E2TG 8/27/2020 - Blah Blah Blah - City Hippie Mix (Lower Remix)

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It sure seems like every single day there is something going on in our country that needs to be discussed. I never intended E2TG to be a current events or political blog - I have felt compelled to write about certain things from time to time, but I don't want you to take my silence here for approval or acceptance of the unacceptable. I vacillate between hopeful and hopelessness, and I ponder the path forward with so many people seemingly having dropped even the pretense of common human decency. 

But, it is too easy to let writing about these things overwhelm the blog, and I do not want to do that.  For me, E2TG (and more generally music) has been a refuge from the troubles of the world. Although, I have always loved topical and message songs, even in those cases, the melodies and the instruments, and the beats and all  - are a shelter from the storms of life. 

I have been thinking about my tendency to be a bit of a contrarian but I sometimes wonder if it is intentional or just a part of my DNA or if it matters. Just an example... I have been a fan of roots music of some kind almost as long as I have been interested in music - but I have also had a pretty wide-open attitude toward music.  Especially, over the last five or six years, a lot of "Americana" music has come my way, and many of my favorite artists and bands fall somewhere along the spectrum of sounds that fall under that wide umbrella, however, at the same time I have actively took steps to keep from being pigeon-holded as an Americana music blog. Now, there is this voice that says, maybe if you focused on just Americana you would have a bigger base of readership.  Maybe, I don't know. But, somehow, I think if I had put such limitations on my self, I would have tired of this thing and quit blogging a long time ago.  

The fact is - although I love a good folk song and a great folk song can move me to tears, I need my punk, post-punk darkwave, electronica, hip-hop, rock, hard rock etc. music to s sustain me.  Think of it as a balanced diet.  

Onward!

Today, we wrap out of recap of this week's Feat. Friday Playlist! Tune in tomorrow for a brand new list... a bunch of new music is on the way... (Songs 30-37 today)

30. "Drunk" by Parker Lee

In typical fashion, we save some cool music to round out our weekly playlist. This segment of music begins with the lead off single ahead of the Scrundle EP due out on September 4 by this indie band from New Yorkshire. I really dig the sound of this track. 

31. "Fire in the Rain" by The Hengles

From the UK, we cross the channel and head to Amsterdam for the new single from The Hengles. The band's members have been active in music since the 80s and 90s. They came together as The Hengles in 2015. "Fire in the Rain" was supposed to be released as the band's eighth single in June, however, with the lockdown, they took the opportunity to strip the song down and basically reinvent the song. For anyone who ever wondered how to set a fire in the rain... 

32. "Moonlight" by Viewfinders

Next up, we have a track from this Denver, Colorado based indie rock band. This was a direct artist submission that caught my attention and my ear. Cool stuff.  

33. "Niin kuin se ennen oli" by Bad Sauna

Bad Sauna are a relatively new rock band from Finland - recently signed to the All That Plazz label. I really like this song a lot. Substantive music that rocks sufficiently. 

34. "Evolution" by Julian Shah-Tayler

Aka The Singularity, Julian Shah-Tayler is based in L.A. by way of Leeds. The music has a fascinating electro rock/new wave sound. The Singularity has had a great deal of success with film and television placements. If you note a touch of Bowie or Depeche Mode or The Cure - it might be becauser Shah-Tayler is part of successful tribute bands to all three artists. He has worked with some huge names as well as co-founding the Art Angeles charity which teaches music to underprivileged kids in Watts. 

35. "Quimeras" by La Cigarra 

Via the Columbian label Discos Infante, we have this relatively new project from the mind of producer Mateo Esquivel.  I know very little about this band/project - translated the information was imaginative and beautiful, and I absolutely love the music. 

36. "Trials - Origin Mix" by Dissonance

Following an only slightly intentional pattern, we close out this week's playlist with some heavier sounds - first we have a track from the Dallas, Texas based darkwave band Dissonance. Dissonance featuring vocalist Cat Hall began in the early 90s and revived in 2015. This is the second of three maxi singles being released by the band this summer. 

37. "Slaves to the System" by The Veer Union; Defending Cain
 

We close with some socially conscious hard rock from The Veer Union based in Vancouver, B.C. - this is the first single ahead of a quarantine themed EP set for release early next year. Here they team with Defending Cain - a hard rock band from West Virginia. Interesting that we close with darkwave from Dallas and hard rock from West Virginia a good reminder to let go of geographical stereotypes when it comes to music. 

 

    Featured Friday Playlist

Thursday Morning Shuffle

"Daylight Came (II)" by Dizraeli (from The Unmaster)

First up in today's random shuffle we have a track from the 2019 album by this UK rapper. 

"Hollow" by Whispering Sons (from Image)

Next up, we have another 2019 release this from the Belgium post punk band Whispering Sons. Cool stuff. 

"Hippie in the City" by Rich Mahan (from Hot Chicken Wisdom)

Next up, we have a track from yet another 2019 release - this time by Nashville based singer-songwriter Rich Mahan. 

"Prime Place" by Maynard And The Musties (from Cheap Cigar)

Or is it The Joe Maynard and Musties or Joe the Maynard and Musties? This goes back to the band;s 2012 album - which was around the time I first was introduced to their music through Couch by Couchwest. 

"Freemarket Music" by This Frontier Needs Heroes (from Real Job)

We recently found out that the new This Frontier Need Hero album is due out very early in 2021. Meanwhile, we have a great track from the last album. TFNH is essentially a solo project of Bran Lauretti - sometimes backed by some amazing musicians. 

"Lower" by Chris Wilson and the Heresy (from Downfall)

And, we close out today's shuffle with this track by the Indiana-based singer-songwriter and his band.  Great stuff. 

VIDEO PLAYLIST 

NEW AND RECENT RELEASES

THIS WEEK

8/25 - Andrew Grimm - A Little Heat (LP)

8/28 - The Northern Belle - We Wither, We Bloom (LP)

8/28 - Fabien Jack - "Silent Alarm" (single) (? on release date?)

8/28 - of1000faces - "Astronomica" (single) (? on release date?)

8/28 - Special Moves - Little Help (LP)

8/28 - Debbie Lagrange - "La chanson des moustiques" (single)

8/28 - Molly Tuttle - ...but I'd rather be with you (LP)

8/28 - Caterpillar - Where Shadows Go to Speak (LP)

8/28 - Certain Animals - "Truth" (single)

8/28 - The Agency - "Defender" (single)

8/28 - Dianne Davidson - Full Circle (LP)

8/28 - Raveis Kole - "Angel from Montgomery" (single)

8/28 - The Blam Blams - Opening Night (LP)

8/28 - Jessy Yasmeen - "Let's Slip Away" (single)

8/28 - Michael Landin - On a Clear Day (LP)

8/28 - Jacob Wallace - "Wanderer" (single)

8/28 - Pace - "Boatman's Weather" (single)

8/28 - From Venus - "Unconditional" (single)

8/28 - Maria Shiel - Fire in the Sea (LP)

8/28 - ReMission International (Wayne Hussey) - "TOS2020" (single)

LAST WEEK

8/17 - KnightressM1 - "Lock and Key" (single)

8/18 - Jeremy Ivey - "Someone Else's Problem" (single)

8/18 - Matte Blvck - "Bare" (single)

8/19 - KC Beck - "Wake Me Up When This Year's Over" (single)

8/19 - The Persian Leaps - "Lost Cause" (single)

8/20 - Jessica Luise - "Television Mister" (single)

8/21 - Eric Bolander - "Window" (single)

8/21 - A Shoreline Dream - Melting (LP)

8/21 - Liar,Flower - Geiger Counter (LP)

8/21 - Xanthe Alexis - The Offering (LP)

8/21 - Reardon Love - "Locked in the Panopticon" (single)

8/21 - Ghostwood Development Project - "Almost Human" (single)

8/21 - The Sea At Midnight - "We Share the Same Stars" (single)

8/21 - Buckle Bunny - "Lizard Brain" (single)

8/21 - Parker Lee - "Drunk" (single)

8/21 - Pozzi - Tyrant (LP)

8/21 - The Hengles - "Fire in the Rain" (single)

8/21 - Julien Shah-Tayler (feat. MGT) - "Evolution" (single)

8/21 - Bad Sauna - "Niin kuin se ennen oli (“As It Was Before”)" (single)

8/21 - Aquabats - Kooky Spooky ... In Stereo! (LP)

8/21 - Aquabats - "Dangerous Leon" (single)

8/21 - Little King - "Blend" (single)

8/21 - Benchmarks - Summer, Slowly (LP)

         

NEXT WEEK

8/31 - Andre Salvador & the Von Kings - Last Night From Glasgow (LP)

9/03 - COY Swede - "You Are" (single)

9/04 - India Ramey - Shallow Graves (LP)

9/04 - The Star Prairie Project - "Frantic Mind" (single)

9/04 - Jabbawoki - Something's Cookin' (EP)

9/04 - Parker Lee- Scrundle (LP)

9/04 - Andrew Adkins - "Vagabond Shoes" (single)***

9/04 - Dirk Powell - When I Wait for You (LP)

9/04 - Ghostlawns - "Ffoi" (single) 

9/04 - Annie Dressner - Coffee at the Corner Bar (LP)

UPCOMING

9/11 - Mike Barnett - +1 (LP)

9/11 - Atta Boy - Big Heart Manners (LP)

9/11 - Johnny Thunders - Que Sera Sera: Resurrected (Boxset)

9/11 - Brian Cullman - Winters Clothes (LP)

9/11 - Brophy's Law - "Record Collector" (single)

9/18 - The Pull of Autumn - Small Colors (LP)

9/18 - Anton Barbeau - Manbird (Double LP)

9/18 - The Persian Leaps - Smiling Lesson (EP)

9/22 - Babybird - King of Nothing (LP)

9/24 - Magnolia Bayou - Strange Place (LP)

9/25 - Buildings and Food - Up Down Strange Charm (LP)

9/25 - Music Maker Relief Foundation - Hanging Tree Guitars (LP)

9/25 - Andrew Grimm - A Little Heat (LP)

9/25 - Cayucas - Blue Summer (LP)

9/25 - of1000faces - Astronomica (LP)

9/25 - Mt..Doubt - Doubtlands (LP)

10/02 - Buckle Bunny - Pet Speak (LP)

10/02 - The Jensen Sisters - Yellow Frames (LP)

10/02 - Mantis & The Prayer - Murder Ballad and the Blue (AA singles)

10/02 - Kouatchou - "My Teacher"/"Change" (AA singles)

10/09 - Year of October - Wastelands (LP)

10/09 - Great Peacock - Forever Worse Better (LP)

10/09 - Zao - Preface: Early Recordings 1995-1996 (LP)

10/09 - Zao - All Else Failed: 25th Anniversary Edition (LP)

10/09 - Jeremy Ivey - Waiting Out the Storm (LP)

10/16 - Malin Pettersen - Wildhorse (LP)

10/16 - Monette - "Monotony" (single)

10/23 - The Agency - In the Haunted Woods (LP)

10/23 - Lera Lynn - On My Own (LP)

11/13 - The Flat Five - Another World (LP)

11/13 - Andrew Adkins - The Echoist (LP)

1/01/2021 - This Frontier Needs Heros - Go With the Flow (LP)

RECENT

7/17 - The Bobby Lees - Skin Suit (LP)

7/17 - Soft Set - "Never Die" (single)

7/17 - Michot's Melody Makers - Cosmic Cajuns from Saturn (LP)

7/17 - Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards - Bitter Better (LP)

7/17 - Graham Bramblett - The Great Inbetween (LP)

7/17 - ElJay - Champion (EP)

7/17 - Sienne - "Side by Side" (single)

7/17 - elkyn - beech (EP)

7/17 - The Allergies - Say the Word (LP)

7/17 - LadyCouch - "Heartache" (single)

7/17 - KEYS - "This Side of Luv" (single)

7/17 - SLiCE Bellafante - Leave it to Belle (LP)

7/17 - Bearcraft - "Outside in the Morning Snow" (single)

7/17 - Abby Reign - "Roll the Dice" (single)

7/17 - David Ramirez - "My Love if Like a Hurricane" (LP)

7/17 - ASM - "Return of the Sabretooth" (single)

7/17 - The Jensen Sisters - "Beat of a Bad Habit" (single)

7/17 - Mt. Doubt - "Dark Slopes Away" (single)

7/17 - Above Snakes - "Adrenaline" (single)

7/18 - Union Kain - Black Dawn (EP)

7/20 - Provision - Hearts Turn Dark (LP)

7/20 - Scott Holstein - "Hillbilly Love" (single)

7/20 - DALMAS Emmanuel - "Savages" (single)

7/22 - The City Gates - "Siegfried 1969" (single)

7/23 - Other Child - Good Boy Charlie (EP)

7/24 - Tawny Ellis - Love Life (LP)

7/24 - Lee Gallagher - L.A. Yesterday (LP)

7/24 - Even As We Speak - Adelphi (LP)

7/24 - The Wild Blue - Anonymous Future (EP)

7/24 - The Danberrys - Shine (LP)

7/24 - Ted Russell Kamp - Down in the Den (LP)

7/24 - A Shoreline Dream - "Seek to Hide" (single)

7/24 - Rev. J. Mikhael Smith and the Brimstone Miracle - Dogwood Winter (EP)

7/24 - Seela - Cool (LP)

7/24 - Nick Faber- The Lost Highway Tapes (LP)

7/24 - Vexillary - SurViolence (EP)

7/24 - Certain Animals - "Too Long" (single)

7/24 - The Asteroid No.4 - "Swiss Mountain Myth" (single)

7/24 - Breichiau Hir - "Preseb O Ias" (single)

7/24 - rOZZ - Yess Sire! (LP)

7/24 - Kyle Maher - "Better" (single)

7/24 - Jon Hassell - Seeing Through Sound (Pentimento Volume Two) (LP)

7/24 - Pozzi - "From the Ashes" (single)

7/24 - Erin Coburn - "The Misfit" (single)

7/24 - Are We Static - "The Godfather" (single)

7/24 - Betwixt - The Salty Tang - reissue (LP)

7/27  - Beauty in Chaos - "Stranger" (single)

7/27 - The Funhouse Collective - "Twilight Zone" (single)

7/28 - Caterpillar - "Tangents" (single)

7/29 - Drumagick - "A Feel"/"Cosmic Live" (single)

7/29 - I LIKE TRAINS - "Steady Hand" (single)

7/29 - Okey Dokey - "The Right Fit" (single)

7/29 - Cayucas - "Lonely Without You" (single)

7/29 - Smile - "Time to Run" (single)

7/31 - The Jason Daniels Band - Downloads from the Universe (LP)

7/31 - Shishi - Mafitishei (LP)

7/31 - Vee VV - "Ugly Freedom (Toka Remix)" (single)

7/31 - Adrift - "Our Moment" (single)

7/31 - Max Helgemo - "Uncovered" (single)

7/31 - Sunny Gable - Little Things (EP)

7/31 - The Kondoors - "Mr. Rain" (single)

7/31 - Gim Kordon - "Joskus mä pelkään (Sometime’s I Fear)" (single)

7/31 - Tom Tikka & The Missing Hubcaps - Insane (LP)

7/31 - Billy Ray Rock - "My Baby Mama" (single)

7/31 - SWIM - Pass By (EP)

8/03 - PXPRS - "Coup de grâce" (single)

8/05- Dissonance/Cat Hall - Trials (EP)

8/07 - The Furious Seasons - La Fonda (LP)

8/07 - Kevin Gordon - Down To The Well: Solo Demos Unearthed (LP)

8/07 - Jason Molina - Eight Gates (LP)

8/07 - Steven Bruce - Same Time, Same Place, Same Station (LP)\

8/07 - Laura Donohue - "Muse" (single)

8/07 - The Flat Five - "Drip a Drop" (single)

8/07 - Jason Erie - "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" (single)

8/07 - Ci Gofod - "Dyfodol (feat. Lloyd Bastian of ‘Pseudo Cool’)" (single)

8/07 - Vincent Cross - The Life & Times of James ‘The Rooster’ Corcoran (LP)

8/07 - Nelss - "In the Unknown" (single)

8/07 - Jonny Polonsky - "You Turn Me On (Jim Sclavunos Remix)" (single)

8/07 - Joshua - "If I'd Never Let Go" (single)

8/07 - Polymer - "King of Suburbia" (single)

8/07 - Carrus & Kurtz - The Genius of..., Vol. 4: The Humanity of Humility (LP)

8/07 - Anton Barbeau - "Manbird" (single)8/07 - Ryan Allen - Song Snacks Vol. 1 (LP)

8/07 - Depression, Baby - "Isolation" (single)

8/07 - Saronde (feat. Idd Aziz) - "Firewood" (single)

8/07 - The Party of Helicopters - Live at Earthquaker Day 2019 (LP)

8/07 - Phillip La Rosa - "Baggage" (single)

8/07 - La Cigarra - "Quimeras" (single)

8/08 - Miss Molly Simms - Reckless (LP)

8/11 - Brandon Phillips & The Condition - "Veronica" (single)

8/13 - Cindy - Free Advice (LP)

8/14 - R.B. Morris - Going Back to the Sky (LP)

8/14 - The Blam Blams - "Opening Night" (single)

8/14 - Michael McArthur - How to Fall in Love (EP)

8/14 - Sylvie Simmons - Blue on Blue (LP)

8/14 - Mark W. Georgsson - Comes a Time (EP)

8/14 - Soft Set - "Never Die"/"7 on Up" (single)

8/14 - Ivan Moult - "What More Could I Want"'/"Toxic" (single)

8/14 - Biomechanimal - "Enter the Animal" (single)

8/14 - The Veer Union - "Slaves to the System" (single)

8/14 - Magnolia Bayou - "Sweet Magnolia" (single)

8/14 - Eito - While You Were Sleeping (EP)

8/14 - Razorwire Halo - "Cover My Eyes" (single)

8/14 - Skylar Gregg - Roses (LP)