Her Intrusive Thots, Neon Black, Internet Boyfriend, Seline Haze and tons more. Single-day tickets are 10 bucks, and a pass for both days is a mere $15. More information will be mentioned here as it comes available, but for now, check out adversefest.space and follow along on Instagram @adversefest. This is gonna be really cool, y’all, and this type of thing is a massive amount of work even when it looks easy, so respect.