New Hooker Vision releases, plus more music news and gossip

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Happy Thanksgiving, all of you. Without going overboard, and before it slips into sentimentality and sap, let me say that I remain grateful to everyone who reads these words every week and to every artist whose news people it. I mean, of course, there will always be room for specific reviews, but when it comes to the huge global universe of Athens music, I remain very grateful. I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday. Now let’s get into it…

TWO NIGHTS FLIGHT: This Friday November 25 and Saturday November 26, the Flicker Theater & Bar will host the 2022 instance of the Cloud Recordings Festival. Tickets are an extremely reasonable $10 per night. This year’s lineup includes Telemarket, duo Shane Parish & John Kiran Fernandes, The Rishis and Kiran Fernandes on Friday, then Marcel Sletten, In A Kythe, Shane Parish (solo) and Organically Programd on Saturday. For more information, please visit facebook.com/cloudrecordings and cloudrecordings.com.

DRIVING, INDEED: Tickets are on sale now for Drive By Truckers’ individual solo tours Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley. The fact is, however, that none of the shows are in Athens, but a few are quite close. Hood plays City Winery in Atlanta from December 13-14. The closest Cooley to come to Athens is Alabama, but he has four gigs in our neighboring state. He will play Birmingham (December 15), then he will double-header at Waverly (early show and late show on December 17) before playing Selma on December 23. Find tickets and more information at drivebytruckers.com.

HI-DEE HI-DEE HI-DEE HI: The Artie Ball Swing Band will perform a special show at VFW Post 2872 (835 Sunset Drive) this Friday, November 25. The group, made up of quite talented people from Athens, sometimes performs in different configurations. For this show, however, they assure us that “the full band will be there to play for you and help you have a little fun in life!” which seems nice and helpful of them. Doors open at 7 p.m. and music starts at 8 p.m. For more information, please visit facebook.com/vfwpost2872.

BYRON COLEY ON THE SPEED DIAL: The cascade of novelties of the experimental label of Athens Hooker’s Vision won’t let up and as such I’ve fallen behind in my coverage of what I believe to be one of the most aesthetically pleasing – in every way – attempts ever made at Athens. A few weeks ago the label released new work by Quiet evenings, Time travel motion sickness and MM Turner. The release of The Quiet Evenings, a 30-minute two-track ambient drone named glass bridge is both unintentionally aggressive in its first move and incongruously comforting in its second. Time travel motion sickness Outerboros is a combination of recent music and tracks from ten years ago. Describing itself as possibly “subliminal pop”, I have to agree, as this is especially true with tracks like “Green Carpet”. This is Rachel Evans’ long-running solo project (half of the Hooker Vision C-sequel) that has gone on and on. Finally, there is tree in sun and rain by composer and music teacher MM Turner (aka Mitch Turner). Four themes are explored here: light, rain, grass and leaves. Turner’s compositions contain solid foundations but have a sheen of fragility through them that it’s almost as if we weren’t meant to hear them. This record is guitar oriented and each track was recorded in one take. But, as the liner notes say, “…this is no mere jamming, these pieces have been masterfully crafted and composed.” Well, I’m certainly no master, but even through my limited understanding, I’m inclined to agree. For more information, please visit hookervision.bandcamp.com and mmturnermusic.com.

BEYOND AND BEFORE: Prog Toggles Nix the Scientist lean heavily on this descriptor on the latest version of the group, I have chosen. This five-song release certainly pays an honest tribute to the band’s chosen musical predecessors. Namely, if you can get through the opening song “Prophecy” without thinking about both Emerson, Lake & Palmer as well as Pink Floyd, then you get a gold star. The band takes a huge left turn the moment they get to “The Curse Of Being Bored,” which is a fairly numbers-heavy fourth-wave emo pop song. Likewise, the theatrical scream of “Eyes Up” leaves me quite perplexed. The operatic return to the shape, if you will, of closer “The End” is a fitting bookend that wraps this up nicely but, when paired with the opening of the record, you have a book whose cover is not at all representative of what is actually inside. I do not know. Let’s just say Nix The Scientist shines the brightest when he’s aiming for the stars instead of looking down. Find this on Spotify and other services, and for more information, please visit facebook.com/nixthescientist.

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