Hey ho! I'm gonna be hitting the road soon for a few days of much needed... whatever. So, no Morning Shuffles until I get back, but I put together a playlist of some of the music which might have come up on Shuffles. 28 songs (and I may add more if I get the chance). Enjoy!
To help you decide - Here are the top five so far!
Tied for 5th Place
Tipi Valley
And Big Mosey
3rd Place
Skeletons in the Piano
2nd Place
Jo Wymer/Jo Wymer Band
and leading going into the stretch
Killing Kuddles
Also send some love and votes to the rest of the featured artists
Shayfer James
The Riverbreaks
Elephant Goes West
and
Dogs of Oz
And I totally suck so bad. I just realized that I left Dean Fields off the Band of the Month Poll. I am so sorry, and why didn't anyone tell me this!!!!!
I am going to add him to the July Band of the Month Poll!
Speaking of which I've about narrowed down the ten Featured Artists for July, and it's a great group - so stayed tuned.
As way of an apology here's a Bonus Dean Fields Video:
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
Circumstance and crises and a cacophony of clanging cymbals
can distract me from all of the wonders to behold
but whenever I walk
and take the time
I see it all
it's pleasant
JWM 5/10/2012
Off we go with this morning shuffle:
First up is a band we saw performing at Record Store Day at Grimey's here in Nashville. They are from Portland, Oregon and have just wrapped a tour with Bear in Heaven. Blouse are up with the song Firestarter from the self-titled debut album - on the Captured Tracks label.
Here's a shot from the RSD performance
Here is Blouse at Amazon.com
Here is a performance of Firestarter from SXSW
Next is Band of the Week - The Joy of Painting from their recent 7 song release Asterisk with a song called Old Love.
Asterisk by The Joy of Painting - from Amazon.com
The Joy of Painting performing Old Love at the 5 Spot in East Nashville
And finally, we have a song from fun. off their 2009 album, Aim and Ignite with a song called Walking the Dog.
Okay, here is the deal. I love musicians. I'm not a musician, but I love music and despite what a few people think, music isn't music with out musicians. So, I do what I can to support musicians. I'm not wealthy so I can't often drop tons of money to support bands I love. One of the reasons I started this blog was as a way to give back to the bands and songwriters and singers and guitarist and bassist and drummers and cellists and (well you get the point) who have enriched my life.
Unfortunately, we have lost too many great people too soon to suicide. Suicide is always a complex issue. Often mental illness and addiction are involved. These are complex problems. So complex that many of us who have been touched by it feel powerless to help.
Right now, you can help. Our friend Sloane Spencer who runs the always amazing Country Fried Rock show has curated this awesome compilation which is available now at Noisetrade (the widget is below). Because it is at Noisetrade, the compilation is free, but because it's at Noisetrade you can leave a tip. You should (but maybe don't) do that anyway, but this time you really should. All proceeds - that's 100% - are going to go toward Nuci's Space
Nuçi’s Space is a non-profit health and music resource center in Athens, GA. The aim of the organization is to prevent suicide by providing obstacle free treatment for musicians suffering from depression and other such disorders as well as to assist in the emotional, physical and professional well-being of musicians.
So, it's a great cause, and an amazing compilation and yeah.
I'll leave you with a video montage of some of the great musicians we've lost to suicide:
Jim Ellison of Material Issue
Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse
Stuart Adamson of Big Country
Owsley (Will Owsley)
Phil Ochs
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana
Michael Hutchence of INXS
Robert Quine (Lou Reed, Tom Waits, Brian Eno, Richard Hell)
I could go on.... Go get a great compilation, skip a Venti Starbucks or two and donate to this great cause.
Monday and I find myself back in a familiar routine. ICYMI - check out my review and listen to a stream of Sci-Fi Romance's new album, The Ghost of John Henry, which is due out tomorrow. We've also hooked you up with links to pre-order the CD or the download. GO!
Now, it is Monday and we have our regular morning shuffle. Still digging into the downloads added in April, tons we haven't played let so let's get to it.
1. Pistols and Radio Signals is the title track from an EP by Nashville-based neo-classical punk band Dogs of Oz. Grab the EP below and go to Bandcamp to check out the rest of the band's catalog. This band of teens are the real deal. According to their page, they are doing some recording with a member of Cage the Elephant which should produce so cool sounds. Lead singer/guitarist Greyson Anderson used to be this quiet kid in my daughter's pre-school class. Funny how time slips away.
2. The Only Place is the title track from the forthcoming Best Coast album.
Grab the single here:
You can "wishlist" the album here:
There is nothing unexpected here, but it's Best Coast and even the expected is pretty darn good.
3. J'ai Fait Un Reve (I Have a Dream) is another track of the Revolution album by DRUNKSOULS. The French reggae rock band's second album is an ambitious collection of great sounding music for the modern age. Check out Revolution below.
It seems like there is so much sadness (loss, transitions, illness) in the world and among my closer circle of friends. Sending out warm thoughts and love to the world, and I hope some rains on you if you need it.
Just found out last night that early Band of the Week and good friends of the blog, Inner City Elegance are calling it quits. I don't have any details, but we wish them well in whatever future endeavors those three guys take on. Here's a video of an acoustic version of one my favorite ICE songs, Never Let You Down.
RIP to Dick Clark, Levon Helm and Greg Ham (Men at Work)...
We begin with a cover song. It's Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate, Baseball Project) doing a lovely slow version of A Million Miles Away The Plimsouls' song and one of my all-time favcs... Wynn's version is on the must-have Peter Case tribute (A Case for Case)
(Albums containing the original and the cover)
(second video is Steve Wynn paying with Peter Case)
Our second song comes from San Francisco punk legends Flipper. It's Life is Cheap from their Generic Album.
And Finally, we close things out with I Wanna Be the One - some indie pop goodness from fun. - yeah the same band that does that We Are Young song.... This one's from their Aim and Ignite album.
The edge of town to the middle of the road... Night fell and somewhere a band was playing, "There Goes My Baby", and the singer wasn't very good, but he was perfect for the moment. You and I stared out into the distance and dreamed about a better day which secretly we never believed would come our way. But, there is a time for everything and season change and the world moves on. On a night, no unlike the other, I found myself down at the edge of town in the middle of the road, and somewhere a band was playing...
In the U.S., it's tax day - pushed back due to the 15th falling on a Sunday and yesterday being an obscure holiday in Washington D.C. So I could have subtitled this post, Tax Day Blues Mix or something... but I didn't.
We open up today's shuffle with a random discovery from the Noisetrade site. Joey English is a singer-songwriter from Knoxville, Tennessee. Today's track is called You Are On My Mind. Go to Noisetrade or use the link above to view his album on Amazon.
Here is a video of another Joey English song, Got to Go
Next up, we have a cover song. Sad Baby Wolf are from Albuquerque, New Mexico which includes a couple of ex-Shins. Here they do a cool cover of Neutral Milk Hotel's Everything Is the title track from the 1994 EP (link below).
Below is an other track New Survival Guide from Sad Baby Wolf
Song number three is from band, I've just been asked to given a listen to, so you get to go along for the ride with me. DRUNKSOULS are a Reggae-influenced Indie Rock band from Marselle, France. The have a relatively new album called Revolution and today we listen to Drifter Song the lead track from the album.
Here they are playing Drifter Song at Grand Auditorium du Palais des Festivals de Cannes at a benefit for African Reggae star TIKEN JAH FAKOLI.
Finally, we end up with our old friends The Dead Exs with another track from their Resurrection album. This one is called Angel from New Orleans. The Dead Exs are going to be part of the top secret project I am working to complete for Record Store Day. Stay tuned for more information about that.
Below is a The Dead Exs' contribution to this year's Couch by Couchwest.
