I recently made a Spotify playlist of of artists coming to Crossroads KC. You can listen to the playlist here.
Archive for the ‘music’ Category
Playlist for Upcoming Crossroads KC Shows.
March 9, 2016The 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:
McClain Approved: MisterWives “Best I Can Do.”
March 3, 2016
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
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.
Past Interview Subject Quintron Featured in Popular Science.
February 25, 2016
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:
An Epic Playlist of New Orleans Indie Rock.
February 24, 2016
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.
McClain Approved: Blair “Wolfboy.”
February 24, 2016
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:
McClain Approved: Larry Keel “Ripchord.”
February 22, 2016
Larry Keel (image via larrykeel.com)
McClain Approved is a new column where I give you the rundown on an artist you need to know and share a track from them.
Larry Keel is an accomplished guitarist and flatpicking champion. The Virgina-based guitarist is one of my past interview subjects. Larry Keel is a master of progressive bluegrass, but also incorporates many other styles into his sound. His music is filled with so much joy and passion.
Keel’s 15th solo album, Experienced, will be released on February 26th, 2016. A highlight of the album is the dazzling instrumental work of “Ripchord.” The track features mandolin player Sam Bush and was composed by banjo player Will Lee. “Ripchord” really showcases the band’s interplay and is a lively, uptempo song. So much beasting and energy in this tune. 100% McClain approved.
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