Topical Thursday Morning Shuffle - Thin Ice Mix

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I am old enough to remember when the newspaper came every evening (or morning), and there was news in the morning, maybe at noon, and in the evening.  Local news usually followed the national news. If there was "Breaking" news they would interrupt the regularly scheduled program (I remember my great aunt hated when they did that during one of her shows). But, it was usually actual breaking news. Oh and Time and Newsweek came every week if you got them which we sometimes did.

I also remember when CNN started - I thought it was cool because of the possibility of digging deeper into stories. Like much of early cable television - there were some cool ideas and interesting possibilities, but most failed to live up to their potential.  (Music Television rarely has music, Arts and Entertainment is mostly reruns of Law & Order, need I go on...)

I didn't have cable for many years and so I kind of lost touch, but I remember walking into a bank or somewhere that had a television with CNN on and seeing the banner with BREAKING NEWS and thinking something really important and serious was happening, and then realizing it was an insignificant non-event that further realizing that such banners ran pretty much 24 hours a day, every day.  

Then, the proliferation of news and "news" on social media.

All that to say, the last seven months have been exhausting. My desire to stay informed sometimes - often leads me down disgusting rabbit holes (I have a hard time not reading the comments). This week has been horrible. No matter how hard I try, I keep getting sucked into this constant state of outrage. And, yes, I should be outraged (everyone of good conscience should be outraged) but I also know I need to take care of my mental and spiritual health. I think about the warnings on airplanes - you are supposed to put your own mask on before you try to help someone else. If I burn out, I cannot be useful to anyone or any cause.

I guess I'm saying - just because something new is "breaking" several times an hour, I want to stay informed - it is okay to put limits or look for places to get a summary (at some interval besides constant).  

Anyway... that's what's on my mind.....

It is Thursday.  Since May, we have set aside Thursday's to revisit some moments, songs, and artists who have been a part of E2TG from 2011 (when we started) to the present... .It's been good to revisit some old friends and to hear all these great songs along side each other.

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - A Few of My Favorite Things 2013 Mix Part Four

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And on we go... 

Just in case you  joined us late, we are looking back on some of our favorite music from 2013, and doing it as only Ear to the Ground would...  I created a Playlist with favorites released in 2013.  2013 was a great year for music.  Many of your favorite E2TG artists released new music this year, some new favorites were "discovered", and there was even some notable releases from artists you frequently read about on those "Brand X" music blogs.  All of those and maybe even more are included in the Playlist.  We've been shuffling through that playlist all week, and we will continue until the end of the year (and maybe a day or two more).

Let's get to it, and see what Mr. Shuffle has brought up today... shall we?

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle - A Few of My Favorite Things 2013 Mix - Part Three

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We continue our 2013 Year in Review via shuffle with another great mix of music.  Today, I thought I would focus on the various ways that new music comes to my attention.  Why? Because inquiring minds want to know even if they do not know that they want to know.

Shuffle ho!

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Life's a Gas Mix

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A longish shuffle today - so I will dispense with pleasantries and unpleasantries as well....

Shuffle - after the jump

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - Grand Company Mix

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Introducing:  The E2TG Hall of Fame ----- Ta Da!

You may be asking, "WTF?" Basically, it comes down to this: My blogging consultant told me I need to start being more controversial to attract more readers to my site. Whenever, I see posts about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they always seem to attract highly opinionated comments. So, I thought if I came up with my own Hall of Fame, it might create controversy and angry comment wars which might "go viral" as the kids say.*

*All of the proceeding is true except for the following: I don't have a blogging consultant. I rarely read comment wars about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the only thing likely to "go viral" over here is an actual virus.

Really, I got to thinking about the artists I consider E2TG featured artist. When I began writing E2TG way back in the spring of 2011, I began naming a Band of the Week just about every week.  I did this for a about year, before switching to a featured artist designation - wherein I would name ten or so "featured artists" every month and put them in "heavy rotation" for the remainder of that month.  That carried on for just over six months. Since, then I keep featuring new music, but I haven't really been very organized about recognizing those bands.  So... I decided to take stock - at this random point in E2TG history and go back and formally recognize all of the bands that I consider part of the E2TG family.  To do so, I decided to use the TAG "cloud" on the sidebar and begin with the most tagged bands and work my way down.  So, for the near future, I am going to name three, two or one band every day to join the E2TG HofF.  It's a purely honorary title - as currently it does not come with a cash prize nor is there an actual Hall.

I am going to create and maintain a Sidebar linked Page for the Hall of Fame artists - with videos, songs, links, an on-going web-store and more.  It's still under construction, so will update when I have a Page set up. 

So without much more ado, E2TG is pleased to announce our inaugural class of Hall of Fame inductees:

 

 

 

 



1. THE END MEN from Brooklyn, NY

2.TACO LAND - from San Antonio, TX

3. SKELETONS IN THE PIANO from Saratoga Springs, NY

Stay tuned!  More to come.

Shuffle is up next

Friday Morning Music Explosion - Digging Underneath Mix

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So we made it through our holiday shortened workweek, and it's practically the weekend.  Let's celebrate with a virtual explosion of music ... after the JUMP

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Stupid Earphones Mix

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Well, another pair of cheap earphones has stopped working properly. blah.  I think I should start a earphone replacement paypal account or something.  You know like text "earphones" to 5555555 to donate $2.00 to the cause.

Whatever.... Hey, it's Friday, and our new friend Joey from newgazzi has just released newgazzi volume 7 - so check it out.

Let's get to the shuffle right now... (jump)

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Fox the Fox Mix

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Bloody hell, it's Thursday!

Greetings and Welcome to Ear to the Ground, where we listen to music and tell you about it. Then we let you listen, too.

We have a rather interesting mix of music today - so let's jump to it....


JUMP

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - On the Watch Mix

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Nice morning has turned into another dreary day here in Nashville.

Ear to the Ground has been featured by a cool music blog called newgazzi! Check it out.

Currently, the playlist from which the Shuffles are drawn is up over 300 songs.  Tons of new and new old music were added over the weekend, and more will be added soon.

Anyway, we have a great mix of songs - so let's JUMP to it...

Friday Morning Music Non-Shuffle - Lucky Dog Barking at a Jukebox Mix

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Well once again, fate, circumstance, procrastination and mysterious forces beyond my control or understanding have combined to lead me to this very point.... namely, as I've mentioned several times, I am way over due to for a wrap-up of April. As you may recall, at the end of March I did a big ole summary for the first three months on 2013, gave a shout out to old friends who made new music and welcomed a few new bands into the Ear to the Ground Family. I resolved at that time to try my best to do this same exercise monthly.

April was an amazing month for new music.  From our old friends, we covered new albums by Skeletons in the Piano, Taco Land, Killing Kuddles, The Danbury Lie, The Imperial Rooster and Black Jake and the Carnies.  - I've probably forgotten some, and if so, I sincerely apologize. 

Skeletons in the Piano  - Buy 

Taco Land - Buy

 

Killing Kuddles - Buy

 

The Danbury Lie - Buy

 

The Imperial Rooster -  Download


 

Black Jake and the Carnies - Buy


 

Now on to our new additions to the Ear to the Ground family (again family is my designation and no consent is required...)

After the JUMP, we get down to business with today's Mix (Unshuffled)

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - Crazy, Crazy World Mix

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We've reached the final day of April.  This month has flown by, but as I mentioned yesterday, it has also been jam packed with great music. We will be reformulating our current month playlist to prepare for May, and soon we'll be presenting a recap of April and adding some great artists to the Ear to the Ground "Family". In the meantime, we have some great music to present today.

Pre-Shuffle:  

1.  "The Blood Beyond" by Skeletons in the Piano from Please Don't Die - one of the albums we featured this month.
2. "Watch Who You're Calling Space Garbage Meteor Mouth" by Game Theory.  18 seconds of weirdness off the album Lolita Nation.
3. "High on the Skyline" by The New Mendicants from Australia 2013 E.P.  - Joe Pernice of the Pernice Brothers and Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub.  This is an amazingly lovely song.
4. "Free to Fly" by Markus Rill 
5. "In the Rain" by The Danbury Lie from ? (2013) - We love this band and their new record is strong in all the right ways.  Glad to feature another song as April comes to an end.
6. "Dripping With Looks" by Game Theory - a slightly longer song from the Lolita Nation album.  Happy to close out the month with a few more Game Theory songs.


Let's dive into our final shuffle of April 2013 after the jump:

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Firehouse Mix

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Time is short and we have some great music to cover in today's pre-shuffle and shuffle.  Let's get to it.

Pre-Shuffle:

"Odd Fellows Local 151" by R.E.M.
"A Good Man Knows" by Black Jake and the Carnies (the song from their new EP we didn't get to yesterday!) 
"Digging Underneath the House" by Skeletons in the Piano
 "Machine Gun" by Taco Land

Shuffle awaits you after the JUMP

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - Fingernails and Cigarettes Mix

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We're back.  Sorry for the lack of Shuffle action yesterday - it could not be helped...


Yesterday, the music world lost two greats... Chrissy Amphlett of Divinyls and the legendary Richie Havens.

 

Last week, we learned of the passing of Scott Miller (Game Theory and The Loud Family).  If you are not familiar with the music of these two great, but underknown bands, now would be a great time to rectify that situation.

The family has released all of the Game Theory albums for free download at The Loud Family Website.   We have added the entire Game Theory collection into our current batch of songs from which we shuffle.  We will keep the songs up for the rest of the month in tribute to Scott Miller, and then will likely keep some of them up just because they are awesome.  We'll be getting some Loud Family added to the mix soon, too.

Let's get right to the Pre-Shuffle which includes two Game Theory songs:

"Ray Wilkins, 1996" by The Lucky Jukebox Brigade

"Little Ivory" by Game Theory

"Finest Worksong" by R.E.M.

"Together Now, Very Minor" by Game Theory

"Eleanor Rigby" by Skeletons in the Piano (covering some lads from Liverpool)

Shuffle - after we JUMP!

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - What's So Funny? Mix

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Okay, Okay... I have to start off by setting some things straight.  In my haste to complete the post yesterday some errors, omissions and general crap occurred. 

1. I am well aware that Slim Dunlap replaced Bob Stinson not Tommy Stinson in The Replacements as I originally wrote. This faux pas has since been corrected. Doh!
2. I kind of blew by some important information regarding the Songs for Slim benefit project.  First that The Replacements contribution is just part of a massive project.  Second, that limited edition vinyl presses of the who project are being sold. Here is a link to the Facebook page for the project.  This is a very worthy cause.  I was extremely fortunate to have been Slim with The Replacements  (including Tommy - see I told you I knew that) back in the day at an epic show at the Armory in Nashville. 
3. I neglected to post the You Tube Playlist for yesterday.  Here it is:
4.  I reported that an arrest had been made in the Lincoln assassination. It turned out that an arrest had been made in the Boston bombing, but then it turned out that this wasn't the case either.
5. I posted the Grimey's Record Store Day performance schedule, but failed to highlight a few cool things.  First that Paramore are performing, second that Pujol is coming back for the second year in a row and third that there will be a middle school orchestra performing selections from Beck's Song Reader album of sheet music.  Not to mention Josh Rouse, Hotpipes, The Features! and much more.
6. I have to retract a statement I made about a Nigerian Prince underwriting Ear to the Ground.  Apparently, that deal fell through.
7. Finally, I have to apologize for my statement that if Anne Frank were alive today, she would be a fan of Ear to the Ground.  Turns out that if she were alive today, she would be about 84 years old and well below the target demographic of Ear to the Ground (we are geared primarily to nonagenarians and centenarians).
 

Enough, on to today's mistakes...

 Pre-Shuffle:  Joni Mitchell - "Case of You", The Mohawk Lodge - "1000 Violins", April Verch - "Headin' Up to the Pike/ Jimmy Got a Lizard/ Farewell to Tryon", New Madrid - "Juniper", Killing Kuddles - "Dropped the Pop".

 

Shuffle after the JUMP:

 

Thursday Morning Music Non-Shuffle - Please Don't Die Mix

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Please Don't Die is the title of the forthcoming new album by Saratoga Springs, New York band and 2012 Band of the Year (as voted by Readers of Ear to the Ground).  The Digital Deluxe edition goes on sale on Record Store Day (Saturday April 20, 2013).  That same day, you can pre-order the 180-gram vinyl record. The record is the band's first since signing with Magnetic Eye Records.

My Non-Shuffle reflection/insight/review (if you will) of this record begins after the forth-coming JUMP

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - Let's Make History Mix

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Well, it seems like I actually made progress last week - presenting more tracks on the blog than I added to the Playlist.  Then, this weekend came along...  There is a seemingly endless amount of really good to great music out there, and the list keeps growing.

Meanwhile, my album review to do list keep growing, while the free time seems to dwindle. So, I'll keep at it... 

 The Pre-Shuffle included another track from the minuteflag EP.  "Candy Rush" is a wild jazzy, punk rock jam of an instrumental.  We followed that with some more great bluesy folk pop from our friends Val and James who record as You and Me - this time we heard "Today is Gonna Be a Better Day".  NOSE! demonstrating the timeless art of "Hamboning".  We heard a classic.  Harry James and His Orchestra doing "Blues" from An American in Paris composed by - you guessed it - George Gershwin. We closed out the Pre-Shuffle with all 10 minutes of "Go Girls (Complete)" from the Go Girl album by Dog Without Warning.

 Shuffle comes up right after the jump.... JUMP!

Ear to the Ground Presents: A Heapin' Helpin' of Music News

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While we were busy writing and posting our 4-part review of  the new album by  The End Men and then being sick, a whole bunch of stuff has been happening musically from some old and new friends of ours.  Some of this "news" is no longer new, but in case you've missed it here is a quick survey of what's been hitting our News feeds, In-Box and how ever else we've heard about this stuff. News after the jump:

Band of the Year is....

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Full recap tomorrow, but congratulations to....

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Monday Morning Music Shuffle - Stereotypically Stereotyping Mix

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I try hard not to stereotype and I also try not to fall back on tired old clichés... however, then it comes to be a Monday Morning and it's raining and the car won't start, and I find myself understanding why people strereotype Mondays as bad and begin to hear in my head, that song about rainy days and Mondays....

We are back.  Friday didn't go as planned, and we didn't have a shuffle.  I can't believe we are already to the 10th of December.  I have to say, I am going to have to say no to any new major undertakings until after the first of the year.  The exception, obviously, is the 2nd Annual Band of the Year Poll.  We are hard at work rounding out the last couple of "wildcard" spots - and the poll should be open to receive votes by the end of this week.  As way of a preview, today's Shuffle comes from a playlist I'm creating with all of our Band of the Year candidates.  Shuffle after the jump...


2012 has been a big year for our friends The Dead Exs.  They released a fabulous new album called Relovolution and spent part of the fall playing some shows in the Longhorn State including some dates with the legendary Ray Wylie Hubbard.  Today we have the cautionary song Don't Mess With The Girl from Texas from the new record.  Let's hope The Dead Exs took their own advice.  The Dead Exs finished a close second in the Band of the Month poll for December 2011 (which we rolled into 2012), and they were an easy pick for a wildcard spot in the BOTY poll.

     

The California band Sci-Fi Romance also had a big 2012 and they, too fell just short in their BOTM competition in May.  The band released their ambitious and awesome album The Ghost of John Henry in May. From that record, which is a retelling of the story of the steel driver facing the possibility of obsolescence at the hands of modern machinery, comes the heartbreaking Steam Drill Blues.

 

Here is a CXCW performance of another track from The Ghost of John Henry

 

The Great American Novel are a great American band and Kissing is a great American record and by the way American Weekend is - you guessed it - a great American song.  The band ended up as co-Band of the Month is September when voting ended in a tie.  

 
We have a video of a different song from Kissing.

The upstate New York band Skeletons in the Piano were our Band of the Month in June and they currently have a Kickstarter deal going to get support for pressing vinyl for their forth-coming album.  Check out that information here.  Only a few hours to go and they are on the cusp of reaching their goal.  You could put them over the top.  In the shuffle we have the lead track from the band's 2011 album Stranger on a Damned Staircase. The song is called The Old Hound Dog.

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Band of the Month is....

It was another epic battle... but in the end,  Skeletons in the Piano prevailed!  We offer a hearty cheer to Killing Kuddles for a well fought battle, and I suspect we'll see this and other great battles played out again in  our Band of the Year competition.  And please remember to support all of our Featured Artists.  You can get more information about all of the Featured Artists using the link on the right.


But, tonight, all the kudos go to our friends from Saratoga Springs, New York.  Here's a video and a link to their Website.

Stay tuned for a fresh set of Featured Artists for the new month of July!