Given that the Kansas City music scene encompasses a remarkable range of sounds, it's always exciting when a newly formed group manages to find a fresh approach. The latest epiphany comes from Hot Children, an electronically enhanced duo that allows plenty of personality to slip between the drum loops. Touchstones include Kansas City's Ssion (with the shock-value satire toned down and the rudimentary backing tracks fleshed out) or New York's Le Tigre (without its party-ruining, self-congratulatory rhetoric). Megan Fitz-simon's expressive vocals provide an organic complement to the group's throbbing beats and precise percussion, and her sensual touches -- breathy sighs that punctuate tempting commands, ecstatic oohs and yeahs -- ensure that the Hot Children sound steamy. With his distorted vocals and industrial-filtered guitar blasts, Marc Tweed (also of the Hearers) completes the electronic end of the equation. When acts such as the Children stumble, it's usually because of clutter, but Drunk Surgeon sounds best at its busiest. Voices overlap, guitars clash like grinding gears, and keyboard countermelodies stilt-walk over bubbling-lava grooves until they melt into the mix.
