In the interest of getting these up, this one’s gonna be video/photo heavy. It’s probably best to let these three acts speak for themselves anyway – it was a great night of forward-thinking, truly independent music.




UUVVWWZ hit the stage as we were walking in. What followed was a solid 30+ minutes of exuberant, wild fun – equal parts spoken wordish sing-shouting, abstract guitar breaks, fuzzy bass, and stop-on-a-dime ass-shaking drums. This is a great example of what happens when a band enjoys what they’re doing and how quickly that will carry over to the audience. We all had to acknowledge the Record Bar was fairly empty this night – but UUVVWWZ’s performance was the catalyst that made everyone who did show up decide to gather around the stage and get involved instead of hanging back at the bar or moping around on the smoking patio outside. It’s safe to say if it weren’t for this Lincoln band’s spark, the night might not have turned out as great as it did.













The Show is the Rainbow, who was just finishing up another fairly lengthy tour alongside fellow Nebraskans UUVVWWZ, did his set from the floor in front of the stage, and had a video backdrop displaying all sorts of fun, crazy, and weird stuff. None of which, mind you, compared to what was going on with the act himself. A veritable one-man band, TSISR was quickly writhing around half-naked on the bar’s wooden floor, pausing only occasionally to tell jokes like a seasoned stand-up comic working hard to stay ahead of the audience’s grasp of what was going on. The fact that it worked on so many levels, or much less worked at all, is a testament to the effort Darren Keen, the man behind TSISR, puts into his work. It’s also worth mentioning we have Keen’s own label IT ARE GOOD to thank for being able to pick up UUVVWWZ’s self-titled album on vinyl (with cd-r included inside, thank you very much!). Here’s UU’s Teal Gardner showing off the EP cover she designed for The Show is the Rainbow:







It was hard to get good footage of him, which, going by his youtube page here, is nothing unusual. Keen will be back in the area at the Replay on July 26th. The video is one from Santa Cruz, and is followed by some pics we took:













The Mae Shi put on one of the most energetic sets we’d seen in quite awhile. I danced my ass off and would highly recommend that you see these guys when you get a chance. By dance, I mean skanked. This could have been the El Torreon several years ago, or some house/basement show somewhere just as easily. The lyrics were real. The guitars were fierce, the synths abused and the drums smashed. I’d heard a little bit of these guys a few years ago, probably the Terrorbird album, but it wasn’t enough to register at the time. Now, we’ll be taking every opportunity we get to see and support them when we can. We even mulled over going to Baltimore next week for the Whartscape festival – if you are in the area, and don’t go to this . . . well – there’s no good excuse, really. $40 for over a weekend’s worth of amazing underground artists . . . it sums up what the Mae Shi are about, really. This is the sort of band that is going to take the opportunity to challenge you, and do it for your own good.






















The double vinyl HLLLYH looks great as well:




UUVVWWZ Myspace

The Show is the Rainbow Myspace

The Mae Shi Myspace

We wondered if the Kansas City area was going to suffer from another night of noisey weather – this spring has been exceptional for the amount of thunderstorms passing through the area. The tornado sirens were going off as we put down a quick dinner at Jerusalem Cafe, making it back to the car just before it started to pour.

The few blocks up Broadway to the Uptown were driven largely by luck. The street was impossible to see through the thick blanket of rain – only the frequent lightning provided any sort of guide as to who or what might be in our way. I found an open parking spot and ran to the door, and we made our way inside.

We got in right around 8:45pm with no wait – there were very few people outside, or hanging around the lobby. I also noticed a sign on the entry door that stated the show was being filmed for an upcoming DVD – should be interesting to see how much makes the final cut. We made our way into the main room at the Uptown, finally able to see what a sold-out show at this place looked like.

Easy enough – it was packed. We went up to the balcony hoping to find a better vantage point, but with no luck. We decided instead to head back down, and found a decent spot stage-right, leaning against a pillar. There was no sense in trying to move any further inward, or closer to the stage – we had found what would probably be the best sightline we were going to get.

The stage was littered with instruments, with four or five translucent spheres hanging above. These spheres collected the lighting changes and at times seemed to represent the view from outside the embryo depicted on the cover of Agætis Byrjun.

With a simple keyboard chord, “Svefn-g-englar” started the show . . .

From there, the band proceeded through an hour and fifteen minutes or so of unintelligible vocal sounds, instrument switching, confetti launching, and doubling in size with the addition of Amiina on strings and then tripling with a five-piece brass section for a total of fourteen people on stage, culminating in the rousing drum-led chant-song “Gobbledigook” from the forthcoming Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust album. The opener on the album, this almost Animal Collective-leaning exercise brought everyone in the place up out of the carefully-crafted ambient daze of the first hour of their set.

By the end of the set, we found ourselves leaning against an outer wall, sitting down with eyes closed just listening to the sound of the band and all they were creating on stage. The crowd, calm and attentive to the end, began to file out after the semi-English “All Alright” encore.

The new songs did stand out from the older work – anyone who’s heard the stream of the new album can tell the group are going in a different direction than much of their previous output. But, at the same time – it was still Sigur Ros. Fans at the two remaining dates on this short tour – the Bonnaroo festival and NYC – may very well get a different band that what we got due to, if anything, the sheer size of the summer festival and the sheer size of zeitgeist surrounding anything in the big city. For us out here in the rural midwest, it’s not often that a group of this size schedules Kansas City on such a limited engagement. I’m thankful the city turned out in droves despite the weather to let Sigur Ros know they shouldn’t forget us the next time they’re coming through.

One further thing I’d like to give credit to – the sound was amazing for this show. For a band like Sigur Ros, that really can mean everything. I’ve been to events at the Uptown before that were unbearably bad – far too loud, far too much bass booming around cavernously . . . just no attention paid to the details. This was not the case tonight. I’d heard the show a couple of years ago at the same venue was utterly fantastic from a sonic standpoint as well, so here’s to the band’s front-of-house sound engineer for doing what it takes to get it right. Thanks!

A final note – Jonsi looked the part tonight – his suit looked very similar to that of the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz . . .

For whatever reason, we’d been unable to catch Baby Birds don’t drink Milk for the last year or so . . . a broken-down tour bus there, a 6am wake-up call the day after Do Make Say Think here . . . but Saturday night the plan finally came together.

Admittedly, attendance was sparse at the Brick. As in, less than 10 people. As in, less than less than 10 people. The opening band, Chords for Wallkill, were on the final stop of their tour, and were heading back to Springfield the following day. The three-piece worked through a set of fairly straight-forward indie rock (with an emphasis on the rock). At times, a groove would emerge, but more often than not it was fairly vanilla.

Baby Birds set up as a four-piece, and I could tell from the number and types of pedals employed by the two guitarists and bassist that this was going to be pretty interesting. The result was more than I could have asked for.

This was seeing my prototypical idea of music in action on stage. A heavy percussive and bass element kept the rhythms somewhere between danceable and thrashable throughout – I found myself doing more of the latter, which was fine by me. Guitar tones and textures exploded, delayed, echoed, and just all around crashed in ways unique to each track. The distinguishing part for me were the vocals, which I’m sure had discernible, readable lyrics, but were washed through effects so that they became part of the sound collage instead of a focal point.

And then twenty minutes later, it was over.

It was the best hour of live music condensed into twenty minutes I’ve seen in quite awhile. Smashing stuff can be either an instrument or an insult. BBDDM torture their instruments in the name of creation. The payoff for finally seeing the band was amazing, and at the same time disappointing that we’d waited so long to finally make this happen.

Talking with the band afterward, we found out they’ve got a show May 24th (their 100th, by the way) at the Eighth Street Tap Room in Lawrence with Blood on the Wall – we were severely disappointed in ourselves for missing them a couple of months ago at the Record Bar as well. We’re seriously going to take the BBDDM guys up on their offer to camp in their yard for this one.

I also talked a little bit with Gaurev from Boo and Boo Too, which includes members of Baby Birds don’t drink Milk, and who are also included on the recently released Chomp Womp label compilation, which you can get in its entirety right here. Looks like they’ve got a show July 13th with Son Ambulance at the Record Bar – the venue’s site hasn’t been updated yet to reflect this, but if it’s happening, we’re there for this as well.

We picked up copies of the “Good Times in the Trenches” and “Ekk Ekk” tapes from the Lillerne Tape Club series, as well as Eek Shriek Beak and the Chomp Womp comp, and headed out more than satisfied with the experience.

Also – have to admit, was a bit shocked to find that Blood on the Wall is now essentially a Lawrence band (again), which is great news. Brad Shanks is immediately recognizable in Bandit Teeth as well, so keep an eye out for them also.

Here’s some Chomp Womp-upped footage of “Eating with Horses” from a show awhile back:

For more streaming audio and video, check out the band’s Virb page.

and I have to say this is probably my favorite track off of the Chomp Womp compilation above:

Norrit – Bong Rips with Burial

I do love me some Burial – can’t wait til his DJ Kicks is released shortly.

I was a little apprehensive watching The Dark Circles set up their gear on the Brick’s stage last night. The five-piece loaded in two guitars, bass, drums, a couple of Korgs and a Roland Juno-D, and by the end of their sound check, I wasn’t sure if there was going to be room on stage for the performers themselves. There can be a very fine line between quality and crap when it comes to integrating keyboards into the usual rock band set-up, and incorporating three versions of the instruments that, when in the wrong hands, can be known to produce some of the cheesiest synth sounds in the history of recorded music means the possibility becomes even stronger.

Thankfully, from the very first song, The Dark Circles proved they knew better. The group launched into a set that was built around a type of Midwestern despair tinged with a Romanticism that brought to mind a transplanted, time-traveling version of the Cure, raised on Cheap Trick and the Replacements instead of Siouxsie and Roxy Music. The guitars stayed angular and functionally simple, while both the drums and bass kept the chunky rhythms propulsive. Even the keys were kept as accentuating elements and not showcase items. All of this added up to a cohesive whole. Plus, singer Byron Huhmann smoked while singing, which is always cool.

I talked with bassist Andrew Turner a little bit afterwards, and he indicated the group is heading into the studio to record a new album in the coming months. While the line-up for the Dark Circles might constitute something of a local supergroup, it’s safe to say these guys have managed to capitalize on their individual talents while at the same time becoming a solid, focused unit. I’m interested in seeing how the new release turns out after doing an A/B comparison between tracks on their release from a few years ago and their live show at the Brick. It seems as if they are a much more confident unit now, and have grown into refining their sound. With the collection of players in the group, The Dark Circles should continue to move forward.

Out of everything the Dark Circles did on stage, the one thing they absolutely nailed was saying that we’d probably not be seeing the headlining band for the evening, Brooklyn’s Tigercity, in this small of a venue again anytime soon. When the four-piece took the stage after a quick breakdown, it became clear why.

Tigercity played the Brick back in early December, and it was obvious that there had been a major connection from both sides of the stage that night, as the audience this time around was full of people yelling out the next song’s title based on just the first few notes. Anyone who hadn’t caught the band’s December set (me included) wasn’t going to miss out this time around though. In a set that could only be called a perfect early 80’s blue-eyed soul set reminiscent of the very best of say, Hall & Oates or Simply Red mixed with equal parts of a self-stylized take on the disco-post punk era and the more organic house music labels like Naked Music, Tigercity quite simply slayed it. This stuff would sound just as appropriate in an indie film’s summer-fun montage as it would in a classic Larry Levan Paradise Garage set.

Bill Gillim’s falsetto never rang wrong or insincerely, while guitarist Andrew Brady disappeared behind a mop of hair, stroking out disco rhythms. Bassist Joel Ford served as more of a lead instrument, shaping out low-end lines between drummer Aynsley Powell’s tom-heavy sequences; both were tailor-made for lock-groove run-outs. A collection of keyboards (including the classic DX-7) and other electronics rounded out the group’s rig.

By the end of Tigercity’s roughly-hour set, everyone in the front of the Brick was dancing, even the indie-uniformed kids best known for standing around apathetically. The rhythm was just too much to fight, and unlike a lot of other bands who are doing a similar take on this sound, there was nothing forced about Tigercity – everything came out of them and into us just so easily.

Fresh off of an appearance at SXSW and heading to Chicago and then back home, this is a group that’s going to be successful. No argument about whether they deserve it or not – the sheer amount of fun they’re having on stage translates immediately to the audience. If the indie kids somehow find a way not to like it, no worry – their parents will still love it. And when the indie kids get a little older and more mature, they’ll love it too.

What struck me the most after listening to the group’s only recorded output, the Pretend Not to Love ep, is how much Tigercity sounds like what would normally be an AOR solo singer – maybe a late-weeks American Idol reject – fronting a set of highly-paid but anonymous session musicians, an act that is hoping to capitalize off of a quick fame turnaround for a high first-week’s sales and then mall appearances for the next five years. You know what? That is not an insult. These guys sound slick. Again, Hall & Oates slick. Big budget, pyrotechnics, mid-set costume-change slick. Pop music slick. It’s the sort of sound that is absolutely great once you give up thinking every record you listen to has to sound like everyone in the band has seven broken fingers each and are recording to an RCA boombox with a built-in mic to be enjoyable. It’s impressive that these four guys from Brooklyn are pulling this off, and it was an absolute treat to spend a Wednesday night sharing the experience with everyone else at the Brick.

Also – a note to any label considering picking these guys up – vinyl, please.

We’ve been big fans of Doby Watson ever since “discovering” him on a split EP with fellow Tract Records group Grumpy Bear a couple of years ago. It was a welcome surprise at the time to find out he was from Kansas City, and over the past couple of years, we’ve struck up a fairly good friendship. Like us, Doby is always on the lookout for new and interesting venues around town, so we followed his lead down to the Skinless Gallery to check the place out and catch his set.

Located at around 18th & Oak (across from Grinders), the gallery is an intimate – but not cramped – room with a functional stage, adjustable room and performance lighting, and, when cleared of the comfortable chairs which were spread around the middle of the room tonight, would have more than enough room to accommodate a decent turn-out.

Doby took the stage around 8:15 and proceeded though a roughly thirty minute set largely comprised of covers of songs about friendship and relationships originally by Manipulator Alligator, Parsen, and others from the closely-knit KC acoustic/folk scene.

Collin Rausch (who I’ve just deduced is the cousin of local bluegrass player, former Disc Traders and Recycled Sounds counter-jockey, and all-around great person Kasey Rausch) from the Abracadabras rounded out the night with a set of acoustic songs, including a few from his day-job band after it was clear that the night’s other performer, Brother Bird, wasn’t going to show.

The best part of the evening, though, was spent chatting with the guys who operate the gallery, Zac and Ben, about their plans for the space. Both have a wide range of tastes in everything from religion to music to, of course, art, and are absolutely full of motivation to do whatever it takes for as many people as possible to get the most out of their opportunity, and if you really think about it, that’s fairly rare these days.

The Skinless is a relatively new gallery in the Crossroads district, but with a little luck, it’ll have a growing presence not only in the Kansas City art district, but in the local music scene as well. They’ve got an ambitious line-up of acts coming up over the next few months, and are already thinking about long-term plans to keep the momentum moving forward.

Here’s some video of Doby’s set at Skinless shot and edited by Zac Eubank:

Doby Watson plays at Skinless Productions Gallery from Zac Eubank on Vimeo.

Over the last several weeks we’ve been pushing ourselves to branch out and expose ourselves to different live music scenes here in Kansas City. Although both Stephanie and I are as likely to put on a glitch-tech twelve-inch as we are a twee-folk tape, I will fully admit that I often get stuck in my comfort zone, resulting in being far more likely to opt for the indie band at the Record Bar than the noise band at the Pistol or a hardcore show at the Anchor.

However, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we are working on a plan to somehow start doing shows in the city with more variety and cross-scene attractiveness, and so this obviously requires research into just how other scenes in the city operate. We were both familiar with Reach’s work, and even though it was a late decision to head to the Record Bar, it ended up as a great way to spend a Saturday night.

We arrived to catch the last few songs of Wichita-based FeelsGood, which featured a live drummer, two keyboardists, guitar, and bass doing acid jazz-tinged soul and funk that wouldn’t sound out of place on the Naked Music label. The band sounded like it would be just as comfortable at a hip hop showcase like tonight’s as it would be at a jam band festival.

Reach’s own Soul Providers crew was up next, with each member doing a feature song. The group’s rhymes ranged from the abstract to socially conscious lyrics to battle raps, but all held a sense of unforced positivity. The crowd quickly got into the beats and began dancing as the stage filled with member after member of the local crew. Soul Providers made it clear that they have a lot of pride in what they do and respect for each other and hip hop in general, which resulted in a great but brief set.

Last up were two special guests in town from Los Angeles, No Alias and Menacin Johnson, who, along with the absent The EMS, are two-thirds of the Lepht. As much fun as we had up to this point, these two guys ended up being the real highlight of the night. No Alias (aka N/A) serves as producer for the group, and was no slouch on the mic either. Menacin Johnson functioned as the perfect support man when needed, and was more than willing to step out to the forefront when it was his turn as well. When people reference Native Tongues groups like Tribe Called Quest or De la Soul, it’s often easy to focus on the . . . preachier . . . aspects of that movement, but No Alias and Johnson brought back the street realness with songs about having to ride public transportation in Los Angeles and Johnson’s great freestyle about classic video games (did he just drop the Adventures of Lolo?). N/A also referenced another producer, Mr. Dibiase, who had provided many of the beats for the Lepht and for the show that night as well – this guy has got something going on, and is absolutely worth checking out.

All in all, we couldn’t have asked for a better experience to come out of a last-minute decision like this. The room was full of high energy and it was clear that everyone in attendance had come together to not only celebrate the birthday of one of the better and most long-standing MC in the city, but to enjoy and appreciate the artform of hip hop as well.

We made a last-second decision to make the 30 minute drive over to Lawrence last night to catch the Mountain Goats at the Jackpot. It had already been a long day, but with a few recent dayjob victories between my friend Tom and I, it seemed like the thing to do. This was our Vegas trip, baby.

We arrived at the venue around 11pm. The opening band had already played, and we ended up waiting about ten minutes for John Darnielle & company to take the stage. There was a sizeable crowd, full of college kids drinking expensive drinks and Pabst – the type of crowd that will continue to keep Lawrence as the focal point for larger touring bands coming through the area.

Admittedly, my Mountain Goats fandom doesn’t run as obsessively deep as others’. To me, Darnielle has always been part of the lo-fi triumvirate that also includes Bill Callahan and Stephen Meritt. While Callahan’s projects have garnered the most attention personally, Darnielle and Meritt both must be respected for lengthy careers of consistency. When a friend commented on how great a song was and asked which album it appeared on, the best I could do was shrug. It could be any Mountain Goats song, on any Mountain Goats album. The live setting doesn’t afford the “Was it recorded on a boombox or in a studio?” filter to even begin discerning the Mountain Goats’ 15+ years of output. The band played a new song about reggae singer Prince Far-I, as well as “Dance Music,” “This Year”, and of course a litany of others that far more hardcore fans than I would be able to identify. The band closed out their hour-long set with a two-song encore ending with, of course, “The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton,” much to the delight of the crowd.

Darnielle added dramatic emphasis to quite a few songs, and those that held a deeply personal place were given even more stage treatment. Between songs, he would often give a brief, amusing explanation of the previous or upcoming selection . . . or just talk about whatever odd thing was on his mind at the moment.

The Mountain Goats are a band that I’ve wanted to see for awhile, and I’m glad I took the opportunity to do so last night. John Darnielle is obviously one of the long-standing figureheads of truly independent music, and indeed ranks right up there with the likes of Robert Pollard, Bill Callahan, or Will Oldham when it comes to doing what he wants to do and doing it his own way.