R.E.M. has released the video for “Hollow Man,” the second single off “Accelerate.”

By Sam Bishop
Correspondent

In interviews surrounding the release of their 14th studio album, R.E.M.’s members have presented “Accelerate” as a “turbo-charged,” immediate and urgent collection of songs. They’ve made no secret about it also being a course correction in terms of both musical direction and their ability to communicate effectively to each other about it (referencing 2004’s lackluster “Around the Sun” specifically). “Course correction” would actually make for an appropriate two-word review of “Accelerate” as it connotes improvements, while not necessarily meaning “completely back on track.”

Where R.E.M. succeeds on “Accelerate” is in reclaiming the sonic and energetic ground lost since 1996’s “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” (possibly the band’s most underrated record). “Hi-Fi” presented R.E.M. finally fulfilling their promise as an arena rock band, which they had been for a decade, give or take a year or two, but really only in a technical sense.

(more…)

For the non-seasoned folkie it’s pretty hard to hear the effortlessly sweet harmonizing of The Solstice Sisters (playing Friday at UGA’s Masters Hall) and not think of the movie that put traditional American music in the international spotlight a few years back. And really, the Sisters’ simple, time-honored approach to music-making is the kind of thing that would no doubt have landed them a role in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” But lucky for us, Athens got them instead. The Solstice Sisters - who are sisters only in song - came to be in the early 1990s. As the story goes, the exact date and circumstances in which the trio of Anna Durden, Maggie Hunter and Susan Staley became The Solstice Sisters is a matter of memory, and also a matter of which Sister you’re talking to. Read the full story…

It’s two short years after initially coming together to write some songs and two very short days after the release of the group’s debut album, and Nashville, Tenn.-based country trio Lady Antebellum (playing Monday at the Georgia Theatre) is rolling down a Los Angeles freeway toward a television studio to perform on The Ellen Degeneres Show. Over the past few months, the group, which consists of Hillary Scott and Augusta natives Charles Kelley (younger brother of singer-songwriter Josh Kelley) and Dave Haywood have gone from being talented, if largely unheralded, newcomers to a band garnering critical and popular praise as country music’s bright new light. Read the full story…

For a young band working on its debut album, losing all the studio recordings that would have made up its first release could have been a death blow. But for Atlanta-based Morning State, the setback was a second chance, not a stopping point. After recording the tracks for “You Know People, I Know People,” the group was 3 1/2 months and four songs into mixing when the record label they were signed to folded. Unable to work out a deal to keep the recordings, Morning State was back at square one. Undeterred, the group came to Athens and re-recorded with friend Asa Leffer at Downtown Athens Recording Company (DARC), streamlining the process to just 11 days. “It was fast and sweet,” says vocalist Russell Ledford. Read the full story…

Morning State, Winston Audio, The Winter Sounds
9 p.m., Farm 255
About Atlanta’s (with heavy Athens connections) Morning State, Spin Magazine said, “unpretentious, straight forward, hook laden rock. The band’s uncontrived, shtick-less sonic was warmly welcomed.” They have a new album coming out May 6. Winston Audio, also from the ATL, plays a driving, hooky alt-indie rock. The Winter Sounds has a little lighter indie-rock sound and will be hitting the studio in July. - David Bill

Pepper, Redeye Empire, Iration
8 p.m. today, 40 Watt
Pepper is a reggae rock trio that was formed in Hawaii. Now living in Southern California, Pepper’s sound has evolved into California soul and summer anthems. The band has toured with 311 and Snoop Dogg. Redeye Empire, formerly known as just Redeye, plays a high energy mixture of rock, pop, ska and reggae. Another Hawaiian band that relocated to California, Iration plays new roots music, which they describe as a fusion of reggae, rock and dub. Tickets are $15 in advance. - Trisha Klein

• 40 Watt: Iration, Pepper, Redeye Empire.
• Caledonia: 6 p.m. - Dave Wrathgaber; 10 p.m. - Rick Brantley, Death On Two Wheels, Ponderosa.
• Farm 255: Morning State, Winston Audio, The Winter Sounds.
• Flicker: Druid City, Madeline, Geoff Reacher.
• Georgia Theatre: Luke Bryan, Ashley Ray.
• Little Kings: Badasses, Better People, Blood Lizard, Merlin Olsen Twins, The Subliminator, The Ten Thousand Things, White Lions.
• Melting Point: Squat.
• Tasty World: All Get Out, The Less, Radiolucent, Sky Club.
• Washington Street Tavern: Cameron Snow.
• Wild Wing Cafe: Gimme Hendrix.