Category: Matthew Sweet

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle – Holy Roller Coaster Mix

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We’ve made it to the mid-week, and believe it or not, we are right at the mid-month mark for July. Lots of stuff on the horizon. 

By the way, the #E2TG Facebook page is about to reach another milestone in terms of number of followers (300)!  If you haven’t done so, and feel so inclined, give us a “Like” (the link is above as it is everyday).  Something special awaits our 300th “Like”.

Shuffle….

“Buttercup” by Kerri Powers

This song (my first – but not my last – listen to Kerri Powers) sounds as if it comes from a different era, which I attribute to the timelessness of the sound and style.  She is from Massachusetts. The song is on her self-titled album which was released last year.

“Harsh Light of Reality” by Human Radio

Another great song from the self-titled Human Radio album from the early 90s.  Still sounds relevant today.

“Born to Lose” by Social Distortion

From Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell… Social Distortion… just Social Distortion! I used to think of this as my theme-song – sung with defiance not self-pity.

“Mr. Soul” by Matthew Sweet

Matthew Sweet covering a Neil Young penned song from Buffalo Springfield… this is a good thing!

“Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” by Waylon Jennings

This song will turn 40 years old next month.  Proof positive that whatever the problems with the “Nashville” Country Music establishment, they are not new and the solution always must start from the outside.  As timely today…. and a really great song!

“Fragile Magic” by Michael Sackler-Berner

So the theme today seems to be timeless music – modern music that sounds like it is from another era and older music that sounds fresh and vital.  Michael Sackler-Berner fits in the former category – his latest music evoking some of the great Pop music of the last several decades.  Marshall Crenshaw is among the awesome people who have worked with him, he’s had songs in Sons of Anarchy and Law and Order, and he has done some acting. 

“Do You Know Something (I Don’t Know)?” by Webb Wilder

Last night, I posted a picture on Facebook and Instagram that included my vintage Webb Wilder t-shirt. Today, this song from Hybrid Vigor shows up in the shuffle… go figure. Webb doing his thing…. dig it!

“Interview With a Hobo” by Jonas H. Sjøvaag’s Navyelectre

The album is called Large Ensemble. They are from Oslo, Norway, and I am have really been getting into this album since I got hold of it recently. It is highly original music that I find it difficult to describe.  Check out the video playlist which closes with a preview of the album which was released back in May. 

VIDEO PLAYLIST

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Monday Morning Music Shuffle – Rainy Days and Mondays Mix

We have arrived at Monday.  It’s a dreary day here  in Nashville, but we have the antidote.  We’ve loaded up with a bunch of music which we have been saving up since we started our Year End Review last month.  The songs added are a good combination of new music, new to us music, the return of some old friends, a first meeting with what we hope are some new friends, plus the usual collection of the classic, the weird, the obscure, and the unexpected.
Today’s mix is a good cross-section of this new music – plus a couple of hold outs from the previous month’s playlist.

To it…. we go… jump…

“Bright Light” by Mount Moriah (we got this off a Merge Records Sampler, the song is on Mount Moriah’s album Miracle Temple.  Mount Moriah are from Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina)

“Put it in a Bottle (Save it For Later)” by Sam Davison (from Always Around. One of the great artists we’ve discovered through the highly productive Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen.  Sam Davison is nothing you’ve ever heard before.  Actually that’s from his Facebook page, but it happens to be true. Check him out.)

“Travel as Equals” by Joseph Arthur (from Redemption City. Joseph Arthur is from Brooklyn, has recorded with and been recorded by some amazing people.  I’ve been hearing a fair bit of buzz lately about him. Color me impressed.  I don’t mind hype if the music backs it up.  I dig.)

“Free Fallin'” (Tom Petty Cover) by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs (from Under the Covers, Vol. 3 – What happens when two iconic proto-pop stars cover one of Tom Petty’s coolest songs? This happens.)

“IV. Shells (The Dream Lives Out To Sea)” by Left of Logic (from In Formation.  I think I heard about Left of Logic from Don Ryan.  This is Electronica with a Rock Edge and an progressive mindset. From Philly)

“For the Sake of Seeking” by The Western Den (from Battle Hymns.  Let’s add some ambient folk to the mix.  This band is from Boston. )

“The Wayfaring Stranger” by Frankie Laine (from Call of the Wild. The legendary vocalist performs the 19th Century Folk tune on his 1962 album)

“I Want You Alive” by Left of Logic (from In Formation.)

“Young Enough to Try” by Humming House (from Humming House. One of our hold overs from the previous playlist. I just can’t get enough Humming House.)

“The Truth” by Dr. Dog (from their Noisetrade/Eastside Manor Sessions – off of their album B-Room. Another holdover.)

“Spanish Romance” by The Tye Trybe (from Word is Born (EP). Hailing from The Bronx and Spanish Harlem.  The Tye Trybe bring the funky groovy goods.  Yep, another that came to us via Mama Coco’s Funky Kitchen. I love that place, and I’ve never even been there.)

“Living in a County” by Brave Baby (from Forty Bells. Brave Baby are from Charleston, South Carolina.  I think I came across them on Brite Revolution.)

 
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Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle – Onward Mix

Longish shuffle today – time is fleeting… here we go…

“Three Car Jam” by the Minutemen (from Double Nickels. One of three “car jams” on the album. A classic)

“Easy Does” by Let’s Active

“Hey Grace, Hey Tony” by Grace and Tony (from November – it’s almost here)

“The Spins” by Potty Mouth (from Hell Bent/ Massachusetts Rock)

“Midnight You” by The Coal Men (from Escalator.  Such a great song)

“A Morning Song” by Elephant Stone (another from their Seven Seas album – we featured the title track earlier this week)

“Think About It” by Stevie Nicks (from Bella Donna)

“My Heart and the Real World” by the Minutemen (another from Double Nickels)

“Mama’s Baby, Daddy’s Maybe” by Swamp Dogg (aka Jerry Williams… yes!)

“Onward” by The Danbury Lie (from ‘?’.  It was good to see Danbury Lie doing a show with our friends the Grimm Generation.)

“Hombre Secreto (Secret Agent Man)” by Matthew Sweet (from the Repo Man Soundtrack tribute. Sweet cover The Plugz who were covering a song made famous by Johnny Rivers)

“Down by the River” (live) by Indigo Girls (Another cover – this time it’s a Neil Young cover by Amy and Emily. )

 
 
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Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle – Your Own Chosen Speed Mix

Well we have a lot of ground to cover today, so let’s not tarry.. or whatever…
Music begins after the JUMP

Pre-Shuffle 
1. We begin with one of the best examples of pure British Pop (with a capital ‘P’) that I’ve heard in a long time.  We’ve featured the band Human Face – who came to our attention via a Twitter Follow – several times, but it’s been a little while.  “After Lunch” is just a flat out great song. As I mentioned before, I really do put this band in the long line of great British Pop bands that includes Squeeze among others.  Check out the video (in the playlist)
2. As a poor lowly music blogger, I spend a lot of time trolling the internet for legal free music to present to you.  Noisetrade has become a favorite site of mine.  They recently teamed up with the folks at Paste to offer up a Radiohead show from June 1995.  We’ve been periodically featuring tracks from that album. Today, we have “Anyone Can Play Guitar” which was released as a single just before the release of the album Pablo Honey which includes the song.  
3. The Great Mistake are Buffalo New York band that we’ve featured a couple of times. They are just in the process of releasing some new music which sounds great.  “Haphazard” goes back to their 2010 album, Wave to the Astronaut.  Below is a widget with a newer song called Your Philosophy which may be on their next album.
4. I have this strange obsession with cover songs.  I mean, yeah there are the occasional tragic mistakes, but for the most part, I think, cover songs are pretty interesting.  They can be defining like Hendrix’s version of “All Along the Watch Tower”, redeeming like Aztec Camera’s deconstruction of Van Halen’s “Jump”, or they can just be spot on but still cool versions like today’s first cover – Matthew Sweet doing a cover of the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers classic, “American Girl”. This comes from a cover album featuring covers of songs from the 80s which were featured in iconic films of that era.  The album is a few years old, but it just came into my consciousness and there are some interesting songs on here.


5. We’ve been hyping  Kalpa, the new album from Toronto-based lovable misfits, Valued Customer.  We got our first taste a couple of weeks ago with the song “Second Moon”. Now, we go deeper with the longest track on the album.  “New Jerusalem” clocks in at 14 minutes and has several movements running through it. Historically, I’m not a big fan over long songs.  “Sister Ray” and “Telegraph Road” are two notable exceptions. And, I have to add “New Jerusalem” to that list.  In some ways, this surprisingly reminds me of the The Gabriel Construct album I’ve been featuring of late.  Like that work, this is experimental, challenging, complex, and extremely, extremely good.  Patrick and Ugggy of Valued Customer are hilarious to follow on the Twitter and the Facebook. They are sometimes silly, obscure, and irreverent.  This album is revelatory. They obviously put tons of work into this album, and it has paid off. 

Some lyrics from “New Jerusalem”

“civilizations like chocolate donuts
if one isn’t good enough a hundred won’t be good enough”

“running to new jerusalem
the towers are in the exosphere
goodbye you whores of babylon
trumpets are playing burning spear”

“(hide your daughter hide your wife
lock up all your beets and chives
they’ll kill you for your salt and spice
the end of twitter and being nice)”


http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=50545387/size=medium/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/transparent=true/

6.  In the weeks since we first introduced you to James the Giant, he has gone on to have his first single introduced by USA Today and the video for that song featured on Huffington Post.   As much as I want to say that being featured on Ear to the Ground lead to these impressive credentials, the fact is this accolades are well-deserved.  The single “Two Weeks on the Ocean” is one of the emotionally powerful songs I’ve heard in a while. Today, we feature “Leave it Buried”.  The eponymously titled EP had it’s official released yesterday.

Shuffle

1. Night, which is the newish album from Beijing (the band not the city). The band comes from Connecticut.  Today’s track is “Into the Rain”. The album is a great achievement. On it, the band walks a precarious balance which could have easily sent them plummeting into one of several miasmas. The band and this album successfully navigates these treacherous paths.


 

2.  In 1986, I started hearing this awesome song on the college radio station. It was rollicking and dark and hinted at something just outside of my vision. I eventually bought the album which quickly came and has remained a favorite of mine.  The artist and album are called Peter Case. The song is “Walk in the Woods“.


3.  Another cover.  A year after Bob Dylan released his fourth album (1964). Johnny Cash (who admired and was admired by Dylan) recorded a cover version of “It Ain’t Me Babe” with June Carter for his 1965 album Orange Blossom Special which was Cash’s 21st album.

 
 PLAYLIST
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Monday Morning Music Shuffle – Old Rodeo Mix

In case you missed it over the weekend, we crowned Skeletons in the Piano as our Band of the Month for June 2012 after a tooth and nail fight with Killing Kuddles.  I tell you the Band of the Year poll is gonna be a good one!  Stay tuned for that.
In the meantime, we also unveiled our Featured Artists for July .  We will have more on these great artists as the month progresses, but for now, check out the Featured Artist page to find out who the bands are and more about them.  
As if that were not enough, we have a heck of a good shuffle to start the month off.  Once again, we reached into our archives and come up with a cool mix of songs.
John Prine released his self-titled debut album in 1971.  It’s an incredible selection of songs, which I highly recommend if you haven’t heard it or haven’t heard it in awhile.  Prine has continued to make great music and write great songs.  One of his all time best, and one of my all time favorites is the lovely, Angel from Montgomery. The song has been covered numerous times both live and on record by artists as diverse as Bonnie Raitt, Carly Simon, John Denver and Dave Matthews Band.

Here’s Prine and Emmylou Harris doing Angel from Montgomery live from Red Rocks.
Next up, we have the title-track from another debut album.  Guitar Town the album was released in 1986, and established Steve Earle as part of the new breed of outsider country artists shaking up the establishment. Since this debut, Steve Earle has come through a battle with drug and alcohol addiction and made some records which have far transcended his country roots. Guitar Town for me remains a powerful record, and one I return to again and again.

Next, we have another title track. This one from power-pop master Matthew Sweet’s third album – the break-through Girlfriend. 
And finally, we have a song that appeared on the debut EP and in a different version on the debut album by Welsh rockers, The Alarm.  The Stand is influenced by the Stephen King novel of the same name.  I was a huge Stephen King fan as a teenager, and The Stand was probably my favorite novel of his at that time. So, hearing this song for the first time on MTV made a huge impact on me.
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