Archive for the ‘Indie rock’ Category

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McClain Approved: The Greeting Committee “Hands Down.”

April 12, 2016
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The Greeting Committee at the Power & Light District, 4/9/16.

The Greeting Committee is a young indie rock band on the rise. The Kansas City-based band recently played SXSW and they are playing Lollapalooza 2016. The Greeting Committee features guitarist and lead singer Addie Sartino, bassist Pierce Turcotte, guitarist Brandon Yangmi, and drummer Austin Fraser. All of the band members are still in high school. They are signed to Los Angeles-based record label Harvest Records, which also features Best Coast and Glass Animals on its roster.

I recently caught the Greeting Committee’s headlining set at local radio station 96.5 the Buzz‘s Homegrown Buzz Music Showcase. Live, the songs have even more power and Addie’s vocals soar. I go to a lot of shows and the wonderful joy the Greeting Committee have playing is infectious. Those indie rock happy sensors go off in your body and gets you fired up. Their single “Hands Down” is a tight, well-crafted indie-pop song. It’s so inspiring to see a young band having fun doing what they love. The future is bright for the Greeting Committee.

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“Wayne Coyne is in our yoga class. He is kind of distracting. He does yoga shirtless, wears yoga tights and has big hair. He’s very expressive.”

April 2, 2016
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The Flaming Lips at the 2009 Voodoo Music Experience (Photo credit: Ellen Maloney)

I heard a good Wayne Coyne story today. If you go to a lot of indie rock shows over the years, you probably end up with a Wayne Coyne story. The Flaming Lips are trippy indie rock legends. They have always created music with a weird and wonderful vision. Their live shows often explode into glorious expressions of joy.

I met Wayne briefly, in New Orleans, at the 2009 Voodoo Music Experience. He was wearing his signature suit and chilling out before heading onstage. A friend of mine’s father had recently passed and he happened to have been a big Flaming Lips fan. It was nice to be able to chat with Wayne. I told him that his music brings joy to so many people, myself included, and that my friend’s dad was a big fan.

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Wayne Coyne, of the Flaming Lips, at the 2009 Voodoo Music Experience (Photo credit: Ellen Maloney)

I met a woman today from Oklahoma City. The Flaming Lips are based out of OKC. Like many people, she had a quality Wayne story, “Wayne Coyne is in our yoga class. He is kind of distracting. He does yoga shirtless, wears yoga tights and has big hair. He’s very expressive.” That will realign your chakras!

It is wonderful to be able to tell a musician that their music has a positive impact on you. If you like someone’s music and you get a chance to talk to them, speak from the heart and tel them why you enjoy it. It was interesting to hear a story about one of music’s weirdest and best artists. Wayne Coyne fearlessly freaking out his yoga class probably keeps the world in balance. People that bring their strange and honest creative visions to the world help to tip the scales away from the bland zone. Be yourself and remember to keep it weird!

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McClain Approved: MisterWives “Best I Can Do.”

March 3, 2016
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MisterWives (image via http://www.interviewmagazine.com)

McClain Approved is a column where I give you the rundown on an artist you need to know and share a track from them.

As it starts to ease into spring and summer, I get in the mood for some happy-clappy indie pop. MisterWives put out some of the best high energy happy-clappy tunes out today. They are also a past interview subject of mine.

The New York City-based band is gaining a lot of popularity on the strength of their songs and excellent live shows. They bring the heat live. KC folks: MisterWives will be with Walk the Moon at Crossroads KC August 17th. Vocalist Mandy Lee is one of the best singers in music today. She can sing her ass off. Their debut album, Our Own House, was one of my favorite releases of last year.

I love the touches of horns on album track “The Best I Can Do.” Songs like this can give you the energy to outrun all the bath salt smoking zombies downtown. Amazing vocals and a sugar rush of a song. MisterWives make quality tunes for getting out there and beasting it hardcore

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Best Coast and Wavves Bring the Indie Rock Heat to Kansas City.

March 2, 2016
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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.

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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).”

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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.

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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.”

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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:

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Past Interview Subjects Playing Buzz Beach Ball 2016.

March 1, 2016
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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:

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Past Interview Subject Quintron Featured in Popular Science.

February 25, 2016
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Quintron (image via Consequence of Sound)

I was thrilled to see past interview subject Quintron featured in a recent article in Popular Science. The article focuses on his creation of the Weather Warlock, a synthesizer controlled by the weather.

Quintron is someone that is truly ahead of his time. He puts out raucous  music with his puppeteer partner-in-crime, Miss Pussycat. It’s fascinating to see how Quintron uses his inventions to enhance and inspire his music. I also love that he respects and was influenced by so many classic NOLA musicians, even as he forges in the future. When I interviewed him in 2011, Quintron told me a story about New Orleans R&B legend Ernie K-Doe, “K-Doe was the Sun Ra of New Orleans RnB. He was my mentor…him and Antoinette. Best thing he ever said was during this one rehearsal the drummer stopped…and he looks over at her and asked why she stopped. “I made a mistake,” she says. Then Ernie looks at everyone and goes, “THERE ARE NO MISTAKES IN MUSIC!! NOW PLAY!!!!” He was the absolute best. I don’t think he sang a false note in any recording he ever made either. God he was the best. Him and Johnny Adams had such amazing voices! Where are those guys now?”

The quality and the wonderful strangeness of his music is on a whole different level. A lot of people try too hard to be quirky, Quintron is real. Maybe one day we will catch up to him, but probably not.

Here’s a video an early prototype for the Weather Warlock, the Singing House:

 

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An Epic Playlist of New Orleans Indie Rock.

February 24, 2016
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Andrew Hartsock, Big Rock Candy Mountain (January 15, 2010)

I recently started digging back through some of my favorite playlists on Spotify. A college friend of mine, Chicago-based pianist Lucy Gossett, has crafted an excellent New Orleans Indie Music playlist. The playlist features over 200 songs and dives deep into the world of NOLA indie music. It features EPs and full albums. Gossett knows her NOLA indie rock. She was the keyboardist for New Orleans-based indie rock band the City Life. She is also a solo artist and a very soulful vocalist. I keep telling her she needs to record her own EP.

NOLA indie shows are often rowdy, sweaty dance parties. Before I moved to NOLA for college, I didn’t really see people dance at indie shows. In Kansas City, you’d go see the Strokes and the crowd would be too hip to move. People would be staring at their feet, trying hard to look unimpressed. At shows in NOLA, these dance pits would open up and people would get down. Regardless of genre or musical style, NOLA bands have to be able to smash it live. You have to bring the heat. This epic playlist showcases the wide range and music diversity of the NOLA indie music scene.

Here’s one of my favorite NOLA indie tracks, “Rocketship,” by Big Rock Candy Mountain. They really put the ROCK in indie rock with this song.

 

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McClain Approved: Blair “Wolfboy.”

February 24, 2016
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Blair (image via pastemagazine.com)

McClain Approved is a column where I give you the rundown on an artist you need to know and share a track from them.

Blair is an artist that is a compelling songwriter and a glorious vocalist. I know her from my time in New Orleans. She is my favorite indie artist to have come out of NOLA. I first saw her live on my 18th birthday. Several years ago, she walked out of SXSW with a record deal from prestigious indie label Autumn Tone. The New Orleans-born musician is currently based in Massachusetts. She is also a member of Future of What and Maxi’s World. I’m throwing it back to a older Blair song. Here is an early version of “Wolfboy.” Everything just meshes together so well on this track.

Here is a bonus track. I also love this trippy ballad about NOLA dive bar the Half Moon:

 

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JR JR: A Hairy Situation.

February 16, 2016
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JR JR (Photo credit Jeaneen Lund).

JR JR hit the Midland crowd hard on Friday night with electronica-tinged indie pop. The Michigan-based group brought the fun, the energy and beasted it so hard live. However, one thing about the show made it a very hairy situation. The keyboardist/vocalist’s haircut was one of the strangest I have ever seen at a show.

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JR JR at the Midland, 2/12/16

The coif was intense for sure. It looked like a hip version of Foghorn Leghorn. “I SAY, I SAY, I SAY MY JEANS ARE WAY TOO SKINNY!!!” It looked like it was in 4 dimensions.

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Foghorn Leghorn (Image via looneytunes.wikia.com)

“Why doesn’t he just pull it back?!?! JUST PULL IT BACK!” my friend cried out in distress. I heard that the hairstyle will be voting in the next election. I almost expected the haircut to pull out a tiny drum kit and play a solo. I would like to note that I am no style critic. I’m probably just jealous because I look like Casper the Friendly Ghost and Harry Potter had an unholy love child that overdosed on recreational bath salts. It freaks me out now, but in five years everyone will probably have hair like this. JR JR indie pop smashes it. You can wear your hair however you want, just be sure to crush it live.

Here’s a snippet of JR JR’s Kansas City set

 

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Yes You Are’s Midland Debut and the Importance of the Opening Act.

February 16, 2016
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Yes You Are, Midland Theatre, 2/12/16

Yes You Are played their debut Midland set on Friday night. The set was a part of the annual Valentine’s Day-themed show put on by local radio station 96.5 the Buzz. The Kansas City-based indie rock band’s songs quickly won over the crowd during their short set. Lead singer Kianna Alarid’s voice was in strong form all night.

Especially within the Kansas City indie music scene, Midland opening sets can serve as the proving ground for bands. It has happened before with Grouplove, alt-j, Of Monsters and Men, and Glass Animals. They have all gone from Midland openers to headlining the venue.

I’ve been fortunate to cover hundreds of Midland shows over the years.The Midland indie crowd can be hard to impress. If you can win over the audience at the ornate 3,000 seat venue, it really means big things can happen.  The crowd reaction is so essential. With up-and-coming bands, the audience often responds in stages. At first, there is a bit of interest. As the set goes on, individual audience members start to get it. If a set is going well, the band will unleash a big tune and smash it out of the park. It is the indie rock equivalent of a home run. When the band and crowd locks in as one, I call it a “yeah fucking yeah!” moment. It is a collective experience. Yes You Are’s song “World Without End” lit up the audience and kept them enraptured.

As an opener, if you can win over that Midland crowd, you can leave with a bunch of new fans. Make the audience pay attention and it points to a bright future. Yes You Are is headed in the right direction.

Here’s a snippet of “World Without End” from Yes You Are’s Midland debut:

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