Man oh man, there is a lot of cool things happening in the world of music swirling around Ear to the Ground friends… More to come!
Jumping back into our daily shuffle from the Current playlist, we have four really amazing songs….
Jump!
“Mamma Says” by The Britanys from Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen: Section 5/Hello Britany
Another selection from the insanely killer Mama Coco’s compilation – this time from NYC rock band, The Britanys.This gives me another chance to tell you that Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen is in the final five days of their Indiegogo campaign to build out their new studio space.Construction has begun, and they are less than $3,000 from goal.Do what you can.
“Can’t Get Over You” by Kevin Jenkins from Step Inside
Some groovy soul music from the True Groove Global Soullabel… a bird tells me that Kevin may be working on a follow up to Step Inside.
“A Storm is Coming” by The End Men from Odds and Ends
You don’t need a weather man… a storm is coming… The End Men are coming… The reigning Ear to the Ground Band of the Year put out the amazing Odds and Ends earlier in the year, and they are gearing up for a tour a little later this year.Watch for them, and if they come to your city or town, get out and see them!
The End Men have teamed up with Lust for Tone handmade guitar pickups.
“Coyote” by Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray from Lean Into the Wind
Another great track from the fabulous Lean into the Wind album by E2TG favorites Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray.We first featured an earlier live version of this song, now we have it in its full studio glory.The video comes from the Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray’s wedding reception and the full wedding day show was the band’s contribution to Couch by Couchwest this year.
“Power”/Tomas Doncker/Power of the Trinity – Global Soul….
“Ven Hacia Mi (Come Unto Me)”/The Mavericks/In Time* – Another from my friend Ronnie’s 2013 mix CD – love this!
“Feel So Down”/Solardrive/Solardrive – another great song from Solardrive – the awesome project fronted by Balthazar Getty.
“Terra Animata”/The Plum Magnetic/Terra Animata – New Orleans based World/Fusion/Rock band.
“Big Mountain Fudge Cake”/The Foresters/Living Hold – the three Nork Brothers from Connecticut continue their musical growth spurt with a Zeppelinesque rocker.
“Calypso Foam”/The Graveyard Kids/Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen: Section 5 (Graveyard Kids II) – Another great band from the seemingly bottomless wellspring that is Mama Coco’s.
“Splinters”/Austin Lucas/Stay Reckless – three time CXCW alum… shows how it’s done with a smart, heartfelt song.
“Life is Hard”/Darrin Bradbury/True Love – “It’s funny where it stops, it’s funny where it starts, and the whole thing in the middle well it’s bound to break your heart.” – such a great line in a song that name drops Jack Kerouac, Lenny Bruce, and Daffy Duck!
“Magic and Fire”/Brave Baby/Forty Bells – another great song by this South Carolina indie band.
“Could We See”/Grounded/untitled – Grounded were first featured on Ear to the Ground back in September 2012. They have such a unique sound, and I love the acoustic vibe of this song. Trivia: This is the second time that Grounded have appeared in a Shuffle with Darrin Bradbury’s song “Life is Hard”. Their song “Break it Up” appeared with a live version of Bradbury’s song on January 9. #themoreyouknow
“The Best Record Ever Made”/Bill Lloyd/Boy King of Tokyo – a true Nashville treasure who has worn many hats in his long career, and worn them well – I may add. This homage to great records from his 2012 album – has a simply gorgeous hook.
2. “Dawn” by Humming House from Humming House (2012) A gorgeous instrumental that makes a perfect addition to a Morning Shuffle – from their self-titled album.
3. “somerkersfees” by velodrones from kersfees tape $ (?) Okay. The song title has some accent marks and stuff I’m too lazy to try to figure out how to add, and I don’t have a clue what it means. Velodrones is a project of my newest Facebook friend Thean (which also contains an accent mark) who I’ve gotten to know on other social media outlets through #E2TG favorites Valued Customer. This is a beautiful piece of music from an album that I can no longer find. But here is a link to their most recent release. http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3900300630/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/ 4. “Blood is Not Enough” by Tomas Doncker from Power of the Trinity (2011) Tomas Doncker Band has released one of the best albums of the year (the Howling Wolf tribute: Moanin’ at Midnight), and we will be getting to that album soon – I promise. But right now, my shuffle function is hung up on his 2011 album Power of the Trinity – which is fine by me. It is a great album and an excellent introduction to Tomas and his label True Groove’s concept of Global Soul music.
5. “The Heart Beats” by Marla Mase from Half-Life (2014) I was first introduced to Tomas Doncker after writing about the amazing Marla Mase who is a part of the True Groove family. I was fortunate enough to meet the two of them during their quick jaunt through Nashville earlier in the year. I look forward to many more opportunities to see and hear the two of them and to follow their incredible music journey.
Guess what…. we have a Shuffle! It’s good to be back and I won’t waste any precious time with further commentary on that. We have a swell list of songs today – so let’s get to it.
Pre-Shuffle:
“Vivid”/Rewpart/ ½
“Surrender to the Storm”/Joseph Arthur/Redemption City
“Grey (Under the Sky)”/The Jean Jackets/Field Theory Blues**
“Blood is Not Enough”/Tomas Doncker/Power of the Trinity
“Straight to Hell”/The Clash/5 Studio Album Set (Combat Rock)
“Sing to Me”/The Delta Saints/Death Letter Jubilee
“Don’t Swallow the Cap”/The National/Trouble Will Find Me*
“K’Rar”/ Tomas Doncker/Power of the Trinity
“Do No Harm”/Charles Howl/Charles Howl
“Oh Henry”/The Civil Wars/Bare Bones EP
* – from a annual mix CD by the illustrious DJ Ronnie B. ** – from Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen (more on them below)
Good to see a couple of Mama Coco’s bands in the Pre-Shuffle. That amazing collection/label/force of nature is in the process of moving into a new space, and they have a great need for funding. To that end, they have started an Indiegogo campaign. If you love independent music and have the ability, this is a great group to support. HERE is the info:
Off work today, and time is short anyway…. go figure.
E2TG HALL OF FAME – (more)
10. The Danbury Lie (New Haven, CT) 11. The Great American Novel (New York, NY) 12. Mark Robinson (Nashville, TN)
I’m actually making progress (a little) on the Hall of Fame Page.
Quick shuffle after the jump
“Telephone” by The Morning Pages (the Lady Gaga song. It’s definitely a roots/Americanaish take on the song, but for some reason, I can’t help thinking that it sounds like if More Songs era Talking Heads covered this song after a long night of listening to Gram Parsons and Uncle Tupelo. Or something. I love it.)
“One More Try” by The Silks (This Providence, RI band does a nifty cover of a Stones song. Nifty indeed.)
“Highway to Hell” by Bhi Bhiman (from Substitute Preacher. The St. Louis, MO singer/songwriter takes on the AC/DC classic, and totally owns it.)
“Cold War World Peace” by Fromage Bleu (from the Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen Compilation Section 4 – The triumphant return of 80’s minimal synth legends, Colchester’s very own Fromage Bleu.)
We have a damn fine shuffle to close out the week…. the first five songs even start a bit of theme (purely thanks to the shuffle function). Due to circumstances (yada yada), this will be the final shuffle of the week. So it’s a nice way to go out.
Jump past the break to see today’s shuffle…
“Spiderhead” by Cage the Elephant (from the new album, Melophobia. The video included in the playlist below, is a performance of the album’s first single on Letterman – last week. Mr. Letterman’s reaction after the song, is everything you need to know about why Cage the Elephant are a great Rock and Roll band. They are from just up the road a bit – Bowling Green, Kentucky)
“How Long” by Elephant Stone (from their 2009 album The Seven Seas and included a recent Noisetrade sampler. This band is new to me, and I am digging it so far…)
“Every Time the Son Leaves” by Telepathic Teddy Bear (from Reactions. I’ve been listening to this album for a couple of months now. I’m digging the groovy vibe and subtle humor in some of the songs. This one has a trippy, mellow vibe that I kind of dig)
“Brass Monkey” by Beastie Boys (from Licensed to Ill. What can I say? Booooy!”
“Coyote” by Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray (a non-album live cut from the band’s Live at DC9 release. Man oh man, I love this song. Maybe if I beg nicely, they will do this one on Tuesday… Maybe?)
“Pictures” by Logan X (from the Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen compilation. This is a remarkable song. I wish I could have found a video for it, but go look at the Mama Coco’s bandcamp page and give it a listen – hell download the whole compilation. Logan X is an instrumentalist. The vocals on this song are by Molly Connelly. The ubiquitous Oliver Ignatius contributes as he does on almost if not all of the Mama Coco’s compilation songs. By the way, Mama Coco is apparently a cockatoo, so technically this song continues the theme of the first five songs… )
“Comfort Consumption” by False-Heads (from Tunnel Vision. Another cool song by these kids from England who looked us up and gave us the chance to hear their very awesome album)
“Storm in my House” by Minutemen (from Double Nickels on the Dime. Double Nickels is one of my all-time favorite albums and in my opinion one of the best albums ever.)
“Save Charlie” by Rubblebucket (from the EP Save Charlie. This came from a Paste/Noisetrade compilation. My first exposure to this Brooklyn band, and I am kind of digging it.)
Here’s the Video Playlist of the Day
And since there will not be a shuffle tomorrow, here is the E2TG Store for the Week
E2TG: MUSIC/WORDS 