Posted
by Abbie Stutzer
on Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 8:00 AM
When Love and Danger was released earlier this year, part of the narrative that emerged was that its author, the legendary Bronx rapper Kool Keith, was retiring from music. Whether there's any truth to this is impossible to say. Keith, 49 years old and probably still the craziest living rapper, has never supplied the world with adequate explanations for his ideas. But between his creepy alter egos (Black Elvis, Dr. Octagon) and hilariously lewd lyrics (Touch my private, my thing made of stee/Shooting jism/She ride like a Geo Prism), he is, if not a national treasure exactly, at least a pretty entertaining Friday night. With locals BluntRap.
Friday, December 14, at the Riot Room, 8 p.m., $12.
Posted
by Abbie Stutzer
on Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 7:09 AM
Flogging Molly
As usual, KRBZ 96.5 the Buzz has scheduled a round of holiday shows this year for its loyal audience. Two have already sold out: Saturday night, headlined by stadium folkies Of Monsters and Men, and Sunday night with synth-poppers Passion Pit. Tickets are still available for Friday night, though, which features Celtic rock from Flogging Molly, plus openers Dirty Heads, Morning Parade, ZZ Ward, and the local folk-pop group Not a Planet.
Friday, December 14, at the Midland. Doors open at 6 p.m., and tickets cost $35 day of the show.
Posted
by David Hudnall
on Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 9:00 AM
I gave the new Band of Horses album, Mirage Rock, a fair shake - more than a fair shake, even. An above-average shake is what I gave that album. But Mirage Rock is a bit of a turd. I take no joy in writing that. I am into gooey, soaring alt-country, and BOH has done it well in the past. Still, at the moment, it appears that they are out of gas creatively.
The good news is that BOH's sound (or, arguably, My Morning Jacket's old sound) has inspired a handful of bands that are doing cool stuff within that sonic framework. One of them is Desert Noises, a quartet from Utah whose latest LP, Mountain Sea (streamable in its entirety here), flaunts some of the hungry verve of that first BOH record, along with traces of other popular Pacific Northwest acts like Fleet Foxes and Local Natives. They're at RecordBar tonight, with local psych droners Conquerors (who killed it at RecordBar this past Saturday) the Inwards. All this for $7.
Posted
by Abbie Stutzer
on Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 7:37 AM
Punch Brothers
Earlier this fall, Chris Thile won a coveted MacArthur Genius Grant - $500,000 over the next five years, no strings attached. Why? Because Thile, who cut his teeth in the bluegrass group Nickel Creek, is arguably the best mandolin player on planet Earth. He now leads the Punch Brothers, a virtuosic folk-bluegrass outfit that employs the primary instruments of the genre - acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle, upright bass and mandolin - but draws outside the lines in terms of melody and song structure. (Its latest, Who's Feeling Young Now?, includes an unironic and pretty great cover of Radiohead's "Kid A.") If you're into bluegrass music, there's really no excuse not to be listening to these guys or not seeing them tonight, Tuesday, December 11, at the Beaumont Club. With the Milk Carton Kids. 7 p.m.
Posted
by Abbie Stutzer
on Mon, Dec 10, 2012 at 7:36 AM
High on Fire
If the group isn't there already, High on Fire is at least on the verge of legend status in the world of stoner metal. The Oakland band's latest, De Vermis Mysteriis, is a sort of concept album - the title is an H.P. Lovecraft reference (or something - it's hard to parse the lyrics over the roaring din of monster riffs). Basically, it delivers more or less the type of sludgy, headbanging goodness that fans have come to expect. Guess what? They're here in town tonight, Monday, December 10, at the Riot Room. With Goatwhore, Lo-Pan, In the Grove, 7:30 p.m., $17.
Tonight (Friday) marks the celebration of the release of Tread Lightly, the second album from local group We Are Voices. The record merges the stadium-sized postrock of groups such as Explosions in the Sky with more Midwestern emo sensibilities. Opening is Noise FM, formerly of Lawrence and currently of Chicago. The Noise boys are also at the Replay on Saturday night for their annual Noise for Toys benefit.
With Noise FM and Bears and Company, at the Riot Room, 8 p.m., $10.
Posted
by David Hudnall
on Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 7:10 AM
An anomaly on the late 1990s Sub Pop gravy train, Supersuckers was cheekier and rowdier than its more artfully conscious labelmates. Grunge, punk, classic rock and, later, country, all filtered into the band's sound, but only to serve the group's primary intent: rocking with its collective cock out. Cherokee Rock Rifle and Radkey, the local openers at the group's show tonight (Friday), make a nice fit along these lines. Cost is $15.
Posted
by David Hudnall
on Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 7:39 AM
I've always thought of Regina Spektor as the Norah Jones of indie rock, but that's not really fair to either of them. For one, Spektor doesn't play indie rock; her fans just tend to be indie-rock types. Spektor instead plays oddball piano pop, accentuated by the bipolar — and sometimes excessively cute — vocal curlicues that are her trademark. She's at the Music Hall tonight, Wednesday, November 7. Expect songs from her latest, What We Saw From the Cheap Seats.
Posted
by David Hudnall
on Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 10:17 AM
Percussionist Lloyd Knibb died in 2011, and upright-bassist Lloyd Brevett passed away a few months ago, which leaves alto-saxophonist Lester Sterling as the sole surviving member of the original Skatalites lineup. Sterling is still grinding it out on tour, aided by singer Doreen Shaffer (who has recorded with the group since the mid-1960s, when it was busy inventing the genre of ska music) and seven other guys you've never heard of. So, no, it's not the real Skatalites. But it's still probably a solid Thursday night.
Posted
by David Hudnall
on Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 8:31 AM
There's some confusion, it seems, about whether Die Antwoord is a joke. Having spent some time with the South African electro-rap crew's music and videos, I'm not sure how anybody could see them as anything other than a subversive comedy act à la Ali G. I am not a gay/This penis is for the girls/My penis is clean/My penis is strong, goes a line from "Evil Boy," one of Die Antwoord's bigger hits. On a more recent track, this year's "Fok Julle Naaiers," their DJ, Hi-Tek, closes the song with a super-offensive, hard-ass rap, taken verbatim from that press conference in which Mike Tyson screams at a heckler that he will "eat his asshole alive." They pair these hilarious ideas with a warped, purposely moronic version of Top 40 music, which is also hilarious, and sometimes even catchy. Observe the spectacle tonight (Wednesday) at Liberty Hall, in Lawrence.
Voltaire - the saloon, not the philosopher - opens tonight
Big Rip Brewing Co. expands the Northland's beer universe
Rob Zombie is coming to Cricket Wireless Amphitheater
Marilyn Manson and Alice Cooper are headed to Cricket Wireless Amphitheater
KC Pride Festival 2013? Yes, it's still on
Shawn Ratigan and Bishop Robert Finn face two new civil lawsuits
A consultant tells KC that big retail could save Citadel Plaza
Courtney Cole, Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus executive director, answers The Pitch's questionnaire