Album Review: King Khan and the Shrines- Idle No More

I have a hunch that Idle No More, the new album by King Khan and the Shrines, will come to be considered a classic recording.  The busy horn section and frenzied attack find precisely the right level of obstreperousness for a garage rock/R&B revivalist project in 2013.  Yet an album like Idle No More needs to be field tested. I haven't  the time, stamina or the cab fare to determine its true worth.  Initial clinical trials, however, indicate that it's a masterpiece of psychotic reaction.


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The Midwest Music Foundation has released the free 21-track compilation Midwestern Audio Vol. 2 - Electric Hullabaloo. 

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The Revisionists- a band featuring Brad Cox, Betse Ellis, Jeff Harshbarger, Kasey Rausch and Mike Stover- is featured in a video produced by KCUR.

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Radkey performed on Later… with Jools Holland.

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Yawn Johnson's self-titled mix tape is available at Bandcamp.  RIYL: Danny Brown, 816, Death Grips.

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MilkDrop and D/Will made a video for "Ayo D!".

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Cheers! The Telegraph reports on the boozy state of the pop charts.

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My cousin is featured in a Tiny Desk Concert.

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Kneebody's new album The Line is RIYL: Snarky Puppy, the Project H, jazz nerds.  The band is cosigned by Luciana Souza, Meshell Ndegeocello and Brad Meldhau in its EPK.

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Tyler, the Creator- not Miley Cyrus- embodies the zeitgeist.  Experience the many moods of "Tamale".

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Here's the ECM player for Tim Berne and Snakeoil's Shadow Man. RIYL: Andrew Hill, Richard Davis, Eric Dolphy.

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After I absorb the new Pusha T album, I hope to break the seal on many other albums released today.  The There Stands the Glass list includes Pepe Aguilar, Alter Bridge, Danny Brown, V.V. Brown, Cage the Elephant, CBGB: Original Motion PIcture Soundtrack, Miley Cyrus, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Darkside, Deap Vally, Patty Griffin, Albert Hammond, Jr., Lyfe Jennings, Jesu, Tim Kasher, Korn, Amos Lee, Scott Miller, Harold Lopez Nussa, Of Montreal, Anders Osborne, Gretchen Parlato, Parquet Courts, Maurizio Pollini, Lee Renaldo & the Dust, RJD2, Kenny Rogers, William Shatner, Sleigh Bells, Stone Temple Pilots and Yuja Wang.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

J.J. Cale, 1938-2013

I've been obsessed with attending performances of live music since I was about 13.  Before my tastes coalesced, I hit shows indiscriminately.  If I could get a ride and afford a ticket to a concert that admitted kids, I was there.  My inexperience and ignorance led me to a lot of unlikely places in the pre-internet era.   

I recall not knowing what to expect as I sat in the balcony of the Uptown Theater for a J.J. Cale concert.  I didn't know the difference between J.J. Cale, John Cale or John Cage at that point.  I was just glad to be part of the mix. 

My enthusiasm waned as Cale played his distinctive Tulsa shuffle on a dimly-lit stage.  That laid-back sound isn't designed to appeal to an agitated teenager.  While I've grown to appreciate Cale's contributions and enormous influence on the likes of Eric Clapton and Dire Straits, I never really acquired a taste for his music. 

Cale died last week.


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Writer and musician Mick Farren has died.

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Tim Finn chats with Tech N9ne about Something Else.

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I fell in love with Superchunk's "Me & You & Jackie Mittoo" before I even heard it.

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This could be the exact moment the jazz audience evaporated". (Via There Stands the Glass reader PF.)

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Quest's new Live In Paris album reminded me of Richie Beirach's greatness.  RIYL: Dave Liebman, John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner.

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The music video for King Khan & the Shrines' "Darkness" is mesmerizing.  RIYL: the White Stripes, Percy Mayfield, Bobby Womack.

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Geoffrey Keezer's new The Heart of the Piano is a syrupy and sentimental solo piano album.  RIYL: John Lewis, Danny Wright, Ahmad Jamal.

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I suppose that suggesting Lil B is Based God an emperor with no clothes is missing the point.

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I hope to listen to the new albums by Five Finger Death Punch, Buddy Guy, Chante Moore, T. Hardy Morris, Roomful of Blues, Robin Thicke and John Zorn after spend quality time with Tech N9ne's Something Else.

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Kansas City Click: Mates of State opens for the Postal Service at the Midland on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Mike Tramp of White Lion appears at Aftershock on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Love My Way: Saluting the New Wave of Classic Rock

In the last 28 days I've attended concerts by Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Cheap Trick, Urge Overkill, Limp Bizkit, They Might Be Giants, Blue Öyster Cult and the Psychedelic Furs.   Scheduling conflicts kept me away from performances by the Smithereens and Greg Ginn's Black Flag.

With the possible exception of They Might Be Giants and Soundgarden, these bands are well past their artistic and/or commercial primes.  And while I'm far more interested in contemporary sounds than in music from past decades, I enjoyed all but one of these nostalgia-fueled events.  A ranking of the shows in the order of my appreciation of each performance follows.

1. Limp Bizkit Ticket price: $32.  Audience: 800.  Look, I'm not particularly fond of Limp Bizkit, but there was no denying the electrifying nature of its performance at the Granada.

2. They Might Be Giants Ticket price: $24.  Audience: 500.  I have great memories of seeing They Might Be Giants and Poi Dog Pondering at the Grand Emporium on Halloween in 1988.  TMBG is an even better band 25 years later.

3. The Psychedelic Furs Ticket price: $13.65.  Audience: 800.  As Tim Finn's review of last night's concert suggests, the band's enthusiasm was infectious. 

4. Blue Öyster Cult Ticket price: free. Audience: 3,000.  The oldest band in this grouping opened its headlining performance at Old Shawnee Days with the proto-speed metal classic "The Red & the Black".  Aside from dodgy drum and bass solos, the underrated band's 90-minute set remained taut.   BOC deserve to be as revered as Judas Priest, Kiss and Motörhead.

5. Cheap Trick Ticket price: $50.  Audience: 500.  Cheap Trick has returned to its roots.  The band played early influential jams like "Heaven Tonight" with childlike glee. 

6. Alice In Chains Ticket price: $50.  Audience: 40,000.  Alice In Chains' headlining appearance at Rockfest was a slick, by-the-numbers effort.  The songs are great but the polished approach was too slick for me.

7. Urge Overkill Ticket price: free.  Audience: 500.  Like a poor man's version of Cheap Trick, this woulda-shoulda-coulda band played with exuberance. 

8.  Soundgarden Ticket price: $40.  Audience: 3,000.  Soundgarden is my favorite of these eight bands, but their concert was spoiled by nightmarish sound. 

While I'm not too cool to appreciate REO Speedwagon, Styx and Ted Nugent, I passed on their triple-bill appearance at Starlight Theatre last month.  The new and surprisingly vital face of classic rock with roots in the '80s, '90s and 00's has overtaken the previous generations of rock and rollers. 


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Chad Kassem and his Salina-based Acoustic Sounds are featured in a The New York Times story about the vinyl resurgence.  

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The newly announced Buzz Beach Ball concert doesn't replace Kanrocksas- it lacks the hip hop and R&B acts I was most eager to see at the ill-fated festival- but it boasts a pretty darn impressive lineup nonetheless.

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As evidenced by this telling fan footage of the Shy Boys, people standing near the stage would not STFU at the Crossroads Summer Block Party last weekend. 

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Damir Out Loud consists of "eight Berlin-based musicians from five different countries."  The band's new Graduation Day album is RIYL Balkan brass bands, Bobby Hutcherson, ECM. 

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King Khan & the Shrines' "Born to Die" is mindblowingly great.  RIYL: Cream, Nuggets, Ty Segall.

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Who doesn't love Wayne Coyne?

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A video for Dessa's "Call Off Your Ghost" was released today.  RIYL: Ani DiFranco, Doomtree, Alanis Morissette. 

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I can't wait to hear the new album by David Murray Infinity Quartet featuring Macy Gary and Gregory Porter.  Also out this week are new releases from Joseph Arthur, The Black Dahlia Murder, Black Sabbath, Boards of Canada, Marc Cary, Children of Bodom, Davell Crawford, Jason Isbell, Chrisette Michele, Aoife O'Donovan, Gary Peacock and Marilyn Crispell, Carmen Souza and Hezekiah Walker.

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Kansas City Click: The Riot Room hosts Lord Huron on Monday.

David Ramirez appears at the Czar Bar on Tuesday.

David Nail sings at Kanza Hall on Wednesday.

Gee Watts hits the Czar Bar on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)