Okay pre-writing disclaimer… I’m just not feeling particularly verbose today. So, expect some short, sharp comments… but who knows what will happen when I get started… What’s fun about the randomness of the shuffle process is that it often does far better than I ever could arranging a fine mixture of divergent tunes into a pattern which at once defies and expands the conscious minds ability to understand the complexity of music as a part of human interactions. Did I say, I wasn’t feeling verbose? Oh well….
“Look Around” by Lael Summer from Burden to Bear
The shuffle has decided to include Lael Summer in the mix three days in a row, and I am very happy about that. The last two days, my morning drive has begun with songs from this wonderful album.
“Leyndarmal (King and Cross)” by Asgeir Trausti from Dýrð í dauðaþögn
Indie folk from Iceland.. Asgeir Trausti is very good, and this was my first listen. I grabbed this one off the September Feel Bad for You mixtape. There is an English version of this song, but the version I heard was the Icelandic original. Even without knowing what the lyrics mean, the sound is devastatingly beautiful.
“Plain Jane” by Joe Nolan from Plain Jane
Joe Nolan is from Nashville. He writes for the Nashville Scene and for our local street newspaper The Contributor. He followed me on Twitter, and when I saw the people I know who also follow him and/or are friends of his Facebook, I knew I was on to something. I grabbed some music from his website. Plain Jane is the title track from a 2001 album. Great music is timeless. This is timeless music. Dig.
“The Bride of Frankenstein, 1935” by Sci-Fi Romance from October
Long time Ear to the Ground favorite Sci-Fi is back with a surprise new album perfect for this time of year. Heck man, this album combines two things I love – great music and classic horror movies. A lesser man might have come up with this idea, but it takes someone like Vance Kotrla to actually pull it off so brilliantly.
“California Rag” by Sidestreet Reny from Tonal Tonics and Musical Elixers
Acoustic Blues and Urban roots – featuring a National Resonator… you know this had to come to me via my friend David Horton (aka Popa Tunes), and you know this has to be good – and it is soooo good.
“California” by The Western Shore from Thunderstorm
How about two California songs in a row – both by husband and wife duos – sonically very different, but both incredible? How about two shuffles in a row with rich Americana via Nashville’s The Western Shore?
“Chemistry” (a capella) by Hayden Coleman from Chemistry (Maxi Single)
We previously featuring my friend Hayden Coleman’s new single “Chemistry”. From the same maxi-single, today’s version of that song strips away everything but the vocals and the results are so cool. I think this song may have the best hook I’ve heard all year – and man I’ve heard some killer hooks this year. Bonus points for the line about potential energy… in my novel, The Drift, one of the characters is a film student whose class project is a film called Potential Energy. I tend to think the filmmaker would use this song in his film if he could.
“Anyway” by Chris Stamey from Lovesick Blues
From a hip-hop song with the beats and music stripped away to a densely layered Indie Pop/Folk song from the always amazing Chris Stamey.
“High Octane Generation (for Jimmy Roche)” by Grant Peeples and the Peeples Republik from Punishing the Myth
From my admittedly skewed perspective, it looks like poetry may be making a comeback – or maybe no comeback is needed – or maybe it is me making the comeback… whatever… we close out this rather diverse and interesting shuffle with the words of Grant Peeples. In the video montage, we’ve included High Octane Generation by Jim Roche which I take it was the inspiration for the poem we feature today. This was my first exposure to Jim Roche, and at risk of understatement, I am intrigued.
VIDEOS
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E2TG: MUSIC/WORDS 
