Atlas Genius: Brothers Lead Next Wave of Badass Aussie Rock

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The thing about Australian accents is that they're way awesome. They're even better on the phone chatting with Keith Jeffery, who just happens to be the front man for the indie-rock band known as Atlas Genius.

Does that name sound familiar? If it does, you might be onto something, because it's damn near everywhere at the moment. From Atlas' recent stints touring with bands like Silversun Pickups and Imagine Dragons, plus a new album and hit single, "Trojans," that has taken over mainstream airwaves, these guys are seeing the kind of massive success that takes years of groundwork to cultivate.

Atlas didn't quite follow that well-beaten path to fame, though. Besides Keith, the band's only other full-time member is his brother Michael Jeffery on drums. From the moment Atlas uploaded their first song to the Web in 2011, the duo has earned rave reviews across the blogosphere. Their synth-driven sound and breezy yet candid lyrics helped Atlas sell thousands of records before even signing to a label.


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Hell Freezes Over: The Ends of Five Great Musical Feuds

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Damon Albarn and Noel Gallagher - together for the first time.
Last month marked the end of one of the great musical feuds of the 1990s.

Any Britpop fan knows you can either be a fan of Oasis or of Blur, but not a fan of both. The two bands hated each other's guts and were in constant competition throughout the decade. So all of us in the press were shocked when former Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher joined Blur front man Damon Albarn onstage to perform for his Teenage Cancer Trust benefit concert.

Noel's brother and former Oasis singer Liam Gallagher is still no fan of Blur, nor of his brother. But it got me thinking about the eternal power of forgiveness.

Truly it seems that in the world of rock and roll, and wherever there's money to be made, all fences can be mended and all burnt bridges can be rebuilt. I decided to take a look back at some of the most historic feuds and their noteworthy ends.


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Keep Your Tired Love-Song Cliches off My Mixtape

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Leah Tihia via flickr
I'm a firm believer in the old adage "Never date someone who makes you a mixtape," so please don't break that rule this Valentine's Day and proceed with your plans to create a mixtape full of love songs.

Yes, throwing some romantic songs together may seem like a cheap way to get out of having to buy a gift, but trust me. No good can come from it.

Think about it; you're giving the person you love a montage of songs about dying in his or her arms and watching every step he or she takes. If this person is smart, he or she will run. Nothing screams needing a protection order like a CD full of songs about stalking.

I'm a realist, though, and I know that despite my fair warning, there will still be a few of you who tempt fate by putting together those songs for your significant other. While I question your sanity, I admire your tenacity, so I'm going to help you out.

Below is a guide to the most overused love-song clichés; avoid them on your mixtape at all costs. You'll thank me, I promise.

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Top 10 Bands Your Girlfriend Cannot Stand

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Photo by Barry Sigman
Not all the girls are mad for One Direction.
A shared taste in music can be a critical part of any couple's relationship, from going to a concert on their first date to narrowing down that one special song for their first wedding dance. But what if that's not the case? Just from a bit of casual Googling, it's not difficult to find divorce attorneys' Web sites that list album collections as a common example of personal property that gets disputed when couples decide to untie the knot.

Recently, as a sort of experiment, Rocks Off asked ten of our male contributors to ask a woman in their life -- wife, girlfriend, ex-girlfriend, even a close friend, just not a blood relation -- to name one band or artist they just cannot abide.

What a great question, right? Easy to answer, but almost impossible to agree on. Some answers came back almost right away in replies that seemed almost reflexive, while others took a few days and came in the form of carefully considered paragraphs.

Either way, it was clear that the women we asked did not require much prompting at all.


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20 Albums To Leave Your Children Plus Five To Grow On...

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It started as a simple question: What albums would you leave your unborn children, if you knew you were on borrowed time and may not be around to show them the way. At first I asked for albums for sons, but then it grew broader, not out of needing to pacify the PC-thug in me, but to make sure everyone, regardless of gender, had a sort of Rosetta Stone of musical history in their hands.

You could leave them pristine vinyl versions of these, a collection of cassettes, or maybe just a diamond-covered flash drive, if are so inclined. As for me, I will also leave my unborn child my Rdio account. That's not a paid endorsement, that's just me being expedient.

To get some obvious picks out of the way, the entire Beatles catalog will come standard with being my child, like seat-belts in cars. As will George Strait's Strait Out Of The Box, and ZZ Top's catalog.

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Five Musical MILFs Who Rocked Pregnancy

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Beyoncé's ever-changing baby bump.
In the world of prominent celebrities, it's headlining news even if that famous person sneezes. So in when Houston's own Beyoncé announced her pregnancy at the 2011 VMA's in August, the media and fans went into a frenzy of reactions. Some were elated, some hopeful and then there are the others who don't believe B is pregnant at all.

It seems that Beyoncé's belly grew way too fast for some people who saw her on stage ten days prior to her VMA performance at one of her four intimate shows in New York. After seeing Beyonce's belly bump allegedly deflated and folded as she took a seat for an during an interview in Australia last Sunday the conspiracy theorist got to work again. Beyoncé's publicist dismissed the fake belly rumors as "stupid and ridiculous."

Once again, the public is not satisfied with the little bit of private life celebrities share with them. Despite photos of Beyoncé in a two-piece bathing suit with her bare pregnant belly showing, people want to know more. It's almost as if a celebrity can't be pregnant without someone having an issue with it. Pregnant or not Beyoncé looks amazing. The public won't be happy until B does a nude pregnant magazine cover. The following is list of five musical milfs that rock or rocked pregnancy effortlessly.

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Lil Wayne Documentary At Center Of Lawsuits

Lil Wayne is currently shooting a documentary for his I Am Music IItour, but he's come under fire for a different film. Tha Carter, a Weezy-sanctioned documentary released in 2009, is at the center of a litany of lawsuits between Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment and film production company Digerati Holdings.

Wayne sued the filmmakers in 2009 for breach of contract after the documentary screened at Sundance Film Festival. In the lawsuit, Weezy claimed that the producer failed to get his nod on some unauthorized pictures in the film.


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Sailing Away With Songs Of The Caribbean

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A couple of years ago She Said was in Oslo, Norway, where she saw an exhibit by artist Tacita Dean chronicling the mysterious voyage of Donald Crowhurst. Dean found and photographed the Teignmouth Electron, the boat Crowhurst apparently abandoned, and collected newspaper articles from the circumnavigation sailing race in which Crowhurst attempted to falsify his results.

Following Crowhurst's disappearance, the sailboat was sold many times, and its history was lost until 1989, when it was was found off the coast of Cayman Brac in the Caribbean amongst the wreckage of Hurricane Gilbert. That's where Dean found it. It's still there, rotting in the sun and sand, and you can apparently even find it on Google Earth, at 19°41'10.40" N by 79°52'37.83" W.

What does Donald Crowhurst have to do with iFest, which starts this weekend? Not much, really. But just like Tacita Dean, She Said became spellbound by the tale of the Teignmouth Electron from the moment she read the story. And now, every time she hears the Beach Boys sing "Sloop John B" she thinks of that boat, decaying in the middle of the Caribbean.

Seeing as how iFest's theme this year is in honor of that very island group, She Said presents five songs inspired by the music of the archipelago.

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Five Great Cajun Songs By Non-Cajuns

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As far as He Said knows, he has zero Cajun blood in his veins. His family is pretty much straight-up Anglo/Scotch-Irish, settling in the Piney Woods of Newton County via Alabama in the early 1800s. However, although the Sabine-straddling area around Newton, Burkeville and Wiergate is about an hour inland from the Gulf Coast, there has never been a shortage of families with last names such as Boudreau or Hebert up there.

Cajun culture is in the soil and water of East Texas just as much as South Louisiana, which is probably why He Said has had a lifelong affinity for it. He has never passed up a plate of fried oysters or batch of boiled crawfish, would put his mom's gumbo up against any Lafayette or Lake Charles kitchen's and, despite an innate Krameresque clumsiness, he does know how to waltz and two-step. (Somewhat.) Since discovering Pe-Te's Cajun Bandstand on KPFT in high school, he has been infatuated with Louisiana music, and even had his own Cajun/zydeco radio show on UT student station KVRX one semester.

Non-Cajun songwriters have long been as fascinated by this mysterious, insular, effervescent culture and its music as He Said has, so this week in honor of high crawfish season - and, as She Said told you, the annual Texas Music & Crawfish Festival in Spring - He Said thought we'd turn the spotlight on five songs written by non-Cajuns (okay, four non-Cajuns and one very Cajun man) that still exude that South Louisiana joie de vivre. Triangles up!

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Louisiana Songs That Don't Suck (Heads)

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Several years ago, as She Said was saving up the funds to get the heck out of Oklahoma, she took a second job waiting tables at a Cajun restaurant in Oklahoma City. Now, there aren't a lot of Cajuns in that sprawling metropolis, and ever since that experience she's been wary of eating seafood in a land-locked state. Her one positive takeaway from the place, not counting the ability to gracefully balance heavy loads on a serving tray with one hand while carrying several steins of beer in the other, was an exposure to two genres of music unique to this region of the country.

The restaurant had exactly two CDs that were played nonstop in a constant loop: A Delta blues collection, and a zydeco album. It's how she first heard Koko Taylor's "Wang Dang Doodle," "St. James Infirmary Blues," and how she spent countless bored hours waiting for lunch guests to arrive while trying to translate the mangled French in songs like "Les Haricots Sont Pas Salé" - ironic, considering it's a song about food.

The Clifton Chenier song was also how the genre got its name -- zydeco is a bastardization of les haricots, or "green beans" for Us English Speakers. It's a wonderful illustration of just how far the Cajuns and Creoles have come from their Acadian and Caribbean ancestors to create a blend of cultures unique to East Texas and Louisiana. Just look at how much fun this brother-sister duo is having dancing to zydeco in their kitchen!

Since we're talking about food now's a good time to mention that the Texas Crawfish and Music Festival starts this weekend. More than 70 bands will be performing, and if you can't eat your weight in crawfish there then there must be something wrong with you. Below, five of She Said's favorite cajun, creole and zydeco songs in honor of Texas Crawfish Fest.

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