Category: Featured Friday

Featured Friday Music Shuffle – Rose Garden Mix

 
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Good morning, well we are just a few days into our October Band of the Month voting, and so far, Black Jake and the Carnies have a commanding lead. From prior months voting, however, I can tell you that things can change quickly.  So go vote and vote some more:


Today, we shuffle up a playlist of songs by this month’s featured artists.

First up are the youthful Rockers from Connecticut, The Foresters.  In addition to voting for them for Band of the Month, be sure to help them earn a spot opening for Sum 41.  They have video cover of a Sum 41 song entered in a contest through the website TopBlip. Vote HERE.
While Ear to the Ground can’t offer opening spots for becoming Band of the Month, we can guarantee the winner a primo spot on the bill of the first annual Ear to the Ground Fest whenever and wherever that happens.. 🙂 Today, we have the band’s rocking tune, Rubber Band.

Here’s the Band’s Cover of Sum 41’s Underclass Hero

Next, we have the Brennen Leigh’s Just to Hear My Little Bluebird Sing from her 2010 album, The Box.

A year ago at this time Forest Mountain Hymnal released a spooky collections of songs, called Fitcher’s Bird and Other Tales of the Macabre. From that release comes, Lady Margaret (Child Ballad 74). 


Here is a video of another version of the Lady Margaret tale

And finally, we close out this music shuffle with a song from current Band of the Month front-runners, Black Jake and the Carnies.  Farmer Had Him Rats is just a raucous good time.  It’s off the Michigan band’s 2011 album Sundry Mayhems.  


 

The Band released an EPK today and here it is:

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Featured Friday Music Shuffle – Triplight Mix

So and yeah… it is Friday!  That means, it is time for Featured Friday. Over the past three weeks, we’ve highlighted tracks from each of our 10 Featured Artists.  So, we reloaded our playlist with 1 track from each band and shuffled them up.

But, before we get to the shuffle – an update/revision- you can vote for Band of the Month now – HERE!  I had previously stated that the voting would end around midnight on the 31st. However, I am going to revise that until midnight on the 30th.  I may be out of pocket on the 31st, and I have to manually shut down the poll.

Here are the results so far with just under 1 week to go:

1.  Loners Society
2.  Rooftop Runnders -49
3. The Imperial Rooster -58
4. Cupla  -66
5. Cosmonauts -68
6. Pony Boy -70
7-10. SIRS, Traverse the Skies, The Holograms -73

It’s really still anyone’s contest to win.  Remember, you can vote more than once and  be sure to check out all of the Featured Artists (here).

Today we had a couple of longer songs, so just two made it into the shuffle:

Our friend, Galen Wade and his newish band, The Holograms from their Crowbar set are up with a track called Tumble Weed.

Next up, we have the L.A. band Pony Boy with their song Saints and Liars.

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Featured Friday Music Shuffle – Territories Mix

Guess what – it’s time to vote for your band of the month:  Go here to vote!

Today we shuffle up songs from the final three of our featured Artists.  The other 7 appeared on the previous two Feature Fridays.  Here and Here .

This week we turn the spotlight on three very different bands with a shuffle that highlights the diversity found here on Ear to the Ground:

Galen Wade is a mid-day DJ on Radio Station WSBS in Massachusetts.  When he’s not spinning tunes, and giving away food-based prizes, he’s making tons of great music.  Here at Ear to the Ground, we’ve followed Galen around for some time and have had music he’s worked on in our morning shuffles a time or two.  He primarily releases music via Soundcloud, and it through that site that he hooked up with Wade Walker. Thanks to the marvels of this magical age, the nearly two thousand miles that separate the two Wades, they have come together to form The Holograms who are not to be mistaken for Holograms – the Swedish band.  Today we have Make Believe, a nifty instrumental with cool electronica mixed with a bit of hip-hop sounds.  Check it out:




Next, we have a epic sounding indie-rock ballad from Germany by way of Canada. Rooftop Runners – Streets off of the band’s We Are Here (from earlier this year) offers brilliant, passionate vocals combined with music that brings us all down to the Streets.

 
   
And finally, SIRS are a hard rocking band with a great sound, who come from Chicago.   Boo Hoo is the title from the band’s EP which was released just about a year ago.  
 
Here a video for another song from the EP
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Featured Friday Music Shuffle – Not to be an Imposition Mix

Greeting and salutations… it’s Friday and that means it’s time for our Featured Friday segment where we create a playlist with one song by each of our Featured Artists for the Month and hit the shuffle button.  Today due to song length, we have two songs in the shuffle, but rest assured each of our Featured Artist will have their moment on Featured Friday.

 First up with have Cosmonauts who are from Glen Falls, New York.  So far the band’s catalog tells the story of Emily Malone and Daniel Raincourt. Who met in their childhoods at an orphanage.   You can go here to get The Disfigurement of Emily Malone which was released in the March of 2011.  And here to get The Demise of Daniel Raincourt which was released on my birthday in January of this year. 

The song we offer up today is from The Demise of Daniel Raincourt.  The Heritage Day Parade is the second to the last song on the record. 





Next up, we have Cupla, a hard-rocking band from Vancouver, British Columbia. Cupla recently released a single and video (the video is featured on the Featured Artist Page) called My Stand which addresses the important issue of Bullying.  50% of the proceeds from the single go toward efforts to combat bullying.



Today, we have I’m Going which is the lead track off the band’s 2011 album, Letters Home.

 
Here’s Cupla doing an acoustic version of I’m going from CXCW 2012.
 



 

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Featured Friday Music Shuffle – Dog Days Mix

Here we are at the last Featured Friday Music Shuffle for July.  Next Friday, we will be shuffling up a whole new crop of Featured Artists. 

Another opportunity to remind you to vote for your favorite Featured Artist to be Band of the Month for July.  The poll is on the left sidebar near the top.  One vote per computer or something like that.  Vote now!  Polls will close next Tuesday around midnight.


First up this morning is actually one of our Featured Artists for June. Toward the end of the polling period for Band of the Month, I realized that I had inadvertently left Dean Fields off of the poll. So, I have added him to the poll for July.  This morning I decided to add one of his songs to the final featured Friday shuffle.  Forever Never Knowing  is an infectious indie pop song from his outstanding Under a Searchlight Moon EP.



Next up we have FallsStart with their catchy, hard rocking song, Happy Song. The song is featured on the band’s forthcoming EP Our Summer. Which is due out August 10.




Next up we have a band from Burlington, VT doing a cover of a piece written by the guy who used a slingshot to defeat a mighty giant.  From their whimsical set, Lawrence Welks Does God: Psalms we have 11. In the hands of LW&OB2X, David’s Psalm is set to a disco beat caustic, pleading vocals. HALLELUJAH!






And finally, we have a track from Wolf and Cub with the a song from their double A-side Shut Me Out/Got Nothing Coming 7″ with Got Nothing Coming.

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Featured Friday Music Shuflle – You Better Bet Your Life Mix

Greetings…Remember voting for Band of the Month – July continues – use the sidebar, and tell your friends to vote, too.

Here in the shuffle are three of our Featured Artists for July:

First up, Justin and the Salty Dogs get their Jimmy Webb/Hank Williams mojo going with the track that first captured my attention to these guys. Postman Blues

http://www.reverbnation.com/widget_code/html_widget/artist_1375028?widget_id=50&posted_by=fan_1758528&pwc%5Bdesign%5D=default&pwc%5Bbackground_color%5D=%23333333&pwc%5Bincluded_songs%5D=1&pwc%5Bphoto%5D=1%2C0&pwc%5Bsize%5D=fit

Next up is Francis Bowie with Silly and Crazy.

And finally, Happy Song was originally featured on Ear to the Ground as the Mystery Song of the Day when my phone failed to read the Artist Name tag and google turned out to be frugal.  Upon getting home, I figured out that Happy Song is by a band called FallsStart who are now a featured artist and up for Band of the Month…. whew! It is on the band’s forthcoming 6 song EP  Our Summer due out August 10.

Featured Friday Music Shuffle – Radical Radishes Mix

Once again, the subtitle has precious little to do with the songs in the shuffle (or with anything else for that matter), but…
We have a good mix of songs this morning, our first Featured Friday Shuffle of July:
Bay Area singer-songwriter Brian Bergeron is up first with a song from his Hourglass EP called, Don’t Let Me Down.

Next we have New York Rock Band in a live cover of the song Charles Manson stole from the Beatles and which U2 stole back…  The Shake wrest the song away from U2 and take Helter, Skelter for an awesome spin around the block.

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=4161093041/size=tall/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/

Austin-based The Raindoggs are also doing a cover.  My Medicine was on Snoop Dogg’s 2008 album Ego Trippin’, and the Raindoggs’ sultry, groovin’ take on the song is the second track off their One Armed Bandit album.


 

And finally, we have a song called Shut Me Out from New South Wales based Wolf and Cub. Which is available as a free download from their Bandcamp Page.

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=2986335570/size=tall/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/

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Featured Friday Music Shuffle – End of the Month Mix

Here we are the last Friday in June, and the voting has picked up.  Skeletons in the Piano have made a huge push and taken over second place.  They are within possible striking distance of Killing Kuddles who has lead since the beginning of the polling period.  The next 38 hours or so will decide the whole thing.   Remember even if you have voted, you can vote again – here.
For our last shuffle of the month, I have loaded roughly an equal amount of songs for each of the top three (poll results as of this morning) Band of the Month nominees.  Strangely enough, the shuffle came up in order from 3rd place to 1st*
*Okay I shuffled three or four times to get it to come out this way.
To the shuffle:
The more I hear of the Living with Scars album, the more impressed I am by Jo Wymer and he band.  On Come on Baby, Jo shows off her vocal chops with a passionate pleading blues number that stands alongside some of the best female blues vocalists of all time.  

Upstate New Yorkers, Skeletons in the Piano are up next with the lead off track from their Stranger On A Damned Staircase album. That Old Hound Dog came up earlier in the month, but it’s worth repeating here. A damned fine blues based bit of indie rock from a highly original band.

And finally, we have another stand-out track from Killing Kuddles – the folksy, grungy, punk troubadour from Atlanta, Georgia.  Today’s song is a nifty, rocking tune called Runaway Queen.

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/track=2738959685/size=grande3/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/

 couldn’t locate a video for Runaway Queen, so here’s Too Crazy.

Featured Friday Music Shuffle – Penultimate Mix

It’s Friday!  Time to shuffle up some of our Featured Artists of the Month.  And another chance to plug our Band of the Month poll.
Words cannot express how much I loved this morning’s shuffle. Wait a minute, I’m a writer, so yes, words can express how much I loved this morning shuffle:

First up is Dean Fields with Forever Never Knowing from his release entitled Under A Searchlight Moon. Forever Never Knowing is indie folk pop at best.  Bottom line, it’s just a well written and wonderfully executed song. It’s a love song that doesn’t slip into sentimental silliness (but what’s wrong with that, I’d like to know).  Dean Fields is soon going to moving from Richmond, VA to Nashville, and I look forward to seeing him around town soon!

  
Killing Kuddles is currently leading in our Band of the Month poll.  He brings a grungy, punk spirit to a folk troubadours’ heart (or maybe it’s the other way around).  In Vegas, from his Waking Up Older EP, I hear shades of early X, it’s a fun little number and damn good song.
 Couldn’t find a video for Vegas so here’s another Killing Kuddles song

Then there is Shayfer James. Weight of the World from his Counterfeit Arcade album was my introduction to this amazing New Jersey artist. With a carnival-like sound and uniquely emotive vocals, Shayfer, like Don Ryan and Elephant Goes West, draws from what must be a verdant garden of Waitsian magic located somewhere in the Garden State. The thing is, it is very easy to pick the fruit, but it takes a master baker to know what to do with it. Shayfer James is a master chef, and I can’t wait for the next batch of tasty treats to come out of his kitchen….  Damn, I made myself hungry!

  
And we close out this shuffle with Jo Wymer who is currently holding down the number two spot in our Band of the Month Poll. This powerful bluesy rock singer/songwriter makes sings classic sounding original songs.  I hear that she is coming to Nashville in September, and I for one, can’t wait.  This Ain’t Love (Love and War) is another stand-out track on her fabulous Living With Scars album.
 
I couldn’t find a video for This Ain’t Love so here’s a live clip of Jo performing a P!nk song from a show she opened for Corey Glover (Living Colour)

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle – Trios Mix

I’ve seen some stories in the news recently about the incredible and awful concentration of media ownership.  The sad truth in graphic form (via FrugalDad.com) is at the end of this post:

Nashville is fortunate to have a great independent radio station that supports local music and plays songs you just don’t hear anywhere else.  Well, today is 6/15 or 615 which happens to be the area code of Nashville. So all day, from 6:15a.m. to 6:15p.m. they are playing nothing but music from the 615.  Grant it, they have a pretty incredible list of artists to choose from:  John Hiatt, Black Keys, Jack White, Pujol, JEFF the Brotherhood, Lambchop, Steve Winwood and Donna Summer by my estimation would all be eligible for inclusion. Plus too many others to name.

Anyway, I may post a 615 video collage/montage whatever later, and I would do a 615 shuffle, but it is featured Friday so here we go:

First up, Upstate New Yorkers, Skeleton in the Piano are up with the lead song from their 2011 album Stranger on a Damned Staircase – The Old Hound Dog is an excellent jumping off point if you are just discovering this band.  

 
Next up we have a Washington, DC band with ties to the 615.  The Riverbreak’s Lead Singer and Guitarist Ryan Bailey hails from the area. Strangers on a Hot Night offers a sultry sensuality along with an expansiveness that still allows us, the listeners, to feel as if we are right there in Malcolm X Park watching the scene unfold.  It is also the lead off track from the band’s album Get You Right.
  
(Couldn’t locate a video for Strangers on a Hot Night 
so here is Bolin Creek another track off the Get You Right album)

And finally, more stuff from New Jersey’s bluesy rock singer Jo Wymer.  We’ve been playing the hell out of her Living With Scars album, and she belts in legend-worthy style on Dirty Secrets.

 Media Consolidation Infographic

Source: Frugal dad

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