Affie's SECOND Music Wednesday: Locals edition

The power, after flickering 7 times and then going out for a little over an hour, is now on and it's pouring. I wish I had a camera with film or something because Contessa and Meshuggina (that's Marry Me's new nickname- my sister. It fits her well. I'm calling her Mesha for short. The "e" is short, so she's not Meesha, but Mehsha.) are outside, playing with the slip-n-slide in the rain. It's priceless and they are SOAKED!! I kinda wish I was out there with them, but I'd get sick and I can't deal with that this weekend.

Two days in a row! No complaining for a week- from any of you readers!
Now in my efforts to gaurntee you as my most valued reader at least two post a month, I instated reccomendation days, and this is the second one for music. I would call this a milestone because it means I've at least been keeping up with this thing for a month. On to the music. In fashion of last month's, I've picked a solo artist and a band. The special thing about this one is that these two are from Atlanta and from Athens- making them locals and all locals need support. Look at John Mayer, who was an Atlanta for 2 or 3 years and even made it to the locals only stage at Music Midtown (lest we forget) and now look at him. 3 successful albums. Who knows, it could be this post that's the make or break point for these bands...but that's a whole bunch of fluff and stuff. These two are pretty good and I'm tired and don't feel like putting a whole lot of thougt into this. When I opened my CD case this morning, they were on the same page and I thought it would be a neat idea to do a locals edition.

Solo artist: I think everyone that reads, knows my local Atlanta guy. I know that at least if you haven't seen him live, you know who he is. David Berkeley. Now he's kinda cheating as far as being an Atlanta local goes because he was born in New Jersey, but he moved here and lives in Decatur and feels that's where he should be. I feel that way too because when he's in town, there are often plenty of FREE shows to attend. Since he's recording his fourth album in Chicago some where, he's not home right now and thus, we're going without shows for a little while. The only album I'm missing is "The Confluence" and I'm upset about that, but I can draw from "After the Wrecking Ships" and "Live from Fez." Really, I prefer "Live from Fez," since think that he sounds great live and even better live with the full band. On "LfF," he plays half with the full band and the other half is just him and his guitar. It's very peaceful and great for traveling, especially to the Florida panhandle. It works with the May scenery thru south Georgia, which I love- but hate the heat. He's got plenty of talent. When I saw him, which was with Charlotte Martin, it was a plesant suprise. Our group was disappointed in Charlotte because she's so good on the CD, but stinks live. She was far too attached to her Korg. She was actually having trouble with it and she said, "Don't you guys want me to start it back up again?" The crowd yells and screams, but I say no and about 2 or 3 people around look at me like I'm stupid. The Korg brought her way down on my favorites list, but David shot right up there. He played his guitar, sang, and then Will Robertson (who he always is handsome and unavaliable) played bass. It was beautiful. His sound is actually similar to John Mayer's, only his voice is less rough on the edges and his lips don't do that funny thing. He sounds wonderful. I've tried since then to see him 3 times. Both shows that you had to pay for were made 21 and older and then the free show he canceled to go tour the West coast with Guster. He did about 4 shows with them and then came home. I think "LfF" is my favorite, since personally, I think he sounds better live. Most people do not sound better raw, but he's one of the few that do. Kinda like Kelly Clarkson. She was the first American Idol because she sound good without the studio. This fourth David album is what I'm really looking forward to and hopefully, he'll come to Athens to accompany this new CD release. Everyone better be with me.

Band: I don't know much about these guys, since all I did was end up in Wuxtry's one day exploring the Rock bins and decided to try a local flavor. In doing so, I ended up walking out of there having spent the most money I've ever spent in there, carring An Epic At Best. Now, you never know what you might get when you do that. It's not like listening to music clips at WalMart.com and then buying someone you've never heard of. This is taking a complete risk with $9 of your hard earned money (babysitting Contessa isn't exactally hard earned, but it's money I worked for and I'm Jewish) and you don't know what you might get. It was in the rock bin, which encompasses so much, it's not even funny. I could have been walking out of there with death metal and not even knowing it. The album cover with the peaceful bird on a branch that look like they were pieced together from torn paper didn't scream death metal at me, so I figured I was safe enough. Turns out I was more than safe. They sound almost exactally like Ben Folds Five, with a touch of The Format, both of which are up there on my favorites list. They aren't half bad and concidering how many local shows they play, I'll most likely keep up with them and go see a show that they are playing that's not 21 and older. I was impressed for just wandering in and wandering out with it. Some call Ben Folds Five piano pop, so I would have to call these guys that as well. The piano is kinda a fetish for me, since I throughly enjoy it. I was only disappointed in one song of the 9, called "Carolina." Whoever does lead vocals whined far too much, and it wasn't a talented whine like Elvis Costello either. It was so recycled as well. All they did was take some song about missing California and they replaced the state name with Carolina. It's the 2nd song on the album, so I was like, "Oh no, I spend $9 on a piece of crap," but by track 7 I was into it. Tracks 7 thru 9 far out weigh the disappointment of track 2. Those are "wow" tracks. I was most impressed with those three and the flow they exhibited. Track 9 is 10 minutes long exactally and although it repeats itself, it's a song that doesn't get old because it changes sound completly almost 7 times. Those tracks truly make the album something a little different than the other artists that produce music that sound like them.

Enjoy ALL the links. I wanted to make sure everyone got the FULL sound experince of both of these artists. Gotta love the locals.