popwreckoning

What do hip hop, rock and country have in common?

Seemingly nothing. Except they each contribute to Clay Hughes’ genre-bending album The Whether Machine.

Released on June 7 through Sharp County Records, various Midwestern musicians came together for the project, including producer JKR70, Lennon Bone (Ha Ha Tonka) and Mac Lethal, to name a few.

This cross-genre collaboration is just partially the reason this album could appeal to a wide range of music lovers. The other reason: singer and guitarist Clay Hughes. His low, soulful voice could be featured over any backdrop, attracting indie kids with tracks like “The Love I Gave Ya,” which predominantly embraces instruments, and hip-hop fans with tracks like “Confessin’,” highlighting emcees Johnny Polygon and Jabee.The fluid movement is sure to keep you interested and engaged, even if the style is not something you usually listen to – I knew when I first saw Clay Hughes live that I had never heard music quite like his (and I’ve been hooked since).

Koo Koo Kanga Roo is all about dancing, yelling, and bringing the party. Founders Bryan and Neil won’t be satisfied until the entire room has joined in on the fun. Think the Beastie Boys multiplied by Sesame Street plus the driving dance beats of Daft Punk and the live show antics of the Flaming Lips.

Performing in an indie rock band was fun…for a while. Then the constant lugging of gear, half an hour sound checks, and an audience who was only ever half interested in the music they were playing began to take its toll. Bryan and Neil agreed there was more to being in a band than just playing music for their fans. The goal was to create the most fun interactive live show that no one had seen before. The tools to accomplish that goal were; a giant roll of paper (to cover their dorm walls with ideas), a few sharpies, their super weird imaginations, and no rules. A few months later, with those goal accomplished, a dance duo was formed, and that duo was Koo Koo Kanga Roo.

Koo Koo Kanga Roo’s new EP Midnight Slushie will be released on September 13^th and features a guest appearance by Justin Pierre of Motion City Soundtrack. 

Koo Koo Kanga Roo have just launched a “Bestest Friend” cover contest and the winner gets a Koo Koo Kanga Roo show at their house. The band wants you and all of your friends to cover their new song “Bestest Friend” off their new album Midnight Slushie which comes out September 13. Click here for the song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wGcmW5A5CI

 It’s only 3 Easy Steps:

 1. Video Tape a One Take, Single Shot Video of you and all your friends covering “Bestest Friend” live on your instruments and stuff. (No Edits, use your computer camera, etc.)

2. Post on Youtube with the Title (Koo Koo Kanga Roo “Bestest Friend Cover” – Name of your group)

3. Email the link to your video to kookookangarooparty@gmail.com 

Here’s a link to additional info and a message from the band: http://kookookangaroo.com/bestest-friend-bestest-cover-contest.

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 Swedish pop 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

Man Man is an experimental rock band from Philadelphia. Life Fantastic is their fourth album.  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

Fans can now stream the upcoming album Burning 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 to Keep 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 28^th via Epitaph Records and offers thirteen tracks of  melodic punk rock 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.

For a complete list of Warped dates at which you can see the band, visit www.setyourgoalsband.com/tour

“These are my famous last words!”

That’s how the new Foo Fighters’ record Wasting Light begins.  It’s a rather stark and haunting coincidence, since the record comes out April 12, just a week after the 17^th anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death.  Plus, Dave Grohl’s other former Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic was a guest musician on Wasting Light. Whether or not that was planned is beyond my knowledge, but it certainly added another layer to an already great album.

This being the Foo’s seventh studio album, a question of longevity rather than innovation is what’s at the forefront of Wasting Light. The innovation came in the marketing strategy, which played out like a game of Clue, with Easter eggs hidden all over the Internet, and short clips of songs leaked to their own website, giving the fans just a taste of what was to come on Wasting Light.

In true Foo fashion, the album begins with a swift kick to the stomach with “Bridge Burning.” And it doesn’t slow down much from there. “Rope” has more attitude than a lot of the rock newcomers with their precisely quaffed hair. I guess the attitude comes with age, at least in Grohl’s case. A slick intro partnered with a driving rhythm makes it a perfect second track (and I can only imagine how awesome it will be live).  “Dear Rosemary” is a lighter track, with a heavy pop hook, but is still signature Foo.

Honestly, the greatness of the Foo Fighters comes from their performance. I’ve only ever seen recordings of their live shows, but their albums are meant to be performed, not over-mixed in the studio to make certain instruments sound better than they naturally would. Whether it’s a softer song like “I Should Have Known” or a frantic metal-tinged hit like “White Limo,” the Foo Fighters sound like they do live – energetic, passionate, and like they’re having fun. Grohl may be one of the best drummers of our time, but he’s also one of the greatest front men.

“Arlandria” and “Back and Forth” are two of the catchiest tracks on the album, easy to sing along to, and “A Matter of Time” hints at older tracks like, “Times Like These” off One by One and “Monkey Wrench” off Colour and the Shape. By the far the darkest track on the album, “Miss the Misery” brings in some of the influences Grohl gained from his time with Them Crooked Vultures and mixes them with the Foo Fighters’ undeniable energy.

Sure, the album doesn’t necessarily break any new ground for the Foos, but it’s a perfect example of what they do best. The Foo Fighters need no prefixes to their brand of rock music; they just rock.

Track listing:

1. Bridge Burning”
2. “Rope”
3. “Dear Rosemary”
4. “White Limo”
5. “Arlandria”
6. “These Days”
7. “Back & Forth”
8. “A Matter of Time”
9. “Miss the Misery”
10. “I Should Have Known”
11. “Walk”

Go to http://wastinglight.foofighters.com/

Last year, I spent a lot of time trying to wrap my head around the last Low Anthem album, Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. It had a great title, some high points, but really only one truly great song. It was a bit of a mess to be honest. I’m happy to report that Smart Flesh is a much stronger record.

It starts well, with a nice piano ballad, “Ghost Woman Blues.” It’s very mellow and easy to sink myself into it. Generally, a decent start to the album.

Next is “Apothecary Love,” a traditional folk ballad driven by an acoustic guitar. I like the concept behind the song, as the lyrics go: “if you see me down by the apothecary again/I can’t find a cure for the shape that I’m in.” An apothecary is an interesting place to begin a doomed relationship.

Next up is “Boeing 747.” Finally, the album starts to wake up. The guitars sound like they’re being played violently in a way that I enjoy.  The whole thing-drums, bass, horns-is produced in a way that kind of mashes everything together. It’s obviously done on purpose.  The lyrics that begin the song are great, as well: “I was in the air when the towers came down/in a bar on the 84^th floor.”

Track 8 is called “Hey, All You Hippies.” The title alone had me sharpening my knives before I actually heard it, but it isn’t bad. It’s a pretty standard ‘70’s style country rock number.

This album is generally pretty solid throughout. It’s nothing mindblowing, but it’s enjoyable. There are no real missteps, either. As much as the album doesn’t really dazzle at any point, it doesn’t fail, either. If you enjoy relatively standard folk/country/rock stuff, you could enjoy this.

Track listing:
1. Ghost Woman Blues
2. Apothecary Love
3. Boeing 737
4. Love and Altar
5. Matter of Time
6. Wire
7. Burn
8. Hey, All You Hippies!
9. I’ll Take Out Your Ashes
10. Golden Cattle
11. Smart Flesh

Find more from Low Anthem here.

Kansas City rock group Red Line Chemistry played a hometown show at Crosstown Station. They shook up their usual set by performing acoustically.

Photographer Todd Zimmer was there and shares these photos reliving the event:

The Kentucky rockers in Cage the Elephant, popular for hits such as “In One Ear” and “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked,” played Kansas City’s Beaumont Club with a high energy set filled with big guitar solos and bluesy vocals. Photographer Todd Zimmer captured the event:

by Todd Zimmer

by Todd Zimmer

Kansas City’s Dave  Matthews-esque Clay Hughes recently released this video for “Sunday Stroll.” You can check out more great alt-country/alt-rap tunes from Clay off his album Burn here.