When Reach insistently repeats the refrain "Hip Hop Is Alive" on his new album Live at RecordBar, he isn't celebrating the latest success of Wale or 2 Chainz. Reach is a true believer in the original purist ideals of hip hop. The new release- his fourth full-length album- serves as affirmation of Reach's principles. Supported by the funk/jam band Mouth, DJ Ataxic and vocalists Schelli Tolliver, Sausha Brooks and Vance Ashworth, the well-recorded collaboration brings out the best in each participant. Live at RecordBar represents most everything I respect but too rarely encounter in live hip hop performances.
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Gov't Mule was good on Tuesday. Here's my review. Diana Krall was great on Wednesday. Here's my review.
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Jeff Hanneman of Slayer has died.
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Chris Kelly, better known as Mack Daddy of Kriss Kross, has died.
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Sid Selvidge has died. Listen to "The River" from his 2003 album A Little Bit of Rain if you're in need a good cry.
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The single best live performance I witnessed last week was a rendition of Teri Quinn's "Shanafelt" at the senior recital of Sarrah Cantrell at UMKC's White Recital Hall.
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Betse Ellis performed "Straight to Hell" on KDHX.
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As I watched the attractive, well-heeled and diverse audience of about 10,000 take in Quixotic's sublime Surfaces performance last Sunday at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, it occurred to me that the event was the antithesis of Rockfest. And in truth, I'm more of a Rockfest kind of guy.
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Les Izmore was a guest on KCUR's Central Standard. (Not to be a stickler, but the "new" solo album in question was released in 2011.)
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I reviewed Matt Kane's Suit Up! at Plastic Sax earlier this week.
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De La Soul's new "Get Away" is impressive.
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I'm not prepared to endorse The Uncluded, the new partnership between Aesop Rock and Kimya Dawson, but it's entirely possible that I'll come around. RIYL: parallel universes, primitivism, schizophrenia.
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Dag- the lineup of Soundset 2013 goes from Atmosphere to Tech N9ne.
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Two or three of you
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Questlove is quite possibly the best person alive.
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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.
(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)
1 comment:
Hi Bill - thank you again for not only stopping in this weekend, but introducing yourself (and also the other Bill -- hope I remembered his name correctly). I'm having the damnedest time tracking down an email address for you and I wanted to see if you'd be up for a Q&A for a series I'm running on our blog, looking at the history of this scene and where it's at right now. Like you said... I have a lot to learn! Here are some samples I've put together so far:
http://blog.millsrecordcompany.com/category/local
Sorry for doing this in a comment - hope to hear from you though. millsrecordcompany@gmail.com.
-Chris
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