Woods, Mitch, Ghost Town Revelry, American Idol?!?

I have asked on several occasions for folks to suggest/guide me to bands/artists/CDs I might have missed for Comboland Radio. I have gotten a few… but just a few. Sometimes from the bands themselves, which is cool. Most of the stuff I find I stumble across myself. Such is the case with most of the new additions to Comboland Radio this week.

It is fun to run across something I didn’t know about with some of the early Comboland pioneers featured. Such is the case with “For The Love Of Todd”, a tribute to Todd Rundgren released in 1993 on Third Lock Records out of Charlotte. It it’s North Carolina connection it didn’t surprise me that 5 of the tunes were from true Comboland artists. There is Don Dixon, Parthenon Huxley, Jamie Hoover… also Bill Lloyd and other artists from out of the Comboland region. (There are a couple of real dogs on here to be sure… In my opinion… but not by those listed in this blog.) To me, however, the 2 standout tracks are from Mitch Easter and The Woods. It is still amazing to me that Mitch didn’t release his first solo album, Dynamico, until 2007. His take on “International Feel” gives a glimpse, sonically, of what would come 14 years later. What a great tune to kick off the CD. Hey… the P. Hux, Jamie and Dixon tunes are strong too!!! So we are through 13 tracks after Dixon… the CD leaves me a little… ah… man I hate to criticize because I probably couldn’t do much better… and not all bad either. Then Track 18 hits… “Slut”. Man! If I had never heard of The Woods at this point in my life I would have been trying to find more songs by this band! This song alone makes it worth buying the CD. Jack’s vocals are fantastic; David’s guitar work is sensational. The feel of the song is just rockin’! I’m sticking the Mitch and Woods tunes in my Hot rotation for a few weeks, and the Dixon, P. Hux and Jamie tunes will be in the mix too. The CD is available on eBay for $3.95… if you are interested.

Congratulations to Nod Norkus! As far as I can tell he was the 500th person to “Like” Comboland Radio on Facebook. Of course today it says it’s back down to 499 and 2 of personal friends like it less… although I have the same amount of friends. Dang Facebook! Nevertheless Nod receives all of the glory associated with being the first #500 Woo Hoo!!!! He also posted a link to a band from Charlotte he plays drums for “Ghost Town Revelry”. Some good tunes here!!! The released their 2nd album at the end of 2010, “Phasmatis Apparatus”. Listen for them on Comboland Radio.

There are a few American Idol contestants from North Carolina head to Hollywood with their “golden tickets” (if you are an Idol fan you know what I’m talkin’ about). One of them is from Wilmington and has some Comboland connections. James Ethan Clark has a tune on iTunes, “The Vines of My Heart”. It was recorded at Chris Stamey’s Modern Recording Studios, produced by Ivan Howard of The Rosebuds. Singer/Songwriter, Django Haskins played lead electric, Joe Hall of Hammer No More The Fingers played background electric, Jeff Crawford of Mandolin Orange played bass, and Matt McCaughan of The Rosebuds played drums. James Ethan Clark wrote the lyrics and music to the song, and played acoustic, ahythm guitar, and piano and also did the three part harmonies heard in the song. Listen for it on Comboland Radio.

Back to Mitch… One of the music blogs I frequent featured a post about a quasi-supergroup (that according to Wikipedia) “The Orange Humble Band”. I am still trying to familiarize myself with particulars but Mitch is a member, along with Jamie Hoover. I have 2 of their CDs, “Assorted Creams” and Humblin’ (Across America). I’ll stick a few tunes in the mix at Comboland Radio. Give it a listen.

Sparkleberries, Mollybond, X-Teens Club Mix!!

Another off-season with the day job that is SO busy it leaves little time for Comboland Radio. But I have added a couple of things:
The Sparkleberries - "Architect Of Woe" (Love it!!) and "Skylight"
Mollybond - "Change" and "Friday Night"
David Dixon - "Whisper"

Of course I am also playing cuts from the most recent SCOTS release "Kudzu Ranch" and the new Superchunk tunes too... along with LOTS of other great music new and ancient. Check it out!

I have a bit of Comboland Radio email to catch up on too but if you have an artist/band suggestion please do let me know.



A recent eBay find!!!! In the early 80's it seemed like every artist/band had a 12 inch club/dance remix. One I missed way back then was from the X-Teens self-titled LP on Dolphin Records. I don't remember it, never had it, but did find it on eBay. It features 4 songs total with a 6 minute version of "Hard Is A Love Departing" on one side (the "club" side), and 3 songs on the "radio side". They are "Tonight, Tonight", "Nothing Left To Say" and "Baby John". I'm not sure this record had ever been played! It is super clean and needed little in the way of audio restoration in the transfer to my digital library. I'm gonna stick the Club Mix into the hot rotation for a few weeks so listen up!