The Salt Flats

FINAL ROLL CALL: MOEKE Records wrapped up its Summer Singles series a couple of weeks ago. The three final tracks come courtesy of Junker, The Salt Flats and Tongues. Each was recorded in a single five-hour session at The Glow Recording Studio by label and studio head Jesse Mangum. The Tongues track, “Peels,” feels very off-the-cuff, the whimsical style the band excels at. The Salt Flats’ “Witch Hunt” is a great showcase of the efficiency of this recording process. It's a large-sounding, mid-tempo rock dirge that sounds like it took much longer than five hours to record. Finally, Junker’s “Alabama to Athens” represents a welcome return to the local scene. The group has been out of commission for a long while dealing with serious health issues. The song is standard Junker fare—that is, it's well equipped with telltale pedal steel, kinda sad lyrics and plaintive vocals. Grab 'em all at moekerecords.bandcamp.com. - Flagpole Magazine

Local songwriter Eli Truett began The Salt Flats as a recording project nearly three years ago, but it's only recently that the band has coalesced into a force on the scene. For a taste of what to expect, check out the group's debut LP, Testing, on Bandcamp. The album finds Truett—whose singing voice is not dissimilar to that of fellow sly sad guy Beck—first paying homage to some key influences and ultimately transcending them. Still, if you need a reference, fans of The National and that band's sweeping, stadium-indie ilk will find a lot to like. [GV] - Flagpole Magazine - Gabe Vodicka

A year ago, Athens native Eli Truett unveiled his new musical project, the Salt Flats. A collective that creates, as Truett describes it, “rock for all ages,” the group’s majestic, reverb-soaked style recalls My Morning Jacket, Band of Horses and fellow locals Futurebirds. Despite obvious similarities to these bands, the Salt Flats distinguish themselves from the pack through Truett’s voice, a rich yet understated baritone that’s at once apathetic and emotional.

Closely following the band's debut EP, You’ve Got Eyes, the Salt Flats’ first full-length album, Testing, is a lean collection of 10 lumbering, texturally spacious cuts. While the album doesn’t skimp on vocal passages, Truett’s singing is tasteful and agreeable, allowing the music to breathe rather than overpowering it. Walls of reverberated guitars and thundering drums abound, while the vocals add plenty of color. Since it doesn’t over-rely on any single element, Testing is primarily an exercise in atmosphere.

While the album’s consistency does lend it a same-y quality, it still contains bright spots. The dramatic sweep of “Clear” features delectable guitar work and a visceral chorus. “Landspeed” is accentuated with martial drum work, and the earnest lyrics of “Forgive Me” make it the most nakedly vulnerable song here. The remainder of the album is no less palatable—there really aren’t any weak tracks—but it falls short of being entirely distinctive. - Flagpole Magazine - E. J. Barrett

Local rock quintet The Salt Flats will be closing out this Saturday's group of artists at The Caledonia Lounge. The band's music, which sounds like a cross between The Killers and Weezer, is mostly uptempo and has memorable choruses and guitar riffs. This show is merely practice for an upcoming album as the band has stated they hope to release its sophomore LP in early 2015. This is an Athens band to watch and it's quite surprising they aren't more popular. - The Red and Black - Andrew Plaskowsky

Salt Flats songwriter and frontman Eli Truett dedicated himself to constructing and perfecting an emotional electro-acoustic EP and LP between 2010 to 2013, and a low budget meant long hours working with ProTools in his basement. “If you take music seriously, to want it to be such a major part of your life, you have to embrace all that entails,” says Truett. The band’s full-length record Testing oozes a soothing yet subtly off-balance feeling, like with the melancholic “Landspeed” and the ironically murky track, “Clear.” A rockier sound hides behind a mellow vox overlay, which stems from a soft-hearted place that sets Truett apart from typical rock-and-rollers of today. “I get annoyed with a trend I see in a lot of rock bands, especially the ones who are or want to seem harder-edged or more experimental, where they seem bent on alienating people, as if the audience has to prove themselves according to some arbitrary standard of cool in order to legitimately appreciate the music — or to criticize it for that matter.” He adds, “Art is about expression, which is ultimately about being human, and if someone isn’t being honest or is taking the easy way out, people can sense it. You can’t fake a certain depth of emotion.” The guys in Salt Flats count U2 and Nirvana among their inspirations, but they also draw from geography. Driving through the salt flats in Utah is what led the Athens, Ga-based guys to their band name. Truett says, “The Salt Flats thematically embody an endless horizon of possibilities, the mysteries and wonders of existence, and, as a result, an appropriately non-limiting moniker for the music I write and my overall goals.” - Charleston City Paper - Kalyn Oyer

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Local singer-songwriter Fester Hagood has become a familiar face around town over the last couple years, by virtue of having established the popular Tuesday Night Confessional series, a showcase for regional acoustic talent, at Nowhere Bar. But a recent shoulder surgery left Hagood with unexpected nerve damage, causing him to temporarily lose the use of his guitar-strumming arm. While he recovers, friends have organized a series of benefit shows to assist with medical bills and for moral support. Tuesday's "Arm Aid" event features country songwriting powerhouse and Confessional regular Levi Lowrey, as well as locals Betsy Franck, Danny Carter and Eric Hutchens (of Bloodkin), the Redstone Ramblers and rockers The Salt Flats.
8 p.m. $10. 706-546-4742 - Flagpole Magazine

New Earth Music Hall (or New Earth Athens, depending which logo you trust) has quietly but continually reinvented itself throughout its existence, and the venue continutes to wear many hats: electro hotspot, jam-band base, Freekfest headquarters, etc. Many clubs in town claim to present a metaphorical rainbow of music; few actually do so as consistently.

New Earth has also undergone a physical transformation of late, turning from dingy concrete room to sleek, wood-paneled B corp. On Friday and Saturday, the venue will celebrate the official opening of its newly remodeled outdoor area and garden stage with a two-day "Garden Party" featuring 18 local and regional acts that run the gamut from folk to rock to reggae and beyond.

On Friday, things kick off at 5 p.m. on the garden stage, featuring music from Delta Cane, Cortez Garza, the Josh Perkins Band and more. At 10:30, the party moves indoors for sets from Mahkato and The Higher Choir. Grateful Dead cover band Cosmic Charlie will close out the night at 12:30 a.m.

Saturday's happening kicks of at 2 p.m. with a "pickin' party," followed by outdoor sets from 90 Acre Farm, Sam Sniper, Grassland String Band, Underhill Rose and others. Scott Low and the Southern Bouillon, The Salt Flats and Dangermuffin play indoors starting at 10.

Admission for each day is $5. - Flagpole Magazine