Who are The Coal Men?  until 5 days ago i had no idea either and i was a lesser person for it….really, I do not know too much about them now…they appear to have been a 3 piece that has now grown into a 5 piece act (i gather from photos) from Nashville….however, they are not the typical trashville pop music with pretty boys in boots and cowboy hats outfit….they are a rock-n-twang alt-country outfit slightly reminiscent of a young Steve Earle or Old 97’s…too sincere for Nashville and too polished for Texas….as I was sitting here @ work listening to their debut cd “Nowhere’s to Far” the guy on the other side of my cubicle wall even took notice and asked who I was listening to…”some guys called `the Coal Men’…”They have a really smooth sound” was his observation…for what that is worth…all of my ignorance about these guys aside I can say this: They write really tight songs with a sincerity that you can hear….and before I was through the cd a second time I had placed an order for their newest cd “Beauty is a Moment“….so, in the coming weeks I hope to become more familiar with them.

There are 4 tracks from the new cd streaming on their Myspace page and I would highly recommend the track “Beauty is a Moment”.

Coal Men - King of Letting Go
Coal Men - Endless Road

Stereogum pointed me to Gnarls Barkley’s newest video.

and lemme take a moment just to say this: Gnarls Barkley is a BAND *not* a person….Gnarls Barkley is made up of Danger Mouse and Cee-lo Green…Danger Mouse is one of the most important artist/producers in music today….you know…Demon Days, The Grey Album and Cee-lo is a 10 year vet of the Dirty South hiphop movement a member of The Dungeon Family and as a member of Goodie Mob and has released two kick ass solo albums post Goodie Mob.

/end rant

Sorry, I just get tired of hearing people refer to Cee-lo as Gnarls Barkley.

from Creative Loafing:
Avant-Garde in the Now is a different class of art collective, one that welcomes up-and-coming visual artists as well as filmmakers, actors, musicians and other talented individual interested in pushing the creative envelope, introducing new ideas to mainstream audiences and making lasting changes to popular culture. This Saturday night, the group hosts its second public art event: Unripe 2. This venture into experimental culture includes performances by acts like Xingu (orchestrated noise), Uh-Oh Spades (film projections combined with electronic, rhythmic noise samples), Ironing (menacing electronica), noWhere, and Distraub (heavy, distorted drum and bass). Christopher Kelly, Angus Shafer and Tony Krol present original art installations alongside a display of works by Jen Moreno and Corie Staub, and in the midst of all the experimental madness, Aubrey Bramble and other area independent filmmakers premiere a selection of short films.

Sat., Sept. 30, 7 p.m., Transitions Art Gallery @ Skatepark of Tampa, 4215 E. Columbus Drive, Tampa, free admission, 813-621-6793.

source

Final Ol’ Dirty Bastard album gets release date

Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s final album is to be released, it has been announced.

The former Wu-Tang Clan rapper is believed to have completed A Son Unique just before he died, almost two years ago.

The album will be released through Damon Dash’s Music Group and has been produced by Wu-Tang’s RZA. It was originally scheduled to come out in August 2005.

Macy Gray, Missy Elliott, and Pharrell Williams, plus RZA, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, and Method Man from Wu-Tang are expected to be among the guests on the album.

A Son Unique is due for release on November 17.

There is an interesting article over at Variety about Yahoo! selling music online as DRM-free .mp3s. They are gonna sell Jesse McCartney’s not album ‘Right Where You Want Me’ (probably not worth the d/l anyhow) without any copy protection at all and depending on the success or failure of the venture they may begin to do it with other albums as well. I really like this quote from a Hollywood Records exec:

“We’re trying to be realistic,” said Ken Bunt, senior VP of marketing at Hollywood Records. “Jesse’s single is already online and we haven’t put it out. Piracy happens regardless of what we do. So we’re going to see how Jesse’s album goes (as an MP3) and then decide on others going forward.”

My guess is Ken Bunt will be shipped off to Guantanamo Bay by the RIAA before month’s end….and speaking of the RIAA, the folks over at McSweeney’s get a disturbing letter from the blue eyed devils.

From an article over at engadget:

it would appear they’ve settled on $249.99 (not to be undercut by Apple after all), and will be launching the device in the US market on November 14th. Other pricing includes individual tracks for 79 Microsoft points apiece, and your standard $14.99 monthly fee for the Zune Pass service

There is also some info on accessories and accessory prices as well as some info on the preloaded content. Try as they might, I do not see them taking over the Ipod market but there was a time I said the same thing re: Netscape versus IE.

LINKIN PARK frontman Chester Bennington recently spoke to MTV.com about the band’s third studio album, due next year.

“We’re going for the music that inspired us, rather than the nü-metal type of sound,” he said. “We’re ripping that out. It’s completely gone.”

In its place is a mix of punk and classic-rock elements with vintage hip-hop beats, the singer said.

classic-rock & vintage hip-hop…it’s Retro-Nü-Metal! a whole new hypen genre!

Idolator reminds us that 20 years ago today Cliff Burton passed away…Here is a video from Metallica’s “Cliff ‘Em All” home video with two of his bass solos.

What would Mr. Burton think of the current Metallica?

here

Dan Bern sounds a lot like Bob Dylan. There, I said it…it is done…now let’s move on. I imagine Dan Bern feels the same way. One of my favorite Dan Bern quotes comes from him being asked about the similarity between him and Dylan he replied,

“I guess Bob Dylan was sort of the Dan Bern of the ’60’s“….

Now, before I move into complete fanboy gushings I will post this description of Dan that I swiped from musicbox-online. They are more professional and better writers and probably better looking than me…so, without anymore rambling:

“Like Loudon Wainwright, Dan Bern mixes pop culture with personal reflection, humor with cerebral eloquence. His acerbic wit can sometimes be a bitter pill to swallow, but in the blink of an eye he easily can shift gears to reveal the most intimately tender moments.”

there…now…ON WITH THE FANBOY! <- that’s me…wink wink.

I became familiar with Bernstien almost 10 years ago when my local community radio station began playing “Jerusalem” off his, then new, self-titled cd….My full blown love affair w/his music was cast in cement upon the 1998 release of “Fifty Eggs” and I have since preordered every release as soon as he or his label started taking orders.

Coming from the antifolk scene of the ’90’s Dan Bern has evolved over time and his music has even grown to include a full band but through it all he has maintained his dry wit and biting social commentary that made me fall in love with his music so long ago….One of the hardest things about writing this entry was trying to decide what songs to post with it…there are so many that are so freaking good..You really should pay a visit to his website and read the lyrics section…there are also some stories by Mr. Bern and while you are at it take the time to listen to these songs…Dan Bern is one of the best song writers you you’ve never heard of…and what a lucky break for us that he’s had a pen laying around…now listen to these songs…please…don’t make me beg…cause…i will….

Alaska Highway
Estelle
Tiger Woods
Jerusalem
Talkin’ Woody & Bob, Bruce and Dan Blues (a joking take on the Dylan, Guthrie, Springsteen influence, presented in the style of a Guthrie or Dylan talking blues song)

I would be very interested in hearing what you thought in the comments section.

Dan Bern is currently on tour and his latest cd “Breathe” was released on Tuesday thru Messenger Records. You can stream some of the tracks from the new cd on his myspace site and at Messenger Records.