Enjoy!

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—-tracklisting—-

[track time] [artist - song - album]

.
pt 1:

[00:00 - 14:00] Stars Of The Lid - Requiem For Dying Mothers Part 1 and Part 2 - The Tired Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid
[14:00 - 19:06] Hammock - Stranded Under An Endless Sky - Stranded Under An Endless Sky
[19:06 - 24:42] National Skyline - Some Will Say - This = Everything
[24:42 - 27:06] B.fleischmann - Sad Star - Sidone EP
[27:06 - 32:25] Ulrich Schnauss - Einfeld - Goodbye
[32:25 - 35:05] Manual - Stealing Thru - Isares
[35:05 - 41:05] Limp - City Speaks Tonight - Orion
[41:05 - 46:11] M83 - Teen Angst - Teen Angst Single
[46:11 - 48:38] Glowworm - Something Told Us That We Should Be Getting Home - Glowworm / Slyven 7″ Split
[48:38 - 52:12] American Analog Set - The Green Green Grass - Set Free
[52:12 - 57:31] My Bloody Valentine - Sometimes - Loveless

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pt 2:

[00:00 - 03:31] Sun Ra - Onward - Interstaellar Low Ways (formerly: Rocket Number Nine Take Off For The Planet Venus)
[03:31 - 07:27] Vince Guaraldi Trio - The Lady’s In Love With You - Vince Guaraldi Trio
[07:27 - 11:30] Vince Guaraldi Trio - Yesterdays - Jazz Impressions
[11:30 - 19:25] Thelonious Monk - Monk’s Mood (with John Coltraine) - Thelonious Himself
[19:25 - 24:13] Radiohead - Pyramid Song - Amnesiac
[24:13 - 29:51] The Notwist - N.L. - Shrink
[29:51 - 34:43] 33.3 - Joanne Will - Plays Music
[34:43 - 38:16] Couch - Plan - Profane
[38:16 - 42:14] Alles Vie Gross - Gaststätte - Vertonung
[42:14 - 48:16] Barry Black - When Sharks Smell Blood - Tragic Animal Stories
[48:16 - 55:29] 13 & God - Superman On Ice - 13 & God
[55:29 - 59:31] Ms John Soda - I & 8217 (Ms John Soda works adapted by Subtle) - While Talking

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Programs & Equipment:

[Turntable] JVC JL-A40
[Cartridge] ADC QLM 32 MK III
[Preamp] LKG Pre600
[Interface] Alesis i0/26
[Programs] Digital Performer 5

Recorded from vinyl records in 24 bit - 44.1 KHz. Dithered down to 16 bit - 44.1 KHz, and then converted to 320kbps mp3 LAME - 44.1 KHz using dBpoweramp.

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Artwork:

DOWNLOAD

In the United States, dubstep is a relatively unknown genre, even among those who are somewhat involved in other electronic genres such as house or techno. The sound is probably most familiar to drum n bass, downtempo, and minimal techno specialists, but dubstep itself has managed to side-step compartmentalization in its development over the last several years. It’s not overwhelmingly fast, it’s not built on the standard 4/4, and honestly, it’s pretty gloomy music overall. Dubstep dance floors are as equally welcoming to head nodders as they are to hip-shakers, but fashion and bourgeois attitudes haven’t forced their way into this scene just yet.

Sharing a similar trajectory to hiphop, dubstep was born from a cross-pollination of music found in the streets. The Jamaican-bred dub reggae’s understanding of intra-compositional space in the mix, and usage of the studio and extensive effects processing as instrumentation instead of augmentation are key elements in both. Whereas hiphop looked to disco, funk, soul, and RnB breaks for rhythmic inspiration, dubstep took the evolved results – UK garage, drum n bass, downtempo – and combined it with the futuristic man/machine palettes of Detroit, Berlin, and Cologne.

What dubstep is tonally most known for, though, is the seismic sub bass. The bassline in dubstep is king – the low-end of each song becomes a signature mark of the producer’s ability. While the “wobble” has changed constantly since the sound’s emergence earlier this decade, it’s remained a constant, identifying force since the beginning.

So here’s where we get to last night. I appreciated the Record Bar hosting the event and Bassline Pressure’s introduction of the sound to a wider audience. The real stars of the show though were Ces Cru, the night’s special guests, who ably rapid-fire rapped over what is undoubtedly a very difficult style of music to ride on, given dubstep’s monstrously twisting basslines and often unsyncopated rhythm lines. I would be interested to know how much of their set was planned and how much was freestyle, but either way they kept the whole process moving forward and interesting.



Visuals were also provided as well. They were kept abstract and metamorphosing for most of the night. It’s always a nice touch when a crew provides some eye candy for those of us on the floor.

To the tunes - it is important to note that, of all electronic genres, dubstep especially should not be run through the house sound mixed like an indie rock or even a hip hop show would be – especially when vinyl is in play, as thankfully it was last night.

The frequency emphasis of the sub bass is, as I mentioned, far and away the most important aspect of the sound. It guides everything – rhythms, pads, samples, everything - are built on top of it. When, sonically, only the higher levels of these low-end frequencies are being pushed through house monitors more accustomed to broadcasting midrange-frequency Fenders and Marshalls, the result is, and sadly was, a muddy mess.

I ran into a similar issue a couple of weeks ago at Crosstown Station when one of the original dubsteppers, Hatcha, did a dj set. I fully expected to feel the bass in my guts as I was walking up to the building, and I had the same expectation last night. On both nights, it barely registered even when standing directly in front of the speakers. I’ve spent more than enough nights both in and standing outside of buildings with both proper and DIY soundsystems, and needless to say, that low end can and should be physical. It’s palpable. What I don’t understand, and what ultimately frustrates me is the question of why one-off nights of local djs in a dirty warehouse in the bottoms can get their hands on – and properly calibrate – a soundsystem so that it shakes the walls and can be heard a couple of blocks away whereas a legit venue at a night being put on by professors of a sound seem to come up short?

Worse off, in both nights’ case, this was an intermittent (albeit constant) issue. Some times, the wobbles pulsated at frequencies that, while not perfect, were at least acceptable. Other times, they were barely discernible from the rest of the soup they were mashing around in. I’ll give credit to both Hatcha and the Bassline Pressure djs that they know how to operate a standard dj mixer – the bass eq’s are pretty standard across the board there. So why the variances?

Both nights were using the house sound systems – again, perfectly fine if you’re running a mic’d Marshall stack that can itself be adjusted for both volume and EQ. This is different though – at the very least, there should be plans to hire in some subs next time around. They are going to need something more than house sound to replicate what’s printed on the vinyl, and to separate those frequencies out of the way via crossover, allowing the mid and high ranges room to breathe.

While I do think the promoters and djs have a hand in the quality of sonic presentation, there is ultimately a heavy weight of responsibility on the Front of House sound mixer. I don’t know whether either night provided its own FOH guy. Not to say just anyone can do it, either - it’s a little more complicated than setting the EQ’s on a car stereo, and, much like DeNiro in Jackie Brown, a lot of places don’t like “other people” touching their levels. I go back to the fact that dubstep is not a widely known genre – how easy would it be to mix a show featuring traditional throat singing?

At the same time though, frequencies are frequencies. Keep the sound clean. As the sponsors of the night, I expect the djs and promoters to know how their records are supposed to sound. If they are pushed to the red on their limits as to what they can change, then attempts need to be made to have it rectified at the main mix desk. While Ces Cru would appear to be the main “focus” of the event, and indeed, their vocals were more upfront in the mix, the cloudiness of the struggling bass made it difficult to do much more than follow along with the cadence. A better separation of the tonal ranges would have allowed much more clarity all around.

What’s the point of all of this then? I honestly had a great time. I seriously do love dubstep – it’s one of the most innovative, exciting genres to come along for me in years. It’s everything I love about minimal techno, jungle, tech-house, soul, and dub, all wrapped up in one very community-driven and always-mutating package and dispersed largely by a passionately supportive network. 2562’s Aerial and Scuba’s A Mutual Antipathy are going to be, if not my #1 and #2 albums of the year, then top-5 easily. Burial has taken #1 for me each of the last two.

The point here is that I want the next events for both Bassline Pressure and Lotus Camp (who threw the Crosstown Station event) to be even better. I want it to sound better. I want more attention to be paid to how this music is supposed to sound, and I want acknowledged responsibility for that to be placed on those who are the playing role of stewards for the night – the dj and promoter. Work these issues out with Front of House early in the night. Soundcheck and warm up your set-ups, just like a band. Know that your sound is not a typical “electronic” sound, and most definitely not anything like any rock band’s – allocations are going to have to be made for huge low-end to get its due, and for the rest of the range to stand out and be heard as well.

All of these issues may have gone entirely unnoticed by most people in attendance last night – it seemed like everyone was having a great time, and again, I think this was largely due to Ces Cru’s performance. I go back again to the factor here of the relative foreignness of dubstep – again, how many people are familiar with the sound, of its intricacies and its native environments? Where is, pardon the pun, the baseline for comparison? This is what is being established at these introductory events.

If appreciation of the sound is to grow and expand, then it must be presented in its truest form. It must be respected and not shrugged off indifferently. I want to come back, I want to give you my money for giving me the opportunity. In return, I want music I love to be clean and clear, to resonant in my body and my soul. This is what separates the passionate from the bystander. We are your intended audience.




While we were at the Infoshop on Saturday night, we met Drew, who we’d recognized from the Teeth Mountain show a week or so ago. He invited us to the first show at Haunted Hills, a new house venue. He was even kind enough to hand-draw a flyer for us so we’d have all the information we needed:

After having gone to as many shows in the past couple of weeks, we weren’t sure we were going to make it. As the evening wore on, it seemed less and less likely that we’d be heading over to see Banana Bomb, Stress Ape, and This is my Condition – but thanks to a nap and a couple of scoops of ice cream we found the energy to head over 71 to the house.

We arrived a little early and spent some time talking with John Paul and Rachel, who had both been at the Infoshop the night before. I realized that, for a lot of people – myself included – this weekend was serving as the end of summer, with classes beginning the next day. This seemed an appropriate send-off to the season – half a bottle of wine, some new friends, and an interesting mix of genres playing on the house record player, including a side of Esmerine’s Aurora.

We headed downstairs to the basement where This is my Condition’s Craig was setting up his drums and guitar. Yes, drums and guitar. We’d been meaning to catch the one man band, who’s often joined by Dan Kozak on variations of the saxophone, for quite some time, but it had just never worked out. We spent a few minutes talking with both Craig and Dan, and learned a bit about Coleman Hawkins and his history in the St. Joseph/Topeka area.

The side bedroom was, by this time, full of instruments. A cheap Casio keyboard was hooked up to a Boss multi-effects pedal, a Mooger Fooger, and several other assorted boxes. Jonathan, aka Banana Bomb, told us of his plans to build a light-effect rope that re-acted to low, mid, and high frequencies – and it was pretty clear he intended on putting on an interesting show.

Banana Bomb’s set was a surprising mix of noise-drone and dub, with heavy textures sent looping, reverberating, and distorting around impromptu vocal shouts and live trumpet. A crowd request for a Misfits cover garnered the first few lines of “Last Caress” to spill into the thick stew, the mobius-loop of vocals running headlong into the scattershot drum beats of the cheap MIDI drumpad at Jonathan’s side.

Chicago’s Stress Ape had scared us a bit when we were checking out their Myspace before the show. We were pretty sure we were getting into some terror-core and might get our faces ripped off or something along those lines.

Not to say these guys didn’t mean serious business, but the reality was that the four-piece roared through a set of post-hardcore grooves that had the room jumping and dancing almost immediately. When you replace guitars with a Casio keyboard run through a dozen or so effects pedals, you are bound to end up at least a little on the funky side. With both bass and guitar pounding out rhythms and the singer laying into every word or scream, it came together in a powerful, visceral package that was impressive to see.

Last up were This is my Condition and Dan Kozak. Craig plays a fairly standard drum rig with a beat-up electric guitar lying over the audience-side of the snare and tom in front of him. He uses his drum sticks to either hammer on the four strings on the guitar, or uses the sticks as a slide. Couple this with a loop pedal and, while it sounds like an inviting recipe for sonic disaster, in the hands of a guy who obviously knows what he’s doing you’ll get a very well-put together of set of songs. Add Kozak’s freeform avant sax (and occasional duck call) playing over the top with the duo’s sense of humor, and it was an outstanding way to wrap up the show.

The benefits of standing shoulder to shoulder with ten or twelve other passionate music fans in a 12×12 room are hard to relay if you’ve never been there – outside of the last couple of weeks, it’s not something I’ve experienced in a long, long time myself. It’s been refreshing to say the least to be involved in these events and to meet new people who are not concerned about fashion one-upmanship, societal posturing, or degrading others around them in order to feel better about themselves.

The first band to play was Witch & Hare, who we’d just seen open for Sic Alps a couple of weeks back. The crowd this time around was closer and more enthusiastic for the four-piece, and I think this helped them quite a bit. They fed off of the excitement of the tightly-packed audience, working through their set with more energy than we’d seen in the earlier show.

This sort of “skronky tonk” isn’t exactly light-weight when it comes to leaving it all out there – the whiskey-riffs helped propel the band and the crowd into a mess of amphetamine-blues howls.

Next up was Harlem, a three-piece from Austin that has been generating a bit of buzz lately. While the band’s surface is a fairly straightforward drums/bass/guitar indie rock, they reminded me a lot of acts like Catfish Haven or Low Skies – southern rock updated in the post-alternative era and not looking for the mass adulation of, say, Kings of Leon.

We’re gonna try something a little different out here – here’s a video of Harlem’s complete set, minus the first song:




Harlem @ the KC Infoshop, 8/16/08 from benmighty on Vimeo.

We grabbed a copy of the band’s debut album, Free Drugs, on vinyl as well. Gotta say – very happy to see this trend continuing of bands dropping a little bit of money on this format for those of us who are willing to buy it. I can’t run home and put this up on my P2P or torrent site of choice, and I’m fine with that.

Funderstorm followed. I’ve got most of their set recorded as well:

funderstorm @ kc infoshop, 8-16-08 from benmighty on Vimeo.

This was like the collision of The Show is the Rainbow tearing down and the Mae Shi setting up a few weeks back.

Last up for just a few minutes were Visualizer, a Lawrence duo working on dance-punk beats and heart-felt songs about holding hands. They had some technical problems, but were able to overcome those and, ultimately, close out the night with some manipulated disco beats. It’s not every day you get to see a bunch of punk, indie, and anarchist kids break into an impromptu dance party – here’s to seeing more of that happen.

This was the first time we’d been to a show at the Infoshop, but not our first time at the venue itself. A huge thanks has to go out to Chuck Munson for providing a last-minute venue following the closure of Charles Mansion. The Infoshop serves as an important resource in the community, and not just the immediate are of 31st and Troost,, where it’s located, but for the whole city. In addition to the bookstore’s circulating books, zines, and weekly discussion groups, the center also features a theater performance space, the 816 Bike Collective, a community computer lab that’s currently in development, and even an old nightclub buried in the back of the building – not to mention housing for several residents. The building this is all housed in is in need of some serious repairs and if you get the opportunity to stop by and see how valuable a resource this place is, do what you can to drop a few dollars in the donation bucket to help out.

We arrived around 9:30pm and spent some time hanging out in the red-light front room. It’s a different atmosphere entirely than at a bar – people drift in and out of the room, conversations ebb and flow. We passed around Magic Eye II (I still can’t do those things), and several took turns messing around on the old Wurlitzer organ in the corner.

Lawrence’s Boo and Boo Too loaded in to the basement, and around 10:30 the first swells of guitar began building. One great thing about a house show is that the volume levels are about the same as in a bar – except you’re standing in a 15×15 concrete room with the floor of the storey above you immediately over your head, which increases everything quite a bit.

Boo and Boo Too grew from a five-piece to a six-piece within a minute or two of the first song – four guitars, a bass, and drums. Although they share some similarities (and band members) with CHOMP WOMP labelmates Baby Birds don’t drink Milk, it’s clear that this is a separate project. The songs here are more structured than the pastoral psych-folk of BBDDM. At times, I could imagine that if the reverbs, delays, phasers, and distortion were modified just a bit, some of the pieces could pass for some of the more experimentally drunken-pop moments of classic-era Guided by Voices. The band then took this space-power pop idea further into Slowdive/Catherine Wheel’s shoegaze territory with each song, until finally all six members were thrashing around, beating up pedals and effects, and generally making an awesome noise.

We headed back upstairs, where, after a quick set up, Teeth Mountain began their set. The four-piece was on their way back to Baltimore from a quick West Coast tour aftering having played Whartscape in their hometown just a few weeks back. It was an absolute surprise to see the group booked to play in Kansas City, and they didn’t disappoint. One member manned a guitar, violin, and a mixer; a second played a cello and a bass in addition to a thumb piano. Two more manned a drum rig consisting of several floor toms, a couple of snares, and some cymbals.

The songs built on the dual drummers’ tribal rhythms. Guitars would be strummed, looped, and then layered over by violin and cello, often playing at half-time to the growing beat patterns. The audience made themselves comfortable in and around the band as they moved through their set - each break between movements brought cheering from the awed crowd.

The last band, Terracide, was finishing up a tour of their own, and was on their way back to Minneapolis. We weren’t sure what these guys were going to sound like, so when the four of them started blasting some classic Motorhead-leaning stoner thrash metal, it was a welcome surprise.

Terracide kept a highly socio-political edge in their lyrics, cruising through concept songs centering around topics like future mining spaceship mutinies and characters dealing with the problems of escaping from prison and the ensuing unemployability.

Without a couple of song interpretation introductions, I wouldn’t have been able to get much if any of the stories out of the gruff vocal stylings, but thankfully Stephanie picked up quite a bit, and they included a lyric sheet booklet with their tape. She commented afterward that she was really impressed by their spirit and their political message.

By the way, Gary War was scheduled to play tonight also - I”m not sure if he/they did or not . . . we hung around for a little bit after Terracide but given that we are old, we decided to head out.

This was our first time at Harrison Fort, and while I’m sure we looked like an out-of-place yuppie couple, we didn’t feel uncomfortable or unwanted. The sense among the crowd was of enjoyment of the opportunity to see some interesting music in an informal environment. There is an understanding that this sort of place is ideal for underground, truly independent acts, and shouldn’t be abused or taken for granted. Even the thrash pit during Terracide was mindful of everyone else around it.

Thursday night, we thought maybe we’d end up going to the Pitch’s Music Showcase thing after all. Five bucks, over thirty-five bands, in a handful of nearby bars. But here’s the thing - we looked back over the line-up, and there just wasn’t enough to entice us out the door. Of course, there were a handful of bands that are always enjoyable to see, but there just wasn’t enough . . . edginess . . . in the line-up to get our blood flowing. Ultimately we chose to stay in and save our energy for the following night’s Chomp Womp party at the Bottleneck in Lawrence

Chomp Womp is, first and foremost, a collective. Yes, it’s a label with an impressive and diverse range of bands from the Lawrence/Kansas City area and beyond. Yes, it’s also an onomotopoetic description of many of the bands involved ascribe to. But, as evidenced by the dozen or so people who were already in the Bottleneck when we arrived a little before 8, it’s a collective.

This party was put together to celebrate the release of CHOMP WOMP CHOMPILATION Vol TEW, which you can download in its entirety for free right here thanks to the all-new CHOMPWOMP.COM.

These dozen-plus people weren’t just riding coattails in with band members to get in to a $3 show free. They weren’t sitting around with sullen looks trying to out-ironic each other. What they were was busy. While djs spun a mix of pitch-shifted indie, abstract IDM, and classic soul and R’n'B tunes, Chomp Wompers were busy setting up various backdrops around the two stage areas, preparing vegan cookie tables, and talking with others about a vintage dress business which had its items on display. AstroKitty Comics was set up on a table, selling local zines and comics. KJHK was present with free stuff as well.

Silhouette paintings of dancers were hung on the walls, and the bleacher seating at the Bottleneck was quickly being covered in aluminum foil. Balloons were everywhere, and animal cut-outs were pasted to the floor for a cake-walk that would happen early in the evening.



Here’s a video tour Stephanie put together:

The event kicked off with a video presentation which highlighted the history of August 8th, as well as some of the ideas of those involved with Chomp Womp. The cake walk followed, and then we headed outside for the first act of the evening.

Naomi What? played out on the curb in front of the Bottleneck. These guys kept it simple and fun. They even threw in a cover of Guided by Voices’ “Game of Pricks”.

Back inside, some portion of Baby Birds don’t drink Milk assembled to rock through a set peppered with Breeders covers (”Divine Hammer”, although recognizable and a released single, is still one of my faves) and a smattering of originals.



We immediately turned around to the main floor stage for Beaterbot Pizza Tree, who had also put out some free zines on a couple of the tables around the bar. This two-piece duo consisted of a guy and girl, and I’m not really sure who they were, other than the guy was working in Lawrence over the summer and the singer had driven down from Iowa City for the show. We’d seen the two hanging around the Bottleneck earlier and they just looked like a sort-of indie couple just hanging around a bar on a Saturday night.

Turns out the guy is a freak of drumming virtuosity. Dressed in togas and spandex, the two just made some great free noise, for lack of a better description. This guy’s drumming though - whew. Live breakbeats of the classic drum n bass caliber - good stuff.



Next up was The Armory. This was three-piece punk that was a lot of fun to skank and thrash to.



Somewhere in here things started running together . . . and given that many of these bands were very new to me I’m hoping I’m getting the rest of these right. Bramble Thrash was (I think) the group that appeared to have a few of the BBDDM guys involved, playing a 15-minute psych-stoner cover of The Temptations’ “Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch” complete with a warped out fuzzed up sample of the original.

Back down on the dancefloor, Waterfowl Habitat rocked some vocoder-synth jams and got the crowd moving.

And finally, to round the night out, Weird Wounds‘ set was over the top, thrash mayhem. Yes, I am the sweaty guy with his shirt around his head in the video . . .

As DJ Iggy Baby (who also produces as Norrit for CHOMP WOMP) spun more tunes, we headed out for the night. Stephanie and I both remarked that we were really happy with our decision to forego Thursday night’s Kansas City showcase in order to be rested and ready for CHOMP WOMP’s party. There was true diversity in everything done for the event, from the decorations, to the snacks, and, most importantly, to the music. A big thanks to all of the bands and everyone else who helped make this a such a fun, great experience.

Yessssssss.

Here’s an idea of what’s going on:

teeth mountain - 4/24/08 @ Death by Audio

These guys reminded me quite a bit of Pavement - intentionally slack, the sort of thing that makes drinking cheap beer on summer porches, initially talking about Eastern European poetry but ultimately discussing the merits of socks with toes sewn in them a worthy usage of time. We picked up copies of their “A Widow Knows” b/w “Space from Earth” 7in and the split they just put out with Bandit Teeth as well - and a huge thanks goes to these guys for including CD copies of the releases in the jacket.

Nueva Volcano did a split with the Life & Times awhile back, and joined them on the Japanese tour chronicled in the Life is Pleasure dvd mentioned earlier. The three-piece, who originally hail from Barcelona, Spain, was finishing up a tour of the States before coming through Kansas City this night.

Although the lyrics are entirely in Spanish, the spirit of what these guys were doing came through pretty easily. It’s refreshing to see a band playing with a sense of determination that’s not crippled by the self-awareness that plagues so many American/European bands. What we in the States are normally exposed to when it comes to music from any other continent is often hand-picked for best possible shot at marketing success or are so underground and avante garde that it’s often impossible to ever experience in a live setting. It was a treat to see what is surely a hard-working, self-financing, touring band from another country come through our town.

The Life & Times’ history with Kansas City goes way back. It’s been covered more than enough elsewhere, but it’s safe to say that the days of Shiner, Season to Risk, Outhouse, Molly McGuire, Kill Creek . . . those days hold a special place in the heart of any locally-born and bred indie rock fan. The mid-90’s were an amazing time to be a music fan in Kansas City and we still see the effects of this period today - look no further than the Record Bar and its management.

The last time we caught the trio was the first time I’d been able to see them. The band’s album and eps evoke not only the best of that by-gone era but continue to carry the torch for where so many by-gone acts weren’t able to go. Live, they are a different beast entirely. Allen Epley, drummer Chris Metcalf, and bassist Eric Abert (along with their ever-present industrial flood lighting) create space-sized atmospheres around their work. Metcalf and Abert provide the low-end and rhythms, while Epley works the type of emotions out of his guitar that are best identified with those who are seemingly emotionless. Lyrically, he follows suit - the stories are of dirt and disappointment and reserved indifference. It’s not art, but moreso extra-strength reality in four-minute capsules we can take a handful at a time.

The band has a few more scattered dates around the city and Lawrence in the next few months, including a free set on September 10th at the Power & Light at one of the Homegrown Buzz showcase nights. Check out thelifeandtimes.com for more information, and while you’re there grab the great Suburban Hymns album on clear vinyl for a very manageable $10.

8/2 - The Life & Times, Nueva Volcano, & the Dactyls @ the Record Bar

8/7 - The Pitch Music Showcase @ all over town

8/8 - CHOMP WOMP Compilation release Party @ the Bottleneck

8/9 - Hatcha @ Crosstown Station

8/13 - Baby Birds don’t drink Milk @ the Record Bar

8/15 - Bark Bark Bark + Boo and Boo Too @ the Replay

8/20 - Bassline Pressure @ the Record Bar

8/27 - North @ the Record Bar

9/2 - The Show is the Rainbow @ the Record Bar

9/5 - Lymbyc System + This will Destroy You @ the Jackpot

9/7 - Mythical Beast + These are Powers @ the Pistol Social Club

9/14 - Vampire Hands @ the Brick

9/19 - namelessnumberheadman @ the Brick

9/22 - The Dead Science @ The Record Bar

9/23 - Robert Plant & Allison Krauss @ Starlight

10/10 - A Place to Bury Strangers @ the Record Bar

10/14 - Opeth, High on Fire, Baroness @ the Beaumont

10/16 - Broken Social Scene @ the Beaumont

10/19 - David Byrne @ the Uptown

10/23 - Toadies @ the Beaumont

11/1 - Magnolia Electric Company @ the Jackpot




First up was the skronky-tonk of Witch & Hare, a local four-piece. They had a fairly decent amount of energy - there weren’t any slow songs that I can recall, and the dirty, semi-sloppiness of the whole thing seemed to be within their control. An interesting act for fans of the sound, but not so much my thing.

Sic Alps set up their tower of amps - you can see it there in the picture. We were pretty sure it was either going to fall over on them by the end of their set or they were going to destroy it.

This is easily a like-it-or-you-don’t act. I was into it, and have been for awhile, so when they started blasting their two-piece sludge-doom take on classic rock, it didn’t catch me by surprise. What did get me, though, was the force these two put out. Obviously, the guitar kept a strong presence in the low-end, while drums were pounded. Amplifier worship was in full effect - feedback squalls were manipulated into wails of sonic crush. Matt Hartman and Mike Donovan traded instruments a couple of times on the last show of their tour before heading back to San Francisco.

Also, I should mention I’m just now coming to grips with the fact that these guys played Kansas City - again, huge thanks to the Pistol for making this happen.

Here’s some very badly-lit but ultimately indicative footage of what these guys were up to:

Good times.

witch & hare myspace

sicalps.com

pistol social club





Admittedly, it had been awhile since we’d been to the Skinless – but the venue hasn’t held up its goal of becoming one of the city’s better intimate venues on our account. While most of the performances at the gallery have tended towards the acoustic side of things, recent developments have allowed the room to host more artists who are able to plug in.

Such is the case with Foxtail Somersault. The band builds its sound on a base of classic dreampop and shoegaze textures, paying equal amounts of homage to Robin Guthrie as to Kevin Shields or Slowdive. Obviously, this sound is built on volume – swells of chorus and delay are given dynamics when frequency presence is manipulated.



The five-piece seemed a little cramped on the Skinless’ stage, but once levels were set, everyone seemed to have enough room to move around as needed. Bassist Brian Anderson kept the low end of things subtle and elegantly simple throughout the set, while drummer Mark Dungey filled in rhythms with a light, jazzy touch. In dreampop and shoegaze, it’s very often these elements – bass and drums – that provide the grounding for the remainder of the piece to launch from, and both Anderson and Dungey provided the audience with touchpoints to hold on to once the walls of sound began.

James Spadaro serves in the capacity of “lead” guitarist – he’s the one doing the cleaner lines, dropping in fill notes, and working more along the lines of Robin Guthrie’s chiming, chorus-laden solo work. Within Foxtail Somersault, however, the work of Seiken Nakama is the focal point. The interplay between Spadaro and Nakama – and vocalist Cat Howland’s occasional third guitar – is a fantastic update of the classic dreampop sound. Spadaro and Howland would provide the “pop” sounds while Nakama worked his effects board to its fullest.

Nakama’s ability to expand the songs into a wider field of experience is vital to Foxtail Somersault – reverb, chorus, and delay are common effects in most modern music, but it takes an understanding of psycho-acoustics to shape guitar tones in such a way that creates a floating, out-of-body sensation inherent to the best of the genre. As the sonic kinesthetics of propulsion began driving through the swirling cloud, Nakama showed at every passage his ability to control the tension until he was ready for the movement to reach its peak.

The cohesion of other four members to ebb and then re-convene around Nakama’s playing is a highlight of Foxtail Somersault. Moving past simple re-interpretation of past acts, the band as a whole managed to find the balance between finely-crafted pop songs and the dense wall of sonics. Indeed, Cat Howland’s vocals are a key part of this equation. At times recalling The Sundays’ Harriet Wheeler and at other times Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval, Howland is not afraid to have her element buried in the building swirl of the song. At these points, her voice becomes an instrument more of sound and less of communication. Once her vocal breaks through the din, it’s an unmistakable, inviting ray buoyed lightly on the waves of sound occurring around her. She stays well away from the saccharine, vamp-chanteuse vocals often found in the genre, instead sticking with a mature, almost world-worn tone that makes for a much more enriching experience.

The five-piece worked its way through a roughly-hour long set to a rapt audience of about ten to fifteen who turned out for the free show. New songs mixed with tracks on their 2007 Vibraphone ep, Fathoms, and they closed on a great cover of the Church’s “Under the Milky Way”.

Everyone in the band was more than gracious to hang out and talk with those in attendance afterwards. Vehicle trouble throughout the journey from San Francisco to Chicago had presented the opportunity for the band to play in Kansas City, and, in fact, they were experiencing some tire issues just outside the venue. I was also surprised to find out that guitarist James Spadaro had spent time in Morning Spy with Jon Rooney of Virgin of the Birds and the great Abandoned Love label.

I was impressed with the venue again, and I want to send another set of thanks to Ben and Zac at the Skinless – and David for setting this particular show up. The guys at the gallery are dedicated to pushing the envelope in Kansas City, and it’s absolutely vital that the city – myself included – do what we can to support places like the Skinless. While the positive impact of the Record Bar and the Brick are undeniable, it’s taken us a long time to get back to the point where experimental, forward-thinking artists have a selection of venues like the Skinless, the Crossroads Infoshop, or the Pistol Social Club to play in Kansas City. We’re once again becoming an option as a stop again beyond Lawrence, Omaha, Columbia, or St. Louis. With the undeniable impact of the crassly commercial Power & Light District, and the rest of the city’s struggle to remain solvent in the face of this corporate monster, we’ve got to take the opportunities to show our support to those who aren’t necessarily concerned about the bottom line when they arise.

UPDATE - the band won the audience vote at the Empty Bottle competition, and ultimately played a set at Lollapalooza today (Friday 8/1) - well deserved and congratulations!

foxtailsomersault.com
foxtail somersault myspace

skinlessgallery.com
Skinless Gallery myspace





Here’s a video for “Semi-Streets”:

Kansas City’s own Witch & Hare open.

Oh, and by the way - it’s a free show!

Here’s a Youtube video of the band performing “Escalator”

foxtailsomersault.com
foxtail somersault myspace

skinlessgallery.com
Skinless Gallery myspace

KidLogic from the great dubstep.fm station and JFortune himself . . . with VJOnes on visuals?

This one’s easy.

FLORAL BEEF

SHE’S PIST

TERRY SCHIAVO IS THE ONLY TRUE NIHILIST

and another TBA. or a band that’s joining the dozens of others that’s calling itself TBA.

Or . . . could it be Towards a Better Acronym? Brilliant ep a few years ago, if it is!

No time listed so probably get there around 7 or 8 maybe? Bring $5 - it’s probably donation but you’ll feel better about yourself if you can give a little something back right?

Right.

Here’s some FLORAL BEEF video:

We here at tSos have never really done the album-posting thing, but YSKUBOD does what the whole mission was supposed to be about in the first place - putting up rare. and in this case, an overwhelmingly number of vinyl-only releases for everyone to get a shot at. No one’s missing out on a gold-plated jacuzzi over this site.

Head over and loot the place while you still can . . .

Add Ten Kens to that list. The core of Ten Kens, Dan Workman and Dean Tzenos, ended up shopping to Fat Cat a mastered, 10-track demo “album”. The label found itself in a very similar situation as they did with the Songs of Green Pheasant album, and, just like that one, jumped at the chance to be involved.

There’s not a whole lot of info about these guys out there right now - in fact, I’d originally posted this review thinking this was the new album itself - surprise, it’s not. Which is great, because that means there’s a whole other release being readied for September. It looks like some songs are going to carry over to the new one - just try to track down the 7″ for “Bear Fight”/”Y’all come back now” . . . it’s not easy to do, which means the album itself is probably a safe bet to be in heavy rotation on iPods shoved in tight jeans when it hits the streets in the next few months.

Thankfully, they’ve got videos streaming on their myspace for both tracks from the single:



Bearfight:

Y’all Come back now:



It seems pretty safe to say these Toronto natives are having a great time doing what they’re doing - it comes through in their output. The arrangements are intelligent, but stupid - it’s too bad the phrase “modern rock” deserves its reputation, because I would be all for crowning these guys as a shining example of the best in the new wave of butt-rock.



This stuff veers from shit-kicking country-tinged rock on the opener “The Alternate Biker” to swirly psych(o)-pop on “Y’all Come back now”. “A Decision of Especial Irrelevance” rocks hard, but stays cool with the vocal coo’ing between the outbreaks of bashing and screaming. “The Whore of Revelation” follows this immediately with some heavy guitar, but a counterpoint of almost Dead Meadow/Deerhunter-ish feathered-hair 60’s troubadour psych-folk vocal . . . and then some more heavy guitar.

“Cosby Pills” is just a big dumb stupid, and it’s great for it. Same with “Worthless and Oversimplified Ideas” . . . but here, the verse vocals tie it all together. Live . . . live? I can’t even imagine how this all goes off. I can only imagine a lot of thrift-store cowboy shirts and flying Pabst showers and sore legs and necks.



The lyrics are cool and the background harmonies are like a lo-fi Broken Social Scene at their best . . . or something. There’s plenty of other du jour touchpoints but who cares about that - this is just a solid, irreverently catchy album from beginning to end. Even in demo form, it’s clear this is shaping up to be another success story for Fat Cat.

Ten Kens
Ten Kens Myspace
Ten Kens on Fat Cat

Are you going to the party at Fuck Mt?

Take the opportunity to take this one away with you - it deserves to soundtrack your next bus ride - but if you can’t, I’ve uploaded it so you can stream it if need be:

I am always impressed with how much these guys pack into their sound. I can definitely get on board with the idea that twenty minutes, which is what this clocks in at, is right around “enough” . . . because it will make the time you manage to catch these guys in someone’s living room, just playing for a few hours and creating sublime havok seem so much sweeter.

There’s nothing like the feeling when the energy’s effervescing into a build, moving towards everything exploding all over the walls . . . as the tones and rhythms start careening around four and a half minutes in, it becomes clear we’re going on a nice ride just a few feet above ourselves. We’re really fortunate to have the collective and all their side projects available in the immediate Lawrence/Kansas City area, and it’s great of these guys to tour as much as they do as well to share that with as many more people as possible.

Here’s the rest of the tour dates, so get on it:

12 Jul 2008 Grabby’s Pancake Parkway Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
12 Jul 2008 Scary Studios Baltimore, Maryland
13 Jul 2008 Lo-Fi Social Club Baltimore, Maryland
16 Jul 2008 The Spazzatorium Galleria! Greenville, North Carolina
18 Jul 2008 Snug Harbor Charlotte, North Carolina
20 Jul 2008 Criminal Records Atlanta, Georgia
23 Jul 2008 WOLFCASTLE Murfreesboro, Tennessee
24 Jul 2008 Banshee Boardwalk Memphis, Tennessee
31 Jul 2008 The Replay Lounge Lawrence, Kansas
8 Aug 2008 CHOMP WOMP @ the bottleneck Lawrence, Kansas
13 Aug 2008 The Record Bar Kansas City, Missouri
16 Aug 2008 SCRUMMAGE FEST! Detroit, Michigan

and here’s another three and a half minutes, this time with moving pictures:

Baby Birds don’t Drink Milk myspace
CHOMP WOMP myspace

and here’s one from the Chomp Womp Comp:

Baby Birds don’t Drink Milk - Eating with horses

Gazelle is Jeff Dimpsey, formerly of Hum and National Skyline, and Adam Fein, of Absinthe Blind. There, I said it. Get it out of the way now.

The key point is that the strength of this album should not be over-shadowed by the pedigree of either artist. This project furthers the work both have previously done. As an album, Sunblown is full of space-filled, shamble-to-float atmospheres. Some, like “Sonhead”, are built around a core mood of ambience; others, like “At Last, Friend,” or album closer “The First Rays” work themselves into almost-typical indie pop songs. More importantly, even the most upbeat tracks are full of a cool distance that breathes melancholic intimacy.

The album opens with “Jets”, which builds on its programmed drums, ice-on-the-window pads and sun-aura synth which soon breaks to reveal a disaffected but clean, upfront vocal. From the beginning, Dimpsey and Fein demonstrate how gracefuly they manage to steer clear of genre pigeon-holes. Gazelle doesn’t fit in with either the wall-of-sound Claire Records or Club AC30 crowd - librarians will have a hard time categorizing this among the resurging dreampop/shoegaze movement of the moment. Still . . . this is the music of half-sleep. It’s lucid . . . rock for dreaming, but of later-life, back-porch reflection dreaming. The album’s entire demeanor is too Mid-Western, too grounded in maturity and experience, to even need to compete with the younger age’s sturm und drang, and it’s all the better for it.

It’s important that Sunblown could easily have more guitar, more upfront drumming or sidechain-compressed basslines roiling our subwoofers - there’s also plenty of room for more lyrics, more super-group star power draw. Instead, Gazelle choose the path of subtlety and restraint. The duo knows when to ride the fader a little lower on the noise than we might expect, which in turn allows everything else to stretch out more in the mix. There’s a late afternoon sun here for us, but we’re with the duo, a few inches below the surface, looking through the opaque. Chilly piano and a moving synth bass on “Lineal” give way to an extended downtempo passage through the middle section of the album’s longest song. We’re unsure of the outcome as vocals reverberate over a re-building drum line, until finally everything but a single tone falls away for the final minute.

“Phasedown” follows this with the true lullabye of the album. The soft vocal drifts over the horizon-twinkle of guitar and synthesizer before Erin Fein, Adam’s sister and currently of post-Absinthe Blind project Headlights, lends vocals just before the song erupts quietly in a falling-star storm of dark light.

If there’s any downside here, it’s that, much like National Skyline before, there’s probably not a great chance of the duo touring much, which is unfortunate. There’s obviously a lot going on here studio-wise, but if they could somehow find a way to share and extrapolate on this experience with us over a few beers and a loud PA, we’d all be better off for the experience.

The album can be purchased through Parasol, and of course Gazelle have a Myspace for further listening and updates.

Gazelle - First Rays (alternate master version, from Sunblown, Hidden Agenda, 2008)

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