gratefulphan
Posts
Here are a couple of videos from one of my favorite bands right now: The Packway Handle Band. They're from Athens, GA so I get to see 'em all the time here at the Georgia Theatre. I'm so grateful that I get to see them around here so often because I have a sneaking suspicion that they are going to blow up soon. They've been playing a lot of great shows and getting lots of great exposure out West recently and just wrapped up a tour out there.
Why do I like them so much? I can't quite put my finger on it. Tight four part vocal harmonies, no plugs/no pickups huddled around a single mic. Like old and the way used to do. I'll put it like this: instead of playing a sub-par Blackberry Blossom like so many other copycat bluegrass bands, they'll bust out everything from the Violent Femmes, INXS and the Cars, to Hot Rize, Bob Dylan, Old Crow Medicine Show and all kinds of trads.
And their originals are fantastic as well with all members contributing. If you didn't hear the lyrics you might think you were at a primitive baptist church service with a couple of snakes in your hands. Hellfire and Brimstone with wry sense of humor (due mostly in part to their fiddle player, Andrew "Heatwave" Heaton, who seems to process thought on mental planes that don't even intersect with our own). Go to Archive.org and check out some of their shows from the Fox Theatre in colorado. some great shows on there. Shelva Ann, the Story, Strangers, Mack the Weatherman, Satan's in space, Downpour, There's Somethin' Goin' on in the Graveyard (Like You Ain't Never Seen). I know there's some song about a duck that cracks me up everytime I hear it.
You know that feeling when you're having a great time at a show and the band is up on stage having just as much fun as you, loving playing for y'all and just enjoying every minute of it? Man, they bring that kind of energy and good cheer to every show I've ever seen them play. Really nice guys too.
Here's a couple videos of the band playing three different originals at the Moboogie.net loft in Denver, Colorado
The Packway Handle Band - Short Interview then a badass "Downpour" The Packway Handle Band - "The Story" The Packway Handle Band - "There's Somethin' Goin' On in the Graveyard (Like You Ain't Never Seen)"
How do you improve upon an epic album? You could perhaps pull a George Lucas and digitally remaster it. Yes, I suppose you could. Maybe you could release a couple unheard tracks from the vault for the latest album edition? Yeah, maybe. Aside from that, there's not much else that can be done.
What if you were attempting to improve upon one of the most famous albums of all time? What if you were trying to improve upon two of the most famous albums of all time? I know you’re saying to yourself, “You can’t improve on Don Johnson or Kajagoogoo! Their albums were immaculate!” What if you were trying to improve upon two of the most famous albums of all time by mashing them together and still come away with something utterly unique? What if the titles of these two famous albums were so conveniently similar, that nothing short of the most fitting album title of all time could result? Serendipity? Methinks not.
Back in 2004, Jay-Z decided to release a completely occapella copy of his most recent album at the time, The Black Album,inviting any and all producer’s or DJ’s to take a shot at fleshing out the music behind his words. A number of mixes emerged with varied musical approaches: jazz, funk, old school beats etc. And while I’m sure they were valiant efforts, they all seemed to overlook one of the most seemingly obvious approaches: sampling from Jay’s album title inspiration, namely, the Beatles’ White Album. Before he gained popularity as one half of Gnarls Barkley in 2006, DJ Danger Mouse is the one who did just that. The musically eclectic quality of the White Album, offered him a range of styles, instruments and tempos to handpick for each song. The finished product was naturally called The Grey Album (as if he could call it anything else; it’s too perfect). Although distribution was halted several times due to all kinds of legal problems, it became an underground hit, and, like everything else, eventually became an enormous internet sensation.
Well folks, they’ve done it again, and by “they” I don’t mean DJ Danger Mouse, and by “it” I don’t mean more Beatles samples. This time “they” are a southern hip-hop group called the "Spinjunkies," and “it” is not an epic album but an epic band: The Grateful Dead. I’ve heard all kinds of tributes to the Dead before: reggae, bluegrass, swing band, jazz etc., but never in my life would I have imagined Jerry’s guitar riff’s being looped over hip-hop beats and put to Jay-Z’s raps. However, if you had put a gun to my head (which seems to happen a lot these days) and forced me to imagine it, I probably would have scoffed, and gone on to claim that the mix would most likely only contain three note snippets of Dead tunes looped over an over, thus rendering the original Dead song completely unrecognizable. I was wrong. No wait, I’m never wrong. Let’s just say the question wasn’t entirely clear.
Now, I’m not really into hip-hop and I don’t pretend to be. Let’s just say my favorite rapper is a white British guy named Mike Skinner from the group "The Streets", who raps about being late for tea with his mom. That's not a joke. So I don’t exactly know how to approach this from the viewpoint of a true hip-hop appreciator. However, being a Deadhead I can tell you that I am very impressed with the results. Here they’ve used some of the Dead’s more straight-ahead, simpler tunes (i.e. Scarlet Begonias, Friend of the Devil, Franklin’s Tower) and also use some of their more musically experimental songs (i.e. Dark Star, Help on the Way, Slipknot), while still being able to fit Jay’s rhymes over them as if he were actually rapping to these beats originally. It’s truly amazing and definitely worth a listen, even if just for the novelty of it. I bet Jerry would’ve gotten a kick out of it.
Comments
this is my whole world!!! dave hyman( who created our wonderful little mog needs to see it too); we both grew up on the dead but we both listen to everything, including lots of hip hop/rap. thanks for this.
Just finished dwnlding, and I'm liking what I'm hearing, some of it's a bit rough, 99 problems (with Susan here listening as well), "I got 99 problems and a bitch ain't one", not work or girlfriend safe :) Thanks, and Mog On
Last Songs Played
MOGs That Trust Me (8 of 21)
My Digital Music Collection
My Trusted MOGs (9 of 82)
MOG Meter
Comments
break out the fiddle...
they done already broke it out. you could hear it talk, you could hear it sing.
cool....their music should've been in the movie "o brother , where outhit thou" with george clooney.....fresh music..