Posted
by Nick Spacek
on Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 7:48 AM
We've been waiting for a good excuse to share this track, "Click-Click," from Kansas City's REV Gusto. The garage-y pop act's been playing out and about these past few months, but it's only recently that they've made music available for download. This sunny piece of summertime goodness will only satisfy for so long, however, so one hopes that some of the other recordings find their way online soon. In the meantime, you can see REV Gusto, along with Captain Ahab and the Narwhals and the Sluts at Barnyard Beer in Lawrence this Friday, July 13.
Posted
by Nick Spacek
on Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 9:46 AM
If you subscribe to any of the various podcasts from Seattle radio station KEXP, you're probably very familiar with station favorites Fitz and the Tantrums. The Los Angeles-based six-piece soul revue is renowned for highly energetic performances and has hit pretty much any music festival worth attending since the band formed in 2008. Fitz & the Tantrums bring their show to the Crossroads with Royal Teeth this Thursday, July 5. Get a taste of what to expect with this free live EP the group just released. Hand 'em your e-mail and get five tracks, including their covers of "Sweet Dreams" and "Steady As She Goes."
Posted
by Nick Spacek
on Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 7:38 AM
Chicago's Russian Circles is one of those bands you have to hear to understand. Combining elements of prog, metal and shoegaze, the trio weaves a hypnotic series of melodies, only to then hit you with a crushing wall of heaviness. The instrumentalists released Empros, their fourth LP, via Sargent House last fall. You can hear Russian Circles' psychedelic riffage and rhythms at the Riot Room tonight - Tuesday, July 3. Listen to the Empros track "Mladek" below.
Posted
by Nick Spacek
on Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 8:50 AM
The title track to the Mynabirds' new album on Saddle Creek, General, is currently my favorite song. Stomping, dark, sweaty, and just a twinge dirty, it's perfectly suited for the sweltering bit of miserable we're currently experiencing. For those who loved the Mynabirds' folksy debut, this will scare the shit out of you. For those who lean more toward the Kills and the Dead Weather, you ought to be happy as a clam. The band hits the Jackpot next Monday, July 2.
Posted
by Nick Spacek
on Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 11:42 AM
Mac Mo Green described his new video for "Keep It Clappin'" as trying to capture that idea that if you could just get your boss outside of work, he'd be a cool dude. Shot at KC Trends by Digital Genius, the vid bounces back and forth between a typical workday and aparty in the parking lot. The song's pretty sparse - just air raid sirens and clapping, with Green rhyming over the top of the barest of beats. It's the chillest banger I've ever heard, and with the heat KC"s got coming this summer, that's just what's needed.
Posted
by Nick Spacek
on Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 11:40 AM
Why go bizarre when you can go hypnotic? We're not saying that the new Cody Critcheloe and Christopher Good-directed video for SSION's "Earthquake" doesn't have a hint of the freaky about it, but rather than being whole-hog weird (such as their last video, for "My Love Grows In the Dark"), it's more subtle. This track from the forthcoming Bent plays up elements of alienation and finding your "real" family. Again, they shot locally - check the appearance of Lawrence's finest Mexican restaurant, Tortas Jalisco, in the background of the gas station scene.
Posted
by Nick Spacek
on Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 10:04 AM
Raconteur and Lawrence man-about-town Rob Gillaspie is better known as Scary Manilow, the former frontman of Lawrence garage-rockabilly sleaze purveyors the Spook Lights. Since that band's breakup, Gillaspie has been working on several new projects, and one of them - a full-on bit of death-rock called Sextapes - debuts tonight (Wednesday, June 20) at the Eighth Street Taproom.
I asked about how Sextapes might compare with more over-the-top bands he's been in the past (the Donkey Show, Icarus, the Spook Lights) and whether this new project might be more of a straight-ahead band thing with a little less schtick. Gillaspie replied, "I don't know if I'm capable of 'straight ahead' anything ... I'm not wearing dresses or lighting myself on fire yet, if that counts for anything. But I wouldn't rule anything out." Listen to a brand-new recording from Sextapes, "Pretty In the Morning," below.
Posted
by Nick Spacek
on Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 8:23 AM
Ryan Renteria
California's the Drowning Men operate somehwere between Mumford & Sons and Coldplay - very accessible and NPR-friendly. Thankfully, there's a real musicianship to the sounds they make, and it all aims straight for the stratosphere. It's soaring, it's uplifting, and damned if All of the Unknown (due out next month on Borstal Beat) isn't going to be one of those albums that gets licensed for a shitload of TV spots. It's uber-posi, and you can experience it live when they open for River City Extension at the Jackpot this Sunday, June 24. Check out the new album's "Lost In a Lullaby" via Filter, and listen to "Get a Heart," from 2009's Beheading of the Songbird, below.
Posted
by Nick Spacek
on Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 10:59 AM
So a new Web series, Living Room, debuted last week, and the first episode features the Embarrassment. Included in the hourlong episode are four music videos, a half-hour live performance, and interviews with members of the influential Wichita post-punk quartet. This is all unseen stuff and fascinatingly entertaining. It's produced by Demolition Kitchen - the folks behind Lawrence's cable-access schlockfest The Basement Sublet of Horror - and hosted by Anne Tangeman, a woman who seriously knows her local music (having edited the much-missed Micromag zine back in the 1990s). Go here for a schedule of upcoming shows.
Posted
by Nick Spacek
on Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 8:21 AM
Les Izmore's video for "The Line (Super Soul)" is smooth. How smooth? Izmore flows so fine, he can take a break to eat an apple in his own video. The track is from the forthcoming Heartfelt Anarchy album he did with producer D/WILL, but if you feel the need to import a copy to your iPod right now, it's also available as part of The Granny Smith Theorem mixtape.
Boulevard's Saison-Brett hits store shelves and taps Tuesday
Giovanni's Deli goes big in the Northland
Big Rip Brewing Co. opens to the world Sunday
The Gaf has closed in Waldo
Pitch Taste of KC beats the weather, draws 700 hungry people
The Humdinger: Stand in line to get in, baby
S.D. Strong Distilling is likely the country's only distillery in a cave
The Pitch's Questionnaire with T2 creative director Travis Schlitter