Bands You Should Know, Pitch

Olassa schedules CD release for January 26 at the Replay, with the KC Bear Fighters/Calamity Cubes/Alex Law (Deadman Flats)

April Fleming — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 06:31:00 -0600

When we last caught up with Olassa, we were still waiting to hear about a proper release show for I Love You, Come Back to Me.

The time has come at last!…

Bloodbirds, with Drakkar Sauna, tonight on the Replay patio

David Hudnall — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:32:15 -0500

Spacek did a post about their EP back in December, but I mostly slept on Bloodbirds until a few weeks ago. For shame!…

Sing Sing Records reissues the Leopards' lost classic, Kansas City Slickers

Nick Spacek — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 09:01:30 -0500

Our buddy Greg over at Riot on the Plaza clued us in on this rerelease of the Leopards' 1977 album, Kansas City Slickers, back in June. However, the record just now came out, and man — it's nice.…

Audiovox is no longer. Meet White Girl.

Nick Spacek — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 07:30:00 -0500

Audiovox is dead. Long live White Girl.…

Check out pictures of Ssion's sold-out shows in NYC from Paper Magazine

Elke Mermis — Tue, 17 May 2011 10:00:49 -0500

Cody Critcheloe injected New York City with a bit of Kansas City gay this weekend. Here's what Paper Magazine's Gary Pini said about the local art collective's performances:

SSION ruled NYC over the weekend with three sold-out shows at PopRally and MoMA's PS1 in Long Island City.…
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Overland Shark's Polymer Slug lands a nod on Altered Zones

Jenny Kratz — Mon, 09 May 2011 11:51:35 -0500

Pitchfork's sister Internet rag Altered Zones has been loving Kansas City lately. Just last month, it featured KC's horror-movie synth machine Umberto on its front-page blog roll, and last week, it reviewed the latest release from Polymer Slug (the musical moniker of Chicago's Adam Tramposh), Cloud Types, out on cassette via Kansas City's Overland Shark label.

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Mouthbreathers scores some love from the East Coast

Jenny Kratz — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:38:31 -0500

Lawrence punk-rock band Mouthbreathers has been blowing up the East Coast media. No, it didn't make The New York Times, but it was recently featured on Brooklyn's Impose Magazine website, and just a couple of days ago, Washington, D.C.'s alt-weekly, Washington City Paper, jumped on the Mouthbreathers' bandwagon, highlighting the group's nod to the golden days of D.C.'s harDCore scene.

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Hidden Pictures releases its long-awaited full-length release, Synchronized Sleeping

Jenny Kratz — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:00:59 -0500

After four years and two EPs, the Lawrence and Kansas City indie-pop duo Hidden Pictures is releasing its debut full-length album, Synchronized Sleeping. With a host of local contributors and a fresh set of buttery-smooth, brightly colored alt-pop numbers, Richard Gintowt (formerly of OK Jones) and Michelle Sanders have fashioned a tightly polished album perfect for sunny days on a porch with a glass of lemonade.…

Royce Diamond drops third album on Datura Records

Jenny Kratz — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 12:34:55 -0600

There are a handful of names that inevitably come to mind when you think about the Kansas City hip-hop scene: Approach, Reach and Mac Lethal, to name a few. But one name you probably wouldn't think of (but should) has just released his third album on Datura Records, and it's seething with heavy beats and hot rhymes.…

Cowboy Indian Bear's Marty Hillard releases Ebony Tusk's first album in March

Elke Mermis — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 08:28:05 -0600

Ebony Tusks is a hip-hop project from Cowboy Indian Bear's Marty Hillard. A new release is coming, called Midas -- Hillard refers to it as a "mini concept album" -- and it will be released on March 21.…

The Kansas Music Hall of Fame inducts the Rainmakers, Bobby Watson and more in its 7th annual ceremony this weekend

Elke Mermis — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 11:05:05 -0600

The Kansas Music Hall of Fame will hold its 7th annual induction ceremony at Liberty Hall this Saturday, followed by a performance of some of the most lauded acts to come out of Kansas: Bobby Watson, Rudy Love, Riverrock, Jimmy Wilson, Central Standard Time and the Rainmakers. (These performers are also all inductees into the Hall of Fame this year.)

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Dirtnap's Pete LaPorte has a new perspective for an old band

Berry Anderson — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:43:39 -0600

In 2011, Dirtnap is an anomaly: the first local indie-rock band to use keyboards and an oft-referred to foursome that scenesters could possibly lump together with some of the founding fathers of the Kansas City sound. There have been a few line-up changes, but drummer Pete LaPorte has been around since the band's inception in 1996.…

Rural Grit celebrates 12 years of musical happy-hour magic

Berry Anderson — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 12:50:52 -0600

On the first Monday of February, 12 years ago, Rural Grit Happy Hour was born on the stage of the Grand Emporium. Its host, Ike Shelton, presided over a melange of local musicians in KC's roots scene who were bonded together by the Rural Grit collective, a recording label and artistic community.…

The new Lazy 7" EP is out now, sort of

David Hudnall — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 09:52:16 -0600

Lazy is one of the hotter local acts knocking around town right now. I'm borderline afraid of how cool they look and how cool their sound is.

It's little surprise, then, that Record Machine honcho Nathan Reusch promptly scooped them up and folded them into his Kansas City music empire this past summer. They've been busy readying a 7" EP, and it's out now on Record Machine, sort of.

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For more Get Up Kids-related music, go to Japan

Nick Spacek — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 07:00:00 -0600

If the Get Up Kids releasing a new album (There Are Rules, due out January 25) and touring weren't enough goodness to make you happy -- and you weren't lucky enough to have frontman Matt Pryor play in your living room -- perhaps the following bit of news will satiate your desire for all things GUK.

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Adam Lee and the Dead Horse Sound Company on whiskey, women, and the beauty of lap steel

Berry Anderson — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 10:51:31 -0600

Early on a Tuesday night, dressed like they just stepped off a plane from Marlboro Country, Adam Lee and Johnny Kenepaske, of Adam Lee and the Dead Horse Sound Company, stride into Chez Charlie's in midtown to discuss their second full-length release, When the Spirits Move Me. It's a honky-tonk-heavy album that celebrates whiskey, women and the beauty of lap steel.…

The Vi Tran Band: opening for Aretha Franklin

Elke Mermis — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:15:29 -0500

Looks like Vi Tran should be commanding a little more R-E-S-P-E-C-T these days. (Har, har.)

The local singer and songwriter has wrangled a band together, and they're opening for Aretha Franklin for the 1YEAR2GO countdown celebration for the opening of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.…

The Record Machine signs Lazy

Elke Mermis — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:24:10 -0500

Lazy (also known around town as Lazy K) recently signed to the indie label extraordinaire the Record Machine, which has scooped up talented local bands like Cowboy Indian Bear, Max Justus, Soft Reeds, Capybara and Sam Billen.

Lazy will be frolicking about on a western tour in Denver and beyond until August 12 (balls). Keeping one's eyes peeled for appearances around town is recommended: the band's trippy, vaguely tropical garage rock is well worth the wait.…

New Conquerors tracks!

David Hudnall — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:30:19 -0500

Hazy garage-rock outfit the Conquerors is one of my local faves, and since it is a slow news day, I am here to report that they just uploaded two songs to their way-dormant Myspace page. I heard about the Myspace songs because I'm a Facebook fan of the band.…

Boston thinks Antennas Up is the 'Best Band in Missouri'

Elke Mermis — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:58:44 -0500

Antennas Up is, well, on its way up. The band's geeky electro-pop snagged a spot in SXSW's 2010 Official Showcase line-up in March, and we nominated them for Best Indie Pop group.…

Catch Howard Iceberg's new band on Saturday

Elke Mermis — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 09:20:39 -0500

You remember local legend Howard Iceberg from C.J. Janovy's profile of the singer-songwriter about a month ago. If you're not familiar with Kansas City's rock shaman, now is a good time to get acquainted: Iceberg is playing a marathon two-hour show with a brand new full-band lineup on Saturday afternoon at Jardine's.…

Three-for-one garage-rock special at the Brick on Saturday

David Hudnall — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 12:30:44 -0500

Damn, that is one fine-lookin' lineup over at the Brick this Saturday. Been excited about it for about a month now. Let's take a closer look, why don't we?

Bleach Bloodz are pretty much killing it these days.…

Antennas Up's Sophomore Album

Elke Mermis — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:45:34 -0500

After heading down to Austin, Texas, to play SXSW's official showcase this year (which is awesome), local electro-funk rock group Antennas Up are heading out to remote Western Maine to record their sophomore album. (Specifically, they're going to the Sunday River region, which looks kinda like this.…

Stream Hammerlord's Wolves At War's End

Nick Spacek — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:00:00 -0500

Hell, kids -- this is so technologically advanced, you don't even have to leave this blog. Just hit up the embedded player below, and you can rock all nine tracks of thrash-laden goodness that Hammerlord has to offer on their new album, Wolves At War's End.…

Jim Suptic relaunches the Blackpool Lights

Nick Spacek — Mon, 17 May 2010 07:00:00 -0500

Thanks to a tweet on the Get Up Kids' Twitter feed last week, we now know that GUK guitarist Jim Suptic relaunched his side project, the Blackpool Lights.

If you add the Blackpool Lights' Twitter feed (@BP_L), you can follow the band's progress in the studio as they record their new album.…