JEFF The Brotherhood: Song By Song Review of Hypnotic Nights

07/16/2012 By

JEFF the Brotherhood is another example of a minor trend over the past dozen years or so: the emergence of kick-ass 2-piece bands.  Ghostland Observatory, Lightning Bolt, and Death from above 1979 are just a few of the long list of dynamite duos.  JEFF the Brotherhood has been one band that has come through and torn its own path. They’re a guitar/drum kit brother-band who know how to rock your face off, but neither of them carry the name Jeff.

Already 6 albums deep, the punk/pop/grunge/rock amalgamation throw out their latest effort with Hypnotic Nights.  The album marks the band’s first foray into big production having been produced by fellow 2-piece legend, The Black Keys‘ Dan Auerbach. With Auerbach at the board and brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall heading the charge, this heavy front of “rawk” songs shows off its stripes in short time. Here’s my Song by Song Review of the album.

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The Flaming Lips Get a Song by Song Review of Heady Fwends

06/26/2012 By

Although The Flaming Lips have been kicking up dust long before their commercial debut  with 1993′s Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, their sound didn’t fill their song-writing shoes until 1999′s The Soft Bulletin.  Since then, they’ve released a string of critically acclaimed albums, EPs, and digital releases.

Following their departure from Warner Bros. in January of 2012, The Flaming Lips vowed to deliver different music in a different manner than ever before.  This was quickly found to be an understatement when songs come packaged in gummy-brains and a song stretched to 24 hours in length.

Possibly the most far out move to be credited to The Flaming Lips is an album whose liner notes feature both the names “Yoko Ono” and “Ke$ha.”  Heady Fwends is a collection of thirteen tracks written over the course of the latter half of 2011 and early 2012 with various musicians from a diverse range of musical backgrounds, such as  Bon Iver, Neon Indian, Lightning Bolt, Prefuse 73, Eryka Badu, Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Yoko Ono. Wearing a heavy coat of satire, the album is a dense piece of work at heart offering a bevy of differing sounds and songs from a random assortment of musical talent.
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Chris Milam Stops by Ardent Studios to Play The Warm Up

09/02/2011 By
The Warm Up with Chris Milam [ 19:46 | 18.1 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Warm Up Podcast at Ardent StudiosChris Milam doesn’t like Kickstarter – too passive he says. So instead, he has decided to stage his very own fundraiser to raise money to record a new album. He’ll be playing from 4 until 10pm TODAY in front of the I Love Memphis Mural in Cooper-Young. If you are a fan of TVD, you might have already come to know Chris Milam from his excellent Another Cup of Coffee series of interviews with all sorts of Memphis music mavens. If you are not reading his blog or following on Twitter – you are missing out!

He’s been working on some new songs, so if you’re a local to Memphis, go give him some love tonight. He told us to tell you to bring beer.

Check out our podcast to hear some outstanding live tunes! Then download the The Warm Up at Ardent Studios with Chris Milam  podcast! It’s a free Memphis music download from us to you!

Chris Milam has more stories than songs. Of course, he’s not running short on those, either. And for every city, every stage , every hotel desk clerk he flirts with to get a few extra free muffins for the long drive back to Memphis, every pang of homesick or moment of road weary, there’ll be another song. And at least a dozen more stories.

But the one thing that remains the same through all of them, the one central character and unwavering motif, is the music. And like the stories of so much good music, this one starts in Memphis.

A lefty, Chris taught himself to play guitar by watching his brother, memorizing the shapes of his hands in different chords and flipping them upside down. Not long after, in high school, he started crafting songs. But it was in college that Chris did what maybe we’re all supposed to do in those four years: reach some level of self-actualization. Left entirely to his own devices, the only thing he wanted to do was write and play music. “I found myself telling people I was going to law school,” he says. “I’d told people that since the sixth grade, for some reaosn. I took the LSAT. I was looking at schools. And at some point everyone around me was like, ‘Who are you kidding? You’re not gonna do that.’ They were right.”

The Warm Up is music podcast recorded at Ardent Studios. We are thrilled to offer this podcast recorded live in Memphis, Tn as a free music download. You can also subscribe to this podcast via Itunes. We keep the music downloads for this podcast free by generous support from our sponsors. Please visit their sites and purchase their products in order to keep this podcast ad-free.

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Colour Revolt on The Warm Up at Ardent Studios

04/29/2011 By
Colour Revolt On The Warm Up at Ardent Studios [ 25:29 | 23.33 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Colour Revolt have their roots in Oxford,MS, but  we like to claim them these days as one of our favorite Memphis musicians, Snowglobe’s Luke White, has joined the touring band.

Colour Revolt first visited Ardent Studios to record an episode of The Ardent Sessions. That episode of our podcast ended up being one of the popular shows we have ever recorded, so it was great to have our old friends back at Ardent Studios to record a few songs for our new, improved podcast – The Warm Up at Ardent Studios ! When founding members Jesse Coppenbarger and Sean Kirkpatrick stripped down their songs for this session, they sounded amazing.

Colour Revolt is playing at The Hitone tonight AFTER Beale Street Music Fest in Memphis! Go early to see the Grizzlies game!

Check out our podcast to hear some outstanding live tunes! Feel free to download The Warm Up at Ardent Studios with Colour Revolt podcast! It’s a free Memphis music download from us to you!

Pretty much every band in history has had internal conflict, or members leave over some such inter-band strife. Not every band is able to push past that and create some of their most personal and cohesive material to date. Two years after the release of their full length 2008 debut, Colour Revolt –core members Jesse Coppenbarger and Sean Kirkpatrick — return with their sophomore album “The Cradle.”

“The Cradle” is unashamedly candid, and Coppenbarger and Kirkpatrick have no problem pulling back the curtain on the band’s past life and skeletons. In songs like “8 Years” and “Our Names,” the band explores new areas of their songwriting, while their storytelling style vents through personal issues and finds characters like “Carol” in “Reno.” They reveal the private moments of a life on tour and at home in “8 Years,” while the guitars in “She Don’t Talk” mirror Television and Elvis Costello. Brooks Tipton (keys) and Kirkpatrick’s ethereal tones swirl in the background of woven harmonies in the dynamic, pounding march of “Heartbeat” and “Mona Lisa.” Vocal harmonies, infectious melodies, and incessant drums pervade throughout the entire record. It’s evident that Coppenbarger and Kirkpatrick are finding the pulse of honest, brutal songwriting.

The Warm Up is a music podcast recorded at Ardent Studios. We are thrilled to offer this podcast recorded live in Memphis, Tn as a free music download. You can also subscribe to this podcast via Itunes. We keep the music download for this podcast free by generous support from our sponsors. Please visit their sites and purchase their products in order to keep this podcast ad-free.


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