New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
This week, we sit down with Stephanie Williams, who plays in nearly every band in Kansas City, it seems. She plays with The Prolific, The Clementines, The Cave Girls, Claire and the Crowded Stage, Adam Evolving, and by the time of this posting, there’s no telling who else. Catch the beat right here!
On The Beat is a weekly interview brought to you by drummer Sergio Moreno (of Hillary Watts Riot and Alacartoona), and features some of the many talented drummers in the Kansas City area.
Since their recent transformation from Vermont jam band to NYC experimental-ish indie collective (with some residue jam band influences) The Deli has become a big fan of Brooklyn octet Rubblebucket. These guys have another busy summer ahead, and this is understandable considering what a great party band they are. After releasing their fist live album and DVD this spring, “Rubblebucket: Live in Chicago” (see a video from it here) the band announced a summer tour with Athens “disco dust” rockers Reptar and their upcoming late night debut on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Vocalist and sax player Kalmia Traver and trumpeter Alex Troth met during college in Vermont, forming the band shortly after and enlisting an entire range of musicians and instruments that include anything from a Moog synth to an n’goni, an African banjo-predecessor. Rubblebucket will tour into fall, and are a set appear on “Jimmy Kimmel” on July 18. – Devon Antonetti
In Make Out’s new single ‘Maybe I’m the One (For Me)’ (video here) singer Leah Hennessey rushes at you with the kind of bouncy, frenetic energy usually associated with NYC bands from the 70s, like say… The New York Dolls, a band this group actually opened for in the past. Hennessey just happens to be the step-daughter of singer New York Dolls’ David Johansen, and Jesper Mortensen (my favorite half of Junior Senior) provides the dancehall ready beats you’ve probably been missing ever since you saw an animated squirrel dance to his last band’s most famous single.
Anyone who’s listened to the band before will probably recall fashionable ‘80s power chicks like Annie Lennox, Tiffany and even… Madonna. These are few and proud ladies who manage to make the dance floor their play thing. As Mortensen explains: “it’s instant excitement.” Indeed, we should all be making out, and this band knows it.- Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)
In 2012, it’s not quite clear anymore what someone means when they say they are a DJ. With electronic dance music soaring, Electro-rock continuing its steady march of dominance in the indie scene, hip hop DJs holding strong, and experimental DJs as weird and out there as ever, anyone from Deadmau5 to your neighbor who figured out how to hack his old Gameboy Color can claim the moniker. Not to mention The Drums on their night off or the guy who scratches records behind 50 Cent and grew up idolizing Jam Master Jay . But what about someone who combines elements of all four DJ ideologies? Last Saturday, NYC DJs Obey City (pictured) and Quam took over a Williamsburg’s Mezz packed with hipsters and showed us what that one might look like. With hip-hop beats and EDM-style chords, voices and sounds thrown in just to keep you off guard, and a steady, chill vibe to it, DJs like these guys are not only doing it right, they are doing it all. – Max Lefkowitz
If you’ve ever seen a Bollywood film, you may be familiar with some of the cacophony in Brooklyn’s Trabajo. Lending an otherworldly dimension to their brand of psychedlia, in in "Black Practice" swirling vocals are projected through a Bombay percussion and horn arrangement, while the washing machine of the world’s folk instruments are blended even further in their latest single ‘Monk.’ For how strange this band’s palette is, you’ll find yourself unexpectedly sucked into their peculiar collages. A lot of freaks talk a big game, but Trabajo works it in a way that might have made Olivia Tremor Control proud. See them when they play Brooklyn Fireproof on May 5th. – Mike Levine – Trabajo submitted their music to The Deli for review here.
The Wilders are one of the most successful bands to emerge from Kansas City in the past decade. The 4-piece string band has been around for over 15 years (13 years with the same lineup), has churned out 10 quality albums, and has had a successful run around the continent and in Europe. With such an impressive resumé and a huge catalog of music, there was no question that this would be our show of the week.
After 15 years of constant touring and playing, the group has decided to take a well-deserved hiatus. The show at Knuckleheads on Saturday will give fans a chance to hear The Wilders’ entire catalog, ranging from their beginnings of playing old country and folk standards to original alt-country Americana songs of the past few years. Though they have never been a cover band, they’ve been careful to pay homage to their influences throughout the years and use them to create their own material. Their latest album (2011, The Wilders) was the first that contained all original songs, and was well received by fans and critics alike, winning an Independent Music Award for best alt-country album.
Though Saturday’s show is being billed as a "farewell show" of sorts, fiddler Betse Ellis was quick to explain that the band was not breaking up.
"We love each other too much to break up," said Ellis. "We’re not ready to call it quits but we don’t know when we’ll play next."
Either way, this is a rare chance to see The Wilders perform in their hometown. The group’s exuberant live show is not to be missed, containing an energy that many bands simply cannot achieve. Frontman and guitarist Ike Sheldon is an otherworldly force on stage, with riffs and a voice that could destroy almost any heavy rocker. “He can go from biting your head off to stabbing you in the gut quietly within 30 seconds of the same song,” explained Ellis.
In the same turn, Ellis’s fierce fiddle work ensnares audiences. Bass player Nate Gawron lays down a solid foundation for the controlled chaos the band is known to create. Phil Wade rounds out the 4-piece as the multi-instrumentalist, often switching from mandolin to banjo to any number of stringed instruments. And all of this is done without a drummer, yet The Wilders’ music has a propulsion that often rivals that of a marching band.
The show begins at 9:00 p.m. The Wilders will play for the entire evening, providing a retrospective of their successful and diverse career. Tickets are $15 and available here.
–Michelle Bacon
NYC electro-pop duo Dinasty Electric has built a good amount of momentum in the last few months, culminating with today’s release of their new self-titled full length. The band’s rather accessible material is enhanced by sophisticated electronic elements both in the audio and video realms. We have some goods for you to watch and listen to: here‘s the video from their softer single "Eye Wide Open," while below you’ll find a stream of their new and more upbeat single "Oasis". Dinasty Electric will celebrate the CD release tonight (06.27) with a show at Glasslands, and then leave for a 10 day east coast tour.
The recently revived CBGB legacy celebrates its return to New York with a four day festival from July 5th to 8th, 2012. Focusing on both legendary acts and emerging young bands, the event will not only feature music, but film premieres and screenings, as well as industry panels for musicians. The highlight show is a free concert at Summerstage in Central Park on July 7 featuring Guided By Voices, The Pains Of Being Pure at Heart, War On Drugs and Cloud Nothings. Lots of "original regulars" of the old CBGB’s will be performing, including Liv Tyler’s mother, ex model, Playboy Playmate and queen of groupies Bebe Buell and her band at Highline Ballroom on July 5, and NY Dolls’ frontman David Johansen at Sullivan Hall on that same night. Lots of emerging NYC artists will be involved too, more about this in the next few days. For detailed information on line up schedules and to purchase festival passes go here. – Dave Cromwell
We already praised Brooklyn Hunters‘ super-tense approach to noise-rock in more than one occasion (they were our NYC record of the month in February). Well it looks like NYC reigning noise champions A Place to Bury Strangers also have taken notice of this sonically uncompromising duo. The band (whose debut EP was partly mixed by YYY’s guitarist Nick Zinner) just released the new single "Street Trash" (streaming below) and announced a July East Coast tour with A Place to Bury Strangers. It’s going to be like a series sonic blasts across the coast, indeed!
(Pictured above: The Life and Times)
Last Wednesday at recordBar, a reunion of Kansas City musicians took place. With Knives (Josh Newton of Shiner/Season To Risk, Joe Trohman of Fall Out Boy), The Beta Capsule (Paul Malinowski of Shiner, with former members of The Esoteric and Traindodge), and The Life and Times (former members of Shiner, The Stella Link, Traindodge) took the stage, to the delight of old school scenesters and new fans alike.
I’ll admit it, I first heard of Queen Orlenes through producer Tim Powell’s epic remix for ‘Bones.’ On their EP ‘Helicopters,’ the track sounds like something Feist might have contributed to a Broken Social Scene session. While Powell places singer Brooke X’s casual contralto over an insistent backbeat for his mix, it sounds equally powerful on the band’s own recordings. In fact, this ability to expand and contract on demand marks a rare skill that Brooke and band pull off convincingly.
There’s the sharp opener ‘Helicopters’ for instance (streaming below). Here’s a song with a groove as haunting as anything you might be missing from Portishead, complete with a rousing wash of strings from the Bergersen String Quartet. Equally, the other three tracks on the EP highlight a group with the confidence to effortlessly balance dynamic power over steady groove. Even with their first release now just a couple months old, this is a group that sounds like they’ve been making it happen for years. So hopefully they’ll be announcing some new dates soon… – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)
With a name like Devil On A Leash, one might think the Tacoma based band dabbles in Satan-worshipping death metal. While the four-piece doesn’t belong to that genre, their music still packs a big punch. With a garage pop sound that experiments in hard rock and psychedelic, Devil On A Leash make tunes that are bound to stick in your head. Songs like “Down The 5” are even tinged with a bit of country. Check out the band in Tacoma at O’Malley’s on July 8th or at Backstage Bar & Grill on July 10th, and listen to “Down the 5” below. – Josh Johnson
