Blog: The Cropper!

More people need to check out our blog and the great artists we've been highlighting, so in a desperate attempt to increase our online presence we are going to have to bring out the big guns and sit back and let the hits roll in: Lynne Cheney nude pics! Get your Lynne Cheney nude pictures! Lynne Cheney naked over here!

Download: 'Rats' by Tiger Bear Wolf Download: 'This Graceless Planet' by We Vs. The Shark So...Athens-based Hello Sir Records really brought their A game to CMJ's Music Marathon last week. Their showcase at the 169 Bar was well-attended and thoroughly rocked. Despite the ultra competitive Friday night 8-11 spot, Hello Sir's showcase was packed all night long. Cinemechanica came first, followed by Asheville's Ahleuchatistas , then came the boys from [...]

Download: Ham1--"Alice's Call" You'll hear more about Ham1 around these parts as the weeks roll on, but I will say that Ham1 is one of my favorite Athenian bands, the brainchild of Jim Willingham, a local teacher and one of the best guys you'll ever meet. Flagpole Magazine 's Gordon Lamb had this to say about Ham1 this week: The only safe thing to assume is that Willingham's teen-age years saw him devouring a wide array of independent American records and had [...]

Download: "In A Way" by Paul Duncan Download: "Oil In The Fields" by Paul Duncan One of the better shows we saw this year at CMJ 2005 (which was an old-fashioned hammjamm, by the way) was one by Mr. Paul Duncan, who--I will boldly declare!--is about to release one of the best records of the year, Be Careful What You Call Home . Surely no record has worn out my iPod as much as his has. Besides being on one of the sexiest [...]

Download: Scott J. Wolfson--"Fema For Kidz Rap" With the power of a Chuck D. or Rakim in his prime, hot new MC Scott J. Wolfson has jumped onto the scene with this delightfully old-school jam (check the minimalist Terminator X-esque outro) about the Federal Emergency Management Agency ! Think they acted too slowly in the wake of Hurricane Katrina? Think that Michael Brown is a moron? Think that FEMA doesn't care about minorities? You crazy! How can a governmental agency with a jam like this on [...]

Download: Ninja High School -- "By Purpose Not By Plan (Sex Nerds Mix)" What's that you say? There's not enough 'positive hardcore dance rap bands' out there these days? Well fear not, friend, Ninja High School is here to fill that former void in your innermost being. These characters are from that musical hotbed to the North known to most as Toronto. NHS's debut full-length Young Adults Against Suicide , will be released in early November on the venerable German label, Tomlab [...]

Download: "Pork Rind Discotheque" by the Chicharones A dirty secret of mine is that I like all manner of greasy, fattening pork products, including pork rinds with hot sauce on them AKA chicharrones , which inspires much distress in my vegetarian wife. For my health, I should probably stick to Vancouver's Chicharones, a spicy rap duo made up of Josh Martinez (one of URB 's Next 100) and Sleep (one of the founders of Oldominion), two fantastic performers who [...]

Streaming: an MP3 jukebox of Daikaiju songs Huntsville, AL (home to Redstone Arsenal and our intern, Jeff) has whipped up something good, and it ain't no rocket! Daikaiju , a monstrous chimera of furious instrumental rock, has charmed the pants off Pitchfork Media, scoring a 7.8 from them! Joe Tangari from The Fork had this to say: Daikaiju is an impressive full-length debut for a band that's clearly got more up its sleeve than a few Trashmen 45s and tablature print-outs [...]

Download: Moonlight Towers--"I Sleep Alone" Here is a nifty slab of rock classicism from Moonlight Towers , one of Austin's more exciting new(-ish) prospects. What I like about it is that the guys in Moonlight Towers wear their influences on their sleeves, but don't resort to rote regurgitation of old styles. I detect a bit of Memphis rock in there (Big Star et al.) which always pleases me to no end. And they like Badfinger, which is always a plus. Ham and Evans...man, those two never got any credit. Which [...]

Download: Fine China--"Don't Frown" I love this band . I love the opening guitar riff; it has a real Bernard Sumner/ PCL -thing going on, and, well, I'm a New Order junkie (I cringe at that part in Shaun of the Dead where Ed throws the "Blue Monday" 12" at the zombies). One of the reasons that I think Fine China is so successful at this brand of 80s-influenced pop is that they're taking the right elements--strong, melodic bass lines, for one--from early new [...]

Thanks to Henry for turning us on to this gem.

Here are the first 20 I've bought on iTunes here at the office (in the order of purchase): U2-"Vertigo" Beyonce-"Crazy in Love" Tweet & Missy Elliott-"Oops (Oh My)" The Temptations-"Let Your Hair Down" Edwin Starr-"25 Miles" James Brown-"Funky Drummer, Pts. 1 & 2" Sly & The Family Stone-"You Can Make It If You Try" The Commodores-"Machine Gun" Wham!-"Last Christmas" [...]

As this is a blog in its infancy, we need to post something that will generate some heat, so we bring you this beauty, taken after a poorly-attended, poorly-played, and sweltering hot Big Gray show at the Caledonia. That would be me, the third from the left with the glasses, the chest hair (oh, wait..that's pretty much everybody), and intermediate stage male pattern baldness., Jon is just to my right, in the front, holding a beer and looking considerably more in shape than me. Wipe up the drool, ladies!

The excellent, and often contentious, Athens, GA culture blog, The Day Jobs , hipped me to this picture. I'm going to go pour lye into my eyes now. I feel like I'm being punished for sins I have not yet committed. Like in Minority Report , but without cars that drive themselves and jet packs.

Download: "Second Phase" by The Kallikak Family Anxious to hear that record by The Kallikak Family that Pitchfork and Dusted have been talking about? Well, go ahead and check out "Second Phase" above, and then go buy your own copy and dig the awesomeness that is May 23, 2007. Unfortunately, this is not really the type of album that reveals itself in one track, but this will give you an idea what some of the more ambient aspects of the record are all about. We [...]

Download: Bottom of the Hudson--"Holiday Machine" Is August the only month of the year without a major holiday? I can't think of any big ones... Okay. Here's where I insert my witty segue about holidays and somehow tie it to the Bottom of the Hudson Holiday Machine EP on Absolutely Kosher . Hmmm...it's early and I'm out of segues. Well, it's a mighty fine EP; Entertainment Weekly called the title track (see above) a "sprawling triumph." Pitchfork Media [...]

Download: "Constants" by Amestory From Thousand Oaks, CA comes Amestory , purveyors of supremely well-orchestrated emotional (not emo!) indie rock. When we were discussing this record in the office, someone (I think it was Melodie) said that this album should be on the indefatigable Fox hit The O.C. It was meant in the best possible way (i.e. the Death Cab way, not the Rooney way). Apparently, Entertainment Weekly agrees: [...]

Welcome to the debut of the new Team Clermont MP3 blog! For those of you in attendance here today and the millions watching at home around the world, Team Clermont is a publicity and radio promotion firm based in Athens, GA. We are independently owned and operated and specialize in helping up-and-coming bands get on their feet as well as working with some of the most exciting established artists out there. Enough about us, though. We want to use this blog as a way to showcase the artists with whom we work. [...]