EarthGang unleashes Strays with Rabies

If indeed the city of Atlanta’s current musical climate is defined by lean-inspired trap tales and viral dance crazes then consider Johnny Venus and Doctor Dot of EarthGang the exception. “We just move around and make music along the way,” Doctor Dot told CL in the months leading up the release of EarthGang’s latest album, Strays with Rabies, out Nov. 6 via Spillage Village Records.

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The follow-up to EarthGang’s much slept-on Shallow Graves for Toys is a collection of the duo’s strongest material to date. Though the OutKast comparisons are lazy (but in some cases warranted), think of them as more of a Southern-tinged version of the Pharcyde. Whereas exceptional cuts such as “Missed Calls” and “Liquor Sto’” show that the two MCs’s can lyrically hold their own with any of rap’s current “it” boys, the funked-out, spoken-word hippy vibes of “Masturpeace” and the Marian Mereba-assisted “Lady Nectarine” prove EarthGang will always take chances in spite of Southern rap’s zeitgeist. Strays with Rabies is just more proof that the duo is doing more than right by their hometown.

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Dust-to-Digital has once again teamed up with famed collector and former Fonotone Records owner Joe Bussard to release Year of Jubilo, a collection of 78-rpm recordings of Civil War songs. Compiled by Bussard and his daughter Susannah Anderson, the disc compiles 19 numbers, most of which were recorded between 1922 on up through the ’30s. One song, “Rebel’s Hornpipe,” was recorded in 1974 by a group calling itself Cherry Lane Express, featuring Bussard himself playing mandolin.

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Midnight Larks’ singer and guitarist Sasha Kaleidoscopia Vallely is hard at work at the Living Room Studios, piecing together songs for her forthcoming solo EP titled Kaleidoscopia. The EP’s release date remains to be determined. In the meantime, “Sweet Little Boy” is the first glimpse into what she has in the works. The song is an acoustic number, and it was written as a lullaby for her 18 month-old son, Fox. “I wanted to write a song for him and show him how much I love him, and give him something that he could keep for generations and pass it down,” Vallely says. “He calms down when I sing it to him.”

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Over the years Vallely has bounced around the globe, spending time in her hometown of Birmingham in the U.K. before moving on to Brisbane and Melbourne, Australia, Los Angeles, Calif., and finally landing in Atlanta. Through it all she has performed on stages with dozens of acts including Spindrift and the Warlocks, and made guest appearances with the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Portishead, Massive Attack, Cat Power, the Black Angels, and dozens of other acts. But this current round of songs marks the first time she’s been at the helm of a completely solo endeavor. “It’s something that I’ve been thinking of doing for a while,” Vallely says. “I’ve played with and guested for so many people and it’s been amazing, but I’ve never been in complete control over the songs that I am putting out artistically. It is nerve-racking that I’m baring my soul for everyone to see, but it’s also very liberating. The reaction from my friends and family that have heard the tune so far has been incredible, much more than anything else I have ever done.”

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“Sweet Little Boy” is a departure from the dark psychedelic rock that Vallely has turned out on stages more recently with Midnight Larks. The song takes shape as a deft collision of folk and pop tones that are both spare and subtle as they unfold under the inky blackness and swirling luminescence of co-director and editor Gretchen Wood and makeup artist Kellyn Willey’s visual accompaniment. Vallely wrote and performs all of the songs lyrics and arrangements, and Justin McNeight at Living Room plays some synth parts.

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Keep an eye out for more of Vallely’s solo numbers to appear over the weeks and months to come.

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Bear Kids Records is set to host the first what’s planned to become an annual showcase of the label’s affiliated acts. On Fri., Dec. 4, local acts including Small Reactions, Coma Girls, and Pony League (formerly known as Cute Boots) join Greenville, S.C.’s Wasted Wine for an evening of music at 529. The first 50 people through the door will receive a Bear Kids compilation cassette titled Cub Songs Vol. 1, featuring various cuts from past BKR releases along with a handful of unreleased songs as well.

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With additional reporting by Gavin Godfrey.