Monday Morning Music Meeting (MMMM goood!)

Okay, so it’s Monday morning, March 8. I’m having my coffee and wondering what new feature to add to this here new site… Since Tuesday is the traditional reporting day to the trades, I thought maybe a Monday morning music meeting would be cool. A place to write about new releases that came in during the past week – and that maybe got tested over the weekend. Whatcha think? I can launch it on Monday and those of you who are music directors around the state can post your comments as you see fit during the week? What new Colorado music did you add to your libraries? What releases are impressing your djs? Let’s talk….

New in the RMMN offices this past week.

Tommy Metz aka iuengliss – The Blossom Frontier
Genre/Style: electronica/dance, pop
Website: You’ve got two choices here. You can go to http://tommymetz.com/ and download the entire new album for free, or go to http://www.myspace.com/tommymetz for information and to hear the trax he’s posted there.

Molina Soleil & Aju w/ DJ Icewater – Soulaju
Genre/Style: hip-hop, neo-soul
Website: http://www.myspace.com/soulaju
Notes: Impressive act heavy on multiculturalism (Aju speaks 5 languages). They have an impressive touring schedule that includes stops throughout Colorado, Wyoming, Missouri, Oregon, California to name a few. According to their website: Molina Soleil & Aju are set to release “Soulaju” on March 23rd, 2010. It features the production of DJ Icewater, who has toured internationally with the Pharcyde and Shing02, and has recently mixed albums for artists like Lyrics Born and Jern Eye.

Romano Paoletti – Story of a Lifetime
Genre/Style: Americana, country, folk
Website: http://romanosmusic.com/
Notes: produced by Eric Thorin (Drew Emmitt Band). Features Eric Thorin, Sally Van Meter, Caleb Roberts, Eben Grace, Todd Moore, John McVey and Mollie O’brien and others. His grandfather, “Ragtime” Bob Darch, was the only living inductee of the Ragtime Hall of Fame. Romano’s mother, Norma Jean, was always a singer and was signed by Smokey Robinson of Motown Records.  He spent a lifetime with both of these people learning his craft.  It shows in his performances on the record.

David Williams & The Wildgrass Band featuring Kristina Murray – The Crazy Kind
Genre/Style: Americana, country, folk, bluegrass
Website: The best place I’ve found to sample tracks is at the CD Baby page for this album – cdbaby.com/cd/dwilliamswkmurray or hit http://myspace.com/davidwilliamssongs
Notes: The album features performances by Rockygrass mandolin winner Jordan Ramsey, Rockygrass banjo winner Chris Elliott, national fiddle champion (Weiser, ID) Katie Glassman and renowned Colorado bassist Duane Webster.
From website: David is  the 2009 EMMY AWARD WINNER IN COMPOSITION AND WRITING. Influenced by everything from gypsy jazz to folk, delta blues, swing, rockabilly, bluegrass & folk. As a singer-songwriter, David’s known for his way with words and melodies, which conjure up the American musical landscape.  His songs touch on everything from the difficulties of love to the people and places along old Route 66, or a carnival from his childhood, or swing tunes reminiscent of Tin-Pan-Alley—in a wide range of CDs released over the last 30 years.

As musician, David has recorded and performed with Greg Brown, Dave Moore and others; and he studied and performed with the great Jethro Burns, of Homer and Jethro fame.  He has played at many of the large folk music festivals in North America, such as Vancouver and Winnipeg, where he has been recognized as both a songwriter and instrumentalist.

Recently, he has written a new musical/play about Django Reinhardt.  His group DECO DJANGO specializes in this infectious music from the 1930s.

David has also published a number of books with Alfred A. Knopf and Ghost Road Press, as well as short stories and poems. He holds a Ph.D. in English, and he has been a writer in residence at a number of colleges and universities in the US.  A working cartoonist, his work appears around the world through Carlton Cards and Soultrader of London.

He is an ALA and NAPPA award-winning albums for children and is currently the songwriter for the new PBS children’s show The Big Green Rabbit.  As DIRTY LINEN says, no one else writes kids songs like DW.

The Crazy Kind is not a kid’s music record.  David Williams is most definitely one of Colorado’s most literary country-folk artists.

Colorado Music and Radio – March 2010

So, here we go for March 2010

Long live KCUV; RIP. Long live Jack FM 89.3FM…. KUVO (the jazz oasis) has EXPANDED their offerings, launching two HD (not high def) radio channels… Beautiful Empty #1 OTB!!

For all of you who have been used to seeing this column in the Colorado Music Buzz magazine – I will be directing your attention here each month. Hopefully we can build the kind of following here that I enjoy on my blogs at http://www.thecoloradosound.com 🙂

So, here we go for March 2010

Long live KCUV; RIP.   Long live Jack FM – the first in the US; RIP.  Welcome “Dealin” Doug Moreland – King of Kidz Autos??  Seems like “dealing doug” is looking for a new place to air his car ads, maybe? I dunno, but it sure does surprise the hell out of me that he ponied up five mil for both 102.3FM and 105.5FM when former owner NRC Broadcasting paid about $15M for 102.3FM alone. Says a lot about the value of radio properties locally, doesn’t it?  There’s been no official word out yet about what Doug and his as yet unnamed partners are going to put on the air, but there’s plenty of guessing going on.  Could it be we’ll have another sports talker on the FM?   Could Vic and Gary and John find a new home? Hmmmm…what’s the odds on this deal going down I wonder?

89.3FM KUVO (the jazz oasis) has EXPANDED their offerings, launching two HD (not high def) radio channels, and the first purely digital HD translator in the US up in Summit County, as well as a new station – 88.5FM KVJC – up in Vail. I spoke with station operations manager and program director Carlos Lando about what’s shakin’ there and he’s all kinds of excited about the changes taking shape. I do have to say too that the HD3 channel, The Other Side, is a pretty tasty slice of something new  … for those who stream or those who have an HD radio receiver.

FEATURED HOT RELEASE – #1 OTB (out of the box) for February!!

Selected samples from album

Top 30 Spins February
1. John Common & Blinding Flashes of Light – Beautiful Empty (Free School)
2. Honey Don’t – Honey Don’t (2Dolla Reccas)
3. Head for the Hills – Head for the Hills (Head for the Hills)
4. Emmitt-Nershi Band – New Country Blues (SCI Fidelity)
4. Euforquestra – Soup (self)
5. The Subdudes – Flower Petals (429 Records)
6. Gregory Alan Isakov – This Empty Northern Hemisphere (self)
7. Aakash Mittal Quartet – Videsh (self)
8. Ethyl & the Regulars – Fill ‘er Up With… (Sweet Crude)
8. Matt Morris – When Everything Breaks Open (Tennman Records)
9. Yonder Mountain String Band – The Show (Frog Pad)
10. The Informants – Crime Scene Queen (Wipe It Off!)
11. Kyle Hollingsworth – Then There’s Now (SCI Fidelity)
12. Boulder Acoustic Society – Punchline (Nine Mile Records)
13. Runaway Express – Howlin At the Moon (Raven Records)
14. Angie Stevens & the Beautiful Wreck – Queen of This Mess (Boss Koala)
14. Fred Hess – Hold On (Dazzle Records)
15. The Beautiful Loser Society – The Long Slow Decline (self)
16. Adam Bodine Trio – The Chauffer (self)
16. Hard Pressed – In A Different Time (self)
16. Hello Kavita – To A Loved One (self)
17. Loose Cannon Bluegrass – Loose Cannon Bluegrass (self)
18. Blue Canyon Boys – House Full of Sorrow (self)
18. Megan Burtt – It Ain’t Love (self)
18. Railbenders – Like A Wheel (Railbenders)
18. The Congress – The Congress (self)
18. Todd Adelman & the Love Handles – Todd Adelman & the Love Handles (Porch Lantern)
19. Chris Daniels & Bmaster – We’ll Meet Again (AmbianZ / Heartselling)
19. Reed Foehl – Once An Ocean (NeverFoehl)
19. Spring Creek – Way Up On a Mountain (Rebel)

KAFM (Grand Junction)
1. Head for the Hills – Head for the Hills
2. The Subdudes – Flower Petals
3. Loose Cannon Bluegrass – Loose Cannon Bluegrass
4. Ethyl & the Regulars – Fill ‘er up with…
4. Honey Don’t – Honey Don’t
4. The Beautiful Loser Society – The Long Slow Decline
5. Euforquestra – Soup
6. Emmitt-Nershi Band – New Country Blues
6. Hard Pressed – In a Different Time
7. String Cheese Incident – Trick or Treat

KCSU (Fort Collins)
1. Sour Boy, Bitter Girl – Songs about the Landscape or Songs about the Wolf Army
2. The Don’ts and Be Carefuls – Risk Assessment
3. John Common & Beautiful Flashes of Light – Beautiful Empty
4. Paean – Songs for Us to Sing
5. Dovekins – Dovekins

KDNK (Carbondale)
1. Ethyl & the Regulars – Fill ‘er Up With…
1. Honey Don’t – Honey Don’t
1. John Common & Blinding Flashes of Light – Beautiful Empty
1. Yonder Mountain String Band – The Show
2. Angie Stevens & the Beautiful Wreck – Queen of This Mess
2. Emmitt-Nershi Band – New Country Blues
2. Matt Morris – When Everything Breaks Open
2. Spring Creek – Way Up On a Mountain
3. A Melodic Daydream – A Little Weird
3. Ben Markley – Second Introduction

KGNU (Boulder)
1. Aakash Mittal Quartet – Videsh
2. Bad Weather California – Young Punks
2. Blue Canyon Boys – House Full of Sorrow
2. Gregory Alan Isakov – This Empty Northern Hemisphere
3. Dango Rose – Banjo Poems
3. Euforquestra – Soup
3. Fred Hess – Hold On
3. Kyle Hollingsworth – Then There’s Now
3. Lelah Simon – Third Week of April
3. Maree McRae – Urgency
3. Reed Foehl – Once an Ocean
3. Yonder Mountain String Band – The Show

KRCC (Colorado Springs)
1. Flashbulb Fires – Glory
2. Houses – Summer EP
2. Jen Korte & the Loss – Jen Korte & the Loss
2. John Common & Blinding Flashes of Light – Beautiful Empty
3. Blue Canyon Boys – House Full of Sorrow
3. Head for the Hills – Head for the Hills
3. Love.45 – Into the Ether
3. Tango Red Tapestry – The Window EP

KRFC (Fort Collins)
1. Runaway Express – Howlin At the Moon
2. The Subdudes – Flower Petals
3. Jon Common & Blinding Flashes of Light – Beautiful Empty
4. Barbara Ernst – April Child: Mistura Bela (Beautiful Mix)
4. Euforquestra – Soup
4. The Informants – Crime Scene Queen
5. Honey Don’t – Honey Don’t
5. Matt Morris – When Everything Breaks Open
5. Megan Burtt – It Ain’t Love
5. Other Side of Clearview – Sweet Release

KVNF (Paonia)
1. Otis Taylor – Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs
2. Honey Don’t – Honey Don’t
2. Rob Drabkin – On These Heavy Feet
3. Bill Frisell – The Best of Bill Frisell, Vol. 1: Folk Songs
3. The Subdudes – Live at the Rams Head
4. Emmitt-Nershi Band – New Country Blues
4. Fred Hess – Hold On
4. Gregory Alan Isakov – This Empty Northern Hemisphere
4. Kyle Hollingsworth – Then There’s Now
5. Los Rojos Calientes – Corazon

KUVO (Denver)
1. Fred Hess – Hold On
1. Lelah Simon – Third Week of April
2. Adam Bodine Trio – The Chauffer
2. Ricky Sweum – Pulling Your Own Strings
3. Aakash Mittal Quartet – Videsh
3. Erik Applegate – Red Skies
3. Keith Oxman – Doing All Right

The Colorado Sound
1. Matt Morris – When Everything Breaks Open
1. The Congress – The Congress
2. Runaway Express – Howlin At the Moon
3. Jon Common & Blinding Flashes of Light – Beautiful Empty
4. The Informants – Crime Scene Queen
4. Megan Burtt – It Ain’t Love
5. Head for the Hills – Head for the Hills
6. The Stone Project – An Art to Life
6. Coles Whalen – The Whistle Stop Road Record
6. Hello Kavita – To A Loved One