Music/Bands

I’d be fooling myself if I said that I didn’t have a weakness for front women in rock bands. My music collection is busting at the seams with Heart records, Karen O’s unmistakable growls, and everything that Jenny Lewis touches. So it’s no big surprise that it was love at first listen when I heard The Ettes’ “Shake the Dust” (Sympathy for the Record Industry, 2006). The Ettes are a Nashville based band with a pretty straightforward garage rock sound. However, they’ve got Lindsay “Coco” Hames in their corner and her salty voice changes their game big time. Backed by the raucous drumming of Maria “Poni” Silver and the confident bass playing of Jeremy “Jem” Cohen, Coco shells out the lyrics with gusto and it pays off. The album “Shake the Dust” is a bright listen all the way through. The starting track “Reputation” lets the listener know that this album is a party, not afternoon tea. It’s delightfully brash and, like the rest of the songs that follow, barely flirts with the 3-minute mark. The songs “No More Surprises” and “It Ain’t You” flaunt Coco’s commanding vocals with aggressive lyrics. The twangy “Soft Focus” serves as a welcome reminder that the record was produced under Liam Watson, the man behind The White Stripes and The Kills.

It's time again for a three hour tour down the Black Warrior river featuring awesome music and delicious beer. The music will be provided by New Orleans party folk rock band The Blue Party (www.bluepartymusic.com) and the straight ahead buzz saw Punk /Garage rock of Model Citizen (http://www.myspace.com/modelcitizen). The beer part of the evening will be provided by Good People Brewing out of Birmingham. They make some of the finest beer you've ever had as well a being the closest brewery to Tuscaloosa. On this special event a pint will run you $3. The cruise will leave port at 7:00 pm and return at 10:00 pm no one will be let on the boat after 6:45 so be sure to arrive early. The cost is $15 and I dare you to find great music great beer and a three hour paddle boat ride for less. We hope to see you there. Act now tickets are very limited and will sell out much like the last Brews Cruise. As always we could not do any of this with out our sponsers: Wilhagans / Little Willies, The Left Hand Soap Compony, The Pink Box Burluesq and the Alcove International Taveren. Please go and support these local companies that make our podcast possiable. We are over a 1/4 sold out already so go here and grab you tickets. If ordering please order hard tickets or print at home as this will speed up entry onto boat. We look forward to seeing you there! Read more »

by Ally Nevarez

Earlier in June I had 700 miles of open road to drive, and a stack of CDs in my passenger seat. While albums generally do not make great navigators, they can be the best company.  Amongst my driving companions was the Los Campesinos! album Romance is Boring (2010, pictured to the left). A discovery made in the used bin at Oz Music, the band was originally comprised of 8 musicians from Cardiff, Wales who had all adopted Campesinos! as their last name.  Part of the Arts & Crafts label family, their lyrics are quirky and their tunes are catchy—what more can you ask for on an 11 hour drive?

The album starts out innocently enough with the bittersweet track “In Medias Res” that features unexpected vocal distortion, a confident horn, and sweet strings that serve as indicators of the variety and power of the rest of the album. The fast-paced title track “Romance is Boring” smugly makes light of ambivalent partnerships with an energy that causes closed-fist steering wheel drumming.  The mini-novellas “Who Fell Asleep In” and “The Sea is a Good Place to Think of the Future” are the most dramatic of the 15 tracks. They are so lovingly crafted that they never seem out of place, but rather contribute to the thoughtfulness of the album as a whole.

I have to admit, though, that I fell in love at track 7, otherwise known as “Straight in at 101.” The song is at times vulgar, but always smart and honest.  There’s hand clapping, cymbal smashing, and a killer spoken word finish that captures the frustration of every break-up.  The saddest part about just discovering this band is that on June 26, 2010 drummer Ollie Campesinos! left the group without a clear reason.  Despite the mysterious departure the album still rules—and so do their low-budget music videos.  Check out the videos for “Romance is Boring,” “There are Listed Buildings,” and “The Sea is a Good Place to think of the Future.” As always, you can findRomance is Boring on my employee picks at Oz Music, along with other Los Campesinos! albums that are just as energetic as this one.  I highly recommend it for fans of Pixies and The Shins.

  It may not have been able to tell me which exit was the right one or chip in for gas, but Romance is Boring was one of the best road trip companions I’ve had in a long time.  Whether you’re driving across the United States or just across Alabama, I hope it is for you, too.(ed. note Plese be sure to go support Ally at Oz Music, keep your money in town)            

--Ally Nevarez

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Little Willie's will have even more to offer than usual this Thursday. Our normal Thursday evening there involves drinking enough half priced wine to make Dionysus blush. This week will feature the Portland, OR-based band "The Insomniacs." These guys offer an old school, soulful sound that harkens back to a bygone era. A description of the band on their label's page gives nuggets such as this:

 "They play vintage instruments and channel a blues style from the 1950s, but there is a distinct new cyberspace bent to Delta Groove’s blues award winning quartet, The Insomniacs. These musicians who have quickly jumped into the top tier of clubs tour endless highways in a beat up van, babying a gut-string upright, the 1951 Fender “Nocaster” guitar, the 1964 Framus Star Bass and their Magnatone and Ampeg tube amps."

Upon listing to these guys it's easy to to hear that these songs would not mesh well with modern instruments. This will be one of the most exciting half priced wine nights you'll see for awhile. For more info on these guys check it out here.

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by Ally Nevarez

(* ed note. We here at wellthatscool.com are really happy to announce a new addition to the site, Ally Nevarez. We thought who better to dish out new music then the person we get it from. Ally can be found helping make Tuscaloosa cooler at Oz music. Next time you're there ask for her and she'll set you right up. We look forward to getting the scoop and passing it on to you very often)

What do you get when you bring together indie-rock heavy hitters Justin Vernon and Mike Noyce of Bon Iver, Zack Coulter and Adam Hurlburt of Solid Gold, various members of folk rock band Megafaun and about 20 others? Armed with keyboards and slide-guitars, you get an 11 track album fully inspired by 10cc’s art rock 1975 hit song “I’m Not in Love”—and one Godley & Crème cover. I was surprised, too.

Relayted, the Jagjaguwar Records 2010 release from this eclectic super-group could have been stuck wading in the mucky waters of irony, but it’s the group’s diverse talents that prevent that from becoming a possibility. Justin Vernon’s falsetto we know so well from For Emma, Forever Ago makes an appearance on “Faded High,” but is totally eclipsed by his sweet, sweet rhyming abilities on “Last Prom on Earth.” “The Walker” is another high point, with haunting background vocals and a brief, yet piercing guitar solo. You can call the tracks slow jams or bedroom rock even, but there’s no denying that this album is smooth. Read more »

We here at the Wellthatscool.com are really stoked about The howlies return to Tuscaloosa by way of Atlanta Ga. We first had the pleasure of catching these guys opening for the Dexateens a few years back at the Mellow Mushroom. We were blown away with the harmonies and twang thats its hard to put a finger on. It reminds us of the Kinks but with a little bit more aggression and dipped in low grade acid. I liked them so much that I bought a "Howlies hat". Their return trip leads them to the can't help but be intimate show at Egans on Saturday night. This show, flanked by former Tuscaloosa natives Abby Go Go is one of the first stops that will take these guys to NYC on June 4th to rejoin the Dexateens for a run of shows. Long story short come out and support a great touring band that might just rock your socks off.

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This is the first in a series of musical pieces that will highlight music we think is cool and somehow have not caught onto yet. We will let you know how we heard it and why we think it's cool. We hope this leads to some new cuts in everyone's collections. If you have an idea about someone we should listen to, please email us at wellthatscool(at)gmail(dot)com. With that being said, our first installment is Janelle Monáe. We learned about Janelle via our twitter feed from one of our favorite blogs, EDSBS.COM( Ed. note. this is one of the funniest football blogs ever. Any time you can make a project runway joke and tie it in with SEC football you're a stone cold badass). EDSBS's twitter feed had this to say, "This is last week, but if you didn't see it, Janelle Monae's Letterman performance was pure fucking fire" and posted a link to this video:

If that's not the funkiest thing that has come across our desk since this, then we don't know what is.She sounds like James Brown and Andre' 3000 spliced genes and created some sort of super space funk baby hell bent on out dancing any person on the planet. This is just once again proof that when you turn 30 evrything passes you by. Don't say I did'nt warn you kids.

   You have no doubt heard stories from people who have been in Tuscaloosa a long time about how great the music scene was here "back then". You should listen to them, most of the time they are just not drunk weaving a web of lies (most of the time). One of those "back then" times was the late '80s an early '90s.
Friend of the show, David Smith found this today. It is well worth the read. A group of amazing people from Tuscaloosa's past are part of this article. Some of them still wind up out and about in Tuscaloosa after dark. I know I have seen them.
So take a few minutes to check out Rob Trucks' (a former Tuscaloosian) article - Getting High With Alex Chilton In Tuscaloosa, 1986-1990: An Oral History.
If you find you want to know more Tuscaloosa's musical past, check out the facebook fan page - Vinyl Solution - Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This is the former recored store on the Strip that was owned by George Hadjidakis, who is quoted in the article. There are tons of great pictures and disscusions from this "back then" time.
If you want to see a pice of this history, walk into Egans. Just inside the door to your left the original Vinyl Solution sign is on the wall. Read more »

Ham Bagby and Greg Staggs sit down after a show taping to record some songs for us.

The Classic Flame stopped by Well That's Cool Studios to perform a couple of songs. Check them out at http://myspace.com/theclassicflame.

Shot by Joshua J. Hamilton and Matt Smith. Edited by Joshua Hamilton.  http://wellthatscool.com

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