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Event: |
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Corndogorama 10 |
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Date: |
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Friday.25.June.2004 and Saturday.26.June.2004 |
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Venue: |
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The EARL |
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Location: |
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East Atlanta, GA |
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Reviewed by: |
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Brillo, Postlibyan, Sparklehonkey, and Tracers |
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Performance Rating:
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Sound Quality:
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Overall Rating:
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Brendan: |
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A few weekends ago i sent my Minions to Corndog-o-rama,
a sort of music festival in a club in East Atlanta, the indie
rock mecca of our fair city. At long last they have gotten their
thoughts together. Here is the group verdict of what was the
10th Corndog-o-rama. |
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Sparklehonkey: |
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Corndogorama night one (Friday) was amusing. The EARL was packed.
I enjoyed several bands, however. Tracers, PostLibyan and I saw
The Orphins (sic), Black Love, Emory Reel, The Brew, and shit,
I knew I would forget bands that I liked... |
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Tracers: |
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I really liked The Orphins, who are getting better every time
i see them in
concert. |
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PostLibyan: |
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Indeed. A very competent band. I would describe them as "a
young band that has listened to their early Wire". And that's
a good thing. Their solid post-punk is a welcome break from all
of the whiney indie rock around these days. |
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Tracers: |
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Next was Hot Young Priest. A sort of local super-group that
keeps getting better with time. |
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PostLibyan: |
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I thought that the rhythms were great, and the singers voice
sounds more and more like the girl from Bettie
Seerviert. Very nice. |
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Tracers: |
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Black Love
were very different from anything else at Corndog-o-rama. They
were a two-piece playing various electronic instruments with minimal
vocals. Very different, but i liked them. They only did three
songs, two of which were ambient, the other only slightly less
so. I think the middle one was on one of their releases. |
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PostLibyan: |
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I enjoyed the heck out of their show. It's simply wonderful
to see somebody doing that stuff live. Unfortunately not many
others in the crowd seemed to be getting into it. I understand
that it wasn't the most energetic set that evening, but it certainly
was one of the most unique. This despite one member's emailed
promise that one of the tunes they would do was an "80's
dance number". I didn't hear that -- did they actually do
it? |
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Tracers: |
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I don't think so. The middle tune sort of rocked, but only in
comparison to the other two tunes. Nevertheless i liked them alot. |
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Sparklehonkey: |
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While you two were taking a break, i saw The Brew, a hip-hop/metal
act. They amused me. They were so out of place at The EARL that
you just had to laugh. |
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PostLibyan: |
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I dunno, that's not really my thing. Anyway, the final surprise
for Friday night were a touring band, Nashville-based Emery Reel.
They are a competent instrumental post-rock band. A little Mogwai
(very little), a little GYBE, a
little Tortoise, and a little
Slint all thrown in a blender.
They weren't the most original band i have ever seen, but they
did do it well, and it's always more fun in concert.... The end
bit with all of the band clanging on the vibraphone was nice.
Artsy, but nice. |
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Tracers: |
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I loved the vibraphone and their foot pedal/organ thingy. What
is it with post-rockers and esoteric instrumentation? Either way
-- I want a vibraphone. |
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Sparklehonkey: |
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In addition to the bands,
there was general mayhem from drunk indie rockers. There
was even a girl who was dressed as a corndog. Every time
we saw her, she had a drink in hand. We finally accosted
her outside and asked her if she was hot, and she declared
that she was roasting. Tomorrow, we decided, would be
worse, and that the next day she would be a bitter, hungover,
hot corndog. |
L-R: Sparklehonkey, The Corndog Girl, and
the vocalist of Teen Wheat. |
Anyway, we left around 1, I think... got home at a decent hour
to get up at 10:30 and do it all again.
On day 2 we were back at The EARL around noon to see many bands.
Other minions wandered through (Brillo, Zythos), but by 9 PM
we had all cleared out, exhausted. |
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Tracers: |
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I liked National Dust, the first band we saw on Saturday. They
were much poppier than 3D5SPD ever were, and that works for them.
[Brendan's note: National Dust is, in fact,
made up of former members of 3D5SPD,
with the drummer from Teen Wheat/Envie
thrown in for good measure.] The singer's voice reminded
me of someone, but i don't know who. |
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PostLibyan: |
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I thought that the first two songs were really good -- high
quality indie pop.
However, after that, the set kind of varied in quality, with some
of the tunes seeming catchy, and then during some of them i found
myself really longing for coffee.... That is probably a sign of
them being such a young band, and of it being noon and me, well,
needing coffee. Fortunately, we left after that set to, in fact,
get coffee. Thank goodness for coffee shops. |
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Sparklehonkey: |
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We got back in time to see ... some wierd band with an older
hippie guy singing country-esque tunes. He got the best lyric
of the day with his line, "It's been a sucky, sucky, day."
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PostLibyan: |
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That hippie's band was called Dang Dang Dang. They had a female
backup singer -- she just stood there, danced a bit, and sang
"oohs" and "aahs" to hamonize with his voice.
I find that really wierd -- it's like something out of a Pink
Floyd concert video.... |
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Tracers: |
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I had forgotten about them. Also fun and good. Very roots rock,
I think. |
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Sparklehonkey: |
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| Up next was Blind Michael Bradley.
His solo set was like Myssouri Lite, just more depressing.
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Brillo: |
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A bit disappointing. Michael Bradley's voice is still exceptional,
but he works better with a band (I miss the earlier incarnations
of Myssouri). |
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Tracers: |
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The best three band set of the day was up next: Sharks and Minnows,
The Silent Kids, and Luigi. |
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Sparklehonkey: |
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I really enjoyed Sharks and Minnows. |
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Tracers: |
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| Sharks and Minnows had some minor technical
difficulties, but they played around it, which I liked.
They seemed to hit their rhythm more towards the end of
their set. The same was true of The Silent Kids. It was
nice to hear them play some of the stuff off Tomorrow
Waits. That material rocked, and reminded me of
why I liked the album |
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PostLibyan: |
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I'm not familiar with their album, but i
thought they put on a fun show. It
took two or three songs for Blake (soundguy) to figure out
what to do with the keyboards, but when he did it really
came together. |
Silent Kid as rock star. |
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Tracers: |
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| Luigi features Michelle DuBois from Ultrababyfat
(not Shanali or Britta
Phillips, the other girl.) They were nice -- i want
to hear their album. |
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PostLibyan: |
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| I enjoyed them as well. Good solid indie
pop. I would be curious to hear how they record. And then,
after Luigi, it was at last time for a pizza break. And
after that many hours of standing around The EARL drinking
PBR, i needed a good slice of pizza.... When we got back
it was time for Teen Wheat. Yay. I was really looking forward
to their set. |
L-R: PostLibyan and Chad from
Sharks and Minnows enjoy some suds. |
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Sparklehonkey: |
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| I liked Teen Wheat too. Good screaming hardcore
with gobs of guitars. |
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Tracers: |
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Teen Wheat also put on a great show, despite the crowd mayhem
and throwing stuff on the stage. |
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PostLibyan: |
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Eh, mayhem is to be expected at a good hardcore punk show.
But it was after Teen Wheat, that things got ....
wierd. The next band we saw was Hubcap City, who are always
a bit strange. But this time, well, just look at the photo.
Yeah -- they are all beating on a metal girder
while Bill Taft sings/talks a strange story. Very avante. But
also very much a work in progress as he kept giving directions
to the other band members ("Okay, hit it real quiet here"
or "It's okay to bang away here"). Amusing, but not
their most focused and together set. |
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Sparklehonkey: |
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Um, Hubcap City was weird, but I did really enjoy the song where
they beat on the metal girder. |
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Tracers: |
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I liked the set, and actually what i liked about it was seeing
a true "work in progress". Very interesting to watch
how their songs grow. |
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Brillo: |
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I thought that Hubcap City wasn't as bizzarely interesting as
they have been in the past. |
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PostLibyan: |
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Next up was one of the most frequently reviewed bands on
EvilSponge -- American Dream. Only, it's a whole new band now.
Basically, American Dream is Dave Railey's name for whatever
musical project he is involved with. Dave is a pretty good songwriter,
an okay guitarist, and an ... interesting singer. He's not always
on key, which can be charming at times or annoying at times.
Previous incarnations of the band invloved lots of instrumentation
-- washes of melody (keys, cello, other vocals, etc.) to blend
with his voice. Combined, the overall effect was powerful when
done right.
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and guitar, long-time drummer Eric Young, and the former
bassist of 3D5SPD. I found that without the mass of several
melodic instruments to back him up with a wall of sound,
Railey's voice seems weak. These new songs didn't really
work for me at all. Perhaps this is just the newness of
the current lineup. I suppose that only time will tell...
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Sparklehonkey: |
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I thought that American Dream had gone downhill from the last
time I saw them. |
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Brillo: |
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They didn't rock. |
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Tracers: |
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I'm not sure what to make of American Dream either. |
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PostLibyan: |
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Sad, really. Especially seeing as that was more or less the
end of the fest for us. Two days of solid bands and beer take
a lot out of a Minion.... |
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Tracers: |
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Indeed, but it wasn't that late either. That was the best thing
about this festival: it ran on time. That actually threw me off
a bit, because I always calculate in "The EARL time-delay
factor" in planning out where I need to be, but it was nice
to see things run smoothly and efficiently. |
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PostLibyan: |
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Yeah, kudos to booking guy Patrick, who apparently runs a tight
ship. |
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Tracers: |
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The 'rama itself seemed fairly crowded, but the back venue with
the bands never seemed to fill up while I was there. That was
strange. And it didn't seem like as many musicians were hanging
out and watching the other bands as in previous years. Must have
been the free beer. |
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Brendan: |
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On the whole, the Minions tell me they had a good time. It only
cost $10 for the two days, and dozens of bands were seen. A real
bargain, as it were. |
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Related Links:
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Many of the bands mentioned here have been reviwed
on EvilSponge before. Links have been placed where those bands
are mentioned. |
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