Topical Thursday Morning Shuffle - Monkey Cola Mix

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Okay... a lot on my mind... the situation in Houston and surrounding areas is still weighing heavy on my mind. And I need to focus my mind more on the ways people are pulling together rather than the people who are tearing us apart.

Meanwhile, the storm itself is heading in our direction - tornado warnings are popping up to the west of Nashville, and heavy, heavy rain is expected over the next day or so. Nothing like what Houston got, but a lot of rain nonetheless.

I did make it to The 5 Spot last night and caught Lottie, the always awesome Levi Parham, and Flying Buffaloes.  You may recall we premiered their single "Hey ;-) is for Horses" a little while back. This was my first chance to see them live, and they were great.  Props to AGD for putting on a great show and getting a young crowd to an early show at The 5 Spot (I probably bumped the average age up by a good decade or so :-) )

It is Thursday, and as is our want, we offer up "Topical Thursday" and the topic of choice is E2TG - the first six years.  A retrospective look at some of the bands/artists we have written about over the life of this blog...

Shuffle up now!

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - Burn Thru Mix

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We are back after an extended holiday break... hope everyone is well..  I am short on time today, so let's jump into the shuffle...

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Wild Winnebago Mix

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Had a good time at The Western Shore CD Release party thing last night.  Charlie and Kalee sounded great, the right-wrong Isaac was awesome, and it is always a great joy to see and hear Aaron Lee Tasjan. 

Well, we made it to Friday, and I think I am still breathing, so that has to be a good sign.

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle - Turtles, Roses, and Kisses Mix

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I failed to post a shuffle yesterday - I listened to a shuffle and it was a good one, but time didn't allow me to post - so the songs go back into the hopper and will come out in some other interesting combination.

Truth be told - life is unpredictable and pretty darn right amazing when you stop to pay attention to the seemingly random occurrences which are going on around you every day. Truth be told - I would never have placed my self voluntarily in the situation in which I currently find myself, but since I'm here... I have to say.... I'm right in the place that I am supposed to be...

A pretty sweet evening/night of music on both side of the river in Nashville on a Tuesday in October.  Saw a song swap featuring two of my musical heroes from my college days - Bill Lloyd and Webb Wilder along with the always amazing Tim Carroll.

Crossed the river for some Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie and a Pint of fine beer to check out some amazing music including: Drew Kohl, Julie Christensen and her band, and the Dan Montgomery Band.


Let's do this shuffle thing - okay?

Tuesday Afternoon Music Shuffle - Faraway Beach Mix

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Weird morning, got stuck in traffic so my Morning Shuffle would have been about 24 songs.  So, I did an afternoon shuffle instead.  The morning shuffle would have been epic, but I don't have time or energy to do it justice.

Here we go....

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - High Hopes Mix

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FALL IS HERE!  Not only that, there was an honest to goodness chill in the air this morning.  Now, I've lived in Tennessee my whole like, so I know that we still have a few more rounds of heat to go, but today it is officially Autumn, and it feels like it so...

MUSIC

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Seems Like Incongruity Mix

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So, I've been thinking a lot about the concept of incongruity, and I have this theory that incongruity is a concept made up by those who cannot or will not see that everything and everyone is connected.  And that what we experience as an incongruity means that we cannot presently see the way things are connected.  Sometimes, it helps me to think that I am the one thing that connects these seemingly incongruous things.  Hint: that thought though helpful is not the truth.

Keep this in mind (or don't) as you experience today's shuffle

Monday Morning (and Evening) Music Shuffle - Two Saints Mix

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Well, it's late for the shuffle, but circumstance kept me from posting.  As compensation, I extended the shuffle which means tons of music and just a bit of my celebrated wisdom.  That last line is ego disguised as wry humility cleverly cloaked in a veneer of ego.

In case you missed it, the Ear to the Ground review of Darrin Bradbury's Motel Oatmeal was featured for a time on the front page of No Depression - the preeminent Americana magazine/website,

The review is still a featured review, and you can read it here.


Now, we have a ton of music to get to....

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Monsterdogs and Zen Koans Mix

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One thing I take pride in with E2TG is the diversity of music that I'm willing to include in my mix.  Frankly, as much as I love Americana and as much as Americana is a pretty wide ranging "genre" of music, sometimes I need some metal, some punk, some music from far corners of the world, some experimental crazy stuff, some classical...

I need to give a shoutout to my friends from Valued Customer who has done more than their fair share in expanding my mind and my musical knowledge beyond all constraints.  They have a blog of their own called P E A C E F O R K which explores some less travelled (but supremely awesome spokes in the complex web of musical styles and influences.  Some of the music they've been posting should be showing up here soon, and I can't wait to share it.

While I've got your attention - I direct you to Valued Customer's masterpiece Kalpa which can be yours if the price is right (or wrong).



On to the shuffle for today....

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Adjustable Rod Mix

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Not much pre-shuffle commentary today.  It is Friday ahead of a three day weekend here in the States, and this is the last Morning Shuffle of August. We have some real gems in the shuffle today, so let's do it!

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle - Bad Voodoo Mix

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Casual readers may not know this, but although I was born in Tennessee, my parents were both born in Louisiana, and I still have some deep roots in that state.  There is quite a bit of Louisiana in today's shuffle by some twist of fortune/juju...

My phone did feel heavier this morning - probably due to the nearly 100 songs I added to the current playlist.  How much does an MP3 file weigh anyway?

Ah- let's jump into it...

Music on my Mind - maybe a #tbt post????

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The other day, I posted a rag tag collection of music called Fine, Fine Music.  I kind of liked that so I decided to do it again. Song sometimes enter my head - either through hearing an old song on the radio, reading a mention, or just a random, unexplained earworm.  Over the past few days, I have been collecting some of these as they pass through, and I created the video playlist which will be posted below.

I was going to just post without comment, but well, you know me (or you don't...) so... just quick, self-indulgent observations:

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Shoot Out the Lights 2013 Mix

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Bang! And with this post, #E2TG closes the door on our extended recap of some of our favorite music of the past 12 months.  The Video Playlist ends up at just over 100 videos. Our Amazon Web Store comes in at 54 items.

Monday - we jump right into 2014 and hit the ground running....

Further ado avoided...

Monday Morning Music Shuffle - A Few of My Favorite Things 2013 Mix - Pt. One

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It's here... time to begin our look back at the year which was 2013.  In true E2TG style, for the remainder of 2013 we will shuffling up a special playlist which includes some of our favorite songs from the past year.  I'll let the song speak for themselves, but we will be highlighting some of our favorite E2TG related albums of the year as we move along.

About Band of the Year.  After two successful Band of the Year polls (by page view numbers, Band of the Year and Band of the Month polls dominate our statistics page for most viewed), so it is only after careful consideration that I've decided to forgo the Band of the Year poll for 2013.  Basically, it comes down to the fact that I would rather see independent bands cooperating and collaborating than competing.  We had some memorably good fun with some of our polls - especially the first annual Band of the Year poll and the legendary February 2012 Band of the Month poll that came down to a dogfight between MAKAR and The End Men.  As time went by, and I began featuring more and more bands, the idea no longer seemed to be in the spirit of this site.  

I will be naming the third annual Band of the Year within the next couple of weeks.  Meanwhile, enjoy yourself as we relive this year that almost was.  If you feel so inclined, share some of these posts with your friends near and far.


Before we jump into the first of our Favorites' shuffles for 2013, I need to rectify something....


#E2TG Hall of Fame (Notable Omissions):

More names will be added to the Hall of Fame in early 2014 - and my progress on the completion of the Hall of Fame page has hit some unexpected delays, but I've became increasingly uncomfortable knowing that two of my favorite E2TG artists have not been added to the Hall as of yet. 

1.  Ubiquity Machine/Howard Rabach  - In using the tagging feature to determine our Hall of Fame, one thing I failed to take into account were the many fine bands/artists you came to prominence in the months when E2TG was still housed on the now defunct Posterous site.  Howard Rabach was one of the first readers of the blog to step out of the shadows.  His band, Ubiquity Machine, was one of our early Bands of the Week. The band finished second in our first annual Band of the Year poll, and he has remained a good friend of Ear to the Ground ever since.  UM has been kind of dormant of late, as Howard has been doing some freelance stuff.  Check out his Facebook page here. So it is with great pleasure, that I usher in UM/HR to a spot of honor in our Hall of Fame.



2. The Grimm Generation - Another thing I failed to take into account in my tagging system of Hall of Fame eligibility is the variant tagging which sometimes occurs. Blogger places a 200 character limit on tagging so sometimes I have to shorten band names - like leaving the "The" off.  That is the only explanation I have for The Grimm Generation not being in our top 20 tagged artists. Still this unique and frankly awesome collective from Connecticut (headed up by the amazing Jason Krug and Carmen Champagne), are well deserving of a prime spot in our Hall of Fame.  Hell their latest album, The Big Fame even has "fame" in the title. They have consistently made music which I love and which seems timeless in its wonderfulness.



Now... let the 2013 Shuffles begin

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - Pocket Change Mix

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So... Let's see... I added 76 more songs to the active playlist last night.  That is over 350 songs added in the last two weeks.  Last nights additions included 1 direct artist contact, 3 from publicists, a couple of albums from Noisetrade, and some randomness from Freegal.  Let's get to today's shuffle

E2TG Presents: The Grimm Generation - The Big Fame - Review Vol. 2

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For Vol. 1 of this review -   GO HERE

 

 



For Vol 2. - Jump with me

E2TG Presents: The Grimm Generation - The Big Fame - Review Vol. 1

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"Great Rock and Roll record define the time they were made. Welcome to 2013."

 

 

 

I can't remember when I first came across the music of The Grimm Generation. I think maybe another band I follow mentioned them.  I do remember hearing "Sometimes I Subtle (Sometimes I'm Drunk), and I remember thinking, "Wow, this is music everyone should hear", and at  the same time thinking, "I feel like I already know this music.".  I later had the opportunity to do a brief e-mail interview with the band, and it began to make sense.

 

You see, and what has recently begun to gel in my mind is that The Grimm Generation make the music I would make if I made music (and if I was talented).  We come from the same place age and influence-wise (and perhaps experience-wise as well), and so - although I do like have very diverse tastes in music - The Grimm Generation manages to hit all the right spots in my psyche, and thus, as word began to build about a new album I couldn't help but be excited.

A Rare Stream of Madness Post 2012 in Review (or something)

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Well, well, well - 2012 is winding down.  A lot a of people are putting out Best of Posts and I have the Band of the Year thing - but that's for my readers to decide.  Rather than some neatly organized recap or whatever of 2012 in Music, I thought I would indulge in something I don't get to do very often and that is just write out my random thoughts as they occur to me.  I may supplement with some videos or other linkage, but for the most part this will just be my thoughts for whatever that is worth.


By my estimation, 2012 has been a great year for music. Chances are, you will hear someone name some random disposable pop stars of the moment as an argument that "music sucks these days" and then name from great artists/albums from the past and say, "music was better in the 60s/70s/80s/90s/2000s/2011"  The thing is, you can always make that argument and quite a few people always do.  Every year, the most mundane/crappy pop music of the day does not compare favorable to the classic/legends of the past - so it is in 2012 and so it will be ever after.

2012 was a great year for music because I say so. Not that my say so is that important, but it is for me.  Tons of great music have some through various media and into my ears.  Some of the best of 2012 include Anais Mitchell's Young Man in America, Bob Dylan's Tempest, Leonard Cohen's Old Ideas, Justin Townes Earle's Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now, Jack White's Blundebuss, Mumford and Sons' Babel, and so many more...

Our friends' The Dead Exs started a Relovolution. 

We met and fell in love with tons of great new artists. In addition to those in our Band of Year poll, we also discovered some great music from all over the world including: Cosmonauts, The Danbury Lie, Shelly Colvin, Brennen Leigh, The Grimm Generation, The Amboys, The Dogs of Oz, Christopher Paul Stelling, Citizen Smith, Aoede, Cupla and again so many more.  Finding great new music was not our challenge in 2012. Finding the time to post it all was our challenge.  While you are here - explore the site.  Over on the right side bar, down the page a little, is a list of tags from the most used to the least used.  Check out our posts about some of these bands listed above or about of the other music.

In addition to the new stuff, we remain conscious of the fact that was obsessed with music as we are, there is tons of older music which has slipped past us, and when we "discover" some great old music, we aren't ashamed to present it to you and admit that we missed out on the music the first time.

We also like to feature music which shaped our lives.  So, we can discover/ or rediscover the music of our youth and young adult lives. 

For Ear to the Ground, we are completing our first full year of blogging (we started in May 2011).  We outgrew the Band of the Week format, we introduced the Featured Artists of the Month, as always our signature feature is our Morning Music Shuffle. We released our first ever down compilation (on Record Store Day) which featured several of our favorite artists.

In 2013, we have big things on tap. Expect a volume 2 of our Compilation album. We anticipate new music and a Nashville tour stop by our friends The End Men, we are exploring options for moving our blog to our own Domain, we look forward to presenting tons of great new music and continuing to find exciting ways to bring the music to you.  

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The Grimm Generation - The Ear 2 the Ground Interview

It's not secret that I love music.  Honest - it's not a secret - ask anyone.  And, it's part of my nature to constantly seek out new music.  I don't just do it because of this blog - this just gives me a more legitimate excuse for doing so (as if I need an excuse - legitimate or not).  I make presenting and featuring new music an important part of what we do here.  You also may know that I have pretty eclectic taste in music. Jazz, Punk, Experimental Hip-Hop, Americana, Alt-Rock, Alt-Country, Alt-Pop-Folk, Acoustic Baroque Dubsteppy Metal - I don't care what you call it - if it's got a good beat and I can dance to it, I'll give it an '8'!

What was I talking about... oh yeah, Music - good music.  I've tried from the start to keep the energy positive. If I like it, I'll write about it; if I don't, I probably won't.

Now, that being said - out of all the music I've "discovered" in course of writing this silly blog - the number of times I've been blown out of the water by a band or song or record has been very low. By blown out of the water - I'm talking about being bowled over - on the spot.  Love at first thing: The Music Edition. I am not going to attempt to name those few bands for one because I'll leave somebody off and two because... just because...

Bottom line here people is that The Grimm Generation was one of those handful of bands that rocked my world and didn't even buy me dinner first. But, now I'm hooked and they can't shake me off - like that person you met at a dark bar and...well you see where I'm going with this.

In an earlier post, I said something to the effect that The GG make music that sounds like it has always existed. They make unabashedly great music.  Every time, I hear The Grimm Generation, I find myself thinking - why doesn't everybody in the world know about this.  And then I blame myself, and say I could've done more!  So I find an excuse to write more.  If asked why I love this band so much, I would not have been able to say for sure, but recently, I had a chance to "talk" via good old fashioned e-mai to Jason and Carmen of The Grimm Generation and as you will see, everything became crystal clear...








E2TG: How long has The Grimm Generation existed and what has changed since the early days of the band?
THE GRIMM GENERATION: The Grimm Generation formed in 2010 based on the post-divorce transcripts, hang ups and habits that we each brought to the online dating table where we first met in 2007. It started off the two of us trading stories and then singing them. And we’ve grown a sound now that serves the songs, with a band who bring colors in we never considered . We still write too much and release online too easily, but we seem to be getting heard.
 
E: Why The Grimm Generation?

GG: We felt we grew up at a strange age in time: post Free Love and firmly ensconced when Reagan was in the white house. Our older kin was squarely in the 70s drug culture and we got 'just say no'. We felt gypped and decided to sing about it. Which is why so much of our material is based on the consequences of 'kicks'. We are boho hedonists, but can't help but feel guilty about it. We self-titled the age group The Grimm Generation, reflecting on how 'we believe in fairy tales and we believe in nothing at all'.
 
E: What do you like best about being in a band?

GG:Starting something in the kitchen that ends up on the stage. Watching the songs flourish with the additional instruments and the way they make the song shine.

E: What do you dislike the most?
 
GG: The pay.


E: How does the songwriting process work for the band?

Carmen Champagne: All songs are written by both Jason and I. We pick through the best of them and send to Lys (guitars, banjo, bells, lapsteel, mandola), Eric (bass) and Julie (cello). And then, magic. We met everyone online or at gigs, so we didn't have a long history with the band, but what they bring is the sound we needed, turning our acoustic threats into fully arranged promises. 


E: Your latest release is called Coming Home, how did that come about?

C C: Jason played with Adam Hagymasi in The Citizen Spy and kept in touch. Adam was a crazy-good guitar player. Adam offered to have us out to his place in Collinsville to record a couple songs. We jumped at the chance.
The songs were two new songs (Blink, Im Gone and Your Body Betrays You) we wrote and three old ones we loved and never had a chance to record. We went to Adam’s a couple of nights and recorded basic guitar and vocals to drum clicks and let Adam have at it. He created five beautiful pieces of work. Sound, stylistically, hitting upon different moods. Very Grimm mood music.

E: Any big plans for 2013?

GG: Recording the new CD is what we’re all about for 2013. We tend to turn gigs into themed events and we have a couple of those coming up as well. We try to make everything we do fun for us and hopefully that joy translates. So far, so good.

Shifting gears:

E: What is the first music you can remember hearing?

C C: AM pop/rock mixed in with the Morning Voice of WTIC and French Canadian pop tunes playing on my parents stereo.

Jason Klug: For me it’s my older sister play Black Sabbath 'Volume 4' and Deep Purple 'Machine Head' while I played with the album covers.

E: When do you begin making music?

J K: I wrote my first song at 13 and did my first gig at 15 at a local teen center. I eventually learned to play some guitar and started writing solo around 18.

C C: When I met JPK.

E: Was there a moment, when you thought, this is it - this is what I'm meant to do?

GG: When we first got together, it was just one guitar and two singers writing something, hopefully meaningful…and kind of catchy. We love these songs like our dumb, errant children and as we meet people and play with them, the songs grow and learn to walk on their own. We thought (and maybe sometimes still think) our stuff is a little outside for rock. But when the songs hit people, lyrically, it gets meaningful.

E: Did you get much encouragement when you began playing music? Any discouragement?

GG: Liquid courage but no encouragement.

E: What music is in the Grimm Generation record machine these days?

GG: Well, the Grimm Generation, lol! But we also are digging The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Mountain Goats 'All Hail West Texas'. Also a lot of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone and M Ward.

E: Any music that you really dig that would surprise the casual observer of the band?

GG: Jason’s a big Belle and Sebastian fan. We both listen to a lot of Prince. Carmen enjoys some Goth industrial from time to time. We tend to wear our influences on our sleeve, like Morphine and Elvis Costello.

E: Social Media and other technology has changed the way music is made and distributed. This can be a good thing or a bad thing? Do you think the bad out weighs good or vice-verse?

GG: In our case, the internet has been good to us. It gave us the opportunity to present what we do without going through traditional channels. We adapted to what would ever get our songs heard. We met most of our band through social media. The internet has been good to us.

E: All things being equal and time and monetary restrictions aside, do you see The GG releasing tons of music in a short time or releasing less music to focus more on each song.

GG: The answer is always releasing tons of music in a short time. We’ve got words We are spazzes. It’s a core Grimm element.

E: If you could pull any band from any time to see play live, which band and from which part of their timeline would you choose? Not thinking in particular about an historic show but more a hypothetical scenario?

C C: Queen, 1977. One of my biggest regrets is not having been able to experience the super showmanship of Freddy Mercury live.

J K: Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Imperial Bedroom Tour...to me, Elvis and The Attractions were the hottest, ballsiest, smartest and most emotionally effective of rock bands.

Tuesday Morning Music Shuffle - Honest to Goodness Mix

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Well, well, well... it's finally here.  I hope you vote if you are able. I hope you take the time to read about the candidates and issues - read a variety of sources.  If you do that and you reach a different conclusion than I do, then I'm okay with that.  

Remember if you don't vote you can't complain... actually, I've always hated that expression... The truth is if you don't vote, you can complain, but then you should feel guilty about it.

Whatever, we have some music to lighten your load...


Recent Featured Artists and our good friends, The Grimm Generation are back with there follow-up to The Last Record Party.  Coming Home shows a band just beginning to hit their stride, and it's a damn fine stride, too.  Check out today's song, Come to Me.

 

Don't have a video for Come to Me, but here's the lead-off song from the new record. It's called Blink I'm Gone.

Next up, we have an encore presentation of the rockin' Avenue H from Vulture Kult from their release, Don't Let Rock n' Roll Ruin Your Life.

Here's another song from the new record.

Diana Lawrence is one of our Featured Artists for November/December.  She earned that distinction with her beautiful melodies, tremendous pop/folk sense and her inspiring lyrics. We have another track from her fine To: Aging Children EP which was released back in August.

 
 Here's Diana from July playing with the equally awesome Phoebe Hunt.

The Lords of the New Church formed in 1982 by former Dead Boy - Stiv Bators who died in 1990, Brian James of The Damned, Dave Tregunna of Sham 69 and Nick Turner of The Barracudas.  Today we have a song taken from a compilation put out by Easy Action records called The Fabulous Rachel Moss Album.  This is a previously unreleased track called Gun Called Justice V.2.

 
Here's the band from a 1988 show doing Gun Called Justice

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