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NEKO CASE Review

April 14th , Atlanta's Variety Playhouse.

~Venues

Current Music Dynamics

(issue #1.)

Here You’ll find information on creative, up & coming recording & performing artists who we have experienced and are impressed with enough to listen to, write about, and promote. We have a policy of NOT writing scathing reviews of bands that we don’t like, instead, we're concentrating our energies on artists who are currently displaying the kind of talent, raw or polished, which has the ability to affect the audience and give the listener that musical thrill that we all crave. As in most of the creative material that we promote through ArtFRONT we would like to be able to bring these performers to your venue for a show. In each case where this is possible we will mention that the artist is available for bookings through ArtFRONT. We will eventually have CD’s and other merchandise & services available through our online store.

Clicking on the image or link to the left of an article will take You to the ArtFRONT web page for bands and venues that we are currently promoting. Otherwise, there's a link to each band's own website.

If You have any musical information You'd like to share with us or if You would like to submit an article please see the note at the bottom of this page.

For a look at ArtFRONT's Agency Invitation for concert booking, to musicians and their agents click on the photo of one of Chattanooga's Nightfall series outdoor concerts on the left and You will get a complete inside view of some of the best concert venues in the Southeast.

"The Listening room" is being furnished with lots of great music by some of the kindest musicians working today. This is a space where You can link to artists' sites who graciously allow us to listen to some of their songs online in their entirety. As always we've selected the most thrilling new music that we could find. To get to The Listening Room, scroll down to the bottom section of this page while reading all about the various artists we are currently enamored with. You can then link directly to these artists' streaming audio sites while keeping our Music section open, and continue to read here while You listen. There's a wealth of information in these combined links. If you're feeling lazy You can just turn on the music and kick back or crank it up and go do some chores around the house. This could be the beginning of the final solution to commercial radio.

The Everybodyfields

***Featured in "The Listening Room."***

ArtFRONT's current Top Pick for Best Overall Performing & Recording Artists "

You can say it's just my opinion but I've been to a LOT of shows this past year, every conceivable style of music from metal to country to techno to punk. and right now it's got to be Americana style ensemble The Everybodyfields Who are doing the most impressive performances and songwriting at the moment. I have been to see them ten times over the last couple of seasons and they are dazzling everyone who happens upon them. You can still see them in small venues for just a few bucks, and DJ's with good taste and freedom from corporate payola are playing them as soon as they discover them. A full press article & interview is available by clicking the photo to the left. Look for a lot more press on them coming up real soon.

They have two excellent full CD's titled "Halfway There, Electricity & The South." and this summer's "Plague of Dreams." They will most likely have a third by this time next year. To give an example of their attention getting power, they got a gig on N.P.R. radio's "Mountain Stage" Program before their first CD was done by sending a three song demo to Larry Gross. Their slot in "The Listening Room." contains two complete live songs which will give a taste of what they can do just walking onstage and pouring it out. One show I saw was in a smoky barroom in Rome, GA where I found the hairs standing up when they played familiar passages, yeah it's that kind of good. And more than just consistent performers they seem to be improving and developing more each time I see them.

Look at the long list of "Shows" linked on their web page. Their CD's are available at their live performances, through their website, www.theeverybodyfields.com and on CD Baby where You can read some more gushing reviews of both recordings. Check back here for more info on the everybodyfields as they develop, as well as a lot of other great "Americana" style music that I've been discovering, just as soon as I can get all these demos stacked somewhere besides on my keyboard, my bed , my kitchen sink etc..

~R.

2004 DETROIT MUSIC AWARDS:
16 NOMINATIONS

WINNER IN 2 CATEGORIES

OUTSTANDING ROCK/POP RECORDING
OUTSTANDING URBAN/FUNK
HIP-HOP RECORDING

Sista Otis & The Wholly Rollers

Article from the front page of the Friday Entertainment section of The Detroit Free Press, April 23rd, 2004

I was so impressed with Sista Otis’s solo guitar playing & singing when I met her at the Rainbow Gathering in Utah, playing solo in the forest at night, that I immediately offered to find her places to play in my home turf. She had a magnetic spiritual enthusiasm and a voice that radiated beyond any normal solo performer with a guitar. At that time I was thinking that a girl with that kind of magic could play virtually anywhere. Then I started seeing the press that she and her band have been receiving in Detroit. When I first offered to promote her I didn’t know she had a full six member band…But it turns out Sista Otis and the Wholly Rollers are part of Detroit’s Urban Folk movement. A style which draws on the city’s eclectic Motown, hip hop R&B & funk –rock heritage to tell the musical story of what’s important about life in the early 21^st century. O yeah And they can rock! And she can sing, and the drummers can drum and their new CD called "Worldwide Release" is being played by numerous radio stations in the Detroit & Ann Arbor region.

Anyway, I was so drawn to this scene that I flew up to Detroit for their CD release party at "The Magic Bag" on Sept. 5. I‘m guessing that maybe 300 fans packed into the theatre and threw their wholehearted support down for the danceable party music, laced with preachin' ‘and love.

I must say that if You are a club owner lucky enough to have these folks play, for God's sake get your sound system in good enough shape to handle a real rock n roll band, cause these folks deserve to be heard clearly.

Their Brand New CD has a good, punchy production sound. It’s definitely ready for the radio. I do wish there were more than the ten songs included. Even so it’s still a good deal at only $12.97 from CDBaby.com. (hopefully available here as well, when we get our site finished up.) So buy the CD and then contact us here at ArtFRONT to have them come and play at your club before their fans get too numerous to fit inside and they end up playing in some arena .

"Freekbass is the new spiritual warrior for the Funk."

~ Bootsy Collins

"Freekbass"

*also featured in the "Concert Reviews"*

Freekbass is a 7 piece all out funk ensemble led by Chris Sherman who is the "Freekbass." Named as such by his mentor & record producer Bootsy Collins. This is the band that carries on the funk tradition of the most upbeat dance music of James Brown, Parliament Funkadelic and of course Bootsy, and they do it with an original and highly recognizable style. There's a showy hard rocking edge to this Cincinnati outfit and they have plenty of energy to get a crowd up and keep them moving. I was drawn to this band because they have worked out the formula that this whole generation of music is trying to distill and funnel into an energetic, hard rockin' groove that's non stop and melodious as well. Their tight arrangements contain horn, keyboards, guitar and backing vocals with Freekbass in the Forefront. And like virtually every danceable band out there now they also project some of the more contemporary elements of hip-hop.

Chris Sherman's vocals alone should be enough to carry the band onto radio and they also feature vocals by their drummer and backing vocalists on-stage. On record, a number of veteran funk musicians pop up and fill in the gaps perfectly, including Buckethead, Bernie Worrell, Catfish Collins, Richard Fortus, vocalists Carole Walker and Melanie Gregory and of course Bootsy himself. There's even a banjo and fiddle player on one tune, "Do We Even Belong Together" which should please Jam band fans to no end. Both CD's have plenty of outstanding numbers. I've been following the Freekbass news since they were first brought to my attention by The Rose Robert Agency who works with "Sista Otis" and a long list of others. I finally got a chance to see them perform live in their home turf of Cincinnati at "The Mad Frog" On May 17. You can read a brief concert review of that show in our "Concert Reviews" section.

I tested out one of their CD's by driving around downtown Chattanooga one Saturday afternoon with my convertible top down and Freekbass thumping. Instead of scowls of disturbance like most loud music gets on the street, I got plenty of goofy grins, and I noticed nearly everyone literally picking up their step and actually doing a little funky walk as long as they were under the influence of my rolling broadcast. So, if Freekbass can make people on the streets of Chattanooga want to dance when I roll by with my stereo crankin' think what they can do in concert.. (A friend from Eastern Europe once exclaimed, "do You realize how much alcohol it takes to get a person from Tennessee to dance?") Anyway they haven't been down here yet but as hungry for the funk as people are around here, once people catch on they are going to prove to be a force impossible to ignore.

Any venues looking for this kind of dance & funk rockin' phenomena, I've found it, this is the real thing. Check 'um out in our concert reviews and click on their ArtFRONT promo page link to the left, where You can watch a concert slide-show and print out a tour poster (coming soon!) Then find tons more information on their official website, where You can listen to samples of every song on both their CD's, check out their lengthy bios, musical history & press reviews, then see their tour schedule and book 'em for a show.

"Pretty Stuff"

If You are a fan of straightforward & melodious female acoustic singer songwriters with pretty voices and interesting lyrics, these girls should be playing on your CD early in the morning or late at night, or whenever you want to enjoy relaxing music that also makes You think about life a bit.

Unfortunately neither Jennifer or Audra's websites provide any streaming or downloadable music, but Jane Weaver's record label and the B.B.C. has provided us with enough streaming audio to earn her the current "Top Pick " for Singer/Songwriter here on ArtFRONT as well as becoming my current obsession .

Jane Weaver

***Featured in "The Listening Room."***

Top Pick for "Singer Songwriter"

I'm listening to these live sessions through "The Listening Room" while typing this, and I'm feeling the star presence shine. Maybe if Nick Drake came back as a girl, with all new material, sonically influenced by experiences in the great beyond? The snippets I caught of Jane Weaver's songs from her last CD titled "Like an Aspen Leaf" on WUTC FM were enough to send me on a search for as much of her music as I could find.

She is also the front vocalist and main songwriter for a band called "Misty Dixon." Touted as being born in the same hospital as John Lennon, this Manchester England song writer has leapt beyond the pale standard and is definitely creating music in the chills and ethereal bliss zone . Though she sounds nothing like a Beatle there is definitely some of the same magic going on, in a much more intimate and feminine way. This music is currently my top pick for melodic vocals and song writing in any category. I'll be looking into everything Jane Weaver has a hand in as time goes on. I managed to get a copy of her lovely & solid solo E.P. "Like an Aspen Leaf." Before that I was continuously listening to the webcast of her BBC "Collective Sessions" live acoustic performance, played in front of a small audience. And then to the Misty Dixon CD "Iced to Mode" which can be listened to in it's entirety on the "Twisted Nerve" record label's site and linked to directly through "The Listening Room."

I’ve recently discovered www.planet-claire.org , a French website which has live recordings, interviews and photos of a number of musicians including Jane Weaver, Cat Power (Chan Marshall) and many others. From what I can understand of the French it’s the interview archive of a Parisian radio station, "Aligre" 93.1 and contains recordings made live in their studio. I was VERY happy to find these versions of the Jane Weaver Songs and there’s lots of other interesting stuff including a fun interview with Chan Marshall and live recordings of dozens of artists such as Kings of Convenience , Sigur Ros, Cornershop and many more. You can hear “A Bird Stole the Gold” (One of My favorite Jane weaver songs ) and tap into the “Planet-Claire music archive through Jane Weaver’s page in "The Listening Room.”

There's so much to say about the desperate need to collect all of these gems and make sure they are available for the truly blessed to gain inspiration from that I've devoted a large portion of "The Listening Room" to the links where Jane Weaver & "Misty Dixon" songs can be heard. There are eight Jane Weaver Songs and an entire "Misty Dixon" LP provided by Twisted Nerve Records in "The Listening Room.." Later it's possible we may have a full page link here devoted to this stunning talent where more space can be devoted to the descriptions of the Mod, the sad the powerful, the British & the chills which are just a few of the moods that are conveyed by the music of Jane Weaver & Misty Dixon. This is my most frequently listened to material in "The Listening Room." Don't miss out!

Jennifer Daniels

play live several times over the past few years and She's regularly playing in the region all the way from South Carolina throughout Georgia, Tennessee & Virginia. Her informative website describes her in a very Southern frame of light, which I have to disagree with somewhat. I find her to be more universally appealing than most of the iconic female artists from this region. I am quite fond of her early, mostly acoustic CD titled "Fists of Flood" she has since released, "Dive & Fly" and a brand new album titled "Summer Filled Sky." Jennifer is currently getting quite a bit of exposure in the Atlanta area with her live performances. Her recorded music is original and well produced. I find her songs to be thought provoking, uplifting and full of beauty, but not at all in any "country" style.

For gorgeous country female vocals you've got to check out....

Tift Merritt

Also featured as a Top Pick in our Concert Reviews,
And in "The Listening Room"

I Saw Tift & her band perform at Nashville’s "3rd & Lindsley” Sept.26th. This was a concert broadcast over Nashville’s “Lightning 100” radio station as part of their weekly Series “Nashville Sunday Night.” Since the broadcast was only an hour long, the performance concentrated on material from her new CD “Tambourine” which focuses her energies into an upbeat rock’n soul flavored recording, with Tift’s definitive sweet country vocal style reigning over each song.

Tift and her band are on their latest tour and any venue in the country will be very fortunate to have this excellent group come and play for their audiences. This stage of her career is an excellent time for mid size venues to try their best to get these musicians on stage. This was easily one of the most professional and enthusiastic performances I’ve seen in many months. After watching countless rock outfits struggling to get a live sound worth staying in the club for, it was so refreshing to see these guys doing it all right. This goes not only for the awesome vocals but the guitar and keyboards were worthy of virtually any major rock act and I’ve seen many more famous performers who did not measure up to the spirit of rock n roll these guys threw down.

Tift Herself is far from being just the vocalist, a truly gifted musician and composer, she sat down at the keyboard for one song as well as playing electric and acoustic guitar and strapping on a harmonica for one number which she played “Bob Dylan style.” There are several songs on the new CD which should definitely be getting airplay. I drove 2 hours each way to see this performance and would gladly do it again, especially to see a longer set that includes more of the older material from “Bramble Rose.” Tift Merritt is recording on the “Lost Highway” label and You can buy “Tambourine” on CD and Vinyl. It looks like fans will have a very nice 70’s style foldout sleeve for their record collection. Lost Highway also releases “The JayHawks,” Elvis Costello, Johnny Cash and many others . Since “Lost Highway” is part of the Universal Music Entertainment conglomerate they have sprung for one of the best music websites on the internet. Go to “The Listening Room” to visit the Lost Highway flash multimedia site and click on their impressive jukebox to hear songs by Tift Merritt scattered throughout their large and impressive country/Americana catalog. Universal & Lost Highway seem to be picking up on the idea in my article “Why Artists & Labels Should release Free Singles” since they have a very large jukebox on their website for You to listen to for free. It’s A very nice place to spend some time for anyone who is a fan of classics such as Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson, who have quite a number of tunes scattered throughout the jukebox alongside contemporary artists like Tift Merritt & “The Jayhawks.”

An excellent interview and article on the new Tift Merritt CD
by Brian Baker, is on the “Country Standard Time” website. http://www.countrystandardtime.com/tiftmerrittFEATURE.html

My first encounter with

Audra Kubat

was when I went to Detroit to scope out "Sista Otis". After their show everyone kept telling me I should meet Audra because she was one of Detroit’s finer singer songwriters. I was fortunate to be introduced to Audra and her promoter/manager Stirling, and spent a good part of the evening chatting with these down to earth and amiable folks. The next day at the "Dally in the Alley" street party in Downtown Detroit, Audra graciously showed me around and it became very obvious that she had a real fan base there just from all the people that kept coming up to say hello and to introduce themselves, complimenting her on her performances. At that point I still had not even heard Audra open her mouth to sing, much less perform. As the afternoon wore on I snuck away to my rental car for a nap. Since I had Audra’s CD "Untitled for Now" I put it in the car stereo and immediately slipped into an aesthetic bliss state. This CD contains a LOT of music. And it deserves a listen all the way through by anyone who enjoys calm, penetrating melodies and clear soaring vocals. Her lyrics are a very mature presentation of the intense questions of youth. Stirling, her manager kept expressing how much her guitar playing has progressed since that CD was cut.

Since then, Audra has released a new CD titled
"Million Year Old Sand." An internet search for "Audra Kubat" will turn up dozens of reviews of this recording. All I've seen have been very positive, even if written by people who usually write about the more punk edged musicians. One reviewer who saw Audra at the Austin TX, SxSW festival described her as brilliant and pitied any band that played after her set because he couldn't imagine anyone giving the audience the kind of charge she did. She is also a regular nominee for handfuls of Detroit Music Awards. Based on the gushing reactions of people on the street I am looking forward to seeing her in performance as soon as I’m able.

"LO-HI"

***Featured in "The Listening Room."***

Hollis Queens has her home base in New York City along with her band called "Lo-Hi." She is a punk rock banshee who absolutely kicks ass. The music is really high tone gurly punk, (even though their press release says it's "pop-rock," I say it's punk!) The guys in Lo-Hi play some really tight, cranked up hard edged guitar. (This band is partly made up from members of "Boss Hog,") and the melodious song structure is pretty much at the top of the evolutionary food chain for this style of rock. There's a couple of songs on there that really push the envelope..(whatever that means.) With Hollis' vocals piercing the sound barrier. I was actually frightened that something was going to break painfully the first time I heard my now favorite cut, "White all Around." At first You expect it to be hard listening but the overall balance of their wailing melodious-ness sends chills instead.

I'd like to say that I really appreciate that this band has put every song, in it's complete length, from their latest CD onto this site for all You well informed people to get off on. I was amazed at the way Lo-Hi 's website works. All their music can be played simply by pushing a button on their home page, no downloads, no going to another website or page and it plays immediately! That would be my ideal setup for eventually having songs to play here on ArtFRONT. Catherine Mouttet who is a graphic designer for "YM" magazine is their web designer and it's the simplest and the best working music site I have ran across yet.

Has anyone reading this seen Lo-Hi perform live? Now that I've listened to their online material (& I keep going back to listen again,) I'm definitely interested in their performance. If someone unbiased (i.e.) not in the band or an agent thereof...with a good range of tastes and experiences gave them a good honest writeup for live performances, then they'd have all the qualifications for a feature on this music page! (Even though they're already here...?) And I'd start talking to them about the possibility of touring around this area.

"I Don't Know What
I'm Doing."

"Brad Sucks"

***Featured in the Listening Room "***
"Top pick for "Recording Artist."

THIS is a real find! Kind of like Brian Eno meets "Figdish" or some other lesser known Chicago rock band....Although Bradsucks is from "Ottawa" and bills himself as a one man band with no fans, Tower Records has his Disk so apparently somebody thinks its good besides me. This is just good rock music, and it's all there on his website. Go listen to it.
There's also some good reviews on his CD Baby site as well.. which I will post here in order to save myself work…
"Brad Sucks is a one-man band who writes, records, mixes and distributes his music from his home in Ottawa, Canada. Dripping with grooves, a vivid lyrical style, and an incredibly catchy pop sensibility, Brad's music has been likened to that of Beck, Moby, Folk Implosion and John Vanderslice. Very professional debut album, he should have more fans."
"A fantastic collection of nerdcore rock and dance songs filled with cheery reflective tracks to suit any mood. A nice original sound and a wonderfully produced album, the recordings are crisp and professional and the songs are individually catchy and different, a very hard album to categorise. Fans of Blur and Beck should check out Brad, another great 4 letter b-word." -Reviewer: Kajun Firefly

There's a lot of information on his website and You can listen and download all his music for free there, digital source code geeks and re-mixers will be in heaven, but I suggest mightily that You do whatever it takes to get a CD copy of "I don't know what I'm doing." I can't wait to hear it on my big studio monitors and in my car & take a break from listening to it on the computer." Bradsucks" is fulfilling my prophecy that one day truly talented musicians won't need a big studio because the technology to turn out excellent recordings will be available to everyone, but just having the gear won't make anyone an good artist. This guy has the songwriting, the vocal harmony and the production to fill in the gaps for any lack of virtuosity on any single instrument, (I'm assuming he plays everything on the CD.) I predict guitar players and drummers and all sorts of instrumentalists will one day be pawing at Bradsucks' door asking if they can play. Even though it is supposedly 100% homemade and Brad offers to sell it to You over his website by "burning You a copy" for 5 bucks, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this CD. I listened to the whole thing when I should have been elsewhere, but I couldn't bring myself to leave the house until all of it played. (Just make sure You click on the above link and don't accidentally type in Bradsucks.com instead of Bradsucks.net!!!! unless You're one of those nasty boys who likes that kind of stuff....) I wish these songs were longer, but there's plenty of them. I guess it's music for people with A.D.D. but it definitely should be on the radio & pushing a lot of other songs off their rotation slots. I'm very happy to have discovered Bradsucks. A top pick.

For a moment I thought maybe I invented the term to describe "Lerch" but I must've skimmed across it in some previous research and it entered my subconscious, then re-emerged here….but anyway it's apparent that there are people out there trying to start a movement, and if you're the least bit interested in this new phenomenon, and You really should be, just click down here and launch into an ongoing rant about the esoteric definitions of the excruciatingly dynamic "Nerdcore" movement.....

"Lerch"

is a very wacky, yet serious "nerdcore" band from Chattanooga TN, who have some excellent young recording techs from the MTSU recording cabal working with them.. ( MTSU, a state university just south of Nashville with a big recording industry curriculum.) Their beautifully hand made EP "Searching for the Crank Tank" Starts out sounding like "Primus" but progresses through several different heavy styles. Great driving music...their bass player is pretty phenomenal....and their drummer has an M.F.A. in percussion and is an instructor to young jazz students. I actually heard them being played on Nashville's WBUZ radio station one night, and they could merit some further airplay especially on college station type formats. Good Luck getting a copy of this CD. It's as rare as J.Roddy's. I bought one for $8 from their guitar player. You could write to WeareLerch@yahoo.com , but since they are from the slacker capital of the universe good luck getting any response. Speaking of slacker, one day I hope to offer rare finds like the Lerch & J.Rody CD for sale here on ArtFRONT. If You send me a note stating your interest I'll let You know whenever it happens.

MC Frontalot

   ***Featured in The Listening Room***

Calls himself nerdcore hip-hop" I stumbled into his "songhole" while trying to figure out where I came up with the term "nerdcore" that I used to describe the previously reviewed band. ….but anyway MC Frontalot., isn't what I would've branded "nerdcore" but he sure claims he is, over & over in his music which I won't call "rap" because it's way too musical, and the home made digital production is top notch. It's worth a listen just to hear the stereophonic effects. Maybe it's just canned hip-hop but Someone I turned on to him said it sounds like if Zappa were a rapper, a Zappa-Rapper? (minus the guitars.) Whatever it is there's some real nuggets scattered throughout this site. I stayed up way too late listening to it. I think this guy may be white...if so, this proves that white people can be funny & have serious rhythm too. Apart from the downright goofy and sometimes R-rated themes, Frontalot's taken the Zappa-esque linguistic acrobatics a step further out than most other artists of this ilk. There's some real artist level stuff going on here. An added bonus, several of his graphic artist fans post on his site, most notably the lyric sheets illustrated by Campbell Whyte which will become necessary once You become addicted to these beats. Check out the links to his whole "Songfight" cadre which is responsible for alerting me to the existence of "BradSucks" among others.

Amazingly, although this appears to be a San Francisco phenomenon, it seems the only place to get ahold of Frontalot's music for the time being is to hear it for free on his website, which we have featured prominently in "The Listening Room." I counted 25 songs there! My favorite cuts would be "Bragadoccio" "The Mountain Kind" & "Rappers We Crush" with conceptual hi-fives for "Indier Than Thou." WARNING The song at the top of his list "I heart Fags" is seriously R-Rated. He is accepting donations from his "Valued Suckas' and he has a pretty cool T-shirt too.

A decent interview with MC Frontalot is at "Instant Interviews"
http://www.instant-interview.8k.com/mcfrontalot.html

GFE

The closest thing to MC Frontalot's sound that I've heard live or on disk are the more polished G.F.E. numbers. These two entities should really hook up and become a force too powerful to reckon over…I have made my own compilation from two of the GFE discs that I like a lot, ("Beat Poet Manufacturing" & "Slacktivism") after throwing out a bunch of stuff that just didn't make me feel good. Frontalot is wacky and sharp witted and outrageously funny, with lots of stuff that the FCC would fine the crap out of a radio station over, & he raps about himself a lot. GFE is more serious, style & socially conscious and obsessive over their particular brand of space age spirituality. Also G.F.E .,which also stands for "God Force Energy" amongst many other things is a REAL touring band with drums, guitars, & horns as well as the large posse of hip hop DJ and rapper personas who take turns dishing out the jams. Rumor has it they recently shared the stage with George Clinton in New Orleans who also appears on their newest CD "Bigger than it Really Is" which I've not yet heard. They can be seen touring in the east all the way from home base Asheville NC up to Ithaca & NYC where they recently played The Knitting Factory and a Harbor cruise. They are also a regular focus of energy at the National Rainbow Gathering where they build a stage in the forest out of logs and tapestries from which they launch a week long series of performances and talent shows. All MC's tell stories that are entertaining enough to spend time re-listening to and the beats are catchy and fun. Listening to Frontalot & G.F.E. makes me feel sorry for po' ol Eminem and all the gangsta rappers cause after hearing this stuff those guys sure don't seem very happy, even though they've made all that cash. After all these years I still think Sumter Redstone (MTV) & Clear Channel are teaming up to destroy popular culture and eventually sell their airwaves off to the Republicans by making sure that as much broadcasted music as possible is depressing and violent and moronic enough to cause congress to want to ban all of it that everyone but clueless thirteen year olds have stopped listening to. Maybe GFE could work that theory up into a song ???

Charles Allison

**Featured in "The Listening Room."
Formerly recording as "Kil Howlie Day

I went to see them a few months back after hearing them on (You guessed it,) WUTC radio 88.1. I sat up late waiting on them and breathed in way too much 2^nd hand smoke, (see La Mar's in our venues section,) but that performance was better than anything I’ve seen on late night TV over the last year. Charles Allison sings, plays guitar and writes the songs. Local guitar whiz Scott Courter provided leads & solos on his Gibson ES 335. Charles' songwriting has a strange, tingly effect on me. The songs are SO melodious and almost too sweet for most of my rock 'n roll pals, But the guy really has got soul and a wonderful voice. You can listen to most all of his recorded music (minus my very favorite cuts from the "Braced in the Beams" CD) through his website, which is linked through "The Listening Room."

If You want to encourage a real artist of the melodious spine tingly variety, I'd suggest contacting him through his website and buying some of his CD's. I was also told he is currently working on a new disk, collaborating with the Asheville N.C. band "Black Eyed Dog." in more of a country swing style. There are supposed to be some "electronica" works forthcoming. While bands like R.E.M. have long ago lost my interest, and David Gates is long gone from the airwaves, (I never thought I'd ever find myself liking a musician I could compare with David Gates of "Bread" after being relentlessly pounded with his radio hits in my teenage years,) I am definitely interested in helping his music get some of the attention it deserves.

***

Be looking for

"Hopsing Project,"

from Chattanooga. They perform live regularly around here. They have one very good song titled "Vacant Innocence" on a local compilation disk "Chattanooga Market, Songs from the Southside" They're still working on their first full length CD in a Nashville studio. I'm looking forward to hearing it and will report back once it's complete. We have been getting hits here on the ArtFRONT Music section by people looking for Hopsing Project. They have a new website but still no contact info as of yet. You can send a message to the band through us by sending an e-mail to with "Hopsing" in the subject line.

The Shaking Ray Levi Society

has become one of the grand flag bearers of the improvisational music movement on an international level. "Improv," which was, and still is to a large degree, music which comes about as a spontaneous event, has developed as all movements do, into a more organized and complex entity than any of its' earlier musical adventures predicted. Rooted in modern jazz and experimentation, the music being presented by these sonic pioneers seems to have become more sophisticated and compositional in nature. This could be due to the fact that these guys have been at it for nearly 20 years. With that kind of experience even the most unrehearsed collaborations have become first nature for these musicians. Their concert on March 27 featuring soprano saxophonist Phillip Johnston was perhaps the most acoustically pleasing live performance I've seen since Andrew Bird's one man show at Barking Legs theatre. (Look for a review on Andrew Bird here very soon!) The typically small audience for these performances consists of old timer intellectuals, young DJ mix masters and even younger curious artistic types who are probably seeing something very unique to their generation.

One of the best Reasons to go see The S.R. Levi's perform is that Bob Stagner is one of the most phenomenally creative drummers I have ever heard. I have imagined for some time that Bob should have a big jazz band behind him following his lead. (They would have to be well versed in everything from Bebop to Coltrane to the more recent atmospheric electronica.)

Front Man Dennis Palmer has combined his bank of electronic hardware into something resembling the analog synthesizer patch panels of the 1970's, while polishing up years of experimentation. Even these most complex of instruments have become familiar enough for him to have developed a casual style which he can draw from at a moments notice. With his vocal punctuations and storytelling he takes over the most unique spectrum of the performance and becomes both showman and shaman. Dennis has also become one of the most distinctive visual artists around, his prolific & bizarre cartoon like paintings are as complex and strange as the music. I hope to one day have a Dennis Palmer art exhibit here in the ArtFRONT visual gallery.

The Shaking Rays have become more than just a musical group. Their educational and artistic community projects are highly documented in their website, which contains scads of archived material and many links to various artists whom they have worked with down through the years. Their site should be part of the standard textbook for anyone interested in this most truly modern of musical forms.

Up With The Joneses

*also featured in the "Concert Reviews"*

A band called "Up With The Joneses" Has been around for a number of years making their brand of party music synonomous with high energy fun times in "The Scenic City of the South." I would call their style of music "Speed Funk"........or something of that nature. Since ArtFRONT has been getting quite a few hits from people searching for "Up With The Joneses" of late, I thought I'd resurrect this article from last year and add some important updated information about Chattanooga's premier party band.

Check it out!
"The Listening Room"
is now open.

This area is the entrance to ......

Which You can begin using now! It's time to go ahead and spring for a nice set of speakers for your computer and if You've made it this far without a broadband connection I feel sad for You. This feature is designed so that You can listen to streaming audio immediately without having to download anything. If You LIKE to download mp3's most of the songs in here are downloadable as well.

Scroll to the bottom of this page for a few more comments on how it works.

Eventually this section will actually look pretty too!

The Best Radio Stations to Hear new music

Once I figure out a fair way to judge which radio Stations deserve the accolades inherent in being included in ArtFRONT’s Music Section I will set up a page which lists all of the best, most innovative, influential, groundbreaking, whatever....stations that people send me evidence of as being worthy.

For now, You can link up from wherever You are & listen to WUTC 88.1 FM Chattannooga, Tennessee. There's lots of N.P.R. programming here. From 1:00pm to 4:pm weekdays (E.S.T.) You can usually catch Richard Winham's tasteful cuts. To listen to streaming audio from WUTC 88.1FM in Chattanooga, click on the logo to the left. Oh, and hats off to "Jazz with Bob Parlocha" who keeps me swinging way past bedtime with his midnight 'til God knows when, straight ahead jazz program on this and other N.P.R. stations.

WDVX is a grass roots radio station. Now broadcasting from The Village of Arcadian Springs in Andersonville, Tennessee. One Saturday evening I was driving through the mountainous region just north of Clinton, TN on a mad dash up to Cincinnati to see "Freekbass" perform around midnight. Pushing the radio scan button before I got totally out into the boonies of Kentucky I found what seems to be one of the last fortresses of Real Country music. Not the artificial diesel smoke flavored generic commercialism that's being pumped out of Nashville and passed off as country. WDVX plays the real article, which is sought after the world over. It's a true believers treasure chest, a seemingly endless fountain of real American heritage music. And their Windows media streaming webcast is there for You no matter where You live, unless You got no electricity then You should get a fiddle and make your own music. Amazingly, this Public radio station was broadcasting out of a 14 ft. long R.V. trailer with dangerous looking antennas up on top until August of 2003. You can see a picture of it along with lots of information on bluegrass & grass roots festivals in East Tennessee and read the praises of fans of their webcast from all over the freakin' planet, and I mean Australia, Germany, Malaysia, Russia, England, and of course Iraq. Their play list will surprise You with Jimmy Rogers & the Carter Family, Earl Scruggs & Johnny Cash backed up against Jerry Garcia, David Grisman & James McMurtry. Their vast array of music is too large to list in this space. If this kind of stuff gets You charged up go to.wdvx.com and read about their offerings, and then start scheduling your own country Americana education by hooking up to their webcast.

I've enjoyed listening to the "Live 365" online broadcast by "RadioMike" out of New York City. Recently transplanted out to Austin Texas where he can ge a litle closer to the grimy musical obssessions of the down home populous....(?) It is well worth jumping through the hoops to sign up and listen to his unbroken playlist, which includes a lot of new artists I've never heard of with old traditionals mixed in. If You enjoy uncovering new talent, especially artists playing small venues around NYC, the photo section of his website www.thefeveredbrainofradiomike.com is quite resourceful and entertaining in a nerdy research kind of way. (Hey if it weren't for us nerdy researchers You wouldn't know didly...) Or just click over to his broadcast site for a pleasant break from commercial radio. RadioMike tells me that he is not only playing New York artists but artists from all over the country and the planet as well (they apparently love him in the former Soviet Union-- and there is some very interesting music going on over there. Hopefully we'll get to hear some of it soon.)

I feel like that what RadioMike is doing will be one of the big trends for the future of music. Since commercial radio is so easy to burn out on I believe more & more people will be turning to web broadcasts to find music that is being played by well informed music lovers rather than big corporations trying to sell their product.

PEYOTE RADIO THEATRE
A multimedia player with photos, videos, and audio tracks by
Jeff Buckley, as well as featured artists who have been touched and influenced by the music and life of this artist who drowned in 1997.
www.jeffbuckley.com
To Listen, Click on the links above then on media.player, then media, then albums & albums again in the rectangle that appears. It's worth the effort.

Recorded Music vs. Live Music

A recent revelation I’ve had is that one of the few things I can actually rely on in life is recorded music. I’ve also determined that I’m a sane person because my wild mood swings do not happen for no good reason. When it happens there’s always something or someone out there causing it. In the day to day workings of a modern life many, if not most of the elements which cause us happiness are fleeting, random and unpredictable. Some folks are luckier than others in their social surroundings and in the simplicity of their ambitions. Those of us who are surrounded by chaos as well as inertia, and have learned to successfully battle with flying monkeys as well as to shovel out from under all the lazy dogs which lie in the stony path to success have enough on our hands maintaining the functionality of the universe. Trying to simultaneously coerce the social and other random elements around us for the sake of our own happiness & well being is just too much of an extra chore here in the Southern United States. Most people here tend to just let things fly and/or lay about. But perhaps since this is supposed to be God’s own support belt I find that there is mercy after all, in the form of recorded music. There really is so much good stuff out there right now it makes the purely commercial DJ’s who don’t play enough of it look like total idiots. Recorded music can always be relied upon to uplift your frame of mind, (unless you’re listening to some really bad shit.) Even live music can’t be held in this regard because 75% of the time it sucks. Although there are moments when the truly talented artists shine and bring their talents out in public in a way that transcends slacker sound engineers, cheap equipment, bad acoustics, and choking clouds of cigarette smoke, not to mention burnt out band members and other inadequacies of performance. But without records, CD’s and the radio, the world would be a much more miserable place. And if You’re thinking of telling me that I should get out into nature more often, I do, and I always carry the tunes that are burned into my brain from listening to recorded music along with me. It sure beats having to carry an ipod..