Melissa's Recs: Acoustic Antics and a New Spin on T.I.

1. The Fest X

The Fest is an annual punk music fest held in Gainesville, Florida over Halloween weekend. I’ve always wanted to go, but having classes and it being in Florida, about 800 miles away, it’s never been a possibility.

This year, I’m hoping to change that.

It will be my senior year, and it can’t hurt to miss a day or two of class right? I’ll also be missing my last Athens’ Halloween, but I think it will be worth it to see some of my very favorite bands like Against Me!, Bomb the Music Industry!, Paul Baribeau, Bouncing Souls, Cheap Girls and many, many more all in one place!

2. Laura Stevenson and the Cans



I’m pretty sure I wrote about LS & the Cans in my last Exec Recs post, but they just released an album, Sit Resist, and “The Healthy One” is one of my favorite tracks off of it. This video was recorded for Nervous Energies, which is a series run by Ryan Russell featuring stripped down tracks from punk/ folk artists (much like Dave Garwacke’s Pink Couch series). Nervous Energies also features videos from Against Me!, Andy Hull, Kevin Devine, Cheap Girls and Lemuria. The Cans’ Nervous Energies session also includes songs “I See Dark” off Sit, Resist and “Baby Bones” off their first album A Record.

3. Pink Couch Sessions



Speaking of Pink Couch sessions, if you haven’t checked these out, you must. The concept is simple, like the Nervous Energy sessions, artists come in and play stripped down or acoustic versions of their songs on a pink couch. I’ve included a two of my favorites here, but there are so many others that are just as good—its hard for me to pick two!! The first is The Sidekicks “A Healthy Time.” The second is American War “Bricks” (make sure you watch until the end!). Both are funny videos and great songs.

4. Cheap Girls



Cheap Girls is awesome. I recently (and finally!) downloaded their album Find Me a Drink Home free from Quote Unquote Records and can’t believe it took me this long to do so! I saw them a few months ago with Laura Stevenson & the Cans and I wish I hadn’t left during their set. The above video is a Nervous Energies session of their song “Sleeping Weather” from their album My Roaring 20s. Funny how these recs are all connecting.

5. “Whatever You Like” - Anya Marina




I love this acoustic cover of T.I.’s “Whatever You Like” by Anya Marina. Even in spite of T.I.’s brilliant lyricism (“Brains so good coulda swore she went to college”), Marina transforms T.I.’s song into a creepy, sultry and danceable track. The track was also played in the background during a threesome featuring Hilary Duff on Gossip Girl. So that’s something…

--Melissa Burant, Public Relations Director