E2TG 2/24/2022 - Absolutely Nothing - Hymn Mix (singular-plural Remix)

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There is a lot of bad things in the world.  We should never ignore that fact, but I also believe it is important not to let those bad things define our lives. One can be aware and engaged and still be able to see the beauty in the moment.  For me, music has always been a way to stay grounded in the moment and even to temporarily escape from the sometimes harsh realities of the world. So, while I am trying to stay aware of what is going on right now, and I am sending thoughts of peace out into the universe - I am also grateful for the music that makes my life better.  

Last night, a great non-Americana/country/folk kind of night at The 5 Spot - with alternative/post punk/new wave night with Slark Moan and Palm Ghosts playing the Swill TV show early, and Slump Test, Bad Bad Cats, and Ghost Town Remedy playing punk music at the Decline of Southern Civilization with Shakes opening with a comedy routine and a great DJ spinning punk songs. 

Today's Greetings from Nashville is up on the archive at wxnafm.org.  Here is the direct link. 

6:00am The Profits Speak by Slump Test on Slump Test (2045724 Records DK2)

6:04am Fire Under the Bridge by Cold Equations on Ghost Town (Poor Yorick Records)

6:08am Houston Memory by The Coal Men on Kids with Songs (Funzalo Records)

6:12am Tullahoma by Nellen Dryden on Standstill (Fairfax Records)

6:15am Rome to Paris by India Ramey on Snake Handler (India Ramey Music)

6:19am Wide Awake 5AM by Megan Palmer on Take Good Care – EP (Blue Rose Music)

6:26am Tongue Kiss by Griffin Winton on I’m Not Trying to Flirt with You or Anything (Griffin Winton)

6:29am Mississippi Line by Daniel Seymour & Mark Robinson on Chug It Down and Go (Blind Chihuahua Records)

6:33am Pretty Polly (feat. Kristi Rose) by Fats Kaplin on The Fatman Cometh & World of Wonder (Deluxe Edition) (Pulp Country Records)

6:39am Lord, Take Me from This World (Live) by David Newbould on Live at the Building – EP (MondoTunes)

6:44am Festival Song by Tim Easton on You Don’t Really Know Me (Black Mesa Records)

6:47am The Alabama Waltz by Miss Tess & the Talkbacks on The Love I Have for You (Signature Sounds Recordings)

6:53am Angel of Death by Nashville Symphony Orchestra on George Whitefield Chadwick (Naxos)

Today's Shuffle is below the jump...

    Featured Friday Playlist

#E2TG is not at SXSW (This is a CXCW plug by the way)

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If, like me, you are not at the South by Southwest confab (conflag?) (whatever), you probably have some good reasons.  Can't get off work, lack of funds, the beer is too expensive, too many damn hipsters, it involves putting on shoes --- the list goes on.

For the last four years, there has been a great alternative to SXSW.  I hope by now, you are familiar with Couch by Couchwest -where the beer is cheap and the only hipster is you.  CXCW is an on-line music festival featuring a staggering number and variety of talented folks who submitted specially made videos specifically for the festival. Often, the videos feature couches. Often they don't. They may be filmed in bathrooms, kitchens, garages, on front or back porches, or in wide-open fields.  Jonny Fritz when he still went by Jonny Corndawg recorded one from the inside of a drainage pipe.



The atmosphere around Couch by Couchwest is low-key, laid back, and light-hearted.  Tacos are a popular food, beer is the drink of choice (often), and most importantly, the music is mind-blowing. 

If you are a regular Ear to the Ground reader you probably already know about CXCW and I hope you've been keeping up.  The festival is on day four, and if you haven't tuned it yet, you have some catching up to do.  Go now to Couchbycouchwest.com.

Ear to the Ground favorites like:

The Foresters

Sci-Fi Romance

MAKAR

Tim Lee 3

The Imperial Rooster

Tipi Valley

Todd Farrell, Jr.

Jeanette Lynne

(And probably some I'm forgetting (sorry!))

have already made an CXCW'14 appearance. Plus - we've been introduced to some amazingly talented folks who will more than likely grace our pages soon. 

We expect to see The End Men, Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray, and much, much more the before the festival wraps up. 


Among the most buzz-worthy moments so far has been Jamie Painter's cover of Jason Isbell's Cover Me Up which has earned a recommendation from Mr. Isbell himself.  Oh and Two Mule Blues set shit on fire. 

So, in conclusion, I get why you're not at South by Southwest. I'm not there with you, but why the heck aren't you at Couch by Couchwest?  Shoes are optional and probably not encouraged.

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Superstar Mix

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We've reached the end of the week.  To get us into the weekend, I have a long list of additions to the E2TG Hall of Fall, and a pretty sweet little music shuffle.

E2TG Hall of Fame:
13. The Foresters (Bethany, CT) (ed. note: Some may say they are too young for a Hall of Fame, but it's my Hall of Fame, and by their inspiring dedication to their craft, they have already earned their place - even as I acknowledge their best work is ahead of them - I think that is true for most if not all of our inductees)
14. Those Mockingbirds (Montclair, NJ)
15. You and Me (Montreal, QC)
16. MAKAR (New York, NY)
17. The Gypsy West (Brooklyn, NY)
18. Tipi Valley (Swansea, UK)
19. Jo Wymer (Freehold, NJ)
20. Sci-Fi Romance















The inductees will continue. There are still some major favorites of mine who have not been added  yet.  Rest assured this will be rectified sooner than later.  I want to make more progress on the Hall of Fame Page before I add too many more. 

Here's the Shuffle-

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.
 

Neck & Neck: Band of the Month Voting Draws to a Close + 2 featured Videos

Man o' man - Not since the epic MAKAR vs. The End Men Battle Royale this past winter has there been such a tight race for Band of the Month.  The lead has changed hands several times, and for at least a bit, the vote was tight.  It's going to come to down to the wire.  Voting ends at 10:00p.m. Central Time. 

I don't think I will be on right at ten, so you can see the results, but looking at the poll on the sidebar.  I will have a recap either tonight or tomorrow.  Best to all the bands.

Remember, if you haven't voted yet, or you have voted but are logged on to a different computer, you can vote.  The poll is located over on the left sidebar near the top.  

Here's a link to the recap of the bands who are up for the Grand Prize distinction.

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As the voting winds down, we have already begun putting the spotlight on 10 great artists (Our Featured Artists of the Month for June 2012).  We've featured a couple of videos the past two days, and now here is two more.

 Here is Skeleton's in the Piano from Couch by Couch West

Here is a fairly recent live performance from Elephant Goes West

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Pac-Man Battle Royale High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles Pac-Man Battle Royale is a arcade game as part of the Pac-Man's series. It is made as part of Pac-Man's 30th Anniversary. The game is currently in development by Namco Bandai Games. Battle Royale will feature a 4-player mode, with the Pac-Man character be available in four different colours. Battle Royale was first playable to the public at the 2010 Amusement Expo show in Las Vegas. The game is due for release in September 2010.

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - No Newts Mix

It's Monday here in Downtown Nashville, and Newt is going to be here today.  Right across the street from me. Sooooo excited.... *yawn*

In other news, as we wrap up the month of February (I will be adding the last batch of songs for the month tonight), I thought we would hit the Way Back machine and head back to January 2012. Remember when...ah nostalgia..

Shuffle of songs added in January 2012...

The Only Living Boy in New York by Simon and Garfunkel from the Bridge Over Troubled Water album. "I get the news I need on the weather report."

<-----Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel via Amazon.com

Three Times A Midnight   by MAKAR from the Funeral Genius album.  "I'll take you on a suicide drive."

<---- Funeral Genius - MAKAR (with the scary west coast aggressive panhandling bird) via Amazon.com

Have You Ever Seen the Rain? by Joan Jett covering The Minutemen Creedence Clearwater Revival from Joan's The Hit List cover album.  "Someone told me long ago, there's a calm before the storm."

 

<----3 different versions of Have You Ever Seen the Rain? via Amazon.com

And finally, a song about the guy who walked on the moon and blew his lines at the very moment Burris Weems the protagonist of Greg Matthews' novel Little Red Rooster was born.  Neil Armstrong by The Dexateens from their 2007 album Hardwire Healing.  "Well it's cold in July when you're up in the sky..."

  <-----Hardwire Healing by The Dexateens via Amazon.com

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Neil Armstrong Neil Armstrong

Creedence Clearwater Revival Have You Ever Seen the Rain Description not provided.

Friday Morming Music Shuffle - ♂ ♀ Mix

Yesterday was a good day for driving with the windows down and blasting tunes just up to the point where the sound begins to distort. 

We've reached the end of another week. I know this is a symptom of old age, but man, time sure is flying.  It's almost March.  Later today or tomorrow, I will be unveiling our 4th and final Band of the Week for February, and next week sometime, we will begin the task of naming our Band of the Month.

Before we get to today's shuffle, I had a treat in my Inbox this morning - a freshly minted track from Band of the Year Runner-Up Ubiquity Machine - the first from a forthcoming EP.  I can't wait for all of you to hear it.

To the Shuffle-------->

♫♪ #1 - It ain't no big thing... Do flip out... sweet, sweet beats - It's Just Stuph from Hayden Coleman Music - check it out!

♪♫ #2 - It seems like it's been forever since we've had The End Men show up in a morning shuffle, whatever, it's been too long.  Build It Up is the title track from the band's excellent EP, and it is the song, I first heard, and I was reminded how, when I heard the first few bars, I KNEW that I had just discovered a new fave!

<-------Built It Up (EP) by The End Men - on Amazon.com

♪ ♫ #3 - I heard a couple of reports on NPR this morning about difficulties in other countries over elections.  Here is the US - voting tends to divide us.  But, here at Ear to the Ground we march to the beat of our own drummer(s).  Less than a month ago, The End Men and this next band were engaged in a bitter, hard fought vote to be named Band of the Month, but at the end of the day, once all the votes had been counted and all the challenges and protests had been heard, the two bands were able to put aside their differences and come together....(I'm tearing up now which you can't see so it loses it's effect).

Belong Here  comes from the Funeral Genius album by February Band of the Month MAKAR.

<------------Funeral Genius by MAKAR - on Amazon.com

♪♫ #4 - Finally - we go to the first EP  of the Accomplices series by recent Band of the Week, The Gypsy West.  Accomplices I and II are available from Bandcamp and volume III is coming soon. The  concept series tells a story and amazing enough the first volume contains two covers which contribute to the overall tale being told.   Today we have one of those covers - Richard Cory was originally on the Simon and Garfunkel album Sound of Silence - based upon the Edwin Arlington Robinson 1897 poem. Here the band makes it their own.







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Richard Cory and Selected Songs "By Frederic Prokosch E.A. Robinson. For Piano, Voice. Masters Collection. Piano reduction/vocal score. Standard notation. 144 pages. Published by Carl Fischer"

Collected Poems by Edwin Arlington Robinson This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Makar (Mah-Kar) Mix

Still very tired from performing the recounts demanded by The End Men (actually I was playing stupid games on Google + but don't tell anyone).  By the way, as runners-up, should MAKAR be unable to fulfill their duties* as Band of the Month, The End Men will take the crown.

*I'm still thinking up some duties for the Band of the Month.

This morning I strolled into work (stumbled actually) to a random shuffling of MAKAR's latest album Funeral Genius.  (Click on the scary bird* down below to view the Amazon page for Funeral Genius)

 

*I have an unnatural fear of birds brought on my a youthful exposure to the genius of Alfred Hitchcock.

So here goes the song list from this morning:

Show Me That Look in Your Eyes

 

Show Me That Look in Your Eyes (Knitting Factory) from MAKAR on Vimeo.

I Wanna Know What I Don't Know



I Wanna Know What I Don't Know (Bar East - January 2012) from MAKAR on Vimeo.

Bottle of Beauty



Bottle of Beauty (Bar East - January 2012) from MAKAR on Vimeo.

And finally, the title track Funeral Genius



Funeral Genius (R Bar) from MAKAR on Vimeo.


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And it's official* The Band of the Month is....

MAKAR!!!!!!

Congratulations!  It was a hard fought battle, and a fair amount of time was misspent (which is always a goal of mine.)  


Of course it's all about the music and all of the bands nominated are great.


Great things are ahead for all of these bands.  And we move forward.  The Gypsy West are the first Band of the Week for February and they will soon be joined by another great band.


I have a very special morning music shuffle scheduled for tomorrow so tune in.


*The End Men are challenging the voting, and have even threatened to bring in the Pauls (Ron and Rand and possible Ru - not sure about the last one).


We'll leave you with MAKAR's classic song, I Hate My Job performed live at Bar East just a few weeks ago, actually - it was a special show just for my birthday (kidding). 




I Hate My Job (Bar East - January 2012) from MAKAR on Vimeo.

Band of the Month - The Polls are Open!

It's time to let you, dear readers, decide which of the great Bands of the Week from January will be the 2nd ever Band of the Month.  I'm glad it's not up to me...




We began the new year with a band from Brooklyn. The End Men - blew me away when I first gave a listen.  Since then, I've been trying make sure everyone knows about this amazing band.  Here's a taste. Click here to read the Band of the Week feature for The End Men.



 The next band, MAKAR, had come to our attention some time back and their song, I Hate My Job played constantly on the MP3 player of my mind.  The bands latest Funeral Genius is pure... eh-um dare I? genius.  Here's a live performance from the show they did on my birthday.  How nice of them... Here is their Band of the Week page


 We leave the Big Apple (does the term Big Apple cover all of the boroughs or is it just Manhattan?). Fine - we leave the New York City area and head up to Canada - The Kirby Sewell Band play a silky smooth form of  the blues.  You can read what I wrote when I named them Band of the Week - here:



 Our last Band of the Week for January comes from Brazil and makes amazing electronic noises with some propulsive guitar work to boot. From the Outside is one guy making some amazing music. For us with poor short-term memory (or *gasp* those who might not read every freaking word I write). Here is the Band of the Week feature for From the Outside:



 You can vote now on the left side bar of the blog.


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Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - To and Fro Mix

I added some new music last night - I'm having some technical difficulties, but whatever...

 A very cool mix this morning so sit right down and let me tell you all about it...

First up is a track from the latest twitter discovery... It's Big Mosey who hail from Brooklyn, New York. Head over to their site for a free download of today's featured song, Harold Called in the Morning, and keep your ear to the ground for more from these guys.

Check out the band's EP - Homeward at Daybreak which you can get for a song* at Amazon by clicking on the album cover below:

*a song in this case equals just under $4.00

 Next up is another fine track from the amazing Bang Bang Boogaloo: Beyond Beyond is Beyond compilation. This comes to us from a band called Conspiracy of Owls  a Detroit band - the song we have is one the band's 2010 self-titled album, and is called The Lesson.


Click on the kinda scary picture below to go to Amazon and get your own copy of Conspiracy of Owls for under $9.00.





Next the first of two tracks without vocals... from our current Band of the Week - From the Outside comes this propulsive number called Don't Look Back which is off of the brand new The Sound of Motion album which you can get for name your own price using the widget below (via Bandcamp)

  Next comes a track by Jonti who comes from Sydney, Australia and is on the Stones Throw label in the U.S. - he's just come out with a collection called Sine & Moon (The Album) which includes today's track, Nagoya Train Station 3AM. Click on the album title to grab a free download of  the album.

If you like what you hear, click on the album cover below to get Jonti's October release Twirligig for just under $9.00.

 And finally, we've let too many days go by without a track from MAKAR ;-)  So, here goes one we've featured before, but it's a good one... called In the Know from Funeral Genius.






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