A convergence of happenings... still in a pandemic (and into a new wave), the U.S. elections are coming Tuesday, tomorrow is Halloween (and a full moon!), we fall back on the clocks, and I don't know, I'm sure there is more.
Oh yeah, it is Friday, and we have another Featured Friday Playlist here at E2TG. I continue to be blown away by the amount of music being released. We have to end this pandemic and get my musician friends back on the road touring so this poor music blogger can rest... just kidding, but I do want my friends to get back to it.
I don't know how, but somehow January has gotten away from us. Welcome to February. We have another jam-packed shuffle so - let's do it... after le jump
Tweet #E2TG Are you scared yet? HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone! A little frost on the pumpkin here in Nashville. What is your favorite Halloween-themed song? We aren't doing a theme today, but the shuffle is scary good. Montreal-based Michael Silver records under the name CFCF. He teams up here with fellow Montreal Electronic band Austra with a song from the brand new Paper Bag Records album cover compilation Paper Bag Records vs. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. They do Soul Love. Check it...
We continue to delve into the musical treasure trove that is Marvin Country! by Marvin Etzioni. We pick up today with Gram Revisited which features some sampled talking by the song's subject - the late Gram Parsons.
Here's different, but still excellent song off Marvin Country!
And here is Gram Parson with The Flying Burrito Brothers
Blind Willie Johnson, the early 20th Century Texas Blues/Gospel musician wrote and recorded Soul of a Man. It was released in 1930.
One of my favorite covers of the song
Memphis alternative rockers Sore Eyes reported back in July that they were at work on a new album. Until then, we have a Bonus Track we culled from ReverbNation. Check out Let It Go:
Have you voted yet? No? Well, go VOTE! Yes? Well, go VOTE again? Not sure, well VOTE! I guess I'm saying - it's that time of the lunar cycle... no not that time... the time when we ask you, loyal reader, to take part in a demonstration of out-of-control competitiveness and to help determine the Band of the Month for October 2012. Look, music is what matters, and all of the voting etc. is just an excuse to put the music out there again, plus, if two or three bands really get into it, it can be tons o' fun. So go VOTE! Oh yeah, and for our U.S. readers, there is some sort of election thing happening soon, and you should probably vote in that, too.
We have a packed music shuffle today, so let's get to it.
The Imperial Rooster keep it concise and to the point with this track from Decent People. 45 Seconds of Blood delivers just what it promises (actually the track clocks in at 48 seconds, but the blood only lasts for 45 of those).
Here's The Imperial Rooster from this year's CXCW fest (anti-fest?)
San Diego Indie Rock band Future of Forestry released an album in July called Young Man Follow. Today we've got Would You Come Home. There is a certain lushness to this record that I'm really digging. Check it out:
Tipi Valley have been on our radar for a number of months. We've had them as a Featured Artists and several of their songs have appeared in Morning Music Shuffles. In July, Tipi Valley released an acoustic-leaning EP called In the Woods. Now, they are back with the follow-up, Beautiful Sunrise, on which they plug in, power up and offer 4 great new songs including Needle For Your Love which is part of today's shuffle. Man oh man, I love this song. Obviously, I'm a fan of Tipi Valley, and I've been impressed by the diversity of music they've offered. Needle for Your Love offers a sonic blast reminiscent of Husker Du/Bob Mould with some Beatlesque hooks and enough fuzzy goodness to maintain the band's shoegaze rep (I still don't know what shoegaze means by the way). Check out the latest from Tipi Valley.
Next, we continue digging into Marvin Etzioni's excellent and epic double album, Marvin Country!Lay It On the Table features the lovely and talented Lucinda Williams joining Marvin for a Sam Shepard worthy tale of broken love and fractured hearts.
Here's a video of Marvin, Lucinda and friends playing together.
And finally, The Dixie Hummingbirds are a Gospel group who have been making music for more than 80 years. They perform a version of You Are the Light on Marvin Country! Here we have When the Dollar Rules the Pulpit which we pick up off on of the albums to come out of the Occupy movement.
Man you guys, I think I need an intern or something. I mean if Kramer could have an intern, I could - right? So much goodness going on - Our good friends, The Dead Exs dropped their sophomore album, Relovolution, while we were AMAing, and we are going to have a lot to say about this one. Cosmonauts are just a week away from unveiling the video to the song they recently debuted and which we had in the shuffle yesterday, Cold Harbor. The Disappointment have a new video, we just heard a killer new song from Dogs of Oz. There is new music out or coming soon from The Avett Brothers, Mumford and Sons, Band of Horses, John Hiatt and just about everybody else. We made some good contacts at the Americana to-do, and some big things are coming for little ole us. So of course, by nbl (non-blogging life) is also exploding and time become a precious commodity, but it's all good.
Our shuffle today features two artists we saw live last week plus a song from the early 2000s and a relatively new song that sounds like an old song... Let's jump into the shuffle:
First up we have Leeds' own, The Dunwells, who we saw last Thursday at Live on the Green with I Could Be A King off of their debut record, Blind Sighted Faith.
Up next, we have a retro-sounding fuzzy guitar-driven, Garage Rock song called Driven by Love from the band 45 Spider which comes from Supercharged Sounds (the 8th Volume of the Best of GaragePunk Hideout) which came out in July.
Next, we have the debut single by California ska-punk band OPM from way back around the turn of the century. Heaven is Halfpipe promises skating after death. The debut album was called Menace to Sobriety(see what they did there?)
And finally, we have another song from the fantastic Marvin Country! album by Marvin Etzioni who at The Station Inn in Nashville along with his Marvin Country! String Quartet. I had the chance to talk briefly with Mr. Etzioni, and hope to have the opportunity to have a longer chat with him soon.
In contrast to yesterday's shuffle which contained a mix of classic (i.e. very old music) and new stuff, all of the songs in today's shuffle were released in 2012. Let's get to it...
First up, we have a young band from Florida which I came across during some random surfing on Bandcamp. Grounded play noisy rock and I kind of dig their style... so yeah... The song we have today is called Take the Hit... We have the Bandcamp widget for you to listen and Download Grounded's three song demo and it's Free! So take a chance with Grounded.
Next up, we have another superb song from the Marvin Country! album by Marvin Etzioni (Lone Justice). This one is called Bob Dylan is Dead, and it's a really great song. Interesting and totally random incident... yesterday, I went to Twitter and saw that Bob Dylan was trending,and I had to immediately make sure he had not died. He hadn't. Rather he is releasing his 35th studio album soon. Anyway, you really need to go get Marvin Country!
I could not find a video for Bob Dylan is Dead, so here is a interview with Mr. Etzioni from Inside Music Row.
And finally, we dig deeper into the awesome debut by Nashville rock superground, The Bluefields. The album is called Pure, and the song today is called Trainwreck. The Bluefields started a three week run of free shows at the Hi-Watt in Nashville. I missed last night and will have to miss next week, but I am going to try to make it the week after. If you're around Nashville head on down for what is sure to be a good time.
Hey ya'll voting is proceeding hot and heave in our Band of the Month Poll. Killing Kuddles was fast of the gate and opened up a huge lead, but of late, Jo Wymer has made a run and is currently just 36 votes behind (UPDATE: Killing Kuddles has increased their lead). The rest of the pack is trailing, but there are still 10 days left. Go get to the poll and vote for your favorite band/artist. Vote early and often.
What else.... It's about time for the me to pick our Featured Artists for July. I've got a pretty decent short list which I am going to narrow down to 10, but it's not too late, if you have any suggestions or if you would like to be considered drop me a line. Just put Featured Band - July in the subject line.
Onward we go into this morning's shuffle:
First up we have a track from April's double album called, Marvin Country!, which features Marvin Etzioni and some special guests including Richard Thompson, Steve Earle, John Doe, Buddy Miller, and Lucinda Williams. On You Possess Me, Marvin reunites with his Lone Justice band mate Maria McKee.
(couldn't find a video of You Possess Me, so here's the classic East of Eden by Lone Justice)
Next up, we have Andrew Bird covering a song by Alpha Consumer which is a side-project of two members of his backing band. The song is called, The Crown Salesman.The song is part of a Andrew Bird Noisetrade Sampler:
The Alpha Consumer version is on the band's 2010 release called Kick Drugs Out of America.
I Love You (But You're Boring) was originally on The Beautiful South's debut album Welcome to the Beautiful South. It is the companion piece to I Hate You (But You're Interesting) which was on Choke. Los Campesinos! recently covered I Love You (But You're Boring), and frontman Gareth will soon be touring with Beautiful South (and Housemartins) frontman Paul Heaton. You can get details here. And head to Stereogum for a download of today's cover.
Los Campesinos! cover
I Hate You (But You're Interesting) Beautiful South
And finally, we have The Shins' A Simple Song from their album Port of Morrow which was released back in March.
