The Ear Hole

Moore Emphasis on the Riff

As we sit in painful anticipation of Street Sweeper, Stanton Moore dropped us some waiting-room muzak a couple months ago. 

Actually it's pretty damn good, even if Emphasis! (on Parenthesis)*—much like his past solo effort—does sound a bit like a Robert Walter record. 

But the hard-hitting drummer found himself a fitting formula on Emphasis. Keyboardist Walter and guitarist Will Bernard (T.J. Kirk) accompany, the latter injecting a six-string riff-rock attack not heard on any of Moore's previous solo efforts. Nawlins funk, Zep rock and Garage-a-Trois jazz...with a smudge of curried hip-hop, as heard on "Wissions (of Vu)"

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Stanton Moore — Wissions (Of Vu)

Stanton Moore — (Who Ate The) Layer Cake?

Stanton Moore — (Late Night At The) Maple Leaf

Stanton Moore — (Proper) Gander

Robert Walter — Cure All

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Buy Emphasis! (On Parenthesis)

Buy Cure All

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But back to Streetsweeper. Word is the Moore, Tom Morello, Boots Riley joint is recorded and being mixed. No release date, but I'm guessing winter '08/'09.

A look at this savage in action. This gets filthy a little less than halfway through. Wait for the cowbell beat:

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Bonus:

Andrew Bird — Heretics (Early Version)

* plural = parentheses, Stanton. Learn it. 

Urges

The hype is real, folks. My Morning Jacket took a giant step with Evil Urges. Purists will say otherwise, but for my money, Urges is MMJ at its best. The band proves with these 14 tracks that you can go poppy and catchy without compromising a tried and true formula rooted in experimentation. 

In other words, it's no Sky Blue Sky. More like a Blood Sugar Sex Magic.

The tempos are ramped up, the beats souled up and the guitars cranked up, with the MMJ-brand hooks and melodies plenty recognizable beneath it all. Case in point:

My Morning Jacket - Highly Suspicious

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the Black Cab Sessions version of "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt. 2".

Buy Evil Urges

Also be sure to check out Current Fix's Extended Play later today for a full half hour of MMJ-related pods. Also airing on Current TV at 7 pm PT. Here's where you can find it:

+ DirecTV:  366
+ Comcast:  107
+ Dish Network:  196
+ Time Warner:  Digital basic
+ AT+T Uverse:  189

Say It Loud

Big ups to the UK's Record Kicks for giving us Iowa City's Diplomats Of Solid Sound. The Diplomats have a similar formula to their labelmates—and Ear Hole favorites—the New Mastersounds, but maybe with a little more grit. Hard drums, J.B.'s horn lines and nimble rhythm guitars bedrock these smart funk compositions, many topped with the golden female throats (c'mon, Google hits!) of the Diplomettes. Say it loud: I'm Iowan and proud.

Diplomats of Solid Sound - B_a_b_y

Diplomats of Solid Sound - Plenty Nasty

Diplomats of Solid Sound - Soul Connection

Get the rest

Rewind

Speaking of Ear Hole favorites, let's take a moment to rediscover Ubiquity's Rewind 5, shall we? Some cool remakes of classics by The Sylvers, Led Zeppelin and Burt Bacharach:

The Rebirth - Handle It

Nuspirit Helsinki - No Quarter

El Michels Affair - Walk On By

Get the rest

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Currently on Current

Do yourself a favor and bookmark the Daily Fix, The First Music Blog on TV. From breaking artists to live performances to on-the-pulse industry news, the show covers some really cool shit. Best of all, it does so in quick, 3- to 4-minute pods you can digest while your boss waddles toward the shitter. Definitely worth a daily check-in. I mean, it's like a blog that you don't even have to read. 

As long as you're over there, you may as well take in Current's intimate look at the Air Guitar Championship, featuring the indestructible Ricky Stinkfinger. 

"It's like being a mime, but not as stupid."

Heavy Rhyme, No Reason

Can you detect the theme this morning? 

There isn't one. Just take them, pet them and love them. Rufus is watching you.

The Raconteurs -These Stones Will Shout

Buy Consolers Of The Lonely

Rufus Thomas - Walking The Dog (Live)

Buy Live In Porretta

Wilco - Pieholden Suite

Buy Summerteeth

The Brand New Heavies - Soul Flower (feat. Pharcyde)

Buy Heavy Rhyme Experience

Sweet Defeat

I know it's shown its face here before, but what a perfectly apt title to quilt the heartbreaking defeat of the NHL's most fellated team...and right in front of their own fellated fans, no less. 

Detroit Cobras - It's Raining

Buy it on emusic

And some insult to injury:

Pharcyde - Ya Mama (Matt Dike Remix)

Buy it on emusic

Ah, loss. Nice work, Wings. 

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On the other hand, victory. I happened to be listening to this Neal Evans jam as Obama wrapped up his it's-pretty-much-in-the-bag speech Tuesday night. The tune seemed to work pretty well against his triumphant gait. Make it happen, B.O. campaign team. 

Neal Evans - The Shakedown

Buy it at Royal Family Recordings

And bookmark that site while you're at it. 

An aside: Olbermann likened the Obama outcome to Neil Armstrong's moon landing. Slow up, Keith. Better leave some room for November. 

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Speaking of filthy organs, how about these?

 

Jimmy McGriff - Red Sails in the Sunset 

Buy it on emusic

Enri - The Performer

Buy it on emusic

Robert Walter - Rivers of Babylon

Buy it on emusic

Lettuce - Dizzer

Buy it on amazon

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Coming up: new Mason Jennings, Black Keys/Crowes, NMA, Conchords, Atmosphere, Old 97s, Sean Costello and Richard Julian.

My CD drive has been broken for months, so I'm stalling. As soon as I fix that bitch, I'm all yours.