KanrocksasMusicFestival is reaching out to local musicians and giving them the chance of a lifetime with Wild Bill’s Local Music Showcase, a music competition giving local bands and deejays the chance to compete for the opportunity to perform at the Kanrocksas Music Festival. Local bands and deejays will perform at Wild Bill’s Steakhouse and Saloon located in Legends OutletsKansas City every Friday and Saturday in July for the opportunity to share the stage with national acts at Kanrocksas and to take home VIP passes with an additional cash prize.
Winners will be declared by a panel of judges as well as audience voting participation. Two final winners will be announced before the Kanrocksas Music Festival, including one winning band and one winning deejay that who perform on one of the three main stages at the music festival. Finalists who place in the top five during the weekly showcases will win festival passes and will be offered the chance to play on the “Camping Stage” presented by The Pitch, 103.7 The Dam, and 95.7 The Vibe.
No cover will be charged during each weekly showcase. The crowd will also have several opportunities to win official Kanrocksas Music Festival giveaways, including passes to the festival. After 10:00 p.m., each showcase is restricted to an audience of 21 and older.
I was pleasantly surprised when I listened to Peter, Bjorn, and John’s sixth record, Gimme Some. I was prepared to hate it, and was mildly dreading writing this review. Instead, the record is a surprising sprint through a variety of genres all culminating into well played Swedishpop songs. Like, Jens Lekman, Frida Hyvonen, and the Shout Out Louds, this band further proves my theory that some of the best music being made today is coming out of Sweden.
Gimmie Some really does run the gamut. There are traces of baroque, mainstream rock, a couple different varieties of punk, plenty of new wave, and even a bit of good old American indie pop. It’s all a bit fascinating. I hear a variety of influences, but can’t quite place my finger on any of them. It’s all filtered together quite well.
The album begins with “Tommorow Has to Wait” which sounds like a marching band on tranquilizers. The song starts with a fuzzy guitar line, before a single drum starts being beaten, a female harmony joins, and then the male vocal begins singing the lyrics: “I don’t think you are sorry for what you did.” It’s blissed out noise, and it’s beautiful.
Immediately after, ”Dig A Little Deeper” starts with a guitar line out of the ‘60’s. It has a surf sound reminiscent of pop songs from that decade with a more modern edge. I adore the chorus: “all art has been contemporary/dig a little deeper” complete with plenty of “whoa ohs.”
Late in the album is “black book” which is ‘80’s hardcore softened slightly, but quite good. This album is truly all over the map. I can’t imagine it’s easy to tackle this much territory, but Peter, Bjorn, and John do so. My favorite song on the album, “Down Like Me,” starts after that. It’s a chugging thing that would’ve easily fit on The Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs. It ends in incoherent guitar lines behind a temperamental new wave beat that is completely great.
If you’re into weird, challenging pop music this is your thing. I’m excited about this album, and the fact that they have five others. This is going to be with me for a while.
Track listing:
01. Tomorrow Has to Wait
02. Dig a Little Deeper
03. Second Chance
04. Eyes
05. Breaker Breaker
06. May Seem Macabre
07. (Don’t Let Them) Cool Off
08. Black Book
09. Down Like Me
10. Lies
11. I Know You Don’t Love Me
The four members of YAWN come from the underbelly of Chicago, with roots in neighborhoods like Little Lebanon, Baghdad Row, and Polski Park. Having grown up together both figuratively and literally, their hearts remain embedded in trash but their dreams of success run deeper than the cold waters of Lake Michigan.
Having been in previous bands together and learning many valuable lessons on the DIY sense of creating music, they began crafting a new sound, one more aligned with the eclectic textures of Brian Eno, Aphex Twin and Yeasayer: a solid, badass rock core adorned with rich vocal harmonies, vintage world samples and atmospheric digital layers. Setting up shop in Wicker Park, they recorded new material in their basement. The DIY revelation led to the creation of “YAWN,” a 5-song EP that combines the poppiness of Phoenix with the complex lush layerings of Yeasayer and the creativeness of Unicorns.
For now, YAWN is taking some time from playing live to finish their debut full-length, slotted for release this August. Be sure to check them out at www.yawntheband.com
Confetti Reprise is a continuation of the sound that pop psychedelic group A Lullalready explored on their previous release. They chose only songs that they were thoroughly satisfied with – and then realized that the album was 20 minutes too long. Emphasizing song flow over all other factors, four songs were eventually removed. As the tracklist discussions were happening, it was clear that whatever was cut would need to eventually be released. Holding true to the percussion-driven voice that makes A Lull’s music unique, Confetti Reprise gathers this material, and confirms that the sweet harmonies and dynamic rhythms created by A Lull are only a taste of what the band has to offer.
The band is heading out on a short summer tour of the midwest. Dates are below:
7.10 – West Fest – Chicago, IL
7.28 – The Ladies Literary Club – Grand Rapids, MI
7.29 – Club Garibaldi’s – Milwaukee, WI
7.30 – 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN
Man Man is an experimentalrockband from Philadelphia. Life Fantastic is their fourthalbum. They play a brand of alternative that is reminiscent of the mid-90’s. It all sounds very clever, as long as you don’t pay attention to the lyrics.
The album starts well with a keyboard and a drumbeat before a xylophone descends, and the song starts. It has a bit of a gypsy punk thing going on, and it sets the stage for the remainder of the album.
The best thing here is “Oh, La Brea”. It ends the album on a pleasant, quiet note. It’s a bit jazzy, and obviously Tom Waits influenced with its gruff vocals, and shout outs to Los Angeles streets. The song is something of a lullaby, and it wouldn’t be completely out of place on Waits’ Nitehawks at the Diner.
Another highlight is the druggy “Dark Arts.” The song is full of doom, or trying to avoid doom. It’s the sound of a man in a Mexican wrestler’s mask stampeding through a ballet. The song is about surviving, somehow living despite the crazy shit the narrator has lived through. It’s fast paced, and a little surviving.
That song ends, and the xylophone returns. That strange instrument guides the song, as the carnival sound continues. This song, “Haute Tropique,” contains the albums best line: “I eat my peas like a good boy’s supposed to.” The singer barks the lines. It’s a fucking carnival.
The best thing about this album is the variety of instruments. What at first sounds like Smashmouth, full of inconsequential nonsense quickly turns into a game of “name the sound.” By the time the song “Shameless” hits you’re on your knees with the band, and your head is in the clouds. Your brain is full of strange sounds, and you’re begging for more.
Track List:
01. Knuckle Down
02. Piranhas Club
03. Steak Knives
04. Dark Arts
05. Haute Tropique
06. Shameless
07. Spooky Jookie
08. Eel Bros
09. Bangkok Necktie
10. Life Fantastic
11. Oh, La Brea
Demented Booking and Alter The Press are proud to announce that Into It. Over It. and KOJI will be embarking on a two week tour of the United Kingdom later this summer. Both artists are touring in support of the second pressing of their full-length split record, simply entitled IIOI/KOJI, available now on No Sleep Records in both vinyl and CD. The album was given high praise across the board, the highest of which may have come from the Associated Press, who named the record “One of 2010′s Most Overlooked Releases.” Visit NoSleepStore.com to purchase the record.
KOJI is also touring in support of 3 recent releases, Some Small Way and Spring Song Vol. 1 on Run For Cover Records, andNever Come Undone, a split with La Dispute on No Sleep Records. Into It. Over It. recently announced that pre-orders are available now for his new project, Twelve Towns, via Topshelf Records.
Evan Thomas Weiss (Into It. Over It.) and Andrew Koji Shiraki (KOJI) have made something “ten years overdue”. The two songwriters, who have been longtime friends, entered Drasik Studios in Chicago, IL for seven days in the summer of 2010 and collaborated to record ten new songs (five songs each) with the help of engineer Mark Michalik (The Swellers, Fireworks, Stay Ahead Of The Weather). This split vinyl LPrelease, featuring a tirade of guest musicians from bands such as La Dispute, Castevet, Cloudmouth and more, was released on November 23, 2010, and was accompanied by three documentary in-studio film segments shot by The Work (thework.com), as well as new photos and other multimedia content. These songs were an effort to bring to the public a friendship that has transcended time, distance, creativity and background.
Explosions In The Sky has unveiled the first official musicvideo of the band’s 12-year career. The animated clip for “Last Known Surroundings” from the band’s newalbumTake Care, Take Care, Take Care was recently premiered at Wired.com who called it “a Space-Tripping wonder… like a celestial love child of the original Tron, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Japanese Art.”
Months in the making, ”Last Known Surroundings” was directed by Ptarmak, a design studio based in Explosions’ native Austin who utilized illustrations by Sissy Emmons and animation from David Hobizal to create a visual interpretation of the epic instrumental track.
Explosions In The Sky has also just announced a new run of overseas dates. Following a current series that wraps with three August festivals as well as a Sept.-Oct. North American tour, the new dates begin November 4 in Madrid and conclude November 20 in Bristol UK.
Lenses Alien, the result of collaborative explorations for Cymbals Eat Guitars, is a stunning example of a band growing into itself – learning to collaborate, becoming more confident. Why There Are Mountains was a record that Joseph D’Agostino made largely on his own, with help from Matt Miller and some other friends and acquaintances that came and went. Lenses Alien is a record that Joseph D’Agostino, Brian Hamilton, Matt Miller, and Matthew Whipple made together, as a band.
At its core, Lenses Alien is a marriage of classic pop forms and ambient haze that makes for a stark, dusky psychedelia. D’Agostino’s vocals, now with support from Hamilton and Whipple, sit daringly at the forefront, and his lyrics are dark, strange, and affecting as ever. Miller and Whipple move the songs as a singular, powerful unit while ornate guitars and Hamilton’s celestial organ and chiming pianos whirl across the sonic landscape. A complex listen, Lenses Alien strikes a balance between the archaic and the inviting and is as much a document of doubts and contradictions as of irreverent joy. It’s a varied collection of songs and it’s precisely the album Cymbals Eat Guitars was built to make.
Track list
1. Rifle Eyesight (Proper Name)
2. Shore Points
3. Keep Me Waiting
4. Plainclothes
5. Definite Darkness
6. Another Tunguska
7. The Current
8. Wavelengths
9. Secret Family
10. Gary Condit
Check out the brand newvideo from Ezra Furman & The Harpoons for their song “Bloodsucking Whore,” which debuted via Paste Magazine. The rather literal video was produced by Downtown Partners and directed by Will Meyers. Watch at the link below, as well as at the band’s Facebook page.
Fans can now stream the upcoming albumBurning At Both Ends by Set Your Goals while raising money for a good cause at the same time. With every 100,000 streams (up to 200k) the band will donate a dollar for every album sold at Hot Topic during the week of release toKeep A Breast, a non-profit benefiting the awareness and research of breast cancer. You can currently stream Burning At Both Ends in full by going here.
The new album hits stores June 28th via EpitaphRecords and offers thirteen tracks of melodic punkrock with rousing sing along choruses. You can pre-order the album now by clicking here.
In addition, Set Your Goals will be spending the summer months entertaining their many dedicated fans and winning over new ones across the country on the Vans Warped Tour.
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Concert Calendar
Nov 23, 2011
HaHa Tonka @ Recordbar, Kansas City MO
Nov 25, 2011
Thee Oh Sees @ The Granada, Lawrence KS
Kanrocksas Music Festival is reaching out to local musicians and giving them the chance of a lifetime with Wild Bill’s Local Music Showcase, a music competition giving local bands and deejays the chance to compete for the opportunity to perform at the Kanrocksas Music Festival. Local bands and deejays will perform at Wild Bill’s Steakhouse and Saloon located in Legends Outlets Kansas City every Friday and Saturday in July for the opportunity to share the stage with national acts at Kanrocksas and to take home VIP passes with an additional cash prize.
