Today’s Shuffle contains 7 songs: 2 covers, a couple of songs by a New Orleans World/Fusion band from New Orleans who are new to #E2TG, and more…
The Mix:
“The Light” by Swear and Shake
“All You Do is Talk” (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club cover) by Kopecky Family Band
“Scarlet” by Taylor Brown
“Sweet Confusion” by The Plum Magnetic
“Pablo Picasso” (Modern Lovers cover) by David Bowie
“Parallax” by The Plum Magnetic
“Raja’s Song (Hold on My King) by Ghost Pal
NOTES:
The deeper I go, the more I like Swear and Shake.
I dig Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and I dig Kopecky Family Band. And, I dig this cover.
A few weeks back I spent a little time following the Bandcamp recommendations rabbit hole, and I came to “3 Folk Songs” by Taylor Brown who was recommended by Brian Bergeron of Mr. Kind.
The Plum Magnetics are from New Orleans, and they play a rocking version of World/Fusion music. Sweet Confusion is an extended kind of funky instrumental track.
I dig David Bowie and I dig the Modern Lovers. Pablo Picasso is one of my favorite Modern Lovers’ songs, and I think I like their version of this song better. Still, this is an interesting conversation starter.
Parallax by The Plum Magnetics. From their album Terra Animata. This band came to me from James Moore of IMP.
The day would be complete with out some #MCFK, this time via Ghost Pal from their God Save MCFK album.
Well here we are. It’s a new year. 2014 is shaping up to be a good one with new music promised from The Foresters, Humming House, The Lucky Jukebox Brigade, and Taco Land just to name a few off the top of my head.
I haven’t finished adding new music to our playlist, but we have some sweet music – new and old already queued up so let’s jump to it.
“Drunken Hearts” by Wallpaper
“Tusk” (Fleetwood Mac Cover) by Kopecky Family Band
“Black Star” (Radiohead Cover) by Gillian Welch
“Lie Awake” by Angel Snow
“No Exchange” by Minutemen
“The Best I Can Do (Is Love You)” by Mr. Kind
“Desperate” by Solardrive (feat. David Gould)
“Your Majesty” by Slack Armada
“Wrecking Ball” by Swear and Shake
“Street Hassle: Waltzing Matilda” by Lou Reed
“F(e)ar O(f)f Place” (Home Demo) by Black Doctor Jr.
“On a Night Like This” by Bob Dylan
“Southern Seamstress” by Humming House
“Urethane” by Grounded
“Lady Stardust” by David Bowie
“The Hungry Wolf” by X
“Happy Good Morning Blues” by Bruce Cockburn
“Themselves” by Minutemen
NOTES:
Wallpaper are from Oakland. I think we grabbed this from Amazon. Dig it.
A couple of really cool covers. Kopecky Family Band covering the Fleetwood Mac classic, and the incredible Gillian Welch covering Radiohead.
Angel Snow wrote “Lie Awake” with Viktor Krauss and it was included on Victor’s sister’s 2011 album Paper Airplane. Viktor’s sister is Allison Krauss. Here’s Angel doing the song herself from her self-titled album.
The great thing about featuring Double Nickels on the Dime by The Minutemen is that it has so many songs, the featured posts carry on for a while. The Minutemen are always a great way to start the day.
Another from Mr. Kind‘s self-titled release.
Solardrive is the new band/project from Balthazar Getty and this track features David Gould who is bassist in the band Mother Tongue.
We also have some cool music from Slack Armada out of Chicago, Swear and Shake out of Brookyln, Humming House from Nashville, and Grounded from Florida.
The Home Demo we feature from Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen artist Black Doctor, Jr. is pretty damn awesome.
Starting 2014 with a classic Lou Reed epic is a statement of the endless and timeless quality of his music. This song brings together two of the artists who had a huge influence on my early musical taste and development (via a spoken word bit by Bruce Springsteen).
Great classic music from Bob Dylan, David Bowie, X, and Bruce Cockburn round out this excellent beginning to what is promising to be a great year.
Bang! And with this post, #E2TG closes the door on our extended recap of some of our favorite music of the past 12 months. The Video Playlist ends up at just over 100 videos. Our Amazon Web Store comes in at 54 items.
Monday – we jump right into 2014 and hit the ground running….
Further ado avoided…
“Heartbeat” by Kopecky Family Band
“Dirty Boys” by David Bowie
“Top of the World” by Don Ryan and the Blank Canvas Movement
“Brick x Brick” by Christopher Paul Stelling
“A Song for Leonard Cohen” by Amanda Shire
A Grimm Interlude
As we listened to the latest The Grimm Generation album, The Big Fame in it’s entirety in a non-Shuffle mode:
“Earthquake, Hurricane, Flood and You”
“The Next Indie Boy”
“Dizzy in my Hips Swinging”
“House Drinks”
“Miller, Don’t You Even Care”
“Until Then”
“Quiet (St. Francis)”
“Road to Joy”
“Real Bad Voodoo”
“Wreck of my Bed”
“Eye of Tranquility”
“Bigger Than”
“The Big Fame”
End A Grimm Interlude
“Pawnshops” by Todd Farrell Jr. and the Dirty Birds
“Box Cutters” “Wasted and Rollin'” and “Devastate” by Amanda Shires
“Diamond Sigh” “Second Moon” and “I Do Not Will to Know” by Valued Customer
NOTES:
Kopecky Family Band are really a family band and they have been Nashville favorites for several years. Kids Raising Kids was first released back in 2012, but was released by ATO Records in April and helped to introduce the band to the rest of the world. I keep finding Kopecky Family Band EPs at Goodwill – so thanks to the person with poor musical taste and/or questionable judgment.
We couldn’t let 2013 get away without posting one more Don Ryan song. We have yet another song queued up for 2014.
Christopher Paul Stelling released his awesome album False Cities and toured the world in 2013. My regret is that I missed seeing him when he came through Nashville and played a sold out show at the world famous Bluebird Café (as seen on the ABC series, Nashville)*
*if ABC or the producers of Nashville want to pay me for the plug, they can just shoot me an e-mail and I will happily provide banking information….
Amanda Shires released the stunning Down Fell the Doves in 2013, and we offer up four songs from that album even though she doesn’t need our help. She’s amazing. I saw her at Americana in 2012 and then again at an all too brief mini-set at Grimey’s for Americanarama.
As I was listening and writing all of these year-end posts, I kept coming up with superlatives, but I never got around to codifying them. So, suffice it to say, The Big Fame – the highly anticipated album by Connecticut’s The Grimm Generation would have been the Most… something. I couldn’t let this year end countdown slip by without a little Grimm music, so I decided to listen to the whole damn album. The band is one of my all-time favorites and they keep making new music and doing new things, so I fully expect to post much more of their music in 2014.
Todd Farrell, Jr. and the Dirty Birds are from right here in Nashville, but it took CXCW and Popa Tunes (again) to turn me on to their music. This is flat out great music that I want to hear much more of in 2014.
Well, I burned through my playlist and still had a few minutes to get to my office this morning. I could think of no better way to close out this whole she-bang than by listening to the first three songs from Valued Customer’s mind-expanding Kalpa album. There is so much demented genius going on here, that it can be hard for a simple-minded music blogger to keep up. I really just want everyone to experience this album. Do it!
Last week, I managed to move the overall current stuff playlist to down below 400. I’m planning to add more tunes tonight, so let’s make another dent today.
EXTRA HELPINGS:
“You’re Cordially Invited to My Backyard Passout Fest” by Darrin Bradbury “After the Fight” by Jars of Clay “Are You Listening” by Kopecky Family Band (from their excellent 2013album, Kids Raising Kids) “She Still Loves Me” by SOJA (featuring Collie Buddz) “Victory” by Junior Murvin (who sadly past away last week. He co-wrote the song “Police and Theives” which was covered by The Clash on their self-titled album) “Gypsy Django” by Humming House “Bars” by The Westies “‘A’ Bomb in Waldour Street” by the Jam “I Like Beer” by Tom T. Hall
TRANSITIONALLY SPEAKING (the track to move us from the Extra to the main shuffle):
“Headed To The Promised Land” by James Crawford (from James Crawford. A definite stand-out track from one of my favorite albums of the year.)
SHUFFLE PROPER:
“I’m Waiting for My Man” (live) by Lou Reed (from 1974-05-14 Stockholm. “First thing you learn is you always gotta wait.”)
“Age of Immature Mistakes” by Jars of Clay (from Noisetrade Eastside Manor Session. originally released on Inland. Haven’t we all been that age? Wait when does that age end?)
“Tower Park” by Humming House (from Humming House. “Western swing and reception drinks A two-step smile and a foxtrot wink As the bandstand plays, the wedding march.” A gem from the self-titled debut by this fast-rising Nashville band.)
“Swamp Song” by Nava Hotel (from Never Loved You. Oh yeah! Some nasty delta blues riffs delivered by this hard rocking band from Nashville.)
BLOGGERS NOTE: Just noticed… from this Nashville-based music blogger who rarely blogged about bands from Nashville (or semi-rarely at most)… 10 of today’s 14 songs are by Nashville based artists or at least that have a strong connection to Nashville. Just saying…
It’s Friday and it’s also the last day of May! Let’s put this month to rest with some awesome tunes… Pre-Shuffle: “Moorie” by Great Divide “Bridge by the River” by Nikki Sue and the Bad News “Wish I Could Stand or Have” and “Chardonnay” by Game Theory “Bloodhound” by Jeanette Lynne “Tear You Up” and “Come In” by Decades “Drenched” by Wanting “Tickin’ Bomb” by Shovels and Rope
Shuffle – after le jump… la jump???? The Jump!
“Tables (Acoustic)” by Seth Philpott from a 2013 Noisetrade Sampler original version from Bad Hearts (2013)
Grabbed a sampler from Noisetrade and I’ve become a pretty big fan of this Nashville Singer/Songwriter. Bad Hearts came out earlier this month.
“Don’t Force the Funk” by Wheelchair Sports Camp from Where We All Live (2012)
Kalyn the MC/Producer of Wheelchair Sports camp is 26 years old, 3 foot 6 inches tall and weighs 53 pounds. She has osteogenesis imperfecta a brittle bone condition. She also delivers some kick-ass lyrical explosions and with the rest of the band deliver some vicious beats.
“Disaster” by Kopecky Family Band from The Disaster(2010)
Nashville’s Kopecky Family Band have been making music together since 2007. Their latest album (linked above) Kids Raising Kids is getting some serious National attention, but here in Nashville, we’ve been paying attention for a while now. I absolutely love this sort of Title track from the band’s 2010 album.
‘Tis a rainy Friday in Nashville, Tennessee. Fortunately, the rain let up for my daily walk up the hill to higher ground. Even more fortunate, I got to listen to some killer tunes, and as always, I want to share them with you. Pre-shuffle: “Please” by The Vespers (awesome Nashville band who will be playing May 25th at the Eastside Hootenanny. Those Darlins will also be on the bill that day because this is Nashville and that’s just how we roll) “Hello It’s Me” by Todd Rundgren (The classic song from 1972) ” Singing Sunrise” by JENNY (who have a new album, Love and Politics out now) “Hail Hail” by Shovels and Rope (the awesome South Carolina band from a Noisetrade tour sampler for their summer jaunt with the equally awesome Dawes – who we will hear from later in the mix) “Rewind” by Kopecky Family Band (more good stuff from the Nashville band who were recently featured in the NY Times) SHUFFLE – after the JUMP
“Off With My Head” by Seth Philpott from Bad Hearts (2013)
A week or so ago, I played the Acoustic version of this song which was on a Noisetrade Sampler. This time, we have the full album version from the Bad Hearts EP which was released earlier this month. I’m really digging this Nashville American artist, and I just now noticed that the Bad Hearts EP contains a duet with the always awesome Angel Snow (who has been featured on E2TG a number of times).
“From a Window Seat” (Live) by Dawes from Summer Tour Sampler (2013) (original verison is on Stories Don’t End (2013))
We promised you Dawes, and we have Dawes. This California band is justifiably one of the hottest bands around these days. Noisetrade offers up a Live version of the first single from their current album – along with some more great music from Dawes and Shovels and Rope)
“Behave” by Year of October from Stories (2012)
Year of October are a Nashville based band. They recently connected with me on Twitter, and now I’m regretting not catching up with them sooner. They offer up a unique mix of rock, blues and folk. I love the vocals and “classic” sounding music. They are gearing up for their first full length tour. I have a feeling I’ll be playing much more from this band.
“Crowded Highway” by Harmondale from Spirit of 73 (2011)
Okay, call it a theme. Another great Nashville based artist making contemporary timeless music, and again I am late to the game as this song is from a 2011 album. Really great way to wrap up the morning shuffle.
Well let’s get to it. Due to an unplanned change in schedule and some wicked traffic patterns, we had an extended set of music for the day…. complaining? who me?
Pre-Shuffle: “Magic Missiles” by Ghost and Goblin; “Bombs Away”, “Heart U 4 Ever”, and “Lackluster Love” by Kyle Andrews; “For Cowboy” by Hotpipes; “Penny, Things Won’t”, “Turn Me On Dead Man”, “Beach State Rocking”, “Wyoming”, “Kenneth — What’s the Frequency” and “Rayon Drive” by Game Theory; “Merry Go ‘Round” by Kacey Musgraves; “A Story (Written in the Sky)” by The Bongos; “The Rosarito Beach Cafe” by Warren Zevon; and “Summer’s Dead” by Those Darlins.
Shuffle now… wait for the Jump
Something in Common” by Dawes from Stories Don’t End (2013)
California band pickup the California folk rock mantle originated and nurtured by The Eagles and Jackson Browne, and they do it in a thoroughly modern and original way. No wonder they are one of the hottest band’s around. Stories Don’t End has been out less than a month.
“Strong” by EndAnd from Mechanic and Energetics of Stilt Running (2013)
The Brooklyn punk band EndAnd who we first caught up with with their EP The Adventures of Hi-Fi in Space have just dropped (yesterday) the first proper LP. 11 songs clocking in at just about 21 minutes. Here’s the lowdown, in the words of Vocalist/Guitarist Daniel Fern “This album is immensely personal and angry. Maybe even schizophrenic, I don’t know. It’s 11 songs and only 21:30 minutes. It’s themes are focused mainly around immigration and being trapped mentally and physically in a situation one does not have control over (I was an illegal immigrant for nearly half my stay in America since I arrived at the age of 12. I’m now 27). Diseases such as chronic muscle tensions, stomach disorders. and cancer. Relationships, loss and mistrust. The loss of my father and grandfather. These are the themes. I’d rather not put one under a microscope.”
“God and Me” by Kopecky Family Band from The Disaster (2010)
Like Dawes and EndAnd, Nashville’s own, Kopecky Family Band released a new album in April 2013. Kids Raising Kids is getting some well deserved buzz. Today, though, we look back to the band’s 2010 7 song release called The Disaster (thanks to the poor judgment of some erstwhile Goodwill donator.
“Here It Is Tomorrow” by Game Theory from The Big Shot Chronicles (1986)
We promised to keep some Game Theory in the mix as we headed into this new month, and we didn’t disappoint – This final song of the 20 song Morning Playlist is the 7th by Game Theory in the mix. It’s a nice piece of pure power pop heaven.
I haven’t counted in a while, but I believe there are over 50 bands/artists that we have featured here at Ear to the Ground. This includes spin-off bands, solo projects etc. As we mentioned the other day, once we feature a band or artist here, we consider them family and try our dead-level best to keep up with their progress and new projects. So far in 2013, the projects seem to be coming faster than our ability to keep up with them, but we’re trying… This week, we received an invite to the release party for the new (and long anticipated) solo CD by The Alternates front-man Spencer Livingston. Now we get word that preorders for Christopher Paul Stelling’s new album are underway. Not only that, but none other than Spin.com has the first single up…
Listen, I pick the songs which go into my MP3 player (duh), and so I get the credit and/or the blame for the Shuffles that some up (even if it is the Shuffle Monster than actually selects the order and timing of the songs). All I can say, is today we have a damn good selection of songs – new music from old friends, a rock and roll classic and other cool tunes to help brighten your mid-week.
As always, the You Tube playlist embedded at the bottom of the post includes the songs from the Pre-Shuffle and Shuffle (if possible) or at least a close representation from the same artist.
Pre-shuffle: Another track from the Self-titled John the Conqueror album – brought to our attention by The End Men (there I said it – again). We also have another great song from Ben de la Cour. We have a track from Nashville band Kopecky Family Band’s 2010 album The Disaster. Special Note to the person who keeps donating KFB albums to Goodwill: 1. You obviously are either dying or lack good sense and 2. Please keep it up. Our good friend, the audaciously talented Elwood Kuddles (aka Killing Kuddles) just released a new EP called Odd Man Out. We have our first taste in a track called Save Me a Seat. Finally, we close out the Pre-Shuffle with one of the two older songs released by The Danbury Lie just ahead of their new album ‘?’ – Rhode Island Summer is a great song that sounds nothing like the other music we’ve heard from this band.
We continue to dig deeper into The Appetizer, the new Sampler from the Build4BBQ collective. This time, we have the Albany-based Outlaw-Billy band with a track originally released on their 2011 album.
“Cruisin'” by Booker T and the MGs from That’s the Way it Should Be (1994)
A Grammy winning rock instrumental from last studio album from the Memphis Rhythm and Blues legends.
“Polka De Nalgas” by The Imperial Rooster from Cluckaphony (2013)
New Mexico-based The Imperial Rooster are pretty insane, and they are insanely talented, too. The band just dropped their new album Cluckaphony and it’s pretty intensely great. Check it out above. Polka De Nalgas is our first taste of the album. If you’re too lazy to translate the title, let’s just say, Baby Got Back….
“Summertime” by Langhorne Slim and The Law from Summertime EP (Noisetrade – 2013)
Langhorne Slim and the Law just dropped a five song EP on the Noisetrade site (widget above). The EP features three songs from the band’s awesome album The Way We Move, an acoustic version of another song and the title track which appears for the firs time. The video included in the playlist features Langhorne Slim and the Law with The Lumineers doing one of my favorite Violent Femme songs. Side note: The Law features drummer Malachi DeLorenzo who is the son of Femme’s drummer Victor DeLorenzo who was a student of the uncle of my pal, Rex Silo. So there.
E2TG: MUSIC/WORDS 