Give This Band a Dollar: September 2014

Monday, September 29, 2014

Give Mothwind a Dollar

After gigging around for a couple of years, Little Rock’s Mothwind (made up of veteran players Jeremy Partin from Vore, Kevin Rains from Holy Angel, and Mike Mullins from Underclaire and Year of the Tiger) are set to release their debut record, In The Clutches Of The Novae, at a show this weekend at the White Water Tavern.

Mothwind hits that sweet spot of arty, occasionally proggy, metal-influenced rock. Comparisons to bands like Mastodon are probably inevitable. But they’ve got the goods to stand on their own.

You can pre-order In The Clutches Of The Novae at Mothwind’s Bandcamp page. When you do, you get an immediate download of the first single, “Sunbender,” which you can also buy individually for one dollar.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Give Reagan's Polyp A Dollar

It’s a cliché, but I honestly don’t know how to begin to describe Reagan’s Polyp, the prolific, perverse, musically unpredictable creation of Krel and Astronaut Body. Between 1992 and 2002, the duo (with occasional collaborators) released something like 25 to 30 albums. They get reduced to “punk” more times than not. But their musical story is much bigger and weirder than that. The liner notes to “Love Overdrive,” the band’s compilation of “unpopular favorites,” describes them as “avant garde anti-music.” That’s as good a description as any, but it doesn’t really capture that holy shit, what the hell did I just listen to feeling one should have at the end of a Reagan’s Polyp record. That’s the feeling that either compels you to play the record again, over and over, for probably more people, put the CD on a shelf where you won’t be tempted to play it ever again. The first kind of people are more fun.

Vetoxa Records has just issued the first three out of 12 Reagan’s Polyp reissues the label has planned for the next year or so. Facefuckingbatspermantidotepudding (1994), Deadenator (1998), and America Needs More Ass (2001) were re-released in physical and digital formats last week. Different recordings of “Citizen Dwarf” are the second track on all three albums. The version in the video above is from Deadenator, but the version on Face… is my favorite Reagan’s Polyp cut, so it’s the one I recommend you give up your hard earned dollar (and twenty-nine cents) for.

“Citizen Dwarf” (Face…Version)

Monday, September 15, 2014

Give Bonnie Montgomery A Dollar (and twenty-nine cents)

This week’s featured track is “Take Me or Leave Me,” one of my favorites from Bonnie Montgomery’s self-titled first album. “Take Me…” is a standout cut on a record that doesn’t have a single dud or even a filler track on it. It’s a glorious throwback to the days of “outlaw” country music and sounds about ten times tougher than anything by some pretty boy singing about his truck, or beer, or tight blue jeans that you’ll hear on country radio today.

“Take Me or Leave Me” is available on iTunes for $1.29. CD copies of Bonnie Montgomery are available at Arkansas CD & Record Exchange on MacArthur Drive in North Little Rock.

Bonnie is playing this Thursday night in a trio with Amy Garland Angel and Mandy McBryde as The Wildflowers. They are opening up for Billy Joe Shaver, one of the original country music outlaws, at the White Water Tavern.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Give Brother Andy a Dollar

If you’ve been out to hear live music in Little Rock anytime in the last several years, you’ve probably seen or heard Andy Warr. He’s the leader of the Arkansas Times Musician Showcase winning Brother Andy & His Big Damn Mouth, a burly band of boisterous barroom brawling rock ‘n’ rollers. He plays or has played in Iron Tongue, Sweet Eagle, Booyah! Dad, and a bunch of other bands. Lately, he’s started a new “dad rock” band, Marvin Berry, whose music you can buy for a paltry $500 a song.

But, what I want you to listen to this week is a cut from his Acoustic Demo album called “The Dumbest Things.” When Brother Andy turns down the volume, you find out what a really great songwriter he is. With the guitar amps turned all the way up, it’s easy to miss the lovesick heartbreak, the self-reflection, reluctant maturity, and the kind of stubborn optimism (if not outright hope) recurrent in his music. Once you hear it, though, you see it everywhere in his body of work. The song also has a cool animated video.

The song is embedded below for your listening convenience. Click on the buy button and give Andy Warr a dollar.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Give This Band A Dollar: On The Radio!

Thanks, everyone for the fantastic response so far to Give This Band A Dollar! I'll be on Shoog Radio today to talk more about the project and why it's important to support local musicians. Shoog Radio is on 12 noon to 3 p.m. every Tuesday on KABF 88.3 FM "The Voice of the People." You can stream it live on www.KABF.org or get the podcast from the Shoog Radio website.

Monday, September 1, 2014

To celebrate Labor Day, spend $1 on the labor of local musicians today.

Photo courtesy of Shorpy.

On Facebook the other day, I read a post by a local musician I like lamenting that only a few people had paid to download his most recent recording. He said it was hard to muster the enthusiasm and expense to release new music when it is met with seeming indifference from its intended audience. The comments on the article ranged from helpfully good-intentioned to hilariously sarcastic, but they all boiled down to two things musicians need to sell music: exposure and an audience willing to give them money to listen to their music.

To those points I issue this challenge to everyone who reads this: Spend $1 to download a song from a local, independent musician. I have a list below of more than 125 active and former bands from Arkansas. If you live somewhere else, chances are there that many or more bands in your state that are in the same boat. Even if you don’t follow your local music scene, there’s probably that one guy at work who’s always inviting you out to come see his band play. Look them up on Bandcamp or CD Baby or iTunes, listen to their music and spend $1 to download your favorite song.

Just as importantly, share this post. Challenge your friends to support their favorite local musician. Share your own favorite band or list of bands. Let’s promote the idea that local bands are just as deserving of our patronage as the big national acts signed to major labels or big indies.

I’m sharing this big list today. But I’m going to highlight a track by at least one “dollar-worthy” band a week at http://GiveThisBandADollar.blogspot.com. Bookmark that page, add it to your favorites or you RSS feed, like it on Facebook, and let a local musician know that what they do is worthwhile.

The Airplanes https://theairplanes.bandcamp.com/
Isaac Alexander http://isaacalexander.bandcamp.com

All The Way Korean http://allthewaykorean.bandcamp.com

The Alpha Ray http://thealpharay1.bandcamp.com

Amasa Hines http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/amasahines

American Princes https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/american-princes/id44968365

Ashtray Babyhead http://ashtraybabyhead.com

Bad Years http://badyears.bandcamp.com

Bear Colony https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/bear-colony/id210758865

The Big Cats http://thebigcats.bandcamp.com

Big Silver https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/big-silver/id128789541

Black Horse http://blackhorse.bandcamp.com

Rodney Block & The Real Music Lovers https://rodneyblock.bandcamp.com/