I'm KC

My latest audio feature for KCUR aired this morning.  I enjoyed my hangs with Walter Edwin, aka The Popper.  The segment lives online here.


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I reviewed James Taylor’s concert at the Sprint Center for The Kansas City Star.

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I also reviewed Jimmy Buffett’s concert at the Sprint Center for The Kansas City Star.  Opening act Caroline Jones was a revelation.  Her overproduced new album is almost unlistenable, but her solo renditions of songs like “Old Blue” charmed me on Saturday.

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I reviewed Harold O’Neal’s Piano Cinema at Plastic Sax.

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I write weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star.

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I previewed Greta Van Fleet’s appearance at the Middle of the Map festival.

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Reggie Lucas has died. (Via BGO.)

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I woke up three hours earlier than usual today because I was so eager to hear Pusha T’s Daytona.  Kanye West’s production is stupendous.

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Old-boy networks can be good things.  Don Was, the current top dog at Blue Note Records, signed his old Was (Not Was) bandmate Dave McMurray.  Music Is Life is an old-school instrumental party album.  RIYL: Maceo Parker, Detroit, Lou Donaldson.

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The Brad Mehldau Trio is a victim of its own success.  If Seymour Reads the Constitution doesn’t sound revolutionary, it’s only because so many imitators have made the trio’s attack seem commonplace.  It’s not.

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What sorcery is this? Elina Duni’s magical Partir is unlike anything I’ve encountered.  RIYL: June Tabor, Albania, Márta Sebestyén.

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I don't hear what everyone else claims to hear in Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour.  Post-Christine McVie pop doesn’t appeal to me.  Musgraves’ new songs remind me of the formulaic music I hear during my periodic digs through the closeout racks at Macy’s.

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I hadn’t encountered the striking music video for “Ndogal,” a track from Cheikh Lô’s 1995 album Ne La Thiass, until World Circuit uploaded it this week.

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Iceage’s Beyondless is a mess- and I like it.  Strings, horns and other unlikely embellishments complement the slurred vocals of Elias Bender Rønnenfelt on the Danish band’s strung-out fourth album.  RIYL: The Saints, hitting rock bottom, Nick Cave.

(Original image of The Popper by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: The Owen/Cox Dance Company's "A Body of Work"

As the rest of an audience of about 100 watched five athletic dancers at La Esquina on Sunday, October 5, I studied Brad Cox as he manipulated sound at the back of the room.  I have nothing against ballet, but Cox's stunning score for The Owen/Cox Dance Group's production "A Body of Work" demanded my full attention.  Using a combination of prerecorded backing tracks, ambient beats derived from the dancers' movements, a drum machine and the live vocals of Victoria Botero, Cox crafted a compelling soundscape.  Additional percussion emanating from four hanging columns and a quadrophonic mix made the experience even more dizzying.  Cox's exceptional performance was a civilized version of the futuristic work of groundbreaking acts like Marijuana Deathsquads.


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I reviewed Tuesday's concert by Gaslight Anthem, Against Me! and Cory Branan.

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The Kronos Quartet's performance at Helzberg Hall floored me on Saturday. 

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Ikey Owens of Mars Volta has died.  Owens recently produced Various Blonde's Summer High album.

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John Holt of the Paragons has died.

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Here's a video tour of the Vinyl Underground at 7th Heaven.

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Local Customs: Cavern Sound, a compilation of forgotten bands from Independence, will be released this week.  The only name that rings a bell is Morningstar, a band I hadn't thought about in at least 25 years.

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Iceage's Plowing Into the Field of Love is shockingly raw.  RIYL: The Fall, drunken stupors, the Birthday Party.  Here's "How Many".

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The video for Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's "Quail and Dumplings" is almost as good as the song.

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It's not fair to Vince Staples, but almost all I could think about as I listened to Hell Can Wait was how much I still love Earl Sweatshirt's Doris.  RIYL: OFWGKTA, Los Angeles, the Cool Kids.

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On Worker, the latest studio album by Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, the Oklahoma band veers into electronic territory.  RIYL: Soulive, acting on impulses, Galactic.

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SZA's fine new album Z is RIYL: Sade, slow motion, Frank Ocean.  "Babylon" is the best track.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)