Concert Review: Exmortus at Aftershock

Being the oldest guy in the room didn’t phase me, but I started to panic on the evening of Ash Wednesday when I realized that I might have been the feeblest person at Aftershock.  Almost every one of the 75 other people at the metal show was capable of cleaning my clock.

The hulking bill of Enforcer, Warbringer, Exmortus, Cauldron and Vanlade attracted corresponding burly people.

I documented my appreciation for Exmortus’ Ride Forth last month.  The new songs by the Los Angeles metal band sounded even better live.  The four guys in the band, incidentally, may have been the only men at the Merriam venue smaller than me. 

Kansas City’s Vanlade opened the show.  Bless their hearts.  Cauldron, a throwback metal trio from Chicago, was excellent.  Exmortus’ amazing guitarist sat in with the Los Angeles thrash band Warbringer. 

Sensing that I was pressing my luck and knowing I’d already received a great deal in exchange for my $20 investment, I didn’t stick around for the headlining set by Enforcer.  Even so, I regret not seeing a Swedish band accustomed this playing for a few dozen people in Kansas.


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I boldly predicted that the Steeldrivers would win a Grammy Award in my review of the band’s concert at the Folly Theater on Friday.  I was right.

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I reviewed a concert by Avant and Silk at the Uptown Theater.

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I have yet to hear The Life of Pablo, but I’m looking forward to digging in.  Kanye West’s previous six albums are nothing short of great.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: Exmortus- Ride Forth

The cover art is ridiculous, the guitar solos are garish, the vocals are generic and the production is flat.  I adore Exmortus’ Ride Forth anyway.  The band's standard-issue metallic riffing scratches one of my recurring itches.  ”For the Horde” is exactly what I need to get me through this dark month.


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I reviewed G-Eazy's sold-out concert at the Midland theater.

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I featured Jay McShann in an episode of KCUR’s weekly Local Listen and reviewed a centennial birthday concert in his honor.

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I can’t keep up with the spate of notable deaths.  The careers of Phil Everly, Paul Bley, Long John Hunter, Pierre Boulez, Clarence “Blowfly” Reid, Red Simpson and Glenn Frey may or may not be examined in this space in the weeks to come.

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As the first genuine soul man to drip sweat on me while I was on a dance floor, Otis Clay had a more profound impact on me than any of the men listed in the item above.  I first saw him pour it all out at a blues club in Chicago in the 1980s.  I also recall the late George Myers, a co-owner of the Grand Emporium, playfully delivering a nickel and a nail to the stage of his bar during a Clay performance.  Clay died on January 8.  Here’s footage from Soul Train.

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I asked McClain Johnson an “uncomfortable question” after I heard 3,000 white kids yell a racial epithet during A$AP Ferg’s performance at the Midland.  Here’s his response.

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Blackstar is solid.  Had David Bowie released the album a month earlier, Blackstar would have ranked #15 on my Best Albums of 2015 list.

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Charles Lloyd & the Marvels’ I Long To See You is dreamy.  RIYL: Bill Frisell, folk-jazz, Greg Leisz.

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Halsey’s excruciating ”New Americana” makes me want to summarily dismiss her entire generation.

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Bill Stewart’s Space Squid is RIYL: Seamus Blake, modal jazz, Paul Motian.

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Charles Bradley’s cover of Black Sabbath’s ”Changes” is a revelation.

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I’ll gladly buy a ticket to see Hinds perform, but I’ve already heard all the sounds on Leave Me Alone too many times.  RIYL: The Blake Babies, enthusiasm, Burger Records.

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The Spirio Sessions, a virtual piano duet between Uri Caine and Jenny Lin, is RIYL third stream, Keith Jarrett, high concept.

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I may grow to love the album, but my initial reaction to Anderson Paak’s Malibu is that it’s precisely one-third as good as To Pimp a Butterfly.  Here’s ”Come Down”.

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Why didn’t any of you jerks tell me about Judith Hill’s Prince-produced 2015 album Back In Time?  I would have missed the fine R&B project entirely had the bots at Spotify not insisted that I hear it.  Here’s ”Cry Cry Cry”. RIYL: Etta James, Prince media blackout, Alicia Keys.

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Moments on Baaba Maal’s wildly inconsistent The Traveller are rapturously beautiful.  RIYL: Salif Keita, production tricks, Peter Gabriel.

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I’m not disappointed that Esperanza Spalding has turned to psychedelic funk-rock. Instead, I’m disappointed that she’s turned to pedestrian psychedelic funk-rock.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)