Nuci's Space does wonderful work...

...and this is one way to help them. There's a band--although 'recording project' might be more accurate--called Emergent Heart.



They may have decided to call their new EP 'One' because it's their favorite U2 song, but they probably did it because it's their first release. It's available for download at http://www.emergentheart.com/. It's tuneful and nice in that smooth indie rock way that all the kids seem to love these days, in touch with its feelings, sincere, sensitive, etc. Kind of like The Antlers, Real Estate, Broken Social Scene, Telekenesis, that kind of thing. And it's every bit as good as the rest of that stuff is.

Still, I probably wouldn't be mentioning it at all if the proceeds weren't going to Nuci's Space. Go visit http://www.nuci.org/ if you haven't heard of it. This blog can get a little negative sometimes, what with all the fevered egos in this town competing for one's attention, but Nuci's Space is something that every Athenian should be proud of. Very few people start playing music (or writing about it for that matter) because they are socially well-adjusted and have excellent coping mechanisms for dealing with the world around them. Thank god for all of us that a place like Nuci's Space exists.

A callous attempt on the part of an unknown band to draw attention to itself by aligning itself with a music-related charity loved by thousands? That's one way to look at it, if you're feeling cynical. But I'm not, and any money that goes to Nuci's Space is money that is going to do good things.

Besdies, one of the guys in the group said I was 'smart' when he asked me to write about this. See, Athens musicians, I'm as much as a sucker for praise and attention as the rest of you! The Athens Music Express e-mail address really works! (Just be grateful I didn't take up Misfortune 500 on their request to come see them play--dry ice triggers my asthma).

(Gratuitous and unnecessary use of exclamation points at the end of the article used by kind permission of the owner, Flagpole Editor Michelle Gilzenstern).