Tuesday Afternoon Spotify Shuffle - E2TG Anniversary Mix

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TOMORROW NIGHT!  DON'T MISS THE E2TG 5TH ANNIVERSARY EXTRAVAGANZA!!!!!


First of all... I am devastated by the loss of Guy Clark.  One of the best songwriters ever and an inspiration to so many of my favorite writers... Rest in Peace...

Well, I've been on the road, so I have not had time to post any shuffles during this anniversary week.  But, I am back home.  I have created an E2TG Playlist on Spotify which I will be using for the between act music tomorrow night. Representing a good cross-section of music I have featured on E2TG over the last 5 Years.

I decided to preview the playlist and of course I hit shuffle and these are the songs that come up...

See you (in person or in spirit tomorrow night!)

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 - 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-

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Scary (Good) Mix

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Happy Halloween!

First off - we have a treat!  How about the brand new video of a song we presented a week or so ago.  Our friends Those Mockingbirds released the song "How to Rob a Bank" back on the 22nd of October.  Now they have an instructional video.  An Official Video anyway... Here it is!



I never quite have it together enough for a holiday-themed shuffle... but today, the Randomizer came up with alien arachnids, electrical discharges, monks, extinct birds, and puppets.  Which can create some pretty frightening images if you use your imagination.

Jump to see what I am rattling on about... if you dare... bwahahahahaha!

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Blue Line Mix

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Some how the release of the new Those Mockingbirds single - "How to Rob a Bank" got past me.  The single is out and it rocks every bit as hard as one would expect from Those Mockingbirds. If you don't know what to expect from Those Mockingbirds, expect THE ROCK.  Seriously. But, now that the song is out there is no need to take my word for it.  Unless you need the validation of a high profile taste-maker - in which case, you have come to the right place. ;-) 

 

Give it a listen:

 

Stream at Soundcloud

 

Buy via iTunes

 

Here is a live performance captured on video

 

 

 

Now, we have a cool shuffle - so let's get to it!

 

After the break

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle - Bank Robbery Mix

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So - I just received word that Those Mockingbirds will be releasing the first official single from their highly anticipated new album on October 22.  It's called "How to Rob a Bank" and we have the cover artwork post above. The cover art was hand-drawn by Bella Agnello who happens to be the 7 year old daughter of legendary producer John Agnello who was worked with Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile and more.  I would hit up Those Mockingbirds on FACEBOOK so you don't miss out.

What some of you may not realize, is that I give a ton of credit to Those Mockingbirds for the success of Ear to the Ground.  Here's why.  I started Ear to the Ground in May 2011 without a clue or a direction.  Over the course of the remainder of that year, I began to find my voice. Late in the year, I came across Those Mockingbirds via a Twitter follow (I think and choose to believe). I quickly became enamored with their melodic hard alt rock sound. I named them my Band of the Week.

Shortly after that, I received a contact from Don Ryan who was and I suppose still is friends with the band, his video This Town still ranks among my all time favorites. Around this time, I met venerable NJ music blogger and raconteur Popa Tunes who turned me on to Dead Exs, The End Men and so many more.  Through The End Men, I met Gypsy West and Chris Peck's band The Disappointment. Through Don Ryan, I met The Danbury Lie. Somehow, in all that, I met Skeletons in the Piano who ended up being our Band of the Year for 2012...  And in all that, I became the number one ranked Tennessee Based Music Blogger Who Mostly Blogs About Bands from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut  (an albeit lightly populated category).  Of course, I've diversified since them, and I've even been known to write about Nashville and Tennessee  bands on occasion.

My point being, Those Mockingbirds play a vital role in shaping this blog which all of you have come to know and love.  By the way, the mockingbird is the State Bird of Tennessee. Coincidence? You be the judge.

Ahem.... now that I've made this post all about me, I will turn it around and implore you to grab the new Those Mockingbird single on October 22 and keep your ear to the ground for impending details on the full album.

Today's shuffle is after the JUMP

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Wind Blown Mix

By the way, it's not windy here today - just a random bit of words floating through my brain.

It looks like our friends, Those Mockingbirds ended the contest in 1st place!  As I  understand it, the final decision is now in the hands of the movie's producers. I still don't understand completely what happens now, but when I know you will know.


Let's go... it's Friday before a long holiday weekend here in the States, and I am expecting readership to drop significantly today because everyone is getting a jump start on their holiday plans. In any event, I've been focusing exclusively on the May 2012 playlist this week, but to wrap up the week, I thought I would go to one of our randomly selected playlists.

NUMBER ONE

We begin with a track off legendary British band, The Psychedelic Furs' self-titled debut album. Susan's Strange is classic Furs music, but did you know this song was not on the original UK release of  the album?

 

NUMBER TWO

Next up with a cover song.  Long-lived California band, Social Distortion have recently done some arena dates opening for The Avett Brothers, which at first glance seemed like an odd combination, but Mike Ness and company have a long-held affinity for classic county music.  They covered June Carter Cash's Ring of Fire on their self-titled Epic records debut, and here we have a song off their second Epic release, Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, this one is a cover of a song which topped the Country charts in 1955 for Ms. Kitty Wells. Making Believe was written by Jimmy Work.

 

NUMBER THREE

Finally, we have a track from one of our 2011 Band's of the Week.  The Hunting Accident are an Indie Rock band  based in Los Angeles.  The band is made up of former members of the bands Piebald and Arlo.  The song Aubergine is available now via Soundcloud using the widget below, and will be included on  Trees and Parks, a 10" which will be released in July.

Here is an Amazon link to an earlier EP by the band

 

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Country Music Hall Of Fame Series: Kitty Wells For everything you do, there's a song that hits the spot. MOG brings them all to you: a world of music on demand, unlimited mobile downloads and ways to discover music free from the limitations of Pandora. The music you love, with you everywhere you go.

Here Came The Psychedelic Furs: B-Sides & Lost Grooves Here Came The Psychedelic Furs: B-Sides & Lost Grooves

Piebald: Nobody's Robots - A Farewell to Piebald - This documentary caters to fans of the emocore ensemble Piebold (Travis Shettel, Andrew Bonner, Lucian Garro, Jon Sullivan, Aaron Stuart and Alex Garcia Rivera) by chronicling the group's colorful history, from their inauspicious beginnings in the Northern Massachusetts community of Andover circa 1994, through their final concert in the late 2000s. The mix includes interviews, glimpses of the musicians in high school, performance footage shot over the years, and much more. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Gibson Arlo Guthrie LG2 3/4 Acoustic Guitar with Case Gibson Arlo Guthrie LG2 3/4 Acoustic Guitar; A Guthrie Family Gibson The luthiers at Gibson Acoustic were approached in 2002 by Arlo Guthrie and asked to embark on a very arduous task, reconstructing an acoustic given to him by his legendary father, Woody Guthrie. This acoustic was no ordinary guitar, it was an old Gibson LG2 3/4 sized acoustic that was literally in pieces. Gibson undertook the delicate task of restoring this instrument passed on to him from his father and after completing the restoration and presenting the rebuilt guitar to Arlo, Gibson decided to reissue the Arlo Guthrie LG2 3/4 as part of its Signature Series line of acoustics. It is a painstaking reproduction of a classic Gibson guitar, yet remaining true to Arlo’s original in every way including an aged-like vintage replica finish. Gibson Arlo Guthrie LG2 Features AA-grade Sitka spruce Top Honduran mahogany back and sides Hand-scalloped, radiused top Bracing Rosewood fingerboard with rolled edges and dot inlays Nickel Gotoh White Button Tuners Tapered Dovetail Neck Joint Handcrafted Rosette Nitrocellulose Finish Gibson Logo Includes Case Nickel Gotoh White Button Tuners Gibson’s Arlo Guthrie LG2 3/4 features Gotoh’s SD91 white button tuners. With a gear ratio of 15:1, the Gotoh’s deliver precision tuning in a durable housing that provides maximum protection for the gear and string post. All moving parts are cut for exact meshing, eliminating the possibility of slippage, and a special lubricant inside the gear box provides smooth and accurate tuning stability. Pickguard The tortoise pickguard on the Arlo Guthrie LG2 3/4 is a small teardrop shape designed especially for the 3/4-size acoustic guitar. As with all Gibson’s pickguards, the coloring, inlay, binding, and engraving are all done by hand. Rosette A rosette is the beautiful, hand-crafted circle around the soundhole, and can be one of the most ornamental elements of any acoustic guitar. It is also one of the most subtle and complicated woodworking decorations on any acoustic guitar. The rosette on the Arlo Guthrie LG2 3/4 is a single-ring rosette consisting of three-ply binding, adding a stylish, understated elegance to the Arlo Guthrie LG2 3/4. Rosewood Fingerboard with Rolled Edges and Dot Inlays, the fingerboard of Gibson’s Arlo Guthrie LG2 3/4 is constructed from the highest grade rosewood on earth, which is personally inspected and qualified by Gibson’s team of skilled experts before it enters the Gibson factories. The resilience of this durable wood makes the fingerboard extremely balanced and stable, and gives each chord and note unparalleled clarity and bite. The LG2’s dot inlays are made of genuine mother of pearl, and are inserted into the fingerboard using a process that eliminates gaps and doesn’t require the use of fillers. The fingerboard also sports a rolled edge, instead of the usual right angle where the fingerboard surface meets the neck. Gibson Acoustic’s rolled edges are slightly

Thursday Morning Music Shuffle - Get Ready Mix

Ahhhh..... Well, well, well... here we are again.  I will SPAM you one more time to ask you to please go to the Red Bull Soundstage site to vote for our friends Those Mockingbirds.  The contest ends at 11:59:59 tonight (Eastern Time I think), and you can vote once a day, so even if you voted yesterday, you can still vote again.  Those Mockingbirds are hanging on in first place, but they need all the support they can get to hold off a late surge from that other so called band.   Here is the link.

 To the list...

Robin Gibb past away last week, and most of the posts I've seen referenced the band's Saturday Night Fever era music. Many people, however, didn't know that the brothers began performing together way back in 1958.  In their early days, they were primary a pop/folk act, and Robin's vibrato voice was featured on many of their songs including our first track - I Don't Think It's Funny was on the band's debut album, The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs which was released only in Australia.  

 

 

Next  - no really, the next song is called Next it is another track from The End is Now by L.A. Symphony.  Check it out...

 

Finally, we continue to dig into The Ghost of John Henry by recent Sci-Fi Romance.  Steam Drill Blues  is about as gritty as it gets.  As the story moves forward, we find our hero, who represents mankind, facing the challenge of competing with machine in order to maintain his livelihood. We feel the pain and determination through the lyrics and the musical tapestry which weaves the simple with the complex, the quiet with the noisy. And we pull for John Henry even knowing how it all ends...

  

 Here is another track from the album...

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Bee Gees Anthology 43 of their biggest hits, including: Bodyguard * How Deep Is Your Love * Lonely Days * Love You Inside Out * Night Fever * One * Stayin' Alive * and more. Also includes discography and notes about the songs written by the band members.

Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of to Kill a Mockingbird "To Kill a Mockingbird" may well be our national novel. It is the first adult novel that many of us remember reading, one book that millions of us have in common. It sells nearly a million copies a year, more than any other twentieth-century American classic. Harper Lee's first and only novel, published in July 1960, is a beloved classic and touchstone in American literary and social history. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of "To Kill a Mockingbird," Mary McDonagh Murphy reviews its history and examines how the novel has left its mark on a broad range of novelists, historians, journalists, and artists. In compelling interviews, Anna Quindlen, Tom Brokaw, Oprah Winfrey, James Patterson, James McBride, Scott Turow, Wally Lamb, Andrew Young, Richard Russo, Adriana Trigiani, Rick Bragg, Jon Meacham, Allan Gurganus, Diane McWhorter, Lee Smith, Rosanne Cash, and others reflect on when they first read the novel, what it means to them--then and now--and how it has affected their lives and careers. "Scout, Atticus, and Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of "To Kill a Mockingbird"" is a lively appreciation of the many ways in which the novel has made--and continues to make--a difference to generations of readers. Harper Lee has not given an interview since 1964, but Murphy's reporting, research, and rare interviews with the author's sister and friends stitch together a brief history of how the novel, as well as the acclaimed 1962 movie, came to be.

Wednesday Morning Music Shuffle - Robocop on Unicorn Mix

The picture above is Robocop riding a unicorn.  This is the ultimate in coolness. Robodrum is a band that is neck and neck with our friends Those Mockingbirds in the Red Bull Soundstage contest. Robodrum is not cool. If TMB were going against Robocop riding a Unicorn, I would be torn... naw, I would vote for Robocop - sorry Adam... Fortunately, Those Mockingbirds are up against Robodrum, so it is a no brainer.  Just hit the link, you can sign up with Facebook and vote for Those Mockingbirds today and tomorrow. If they win this contest, the band will have a song in a movie and win an appearance on the Letterman show where they will give a shout-out to Ear to the Ground...;-) jk...maybe...no really...

Anyway, now that you've voted and told all your friends to vote for Those Mockingbirds, it is time to get to today's shuffle:

Wolf & Cub are a band from Adelaide, Australia. They play a funky brand of psychedelic alt-rock. Got Nothing Coming is part of a new Double A-side single which the band is currently offering for a free download over at Bandcamp.  Check it out and then check out their back catalog.

Next up, is a song about the sometimes artsy, sometimes gritty part of town across the Cumberland River. East Nashville Skyline is not on the album of the same name by Todd Snider, but it does appear on a Rarities disk and on the live double CD we have today which is called Todd Snider Live - The Storyteller. It's a nifty ditty which name-drops late lamented icons like The Slow Bar and Radio Cafe as well as The Phoenix a cool radio station from back in the day.

 

Next up - Zero Dark Thirty is a recent track by the always amazing Aesop Rock.  It is the first track off the forthcoming Skelethon album.  

And finally, as the shuffle fates would have it, we have our good friends Taco Land  again with another track off their fine, fine Heart of Texas album.  This one is called Gimmie The Sky

 

 Here is another Taco Land video....

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Lone Wolf and Cub: The Bell Warden No Synopsis Available

Todd Snider - Happy To Be Here - MP3 Download This Todd Snider download is available in DRM-free, MP3 192kbps format. Todd Snider MP3's will play on iPod(r) and all MP3 players. Individual tracks and samples of the songs from this album are available by clicking on the product image on the left. Need help? Click here and search for "downloads" to learn more.

True Endeavors (Aesop Rock Remix) We believe it is important to preserve what makes music special, and make it easy to craft listening experiences. At MOG, browse millions songs and play them instantly. Or just turn on radio where you can stop and replay songs. You can also create playlists for any occasion, and even download songs to your mobile. We are dedicated to employing the cleanest but most powerful technology so you can enjoy music as much as ever.

Friday Morning Music Shuffle - Lazy Daze Mix

I know, I know - I am so far behind on lots of stuff.  But here is our first and only true Music Shuffle for the week - taken from our final list of April 2012 additions.


1.  The brand new single from Those Mockingbirds is called The Difference Between Love & Addiction.  Do you know the difference?  Here is the band performing the song at the Knitting Factory last year.  You can get the song here.

2.  At 77 years of age, Leonard Cohen has made an album can hold its own alongside his extremely impressive body of work.  Old Ideas finds the man with the gift of the golden voice, sounding a bit like Tom Waits.  Lullaby is simply a beautiful song.

3.   Bird Dog are a Brooklyn based band.  Underneath the Overpass is from the band's January 2011 EP.  You can grab the EP over at Bandcamp using the widget below.

(a live performance from Bird Dog)

4.  Flower Flower is another fine song from Nashville's own, The Vespers. It is from the bands brand new The Fourth Wall album.

5. And finally,  20 Million Things is from the 1979 album, Thanks I'll Eat it Here by Little Feat founder, Lowell George.  For a 33 year old song, it does not sound dated at all.  Lowell George died shortly after the album was released while on tour in support of the album.

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