Nice Playlist, Brah | The Ardent Music Blog

Spotify Playlist: Fast Planet’s Brandon Herrington

07/13/2012 By

For our feature Nice Playlist, Brah, we ask some of our favorite musicians to make a themed Spotify playlist for us. You know, Songs to Make-out To, The Worst Bands I Have Ever Heard, Songs Your Mom Would Like, we just ask them to be creative, and then we post them to The Ardent Music Blog and share them with you. When you’re looking for a good Spotify playlist, now you know where to look. This week we invited Brandon Herrington, founder of Fareveller Music Festival and member of the newly minted Memphis electronic music group Fast Planet to put one together for us. We invite you to take listen to the playlist while you read why the musician included each song. Enjoy!

After the release of a new album, under a new band name (Fast Planet), in a completely different style than anything I’ve ever done, I have started to reflect on how I ended up here in the first place.

This Spotify playlist is dedicated to the bizarre way our influences shape us. My Playlist is called “How did I End Up Here?”

1. “Today” – The Smashing Pumpkins

This is where it all started. I was a seventh grader sitting in the basketball gym for the junior high talent show. After watching what seemed like hours of baton twirling and beginner piano arrangements, three eighth-graders walked out with real drums and guitars and proceeded to (probably) butcher “Today” by the Smashing Pumpkins. I was floored. It was my first experience with live music of that kind and I was beyond sold. By Christmas I had my first bass and by the next talent show, I was completely butchering “When I Come Around” by Green Day and “Unglued” by Stone Temple Pilots in front of 1,000 kids.

It was glorious.

2. “Stars” – Hum

So I’m a senior in high school sitting in a car outside of a bowling alley when my friend Jared puts in a CD and says, “You have to check this band out. “Stars” starts out with the simplest, clean guitar riff over the somewhat awkward vocals of Matt Talbott. Then, at exactly 44 seconds, Hum hits a single, distorted chord that completely melted everything I had ever known about music.

3. “Guitar and Video Games” – Sunny Day Real Estate

Sunny Day Real Estate will always be my favorite band. Their concert I attended when I was nineteen probably should have been the day I gave up playing music. Maybe it was being young and experiencing them then, but the intensity and emotion I saw in that show was something unmatched.

4. “1/1” – Brian Eno

This is where ambient music began for me. You could probably argue that it’s where ambient music really began, period. Freshman year of college, I attended a small, Christian school in Jackson, Mississippi. It was also the year my band dora began writing…in Memphis. Needless to say, I drove back and forth from Memphis to Jackson all of the time. During those drives, I discovered a couple of ambient shows on the radio. One was “Into the Deep” on WEVL. It is now the longest running ambient show on the radio in the Southern United States.

This track is probably still my favorite ambient song. It is also a good introduction to those who think ambient music is simply boring, droning white noise.

Spotify Playlist: Michael the Blind

05/02/2012 By

For our feature Nice Playlist, Brah, we ask some of our favorite musicians to make a themed Spotify playlist for us. You know, Songs to Make-out To, The Worst Bands I Have Ever Heard, Songs Your Mom Would Like, we just ask them to be creative, and then we post them to The Ardent Music Blog and share them with you. When you’re looking for a good Spotify playlist, now you know where to look. This week we invited singer/songwriter Michael the Blind to put one together for us. We invite you to take listen to the playlist while you read why the musician included each song. Enjoy!

1. “A Feeling” – Throwing Muses

Throwing Muses taught me not to be afraid to use the insanity stuff from my life in my songs. “A Feeling” has about it a twitchy, but sinewy sensibility that lends itself to near-obsession.

2. “On Doing An Evil Deed Blues” – John Fahey

The title of this John Fahey track says it all for me and makes it perfect for the playlist. “On Doing an Evil Deed Blues”. His playing on this early version is so half-broken sounding that you want to break down.

3. “Summertime Suidice #2″ – David Donedero

Summertime in the south is a time of stickiness and heat, and bug noises and more heat. That kind of weather makes a lot of folks feel slow and dreamy, but David Dondero‘s lilting number makes me think of how I’d just about lose my cool trying to think of a way to calm down in that nearly stifling atmosphere.

4. “Crystal Blue Persuasion” – Tommy James and The Shondells

In almost the same way, the utterly placid, groovy feel of this Tommy James song in particular makes me want to tear my hair out every time I hear it. It is this very quality of calmness about it that unsettles me so.

5. “Seasons in the Sun” – Terry Jacks

“Seasons in the Sun” might be the best song to throw a total foot-stomping, screaming-at-the-sky kind of “Losing It” party over, ever. Luckily, it’s found on spotify.

Spotify Playlist: Jason Goldberg of Beak

04/17/2012 By

For our feature Nice Playlist, Brah, we ask some of our favorite musicians to make a themed Spotify playlist for us. You know, Songs to Make-out To, The Worst Bands I Have Ever Heard, Songs Your Mom Would Like, we just ask them to be creative, and then we post them to The Ardent Music Blog and share them with you. When you’re looking for a good Spotify playlist, now you know where to look. This week we invited Jason Goldberg of the post-metal Beak to put one together for us. We invite you to take listen to the playlist while you read why the musician included each song in their Spotify playlist. Enjoy!

I know people like happy or funny themes, especially when it comes to mix tapes or Spotify playlists or whatnot, but there have been some songs throughout my life that I thought, if I was gonna do it – I mean really do it…I would play one of these songs.

1. “Avalanche” / Songs of Love and Hate / Leonard Cohen

Some guys just knew how to say it all in one song. Wrap up all the world’s bullshit with one fine poem and some string instruments. Done.

2. “On Ships of Gold” / Three / The Black Heart Procession

There’s something about a weak, distant voice through a megaphone on top of a howling wind musical saw, creaking floor and that nails on chalkboard rusty lantern sound; just creeps into your bones like the flu and there ain’t no remedies in the house and your feet have been hobbled.

3. “Chalice” / Black Light District / Coil

Angelic voices ascending and sweeping as only Coil knew how, with swirling Doppler vacuum noises being flushed down black holes. Profound audiophilic music that should have been illegal or demanded that you be over 21 to hear.

Spotify Playlist: Billy Matheny of Southeast Engine

04/04/2012 By

For our feature Nice Playlist, Brah, we ask some of our favorite musicians to make a themed Spotify playlist for us. You know, Songs to Make-out To, The Worst Bands I Have Ever Heard, Songs Your Mom Would Like, we just ask them to be creative, and then we post them to The Ardent Music Blog and share them with you. When you’re looking for a good Spotify playlist, now you know where to look. This week we invited Billy Matheny of Southeast Engine to put one together for us. We invite you to take listen to the playlist while you read why the musician included each song. Enjoy!

I suppose I’m stating the obvious here, but when you’re in a band, you spend a fair amount of time driving around in a van listening to music. While I would be more than happy to compile a lovingly selected Spotify mix of songs that Southeast Engine actually listens to en route to shows, I thought it would be more fun to turn your attention to that cowboy hat wearing hydra that was 90s mainstream country music.

This music was the bane of my youth. I came of age in rural America during the 1990s when these performers could be heard everywhere. As a rock snob in-training, I didn’t appreciate having to hear Tim McGraw at every turn. My parents used to go little parties at their friends’ houses. The adults would hang out in the kitchen, drinking Zima and Busch, while the kids would play Super Nintendo in the other room. The boombox on the kitchen counter played these CDs, which I’m sure were purchased from Columbia House or BMG. I suppose this music qualifies as the sound of childhood even more than the music that I actually enjoyed.

Without further adieu, here are some choice jams from that era. Don’t rock the jukebox, y’all.

‘Two of Kind, Workin’ on a Full House” by Garth Brooks

This isn’t the most auspicious of beginnings, because Garth Brooks apparently doesn’t allow his music on Spotify. However, making a 90s country mix without him would be like making a pizza without the crust. Because he’s such a cornerstone of the genre, I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for this faithful tribute version. I wholeheartedly recommend finding the original because half the joy of this track is the way that Garth (yes, I refer to him on a first-name basis) enunciates the line, “we really fit together if you know what I’m talkin’ about.” He’s practically beatboxing by the end of it. I like to imagine a cool-cat producer seated behind the glass, coaching him, saying, “Garth, baby, it’s great, but can you get more vowels into that last line?”

“Gone Country” by Alan Jackson

This is a song that Southeast Engine has actually played in the van on occasion. Sometimes we debate the true meaning of it. I think it’s a straight-faced send up of people who were jumping on the country bandwagon in the early 90s. Sort of like Bruce Springsteen being ironic with “Born In The USA.” As a band, our favorite moment in this song is the line, “the whole world’s gone country.” With all due respect to Mr. Jackson, I seriously doubt that all 6.8 billion people on Earth have, in fact, “gone country.”

“Forever and Ever, Amen” by Randy Travis

Hand to God, I love Randy Travis. Even though he was wildly popular with the new-country crowd, he truly hearkened back to an older generation of singers like George Jones. His presentation has the kind of sturdiness that reminds you of Johnny Cash. He sings every word like it’s a foregone conclusion, so as a listener, I’m completely sold. Pay special attention to 3:20. His voice sounds like a steak. It’s like mesquite singing.
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Filed Under: Nice Playlist, Brah Tagged With: Aaron Tippin, Bob Dylan, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Reba McEntire, Southeast Engine, Tim McGraw

Spotify Playlist: Mike Pomranz of World Blanket

03/26/2012 By

For our feature Nice Playlist, Brah, we ask some of our favorite musicians to make a themed Spotify playlist for us. You know, Songs to Make-out To, The Worst Bands I Have Ever Heard, Songs Your Mom Would Like, we just ask them to be creative, and then we post them to The Ardent Music Blog and share them with you. When you’re looking for a good Spotify playlist, now you know where to look. This week we invited Mike Pomranz of World Blanket to put one together for us. We invite you to take listen to the playlist while you read why the musician included each song. Enjoy!

One of my favorite parts of music is rediscovering music.

Each year is a never-ending stream of new releases, typically piling up while your still digesting the records accumulated during every previous year of your life. But luckily, you don’t have to keep up. Sometimes you just want the equivalent of musical comfort food: Sure a hot new restaurant opened up, but let’s just go to the same Italian place we’ve been getting pasta at for years.

For me, 2011 was all about the 1970s. The completist in me took hold and I realized three things: 1) Most of the classic rock CD collection I acquired as a kid had never even been imported into my iTunes. 2) A suddenly, seemingly insurmountable number of my favorite albums I didn’t even own. 3) A ton of great ’70s artists I had been avoiding all together. Probably due to my apprehensions about failing steps 1 & 2.

And so last year became the year I tried to patch many of the holes in my favorite decade of music. And surprisingly, last year became the most enjoyable year for music I can remember in a long time.

Here are 9 tunes that I can’t believe I was living without.

1) Electric Light Orchestra – “Telephone Line”

Of my most neglected artists, ELO topped the list. Growing up in the ’90s, a lot of teenagers had the entire catalog of bands like Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd, but for obvious reasons, not many kids were pining for a new Electric Light Orchestra box set. This situation needed to be rectified. According to my iTunes, “Telephone Line” got the most plays of any song last year, and though it may be a bit of a clichéd choice, can you fault me?

2) The Doobie Brothers – “I Cheat the Hangman”

In revisiting The Doob’s records, Stampede quickly overtook the hit-laden album The Captain and Me as my favorite. The brilliantly produced and orchestrated “I Cheat the Hangman” is easily the LPs highlight, taking listeners on a nearly “cinematic” journey. It left me wondering how a band can put so much work into an album track, until I later learned that this 6 1/2 minute epic was released as a single. Mind-blowing.

3) Humble Pie – “You’re So Good for Me”

Inspired by reading Keith Richards autobiography, 2011 was also the year of learning to re-appreciate open tunings. But you don’t need to know anything about guitar to hear that “You’re So Good for Me” could be one of the most neglected classic rock gems of all time. Humble Pie is so undervalued it’s kind of sickening.

Spotify Playlist: King of Prussia

03/19/2012 By

For our feature Nice Playlist, Brah, we ask some of our favorite musicians to make a themed Spotify playlist for us. You know, Songs to Make-out To, The Worst Bands I Have Ever Heard, Songs Your Mom Would Like, we just ask them to be creative, and then we post them to The Ardent Music Blog and share them with you. When you’re looking for a good Spotify playlist, now you know where to look. This week we invited singer/songwriter King of Prussia to put one together for us. We invite you to take listen to the playlist while you read why the musician included each song. Enjoy!

King of Prussia sent us this playlist full of great tunes from both obscure bands and some heavy hitters! It’s a collaborative effort from the band and it’s a great music stream to ease yourself back into the work week! Click to stream:

Brian Smith’s Picks

1. “And Your Bird Can Sing” - The Beatles as covered by The Jam

Go ahead, plug in your Rickenbacker, pour some tea, and try to play this lead part. I’ll wait. Damn near supernatural, innit? What are they laughing at? How does a kid in his 20s write a bass line like that? I include this perennial favorite partly because the first time I hung out with Sean Lennon he told me our first record sounded like the Zombies. Don’t get all smug on me. You’d name drop it, too, if it happened to you.

2. “Acid Bird” – Robyn Hitchcock, Black Snake Diamond Role

This guy complimented my suit before he played a show at the 40 Watt, using my dead friend’s amp. I felt like calling my mom but she just wouldn’t have gotten it. I’ve loved Robyn since the 80s- c’mon, who else is gonna use the word ‘corpuscles’ in a pop song? My first ever girlfriend, Allison Brice, moved to London and got to tour opening for him – check out her beautiful David Lynch-y torch music with the band The Silver Abduction.

Honorable mention: Ride – “Seagull, ” Love and Rockets – “Rainbird, ” REM -”Disturbance at the Heron House”

Vasco Batista’s Picks

3. “Chicken with its Head Cut Off” - The Magnetic Fields

I have to admit I’ve only recently got into The Magnetic Fields but it was love at first sight, because of songs like this one. The way he describes how the chicken runs around falling down and getting up again takes me back to my childhood, when I helped my great gramma do the same to her chickens.

4. “When Doves Cry” - Prince

I never realised how sad this song sounded until I played an acoustic version of it. At the same time it’s a killer on the dance floor. I like versatile songs.

Spotify Playlist: Folk Alliance International 2012 by Rachelandthecity

02/27/2012 By Rachel Hurley

For our feature Nice Playlist, Brah, we ask some of our favorite musicians to make a themed Spotify playlist for us. You know, Songs to Make-out To, The Worst Bands I Have Ever Heard, Songs Your Mom Would Like, we just ask them to be creative, and then we post them to The Ardent Music Blog and share them with you. When you’re looking for a good Spotify playlist, now you know where to look. This week we invited music aficionado Rachelandthecity to put one together for us for Folk Alliance International. We invite you to take listen to the playlist while you read why the musician included each song. Enjoy!

I look forward to the International Folk Alliance Conference every year. I always meet a lot of great people and discover tons of good music. It is easily my favorite music convention. Held in downtown Memphis for the last 6 years at The Marriott, it’s a small event hosting just 2000 people. The day is filled with panels and classes, with a few private showcases, but the main music event starts at 6PM Wednesday through Saturday and features about 30 official showcases each night. Then at around 10:30 the music moves upstairs to the top three floors of the hotel with about 6 hours of showcases every night featuring hundreds of musicians. The beds have been removed from the rooms and so about 30 rooms on each floor, around 90 in all, are turned into small showcase rooms with bands playing 20 minute sets. You’ll never see so much fantastic music in such a short amount of time anywhere else in the world.Not to mention, one of the most fun parts of the conference is the sense of community. Don’t be surprised to catch Steve Poltz sitting next to you while you’re catching a set from Matt the Electrician, or find yourself sharing a cigarette on the stairwell with members of The Tuttles and The Milk Carton Kids, and did you hear Anthony Da Costa was turning 21? Well, you’re invited to the party to watch as he is serenaded by Carrie Elkin, Danny Schmidt, Raina Rose, Rebecca Loebe, and many more.

This is a playlist of some of my favorite artists that played FAI this year. It is in no way complete (there seem to be a lot of artists either without music on Spotify or without their latest work) but this should give you a glimpse of some of the fantastic musicians that passed through Memphis last week. Now, that FAI is leaving Memphis and headed to Kansas City, we hope these folks will find another reason to visit us soon!

1. The Milk Carton Kids

I liked these guys so much when I first heard them last month that I invited them to Ardent to record an episode of The Warm Up. You can hear it here.

2. Humming House

This Nashville based group is friends with Carolina Story (who I really love too) so I caught them in a packed room where everyone seemed to be singing along.

3. Matt the Electrician

This guy is so mind blowing that I saw him play three times at the Folk Alliance – and I invited him to play The Warm Up. He played a brand new song that he named right before we recorded it. Listen to that performance here.

Spotify Playlist: Guy Capecelatro III

02/21/2012 By

For our feature Nice Playlist, Brah, we ask some of our favorite musicians to make a themed Spotify playlist for us. You know, Songs to Make-out To, The Worst Bands I Have Ever Heard, Songs Your Mom Would Like, we just ask them to be creative, and then we post them to The Ardent Music Blog and share them with you. When you’re looking for a good Spotify playlist, now you know where to look. This week we invited Guy Capecelatro III to put one together for us. Guy Capecelatro III has over a dozen albums to his credit and quite a bit of work with other artists. We invite you to take listen to the Spotify playlist while you read why the musician included each song. Enjoy!

Given that my new album’s titled North for the Winter, I thought it would be fun to make a Spotify playlist of some of my favorite sad, wintery songs.

1. Carissa’s Weird “September Come Take This Heart Away”

Carissa’s Weird was a modern-day, indie-rock super-group like Cream or Journey but not like that at all. After disbanding the members went on to do their own thing as Band of Horses, S, Sera Cahoone and Grand Archives, but none of that will capture the raw, emotional beauty of their former incarnation. This song perfectly illustrates pining and loss and coldness.

Noteworthy line: “I hope that nothing will ever remind me of you.”

2. Julie Doiron “The Longest Winter”

Former Eric’s Trip member, Julie Doiron, has one of those voices you just want to crawl inside and take a nap. She’s made a bunch of records filled with songs that tug your heart from its cage, but this one has a particular resonance.

Noteworthy line: “There aren’t enough blankets without you here.”

3. Pedro the Lion “The Longest Winter”

This Longest Winter is a different Longest Winter than the previous one. It seems Winter can get long. Bazan’s craggy vocals perfectly capture some sad longing here.

Noteworthy line: “Will you spend your whole life in a studio apartment with a cat for a wife.”

Spotify Playlist: Jon Lindsay

02/17/2012 By

For our feature Nice Playlist, Brah, we ask some of our favorite musicians to make a themed Spotify playlist for us. You know, Songs to Make-out To, The Worst Bands I Have Ever Heard, Songs Your Mom Would Like, we just ask them to be creative, and then we post them to The Ardent Music Blog and share them with you. When you’re looking for a good Spotify playlist, now you know where to look. This week we invited singer/songwriter Jon Lindsay to put one together for us. We invite you to take listen to the playlist while you read why the musician included each song. Enjoy!

It’s no secret that greater NC has one of the best music scenes anywhere. It’s also not much of a secret that I’m a sucker for super-fanning my pals from around these parts, getting deeply lost in the genius of their eclectic work, and yes – being that loud, well-meaning asshole in the front row pounding on the monitor to the back beat and singing along at the top of my lungs at the shows we play together, or that I make it out to attend. It’s always deeply comforting for me to have their familiar voices creeping outta the van speakers on a harsh morning leaving Boston, or rocking me to sleep in a lonely hotel room in West Hollywood or Detroit.

So here’s a Spotify playlist for The Ardent Music blog that I pulled together to share some of the bands and tracks that get us thru out there on the road, and that I find myself coming back to the most. Of course this thing could go on forever and it pains me to pick such a small sampler. Also, many bands I would’ve included don’t seem to be on Spotify yet, so just imagine that somewhere in this sequence is some Max Indian, Tomahawks, Organos, Tender Fruit, The Light Pines, Lonnie Walker, and geez it’s lunchtime already.

Mount Moriah – “Lament”

“If this will be anything then let it be over / ‘cause the heart can’t keep trying to love something it doesn’t.” I mean, enough said, right? “A mouth full of bees couldn’t stop me from whispering I don’t love you” gets the point across pretty well, too. Mount Moriah is poised for greatness, but I think the word is already out!

Superchunk – “Digging For Something”

I hope I haven’t ruined this crispy track for the rest of my band by rocking it so much in the van. When we pulled up to check into our hotel to play Hopscotch Fest 2011, our hotel lobby was directly behind the main stage at City Plaza, where the band was shredding this song to pieces on a beautiful afternoon to a raging sea of bodies… I had to sit there with the windows down and wait for this song to finish. And my band is like, “We just heard this after Cracker Barrel.” Anyway, made me so humbled (along with the rest of that lineup, sheesh!) just to be in the mix of that festival.

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Filed Under: Nice Playlist, Brah Tagged With: Ardent Studios, Benji Hughes, Nicole Atkins, Rockwood Music Hall

Nice Playlist, Brah: Valentine’s Day Jams by Nick Redmond of Star & Micey

02/14/2012 By

If you are lucky enough to have a valentine this year to celebrate with, Nick Redmond has put together a list of sweet jams to serenade your loved one, and then a few to maybe even help you get lucky. Happy Valentine’s Day! Click to Stream:

1. Twin Peaks – Theme (Angelo Badalamenti)

The first 100 times I heard this song was on an aged VHS tape. It was the entire collection of episodes and the audio was warped so it made it EXTRA dreamy :)

2. “Stand By Me” – Ben E. King

Just a classic. Never ever got old to me…

3. “You Send Me” -Sam Cooke

For about six months the only cassette tape I had was Sam Cooke, Live at the Copacabana 1964. He plays this song and mashes it up with try a little tenderness, it’s just great.

4. “Sweet is the Night” – ELO

Reminds me of the beginning of a relationship.