Recently, I was gifted a 75″ and 45″ by Billboard-charting producer Spencer Garn. At least, that’s how I like to say it. What really happened was that he came in for a podcast over at Loafing and brought merch. Chad Radford came into the room next door, asked me and the other intern if we had record players and gave us these fresh presses. Either way, I still thought it was pretty cool.
To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this album. All I knew was that it came from Diamond Street Studios, a recording studio out in Little 5 that specializes in analog recordings, and it hadn’t been released yet.
I immediately opened my record player when I got home from work and popped it on.
The first track greeted me with soulful vocals from Adryon de Leon. The opener “How Many Lies, How Many Times” is one the only tracks on the album that isn’t an instrumental. It’s also my favorite off of this LP.
This album is definitely funk. The instrumentals verge on corny, sounding a bit like an Austin Powers soundtrack. However, there is something to be praised about Ian Newberry’s guitar playing throughout the album. It’s energetic and viciously powers through all 10 tracks.
Actually, all the players are quite impressive. I just wasn’t too big of a fan of the compositions themselves. Although, since it’s been under my needle this past week, I’ve flicked it on multiple times. Maybe it’s growing on me.
The sound quality of this LP is fantastic. You probably can’t tell from the YouTube video below since it’s now been heavily altered from being digitized, but the sound is crisp as hell. I haven’t heard something that vivid on my cheap lil’ player in a while.
Overall, I’d give this album a 6/10, but you reading this are a 10/10 if you choose to support Atlanta music.
You can be a cool music kid and pre-order this album from the Diamond Street Players’ bandcamp here. The album is due for release on August 2nd.
You can also follow them on Instagram here.
Track Listings
SIDE A:
“How Many Lies, How Many Times” w/ Adryon de Leon
“Split The Difference”
“Bada Dum Dum”
“Healey ’67”
“Murky Retrograde”
SIDE B:
“Organ Workout”
“Suzy’s Boogaloo”
“Million Miles” w/ Amanda Joy
“(startin’ with a) Clean Slate”
“Grease Gun”
Diamond Street Players
Ben Davis – Tenor Sax & Flute
Ian Newberry – Guitar
Kevin Scott – Bass Guitar
Mark Raudabaugh – Drums & Percussion
Spencer Garn – Hammond Organ & Fender Rhodes
ATL Music Kid 
Awesome!! Keep up the hard work. Atlanta is such a great place for up coming band and artists. Have you tried playing in Little 5 points for an opening stage act? I know that is where a lot of up coming artist try to promote themselves.
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My dad passed down a bookcase filled with vinyl, most of the artist(s) I haven’t heard, so it’s always a nice surprise. I appreciate a good LP. If you ever find yourself in downtown Carrollton, they have my favorite record store down there. Keep up the great work!
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