Album Review: Radkey- Spotify Sessions

My friends look at me as if I'm a heretic every time I mention Radkey's striking resemblance to the Misfits and Glenn Danzig.  I guess I didn't get the memo that pointing out the obvious characteristic of the St. Joseph trio is forbidden.  I happen to adore Danzig, so my taboo commentary isn't an indictment.  My primary concern about the young band's prospects are related to the quality of their songs.  The raw power of Radkey's live performances, however, is incontestable.  That's why the new Spotify Sessions is my favorite Radkey recording.


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I would have enjoyed last week's concert by François Rabbath even more if the woman next to me hadn't been chomping on gum.  Here's my review.

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I reviewed a concert by Sarah McLachlan at Starlight Theatre.

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I review Everette DeVan's new album at Plastic Sax.

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D/Will's 13-minute mixtape Ready. Aim. Beautiful is nice.

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The blasphemers behind the Studio Rio project have extracted the original vocals from iconic songs and recast them in Brazilian settings.  Listen to them mess with Billie Holiday's "You've Changed".  Welcome to the future.

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Drums are dumb.  That's my takeaway from Scott Feiner's A View From Below.  A Brazilian hand drum replaces a drum kit on the fascinating release.  The trio's keyboardist provides the low end while the fusion-happy guitarist is given plenty of room to meander.

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Lizzo's new album LizzoBangers is delightful.  RIYL: Lazerbeak, honesty, Missy Elliott.

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I can't believe that I'm infatuated with a Judas Priest album in 2014. Redeemer of Souls is surprisingly solid.

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As a concept album, CunninLynguists' Strange Journey, Volume Three is terrible.  As pure entertainment, it's very good.  RIYL: Grieves, rhyming dictionaries, Aesop Rock.

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Mournful Congregation's Concrescence Of The Sophia is RIYL: funerals, Tombs, 20-minute death metal jams.

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Kendrick Lamar parodied ignorant rappers on "Backseat Freestyle."  Most of These Days, the new album by his label mate Ab-Soul, sounds like the moronic music Lamar mocked.  Largely because it could have been great, the project infuriates me.  Here's Lamar's contribution to the mess.  RIYL: Kendrick Lamar, darkness, Jay Rock.

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Ginger Baker's Why? is RIYL: Charlie Watts' jazz, Charles Mingus, Jack Bruce's jazz.

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A lot of the cool kids are touting Forgetting the Present, the latest release by the Mogwai-affiliated Remember Remember.  My verdict?  It's a propulsive new age album.  RIYL: Shadowfax, the healing properties of crystals, Nightnoise.

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Bill Frisell goes surfing.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Lou Reed, 1942-2013

My introduction to Lou Reed was sloppy.  I bought cutouts of albums including The Bells, Take No Prisoners and Metal Machine Music at a record store at the Metro North shopping mall when I was a kid.  My initial response was understandable- "This guy's a jerk!" 

Only when I absorbed the Velvet Underground's albums a few years later was I able to understand Reed's significance beyond those problematic albums.  

The release of Magic and Loss in 1992 completely altered my perception of Reed.  The meditation on death was released when the Grim Reaper was wreaking havoc all around me.  Reed's new song cycle helped me come to grips with my grief and with my own mortality.

I've never waited for my man or kissed a he, but Reed's despairing songs on Magic and Loss speak directly to me.  In spite of Magic and Loss, I never stopped thinking that Reed was a jerk.  And I loved him just the same.


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I reviewed Ricky Skaggs's collaboration with Bruce Hornsby at Yardley Hall on Friday.

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The Kansas City-area debut of Vusi Mahlasela at Yardley Hall on Sunday thrilled me.  The South African known as "The Voice" performed a solo set of freedom songs. 

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My real-life friend Pete Lubin hilariously reviews Humble Pie's Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore.  Loving Humble Pie as I do makes his knowing digs even funnier.

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My internet friend Pamela Espeland wrote a fascinating review of a Ginger Baker concert in Minneapolis.

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The three songs available for streaming from Tightrope, the new album by the 3 Cohens- Anat, Avishai and Yuval- are delightful.  RIYL: odd instrumentation, klezmer, West Coast cool.

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Courtney Barnett's music is pretty interesting.  RIYL: Michael Hurley, Roy Harper, Beck.

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Charles Bradley says the Eagles "saved my life" in his  "What's In My Bag? segment. 

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Samba Touré's Albala is exquisite. RIYL: Ali Farka Touré, earth, Jimi Hendrix.

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Black Friday vinyl of interest to There Stands the Glass: Blind Boys Of Alabama/Jason Isbell & John Paul White, Bob Dylan, the Flaming Lips, Nick Lowe, Nas and the Robert Glasper Experiment.

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Here's something you don't see everyday- a video of a "cover photo shoot" for a jazz album that features partial nudity.  The inspirational twist makes it worth your while.  The footage is related to Ted Nash's new big band album Chakra, which is RIYL: The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Charles Mingus, Steve Lacy.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)