Category: MMMM (New Music)

Okay, so you can call me a slacker if you want, but I really have been busy with music related things … collecting new music, doing sound, emceeing events, booking bands for events …. You know – stuff like that.  😉  Since I last wrote a reasonable MMMM (Monday Morning Music Meeting) post about new music, I’ve added the following to the show’s catalog.

Here’s the list:

3 Twins Broadband – I Always Cry at the Movies/How Could You Not [singles] (Americana, roots music)

Adam Bodine Trio – Up ‘N Hear (jazz/roots/piano)

Adam Stern – High Country Gentleman (jazz/rock/funk/country/instrumental guitar)

The Alan Baird Project – Spark the Revival (rock/modern-alternative)

The Broken Spoke – Before There Were Easy Riders (americana/roots music/alt-country-rock)

The Chain Gang of 1974 – Wayward Fire (electronic/dance/modern pop)

Chimney Choir – Chimney Choir (folk, electronic, modern)

Dave Sonner – the American Campus (rock, alt-country-rock, roots rock, pop)

Dotsero – Storyhous (jazz, pop, modern, contemporary, rock)

The Foot. – The Hangman EP (rock/pop, modern)

Great American Taxi – Blair Mountain [single] (roots rock/Americana)

Hazel Miller Band – Come to You Live …. From KUVO (soul/jazz)

The Hickman-Dalton Gang – The Hickman-Dalton Gang Vol. II (alt-country)

I’m With Her – I’m With Her [ep] (singer-songwriter)

Jami Lunde – Big Black Birds (Americana)

Kevin Dooley – Moonlight Highway (Americana)

Matt Nasi Band – Unsafe and Sound [single] (rock/pop)

The Patti Fiasco – The Patti Fiasco (roots rock/Americana)

Reverend Hooch – Gray Skies [single] (southern rock)

Rose Hill Drive – Americana (hard rock)

Spring Creek – Hold On Me (bluegrass)

Tennis – Is It True? (Brenda Lee cover) [single] (indie pop)

Tyson Ailshie – The Send Off (jazz)

Wendy Woo Band – Austerity (adult pop)

Xiren – Sunshine [single] (adult pop)

Zach Heckendorf – The Cool Down (pop)

Finnders & Youngberg – FY5
Bluegrass/country
http://findersandyoungberg.com/

“I’ve been sold on you since day one.”  The heartbreak is palpable; the yearning in Mike Finders’ voice implicitly crying.  A bevy of beautific singers swing some joy as the full band join in the very feel good gospel infused “Give A Little Back.”  There’s old timey ..  and at times a sense that it all does somehow remind me a bit of Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks circa somewhere in the 70s… but really that’s a very fleeting thing.  Erin Youngberg grabs hold of her own “For Old Time’s Sake” and with the fellas swinging and singing behind her the sashay is all flapper and tease…. and then turns around in the next song and rails against loneliness as a women left “out on the open plains, all alone in the cold dry winds” in the Mike Finders penned “Nebraska.”  “Driftwood” is by far my favorite of the Mike Finders penned and sung tracks on the album. It’s one of those songs that makes you want to push the repeat button … repeatedly even — it’s got one of the most kick ass and tightest vocal harmony arrangements I’ve ever heard.  And at the end, Mike’s palpable yearning in the love song “Just A Friend” is a performance that truly would rival anything heard on the radio in the 50s, 60s, or 70s … or on one of Colorado’s great public/community radio stations today.

Finders & Youngberg a few years ago released the very excellent debut “Keep Your Suitcase Packed.”  It was one of the most spun records in 2009 at public/community radio around the state.  In its first month out at radio around the state in April “FY5” debuted at #2, before landing at #1 for most spins in June 2010.  I expect it will be near the #1 position by the time we get to the year end charts in December… and to be a serious contender for best bluegrass/country album of the year.

Okay — so I’m a slacker when it comes to sharing what’s hot at the goat’s desk … sheeesh … it’s spring, the grass is green (well….sorta) …. naw .. that ain’t it … I’ve been slackin’ is all … did buy some new studio gear to make it easier to produce the show and get it out to everyone though, if that counts…. and I have added a ton of new music to the playlist lately.  Since I’m feelin a bit on the woodsy side of life right now (roots are wood aren’t they?), most of this week’s HOT ADDS list is in that vein.  I’ve included video where there was some to share.   Hope you enjoy. 

John Oates – Mississippi Mile
Sample track:  You Make My Dreams Come True
Genre/Style:  americana, blues, folk
Website:  http://www.johnoates.com/index
Notes:  Most folks don’t know John Oates is a 20+ year resident of Colorado.  They will now.  This is John’s fourth solo record since 2002’s Phunk Shui – and his most critically acclaimed of the bunch —- reaching back to delta blues and folk and roots music.

Rob Roper – Misfit
Sample track: Misfit
Genre/Style:  rock, adult alternative
Website: Reverbnation page
Notes: Recorded by John McVey.  Mixed by John McVey and Rob Roper at Coupe Studios, Boulder.  Mastered by Dominic Maita at Airshow Mastering, Boulder.
Personnel:  Christian Teele (drums, percussion), Chris Engleman (bass), Eric Moon (keyboards), Greg Schochet (mandolin), Megan Burtt (backing vocals), John McVey (guitars, bass, backing vocals), John Macy (pedal steel), Kyle James Hauser (banjo), BIll Kahler (saxophone)

Jim McTurnan & The Kids That Killed The Man – Joie De Vivre
Sample track: This Will All Work Out
Genre/Style:  rock, indie/alternative, adult alternative
Website: FREE DL at http://jimmcturnan.bandcamp.com/album/joie-de-vivre
Notes:  Jim McTurnan is formerly of Cat-A-Tac.

Roger Green – Harder to Tell
Sample track: John Lennon
Genre/Style:  rock, indie/alternative, adult alternative
Website:  http://www.myspace.com/rogergreen
Notes:  Produced by Colin Bricker adn Roger Green.  Engineered by Colin Bricker, Mario Casilio, and Roger Green at Mighty Fine Productions, Denver CO.
Personnel:  Unless I’ve culled the wrong info from his myspace page, the new album includes/features performances by Natalie Winslow, Eric Moon, Mark Raynes, and Greg Garrison.
Bands and other info:  Roger was an integral part of the Czars for six years, and has worked with and/or appeared with Sixteen Horsepower, Woven Hand, Munly and the Lee Lewis Harlots, Ron Miles, Joe Sampson, Porlolo, Red Cloud, Cowhause / Janet Feder and others.

The Quiet American – Vol II
Sample track: Whiskey Johnny
Genre/Style:  folk
Website:  http://www.reverbnation.com/thequietamerican?kick=794080
Notes:  In 2003, Aaron moved to Colorado and earned a master’s degree in music history from University of Colorado. In 2004, Aaron founded Boulder Acoustic Society, which has played over 1,000 shows all over the US, focusing on a genre bending mix of folk, rock, jazz and classical.

Finnders & Youngberg – FY5
Sample track: Driftwood
Genre/Style: americana, bluegrass, country-folk
Website:  http://www.reverbnation.com/finndersandyoungberg?kick=564637
DL & Vinyl:  http://finndersyoungberg.bandcamp.com/
Notes:  Songwriter and guitarist Mike Finders {say finn-ders} is a two-time winner of the Merlefest Songwriting Contest.  Erin and Aaron Youngberg {yes, that’s right}, were founding members of Hit and Run Bluegrass Band, which won both Telluride and Rockygrass band contests in 2003, as well as subsequent SPGMA and IBMA honors.  Fiddler Ryan Drickey is a former Rockygrass Fiddle Champ and a much-sought session player with the likes of Matt Flinner and Michelle Shocked.  Rich Zimmerman’s mandolin work in the Colorado-based Slipstream is widely heralded as a founding voice in the CPG style of bluegrass.