Atlanta Soundtrack: New music by The Head, EarthGang and vintage S.O.S. Band

The Head: “French Girls”

There’s a comical moment in Edgar Wright’s effervescent 2021 documentary about influential yet underrated band Sparks in which the pair of musicians gets asked whether they’re brothers (the answer is yes), which is immediately followed by, “How did you meet?” They look askance for a moment and then dryly respond, “We’re brothers.” You could incite a similar exchange with two-thirds of indie rock trio The Head, who are twins Jack (drums) and Mike Shaw (lead singer/bass/séance vessel for the ghost of Morrissey who, yes, we are aware is not technically dead). They’re joined in the trifecta by longtime friend and guitarist Jacob Morrell, whom the Shaw brothers met in 2007 when they were all high school freshmen.

This video has a lot going on. There’s the audacity of those dandelion-hued bathrobes, their deadpan facial expressions, plus the fact that this Damon Moon-produced tune is evidently an ode to the Shaw brothers’ late grandmother. All in all, it’s an intriguing concoction of sentimentality and spice that these bands of (literally) brothers seem to be brimming with. We’ll make a mental bookmark for that biopic, likely coming out sometime in 2065.

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EarthGang: “All Eyes On Me”

EarthGang’s Olu O. Fann aka Olu (or Johnny Venus) and Eian Undrai Parker aka WowGr8 (or Doctur Dot) once described their style as “greasers from the ’50s meet Mongolian fur trappers who sit down to have tea with Kahlil Gibran.” The two artists first met while attending Benjamin E. Mays High School in southwest Atlanta and were influenced early on by an eclectic mix of songwriting styles, from Pink Floyd to Fela Kuti and from Soulja Boy to Fleet Foxes. 

Both went on to attend Hampton University in Virginia, where they met fellow Atlanta rapper JID. Soon after, Olu and WowGr8 moved back to Atlanta and formed the musical collective Spillage Village, which includes JID along with 6lack and Mereba, among others. Some have described the creative cooperative as the next generation’s Dungeon Family. In 2017, they signed with J. Cole’s Dreamville label. EarthGang has opened for Billie Eilish and the late Mac Miller, but in recent years have been steadily moving into a full spotlight of their own.

That confidence and poise is apparent in this, their most recent single from sophomore album Ghetto Gods, set to release on January 28. Through the downplayed lyrics and scenes from daily life, Olu and WowGr8 celebrate the simple act of managing to scrape through, with the repeated refrain of, “You survived last year, get your hands up.”

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The S.O.S. Band – “Just Be Good to Me”

Don’t worry. In this case, S.O.S. is nary a cause for alarm. Rather, it spells out “Sounds of Success,” a replacement for the R&B group’s original name, “Santa Monica.” (Thankfully, someone pointed out it didn’t make much sense for a band from Atlanta to go by such an L.A.-centered moniker). Formed in 1977, the group first got their kicks playing licks at bygone Atlanta hotspot the Regal Room. And success, indeed, seemed to follow their rechristening, with a gold record debut studio album released in 1980 that featured what is probably their most widely recognized hit, “Take Your Time (Do It Right).”

But we’re not here to talk about that upbeat, toe-tapping earworm. Instead, we’ll focus on another hit, one with somewhat more haunting themes. From 1983’s On the Rise, “Just Be Good to Me,” the anti-empowerment ballad and our Vintage Track of the Week, was produced and written by superstar songwriting team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who shortly thereafter produced Janet Jackson’s breakout album, 1986’s Control, followed by Jackson’s 1989 blockbuster Rhythm Nation 1814.

The success of this song owes a giant credit to the skill and enthusiastic presentation of the band, along with the charismatic, expressive delivery of talented lead singer Mary Davis. Along with Davis, S.O.S. through the years featured keyboardist/vocalist Jason Bryant, not one but TWO sax players in Billy Ellis and Willie “Sonny” Killebrew, guitarist Bruno Speight, bassist John Alexander Simpson, drummer James Earl Jones III, and trumpeter/vocalist/percussionist Abdul Ra’oof. 

And hey, if you’re ever confused about which decade this performance takes place in, just keep an eye out for the guy in the orange jumpsuit holding the keytar and you can’t ever get lost again.