2 with ten – the letter e
when i opened itunes on both my computers i wasnt too shocked to discover how few bands i had starting with the letter e. i knew e was going to be one of those trouble letters. luckily i hit the jackpot with my first suggestion. what a relief, and to top it off, i had 3 of their records. enough said, let’s do e bitches.
Enon. enon is a trio from brooklyn that was formed by john schmersal from the band brainiac. they released their first cd believo! in 2000. it was electronic and noisy and i really liked it. i first heard this when i was a content producer for an online music site and i left a track of theirs up on the music featured section for a very long time. enon is extremely interesting largely due to the fact that after this record most of the band members changed. 2 years later the band was still a trio that featured schmersal but now included bassist/vocalist toko yasuda (ex-blonde redhead) and drummer matt schulz. the track i picked, in this city is off of the high society record released in 02. they have gotten a little less noisy on this one but it’s just as cool. enon is eclectic and rich in the musical ground they cover. discover this band.
usually my second choice is difficult because there are sooo many bands to choose from. sadly this was not the case tonight. shit…i wanted to go with something new but it was too difficult to find something. ok, this might surprise a few of you but yes…rap.
Easy-E. despite his bad rap (no pun intended) easy-e was pretty awesome before he lost all credibility when n.w.a broke up. this is the guy that brought all the members of n.w.a together and just for that he deserves a huge amount of credit. his label start up money came from selling drugs – which is pretty dope (again, no pun intended). the track i picked off his only full length titled eazy-duz-it is called eazy-er said than dunn. this has dr dre all over it..it’s heavily produced with layers of samples. it was released a month after n.w.a’s straight outta compton and it’s essentially n.w.a but with eazy front and center. i wonder what it would be like to put your name in almost every title of every song you wrote. i guess it makes song naming pretty easy (again, no pun intended).
ok, now give me your e’s.
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Francis Ten
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chalkmaze u sound like me – hey…seriously, slim pickins for e in my itunes library. it wasnt pretty but hey – he was relevant. whatchu got for me buddy
ELO. From one of the best albums ever – All over the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpPlzeK7RM&feature=PlayList&p=C99D760943EF027C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=31
EDDY GRANT – Electric avenue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA5MtAmT24g&feature=PlayList&p=212665C7AD3E70EE&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1
Seriously, Easy E? LOL… My back-seat subwoofer lovin’ friends liked that stuff back at the beginning of the 90’s, and I guess it kinda grew on me, but I don’t think I could bring myself to give it any real props.. But okay, I’ll let it slide, as I guess you gave them points for historical significance. 😛
Einstürzende Neubauten – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TssuSYrxVI&feature=related I never could get into them, but the music is decent.
Empire of the Sun – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RirFEbFvvcA I know they were mentioned already but I like this video. My friend sent me this link about 2 months ago, and I watched it over and over and over, just something cool about the music and video (It’s actually one video with two songs).
My first “E†artist is Eskimo Joe, a band out of Australia that an Aussie friend of mine got me into. Both these tracks have a pretty distinctive 80s sound. This first one “Black Fingernails, Red Wine†was their first Top 10 single… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVSGZEud00s&fmt=18. The next one is a track called “Beating Like A Drum†and sounds quite a bit like old INXS in my opinion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTqahdx229w
I know how you feel about singer songwriters, but I thought I’d throw one at you anyway. Emm Gryner has been making music for almost 15 years now and recording on her own label she started, Dead Daisy Records. I’ve been a HUGE supporter of hers for many years now. She’s very generous to her fans and remains one of the coolest and immensely talented people I’ve ever met. She plays guitar and piano, but mostly considers herself a “bass nerdâ€. She writes and performs her own songs, but has also collaborated with other artists like Ron Sexsmith, Lou Barlow, Nathan Larson of Shudder To Think, Holy Fuck, Def Leppard, members of the Cardigans, and even played keyboards and sang backup for David Bowie on his 1999 tour. She also frequently reworks other artist’s songs like Def Leppard, The Clash, Paul Westerberg, and Stone Temple Pilots. The first song I’m suggesting is her own song “Almighty Loveâ€â€¦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd-ctAqPCfg&fmt=18, which Bono from U2 named as one of the songs he wished he’d written. Next is a couple I couldn’t find a video of, but nonetheless I wanted to pass them along to you, just to show you this girl’s diversity. First is a cover of the song “Dearg Doom†by Irish band, Horslips… http://new.music.yahoo.com/emm-gryner/tracks/dearg-doom–20629389 …and to show you how brilliant this girl is, a complete reinterpreting of Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train… http://new.music.yahoo.com/emm-gryner/tracks/crazy-train–175982989
Well well well…on to the Es. I had a decent selection to choose from. I am ecstatic that Lola listed Elbow as they are in my top 5 of all time, so I don’t have to list them here.
So my suggestions are…
Elefant – Listen to “Annie demo” specifically. I’ve seen these guys twice live both times opening for BRMC. The singer is a good frontman…good live show.
http://www.myspace.com/elefant
Elyzium – This is my buddy and former flatmates project/band. Worth a listen….check out the song “Thin Thread”
http://www.myspace.com/elyzium
Enter Shikari- Sorry You’re Not A Winner – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYss17285lY
Explosions In THe Sky- Yasmin the Light- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLRbriRAU9s
c’mon fran… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_c1uazn0oc
I didn’t have a lot of E’s either but I found a couple. I recently bought a great CD called Forwards (2004) by a UK band named The Egg. The song I’m recommending from them is Wall: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9A1VCapzjE&NR=1 . They also have another song you might like called Venice Beach. If you like them check out their myspace: http://www.myspace.com/theeggmusic . They’re friends with Boards of Canada! My other E is a Japanese band called Ends started by Ryoichi Endo the ex-vocalist of a New Orderish group Soft Ballet which I’ll get to in the S’s. The song is from 1996 and its called Kumo to Hoshi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2nugPueDfU
Love this song by L.A. singer-songwriter Eleni Mandell “Dis-moi Au Revoir Encore” cos it’s so damn sexy and sultry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbwvQMq9YNc&feature=related
Here’s another song by her called “My Twin”… just cos I like twins =)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWkpCaeoIpA&feature=related
So I often find myself listening to a lot of streaming radio channels and occasionally come across a few bands worth a further listen and a download. Fortunately for all of us, some of them started with “E”…
1) Eight Legs: When I first heard these guys I thought I was listening to a young Robert Smith:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTQci7NwjB4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTWwVTs3Tuo
http://www.myspace.com/eightlegs
2) Electrelane: Only one song in my library. Not sure if they are still around anymore but this song is still sticking around with me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlSfPmqiplY
here’s more to explore: http://www.myspace.com/electrelane
Cheers