Two Mixt A, Vol. 1 record release shows
Featuring the N.E.C., Grip Plyaz, the Balkans, A. Leon Craft. $10 (includes vinyl LP). 7 p.m. Thurs., May 7. Eyedrum, 290 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. 404-522-0655. www.eyedrum.org.
Featuring Stanza, Carnivores, Mums FP, Predator. Free. 3:30 p.m. Sun., May 10. Criminal Records, 1154-A Euclid Ave. 404-215-9511. www.criminal.com.
AUDIO
When Carnivores play their clutter of fuzz, every rhythm, melody and yearning voice is precisely placed among a wash of lo-fi tropicalia and dark sound collages. A mild-mannered indie-rock aesthetic holds sway over the lineup of Philip Frobos (bass/vocals), Nathaniel Higgins (guitar), Caitlin Lang (keyboards/vocals) and Tauseef Anam (drums), but the experimental bend of their songs finds inspiration in the likes of Animal Collective, Faust and the harmonic complexities of early Beach Boys records.
— Chad Radford
I met Nathaniel and Tauseef in high school in Gainesville. Nathaniel went to a different school than me and Tauseef, but we hated everybody at both of our schools so we hung out and drank Hawaiian Punch, ate toast cheese crackers and played music.
Me and Nathaniel used to break into a building on the Gainesville square and play guerilla gigs. Last November, it was this awful emo band that was kind of the reigning king of Gainesville. Whenever they played at the Brick House on the square we would pick the lock on an empty building next door and play shows for our friends and steal their audience. Back then, we just kind of sounded like the Pixies, Pavement and the Fall, maybe some Beat Happening and maybe some Replacements. It was super ’90s-indie-rock sounding stuff.
Back then we were called Chainestereo and too many people were identifying us with some bad Death Cab for Cutie kind of bullshit. We wanted to be edgier, and plus we kept getting booked with the same bands every night.
I met Caitlin at the Georgia State dorms — which are Tech dorms now — and it was a fucking madhouse back then. The craziest shit that I have ever witnessed was at those dorms. They’re on lockdown now, so it’s much calmer … . But back then people were flipped out on drugs and puking in elevators. Caitlin was friends with my roommate. She was one of the chill girls and I knew her for a year before I asked her to play music.
One night she was drunk and I said, “C’mon, it will make you cool.” She finally gave in and we became Carnivores shortly after. Chainestereo had a lot of bells and whistles. It was goofy and a little bitchy. With Carnivores, the music is a lot more high-energy, rhythmic and tropical. People weren’t into it before. We were sick of it, too.
— Philip Frobos of Carnivores
Mixtape Love: The Music Issue '09
Dedicated to Atlanta, a compilation of sounds and stories from some of our favorite artists
Grip Plyaz, "Fuck Dat Hipster Shit"
Basically, I grew up right there on the corner of Parkway and Ponce de Leon in the apartments that sit right across the street from the Taco Bell. So I grew up around the whole dope game. I learned that wasn’t the way to go growing up. I had to come up with a better plan. — Grip Plyaz
The Balkans, "Violent Girls"
Me and Brett were both in these little mall rat cults that hung out at Phipps and Lenox and caused trouble. We had a crew and we would hang out at the Publix by Phipps and try to get people to buy us beer and wine, and then we would go hang out in the stairwell at the mall and smoke cigarettes. — Woody Shortridge of the Balkans
Zoroaster, "White Dwarf"
We found out really quickly how the royalty checks work — they don’t! We never got a penny from our album sales. So we said, “Fuck it. Instead of handing our music over to someone else, let’s start our own label." — Dan Scanlan of Zoroaster
Mums FP, "Cause and Effect"
I feel like I’m flier than a lot of people. I may not just say it to their faces, ’cause I don’t know what kind of reaction that’s going to get out of a lot of people. So music is just where I kind of let that out. — Mums FP
A. Leon Craft, "Spaced Out"
Back then, we were just listening to booty-shake music and N.W.A. and stuff like that. Most of the music that was coming out of the South was more dance type, but when [OutKast] came out just rapping, we were like, “Aww man.” I remember I used to go to sleep listening to the ATLiens album every night in the little tape deck. — A. Leon Craft
Predator, "You"
Brannon and I have been in bands together for a long time and we’ve always wanted to write different-sounding stuff, whether it be something a little slower or maybe much faster, but it always comes out sounding punk because that’s the only kind of band we’ve ever been in, and that’s what we know how to play. — Mike Beavers of Predator
Stanza, "A. Town Love"
My first introduction to hip-hop was when my cousin had 8Ball & MJG’s Comin’ Out Hard — when they still had the [Jheri] curls on the cover. I remember sitting in front of the stereo, just looking at the stereo, listening to it. And something about it caught me — Stanza
Anna Kramer & the Lost Cause, "I Can't Take It"
"I Can't Take It" just kind of came out of me. It's a pretty straight-up rocker and I didn't have to think about it, really. It's nice when a song flows like that and you can capture a feeling in a song; the initial feeling that you had when you wanted to write it in the first place. — Anna Kramer
The Ultimate Mixtape Playlists
To celebrate CL’s annual music issue we asked a random mix of Atlanta tastemakers, critics and promoters to share their greatest playlists.
