Category: Northbrook Garage

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle – Focused on March Mix

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Today, I am shuffling up a playlist of music which has been added to my MP3 over the past couple of months or so. This includes some music I specifically wanted to highlight in March.

  • “Those Devils Don’t Scare Me” by The Bailey Hounds from CXCW2012 

The Bailey Hounds are a Philadelphia band who play what they describe as Gothic Americana.  “Those Devils Don’t Scare Me” is off the bands 2011 album called Along the Gallows.  The performance today is from last years Couch by Couchwest festival.  The 2013 CXCW begins in just a few days.  If you make music, you really need to submit a video to these guys – here:  CXCW2013

  •  “There More Pretty Girls Than One” by Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice from Skaggs and Rice (1980)

Guitarist Rice and Multi-Instrumentalist Skaggs put out this collaboration of some old time Country music duets in 1980.  The album was reissued last year.  This is a performance of the Traditional song “There’s More Pretty Girls Than One” 
  • “House of Love” by Susan James from Driving Toward the Sun (2013)

Susan James is a talented singer-songwriter from California.  Driving Toward the Sun his her fifth album.  We connected recently through Facebook and I had the opportunity to check out her brand new album (released in the US 2/19/2013). I am going to highlighting this album as much as possible in the coming weeks. This record sounds amazing with great a California psychedelic folksy vibe and James’ vocals have a classic sound which just kind of eases the listener into the song.

  • “Thirteen” (Big Star Cover) by Northbrook Garage from CXCW12

It’s been a few months since we’ve heard anything from the teens from the Chicago area, a quick check shows that their social media outlets have been quiet. We can hope that they are just holed up working on their music, but if the band is over they left us with some great music including this selection from CXCW 2012.  Inspired by their opportunity to visit Ardent Studios in Memphis, the band recorded this cover of the classic Big Star song.
  •  “Lonely Avenue” by Mark Robinson from Have Axe – Will Groove (2013)
 

 Mark Robinson is a virtuoso blues guitar player from the Nashville area. He recently released Have Axe – Will Groove which is his second album. The album features an all-star cast of talented folks for the Nashville Blues scene. “Lonely Avenue”, one of three covers on the album was written by the legendary Doc Pomus.

  • “Unlocthed” by The Danbury Lie from a bandcamp single (2013)
One of featured bands from 2012, Connecticut based The Danbury Lie have busy so far in 2013.  In February they released a couple of new recordings of songs written many years ago, including this one which includes music from 2002 and lyrics from 2004.  Just this week they unveiled a new 7 song set.  We’ll be taking a look at that one soon.  In the meantime, here is the link to the newest music.

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=224171098/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/

  • “Love is All Around” by The Troggs from Troggology (2009?)

Reg Presley lead singer of The Troggs passed away in February. Today we have a re-recording from the Troggology album.  A cover of “Love is All Around” was the b-side to the “Radio Song” single by R.E.M. who collaborated with The Troggs on 1992s Athens Andover album.
  • “Hey Ma” by Family of the Year from Loma Vista (2012)

Family of the Year seem to be tearing up the AAA charts with their song “Hero” also from Loma Vista.  I kind of dig that song so I jumped on the chance to pick this album up on the cheap from Amazon.  I’m glad I did.  This is a nifty sentimental indie-pop track.
  • “I Still Write Your Name in the Snow” by Chet Atkins from Almost Alone (1996)

Legendary? Oh yes… Chet Atkins was a true Nashville Cat.  A picture of a statue of him which sits at the corner of 5th and Union in Nashville is at the top of this blog.  This song is about exactly what you think it is about. It’s a funny, silly song with some of the best damn guitar picking you are likely to ever hear.
  • “Mississippi Girl” by Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three from Middle of Everywhere (2011)

We shall close out this shuffle with some awesome new old-fashioned music from St. Louis based Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three.

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Monday Morning Music Shuffle – Can See No Reason Mix

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Before we get to the shuffle, I have to take a moment to send out lots of prayers, good thoughts and love to everyone affected by the tragedy in Connecticut on Friday.  And let’s face it, it affected most of us in some way.  Several bands we follow regularly here at Ear t the Ground live not too far from Newtown. The Velveteens who were featured artists a couple of months back had family members who attend the school. Thankfully, they were okay. For those of us with children, for those of us who have any compassion – this was an unspeakably devastating event.  But talk we must.  So, I sent out the prayers and good thoughts and love to those in Newtown and those in Connecticut and those in the United States of America and those in the world.  We are sick of violence, but we feel powerless in the face of it.  But, if there is power to break the cycles and change the old ways, it will… it must come from within us.  And it won’t all come in these fleeting moments of national and international grief and outrage.  The necessary changes have to come over time, even as the immediacy of the horror begins to fade and blend with all the previous horrors which were once in our immediate path.
 


Now, we are about seconds away from rolling out our 2nd Annual Band of the Year Readers Poll.  To get into the spirit, today’s shuffle comes from a playlist of the bands who will be in the year end poll.

What struck me, as I was listening to these songs today was how much great music we’ve heard this year, and also, how many great new friends we have made. In my estimation, this makes 2012 a great year for music.  What do you think?

And the Giraffe are a band that formed in Florida and currently is split between Florida and Nashville.  They have some new music which we hope to be bringing you soon. In the meantime, we have Magic 8 from their previous release called Something for Someone.  They tied for Band of the Month back in September.

MAKAR are a NYC band who captured our hearts and captured the crown to narrowly defeat The End Men in the epic January Band of the Month voting.  We have the title track from their album Funeral Genius up next in the shuffle.
 

Walking for Pennies write really great songs.  Their album Forget About Wonderland in one you should definitely check out.  They were one of the two Bands of the Month for November/December 2012.  Check out Nashville. Which I love and not just because it is about my city….

 
As previously mentioned, The End Men were narrowly defeated by MAKAR in the Band of the Month voting for January.  The End Men were not happy.  In the Band of the Year voting – expect them to try to avenge their loss.  By luck of the Shuffle, we had two great songs from The End Men in today’s shuffle.  First, the cautionary tale, They’re All Gonna Cost Ya and then the title track from the Build it Up EP.

Atlanta’s own Killing Kuddles was “this” close to being Band of the Month back in June. He made it into the Band of the Year poll and will employ a take no prisoners approach this time around.  Here’s Too Crazy off of Waking Up Older.

Another epic battle for Band of the Month was back in May.  When South of Ramona just edged out Sci-Fi Romance.  This is another rematch which be played out in the year end reader’s poll.  South of Ramona had two songs in today’s shuffle.  First Purple Sky from the Step Inside EP which came out this year, and then Westward Souls from the band’s Demo.


South of Ramona tends to release Cover videos rather than videos of their own songs.  Here are two great covers from South of Ramona.

We will close out the shuffle which has taken me all day to complete with a great song from our March 2012 Band of the Month.  The kids from Northbrook Garage have accomplished quite a bit in their short lives (winning a contest to record at Ardent Studios, playing with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, and of course being named Band of the Month at Ear to the Ground).  Before they set their sights of the Band of the Year crown, check out their awesome single So What.

Here’s those Chicago kids covering Grace Potter and Nocturnals with a special guest!

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Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle – Representin’ Mix

Well, well, well… my Americana weekend doesn’t officially begin until tomorrow, but the music starts tonight.  Freehold, New Jersey’s own Jo Wymer, who is a fantastic blues singer was one of part of our first class of Featured Artists back in June, is part of an in-the-round tonight at 7:00 at the Red Rooster on Demonbreun St. at the very end of Music Row near the Musica statue.  Get out to Red Rooster if you can.

I also want to send out a reminder to check out our Featured Artists of the Month – you can find out about them by going to the Featured Artist Page on the right sidebar or HERE:

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First up we have some Punkcore music out of Salt Lake City.  You never know what is going turn up on Ear to the Ground do you?  I got connected to S3X via a #FF from a really awesome group called The Foresters  from Connecticut (if you keep up with on Facebook or Twitter you already know about these kids.  We’ll have more about them here – very soon – let’s just say they make Northbrook Garage look like the Rolling Stones – agewise) – Here S3X is representing their hometown with 801 which also features Fronz from the band Attila – an Atlanta rock band. This is some serious hardcore that kicks in with a killer hook  – you’ll want to scream along and shake your fist in the air and generally look like a doofus ’cause you are 46 years old… wait that’s me.  You’ll like it.

http://www.reverbnation.com/widget_code/html_widget/artist_1851035?widget_id=50&posted_by=fan_1758528&pwc%5Bdesign%5D=default&pwc%5Bbackground_color%5D=%23333333&pwc%5Bincluded_songs%5D=0&pwc%5Bsong_ids%5D=10521981&pwc%5Bphoto%5D=1%2C0&pwc%5Bsize%5D=undefined

Next up, we have Welcome to Pittsburgh by River City Extension who are from Tom’s River, New Jersey of their most recent release Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Your Anger. This is a great record – please check it out.

 

Next up, we have Rumi who is from St. Legier which I think is in Switzerland.  Living in the Mirror  is some cool, mellow Pop/Folk. It comes off an album called Stand Against.




And finally, we close out this decidedly eclectic mix of music with I am the Man, Thomas a gospel bluegrass song written by Ralph Stanley and Larry Sparks and performed here by Mr. Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys.  





How does one get from Punkcore to Gospel Bluegrass in one simple shuffle?  As I written before, I believe in connections when it comes to music.  I’ll admit, I was hard pressed to explain this connection, but here goes…. While looking up info on the Ralph Stanley song, I found an unattributed quote: “Bluegrass is to country what heavy metal is to rock and roll.”
 Which it occurred to me could be paraphrased as follows: “Bluegrass is to country what hardcore is to punk.”  So… think that puts a neat bow on the shuffle, brings things full circle, ties up the loose ends and whatever other expression you want to use.
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The Banjo of Ralph Stanley The Banjo of Ralph Stanley

(From Old-Time to Bluegrass). By Ralph Stanley. DVD/Instructional/Folk Instrmt. DVD. Guitar tablature. 1 pages. Homespun #DVDRALBJ21. Published by Homespun


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Thursday Morning Music Shuffle – Losing Grounds Mix

Well… some bummer news yesterday.  It appears that one of our Featured Artists from July – The Raindoggs are going on indefinite hiatus due to some personnel issues. We will keep you informed, but let’s hope they come back soon with some more amazing music like this:

//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.jsWell, let’s get to the shuffle:

First up, we have a song from the latest album by Damien Jurado.  We recently featured Arkansas from his next to latest release, St. Bartlett.  This time we have Working Titles off of his fabulous Maraqopa.

 
 
Next up, we have another artist we ran across over at ReverbNation.  This time it is Buffalo, New York native and current Nashville resident Chris Nathan with some sweet Southern Soul music.  The song came across on my MP3 player as Never Needed Nothing, but when I went back to find it again today, the closest I could find was a song called Nothing ‘Til I Needed You and I wasn’t able to listen to see if it was the same song.  Either way, check out Chris Nathan and see what think.
Here is the latest from Chris Nathan.  This EP does not contain either of the possibly two songs.

 
http://www.reverbnation.com/widget_code/html_widget/artist_103117?widget_id=50&posted_by=fan_1758528&pwc%5Bdesign%5D=default&pwc%5Bbackground_color%5D=%23333333&pwc%5Bincluded_songs%5D=0&pwc%5Bsong_ids%5D=13723051&pwc%5Bphoto%5D=1%2C0&pwc%5Bsize%5D=undefined
And here’s a video for a different song




Next up we have Lookout by Orgone from their album Cali Fever.  Orgone are a Los Angeles based Funk/R&B combo who came to our attention when they played a show with Northbrook Garage around the time they were Band of the Week and then Band of the Month.

And finally, we have Run from the British  band Spiritualized’s debut album, Lazer Guided Melodies which was released in 1992.  

 

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Grab the latest from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros from Amazon for just $5.00 bucks.

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The Envelope Please…

They’re a garage band… the come from Northbrook, Illinois. 


Congratulations to Northbrook Garage. They are our Band of the Month for March 2012.


The kids from the suburbs of Chicago, who make amazingly mature music and bring the soul when they have to, brought the votes.  But, hey Northbrook Garage are already old hands at winning…  Here they are doing an Amy Winehouse cover at Ardent Studios in Memphis.  They won the opportunity to record at the legendary studio.


In honor of their latest victory, we are offering their song So What for the bargain price of $0.99 at Amazon* just click on the album cover below.

*Okay fine, .99 is the normal price, but it’s less than a dollar and it’s a great song, so go download it now!
Congratulation to Northbrook Garage

Last Chance to Vote for March Band of the Month

Just 5 hours to go.  Northbrook Garage has a significant, but not insurmountable lead so far.
<————the poll is on the left sidebar near the top of the page.
And if you come to this post specifically to vote for one band, be sure to check out all of our nominees.  One last time here they are.
A Social State
Kafka
Calicocat
Finn Bonel

Band of the Month Polls Have Opened

It’s time again, where I wash my hands of the this whole thing and let you  the angry mob decide which of the Bands of the Week from March, 2012 are going to be the Band of the Month and received an automatic bid into the Band of the Year Poll.


UPDATE:  I forgot to mention that the poll is on the sidebar to the left.


We had five Bands of the Week this month so let’s recap:


Week 1 – A Social State are a fine indie rock band from Scranton, PA 



Week 2 – Kafka – is an excellent singer-songwriter from Burnley, England.




Week 3 – Calicocat – are a cool indie band from right here in Nashville, TN.


http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=1465269677/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/


Week 4 – Northbrook Garage – those soulful suburban “babies” from Northbrook, IL





Week 5 – Finn Bonel – the amazing artist from South London, England



Vote now!  One vote per person (or at least per computer) (unless you can beat the system) Just vote!

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle – Tiger of Manhatten Mix

I’m currently reading Jonathan Lethem’s rather trippy novel Chronic City (and yes the titular Chronic is what you think).  I’m a big Jonathan Lethem fan, and so far I’m enjoying the book, but I’m just about half way through – it’s very long.  Anyway, there are lots of interesting occurrences and references in the book. The novel falls into the classification of what I like to call hyper-realism, which for me means a view of the world which is skewed from what most of us perceive as reality.

****

We are in a daze, a haze, a maze
we are amazed
we meet an icon and are surprised
to find the truth behind
their facade
And then we are overtaken with joy
and laughter fills the air around our ears
We look around and fine ourselved
unimpressed

****

Our list today features music added into the MP3 for the month of March – it’s our last adds for March.

Here is today’s list:

 
Dancing Daze is  from The Avett Brothers’ 2006 album Four Thieves Gone: The Robbinsville Sessions  which was recorded in 10 days in early 2005.
 
“Mean” Joe Green comes from recent Band of the Week, Calicocat off of their 2011 set, Unnatural Oasis.
  Couldn’t find a video of the band doing this song, so here is the classic Coca-Cola commercial of Mean Joe Greene.
 
The Way You Laugh is by Dawes off of Nothing is Wrong.
 

And finally, we have our brand new Band of the Week, Northbrook Garage with their song  So What.

 
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Affiliated Links:
Chronic City Chronic City
The acclaimed author of “Motherless Brooklyn” and “The Fortress of Solitude” returns with a roar with this gorgeous, searing portrayal of Manhattanites wrapped in their own delusions, desires, and lies. Chase Insteadman, a handsome, inoffensive fixture on Manhattan’s social scene, lives off residuals earned as a child star on a beloved sitcom called “Martyr & Pesty.” Chase owes his current social cachet to an ongoing tragedy much covered in the tabloids: His teenage sweetheart and fiancee, Janice Trumbull, is trapped by a layer of low-orbit mines on the International Space Station, from which she sends him rapturous and heartbreaking love letters. Like Janice, Chase is adrift, she in Earth’s stratosphere, he in a vague routine punctuated by Upper East Side dinner parties. Into Chase’s cloistered city enters Perkus Tooth, a wall-eyed free-range pop critic whose soaring conspiratorial riffs are fueled by high-grade marijuana, mammoth cheeseburgers, and a desperate ache for meaning. Perkus’s countercultural savvy and voracious paranoia draw Chase into another Manhattan, where questions of what is real, what is fake, and who is complicit take on a life-shattering urgency. Along with Oona Laszlo, a self-loathing ghostwriter, and Richard Abneg, a hero of the Tompkins Square Park riot now working as a fixer for the billionaire mayor, Chase and Perkus attempt to unearth the answers to several mysteries that seem to offer that rarest of artifacts on an island where everything can be bought: Truth. Like Manhattan itself, Jonathan Lethem’s masterpiece is beautiful and tawdry, tragic and forgiving, devastating and antic, a stand-in for the whole world and a place utterly unique.

Mean Joe Greene and the Steelers’ front four
This book is in Used condition

Band of the Week: Year 2, Month 4, Week 4: Northbrook Garage

“I don’t mind other guys dancing with my girl
That’s fine, I know them all pretty well
But I know sometimes I must get out in the light
Better leave her behind with the kids, they’re alright
The kids are alright”  – The Who

And yes, the kids are alright….

We were first introduced to  Northbrook Garage by way of their cover of Big Star’s Thirteen from this years Couch by Couch West Festival.  In case you missed it, here it is:

The cover was inspired by the band’s recent sessions at legendary Ardent Studios in Memphis where Big Star and front man (the late) Alex Chilton recorded (plus many others).  
The most obvious thing you notice about Northbrook Garage is that they are young – like young, young.  I mean, the older I get the older “young” becomes, but Northbrook Garage are in their early to mid teens. But, putting that aside for a minute, because c’mon One Direction are young teens, but the comparisons end there. ***Bloggers Note*** I can honestly say I know absolutely nothing of any substance about One Direction, so this last statement is a huge assumption.  ***End Note***
One can’t help but have expectations about what a band of cute kids from the suburbs of Chicago will be and sound like, but this band blows all of those expectations out of the water.  They groove deep and they’ve got the chops to carry off the music they take on. From their originals to their eclectic and sometimes surprising mix of cover tunes.  They have caught ear of many who know more than me what soulful music is… Read this quote and then watch this video:
“The babies are bringing back soul! Ain’t that something!” – Sharon Jones (of Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings)

You can grab the bands debut single from Amazon – click on the pic below:


Obviously these kids are just starting out, and only time will tell where their musical journey will take them.  For now, us jaded old folks can just sit back and marvel and dig the grooves they’re laying down…. I’ll end with one final video – a cover of Bob Dylan’s Make You Feel my Love:
 

Busted Flat in Nashville

Sorry for the lack of a morning shuffle this a.m.  My tire had other plans for me….


If you haven’t done so, you must go check out Couch by Couchwest.  This on-line alternative to South by Southwest is a blast, and is garnering some legit press – like No Depression and some rag called USA Today.


Some of your Ear to the Ground favorites have shown up here:  Our friends’ The End Men kicked off the whole shebang with some of their brand of gritty bluesy rock.  Great tracks also from The Dead Exs, Those Mockingbirds and probably others – with more to come.


Also we’ve discovered some great bands so be sure to sit back, grab a cold one, cook up some tacos.  And get ready to enjoy some amazing music.


To whet you appetite, here is a band of yutes called Northbrook Garage doing a cover of Big Star’s Thirteen