Atlanta music news: Senor Kaos is in effect
Plus, deadCATs and a spooktacular weekend of music
On Friday, November 11, a year of underground marketing, writing and old-fashioned elbow grease come to a head when Atlanta MC Señor Kaos releases what could be his defining album, The Kaos Effect, on Vibe columnist Sucio Smash’s NYC-based label High Water Music. The album’s 11/11/11 arrival bookends a year for Kaos that began with the 1/1/11 release of his The Most Interesting MC in the World mixtape. The new album reflects on the decade he’s spent as a key player in Atlanta’s hip-hop underground, gathering stories and experience while surviving personal tragedy.
Assembled over the last three years by Kaos and Illastrate, who produced the album in its entirety, The Kaos Effect takes on a more cohesive sound than the preceding mixtape, which found Illastrate sharing producer credit alongside Apple Jac and A Tribe Called Quest frontman, Q-Tip.
The first song to leak from The Kaos Effect, “It’s Like That,” finds Kaos and Atlanta MC Ekundayo setting the stage for the album to follow. Other featured artists on the LP include J-Live, Lyric Jones, Binkis Recs, Ozy Reigns, and Fort Knox.
A. Grimes’ singer/guitarist Britt Teusink recently released a handful of tracks as deadCAT via Bandcamp, including the “fake 7 inch,” Fillins. It’s not a solo project as much as it is a collaborative effort that finds Teusink working out warped noise-funk jams with various musicians for a single shot. The goal is to release one EP every week. “Nice,” the virtual A-side of Fillins, was written by A. Grimes’ bassist Gage Gilmore, and features Teusink “playing computer and vocals,” he says. On the B-side, Teusink goes it alone. deadCAT make its live debut at the Free Acid party at 529 on Sat., Nov. 5.
Season of the witch: There are a slew of great shows going on this Halloween weekend, but none promise to be as epic as the Edgewood Spook — a three-part festival of house shows all within a half-mile of each other near the Edgewood corridor on Thurs., Oct. 27. Hit up the Edgewood Spook blog for more information regarding wristbands and parking, lest your car may get towed. Fifty bands are listed to play; too many to name here, but the majority of Atlanta’s indie, outsider, punk, noise and whatever you want to call it-related groups are on the flier. It’s gonna be large.
On Fri., Oct. 28, Odd Future haunts Center Stage, while Kanye West and Jay-Z touch down at Philips Arena. Jeffrey Bützer joins Molly Harvey of the Residents, along with a handful of locals to play songs about hell and the devil by Anton LaVey, PJ Harvey, Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen at 529. The Fourth Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra opens.
DMX headlines the Neon Halloween Massive party with Mt. Eden, Designer Drugs, Heroes x Villains and Fort Knox at Georgia Railroad Freight Depot. Sonen, Cousin Dan, DJs Brian Parris and Keith Evans play Laserbeam Kitty Halloween at the Highland Inn.
On Mon., Oct. 31, Überchriist celebrates the release of its debut cassette with Terminal Cold (At The Gates tribute band) and Shock Treatment (Ramones cover band). And Puerto Rican garage punks Davila 666 return to the Earl to put a cap on a weekend of devilish music.