Head For the Hills - Potions & Poisons

Band / Artist: Head For the Hills
Year: 2017
Genre: Bluegrass, Country, Indie Folk

My Review:
Here is a nice, well composed album of Chill Bluegrassy music, with that country flair that always makes me think about my Grandfather, and lyrics that have a pleasant amount of wisdom and introspection. I really like that they have earthy voices, and seem to come at their music from a raw perspective.

Here is the description of the album from their website.

Potions and Poisons is the fourth album of original music from Head for the Hills, the Colorado based post-modern bluegrass outfit of Adam Kinghorn, Joe Lessard, Matt Loewen and Sam Parks. There’s no reinvention of the wheel here--no computer programmed banjo rolls or digitally arpeggiated fiddle lines. Instead we find Head for the Hills at the peak of their powers of musical alchemy, building little worlds of sound from the detritus of bluegrass, jazz, hip hop, folk and soul. Potions and Poisons is a look at the darker side of love, lust, and life; an examination of our affinity for and aversion to the things that make us fragile but human. Recorded at home in Colorado with the band’s go-to engineer, Aaron Youngberg (Cahalen and Eli, Martha Scanlan, Grant Gordy and Ross Martin), the record features appearances from Bonnie Paine (Elephant Revival) on vocals and washboard, Erin Youngberg (Uncle Earl, FY5) on vocals, and a lush string section. Potions and Poisons is the most Head for the Hills record yet, and in the great tradition of bluegrass (and soul and folk and old time music), it delivers some bitter pills, but the ten new original songs are more than a survey of the human condition. This is reflective but buoyant music, restorative and full of vibrancy.

Enjoy it
Head For the Hills - Potions & Poisons

-{:(.SINGLES.):}- Low Leaf, Pig vs. Primitive Race, Out of System Transfer, Branko x JSTJR x Twerk Queen Louise

(Low leaf) Diwata Mantraz - Purification
http://www.creatordiy.com/blog/ is her blog, just so I don't leave anything out.



20 minutes of meditative soundscapes by Low Leaf. It's very interesting and pleasant. I don't know what to say for it, other than it reminds me of her other work, but more as a broken apart, experimental jam session of them. Its a little more Cocteau Twins, and a little less Little Dragon.

Pig vs. Primitive Race - Long In The Tooth (Joe Haze Mix)

I needed some industrial, and so it came to me. If you ever listened to KMFDM, then you'll have already heard some work by PIG, so give it a shot, Here's their promo.

Band features current and ex members of KMFDM, Prong, Ministry, Pop Will Eat Itself,The Mission, Peter Murphy, Combichrist, Revolting Cocks and more! As a special thank you to our fans for your loyalty, support, and patience we are also giving away a FREE remix of Long In The Tooth (Joe Haze Mix). You can't get this track anywhere else. 

Out of System Transfer - Slant Rhymes and Eye Rhymes

This was the email sent to me to talk about the track, which is a really great punky acoustic track with great horn lines along the background of the whole song. I'm digging it.

 Out of System Transfer release single “Slant Rhymes and Eye Rhymes”, playing  Palisades tonight with Brook Pridemore and Pat the Bunny


New York NY— "Slant Rhymes and Eye Rhymes", the latest single from Brooklyn based folk punk act Out of System Transfer, proves that oft-repeated saw that traveling the road changes you.
The band, mostly native New Yorkers, have spent a substantial amount of time over the past several months on the road supporting their debut EP “Same Rat Different Hat”,  tightening their live show, and building a dedicated following throughout the Northeast.
On one such trip the band spent a day at Hiwatts Studio in Providence, RI and recorded 3 new tracks, which they will be releasing over the next few months as free downloads.
"Slant Rhymes," the first release, is a marked departure for the band, explains front man Jesse Sternberg: “I love geography in songs. We have a whole bunch of songs about New York City, and this was my shot at getting some of the rest of the country in the mix. It's an unusually personal and unusually optimistic and non-angry song, for me.”
The song—with lyrics like “Let’s start a song, on this side of the Verrazano, get the tune down by the other side,” tells a particularly personal but relatable story for the band--but more broadly is about the joy of art and music. “Traveling can inspire songwriting, songwriting can lead to touring, and so on in a creative virtuous cycle. Mostly it's about how lucky and excited I feel to have the chance to travel and play music with such a great group of musicians and friends,” explains Sternberg.
You can see them tonight at Palisades in Brooklyn with Pat the Bunny, Brook Pridemore, and Prewar Yardsale, following which they’ll be living out this song as they hit the road again over the weekend.

If you liked that one, then enjoy a much more live sounding EP from them, Good for 2 Hours

Real Booty Music
Branko x JSTJR x Twerk Queen Louise - Cascavel

This one is really fun. They used a dancer (Twerk Queen Louise), hooked sensors to her hips, thighs, and butt, and let her bounce out all of the beats and rhythms into a sampler. Afterward, they worked all of them together into a dance track. Novel usage, and dat booty makes some music.

Branko

Straight outta Lisbon, Joao Barbosa AKA Branko is currently operating at the forefront of the tropical bass movement with his world-conquering band, Buraka Som Sistema. An innovative producer and DJ whose proclivity for digging deep into the world’s musical blind spots and finding inspiration where others don’t, the Portuguese beatmaker has been instrumental in giving voice to marginalized genres that might not otherwise have found the audience they deserve.

Branko’s solo outings have, of course, been equally tight with collaborations ranging from Zebra Kats to ELOQ, making him a formidable dance music force to be reckoned with.

Check him out on Facebook. 

 

I'll let you read the rest of their profiles from the web link. Enjoy!

The Foggy Mountain Boys (Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs - Untitled mix)

Band / Artist: Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, The Foggy Mountain Boys
Year:1948-1970
Genre: Bluegrass, Country

My Review:
As far as old country bands go, Flatt and Scruggs were the big time thing. Lester Raymond Flatt (Born: Duncanâs Chapel, Tennessee, June 19, 1914) was a skilled guitarman, and Earl Eugene Scruggs (Born: Flint Hill, North Carolina, Jan. 6, 1924) a talented banjo man. They formed a wonderful partnership for a good deal of time (1948–1970), and then went on to run their own projects. During that time, they had 24 other people involved in their group at different times.

I can't speak from the experience of age in this, but I'd say that were they from the hipsters era, we'd call them sellouts (no disrespect). They were involved in so many hollywood projects and were huge for touring, though that was a different era for music. They have a lot of skill, and bring on a very homegrown southern feel, despite how much public broadcast work they did.

Lester Flatt died in 1979, and Earl Scruggs passed away in March of last year. This is a collection of tracks from various recordings of live shows. Hopefully you enjoy it.

Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs - Untitled mix

Mad Tea Party - Found A Reason

Band / Artist: Mad Tea Party
Year: 2012
Genre: Bluegrass, Dance, Folk Pop, Indie, Surf Rock, Rockabilly

My Review:
This is totally becoming one of my sweetheart bands. I posted 3 short albums of their stuff back during the Halloween specials. Here's their site.

http://themadtea.wordpress.com/

This time around, the album is full length, and the music is more their own. Its bluegrass and indie folk, but still slips in and out of the rockabilly and surf rock sounds for tracks here and there. If you like any dancey country stuffs, or just have a thing for acoustic instruments and retro sound, this might be awesome for you. I danced in the car to it my whole drive.

Mad Tea Party - Found A Reason

Chance McCoy And The Appalachian String Band - Self Titled

Band / Artist: Chance McCoy
Year: 2008
Genre: Folk, Bluegrass, Americana

My Review:
I volunteered for more than 2 years with a historic fort in Savannah, GA. I got paid nicely for my time, had my own confederate uniform (it was slightly more comfortable than the Yankee blues), and got to teach/yell at middle school kids. If you ever want to know about civil war river defense and communication, as well as history about Sherman's march to the sea, I'll talk to you for an hour.

But that's not really here or there. The point is, that historic American music is not very often heard these days. My general distaste for modern country stems from their disregard of the instruments and skills in their own history. But this release does none of that. Mr. McCoy knows that history, and he holds true to it. This is no small album. He plays out 19 tracks with his companions, and he does it with skill and with heart. That fiddle, banjo, acoustic guitar, and bass all meld into a sensation that's incredibly hard to describe. Here's his website.

http://wildhogintheredbrush.com/

This brings be back to bold sunsets, hot humid days, the stink of black gunpowder and burnt flour, biting sand gnats, the taste of Brunswick stew and drinking a beer with my coworkers after hours, and the muddy water of the river flowing past the reeds on the bank. If I ever find anything that gets closer to that, I'll post it without haste. I hope you enjoy.

Chance McCoy And The Appalachian String Band - Self Titled