The Whigs make the sort of all-purpose modern rock music that teeters all wobbly-like between generic and kick-ass. Their new album, In the Dark (ATO Records) goes for a dirtier, gutsier sound than they've displayed in the past, and largely the approach is an improvement. I still hear little distinguishing them from hundreds of other mainstream acts, but songs like "So Lonely" and "I Don't Even Care About the One I Love" are so good 'n' catchy that it doesn't really matter. They deserve commercial rock radio airplay.

Ben Trickey is a tremendously gifted songman who'd just as likely win over a rowdy bunch in a Tennessee honky-tonk as he would a polite Decatur shhhhh gathering. As it is, he usually plays rock clubs, and that's fine too. His new album, Come On, Hold On, is a stirringly intimate listen, generally just Trickey singing over his acoustic guitar, accented by Jonathan Griffin's prominent violin as well as a few other discreet instruments and voices (and even a rain storm on one track!). There's a twangy quaver in Trickey's voice that gives his songs both added vulnerability and power, if that makes sense. And dude gets extra points for being married to my favorite bartender in Atlanta! Fieldhouse Recordings, a new Stickfigure imprint dedicated to singer/songwriter fare, is behind this fine new release.

After discovering the existence of an LA band called Whale Fall (what are the odds?), the leisurely Atlanta outfit of that name put some scraps of paper with various nouns and adjectives on them into a bowl, blindly picked a couple out, and have officially become The Polar Dunes. Their first show under the new banner is set for June 11th opening for Magnapop, a group with some name-changing experience of their own.

Veteran Atlanta soundman Farrell Roberts (currently found behind the board at Variety Playhouse) and fellow former Great Southeast Music Hall employee Sharon Powell have been organizing a reunion for onetime regulars and staff of that storied and long-shuttered Atlanta venue of the 1970s. The reminiscing begins this Saturday, April 24th, at Smith's Olde Bar starting at 4 p.m., with a coinciding show starting that night at 8 in the upstairs music room with oldtimers Thermos Greenwood & the Colored People and The Roosters, featuring former members of Hydra, Cruise-O-Matic and the Randall Bramblett Band. No word on whether Smith's will offer a special deal on buckets of beer, but the reunion itself is free, and in the spirit of 1979 prices the upstairs show is only $6 advance. A documentary DVD about the Great Southeast Music Hall and the reunion is also being made, as are commemorative T-shirts, etc. If you were there, or even if you think you were there but can't really remember nowadays, you may consider checking in on the Music Hall Reunion Facebook page for more skinny.

And of course the Atlanta Mess-Around returns to East Atlanta Village this weekend with nighttime shows at the EARL and afternoon/evening matinees at 529 on Friday and Saturday (not to mention King Louie's Dunch set at the EARL on Sunday afternoon). Lotsa fine, fine local and out-of-town bands playing this thing – check the story in April's print edition for further info, and the Get Out listings for the lineup.

Athens act Pretty Bird, whose music sounds like it was inspired by the mating chants of Gabonese pygmies, will be the featured talent on Live in the Lobby, Tuesday, April 20th at 8 p.m. on WUOG, 90.5 FM in Athens, GA. Rootsy Athens combo Packway Handle Band, visits the show on Thursday, April 22nd, same time.

Whigs photo by Jordan Noel.