popwreckoning

Mad Rad, Das Racist and The Thermals brought the house down at the free Sasquatch Launch Party at the Showbox at the Market last night, where the lineup to the now four-day festival would be announced.

Put on by Livenation and Sasquatch creator Adam Zacks, the launch party was MC’d by Comedian Todd Barry, who kept the crowd entertained between sets with dry wit and some fake teaser headliners.

“If you love me now, you’ll love when I play a set between headliners Elvis Presley and the Beatles, and tickets are only $7!” Barry proclaimed sarcastically to the less-than-attentive crowd. But I guess that’s what you get when you have a free show.

After Mad Rad and Das Racist played their sets, the lineup was announced in a video like previous years, which was played twice over, most likely so people could get a second look because they were freaking out too much over the Flaming Lips.

So far the lineup includes:

Death Cab for Cutie, the Decemberists, Modest Mouse, the Foo Fighters, Robyn, Wilco, Flying Lotus, Bright Eyes, Flogging Molly, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Das Racist, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Iron & Wine, The Flaming Lips.Black Mountain, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, the Head and the Heart, Mad Rad, the Moondoggies, Noah & The Whale, Sam Roberts Band, Secret Sisters, Twin Shadow, Wye Oak, Tig Notaro, Smith Westerns, Rival Schools, Foster the People, Alberta Cross, S. Carey, White Denim, Washed Out, Gold Panda, Dan Mangan, Axis of Awesome, The Globes, Cotton Jones, Jaill, Basia Bulat, Other Lives, The Bronx, White Arrows, Pepper Rabbit, Talkdemonic, Rebecca Gates and The Consortium, The Young Evils, Bassnectar, Pink Martini, Cold War Kids, Old 97′s, Ratatat, Wolf Parade, Chromeo, Guided By Voices, Yeasayer, Beach House, Local Natives, Matt & Kim, Deerhunter, Mstrkrft, Trailer Park Boys, Sleigh Bells, Major Lazer, Skrillex, Fitz & The Tantrums, !!!, Archers of Loaf, Against Me!, The Thermals, Best Coast, CSS, Surfer Blood, Jenny & Johnny, Bonobo (DJ Set), City and Colour, Reggie Watts, K-Os, Gayngs, Tim Minchin, The Drums, The Radio Dept., Young the Giant, The Antlers, Sharon Van Etten, Villagers, Stornoway, Aloe Blacc.

Tickets go on sale on Feb. 14th starting at $79.50 per day and $285 for three-day passes.

Go to http://sasquatchfestival.com/ for more information or to purchase tickets.

Ink’s debut Kansas City festival, Middle of the Map Fest, has announced its lineup. Local greats such as The Appleseed Cast join with national acts such as Two Door Cinema Club, Daniel Johnston and  Cursive.

The festival is in the historic Westport area on both April 8 and 9.

Taking place within the music venues of The Record Bar, The Beaumont Club, The Union and The Riot Room, festival goers will be given access to four different musical choices. Tickets can be purchased on day to day basis ($20 for either Friday only access or Saturday only access) or both days for a mere 5 additional dollars, of $25 total.Tickets can be purchased here.

Here’s the full schedule:
Friday:

Two Door Cinema Club
The Appleseed Cast
The Casket Lottery
El Ten Eleven
Dosh
Paper Route
A Lull
Small Black
Continents
Minden
Roman Numerals
Max Justus
Motorboater
Seafarer

Saturday:

Daniel Johnston
Cursive
Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s
The Raveonettes
The Life and Times
Tamaryn
Candy Claws
State Bird
Soft Reeds
Capybara
Cowboy Indian Bear
Saharan Gazelle Boy
Sam Billen
Lazy
Making Movies
Vertigone and Trystyl
Reach
Les Izmore

More are still to come.

Stay up to date with Middle of the Map Fest here.

Native
Northwest Indiana
myspace.com/nativein
label: Sargent House
rock/indie

Known for their love of touring, snacks, root beer and wrestling in the van; this four piece will be playing SXSW for their second year in a row. In case you haven’t seen them live, it’s a show that no one should miss.

“Backseat Crew” 2/5 at the Salt Walter:

“Ponyboy” 2/5 at the Salt Walter:

The Decemberists returned to Kansas City’s Uptown Monday night. The set was filled with wild antics, classic Decemberists songs and even a surprise cover. Colin Meloy had the audience in the palm of his hand – he actually got everyone to sit on the floor and jump in unison, turned the crowd mildly competitive and made a family in the balcony feel the pressures of the spotlight.

Photographer Todd Zimmer was there and shares these photos recapping the amazing show:

Omaha’s Bright Eyes has announced additional dates to its Spring Tour in support of seventh studio album, The People’s Key.

The dates added include two Missouri shows, an additional Cali date, an Iowa show just outside of Omaha, Idaho and a Washington show. They’re in bold below. All other tour dates, including a SXSW stop, and openers are also listed.

Dates are selling out fast. Details and tickets can be found at www.conoroberst.com.

The People’s Key is out on Saddle Creek on February 15.

Tour Dates:
3/2 Miami, FL Fillmore Miami Beach At Jackie Gleason Theater *
3/3 Lake Buena Vista, FL House of Blues *
3/4 Atlanta, GA The Tabernacle *
3/5 Asheville, NC Thomas Wolfe Auditorium *
3/6 Richmond, VA The National *
3/8 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall ^
3/9 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall ^ SOLD OUT
3/10 Boston, MA House Of Blues # SOLD OUT
3/11 Portland, ME State Theatre#
3/13 Toronto, ON Sound Academy#
3/14 Royal Oak, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre # SOLD OUT
3/15 Chicago, IL Riviera Theatre # SOLD OUT
3/16 Champaign, IL Foellinger Auditorium #
3/17 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium #
3/19 Austin, TX SXSW Ground Control Touring Showcase Auditorium Shores**
4/2 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theatre ^^
4/3 Milwaukee, WI The Riverside Theater @
4/3 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue @
4/5 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue @
4/8 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballro0m @
4/9 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom @
4/10 Arcata, CA Arcata Community Center +
4/12 Oakland, CA Fox Theater +
4/13 Pomona, CA Fox Theater ## + SOLD OUT
4/16 Indio, CA Coachella Festival SOLD OUT
4/28 George, WA Sasquatch Music Festival
6/1 Boise, ID Knitting Factory Concert House ##
6/3 Denver, CO Filmore Theatre ##
6/4 Council Bluffs, IA WestFair Amphitheater ##
6/6 St. Louis The Pageant %

* w/ Cursive
^ w/ Superchunk and WILD FLAG
# w/ Mynabirds
**w/ The Felice Brothers, Middle Brother and Man Man
@ w/ Titus Andonicus
^^ w/ Conduits
+ w/ Farmer Dave Scher
## w/ Jenny And Johnny
% w/ Dawes

The Decemberists packed the Uptown in Kansas City Monday night and as expected, they delivered and fun and exciting set. But no one knew what to expect from the opener. Posters lining the venue listed the mysterious Mountain Man, but instead of some dude in flannel with a beard wielding a guitar, Mountain Man was a trio of three ladies with amazing harmonies. Mountain Man defied expectations, but in a good way.

Photographer Todd Zimmer shares these photos from Mountain Man’s opening set:

Joie De Vivre
Rockford, IL
www.myspace.com/joiedevivreband
Emo

I recently saw these guys at Summercamp in Chicago. Maybe it was the fact they weren’t far from their hometown, but it seemed like everyone in the crowd knew their songs.

Their Facebook says ‘like August in a Midwestern state’ and that is a completely true statement. If you live in the Midwest, then you know how great August feels.

Check them out at this year’s SXSW!

I’m generally not a fan of the whole lo-fi thing, so reviewing Cloud Nothings’ debut album was a bit of a challenge. After giving the whole album a listen to a couple times over, I found some parts to be enjoyable while others just seem to drag on and get annoying. For fans of the genre, this debut will be a welcome addition to the collection.

Cloud Nothings opens with “Understand At All,” a poppy little ditty with influences spanning multiple decades and genres. No matter how many times I listened to the song, I always imagined lots of teenage shenanigans taking place on the beach. The mixture of pop and gritty alternative rock work quite well together, producing a catchy start to the album that sadly doesn’t stay throughout.

Moving on to “Not Important,” you begin to hear the inconsistencies in Dylan Baldi’s vocals. With better production quality now that he is backed by a label, he doesn’t have nearly as much to hide behind when singing comes into the picture. “Not Important” leans toward a more punk-like sound and is accompanied by strained, if not simply yelled vocals, which are less than pleasant to behold at times. If you’re able to ignore this sporadic distraction, the music is pretty good.

“Should Have” marks the beginning of when I started to get annoyed with this album. The whiny vocals throughout are only made worse by the repetition Baldi felt necessary to carry this track along. This is short-lived and followed by “Forget You All the Time,” a very 90’s inspired emotional tune that slows the pace of the album for a brief moment before returning to the sped-up poppy sound found in “Nothing’s Wrong.”

The following two songs “Heartbeat” and “Rock” each have playtimes that would give The Locust a run for their money, the latter of which is the most spastic and annoying song (vocally) on the entire of album. It seems that Baldi just shrieks the same seven words for just under two minutes, continuing the distraction from his mostly well-written music.

The final three songs of the album (which I don’t care to type the name of each out) don’t accomplish much in showing Baldi’s artistic range. After two or three listens each I had a hard time deciphering which one was which. That being said, the final minutes of the album are definitely something I wouldn’t mind dancing to after a few too many beers with their upbeat tempos.

Cloud Nothings is a promising debut that shows some pretty great potential from a very young song-writer. With some more practice and coaching, the main drawback (the vocals) of this album can be ironed out and will no longer distract from the enjoyable music written by this young lad. For fans of the lo-fi, pop genre, Cloud Nothings is an artist that should definitely be listened to and closely watch in what is the not too distant future.

Track Listing:
1. Understand At All
2. Not Important
3. Should Have
4. Forget You All The Time
5. Nothing’s Wrong
6. Heartbeat
7. Rock
8. You’re Not That Good At Anything
9. Been Through
10. On The Radio
11. All The Time

Bad Veins
Cincinnati, Ohio.
badveins.net
Indie/Pop

This duo consists of Sebastien (drums) and Ben (vox/guitar/keys) and their reel to reel tape deck. They’re currently recording their second album.

If you haven’t seen them before, then I highly suggest catching them at SXSW this year. They put on a great live show that keeps you dancing til the end.

MidCoast Takeover has announced that some of Kansas City’s biggest acts are joining the SXSW showcase: The Republic Tigers and the Beautiful Bodies.

MidCoast Takeover is a two day showcase featuring some of the best Kansas City and Lawrence-based artists down in Austin. The showcase will feature over 20 bands spread out over March 18th and March 19th at the Liberty Bar.

Both the Republic Tigers and the Beautiful Bodies have made waves on Kansas City radio, with 96.5 the Buzz often playing the Tigers’ ‘Buildings and Mountains” and the Bodies’ “You’re a Risk.” Both bands have toured nationally and are known for their memorable shows.

Other acts on the roster include: The Appleseed Cast, Approach, Appropriate Grammar, Atlantic Fadeout, Audiovox, Auternus,, Baby Teardrops, Capybara, Cowboy Indian Bear, Drag the River, Everyday/Everynight, Expassionates, Ha Ha Tonka, Heroes + Villains, John Velghe & His Prodigal Sons, Lazy, Roman Numerals, Soft Reeds, Sons of Great Dane, Vertigone & Trystyl, Waiting for Signal, and Walking Oceans.

The showcase is sponsored by the MidWest Music Foundation (who put on a great showcase last year), The Record Machine (home label to many of the showcase artists), PopWreckoning, Ink Magazine and local KC venues such as the Record Bar, Riot Room and Crosstown Station.

You can help support the MidCoast Takeover and earn cool swag by donating to KickStarter here.