Otherwise Unavailable

The best songs you'll never see anywhere else. ALL MP3S ARE NOW UP PERMANENTLY!

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Just a few years later they would have been huge

In the early 90's, Atlantans Bill Taft (guitar; see previous entries for more info on him), Kelly Hogan (vocals), and Walter Brewer (drums) formed The Jody Grind. Instead of following the popular styles of the day (or moving forwards), they decided to go backwards and follow the popular styles of 50 years earlier. Their first record, One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure, includes versions of Burt Bacharach's "Wishin and Hopin," Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn," Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo," The Gershwins' "It Ain't Necessarily So," and Frank Sinatra's "I'm a Fool To Want You." There are a ton of albums like that out there, though, right?
Nope.
Because The Jody Grind actually pull it off. Kelly's amazing voice is definitely the center of The Jody Grind. I would rate it right up there with Billie Holiday or Nina Simone. The band, though incredibly talented, pretty much just follow her, occasionally making something beautiful like Taft's restrained guitar work on "Blue and Far."
Not long after their next record, Lefty's Deceiver, came out, new drummer Robert Clayton and bassist Robert Hayes died in the same car accident that killed Deacon Lunchbox (who is sampled on One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure)
Hogan and Taft went on to form Kick Me before Hogan left to go solo and Taft started playing full-time in Smoke.
Here are some original tracks from their long out of print first CD:
Eight Ball
Blue and Far

And most importantly, some previously unreleased live tracks:
Don Gato (children's song
Lola Marie (Sung by Bill Taft)

I'm tired so this will be short

Dame Dulce (don't worry, their songs are all in English) are on KNW-YR-OWN records. They are technically a husband/wife duo, but at What-The-Heck Fest (see earlier posts for more info on that) 2003, they performed with four others backing them up. They were supporting their first album, The Sun Comes Into the Kitchen (which is fantastic), but this song was not on it and probably has never appeared anywhere but my computer.
Oh and as far as what they sound like, Andrew's off-key, cracking vocals are either a love or hate thing, while their guitar-driven sound has some minor similarity to pre-2004 Modest Mouse.

Dame Dulce - Cold Canadian Air (live)

EDIT: Thanks to Alex for commenting! Apparently this song has been re-recorded, though this version is still Otherwise Unavailable (tm). Check Dame Dulce's Myspace