Music Showcase 2004

Best Pop

Anything But Joey
Anything But Joey spent the past year packing local shows to the rafters and expanding its teenage fan club beyond the region. The Kansas City quartet also released a new EP, Necessary But Not Cool. In addition to four sprightly new tunes, Necessary includes a generous helping of demos and live cuts that underscore the group's trademark wry lyrics, soaring harmonies and melodies that stick in your brain like bubblegum on the bottom of your Nikes. (www.anythingbutjoey.com)

The Belles
The Belles' recent full-length clocks in at just 28 minutes, but Idle Hands hasn't led to abundant leisure time. The skewed-pop drum-and-guitar duo has been canvassing the club circuit and racking up voluminous van mileage while recruiting instrumental assistance onstage from an additional guitarist and a bassist during its shows. And singer-songwriter Chris Tolle found a forum for the tunes that didn't make the Idle Hands cut, playing acoustic every Wednesday night in a no-cover-charge matinee showcase. (www.thebelles.com)

The Get Up Kids
The Get Up Kids returned to rocking in 2004 with Guilt Show, a peppy effort that recalls the Kids' halcyon days. Though Guilt doesn't quite match the youthful wail of earlier material, it shows that the group has found a new sense of purpose. The area's most beloved (and despised) band spent several weeks on the road, crisscrossing the States on a package tour with Dashboard Confessional and Thrice and playing a few solo dates in Japan -- just because it could. (www.thegetupkids.com)

The Golden Republic (formerly the People)
It's been a year of moniker massacres for the People, er, Populist, um, Rabbit Fighter, wait, Golden Republic. The group made a name for itself at South by Southwest in March, then decided to change that name several times before arriving at its current handle. The inventive rock-and-keys band signed with Astralwerks, which shredded its share of press releases and promotional stickers after the group decided to go Golden. If the Republic stands, a release under that name should drop by the end of 2004. www.thepeople rock.com, (www.thegoldenrepublic.com)

Namelessnumberheadman
What makes something pop? Is it melody? Memorable hooks? A killer name? Whatever it is that makes songs resonate, Kansas City's Namelessnumberheadman takes it, turns it on its side, shakes it a few times, drops some ransom-note poetry on top, then sprinkles in drum-machine flourishes and ethereal keyboards. The result is the finely crafted breed of music found on the trio's latest album, Your Voice Repeating. Simply put, it's futuristic, thinking-man's pop. (www.namelessnumberhead man.com)

The New Amsterdams
The New Amsterdams finally moved beyond side-project status with the release of its finest record to date, Worse for the Wear, which earned numerous plaudits, including a four-star review from Rolling Stone. Fronted by Get Up Kids singer and guitarist Matt Pryor, the Amsterdams enjoyed high-profile successes, including a slot on Late Show with David Letterman and tours alongside Evan Dando and Guster. (www.newams.net)

Best RocK

The Appleseed Cast
Following years of record-company woes, things were finally looking up for the Appleseed Cast. The Lawrence quintet inked a deal with indie stalwart Tiger Style and issued Two Conversations, a record that replaced much of the band's trademark far-out appeal with melancholy poems about relationships gone awry. But Tiger Style went awry as well, going on "hiatus" just as Conversations was taking off. Undeterred, the Cast persevered, touring the United States and Europe and promising to return (once again) on a new label. (www.theappleseedcast.com)

Conner
After enduring comparisons to the Strokes -- fair or not -- Conner found itself with its debut full-length, The White Cube. The album was recorded on reel-to-reel tape, making Conner's sound refreshingly raw in an era when any dorm room with a Pro Tools rig is considered a working studio. And Cube was good enough for CMJ to weigh in with a positive review that predicted big things for the Lawrence quartet. (www.connermusic.com)

Getaway Driver
Getaway Driver spent the year digging deeper into its sonic treasure chest for a sound it could call home. Recent demos suggest that the Lawrence quartet -- formerly a Jimmy Eat World clone -- has matured, adding cinematic pop flourishes to its once mathematical approach. The usually hard-touring outfit spent less time on the road this year but made an impact when it did get onstage, including at Kalide, a one-off experimental show in which local musicians and filmmakers collaborated. (www.getawaydriver.net)

Ghosty
It's been awhile since Ghosty's Five Short Minutes EP first captured local college radio. Since then, the group has recorded a batch of imaginative demos and undergone dramatic lineup changes. But with recent shows in New York City and a full-length debut near completion, the revamped Ghosty, led by singer and guitarist Andrew Connor, seems to have a new lease on life. (www.ghostymusic.com)

The Hefners
The Hefners make sweaty, sleazy garage rock. The band has been inspiring hipster dance parties (never an easy feat) for years with its swaggering, raw, "three chords and three shots" songwriting, most recently put to wax on the band's Through the Night full-length. Garage before garage was cool and hyper as hell, the Hefners are the musical equivalent of, say, ten Red Bull and vodkas followed by a cattle prod. (www.thehefners.com)