Listicle, Pitch

Six tours that we'd love to see come through, but won't

Nick Spacek — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:32:00 -0600

Bands, why must you forsake Kansas City (and Lawrence)? It seems that many, many tours coming through in the upcoming months hop right past our section of the Midwest, going from St. Louis to Denver, or from Oklahoma City to Omaha.…

Best of the best

Nick Spacek — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:31:00 -0600

The best of 2011 lists are slowly but surely making their way to blogs and print. While we have neither the patience nor the interest to link to them all, there are a couple of local lists we've found noteworthy.…

Eight things we learned about Brandi Carlile from her show at the Beaumont Club

Sarah Smarsh — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:34:00 -0600

We knew Brandi Carlile could make the wind move with her vocal pipes. We knew she wrote masterful, soulful rock songs with a twangy twist.…

Why are you even here?: Six bands' random appearances in film

Nick Spacek — Wed, 11 May 2011 09:46:47 -0500

It seems that the only reason bands appear in movies is as a way for a record label to get their music directly to a target demographic. It's been done time and time again on television programs (Remy Zero on Smallville, the Flaming Lips on Beverly Hills 90210, the Shins on Gilmore Girls, Cibo Matto on Buffy, et al.), but the in-program shilling at least dovetails nicely with the commercial interruptions.…

Five odes to sticky, skunky bud, in honor of 4-20

Corban Goble — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 10:32:46 -0500

Though I'm fronting for the stoner anthem, I mean no disrespect. I don't mean to degrade a song's appeal by suggesting its only functional level is a song you can smoke a joint to -- a song only enjoyable when the edges of one's own perception have become a little frayed.…

Ten dope regional sports anthems, including the Royals' anthem by X-Dash, "Get on the Bus"

Corban Goble — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:33:46 -0500

The Royals' season has people buzzing. Not too long ago, our city lived through a similar predicament: stinging from another KU NCAA Tournament loss -- a loss to Syracuse in the finals -- the region's sports fans turned their desperate eyes to the Royals for temporary relief.…

R.I.P., chillwave: the top 10 chillwave artists, and where they are now

Corban Goble — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 09:12:40 -0500

Last summer, chillwave emerged as the go-to genre for emerging artists. Its songs were digestible but often forgettable, snippets of sample pop accented by reverb-heavy vocals leaning heavily on the DIY aesthetic.…

Kanye, Odd Future, the Strokes and more: the 10 best moments of SXSW

pitch — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 12:06:58 -0500

Unless you don't have the Internet, you probably already know that the SXSW media festival went down last week in Austin. The Pitch writer Corban Goble was on hand for the music portion (March 15-19), and here are his 10 most notable stories from SXSW 2011, which will go down as the most over-documented event of all time -- at least, until SXSW 2012.…

Pimping perfume: five pop stars guilty of shamelessly promoting their fragrances in videos

Casey Greenfield — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 09:30:28 -0600

Recently, Wayward tossed off a blog entry about Lady Gaga and her future fragrance. (Can we even call it that?)…

Ke$ha and four other faces you wouldn't want to see while wrapping your tool

Elke Mermis — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 06:48:15 -0600

Talk about curbing the birth rate, eh? In a partnership with LifeStyle condoms, the notoriously trashy party girl Ke$ha has recently emblazoned a bunch of condoms with her face, and she blasts them out of the infamous glitter cannon onstage during her shows.…

Creed and four other '90s bands that definitely shouldn't reunite

Elke Mermis — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 08:58:52 -0600

Remember when people were hailing Hanson as the next Beatles? Or when the Spice Girls' Spice World cashed in $75 million dollars at box offices worldwide in 1997?…

It's peanut-butter-jelly time: the five greatest songs ever written about sandwiches

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 12:48:02 -0600

If you thought there were only five songs about sandwiches, you'd be wrong. The filling between two slices of bread has inspired a lot of men, with synthesizers, to sing its praises.…

'Poppin' bottles' and nine other obnoxiously overused phrases in pop songs

Casey Greenfield — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:23:09 -0600

Pop music is great ... to an extent.

Top 40 may be everyone's favorite mindless genre, but pop music's trends are idiotically transparent.…

Florence and the Machine, and five other concert announcements we're hoping for

Elke Mermis — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 07:24:17 -0600

'Tis the season of concert announcements. You'll notice that Kansas City has some pretty hefty names headed our way this summer, such as Janelle Monae and Arcade Fire.…

Five USA tattoos that I swear I saw at Kid Rock

Elke Mermis — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 09:55:17 -0600

If you were at the Sprint Center on Friday night, there's no way that you could have missed Kid Rock's gigantic back tattoo. It reads -- yes, you guessed it -- "American Bad Ass."…

Won't somebody please think of the children? Five songs that have kids' voices

Chance Dibben — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:41:40 -0600

Children are the future and all, but sometimes -- well, most times -- they are annoying, clever little shits. Pop-music artists are well aware of this precocious nature of children and often will place their voices in more adult contexts.…

Ke$ha's top five spots to get sleazy this weekend

pitch — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:45:59 -0600

Ke$ha will be in town this Sunday, rocking the Midland in the fourth stop of her Get $leazy Tour. She's set to hit the stage at 8 p.m.…

Abe Vigoda, BaioWolf and three other great bands named after real people

Chance Dibben — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 13:43:26 -0600

In light of Abe Vigoda stopping by the Jackpot next week, we thought we'd look at some other bands that reference real people in their band names. Turns out, it was pretty easy.…

"December Hunting for Vegetarian Fuckface," and other particularly long-winded, weird song titles

Chance Dibben — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:27:14 -0600

Sometimes, song titles are short, succinct subject lines. There are many, many bands with tracks called "Love," "Rock and Roll," "Take Me Away," "Come Together," etc. But then there are those songs whose titles are original and distinct.…

"No glove, no love": 5 songs that encourage using condoms

Anthonia Akitunde — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 11:49:43 -0600

Valentine's Day is around the corner, so along with a prix fixe meal and a box of chocolates, you're probably expecting to get laid. But let us be the first to tell you that while V-Day comes but once a year, a VD is forever (or, at least, mildly uncomfortable until you can get proper treatment).

That's something the following artists know and are taking a stand against with lyrics that declare their love of using condoms before intercourse.…

Six tall musicians we would be happy to hug today

Jenny Kratz — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 08:06:35 -0600

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Pearl Jam, Interpol and Neutral Milk Hotel: What does 'Untitled' mean, anyway?

Chance Dibben — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 11:06:01 -0600

What does it mean for a song to be untitled? Was the artist just lazy?…

Love to love you, baby: the Unicorns' "I Was Born (a Unicorn)" and four other songs celebrating birth

Nick Spacek — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:00:00 -0600

Monday night marked the birth of the first baby in the group of friends I've known since middle school. It was an awe-inspiring, slightly amazing "adult" moment.…

Elvis Costello's Spectacular Spinning Songbook, and three more concert concepts that are more irritating than innovative

Chance Dibben — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 09:16:18 -0600

Once upon a time, a great concert was your favorite band stepping out on the stage -- no huss, no fuss -- and killing it with new material and old favorites. That was expected, and that was enough.…

The Inbetweeners, Freaks and Geeks and five shows about being a teenager that suck less than MTV's Skins

pitch — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 07:51:25 -0600

By Ian Nyquist

The awkwardness of adolescence is a mine for comedy gold. But MTV's new scripted drama, Skins, can't make up its mind whether it's an acne-cream soap opera or a comedy.…