Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle – Gratitude Mix

Short and Sweet. In spite of Because of all of the difficulties of this year, I am more aware than ever of the reasons I have to be grateful.   In a randomly shuffled way – that will be my focus today….

“Cry Over You” by Tami Neilson from Dynamite!

I am grateful for the Feel Bad for You monthly mixtape for expanding and enhancing my musical palate. I am also grateful for new music that sounds like it comes from another era – like some lost classic recording.

“Don’t Walk Away” by Aaron Lee Tasjan from Crooked River Burning

I am grateful for circumstances which have allowed to see and meet incredibly talented musicians/singers/songwriters like Aaron Lee Tasjan.  “This is a song about not walking away when someone’s talking to you, it’s called ‘Don’t Walk Away I’m Talking to You'”

“Two of Me” by Haesemeyer from Three Mirrors

I am grateful for discovering new music from near and far from a variety of sources and through the (sometimes) mixed blessing of social media getting to know the people behind the music.

“Fort Wayne” by Heath McNease from Fort Wayne

I am grateful for Noisetrade for introducing to music I might not otherwise hear. And for heartfelt people making the music they want to make regardless of labels or genre restrictions.

“Rambo” by The Features from Old Familiar Melodies – 2008-2013/Wilderness

I am grateful for people who come from near the place that I come from who go on to do great things who remind me that nothing about me holds me back except for me.

“God I Miss You” by Dan Coyle from Perfect World, Perfect Beat

I am grateful for people who notice when I write about them. As corny as it may sound, it is good to have reminders that I am not writing into a void. I am also grateful for people who remember and allow me to follow their journey through their music.

“Leaves” by The Western Shore from Thunderstorm

I am grateful for the insanely talented group of people I have been fortunate enough to become a part of over these last few months.  People pursuing their own version of the elusive but ever-present dream.  Nashville/East Nashville is filled with people like this, and I think I have found a pretty special (and ever expanding) group of folks with which to continue this journey.

“Can’t Say No” by The Fleeting Ends from Can’t Say No EP

Noisetrade again…. I am grateful for new music that manages to capture a bit of the music I grew up with without being derivative. I am grateful for a well-crafted Pop song, and I am grateful for continuing to discover new music almost every day.

“My Friend (Times Aren’t Too Bad)” by D. Joseph Mooradian via Soundcloud

I am grateful for young people continuing to express themselves through the art form of music. In this town, in this age… it is easy to get caught up in the music “business” and the charts and articles and opinions and pageviews and the bloody $$$$s. Music is or at least can be art – not in an elitist kind of way, but in a spiritual kind of way.  We trade a bit of ourselves with one another through the various ways be express ourselves.  I am grateful to hear and see the children of friends following this path of expression no matter how far or where it leads.

This turned out to be a pretty cool exercise in gratitude. Of course, I left out so many.  That’s why I use the random shuffle – if I was trying to create some “perfect” gratitude playlist – I would worry and obsess and it wouldn’t be done until next Thanksgiving.  

Have a good Holiday if you are celebrating.  To my Canadian friends – I send that greeting back through time to last month.  For others…. well, there is quite a bit about this American holiday that you may think is weird and excessive… but when it comes to taking time to be grateful – well, I think we got that part about right.

VIDEO APPROXIMATION

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WOW Wednesday Music Shuffle – No Excuse Mix

!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”twitter-wjs”); I just recently found out that the five year old daughter of Joseph “Taco” Russell is fighting a courageous battle with childhood cancer.   #E2TG sends all kinds of love and good thoughts and prayers to the entire Taco Land family.  I sometimes think of the bands/artists, I’ve gotten to know as part of an extended Ear to the Ground Family, and Taco Land has been a big part of that for a good portion of our history.

Right now you can get an “Audrey Strong”  bracelet plus a free download of Heart of Texas by Taco Land for a $1 (or more) donation (proceeds go to St. Jude.)  Here is the link to bandcamp

from Taco Land:

Support bracelet for Taco’s 5yr old daughter whom is fighting childhood cancer. Bracelet is Gold. This color represents the fight against all Childhood Cancers. All monies will be donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Bracelet comes with free download of song “Heart of Texas” which has Audrey opening the song by saying, “I love Daddy!”

Includes unlimited streaming of Heart of Texas via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Today, we hit our mid-week stride and explore the underbelly of my phone’s memory card (not really, but we do shuffle through the entire memory banks to come up with Morning Shuffle for today).    I’m not sure that there is any sort of theme or sense to today’s shuffle…. but that works for me…

“Pretty Little Rebel” by John Eddie from John Eddie

The iconic singer-songwriter John Eddie has been making great music for decades.  These one goes all the way back to his self-titled debut album (1986).   Trivia: Eddie did a simple awesome cover of The Cure’s “In Between Days” on the Elektra Records 40th Anniversary album Rubaiyat.

“Accomplices” by The Gypsy West from Accomplices III: No Barcodes

Things have been quiet since The Gypsy West completed their epic and awesome Accomplices set of EPs.  You may remember #E2TG reviewed the last album of the trilogy back in January of 2013. If you don’t remember – check it out here.

“Brick x Brick” by Christopher Paul Stelling from False Cities

A very cool song from the latest album by this NYC singer/songwriter who I failed to see in Nashville due to The Bluebird show selling out… 😦

“No Excuse” by L.A. Symphony from The End is Now

Nothing like some west coast  alternative hip-hop vibe to shake things up…

“Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” by Herman’s Hermits from the album of the same name.

Just ’cause Peter Noone was dreamy….

“Lovable” by Elvis Costello from King of America
And a song from Elvis Costello’s legendary  mid 80’s  T. Bone Burnett produced album.. ’cause. Elvis is still the king!

“newestish” by Joseph Mooradian from Soundcloud

Joseph Mooradian is the college-aged son of a friend of mine.  I saw him as a high schooler playing coffee house shows at our church.  He is fond of Damian Jurado among others, and I dig his songs and his voice.  When I get a chance, I grab songs off Soundcloud to add into my mix.  This is an untitled demo from sometime ago (unless “newestish” is the title in which case I stand corrected).  The video is for one of favorite songs of his. 

“Dance Me to the End of Love” by Leonard Cohen from Various Positions

Leonard Cohen is a good addition to any shuffle.  By the way, if your local library participates in the Freegal program, The Complete Studio Album Collection has recently been added to that site.  And yes, in case your wondering, the video for the song from the Jools Holland show that is newish East Nashville resident Julie Christensen (Divine Horsemen) singing background vocals.  Good eye.

“Let it Go” by The Black Ryder from Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride

We close out things with a cool track from the 2010 album from Australia’s The Black Ryder.

HERE IS THE DAILY VIDEO PLAYLIST:


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Friday Morning Music Shuffle – Ex-Eye-Aye-I Mix

Happy Friday the 13th to all you triskaidekaphiles out there.

Monday starts our march to 2014 by highlighting some of our favorite music of 2013. Culminating in the Third Annual Band of the Year unveiling ceremony blog post.  Who will join The Mobbs and Skeletons in the Piano in this super exclusive category?  You better tune in to find out.  It’s all soooo exciting!

Anyway to close out a great year of Shuffles, we have another shuffle with some songs and stuff…

#E2TGWorthy… it started as a simple blog post, but everything got turned upside down. What happened next will change the way you look at simple blog posts for at least a couple of minutes…

EXTRAS:  “Light Years” by The Quick and the Dead    “When the Dawn Becomes The Day” by Humming House    “Made to be Blue” by Adam Hill   “A Song About Making Out in Cars” by Joseph Mooradian (either an earlier version of a song we featured a couple of weeks ago or an earlier song about the same thing.)   “Happy With Me” by holychild   “Under The Big Black Sun” by X   “Heaven Underfoot” by Damfino (another great track off of the fourth Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen comp)    “One Reporters Opinion” by Minutemen    “Skulldiggin'” by Black Joe Lewis    “Carry Me Home” by Carolina Story   “Going Down to Liverpool” by The Bangles    “The Hawk” (Kris Kristofferson cover) by Tom Verlaine  

Transition Track of the Day:
“Ginger Ale” by Adam Hill (from Little Time.)

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2983219457/size=medium/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/transparent=true/

SHUFFLE:

“Shit from Old Notebook” by Minutemen (from Double Nickels on the Dime. “Let the products sell themselves”)

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“Cover Me Up” by Jason Isbell (from Southeastern.  Southeastern has deservedly ended up on many year end “best of” lists.  Who knows, you may even here some tracks from the album during our 2013 wrap up…)

“Ziggy Stardust” by David Bowie (from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.  “but boy could he play guitar…”)

“Like Shaking Hands” by Less Love and Wondernaut (from Paradigms in the Design.  Formal thank you to Gina Sigillito for introducing to this great music from Oklahoma City.)

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3618790823/size=medium/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/transparent=true/



WATCH


 

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Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle – Gratitude Redux Mix

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//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.jsIt’s that time of the year to become reflective and to find things for and about which to be thankful and grateful.  Each year seems filled with so much good and bad things, and yet it all seems to go by so fast. So it is good to pause now and again.

As a blog, we here at E2TG (meaning me) continue to be amazed and grateful for all the great people who have read and been a part of this extended experiment. I’m always grateful for the now accepted ubiquity of the term curate (which it seemed to me used to be reserved for museums and such). Now, whenever I don’t have much time to comment on the songs I present, and I begin to wonder exactly what it is useful that I am doing, I can just remind myself that I am curating this amazing collection of music, and that makes me feel very special indeed….. 😉

Let’s jump to our final shuffle of the week and our final shuffle of November 2013
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“Believe” by Lys Guillorn (from Winged Victory.  Another track from her new album.  This is a truly beautiful song. By the way, the video we picked to represent Lys Guillorn in our Playlist below is a Gram Parsons cover featuring Lys and Dave Hogan another Grimm member in good standing)
http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=5244004/size=medium/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/transparent=true/

“Lady Stardust (Original Demo)” by David Bowie (from the 1991 Remastered version of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Man this song follows so nicely on the heels of the Lys Guillorn track)

“A Song About Making Out in Cars” by Joseph Mooradian (from his Soundcloud account.  As the title suggests… steamy windows and all.)

“Sweet Release” by Stoney (from More Than Animals. Stoney is a British singer-songwriter who recently relocated to Austin, Texas – okay maybe not recently – I’m not sure… whatever. The CD is set for release in January 2014. You can pre-order and grab an immediate download of the album using the widget below.  Or just stream it.)

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3126372409/size=medium/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/transparent=true/

“Gone Away” by Umbrella Bed (from Refill EP.  Umbrella Bed are a two-toned ska band from Minneapolis which formed back in 1995. The band’s latest release Refill was issued on Mad Butcher Records and was released earlier this month.)

“We Belonged” by Stoney (from More Than Animals.  Another track from this album.)

“Train” by Uncle Tupelo (from No Depression. What can I say? I’m a sucker for train songs, and I freaking love everything about Uncle Tupelo.  I couldn’t find a video for this song so the video included below is for the band’s cover of the Iggy and the Stooges song, “I Wanna Be Your Dog”.)

WATCH
 


SHOP
 
 
Our Weekly Web-store for all your Black Friday needs – seriously make your Amazon purchases via this link and help support E2TG)
 


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Monday Morning Music Shuffle – Grand Company Mix

Introducing:  The E2TG Hall of Fame —– Ta Da!

You may be asking, “WTF?” Basically, it comes down to this: My blogging consultant told me I need to start being more controversial to attract more readers to my site. Whenever, I see posts about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they always seem to attract highly opinionated comments. So, I thought if I came up with my own Hall of Fame, it might create controversy and angry comment wars which might “go viral” as the kids say.*

*All of the proceeding is true except for the following: I don’t have a blogging consultant. I rarely read comment wars about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the only thing likely to “go viral” over here is an actual virus.

Really, I got to thinking about the artists I consider E2TG featured artist. When I began writing E2TG way back in the spring of 2011, I began naming a Band of the Week just about every week.  I did this for a about year, before switching to a featured artist designation – wherein I would name ten or so “featured artists” every month and put them in “heavy rotation” for the remainder of that month.  That carried on for just over six months. Since, then I keep featuring new music, but I haven’t really been very organized about recognizing those bands.  So… I decided to take stock – at this random point in E2TG history and go back and formally recognize all of the bands that I consider part of the E2TG family.  To do so, I decided to use the TAG “cloud” on the sidebar and begin with the most tagged bands and work my way down.  So, for the near future, I am going to name three, two or one band every day to join the E2TG HofF.  It’s a purely honorary title – as currently it does not come with a cash prize nor is there an actual Hall.

I am going to create and maintain a Sidebar linked Page for the Hall of Fame artists – with videos, songs, links, an on-going web-store and more.  It’s still under construction, so will update when I have a Page set up. 

So without much more ado, E2TG is pleased to announce our inaugural class of Hall of Fame inductees:

 
 
 
 


1. THE END MEN from Brooklyn, NY

2.TACO LAND – from San Antonio, TX

3. SKELETONS IN THE PIANO from Saratoga Springs, NY

Stay tuned!  More to come.

Shuffle is up next


“Honey You” by The Dirty Guv’nahs (from Somewhere Beneath These Southern Skies. Groovy grooves from Knoxville, TN.)

“Bluebirds Fall” by The Autumn Defense (from the Birds, Beasts, and Flowers EP. A split EP with the band Hem. Lilting harmonies from Chicago by way of Wilco.)

“August” by prattle on, rick. (from A Decade Begins. Summery instrumental goodness from Nashville.)

“Grand Company” by Joseph Mooradian (It’s good to see this kid making lots of new music – I just heard an excellent even newer song this morning.  This one is supposedly a work-in-progress, but it’s an excellent song. CLICK HERE to listen and download.“)

“Last Nite” by Adele (covering The Strokes.)

“Tracks of my Tears by Linda Ronstadt (covering Smokey Robinson and The Miracles classic)

 

WATCH
 
 
 
 

Monday Morning Music Shuffle – Linger On Mix


 
Lou Reed (1942-2013)
 
It is impossible for me to say with any degree of certainty that Ear 2 the Ground would not exist if it weren’t for Lou Reed.  But, what I can say with absolute certainty is that it would not be the same. The simple but truthful reason is that music would not be the same.  Walk on, linger on…
 
 
 

 
 
“The Seven Seas” by Elephant Stone (from The Seven Seas. Indian-inspired Psychedelic Rock from Montreal, Canada.)
 
“I Can’t Stop Loving You” by Joseph Mooradian (via Soundcloud.  A cool cover of the Don Gibson penned classic made famous by the late great Ray Charles.)
 
“Young Girls” by Black Joe Lewis (from Noisetrade Eastside Manor Session.  Another Eastside Manor recording of a song from Electric Slave)
 
“I Think We’re Alone Now” by Screeching Weasel (from the 1995 Compilation Kill the Musicians.  A rip roaring cover of the Tommy James and the Shondells song which many of my generation knows from the 1987 version my Tiffany. Come to think of it – this may be a cover of the Tiffany version. I’m not really sure.)
 
“Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide” by David Bowie (from Ziggy Stardust. Good to have David Bowie in the shuffle.  Ziggy was released in 1972 – the same year that Bowie along with Mick Ronson produced Lou Reed’s second solo album Transformer.)
 
“Fearless” by Gerald Collier (from Gerald Collier. A Pink Floyd cover – and the third cover in this Shuffle – from the Singer-Songwriter Collier’s self-titled 1998 album.)
 
 
 
 
 
VIEW TODAY’S VIDEO PLAYLIST
 
 
 


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Wednesday/Thursday Evening/Morning Music Shuffle – Luckiest Guy in the World Mix


Railroad Bridge – Nashville

Good morning, I am back after a day off… my new earphones are still In-Transit, so today I presenting my mix of yesterday’s drive home and today’s drive in to work.  Jump through to the marvelous musical mixture…

Yesterday on my hot and sweaty drive home, I listened to the following songs:

“Nashville” by Casey Black (It’s always cool to hear a song about the city that has been my home for the past twenty-something years. It’s also cool anytime I can hear a Casey Black song)

“Paul Revere” by Beastie Boys (a history lesson and the first of three by Mike D, MCA, and Ad-Rock)

“Most People” by Dawes (This.)

“She’s Crafty” by Beastie Boys (I don’t think they are talking about Wendy Russell, but I could be wrong)

“That’s the Story of My Life” by The Velvet Underground (That’s the difference between wrong and right)

“My Whole Life” by EdTang (Seriously though EdTang is very cool. Check it out)

“Frank Lloyd Wright” by Joseph Mooradian (a singer-songwriter from Nashville. I first heard him sing at a coffee house show at our church a few years ago.  A mesmerizing vocal style. Check out his Soundcloud for tons of great originals and covers)

“Time to Get Ill” by Beastie Boys (song #3 of this mix from the Boys!)

“This Morning” by Human Face (New music from UK band Human Face!)

Music from this morning:

“The Witching Hour” by The Gypsy West  (I don’t always listen to psych prog rock stuff from Brooklyn, but when I do, it is likely to be The Gypsy West)

“Crows on a Phone Line” by Let’s Active (One of my favorite songs.  I don’t remember if I first loved this song because I used to write a bunch of bad poetry about crows or if I wrote a bunch of bad poetry about crows because I loved this song.  I’m not sure it matters at this point, but the bottom line: This song is awesome, most of my old poetry about crows was not awesome.)

“Till the End of the Day” (Kinks Cover) by Big Star (I never go far, without a little Big Star… seriously though, a classic Kinks tune done by Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens and company – just about all I need…)

“One More Time” by Taco Land (from Pancakes and Pizza – which is truly one of my favorite albums of the year. Joseph Russell’s voice just resonates at the perfect pitch in soul)

“Fields of Clover” by The Box Tops (Before Big Star – 16 year old Alex Chilton recorded what would become a number one hit in 1967. That was “The Letter”. “Fields of Clover” came a year or so later – and was the B-side to a song called “Choo-Choo Train”)

“The Remnant” (Live) by Josh Ritter (recorded at a 2010 show in Dublin.  The Remnant is on the Idaho singer-songwriter’s sixth studio album – So Runs the World Away)

PLAYLIST
 


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Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle – Talking to Myself Mix

In the predawn gloom of a warmish wintery morning.  Backed by choirs of angels or at least by the steady thum of the engine and the slightly muted songs on the radio… driving the newly familiar route passing the same buildings and noticing anything that looks out of place. Past the way too many car lots along my way, filled with cars that never sell and contemplating the meaning of all existence and trying to stay awake. A meaningless, yet invigorating conversation with one of the many interesting characters that fate has brought into my life. Today, the discussion was about letters we would banish, alternate spellings we would outlaw.  Keep it simple… I suppose. 

Then my shuffle begins with a song that holds memories – don’t they all in one way or another?

Shuffle – after the JUMP!

1.  Lost Horizon by The Movement from City Without a Subway (vinyl rip) (1986)

Nowadays Richie Owens heads up The Farm Bureau and runs The Old Time Pickin’ Parlor, but back in those heady days of the mid 80s, he was the go to producer for new music in Nashville, and he headed up a nifty little band called The Movement who made some sweet neo-pop music.  I was fortunate to have seen The Movement live when they lead off an amazing evening of music in the Cat’s Records parking lot on West End Avenue.  We got Lost Horizon from a vinyl copy of City Without a Subway which we mentioned the other day, I also own a cassette copy of The Movement’s eponymous EP.  Up in the Amazon widget, the song is included from an excellent compilation of Nashville’s new music scene from the 80s called Return to Elliston Square 1979-1989.

2.   Etoile Polaire by Phillip Glass from Analog (2006)

Composition dates from the late 70s to 1980.  Analog marked a rare instance of Glass using recording as a means to aid in composition.  We got this off a Glass compilation released on Amazon which does not appear to be available any more.

3.   It Beats for You (Live)  by My Morning Jacket from Live from Terminal 5 – October 2010 (2011) 
Originally on the band’s 2005 album Z.  A previous live version was released on the 2006 double live album Okonokos.  This download was part of a series of free downloads put out by the band a couple of years ago.

4.  Foreign Points by Joseph Mooradian from a Bandcamp download (2012)
 Joseph Mooradian is a singer/songwriter currently in college in Sewanee, Tennessee. I’ve been a fan since I first heard him sing at a coffeehouse at our church – a few years ago.  Like me, he is a big fan of Damien Jurado, and his music features the dense sound, echo-like vocals and deep, thoughtful lyrics that mark Mr. Jurado.  Joseph Mooradian had found his voice, and I hope to hear more from him as the years go by.
Here’s a video of Mooradian doing a different song

5.  The Mermaid Parade by Phosphorescent from Here’s to Taking it Easy (2010)

 Alabama born Matthew Houck got his musical start as Phosphorescent in 2001 in Athens, Georgia.  More recently, he has called Brooklyn home. The Mermaid Parade is really cool, country-flavored song that I really like.

6. I Threw a Brick Through a Window by U2 from October (1981)

From U2’s second album. 

 I was talking
I was talking to myself
Somebody else
Talk, talk, talking
I couldn’t hear a word
A word you said”

7.  Big Boned Gal by k.d. lang and the Reclines from Absolute Torch and Twang (1989)
 From the third album by k.d. and the Reclines. A Goodwill find from this weekend.  Fun stuff.

8.  Get It by Buffalo Killers from Dig. Sow. Love. Grow (2012)
Some pretty awesome rock music from this Cincinnati based band that was toured with the Black Crowes and been produced by a Black Keys member. Black is the new Black…. I guess.

9.  Love Shines by Ron Sexsmith from Long Player Late Bloomer (2011)
Long Player Late Bloomer is Sexsmith’s 12th studio album.  Love Shines features a gorgeous melody and beautiful vocals wrapped up in a near perfect pop song package.

 
 
 

 

 

       

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