Athens Ear Buds hit a bit of a rough patch this past week with hardly any submissions over the weekend. That, combined with the fact that I didn’t have anything held over and nothing stored in the AEB larder, translated into an endangered music feature.

Since my duties here have increased to the point of putting me in a perpetual frenzy, truth be told I wasn’t that disheartened to see AEB maybe breathing its last breaths. But, no, stupid me had to go and send out a mayday, and just as has happened many times in the past, the Ear Buds came flooding in. Thanks a lot, people, you just won’t let this thing die, will you?

Our submissions are starting to fall off again for Athens Ear Buds. We have a lot of folks on the mailing list who have stopped participating entirely. I guess it’s time to rummage through my closet for those compromising photos of certain AWOL Ear Budsters engaging in, how should I say it, eccentric sexual practices. It’s amazing what a person can do with a good telephoto lens and PhotoShop.

Anyway, reputations are overrated, right?! — AEB provost and executive vice president Terry Smith

It’s been an excessively crazy week around here; it always is during the pre-election/pre-Halloween run-up, but hey, we always find time for Athens Ear Buds, right?.

As usually, you can order or buy most of this music at Haffa’s on West Union Street in Athens.
I requested Halloween-themed submissions this time, though it doesn’t look like my contrary, chronically distracted AEB contributors paid much attention. Oh well.

You can find me Halloween night dressed up as the faceless Athens Ear Buds editor, compiler and all-round slave to the rhythm and the beat. Whatever the meaningless hell of abstracted stream of consciousness that means. — Terry Smith

Today’s Athens Ear Buds requires no introduction… (conveniently, for me!) — Terry Smith, Athens Ear Buds counselor and adviser

Athens' biggest band has hit Billboard. Skeletonwitch, who in their genre, a particularly aggressive sort of metal (which is how it should be), have ample international respect and acclaim, recently hit No. #151 on the Billboard Top 200 and #2 on the magazine’s Heatseekers Chart. This was for their new album, "Breathing the Fire." Here's a video from the album.

Barry Wolfe, Athens ex-pat, KALX dj/producer, Berkeley, Calif., occasional music reviewer Blurt on-line mag, Ptolemaic Terrascope magazine: The Byrds, "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" (Columbia, 1986 CD and MP3s). Perhaps one of the more under-valued and over-looked albums by the Byrds, it's certainly one of their most beautiful and psychedelic efforts. I recently realized that I missed hearing it, as I only had an old, battered vinyl copy, so I went and bought the CD. I love how many of the songs flow together, the gorgeous harmonies, and how spacey an album it is, with occasional help from a synthesizer. It dips into what we call alt-country now and was an early contributor to the genre. Not as out-and-out country as “Sweetheart of the Rodeo,” it shows the band leaving the jingle-jangle behind and moving in an exploratory direction. It was the last album, besides the ’72 reunion album that David Crosby appeared on.

Paul Tescher, local music collector: November... Live... on the Swedish label, Mellotronen. It has excellent sound and includes material from various shows between spring 1970 and fall 1971. This is/was the first issue of these recordings. They made three studio LPs during '70-’72 on the Metronome label. Their music — all original with inventive arrangements — was energetic, exciting hard/heavy rock with plenty of melody, with an occasional more mellow moment or two. The guitarist, Rickard Rolf, obviously listened carefully to Eric Clapton and was a fluid and creative player. The rhythm section, Christer Stahlbrandt, bass/vocals, and Bjorn Inge, drum, was tight and powerful. Christer's singing was strong and expressive Think Cream mixed with early Budgie (another early ’70s English heavy hard-rock trio, should you not know them) and you'll get a "sound" picture; bluesy but not as bloozed as Cream. If you like early ’70s European hard rock on the heavy side, this will be a welcome addition to your pallet... guaranteed!

John McVicker teaches English as a Second Language at Ohio U; he likes music a whole lot: The Meters, “Rejuvenation” (Reprise 1974; reissued by Sundazed, 2000). “Rejuvenation” is a near-perfect funk album by a group of musicians more revered by their peers than successful in the marketplace. The Meters were the house band for Allen Toussaint, perhaps the foremost New Orleans producer. As a backing band, they graced the work of visitors such as Dr. John, Labelle, Robert Palmer and Paul McCartney, as well as NOLA mainstays such as Lee Dorsey, Chris Kenner, Earl King and Betty Harris. Their solo work in the late 1960s generated a couple of instrumental R&B hits, but none of their albums climbed higher than 108 on the Billboard charts. In the early ’70s, the band switched labels to Reprise, keeping Toussaint as their producer. They put out a series of remarkable albums that added vocals (keyboardist Art Neville is credited with the leads) to their usual instrumental fire. Though these Reprise albums were no more successful than earlier work, all are at least solid. Even if you've never heard this band you've heard them sampled (NWA, A Tribe Called Quest, LL Cool J and Public Enemy, among others) and covered (everyone from Jack Johnson, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Les Claypool, Chris Duarte, Buckwheat Zydeco, to jazz guitarist Grant Green and even the Trinidad Steel Band) a gazillion times. “Rejuvenation,” their second on Reprise, is a personal favorite. The songs are strong, the rhythms dense, and the guitar work electrifying; the band is in primo form. There's an audio stream of Meters hits at their Web site, http://www.themetersonline.com/, or check out the string <Meters 1974> at your fave video archive and see a live medley of “Look-Ka Py Py,” an earlier hit, and “Jungle Man” from this album.

Dale Francis: electro acoustic dabbler, Long Run Audio, Athens: Now, I know he didn't write one of the songs here — “Red on Blonde,” Tim O'Brien (Sugar Hill, 1996). I have enjoyed this album and have to remind myself that these are not Tim's own Americana songs (he’s been a solo artist for many years, but first gained acclaim with Hot Rize). He sure has done a marvelous job of intertwining the composer’s genius and his own musical identity. He takes the songs of Bob Dylan and rearranges them into contemporary new grass. Tim has remained true to the composer, playing on the humor and jest that Bob applied in the original but playing some hot American folk jazz in the old-time/bluegrass sensibility. In the rearrangement, Mr. O'Brien has taken ownership of the song, and this album has 13 songs whose soul Tim has brought fresh life to. (Editor's note: We couldn't find a video with O'Brien doing the Dylan stuff, but here's a great clip -- Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers were the swinging honky-tonk alter-egos of O'Brien's hip bluegrass project Hot Rize.)

Dave Alexander, Athens’ resident trainspotter and Dave Rave promoter: The xx, “xx” (Young Turks, 209). The xx is a foursome from South London who makes sexy indie music. Their innovative debut album is made up of dark, hushed male and female vocals intertwined over guitar, soft beats and baselines. The tracks blend together to make the perfect down-tempo soundtrack for a lazy weekend morning. The sound is somewhere between Mazzy Star and Tricky’s “Maxinquaye,” but with a smoother, stripped-down sound and hip-hop influences. For me, this is one of the best debut albums of 2009 and possibly one of the best albums of the year.

Dan Dreifort is working on new tracks with Martizatic! and Indelible Beancurd. He plays with Vellumn in Athens in November: Harvey Danger, “Little by Little” (Kill Rock Stars 2006). Hoppy melodic piano rock isn't exactly a new genre, but its principals don't seem to linger long in the limelight. Remember when Ben Folds was the successful piano pinup boy? That didn't last too long. Is Harvey Danger the heir apparent? Or does a band like Field Music take the piano rock throne? I prefer the latter's recent work more than this album, and apparently Harvey Danger broke up a few months ago so the point isn't exactly moot, huh? But “Little by Little” is a great collection nonetheless. Some songs (“Cream and Bastards,” “Cool James”) don't even feature piano-ish instruments in the forefront. And for what it's worth, these guys apparently got some serious airplay in 1998, albeit with a far less pianolicious sound. Color me previously oblivious.

We’ve got a pile of Athens Ear Buds today, and actually had to postpone several till next week. It’s a gol-darned embarrassment of riches, that’s what it is.

You can find a lot of this stuff at Haffa’s on West Union Street in Athens. — deadline-frazzled Terry Smith, your AEB compiler

Athens Ear Buds lives to fight another day, and seems as healthy as ever. Go figure. I thought its days were numbered when we restarted the feature in early September and didn’t get much response. Of course, as soon as I draw one conclusion about AEB, things change and I’ve gotta reverse myself.

I would like to see some of the early AEB contributors climb back in the saddle. C’mon people now, smile on your brother… Aw never mind.
If you’d like to become an Athens Ear Buds contributor, drop me a line at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Check out our online AEB with lots of groovy video (www.athensnews.com). — Terry Smith, AEB conductor and enabler

We have quite an eclectic assortment of music recommendations in this week’s edition of Athens Ear Buds. As always, you can buy or order most of this music at Haffa’s on West Union Street.

AEB is purring along like Travis McGee’s customized electric-blue vintage ’30s Rolls Royce pickup truck, Agnes, and my previous concerns about this organic music feature have been substantially allayed. Of course, that could change completely next week, but for now, Athens Ear Buds is doing swell.

We welcome two or three new Athens Ear Buds contributors, and I for one am glad to have them. Many m3embers of our “classic” roster have been hard put to come up with recommendations lately (including myself!), and AEB should constantly be replenished with true blood… er, I mean new blood.

To be frank, I’ve been trying to pull myself out of a fallow period for music. There’s nothing that excites me. Well, that's not exactly true. In scouring YouTube for videos to complement AEB, I've found some amazing stuff. Keep reading...

Athens Ear Buds No. 3 for the 2009-’10 school year is here, and I’m hoping you enjoy it.

The good news is that we’ve got plenty of blurbs. The bad news is that nearly every one was delayed from last week, or else came from my cache of pre-supplied write-ups from three or four diligent Ear Budsters.

This means there won’t be mich left for next week unless folks come through with a pile of them when I send out my usual reminder over the weekend. We only received one after last week’s solicitation.

We’ve got a very healthy Athens Ear Buds today, and may have to hold two or three till next week, just as I did last week. But that’s not a bad thing. You see, AEB is very much like the squirrel preparing for the winter. If you eat all the nuts at once, then when you’re hungry later, there won’t be any left. Same with Ear Buds.

I forgot to mention last week that with most of the AEB recommendations, you can obtain or order the music from Haffa’s on West Union Street in Athens, and get it just as quick or quicker than if you ordered it online.

Athens Ear Buds is back!

For now.

After a well-deserved sabbatical over the summer, this organically conceived and maintained music feature is functioning again, at least temporarily.

For those who missed it last school year, Ear Buds (or AEB for those in the know) is a weekly article consisting of several blurbs about music, written by local musicians, music collectors, writers, deejays and hardcore fans. I keep an e-mail list of these people, and each week solicit their suggestions for favorite CDs, singles, EPs, vinyl, videos, Myspace pages or whatever.

We're launching our second year of Athens Ear Buds in The Athens NEWS' Sept. 3 issue. The music feature, which took a hiatus over the summer, will run weekly on Thursdays in our Arts & Entertainment section. It will remain largely the same as it appeared last school year, except that online we will be adding videos and photos (as I've done in this intro, on the "read more" page).

OK, this really is the last Athens Ear Buds of the spring. We’ll take a break for the summer, and coming roaring back in the fall.

At some point, I plan to go through the mailing list and terminate folks who haven’t been participating (sound grim, doesn’t it?), while trying to come up with new people to invite into the AEB fraternity/sorority. (We definitely need more of the latter.)

If you have some likely recruits, please have them e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Here’s hoping everyone has a very musical summer. Oh, and as usual, if you’re less lazy and hypocritical than I am, you can obtain most of these records at Haffa’s on West Union. — Terry Smith, Athens Ear Buds alpha dog

This might be the final Athens Ear Buds of the spring, though I’ll send out one more solicitation on Sunday. If I get enough for another AEB, I’ll give it a shot for next Thursday. But then we’ll take a break for the summer, re-energize and start anew in the fall.

This project has been a mixed bag since I started it right after Thanksgiving. On the one hand, it’s been mainly a good thing, with a wide variety of local musicians and music-lovers submitting well-written blurbs about their favorite music (without compensation!). It’s been a true community effort, and I’ve greatly appreciated the time and effort that our Ear Buds roster has devoted to this project.

On the other hand, I’ve been disappointed that a lot of folks who seemed enthusiastic at first have participated only sporadically, if at all. I’ve had to occasionally prime the pump, just to make sure we had enough blurbs for AEB. I’ve also had to combat the reflex to get ticked off about it, since nobody’s under any obligation to participate in this thing, and I even find myself occasionally not having the time to contribute a music blurb (like today).
So all in all, AEB has been a success, and I’m looking forward to restarting it in the fall. If you know anyone who’s got something to offer musically as an Athens Ear Bud, just e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . (And by the way, an Athens Ear Bud is defined as either the person providing the musical blurb, or the musical blurb itself.)

Thanks again, everybody! — Athens Ear Buds all-powerful chieftain Terry Smith

This is quite a handful of Athens Ear Buds this week, especially considering I gathered them up last week in advance (since I’m off this week). Some of them are a bit on the long side, so I evidently need to encourage some brevity. But the AEB bunch is recommending some great-sounding records, so what the hey. I’ll see you next week! — Terry Smith, Athens Ear Buds space commander in absentia