After Dark
A new era of nightlife has arrived in Atlanta, but it didn't happen overnight. Over the last several years, the city has redefined itself as a vibrant place where traditional, trendy, experimental, edgy, and exotic sounds collide. Case in point: Edgewood Avenue. In the last five years, the revitalized stretch of street near the corner of Boulevard has become well established as Atlanta's nightlife vanguard. Thanks to newer venues such as Erosol/Department Store and older ones such as Church and the Sound Table that helped start the nightlife renaissance here, you can find hip-hop, EDM, rock 'n' roll, Caribbean rhythms, house music, karaoke, or a marching band full of tubas any night of the week.
On Buford Highway, drag gets the dinner theater treatment at Lips Atlanta. Behind the establishment's unassuming exterior, lavish costumes, over-the-top interior design, and some of the region's best performers make for one of the city's most electric drag productions.
Exceptional musicianship revealed itself in 2014 through the likes of burgeoning songwriter Eliot Bronson, indie rockers Warehouse, marimba player Chris Childs, and dozens of other fresh faces. At the same time, Atlanta legacy acts such as Mastodon and Black Lips rolled out stellar albums. Even the almighty OutKast returned to the stage after spending more than a decade in limbo. Seeing each of these long-running ATL ambassadors return for a strong year serves as a reminder of just how deep our city's roots run.
The A3C hip-hop festival's 10th year looks to be its biggest yet. The metal scene continues grinding along as Hellgoat trolls the depths of demonic riffage. And Dasher's post-punk/hardcore dirge has continued to draw national attention. For this year's Best of Atlanta issue, we went backstage for an insider's look at some of the winners. It's easy to get caught up in the image that Young Thug brings to the covers of magazines such as Complex and the Fader. But he wouldn't be the cultural enigma he is if not for the contributions of his cohorts and producers Dun Deal, TM88, and Southside.
Sometimes, witnessing the process of what goes on behind the curtain is just as important as seeing it all unfold for a live audience. As our man Fort Knox says any time he steps onto a stage to host a hip-hop event, "It's gonna be HEAVEE, HEAVEE HEAVEE!"
— Chad Radford, Music Editor
Best band that can't find enough hours in the day BOA Award Winner
Small Reactions' SMALL REACTIONS’ normal routine would be enough to give most dedicated musicians their fill of local scene participation. The group plays around town enough and reached a creative high with this summer’s Hung From Wire EP. Songs such as “Shark Week” and the title track roll with spontaneity,more...
SMALL REACTIONS’ normal routine would be enough to give most dedicated musicians their fill of local scene participation. The group plays around town enough and reached a creative high with this summer’s Hung From Wire EP. Songs such as “Shark Week” and the title track roll with spontaneity, heart-pounding grooves, and lyrics that ruminate on everything from sleepless nights to silverfish creeping around the bedroom. While prepping for the October release of Small Reactions’ proper debut, Similar Phantoms, the group’s members have pulled double-duty backing indie pop singer, songwriter, and guitarist Jeremy Underwood, aka Gold-Bears. Holding down Dalliances, Gold-Bears’ greatest album so far, while strengthening its own foundation, solidifies Small Reactions’ place as the most active band to emerge from Atlanta’s post-punk scene of 2014. www.smallreactions.bandcamp.com.
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Best band to blow the roof off of the joint BOA Award Winner
The Wolfpack When determining how badass a band truly is, its live show can’t just be good. The sheer physicality of its performance must force patrons to shut up and listen. No Atlanta band pulls off this feat with as much originality and force as THE WOLFPACK. Helmed by Grammy-winning saxophonist Kebbi Williams,more...
When determining how badass a band truly is, its live show can’t just be good. The sheer physicality of its performance must force patrons to shut up and listen. No Atlanta band pulls off this feat with as much originality and force as THE WOLFPACK. Helmed by Grammy-winning saxophonist Kebbi Williams, the Wolfpack is a backing band composed of sousaphone players that fuse musical prowess with a seamless ability to switch genres. The group has performed Star Wars’ “Emperor’s Theme” and rearranged Flying Lotus tunes. The portability of sousaphones, also known as marching tubas, allows the pack to roam around the crowd and blare its bass-heavy lines from every corner. www.facebook.com/wolfpackatl14.
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Best hip-hop event host BOA Award Winner
David "Fort Knox" FreemanBest nightlife district BOA Award Winner
Edgewood AvenueBest trip-hop, Krautrock, psych-pop underdog BOA Award Winner
Where.Are.WeBest album BOA Award Winner
Faun and a Pan Flute No album better embodies young Atlanta’s passion for drawing out the undeniable beauty tucked away in the city’s forgotten corners than FAUN AND A PAN FLUTE’s self-titled LP (Mission Trips). The album is a masterpiece of experimental composition, an impenetrable enigma that takes serious risksmore...
No album better embodies young Atlanta’s passion for drawing out the undeniable beauty tucked away in the city’s forgotten corners than FAUN AND A PAN FLUTE’s self-titled LP (Mission Trips). The album is a masterpiece of experimental composition, an impenetrable enigma that takes serious risks in the name of furthering a regional musical accent. Elements of jazz, modern classical composition, rock, and improvisation meld into a singular sound that challenges listeners to reconsider the possibilities of each genre. As a metaphor, Faun and a Pan Flute mirrors the city’s tangled structural maze of logic while chipping away at Atlanta’s perpetual identity crisis. When it comes to shared chemistry, song composition, pure musical ability, and personality Faun and a Pan Flute tops anything else Atlanta has seen in 2014. It’s an absolute pleasure on the ears. www.faunandapanflute.bandcamp.com.
less...
Best Atlanta legacy act BOA Award Winner
Black Lips Few groups can claim to have not only left a profound mark on the local music scene that spawned them, but also to have altered the DNA of indie culture at large. BLACK LIPS is one of those rare bands. On the heels of 2005’s Let It Bloom (In the Red), and later signing with Vice Records to releasemore...
Few groups can claim to have not only left a profound mark on the local music scene that spawned them, but also to have altered the DNA of indie culture at large. BLACK LIPS is one of those rare bands. On the heels of 2005’s Let It Bloom (In the Red), and later signing with Vice Records to release 2007’s Good Bad Not Evil, the group provided a soundtrack to Vice’s late-aughts stranglehold on hipster culture. The group never seems to stop touring, spreading Southern garage rock riffage like rock ’n’ roll missionaries. Black Lips is one of the few bands that has toured through Iraq and been chased out of India, all while turning out albums that push the group’s sound forward. With the arrival of 2014’s critically acclaimed album Underneath the Rainbow and concurrent world tour, the group continues to further its garage rock legacy. As the scene at Atlanta’s ground level has continued evolving, Let It Bloom has become an American underground classic. And whenever a Black Lips show happens on the band’s home turf, it’s still a night to remember. www.black-lips.com.
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Best DIY electronic act BOA Award Winner
10th Letter
Best metal band BOA Award Winner
Hellgoat
Best of the fests: Day trip to see OutKast BOA Award Winner
CounterPoint Music Festival
Best of the fests: Rock BOA Award Winner
Mess-Around
Best places to wet your whistle: Club night BOA Award Winner
Keep On Movin'
Best pop/soul/acousticξmusic innovator BOA Award Winner
Marian Mereba
Best instrumentalist BOA Award Winner
Chris Childs
Best Music Ambassadors BOA Award Winner
OutKast The Atlanta we know today would not exist without Antwan"Big Boi" Patton and Andre"Andre 3000" Benjamin of OutKast. With a career spanning 20 years back to the duo's 1994 debut, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, OutKast has become one of the greatest musical groups of all time, as well as one of Atlanta'smore...
The Atlanta we know today would not exist without Antwan"Big Boi" Patton and Andre"Andre 3000" Benjamin of OutKast. With a career spanning 20 years back to the duo's 1994 debut, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, OutKast has become one of the greatest musical groups of all time, as well as one of Atlanta's most enthusiastic ambassadors. They coined the term ATLien, after all. From the Dungeon to Stankonia to the Grammys and major motion pictures, the"Two Dope Boyz" have always remained true to ATL. You'd be hard-pressed to find a musical act in any other city able to sell out three consecutive homecoming shows.
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Best experimental music motivator BOA Award Winner
Mission Trips
Best mixtape BOA Award Winner
Pulp Fiction
Best new hip-hop superstar BOA Award Winner
Young Thug
Best places to wet your whistle: Dive bar BOA Award Winner
Tucker Saloon
Best place to see local music BOA Award Winner
529
Best songwriter BOA Award Winner
Eliot Bronson
Best band BOA Award Winner
Mastodon In June, MASTODON released its sixth album, Once More ’Round the Sun. It arrived as a slab of hooky hard rock and immediately became the band’s highest charting record yet, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard 200. True metal heads are quick to eat their own. It’s been a delicate balancing act formore...
In June, MASTODON released its sixth album, Once More ’Round the Sun. It arrived as a slab of hooky hard rock and immediately became the band’s highest charting record yet, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard 200. True metal heads are quick to eat their own. It’s been a delicate balancing act for the band to craft those tangled and monstrous riffs that keep longtime fans headbanging, while pushing the group further toward commercial success. The 11 songs on Once More ’Round the Sun hit the sweet spot. Credibility on both fronts comes thundering in on such sleek, stately, but still brutally skull-crushing songs such as “Tread Lightly,” “High Road,” and “Diamond in the Witch House.” Mastodon’s fusion of the prog/sludge perfection of such past victories as Leviathan (2004) and Blood Mountain (2006) constrict around tempered pop-metal the group brought with Crack the Skye (2009) and The Hunter (2011). The group’s endless touring schedule has left a deep impact. Once More ’Round the Sun resonates with the same almighty roar that catapulted these mammoth rockers far out into the cosmos. www.mastodonrocks.com.
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Best band to sharpen post-punk's teeth and claws BOA Award Winner
Dasher DASHER is still a bit of a homegrown secret, but that shouldn’t last long. Dasher made its vinyl debut in May to rave reviews with the Die Slaughterhaus 7-inch “Go Rambo” b/w “Time Flys.” Shortly after, the band joined local lady punks the Coathangers on Suicide Squeeze Records’ roster. Themore...
DASHER is still a bit of a homegrown secret, but that shouldn’t last long. Dasher made its vinyl debut in May to rave reviews with the Die Slaughterhaus 7-inch “Go Rambo” b/w “Time Flys.” Shortly after, the band joined local lady punks the Coathangers on Suicide Squeeze Records’ roster. The group’s dark and driving sound is a hybrid of post-punk and hardcore. Singer, principal songwriter, and drummer Kylee Kimbrough enabled the band’s ascent when she set a permanent lineup for the group with guitarist Kelly Stroup (Manic) and bassist David Michaud (Uniform). The band adapts to any noisy, gnarly show by laying waste to everything in earshot. dasher2.bandcamp.com.
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Best of the fests: Best homegrown success fest BOA Award Winner
ONE Musicfest
Best of the fests: Excuse to put on BOA Award Winner
TomorrowWorld
Best of the fests: Reason to hang out at Atlantic Station BOA Award Winner
Shaky Knees
Best of the fests: Reason to rediscover your love of hip-hop BOA Award Winner
A3C
Best post-punk salvo BOA Award Winner
Warehouse's 'Tesseract'
Best visually minded hip-hop artist BOA Award Winner
Raury
Best bartender BOA Award Winner
Crystal Nickles at Sweetwater Bar and GrillBest local folk act BOA Award Winner
Lily and the Tigers AND Little Tybee AND Levi Lowrey AND Neil CribbsLily and the Tigers
AND
Little Tybee
AND
Levi Lowrey
AND
Neil Cribbs
Best local mixtape BOA Award Winner
Atlanta Forever 3 by MCBEEZY
soundcloud.com/mcbeezy/atlanta-forever-3
Best bouncer BOA Award Winner
Greg MeahBest local album BOA Award Winner
Connor Christian & Southern Gothic's New Hometown AND Levi Lowrey's self-titled albumConnor Christian & Southern Gothic's New Hometown
AND
Levi Lowrey's self-titled album
Best stripper other than Blondie BOA Award Winner
Barbie (Clermont Lounge)
Best band that can't find enough hours in the day BOA Award Winner
Small Reactions' SMALL REACTIONS’ normal routine would be enough to give most dedicated musicians their fill of local scene participation. The group plays around town enough and reached a creative high with this summer’s Hung From Wire EP. Songs such as “Shark Week” and the title track roll with spontaneity,more...
SMALL REACTIONS’ normal routine would be enough to give most dedicated musicians their fill of local scene participation. The group plays around town enough and reached a creative high with this summer’s Hung From Wire EP. Songs such as “Shark Week” and the title track roll with spontaneity, heart-pounding grooves, and lyrics that ruminate on everything from sleepless nights to silverfish creeping around the bedroom. While prepping for the October release of Small Reactions’ proper debut, Similar Phantoms, the group’s members have pulled double-duty backing indie pop singer, songwriter, and guitarist Jeremy Underwood, aka Gold-Bears. Holding down Dalliances, Gold-Bears’ greatest album so far, while strengthening its own foundation, solidifies Small Reactions’ place as the most active band to emerge from Atlanta’s post-punk scene of 2014. www.smallreactions.bandcamp.com.
less...
Best band to blow the roof off of the joint BOA Award Winner
The Wolfpack When determining how badass a band truly is, its live show can’t just be good. The sheer physicality of its performance must force patrons to shut up and listen. No Atlanta band pulls off this feat with as much originality and force as THE WOLFPACK. Helmed by Grammy-winning saxophonist Kebbi Williams,more...
When determining how badass a band truly is, its live show can’t just be good. The sheer physicality of its performance must force patrons to shut up and listen. No Atlanta band pulls off this feat with as much originality and force as THE WOLFPACK. Helmed by Grammy-winning saxophonist Kebbi Williams, the Wolfpack is a backing band composed of sousaphone players that fuse musical prowess with a seamless ability to switch genres. The group has performed Star Wars’ “Emperor’s Theme” and rearranged Flying Lotus tunes. The portability of sousaphones, also known as marching tubas, allows the pack to roam around the crowd and blare its bass-heavy lines from every corner. www.facebook.com/wolfpackatl14.
less...
Best bartender BOA Award Winner
Crystal Nickles at Sweetwater Bar and GrillBest hip-hop event host BOA Award Winner
David "Fort Knox" FreemanBest local folk act BOA Award Winner
Lily and the Tigers AND Little Tybee AND Levi Lowrey AND Neil CribbsLily and the Tigers
AND
Little Tybee
AND
Levi Lowrey
AND
Neil Cribbs
Best nightlife district BOA Award Winner
Edgewood AvenueBest trip-hop, Krautrock, psych-pop underdog BOA Award Winner
Where.Are.WeBest album BOA Award Winner
Faun and a Pan Flute No album better embodies young Atlanta’s passion for drawing out the undeniable beauty tucked away in the city’s forgotten corners than FAUN AND A PAN FLUTE’s self-titled LP (Mission Trips). The album is a masterpiece of experimental composition, an impenetrable enigma that takes serious risksmore...
No album better embodies young Atlanta’s passion for drawing out the undeniable beauty tucked away in the city’s forgotten corners than FAUN AND A PAN FLUTE’s self-titled LP (Mission Trips). The album is a masterpiece of experimental composition, an impenetrable enigma that takes serious risks in the name of furthering a regional musical accent. Elements of jazz, modern classical composition, rock, and improvisation meld into a singular sound that challenges listeners to reconsider the possibilities of each genre. As a metaphor, Faun and a Pan Flute mirrors the city’s tangled structural maze of logic while chipping away at Atlanta’s perpetual identity crisis. When it comes to shared chemistry, song composition, pure musical ability, and personality Faun and a Pan Flute tops anything else Atlanta has seen in 2014. It’s an absolute pleasure on the ears. www.faunandapanflute.bandcamp.com.
less...
Best Atlanta legacy act BOA Award Winner
Black Lips Few groups can claim to have not only left a profound mark on the local music scene that spawned them, but also to have altered the DNA of indie culture at large. BLACK LIPS is one of those rare bands. On the heels of 2005’s Let It Bloom (In the Red), and later signing with Vice Records to releasemore...
Few groups can claim to have not only left a profound mark on the local music scene that spawned them, but also to have altered the DNA of indie culture at large. BLACK LIPS is one of those rare bands. On the heels of 2005’s Let It Bloom (In the Red), and later signing with Vice Records to release 2007’s Good Bad Not Evil, the group provided a soundtrack to Vice’s late-aughts stranglehold on hipster culture. The group never seems to stop touring, spreading Southern garage rock riffage like rock ’n’ roll missionaries. Black Lips is one of the few bands that has toured through Iraq and been chased out of India, all while turning out albums that push the group’s sound forward. With the arrival of 2014’s critically acclaimed album Underneath the Rainbow and concurrent world tour, the group continues to further its garage rock legacy. As the scene at Atlanta’s ground level has continued evolving, Let It Bloom has become an American underground classic. And whenever a Black Lips show happens on the band’s home turf, it’s still a night to remember. www.black-lips.com.
less...
Best DIY electronic act BOA Award Winner
10th LetterBest local mixtape BOA Award Winner
Atlanta Forever 3 by MCBEEZY
soundcloud.com/mcbeezy/atlanta-forever-3
Best metal band BOA Award Winner
Hellgoat
Best of the fests: Day trip to see OutKast BOA Award Winner
CounterPoint Music Festival
Best of the fests: Rock BOA Award Winner
Mess-Around
Best places to wet your whistle: Club night BOA Award Winner
Keep On Movin'
Best pop/soul/acousticξmusic innovator BOA Award Winner
Marian MerebaBest bouncer BOA Award Winner
Greg Meah
Best instrumentalist BOA Award Winner
Chris ChildsBest local album BOA Award Winner
Connor Christian & Southern Gothic's New Hometown AND Levi Lowrey's self-titled albumConnor Christian & Southern Gothic's New Hometown
AND
Levi Lowrey's self-titled album
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