Archive for January, 2013
Keeping Time: Shady Groove Podcast #81
These are the tracks that were played:
The Rolling Stones – Time Is On My Side ++ Bob Dylan – In My Time of Dying ++ Greensky Bluegrass – Killing Time on My Own ++ King Johnson – Time Stands Still ++ Booker T. & The MG’s – Time is Tight ++ Toots and the Maytals – Time Tough ++ Willie Williams – Armagideon Time ++ Bob Marley & The Wailers – Time Will Tell ++ The Allman Brothers Band – Ain’t Wasting Time No More ++ Dr. John – Right Place Wrong Time ++ Dire Straits – Once Upon a Time In The West ++ Dawes – When My Time Comes ++ Creation – Making Time ++ Dr. Dog – Where’d All The Time Go ++ The Gourds – On Time
Download Shady Groove Podcast #81
Keep on Pushing with The Shady Groove: Podcast #80
The Shady Groove is back with a brand new set of tunes for your listening pleasure. Welcome to the new year 2013. We hope the new year will bring with it some great new music. If its good, you will here it here first. Keep checking back here for new podcasts, music news and musings. As Dr. John once said:
“People see me but they just don’t know,
What’s in my heart and why I love you so,
I love you baby like a minor loves gold,
So come yeah baby Let the Good Times Roll”
These are the tracks that were included in this weeks’ podcast:
Shuggie Otis – Inspiration Information ++ Frank Zappa – Peaches En Regalia ++ Al Green – Old Time Lovin’ ++ Dr. John – Let’s Make a Better World ++ Chris Kasper – Devil’s Gold ++ Little Joy – Brand New Start ++ Wilco – Kingpin ++ Tedeschi Trucks Band – Midnight in Harlem ++ The Impressions – Keep On Pushing ++ Robert Palmer – Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley ++ Talking Heads – Take Me to the River ++ Ramsay Midwood – Rotten Alabama ++ The Band – When I Paint My Masterpiece (live) ++ The Gourds – January 6
Download Shady Groove Podcast #80
2012 Year in Review (Part 3): Best Albums
This is always the toughest list to come up with.
My 5 favorite albums of 2012.
1. Alabama Shakes – Boys and Girls
You’ve really gotta love this band. Their music is rooted in 60’s blues and soul, but you could easily call them an indie rock band. They’ve build a substantial following through their rocking live shows and this debut thrust them on the scene. But its not just the fact that they are rooted in the past that makes this band and this album awesome. Its the fact that it feels like the Shakes are poised to grow into a legendary band. Boys and Girls can be played front to back without skipping a beat. There are no awkward songs to skip through. This is the best album of 2012.
2. Michael Kiwanuka – Home Again
His stripped-down acoustic folk style evokes images of Otis Redding. His soulful voice is timeless. You can’t help but get swept up in his thoughtful lyrics. Pop on this album and you’ll find yourself transported to another place. He has been compared to Curtis Mayfield and Bill Withers. I love that at its core, the sound is retro, though the music stays novel. Home again has placed itself high on the list of my favorite new albums.
3. Dr. John – Locked Down
The good doctor is back with a vengeance. Black Keys guitar player, Dan Auerbach produced this album and the results were astounding. Their collective aim was to create a modern recording that drew on the organic, spontaneous, spooky, swampy, nite-tripper voodoo elements that we heard in Dr. John’s earliest albums. It’s not a recreation of Gris Gris. It grooves with the feeling of swamp rock, but its got many new ideas and sounds. The band is tight and at times you can definitely feel the Black Keys style. Although it is not in any way a Black Keys album. Even in this age, it can be labeled as one of Mac Rebbenack’s finest.
4. Dr. Dog – Be The Void
As soon as the opener, Lonesome, begins one can tell they are in for a treat. Dr. Dog hits a home run with this album. They seem to be having a great time as they wind through raw but poppy harmonies and stripped down warm lyrics. I think they have wandered slightly away from their intricately crafted pop of earlier albums. But it seems to work as the sound is more loose and uninhibited. I love that the band keeps on growing, changing, and exploring new territories.
5. Jack White – Blunderbuss
Jack White is a powerhouse in todays music industry. Having showed us his producing chops with Loretta Lynn’s comeback album, Van Lear Rose, and with his other side projects also creating a significant buzz, Jack does what he wants and it almost always comes out good. It seems funny that this is his first solo album. He places an indelible stamp on every project he has been in from the Raconteurs to the Dead Weather, so much so that you would think those are his albums. But this one is his and only his. With contradictions and squelching guitars, electric piano, beautiful melodies, and even quieter polished sounds, Blunderbuss gets better as it gets played more.
Honorable Mentions:
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Here
Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball
Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Americana
The Lumineers – The Lumineers
Justin Townes Earl – Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now
Gary Clark Jr – Blak and Blu
2012 Year in Review (Part 2): Top 12 Songs of the Year
Ahhh, the well crafted song. There’s nothing better than when musical notes and poetry come together to create a beautiful union. A good back-beat, well planned musical flourishes, instrumental solo’s, background vocals, a prefectly timed hand-clap breakdown; these are the things I look for in a great song. That and listenability, playability, and the overall feeling of the song. Regardless of how you listen, we all know a good song when we hear it. So here are my favorites of 2012. Enjoy.
Top 12 of 2012:
12. Ben Gibbard – Teardrop Windows
11. Ben Folds Five – Do It Anyway
10. Heartless Bastards – Parted Ways
9. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Man On Fire
8. Justin Townes Earle – Look the other way
7. Dr. Dog – That Old Black Hole
6. The Lumineers – Ho Hey
5. Lee Fields – Faithful Man
4. Jack White – Love Interruption
3. Dr. John – Getaway
2. Michael Kiwanuka – I’ll Get Along
1. Alabama Shakes – Hang Loose
Honorable Mention:
Gary Clark Jr. – Bright Lights
Neil Young – Oh Susannah
Alabama Shakes – Rise to the Sun
Dr. Dog – Lonesome
Michael Kiwanuka – Home Again