Time to get to work.
But still catching up on a few things.
A bunch of new music out this weekend. A few quick hitters:
“No Man, No Why,” from the up-and-coming Atlanta band major, recently seen opening for darlings Lunar Vacation and playing with Gin Blossoms (!) this weekend, is pleasant but not all that notable on its own, and I might not give a second thought to this band if not for a couple things: one, major is the project of Holden Fincher, who is both the son of Jayce Fincher (a founding member of Butch Walker’s legendary band Marvelous 3) and recently a major contributor on Girlpuppy’s album Sweetness, credited in the Tidal liner notes as an author1 on half of the album’s songs, including “For You Two,” its standout track.
Just as noteworthy (at least to me) are the other members of major, three of whom — bassist Trent Bilodeau, drummer Gabe Baltzigler, and keyboard player Meg Jiles — also play in the band of one of my favorite artists in Atlanta, Adeline Hill2. Which is to say, there’s a lot of talent in the band, and I think they’re worth keeping an eye on.
Happy Birthday is the full-length debut from Finn Wolfhard3, better known as Mike from “Stranger Things”. Lead single “Objection” is an ear worm, a jaunty psych pop jam reminiscent of Atlas Sound or early Car Seat Headrest, and friend of the newsletter Annie Leeth’s45 violin on “You” sparkles and shimmers the way it always does.
Saturday marked the one-year anniversary of my favorite album of last year from a Georgia artist, A Pawn Surrender by Atlanta’s Rose Hotel, an artist and album I’ll return to in these pages soon.
Meanwhile, if early singles are any indication, Elijah Johnston’s Stupid Soul, out June 20th, is set to be among my favorite albums of this year by a Georgia artist6, with this week’s “Oxygen” joining previous standouts “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Ideas.” Elijah’s been consistently cranking out Schlesingerian power-pop bangers for half a decade, and so far every album has somehow managed to exceed the one before it. When talking about the best pop songwriters in the country, it’s time to include him in the conversation.
So yeah, it’s been a little while, I know! My last post preceded my first day in the Tweed Recording School Live Audio Production program, a 15-week program that concluded just a few days ago7. I’ve learned so much, most of all how much more I have to learn, and I’ve been up to a lot, and have a lot coming up, and there’s no way I’m going to be able to recount all of it here and now. Got a bunch of sound gigs coming up, a few of them involving artists who faithful readers will know are among my favorite musicians on the planet, which is unfathomably exciting and a more than a little nerve-racking.
It’s not clear to me what “author,” not a conventional music credit, means exactly, as each of the songs also credit a “writer,” which is mostly just Becca Harvey.
More on Adeline soon.
Who directed Lunar Vacation in the excellent “Set the Stage” music video.
Annie also has some string work on Soccer Mommy’s new Evergreen (stripped), an EP consisting of, as the name suggests, stripped-back versions of songs from last year’s Evergreen, recorded in Atlanta with Ben Allen.
Who celebrates her new album Phantom Limb with a release show this Thursday at Hidden Gem, with Klark Sound.
And not only because it features an appearance by Rose Hotel’s Jordan Reynolds.
That’s a little vague. Guess I should specify it ended with me passing and graduating.