uncle fuckin acid and the goddamned deadbeats!

DUDE: so last night I went to go scope out Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats up at Center Stage's, along with Ruby the Hatchet and Ecstatic Visions. 

I have been way stoked on Uncle Acid n'em for a long time now, and have been DYING to catch them live, but they've never played the South before and I've never been able to get away to catch them elsewhere (although God knows I've tried). They are here from Cambridge, England, which is pretty far out, they just released their latest album, Night Creeper like a week ago, and Atlanta was the first stop on this tour! FAR FUCKING OUT, MAAAAN!

Here's a lil tune called Melody Lane from that new album for y'all listening pleasure:

Man so through some truly divine comeuppance, I was granted, by the Magic of the Interweb™, a guest list pass to the show! So in turn I was able to pass along my tickets to these two wizards, who thoroughly enjoyed themselves. 

 

 Behold: Eva Deva and Bert LeVert McDert

Also through the Magic of the Interweb™ I was granted this Photography Hall Pass. Now RawkTalk has always been defined by our shitty photography, and everyone trust THIS WILL NOT CHANGE THAT. Instead, we are now able to bring you closer, to the bands that you love, in the shittiest photos man has ever know. 

"I'm gonna shoot...the shittiest fotos EVAR"

So I was really honestly psyched out to see Ecstatic Visions once more, and what's funny is we actually saw them play on this day last year at Meltasia (thanks, fb for reminding me of that yesterday). I mean I just seent them a few months ago too, but they be having subtractions and additions to they group so I was interested to hear what they sounded like with the sax man addition! Also I was really hoping for my wizard friends to see them too because its right up their alley, BUT we totally missed almost all of that shit! They are NOT on Central Stoner Time (CST) at Center Stage, BE WARNED: show at 8:30 means SHOW STARTS EDZACKLY AT MOTHERFUCKING 8:30.

 

 Here's the very last seconds of their set to scope at least

We DID however get to catch all of Ruby the Hatchet which was pretty far out. I haven't listened to them at all but they been on my radar, and actually my wizard friends are way into them, so they gave me mem'ry stick with some RTH tunes on it after the show so that I can jam to them some more. They put on a great fucking show, and I went down front to take some terrible fotos of them, behold!

Next up was Uncle Acid- man, they are so SKITTLY! They look real menacing and whatnot in the like one foto I've ever seen of them, and they did a real good job of making sure you couldn't see SHIT but hair and shadows while they were on stage. But you can tell they are not from here because they are all wearing like little boots and blazers and shit, they just don't look like the long hairs I'm used to, so EDZOTIC! 

So they totally kicked so much ass, and everyone in the fucking place was rawkin all hard and totally having a major Long Haired Toss Off™, like so :

But srsly, this is like one of the few shows I've been too lately where everyone was totally just zonin' and not like talking to each other, or fucking off on their phones. They played a wide array of songs off alla their albums, and everyone just ate that shit the fuck up, myself included. I wish they were playing again tonight! 

One thing that was puzzling to me was they stage decor for their set- there was like some metal trashcans out there and a brick wall- WTH? I don't think you can appreciate that in any of my shitty fotos, but I swear that's what was there. If I gain any insight into why I will update this shit, I swear.

There was a bitchin array of MERRRRCH up at the show.

Since the new album, Night Creeper, just came out a few days ago and I knew the show was happening like immediately after that, I just waited to buy my copy til I got to the show. Then LO AND MOTHERFUCKING BEHOLD, thru the Magic of the Innerweb™ I was able to get the boys to sign that shit! All except for Mr. Starrs. GODDAMN IT MR. STARRS.

The vinyl looks real cool, like clear, right? But then I thought, man, is this glow in the dark? So I held it up to my blacklight and it kinda looked glowy, but I could just be hallucinating. It wouldn't be the first time. But speaking of blacklight shit, THESE MOTHERFUCKERS TOTALLY HAD BLACKLIGHT POSTERS!  So you KNOW I got me one for the colllection! Here it go:

So that was srsly one of the most satisfying shows I've been to in a while, on all fronts. I hope alla them have a nice time here so they'll come back again and again (like some kinda facemelting zombie boys!!) 

Youth Lagoon: Listen to records, drink, possibly give each other home perms

[Disclaimer:  I wrote this post back in January and am not posting it until now due to many factors.  It still rules.  See if you can count how many fucks I give from where you are.]

I read this completely amazing Christmas gift guide for audiophiles recently, and then guess what happened?  I got two of the things for Christmas!  Yeah!

The very best gift I got was from my Kevs, and it was my super awesome Crosley record player.  I love it!!!  Of course.

The other gift I got was a subscription to Vinyl Me, Please.  I got my first record in January and you know what happened then?  Listening party!  And now what's gonna happen?  Rawk Talk!

For our first of hopefully many listening parties, we invited all chicks over to listen and drink, but only one could make it.  Fortunately it was one of our most awesomest friends - Teresa!  I think we are going to try and do this monthly from now on tho, and probably with a different group of people every time.

So the deal with VMP is that you get a special edition record every month, plus a work of art, plus a recipe for a cocktail pairing for one low low price.  That price is $27, which is a little steep just for a record, but considering they are special editions, any one might wind up being worth a lot at some point.

This month's album was "The Year of Hibernation" by Youth Lagoon, which I think is just some guy.  Here's a song:



The whole album is seriously, totally chill.  We all agreed:  not our style of music, but beautiful nonetheless.  Here goes a pic:

Oh and also it's on purple marbled vinyl!

Preeeeetttttyyyyyyyy...

Here goes the art work:

None of us were really into the artwork.  It was kind of weird and didn't match up at all.  I love dogs all hard and I couldn't even get into it.  I don't get it.  But anyway, the main event was the cocktail, which was the Paloma:

Shit yeah!  That stuff was good as hell.  Grapefruit soda, tequila, ice, and salt.  Fuck yeah those are my pink Himalayan sea salt shooters.  Fuck yeah that's Patron and San Pellegrino.  We do this shit up right.  We also made them with some of Teresa's hot vodka, which also ruled, but this shit was so smooth and awesome that we got completely loaded instantly.

While we were stumbling around, we also listened to Dawg's new record subscription, Keep in Touch.  They send out a playable postcard every month, and one side is artwork you can play on your turntable.  Long story short, they don't play for shit.  BUT, they do send you a code to also download the song.  Here goes the postcard:

And the tune was "Driverless Passenger" by TOPS.  Here it goes:



That shit was also completely fucking ambient and chill as all hell.  It wound up being this amazing girls' night in, drinking what turned out to be an amazing winter cocktail and listening to lil angels serenade us all night.  FUN.

Crotch Chimes™ and heavy psych with Ecstatic Visions!

So evidently now we are just gonna start trademarking the shit out of things for everyone else as well. May as well, if they haven't leapt onto this train yet.

 

So Ecstatic Vision is this band from Philadelphia. We first heard about them last summer when they rawked our fucking faces off at the Meltasia Music Festival. They were so fucking good there, I was fully stoked to read that they were coming back to Atlanta.

They played at Union EAV- a venue where I was like- what in the fuck is this place? Turns out its the old East Side Lounge reincarnated into the same space with a different name. Its laid out so fucking weird to have a band play there I was interested to see how they were gonna have it set up- cause honestly its more like a bar with a teeny upstairs spot, where the dj used to set up back when it was ESL and more like a club. So what they did was have the bands play that teeny little upstairs spot. I couldn't fucking believe that tho because the rest of the space was basically sitting empty, then everyone there to see the show was crammed into the little scary fire hazard space, and I felt so bad for the bands having to drag their crap up there. However, it did make for a kind of cool little experience for viewing and I felt #blessed they had a couch up there for my old bones.

StalkerVision™ activate! 

 

I seent their van out back the Union and recognized it from cyberstalking them on instagram. I was stoked to see they had a dreamcatcher in their van, because its like THE most important thing to have if you are on the road. Besides the cord that attaches your ipod to your radio. And something to drink. And maybe something to smoke.

They had two local bands on first, the first of which we missed, the second of which was Gnomonaut. Gnomonaut were doomy and proggy, an odd mixture that actually worked out pretty well. Total white boy music. It wasn't not enjoyable.

[area.personality:  I actually really liked Gnomonaut.  They were Good 'n' Heavy™, plus they did a lot of their music in 7/8 time, which made the music nerd girl in me swoon a little.  Not enough to git up off the bar and stop drankin, but enough to go, "oh shit, that's 7/8 time."  I hope they show up again as some opening act I halfway pay attention to.  I really dig it when super heavy bands do odd time signatures because it makes you think you're rawkin and then jerks your brain into some other space and then you suddenly are rawkin in an unexpected manner.  Good times.]

Next up was good ol Ecstatic Visions. They did a great job melting our fucking faces off. I also really dug their lil light set up in combo with the indigenous artwork of ESL/whatever the hell its called now. I have to say tho that I was majorly bummed out to find that they only had a single drummer with them this time. That was like the fucking highlight of seeing them at Meltasia for me because they totally had TWO FUCKING DRUMMERS. One on a kit and one on an array of various percussive elements. But all was not lost cause they was still rawkin, with some facemelting guitars raining down and some lawng haiyuh flippin around. 

 

area.personality closeup foto with flash of the Crotch Chimes™ She thought they were crotch chiming more than at Meltasia, but I honestly felt gyped on the crotch chime this go round.

[area.personality:  It's fucking never enough, Dawg.  I was happy, but it's never enough.]

Here goes their video for the track "Astral Plane" which I really dig because I'm constantly talking about meeting up with people on the Astral Plane and also I really like this song. I think one of the things I dig the most about Ecstatic Visions is that they have that kinda far out tribal element going on with the drums et al (hence my dismay at being shorted one drummer) but they still managed to pull off that vibe despite being down one. Don't get me wrong, I love facemelting guitars and gravely rawk voices as much as the next person, but that heavily psychedelic trance inducing element is what really sets them apart, in my opinion. 

Another thing about the show: One final thing: So I totally tried to chat them up and ask some questions but I think I need to work on my approach :-( I think I come off like a drunk stalker, wait, maybe I AM a drunk stalker. Either way I had a shitty piece of paper with my little kid interview questions scrawled on it, and I must've looked insane. So I'm not going to include any of that jazz here, save to let you know that I asked the drummer what his favorite percussive element is, cause I love that question! I really dig a solid'n'sour cowbell, but that's just me. 

Oh we totally got some MERRRRCH, maaaaan! I was totally stoked up about that. They had some kinda cool lookin shirts, but as per ush, they only had dude sizes, so we will have to cut the necks out of these shirts to make them wearable for those with racks. I really dig all their graphics they be sharing on fb and ig so I had to go awn and git me a shirt. Plus I'm like the most enthusiastic person I know when it comes to merch. 

[area.personality:  GIVEAWAY ALERT!  Follow our blog and comment on this blog post and we will pick a winner at random to win an Ecstatic Visions t-shirt!  Mens' / Unisex size M, runs a little large.  If you are not a mens' / unisex size M/L, just let us know and we will cut it up for you so you can still wear it.  Or if you are a chick and you want it to look all lusty.  Or if you just want us to cut it up for you.  You could have your very own Ecstatic Visions / Rawk Talk custom t-shirt!  Do it!!!] 

So finally their record has come out today! Weeeee! I pre-ordered it, like a total fucking nerd, so I actually got it in the mail Friday, but then I was hanging out at the pool so fucking hard all weekend I didn't get pop it on until last night. Totes ordered the fucking sherbety swirl vinyl cause I'm a girrrrrrrl. Here goes a recreation of what happened last night in my living room.

Gratuitous close ups

Hippy Trippy Swirl Vinyl, maaaaaan

The record is pretty slammin, although I gotta say- its like the same five songs I've heard them play both times we seent em. I'm not mad, they are five slammin jams, man. And they are five slammin jams best served live, but they did a nice job capturing the vibe on wax. Its also cool to be able to cruise around in my Mystery Machine listening to it , as they were so kind as to include a download code. 

So I guess that's all for good ol' Ecstatic Visions. In the time that it has taken for us to publish this article they have completed their US tour and returned to their native homeland, and completed another world tour, and all got married and had families, and gotten divorces, and grown old and died, and have been reincarnated as another, more rawkin band, called Ecstatic Visions 2. Ok so maybe it didn't take that long to finish this, but it trust, its been a minute. Hope y 'all will all stalk them down on the world wide innerwebs so that you can see them live when they pass thru yer town! 

Austin Psych Fest Live! This is the end

So we stuck around for 13th Floor Elevators and that was er something. Time waits for no man, especially Roky Erickson. I wish I had got close enough to see how they were synthesizing the jug sound do I could properly bitch about it. Roky, like everyone over 90, has no range, but he still managed to raise a lil hell. I heard him sing, "You're Gonna Miss Me" so bucket list item is check. 

We laid out on a blanket and enjoyed that a lot, but then we got too sleepy and we had to leave. The cheese fries from Frank's were amaze. 

Austin Psych Fest Live! More time happened

Since the first time I heard them, I knew one day I would end up layin on a blanket in a field somewhere totally incapacitated listening to the Black Angels play live. While its awesome to be sharin this blanket with you Dawg I know you know I'd rather be sharing it with the Black Angels. They are rocking me sufficiently for now. No need to rassel them to the ground. 

Before we saw Samsara Blues Experiment who set the whole damn pace for today. Half speed. They were awesome. 

We just left Black Angels to see Follakzoid from Chile. It was kind of like leaving the US to go to Canada, but they're great nonetheless. Here goes Follakzoid:

Yayuh!  Dawg, you wanna call the one on the right? Yayuh!

After SBE we saw Mac DeMarco and I actually enjoyed it even though he sounds a lot like Al Stewart in his studio recordings. Big thanks to Kevs for giving me the Al Stewart background for vicious criticism purposes. Thanks and sorry, babe. 

Coming up later: 13th Floor Elevators, Flaming Lips, and Fuzzzzzzzz

Austin Psych Fest Live! The past 24 hours

So lastnight we saw Spiritualized, and it was super weird. Did the band go away after the 90's and then come back totally reinvented recently? Or did a different band assume their name? Because it was kind of a lot of straight ahead rock instead of intense electronic buildups and  releases. Late phase bands can be confusing. 

Then we saw The Swords and they totally rocked! I really enjoyed them, but at what cost? They were playing in a massive tent and it got hot and gross in there so we had to go find a spot out the back. 

Then we decided to just listen to a bit of Tame Impala and then go. TI sounded great, but I don't like the new tracks. I really dislike the manwoman song.  The let it happen one is ok. Did you read that article about Kevin Parker doing ONE THOUSAND vocal takes for manwoman? I don't know what to say about that. But there was a chick doing free oil cleanses so we got our faces washed and then left. 

We weren't too interested in the bands today so we haven't seen too much, but the weather has been amazing!  Nice and dry and cool and breezy! Yeah! Dawg said we needed a waterbed, which would rule! But I countered with this:

But when I went to google image it i got this:

And now I think we have to get a giant outdoor clamshell bed to take to festivals. We could probably get some cadre of Dirtbags to move it around for us, right? 

VOTE NOW!

The other thing that's making tonight rule is the newest addition to my shoe closet:

Fuck yes

We heard the Oh Sees on the main stage. They're a lot more poppy and musically organized than I thought they would be! But enjoyable. 

Then we saw Primal Scream. They must have been pretty forgettable because

Now we're listening to Earth and it is so righteous. They are so droney and stoney and delicious. Here goes Earth:

Look! There's a chick! Hell yeah to chicks in sludge rock bands! Nice!

That's it for now. I don't think we're staying for Jesus & Mary Chain. You know?

Austin Psych Fest Live! The first 20 minutes

Once every like seven years Austin gets really humid and has a lot of rain. This is that year. 

So last year it was all super dry and hot during the day, cool at night. And the wind kept blowing, and it would kick up a dust storm. 

This year it's wet. 

Also it's on a ranch. 

And hot. 

And it's on a ranch. 

Ya know?

Anyway, so far I've enjoyed Ringo Deathstar, they sounded great. In fact, most everything on the main stage sounds great. I purposefully avoided DIIV so I dunno about them. 

We discovered Mini Mansions and Holy Drug Couple. We should adopt that moniker, Dawg. Gotta listen to them more closely later. 

Now we're sitting at White Fence and they're / he's playin and playin. It just doesn't sound as good as some of his stuff I've heard. 

Next up: Spiritualized, still at it after 73 years together, but I can still dig it. Then Swords and Tame Impala. Yay!