ANSWERED PRAYERS: I’d been agitating for a long time, at least in my mind, for electronic powerhouse Nerveclinic to release a full-length album. Last month, it happened. Normally I wouldn’t wait so long to cover something like this, but I wanted to sit with it. It’s titled Become The Universe and runs eight tracks long. It opens with the expansively blissful “New Energy” before slipping nearly imperceptibly into the, well, dub-influenced “Bad Dub Slab” which somehow imparts a sense of hope within its light melancholy. The third song, “Throwing Signs,” teases the listener with slightly sped-up tempos of the sort you might imagine would continue throughout, but they don’t. What to do instead is set the listener up to sit on the edge of this expectation. It’s a psychologically powerful effect, even if it was unintended. I find myself quite partial to the sweeping soft melody of “Hollow” and the title track, which also teases the listener into tuning its fading out at the end, but then stops abruptly. Find this before winter is over at thenerveclinic.bandcamp.com.
OH L’AMOUR: I’ve mentioned this one a few times, but now the day is nigh. Sloan Brothers’ new full-length album, Love & Other Diagnoses, will be released this Friday, Feb. 13. Once again it features an all-star set of players in the core lineup, including Jay Gonzalez (Drive-By Truckers), Kevin and Matt Lane (The Lanes, The Arcs), and Brandon Reynolds (The Arcs). The album arrives courtesy of Science Project Records, and is available as a vinyl LP and digital download. In the interest of full disclosure, please note that Simpson and I have worked together on projects in the past, including Sloan Brothers projects, but not this particular LP. So vaya con dios, y’all. On release day you can find the new album on all major streaming services as well as sloanbrothers.bandcamp.com, which is where you’d go to order the vinyl as well. In related news, this same day you can head to Ciné at 1 p.m. for a release day HeAthens hangout session and release party with Sloan and Jay Gonzalez. The latter will be playing a few tunes, and the former will appear in conversation with Glenn Raucher.
SOUND, RHYTHM AND NOISE: Centipede released a mighty slab of rock several weeks ago named Bad Trip, and through inadvertent omission I’m just now getting around to it. It runs 10 tracks of metal-hardcore that dances right across the precipice of sludge and doom, but manages to stay just this side of the hardcore dividing line. Close listeners will notice a decent amount of psych influence here, mostly in the production and not the actual compositions, and not unlike Flipper or Rudimentary Peni. For me this really gets cooking around the third song, “Sink,” and reaches its peak with the title track. While it doesn’t take itself too seriously, there are loads of nice subtleties here that are mostly lost in a live setting. Find this at centipede706.bandcamp.com.
REST IN PEACE: On Jan. 24, Athens resident Sarah Gilbert Pickett died at age 36. Gilbert was a PhD musicologist, violinist and teacher at five colleges, including Georgia Gwinnett College and the University of Georgia. A native of New Mexico, Gilbert and her husband Jordan had lived in Athens since 2018. Services were held for her at the end of January, but it is reported that concerts in Sarah’s honor are being planned by her students and colleagues for future dates.
ACT NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR BEATS: OK, y’all, this is it. The deadline for performers to apply to play this year’s AthFest is this Saturday, Feb. 14. The organization itself notes that, “The AthFest Booking Committee reviews every submission and selects acts based upon characteristics such as musical talent, following and draw, previous AthFest experience ([they] like to book performers who haven’t yet played AthFest), and self-promotion.” The application process is not difficult, but it is specific, so make sure you have the most organized person in your band do the work here. This year’s event runs June 26–28. The application is available at athfest.com/athfest-music.
HERE IS A CALL: English teacher and PhD candidate Saurabh Anand has received a grant from the LGBTQ+ Heritage Alliance for a project titled Traces and Triumphs: Documenting Queer Place-Based Histories in Athens, Georgia. It is focused on history pre-1980. While this isn’t necessarily music-scene specific, the call is now out for stories from “longtime residents, musicians, artists and community members.” If you’d like to contribute or get more information, please drop him a line via [email protected].
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