In 1996, The Big Ragoo was formed as a side project of three members of Atlanta post-punk band Monkey Boy. Jimmy Ether (hey, that's me!), Ken Whitener and Shawn Christopher -- all prolific songwriters -- would rotate instruments with the principal songwriter playing guitar. Lyrics were written communally based on what each member thought the others were singing, resulting in both interesting motifs and complete absurdity. Musically, the trio pulled heavily from the influence of Trumans Water, fIREHOSE, Soul-Junk, Sebadoh and Archers of Loaf.

This set of 13 songs was recorded one weekend in August of 1996. The music was tracked live to two-track in a wonderfully large room reminiscent of The Pixies Surfa Rosa recordings. The music was then dubbed to 4-track cassette and vocals were overdubbed as a group live to the remaining two tracks.

The Big Ragoo disbanded shortly after the making of this album. In 2010, Jimmy Ether synced the overdubbed vocals to the original two-track master, remixed, remastered and reissued the release on the Headphone Treats imprint. The Big Ragoo have plans to reform... more than 14 years later.

In fact... your purchase of this record (just $5 for 13 songs!) goes directly toward a plane ticket to fly Ken down from New York to make said "new record". We appreciate the purchase!

If you are interested in this release for blog review or airplay, give me a shout.
 

I played a little songwriters night at the local Atlanta Brewing Company on November 11th, 2009. After the show, I came back to Headphone Treats, still quite tipsy from the ABC Porter and Blond, to record audio and video of the same set.

The audio has been released as an EP called "Five Naked Notes". Go to http://jimmyether.bandcamp.com to download the high res audio (up to lossless) for whatever you want to pay. Even Free.

I'm planning on doing more of these quickie, sparingly orchestrated EPs pretty often. I write a lot of songs, and they just kinda sit around doing nothing while they wait for full production album sessions and whatnot. Which can be years. And that sorta sucks. So your feedback would be awesome. Let me know if the vocal/acoustic versions are cool or boring. Feedback is cool.

( I only come by to self-promote. I suck. Enjoy! )

A short acoustic EP I recorded after a solo show a few weeks back. You can download it for free if you enter "0" in the download popup. Or pay what you like.

The Ether Family Presents play the Atl Grant Park Summer Shade Festival Sun Aug. 30th at 2pm. Main stage. See you there!

Our band, The Ether Family Presents play the Atl Grant Park Summer Shade Festival Sun Aug. 30th at 2pm. Main stage. Join us!

Internet back in full effect. Yay! I hate you a little less now AT&T.

Think the genius construction crew across the street cut our phone/DSL. iPhone only access sux. Better than nothing I guess. *withdrawals*

The new Baskin Robbins commercial which rips off the Peanut Butter Jelly Song is shameful. Just shameful.

is quick with a joke or to light up your smoke. But there's someplace that he'd rather be.

Just posted a slideshow I put together late last night on the open source RecordPlug project. Basically, the idea is to improve music promotion efforts for everyone by making the process simple, effective and relevant. It's still in very early development, but this is the gist:

http://tr.im/vBS0