Here’s killing two birds with one stone. To illustrate their latest single ‘Sucker Punch‘ (released mid-July) as well as give us a taste of tonight’s show – which we’ll get to in a minute – Brooklyn-based genre-busting indie hip-hop seven-piece Deathrow Tull is sharing today a third music video. Shaking to the to the beat of that contagiously revolted indie rock/ska-punk/rap sing-along that is ‘Sucker Punch’, a five-minute homemade montage of stage shots, crowds and backstage footage, jam-packed with fun vibes, invites you to join their party. A perfect teaser to get us excited for this evening’s (9.7) Deli sponsored showcase of some of the best local indie hip-hop talent – where Deathrow Tull will be performing alongside Metermaids, Premrock & Willie Green and more – kicking off at 8pm at Bushwick’s Paper Box (info here).

(Photo by Tammy Shell)

Kasey Rausch has been making music for over 20 years, mostly as a solo artist and in several local collaborations. Her folky, bluegrass musical approach hearkens the timeless voice of Emmylou Harris and the melancholy sound of Gillian Welch. We were able to talk to her more about her influences and current projects.

The Deli: Gun to your head, 1 sentence to describe your music. What is it?

Kasey Rausch: Americana (not so creative, but hey! I have a gun to my head!).

The Deli: Tell us about your latest release or upcoming shows. What can we expect?

Kasey: I’ve been balancing solo gigs with a lot of different projects with a ton of people and it’s been a blast. Currently working on a record with Buttermilk Boys (I play upright bass/fiddle/viola/harmonies) and the Rausch & Friends crew is starting to line up the beginnings of our next recording project—we have more than an album’s worth of material ready. Other projects include Partners in Glory with Mikal Shapiro and a trio with my sister Kim Rausch and Sarah Carpenter. House concerts are where it’s at!

The Deli: What does "supporting local music" mean to you?

Kasey: Supporting local music means supporting local business. It’s supporting the health and mental well-being of the community.

The Deli: Who are your favorite "local" musicians right now?

Kasey: Some of my favorite local musicians are the people that I’m closest to and are blessed to make music with: my sister, Kim Rausch; my husband, Travis Huffhines; my uncles, Terry Rausch & Larry Ford; my cousins, Ethan Ridings, Collin Rausch, Kyle Rausch, Danny Johnson; my friends, Mikal Shapiro, Scott Stanton, Chris DeVictor, Sarah Carpenter, Jesse Carr, Molly Healey, Tony Ladesich, Brandon Moore, Fernando Achucarro, just to name a few…

The Deli: Who are your favorite not-so-local musicians right now?

Kasey: Folks I’ve been listening to a lot of lately are:
Anne & Pete Sibley: Bluegrass/folk/old-time sound.
Chauncy Crandall: bluesy folk from Manitou Springs, CO. He played a house concert with Mikal Shapiro and me in Colorado Springs a few weeks ago. Good stuff.
Merle Haggard: He’s been a favorite of mine for a long time and I’ve been on a kick lately since I just saw him at Knuckleheads.

The Deli: What bands are you most excited to see at Crossroads Music Fest this year?

Kasey: I’d say Rural Grit All-Stars except that I’m playing at the same time as them. :~) Victor & Penny, Dead Voices and Starhaven Rounders is where I’ll be!.

The Deli: What is your ultimate fantasy bill to play on?

Kasey: Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris.

The Deli: Would you rather spend the rest of your life on stage or in the recording studio?

Kasey: I’d like to spend the rest of my life recording the magic that happens on stage. :~)

The Deli: A music-themed Mount Rushmore. What four faces are you putting up there and why?

Kasey: Willie Nelson: for his environmental consciousness.
George Harrison: for his compassion and desire to unite.
Jerry Garcia: for his openness.
Johnny Mullins: for his giving and for raising one of my favorite people, Sweet Melindamoon. (Mr. Mullins is a man from the Ozarks who wrote tunes that Loretta Lynn, Emmylou Harris, Porter Wagoner and Johnny Cash recorded).

And if I could add a fifth face in there, it would be Elizabeth Cotten for her originality.

The Deli: All right, give us the rundown. Where all on this big crazy web can you be found?

Kasey: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kasey-Rausch-Music-Other-Projects
http://www.reverbnation.com/kaseyrausch
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kaseyrauschfriends
http://www.myspace.com/kaseyrausch

The Deli: Always go out on a high note. Any last words of wisdom for The Deli audience?

Kasey: You can have all the love in the world, but if ya ain’t got gratitude (and a lil’ music) it don’t mean much…

You can see Kasey channel all of her compassionate, heartfelt influences while performing her signature brand of rustic Americana on Saturday at Czar at 8:00 pm.  

–Michelle Bacon

Michelle is editor-in-chief of The Deli – Kansas City. She also has a weekly column with The Kansas City Star and reviews music for Ink. She plays with Deco Auto, Drew Black and Dirty Electric, and Dolls on Fire. She is looking for someone to kill spiders for her full-time.

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From the song streaming below – a track from Tony Castles‘ upcoming EP "Sharon Stone" – one question comes to mind: has this band become a little less crazy (in a psychedelic kinda way) and a little more soulful all of a sudden? Sneak peaking at the full EP (excerpts for each track can be found here) fortunately dissipates any doubts in this regard – the guys are still out there. So, this rather straight "One Tone Man" track – although very enjoyable – is a little misleading, really.

Tony Castles will perform at Pianos tonight (09.06) and then on September 28 at Delinquency.

Chrome Canyon is the electronic instrumental project of programmer-remixer Morgan Z, a young man who can now also boast the title or "Music Video Director," since he realized the video streaming below for his own single "Branches," which was entirely shot from the roof of his Greenpoint apartment… you don’t need to move much these day to make music AND videos happen, huh? Chrome Canyon’s sound references alternatively the playfulness of the French electro-pop of the aughts (think Daft Punk and Air) and the epic spaciousness of Vangelis. Stones Throw is set to release Chrome Canyon’s debut album, Elemental Themes on Oct. 9  the record will feature a live rhythm section.

(Photo by Leah O’Connor)

Folkicide‘s music can strike the listener in one or all of several ways: puzzling, entertaining, chaotic, energizing, uncomfortable, thought-provoking. His song and new video for "Unleash The Young" both achieve that perfect blend of amusement, jocular discomfort and introspection that the artist seems to look for in his songwriting. He grabs the listener by the balls with an unexpected nasally register and lyrics that could make anyone blush, his attempt to deliver clever, aggressive social commentary.

The video comes from his recently released EP The Genocide Is Mean, and stars Deep Violet Brown and burlesque performer Diamond Dan. Check out the video, and see below for a streaming link to the EP.

–Michelle Bacon

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The Hollows, you may remember as recent(-ish) winners of our ‘Artist of the Month’ poll. Just about a year after a debut album, this Brooklyn-based six-piece ensemble of multi-instrumentalists released in June a self-titled EP, where textural guitars and grand harmonies brought a new depth, drawn from roots rock influences, to their multi-layered folk jams. 

The Bottom Dollars – who from the start pulled together a wide range of sounds from southern rock to blues, mixing-up an all-American high-impact burst of indie rock – dropped yesterday a new single, with which they’re introducing the louder road they went down for their new album ‘Good News Everyone’ (due September 18th). In the first stages of a forthcoming tour, they’ll be playing three dates with The Hollows, the second of which will be here in Bushwick at Paper Box (9.15) where they’ll be sharing the bill with the high-energy performers of Mike Savino’s brainchild Tall Tall Trees and Saint-Louis’ Water Liars.

 Julian Earle… who is this guy?  Armed with only a bandcamp and soundcloud page, that’s all we knew of the DC based lo-fi garage rocker here at the Deli.  After hearing his EP Eat Me (below), we had a feeling he’d draw in the numbers on our last poll. And perhaps a partial boost from Aunt Sally’s help, Earle earned Artist of the Month and we wanted to find out more about this mysterious dude. Here he tells us about his dad’s record shop, his first show with his bro, and creating "crappy sounding" distortion. Now onto the interview…

(Photo by Patrick Andrew Adams)

One of the highlights of Crossroads Music Fest this year will be the return of The Supernauts. The group’s reunion this Friday includes vocalist and bassist Jordan Lebrecht Smith, guitarist Tim Braun and drummer John Floyd Whitaker, all of whom played in the band from 2003 to 2007. The Supernauts breathed a dazzling classic rock life into the Kansas City music scene. Their solid, straightforward approach to their music brandished the huge, overarching rock n’ roll swagger of influential bands like AC/DC or The Rolling Stones while capturing the pop sensibility of The Beatles. Smith’s mid-range and falsetto vocal delivery fit harmoniously with Braun’s robust and soaring guitar licks and a propelling, monstrous backbeat from Whitaker. We talked a bit with Braun about the reunion and what other projects they’ve had going on since.

The Deli: The Supernauts were one of the best rock groups in KC at the time. What local bands do you look to now for the same brand of rock n’ roll that you tried to make your own?

Tim Braun: Those Not A Planet dudes strike me as being kinda similar. 3 piece, psychedelic-y, etc.

The Deli: You’ve all gone on to other projects since. What do you miss about playing with this group of guys?

Tim: Rehearsals. Shenanigans ensue.

The Deli: Tell us one notable bill you’re glad to have played on.

Tim: All of our shows were legendary. Every single one. Okay, not really. We played at The Roxy with Lucinda Williams and Son Volt and some other folks. That was kinda neat.

The Deli: What other projects have you all been doing since The Supernauts?

Tim: John and I have managed to do a couple things together. We recorded a record with a friend of ours, Dale McCoy from Fools Face. John’s also filled in on a couple Good Foot gigs in the past. I play in The Good Foot, I do stuff with the Diverse guys and Making Movies. Jordan Plays with Josh Johnson and Sammy Hoskins (both from The Slowdown) in a band called Wonderfuzz. They dress like cops.

Oh yeah, John and I are starting a stoner rock duo called stunt-driver. PREPARE.

The Deli: Do you think your musical tastes have all evolved since playing together?

Tim: I think anybody who plays music is always drawing from new stuff they hear. I would hope our musical tastes would change with time/new input. It’d be pretty boring if they didn’t.

The Deli: Do you plan to play any new material on Friday?

Tim: Yeah, we’ll actually have a new song. How ’bout that?

The Deli: So, any plans for future shows, or is this our one and only last chance to see you guys?

Tim: That all depends on the weather. See, I made some limited-edition shirts and CDs for this event. If we get rained out or don’t sell out, I’ll be booking another show to sell this kack. Gotta make that paper, nome sayin?

The Supernauts will be kicking off the first Friday pre-show festivities at CrossroadsKC at Grinder’s, beginning at 8:30 pm. They’ll be followed by The Grisly Hand and then The Good Foot.

And if you check out this week’s edition of The Mailbox (a weekly podcast presented by Midwest Music Foundation), co-hosts Michael Byars and Chris Haghirian talk about the upcoming Crossroads Music Fest and play "Showdown Girl" from The Supernauts. Listen at the link here.  

–Michelle Bacon

Michelle is editor-in-chief of The Deli – Kansas City. She also has a weekly column with The Kansas City Star and reviews music for Ink. She plays with Deco Auto, Drew Black and Dirty Electric, and Dolls on Fire. She has a fat Australian cattle dog and a stupidly adorable Corgi.

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(Photo by Redwall Photography)

This week’s On The Beat features Lennon Bone of Ha Ha Tonka, a band born in the Ozarks that has gained considerable buzz around the nation. Lennon tells us about his touring schedule in the US and soon, Europe, as well as his solo career and his KC record label Sharp County Records. Catch the beat right here!

On The Beat is typically brought to you by Sergio Moreno, but has been overtaken this week by drummer and The Deli – Kansas City editor-in-chief Michelle Bacon. This weekly interview features some of the many talented drummers in the area.

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Indie roots-rock group Earthquake Lights is playing two NYC shows this month at Cake Shop on September 9 and at The Living Room (literally next door) on September 28. Earthquake Lights, who debuted their album "Bangups and Hangups" in February, are preparing to release their next single, along with announcing several new shows for the fall. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here). The Deli’s NYC Open Blog is powered by The Music Building.

Brooklyn’s The Tablets are releasing their long awaited, independently produced debut LP, and the preview is receiving some serious loving from the blogosphere! Remezcla says: "Brooklyn-based The Tablets make lo-fi synthesized dreampop for lovers. Enjoy the lyrically creative and smooth electro synth melodies". The Majestic Show says: "The Tablets is a perfect example of the spirit of indie music. With a blend of toy drums, garage rock vibes, and pop prowess, you will find yourself coming back to these tunes again and again" Stream their single single "Tablets" below and don’t miss their release party @ Matchless, on October 11 with Live Footage, Kntrlr, Dead Sexy Sheila and DJ Volvox (Moon II). – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here). The Deli’s NYC Open Blog is powered by The Music Building.

This fall The Deli, Delicious Audio, Shure, Pedaltrain, and Main Drag Music will be presenting the 2012 edition of The NYC Stomp Box Exhibit at CMJ, a free interactive display of guitar effect pedals. – More info here.