I recently made a Spotify playlist of of artists coming to Crossroads KC. You can listen to the playlist here.
Archive for the ‘Kansas City’ Category
Playlist for Upcoming Crossroads KC Shows.
March 9, 2016Photo of the Hilton President Hotel in Kansas City.
March 8, 2016
Crossroads Building Photo.
March 8, 2016
Pop Locking.
March 5, 2016
Pop locking in the Crossroads.
People breaking down something real proper like while pop locking in the Crossroads.
Night Blooms Vibes.
March 5, 2016
Shot at Night Blooms dark room and bookstore, in Kansas City, MO,with the Lomo Lens app.
The Sonic Vibes of YJs.
March 5, 2016I stopped by YJs on a Friday night. I slammed a dirty chai tea in my face. The music they play in the snack bar is always all over the map. Everything from cowboy ballads to Latin jams are featured. The other night, they were bumping some quality footwork jams from Australian DJ/producer Little Scale:
Best Coast and Wavves Bring the Indie Rock Heat to Kansas City.
March 2, 2016
Best Coast at the Midland, 2/26/16
When watching an indie rock show, I know the feeling I am trying to find. I want my indie sensors to start tingling. The music hits you right in the enjoyment zone, those internal buzzers fire up. It is a feeling that lights you up and makes your soul rise up with joy. California-based bands Best Coast and Wavves brought their Summer is Forever II co-headlining tour to Kansas City February 26th. They filled the Midland with an evening of fuzzed out surf rock and indie goodness.
I have been wanting to see Best Coast and Wavves live for eight years. Nathan Williams (of Wavves) and Bethany Cosentino (of Best Coast) are an indie rock power couple. They represent a style of indie that is popular with a slightly older crowd. Both bands are strangely underrated.
Met a fan with a tattoo of the album art for Best Coast’s The Only Place.
For example, Best Coast’s second album sold over 500,000 copies in it’s first week. The local indie/alternative radio station can park their van out in front of the show, but that doesn’t mean they are playing Wavves and Best Coast on the radio. Some critics bag on Cosentino for her lyrical simplicity, but there are a lot of indie bands out there that wish they could write a song as quality as “Sun Was High (And So Was I).”
Cherry Glazerrat the Midland, 2/26/16
Up-and-coming band Cherry Glazerr started off the night with spacious, trippy indie vibes. The young band shows a lot of promise with a live show that held the crowd’s attention.
Wavves at the Midland, 2/26/16
Wavves hit the crowd hard with scuzzy indie vibes. The set focused on tracks off of their latest album album, V. Lead singer/guitarist Nathan Williams’ aggressive guitar work whipped the audience into a frenzy. The crowd was dancing and indie moshing it up all throughout the band’s hour-long set. Wavves closed with the vicious rocker “Demon To Lean On.”
Best Coast at the Midland, 2/26/16
The tighter, hook-laden songs of Beat Coast served as a nice counterpoint to the sprawl of Wavves. The band closed out this date of the tour. The newer tracks off of last year’s California Nights have more grit and punch live than their studio versions. Songs like “In My Eyes” swing for the indie pop fences and sound even bigger and better live. The uptempo surf rock vibes of “When I’m With You” had the crowd joyously bouncing and singing along. Best Coast finished the hour-long set with their lo-fi, reverb-laced classic “Boyfriend.”
From the hard-hitting to the sublime, the Summer is Forever II tour showcases an excellent combination of indie bands that crush it live. Wavves and Best Coast brought the indie rock joy to Kansas City.
Here’s a snippet of Best Coast performing “When I’m With You” at the Midland:
Past Interview Subjects Playing Buzz Beach Ball 2016.
March 1, 2016
Beach Ball 2016 lineup (image via http://www.beachballkc.com)
KC folks: Several of my past interview subjects are playing Buzz Beach Ball 2016. The Joy Formidable, Fitz and the Tantrums, Glass Animals, J Roddy Walston & the Business and X Ambassadors are all a part of the lineup for this year’s show. Always great to see past interview subjects featured on a lineup.
Here’s a snippet of the Joy Formidable from their last show in Kansas City. They really rock hard live:
The Tedeschi Trucks Band Returns to KC April 20th at the Midland.
February 26, 2016
The Tedeschi Trucks Band (Photo credit: Mark Seliger)
The Tedeschi Trucks Band returns to Kansas City April 20th, 2016. Their soulful music will fill the Midland Theatre. The 11-piece group mixes rock, funk, soul, R&B, world music, jazz and more styles to form their distinct sound. Their album Let Me Get By is one of the year’s best releases.
The Tedeschi Trucks Band was co-founded by guitarist Derek Trucks and his wife, guitarist and vocalist Susan Tedeschi. Live, the soul really comes through on the songs and the band can really dig deep.
Derek Trucks is one of the world’s best guitarists. I had the great honor of interviewing Derek last year. The passion for music runs in his family. He is the nephew of Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks. Derek officially joined the Allman Brothers Band in 1999 and played with the band until their final shows in 2014.
Derek’s love of music knows no bounds. Trucks discussed how he was mentored heavily by another of my past interview subjects, Col. Bruce Hampton, “The Colonel was amazing about turning me on to the right record at the right time and just exposed me to different types of music, whether it was Delta blues or Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane, Sun Ra or Indian classical music. It was just the right introduction to the right music at the right time.”
This open minded approach to creating music keeps the Tedeschi Trucks Band pushing forward. They can melt minds live. This will be one of the best shows in Kansas City this year.
Hands Free Phone.
February 20, 2016The other day in the grocery store, I saw a man with a cellphone stuck into his neck brace. It brought a whole new meaning to the hands free phone. He was really putting his neck out there. Nice work multitasking.
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