E2TG 3/05/2021 - Featured Friday - For My Health Mix (Better Way Remix)

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ICYMI - Earlier today, we premiered and featured the new video and single from Dolour.  You can chek it out, HERE. 

It is time for a new Featured Friday Playlist (which you can stream and "Follow" below and we begin our week-long recap with the first ten songs down below the jump. 

    Featured Friday Playlist

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - Slow Bar Mix

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Added tons of music to the lineup - so stayed tuned.  

Let's get to the Shuffle - after the jump:

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Last Hurrah? Mix

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Well, it's Friday again, and we've reached what will likely be the final Morning Shuffle of 2012.  As I mentioned yesterday, I loaded up my new memory card with a random sampling of my digital music collection.  I left some space for all of the great new music to come in 2013.  

UPDATE on Band of the Year Voting:  As of the time I am writing this post, we've had in the neighborhood of 1750 votes.  Brooklyn based The Disappointment are holding a 5% point leave over Skeletons in the Piano who are from Upstate New York.  Currently, New York band The Great American Novel are running third.  You've got a couple more days to vote. Voting will end just before Midnight (Central Time) on Sunday December 30.  Also, we need about 200 more votes to surpass our total vote count for last years inaugural Band of the Year poll.  So keep the votes coming.  Here is where to vote:  CLICK HERE

Now for the shuffle which is pretty mind-blowingly eclectic and includes some songs I probably heard for the first time today.  After the JUMP!

Steve Almaas - Trailer Songs

Trailer Songs is the brand, spanking new album by Steve Almaas.  It was almost a year ago to the day that we first told you about this album, and it is finally here.

This will not be a review, because I have only had time to preview some of the songs, but it sounds like vintage Steve Almaas.  For the uninitiated, Steve Almaas is a veteran musician who is originally from Minneapolis where he was a founding member of the legendary punk band Suicide Commandos.  Later he released a solo EP called Beat Rodeo which he made with Richard Barone of the Bongos and Mitch Easter of Let's Active.  

He then formed a band named after his EP.  Beat Rodeo were signed to IRS Records. They put out a couple of great records: Staying Out Late With Beat Rodeo which was produced by Don Dixon and Home in the Heart of the Beat which was produced by Scott Litt.

Trailer Songs was recorded in two Airstream trailers in the Catskill Mountains of New York.  This time around he worked with a variety of musicians such as The Elegant Too (guitarist Chris Maxwell and drummer Phil Hernandez), Mark Sidgwick, Ambrosia Parsley, Mitch Easter, Marcellus Hall and Peter Holsapple (the Dbs).

The album cover above will take you to Amazon.com where you can download the album for just $8.99.  Great music from a great guy.  Give a listen and show some love!

Ticking in my head....

 

At the time I am writing this there are less than 27 hours to go.  To date, over 1,500 votes have been cast.  Today has been the heaviest voting day since the poll began, and this has resulted in a dramatic shift in the leader board.


Please note:  the U.N. Election monitors have failed to show, so everyone is encouraged to vote as often as you like.


More importantly (to me), please check out all 27 of the bands and artists.  In my opinion, all of the bands are great.  The run a pretty mind-blowing gamut from Indie Folk Pop to Punk/Metal to Cello Folk Rock to pure Alternative (whatever that means).....  So......  yeah.... vote and vote and vote!

Steve Almaas - Ear to the Ground's 7 Questions

Steve Almaas is cool.  He is in the Minneapolis band Suicide Commandos.  Worked with Richard Barone with The Bongos - made a killer solo EP - Beat Rodeo which was produced by Barone, Almaas and Mitch Easter at Easter Chapel Hill studio - visual vinyl evidence above.  Then he formed a band which was named for the EP.  Beat Rodeo produced two albums for IRS Records.


Below is a new track called Your Life to Live via Soundcloud.


Your Life To Live by Steve Almaas



Recently Steve Almaas sat down with Ear to the Ground* to help us launch a new feature called Ear to Ground's 7 Questions.  

1. What is the first music you can consciously remember hearing?

Jud is dead from the movie Oklahoma. Scared the piss out of me...

2. What was the first music that really caught your attention (if different than 1.)?

Beatles on Ed Sullivan

3. When did you first begin playing music?

Piano lessons from my mom in 2nd grade.

4. Biggest thrill as a musician?

Many thrills, but one big one was playing a show with Townes Van Zandt in Berlin and then hanging out with him for the next few days.

5. What music is currently at the top of your play list?

The new Nick Lowe album. He's no dinky do....

6. Any music you like which might be a surprise to the casual observer? 

I have an inexplicable fondness for Lambada... 

7. If you could see any band or artist live at any point in their career, who and at what point would you want to see?

I would love to have been a fly on the wall when Louis Armstrong cut Blue Yodel #9 with Jimmie Rodgers

*Disclaimer: Although technically speaking Mr. Almaas did not sit down WITH Ear to the Ground, we were in fact sitting when we typed the questions and one can assume that there is a reasonable chance he was sitting down when he answered the questions. So there.