Review: Toro Y Moi- Anything In Return

Although I've only published a handful of posts at There Stands the Glass since New Year's Day, I've already offered abundant praise of hip hop, EDM, opera, gospel, R&B, reggae, folk, jazz, blues, punk and indie rock artists.  Is there anything I don't like? 

I have, in fact, encountered a new album that encapsulates many of the things I abhor in popular music.   The fashionable aural wallpaper of Toro Y Moi's Anything In Return serves as a case study of my dislikes.  The frothy album is emotionally vacant and deliberately devoid of grit and soul.  By my standards, Toro Y Moi makes music for people who don't like music.

Incredibly, many of my friends love Anything In Return.  That's fine.  The pleasure they take in the music of Toro Y Moi doesn't bother me.  To each his own.


---
James Carter plays a lot of notes.  And I like it.  I reviewed last weekend's concert by the James Carter Organ Trio at the Folly Theater.

---
I reviewed Passport's self-titled debut album at Plastic Sax.

---
Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonnner of the Ohio Players has died.  He last performed in Kansas City at the 2010 Rhythm & Ribs Jazz and Blues Festival.

---
Gour Khyapa has died.  (Tip via BGO.)

---
Foxygen's "San Francisco" fills me with joy.  RIYL: Ray Davies, Eric Burdon, fops.

---
Miss the White Stripes?  Pony Time has you covered with the excellent "Geordie".

---
Whenever I find myself bedridden with an injury or an illness, I attempt to make the best of a bad situation by using my impaired state to explore new forms of music.  Armed with painkillers after I broke my ankle a few years ago, I came to appreciate EDM on a new level.  When the flu knocked me out last week, I discovered the compositions of Henri Dutilleux.  This stuff is sick.

---
Chris Morris wrote a great analysis of Amoeba's digital efforts.

---
I adore Broadcast's original soundtrack for Berberian Sound Studio.  RIYL: Ennio Morricone, John Zorn, found sound.

---
Free Energy's Love Sign is an excellent windows-down summer cruising album. RIYL: The Cars, Cheap Trick, Peter Wolf.

---
The demos at the end of some versions of Camper Van Beethoven's new reunion album La Costa Perdida are markedly more interesting than the official tracks.  RIYL: the Grateful Dead, California, patchouli.

---
I'm looking forward to digging into Gamak, Rudresh Mahanthappa's skronky new album.

---
Vinyl eroticism from Salina, Kansas: "The Doors Infinite Unboxing".

---
Kansas City Click: Max Groove plays Jazz on 39th Street on Tuesday.

Stone Sour is Wednesday's headliner at the Midland.

La Guerre performs Thursday at the RecordBar.

Eddie Moore and the Outer Circle hit the Blue Room on Friday.

The Folly Theater hosts Danielle de Niese on Saturday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: José James- No Beginning No End

The members of the sales and marketing departments of Blue Note Records almost certainly celebrated when they first heard No Beginning No End, the new album by José James.  The project is probably the most commercially viable release on the label since Norah Jones' Feels Like Home.  Sales in the hundreds of thousands and multiple Grammy nominations seem inevitable. 

While No Beginning No End contains many of the bourgeois components of hits by Jones, Diana Ross and Lionel Richie (not necessarily a liability for an album of make-out music), it's really based on D'Angelo's seminal 2000 album Voodoo.  The loose jazz-funk hybrid- itself inspired by Prince, Roy Ayers, Curtis Mayfield, Bobby Womack, Marvin Gaye, Miles Davis and the O'Jays- is the sound of now. 

A few of the live performances I've watched online aren't particularly impressive.  And yesterday's NPR feature about James is incredibly irritating.  But none of that matters when I hit play.  Unless I burn out on it, No Beginning No End should figure prominently on my year-end album list.


---
I recall being told to get out of the way by cameramen during Hammerween at the Beaumont Club last October.  Based on this compelling footage of Hammerlord, I'm glad that I opted to comply with their irritating requests.

---
The Great Vehicle is a Federation of Horsepower side project.  The People's Cathedral of Wavelengths should appeal to fans of Joe Satriani, Brand X and Steve Morse.  (Tip via There Stands the Glass reader Gary.)

---
Destination Out's interaction with Barry Altschul is vital.

---
Lawrence's Klyph Scurlock "auditioned" for adorable Oklahoma kiddie punks Skating Polly.

---
Red Kross talks trash about REO Speedwagon in their "What's In My Bag" segment. 

---
Watching Nardwuar vs. Riff Raff gives me the strength to carry on.

---
Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Teena Marie- Beautiful

Two years after her premature passing in 2010, I continue to mourn Teena Marie.  The posthumous album Beautiful was released last week.  Rolling Stone provides the project's backstory. 

Beautiful is about what longtime fans might expect.  Late in her career, Marie wasn't attempting to replicate the upbeat funk of big hits like "Square Biz".  Instead, Beautiful contains mostly ruminative love songs.  Innocuous and unobtrusive but consistently pleasant, Beautiful would provide ideal background music at an upscale salon.

The two best tracks- "Rare Breed" and "Definition of Down"- don't match any of her career highlights, while the limpid "Carte Blanche" and "Wild Horses" should have been left in the can.  An embarrassing production choice spoils "Maria Bonita."

Completists won't regret the need to acquire Beautiful, but casual fans who already own a Marie compilation or a couple of her prime albums aren't missing out.


---
Last weekend's performance by Julian Lage and Jorge Roeder at Yardley Hall is my concert to beat in 2013.  Here's my review.

---
I reviewed Bloc Party's concert at Liberty Hall on Sunday.

---
UMKC's Kerwin Young will be on hand when Public Enemy is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April.

---
My new favorite time-suck is the archive of a defunct Midwestern music publication called The Note.  Check out the amateurish  advertisement for the 1988 Monsters of Rock tour.

---
I'll stop listening to the "melo-death" of Aether Realm only after you pry the flanged mace from my cold, dead fingers.

---
Pantha du Prince's new Elements of Light album is like a groovy Tubular Bells.  Here's a taste.

---
Larry Rosen, co-founder GRP Records, explains how the promising concept of smooth jazz became a "sad joke".

---
Mixed Blood Majority's new album is released today.  Watch Lazerbeak perform his magic here.

---
When (my) worlds collide: Bargain Bin Blasphemy is hilarious.

---
Kansas City Click: Gravity A headlines at the RecordBar on Tuesday.

The Kill Devil Club features Steve Lambert on Wednesday.

Inspectah Deck appears at the Riot Room on Thursday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Bentcousin- Everybody's Got One

Everybody's Got One, the new six-song EP by Bentcousin, is a mess.  And I love it.  The bum notes and questionable production values make the British duo's ramshackle project all the more charming.

On the opening track "Bentpaperboy," Amelia Innit gently croons lines like "I never met a Catholic that I didn't like."  The ingratiating acoustic piece recalls the dry wit of Belle and Sebastian.  Amelia's twin brother Pat admires a girl named "Susan" and "my favorite LP" on the chaotic rocker "Slade."  "I Quit You" is a feisty duet in which a modern-day Eliza Doolittle asserts her independence.  "You went out drinking when she had the flu!" Amelia sneers on the delightful "I Think I Like Your Girlfriend More Than You".

The modest Everybody's Got One is precisely the type of hidden gem that replenishes my faith in the giddy power of popular music.  I recommend it to aficionados of Billy Bragg's love songs, the lighthearted side of the Mekons and the enthusiasm of Frank Turner.  Everybody's Got One will be released in February.


---
Cowboy Indian Bear's new four-song single is very impressive.

---
"I'm Hustin'" is the latest video from Rich the Factor.  (Tip via Tony's Kansas City.)

---
B-Sides And Confessions Vol. 2, the new album by former Kansas Citian Jeff Black, was released on January 15.

---
Here's a tease from Kanrocksas.

---
My friend K.S. turned me on to Wichita's The Travel Guide.  RIYL: Indie kids bashing away in a basement.

---
Jimi in Salina.

---
Steve Pick's insightful review of Jimbo Mathus' White Buffalo suggests that the album resembles an inferior version of Exile On Main Street.  It reminds me of a Joe Grushecky album.  That's a good thing.

---
I first heard the Eddie Fisher Quintet's The Third Cup this week.  RIYL: Wes, Grant and George.  (Via Euclid Records.)

---
ASAP Rocky's LoveLiveA$AP is the most immediately sonically rewarding album I've heard in a while.  It's a fun listen but I'm not convinced that I'll still be enamored of it come December.

---
I've been riding shotgun on the Emily Armstrong bandwagon for about a year.  Hear what she does with "Gone Away".

---
Big Jay McNeely is alive!

---
Yes, I'm a hypocrite.  I'm offended by this promotional video for Jazz Fest.  It seems wrong to use a brass band's music to pitch the likes of Billy Joel, Fleetood Mac, DMB and Maroon 5.

---
Forget Dirty Projectors- Bahamas is where it's at.  This stunning live performance is RIYL Alan Jackson, Dirty Projectors, Bruce Springsteen.

---
Here's the sonic representation of my Facebook news feed.  (Not that I didn't sign up for it…)

---
Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Tamela Mann at the Folly Theater

For a sanctified second on Saturday, the Holy Spirit seemed to roll through the Folly Theater.  A member of Isaac Cates & Ordained stepped to the front of the stage and began to roar with a voice that belied her small frame.

The sound issues that plagued the concert momentarily dissipated.  Taken aback by the ferocious power of their colleague's conviction, several members of the choir doubled over in celebratory shock.  A significant portion of the audience of approximately 700 jumped to their feet.  I was similarly overcome. Tears flowed down my cheeks.

It was the highlight of a night of rapturous peaks and scandalously disappointing lows.  The concert was part of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City's annual celebration of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Tickets were $16.

The evening got off to a rough start as the opening remarks of Mia Ramsey- a woman who proved to be an excellent master of ceremonies- were inaudible.   Patrons of events at the Folly Theater can usually count on the opportunity to bask in the venue's pristine acoustics.  The sound was disastrous Saturday.  If the sonic technicians were attempting to recreate the crackly and distorted sound of a 1950's field recording of a tent revival, well, they succeeded.

A brief opening appearance by Shanice and Maurice Hayes was a fiasco.  Their prerecorded backing tracks were a muddle.  The father and daughter had one semi-functional microphone between them.  What a shame.  Isaac Cates & Ordained overcame the sonic debacle through sheer talent (and a possible act of God). 

David Mann, the husband of the celebrated actress and gospel star Tamela Mann, wasn't about to leave the fate of his wife's headlining performance in God's hands.

"I want to make sure you get the real Tamela Mann," David Mann told the audience as the sound was tested.

The precautionary work didn't pay off.  Mann may have opened with "Best Days."  I'm not sure.   I couldn't hear her over the wildly distorted music.  A solid band was game, but Mann inexplicably insisted on a karaoke approach for selections including the Grammy-nominated and current chart-topping gospel hit "Take Me To the King".

Mann is an amazingly dynamic performer.  Yet she was on stage for just 45 minutes.  She spent part of that time indicating that she and her husband David were eager to sell "product" (her word) in the lobby.   This essential fan footage shot at the concert reveals the best and worst aspects of Mann's performance.  Mann dances as the house band fires on all cylinders.  Then she sneaks a peak at her watch at the 1:08 mark.

Clock-watching- even in a trying situation- is a bad look.


---
Claire and the Crowded Stage made a video for "Technicolor".

---
"Slidecam duet."  (Via Hey Cameraman.)

---
Kansas City Click: Hermon Mehari and Mark Lowrey open the week by trading their regular nights at the Majestic.  The switch allows Mehari to play on Sunday while Lowrey will appear on Monday.

John Fullbright returns to Knuckleheads on Tuesday.

The RecordBar hosts Ryan Lee Toms on Wednesday.

Wayland plays the Riot Room on Thursday.

(Original image of Isaac Cates & Ordained by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Buddy Guy- Live at Legends

I love the Rolling Stones.  The sentiment is all but mandatory for red-blooded Midwestern white guys born the 1960s.  I treasure my vinyl copies of Exile On Main Street, Sticky Fingers, Some Girls and Between the Buttons.  The boys were great all three times I've seen 'em. 

Listening to Buddy Guy's new Live At Legends, however, made me realize that I don't need to experience the Stones' current tour.  I'd be better served by catching Guy again.  His histrionics and showboating have annoyed me in the past but I'm now willing to accept those excesses.  Besides, Guy's antics are certainly no less overwrought than those of Jagger and Richards.

It may seem difficult to muster much enthusiasm for yet another new live album by Buddy Guy, but I'll be damned if the 2010 material documented on Live at Legends doesn't demonstrate that he continues to pack a powerful punch.  The fiercest guitar solos on the album sound like a bushel of rusty barbed wire being dumped into a trash bin.  The unusual mix on the live tracks places the listener on stage with the band.  It's weird, but I like it.  The set concludes with a few worthwhile studio tracks.

Guy, it's safe to say, is a more vital artistic presence in 2013 than the Stones.  In a hypothetical battle of the bands, only the Stones' superior material would allow them to remain competitive with Guy. 

I'll see you soon, Buddy.


---
"900 Racks", Stik Figa's new collaboration with JL of BHood, is available as a free download.  (Tip via Demencha.)

---
Tech N9ne and Rittz collaborate on "Bloody Murdah".

---
Heartfelt Anarchy's "Killemwiththeflow" is streaming at Bandcamp.

---
I remain convinced that Donta Slusha's "Check My Posture" is the definitive song of contemporary Kansas City.  "KC's the town, mayne!"

---
Hitt Records sells vinyl in Columbia, Missouri.

---
Bobby Womack speaks candidly about his life.

---
Avant brass band Billy Martin covers the White Stripes' "The Hardest Button To Button" here.

---
I'm looking forward to hearing Antonio Sanchez's new album.

---
When (my) worlds collide: On the Dance Floor features Enrico Rava's interpretations of MJ's catalog.

---
Lil B says "it's ok to cry".  Bless his based heart.

---
Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: DJ Muggs- Bass For Your Face

What if dubstep was… you know, good?  The stylistic upgrade might require a producer with an institutional memory of music history that didn't begin with the inception of SoundCloud.  A person with a deep appreciation of U-Roy, Esther Phillips, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and grime might be capable of making the basic components of dubstep sound interesting.  DJ Muggs to the rescue.  His mind-bending new album Bass For Your Face makes a case for dubstep as an artistically fertile genre.

Muggs, of course, is one of the primary architects of hip hop.  As an integral creative force in Cypress Hill and as a groundbreaking producer for a multitude of additional acts, Muggs is a walking sonic encyclopedia.  Bass For Your Face is a multifarious set of songs held together by a fat bottom end. 

Several hip hop stars join Muggs in bridging the divide between hip hop and dubstep.  Freddie Gibbs adds an ominous voicing to the opening track "Trapp Assassin."  "Snap Ya Neck Back" features Dizzee Rascal.  A heavily processed Danny Brown appears on "Headfirst."  Perhaps most significantly, Public Enemy's Chuck D and the dude from (hed) p.e. rap over a dubstep beat on "Wikid."  (I could be one of the few people on earth who's truly excited by this unlikely combination.)

The haunted dub of "Deep Purple" leads into "Shotta," a track that incorporates dancehall, jazz and EDM.  "Come On London" sounds like a joyful Brixton riot.  "Safe" could be mistaken for a remixed Rihanna track.  It's a bumpy ride.  Yet thanks to Muggs, 2013 marks the year in which I learned to stop worrying and love dubstep.

DJ Muggs discusses the project here.  Bass For Your Face will be released on January 15.


---
I reviewed Mark Lowrey's new album at Plastic Sax.

---
The Kansas City Symphony's Enigma Variations: The Wasps / Greensleeves was released today.

---
Watch a metal dude work himself into a lather while splitting hairs.  I'm pretty sure that I sound just like this guy most of the time.

---
As I suggested in 2012, the future looks bright for Kirby Kaiser.  Her "Every Time" is RIYL Darlene Love, Amy Winehouse, Phil Spector.

---
I didn't attend Father John Misty's show in Lawrence last night.  This excellent fan footage indicates that I made a big mistake.

---
John Coltrane and Miles Davis are in Chan Marshall's bag.

---
Here's the obligatory mention of David Bowie.  For the record, I love his new "Where Are We Now?".

---
Kansas City Click: Rex Hobart performs every Tuesday at the RecordBar.

Rich Hill appears at the Majestic on Wednesday.

Tony Ladesich plays his songs Thursday at Coda.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Review: Bill Goffrier at the RecordBar

I usually enjoy listening to Robert Moore's Sonic Spectrum broadcast as I head to shows on Saturday nights.  That wasn't the case last weekend.  Hearing a 1986-themed mix featuring Husker Dü, Concrete Blonde and Peter Murphy just made me feel even more sheepish about my insistence on attending a performance by Bill Goffrier.

Doubling down on the '80s is against my nature.  I don't judge other people's nostalgia but I loathe it in myself.  I've always been more interested in today and tomorrow than in yesterday.  I'm not ashamed of my thirty-year admiration of Goffrier's band The Embarrassment.  Yet I sensed that I would be dissatisfied by Goffrier's matinee show.  I was right.

I paid $10 to join about three dozen Goffrier fans- mostly people in their forties and their children- for the 7 p.m. set.  I was ten minutes late and Goffrier was playing a solo rendition of the classic Embarrassment song "Patio Set" as I found a seat.  It was followed by the equally important "Elizabeth Montgomery's Face".  I was transported to new wave heaven.

I first read about the Wichita-based band in regional fanzines and in national publications while I was in high school and was thrilled to discover that the music was every bit as good as the prominent reviews suggested.  Goffrier subsequently formed Big Dipper.  "Faith Healer" was the band's biggest college radio hit.

Crashes On the Platinum Planet, Big Dipper's 2012 album, is loaded with great songs.  I love the bittersweet tribute to "Robert Pollard".  My favorite, not surprisingly, is "Hurricane Bill".  Its internal gags caused me to laugh at loud on Saturday.

Goffrier was joined by current collaborator Karlee Deen on songs that offered additional evidence that Goffrier hasn't lost his knack for crafting impeccably nerdy material.  I'm not enamored of this unfortunate arrangement of "Wandering Eye", but there's a great song underneath the clutter.  ("You've got some optic nerve!")  The same goes for "Electricity Man". 

Even so, I was rudely reminded that the Embarrassment is known among its fans as "the best band you never heard of."   The RecordBar grew increasingly crowded with people pre-gaming for the 10 p.m. show headlined by Kansas City up-and-comers Antennas Up during Goffrier's performance.  Most newcomers seemed mystified by the fifty-something guy in an argyle sweater vest on the stage.  "I don't get it," one young musician told his bandmates.

Only my reluctance to contribute to the shockingly inconsiderate noise prevented me from asking the kid if he'd ever perform anything a tenth as revolutionary or influential as "I'm a Don Juan" and "Sex Drive".  I left when Goffrier's set became completely overwhelmed by barroom chatter.


---
Eddie Saunders has died.

---
KCUR compiled a remembrance of Marva Whitney.  My notes about her passing are here.

---
Patti Page has died.

---
To be fair to the guy who cut DJ Shadow's set short for being "too future," the brilliant turntablist certainly wasn't about to spin the latest Ellie Goulding single.  Here's the mix in question.  For the record, the future sounds pretty great.

---
Here's a video of Brandon Draper performing "Dangerous".

---
There Stands the Glass reader Gary recently shared a version of "Linus and Lucy" that's ostensibly "600% slower."  It's amazing. 

---
globalFEST is one-night affair?

---
Kansas City Click: At the Left Hand of God headlines the Riot Room on Friday.

Linda Shell & the Blues Thang appear at BB's Lawnside BBQ on Saturday.

The monthly gig at the RecordBar by the People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City is Sunday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

The Beaumont Bows Out

The word on the street is that the Beaumont Club is no more.  Here's Tim Finn's report.  The Westport venue's low-slung stage and restrictive in-and-out policy kept it from being one of my favorite rooms.  Even so, I attended about 150 shows at the Beaumont Club.  The staff was always gracious.  (I knew not to mess around with the bouncers.)  Here's a list of the artists responsible for twenty of my favorite performances at the venue.

1. Nas with Damian Marley
2. Lee "Scratch" Perry
3. Nikka Costa
4. Daniel Johnston with Capybara
5. Making Movies
6. Hammerlord
7. Aterciopelados
8. Accept
9. Katy Perry
10. Luciano
11. Opeth
12. The Architects
13. P.O.S
14. Cafe Tacuba
15. Tech N9ne
16. Musiq Soulchild
17. Unearth
18. Social Distortion
19. Brandi Carlile
20. Mutemath

---
Jon Caramanica wrote an extensive obituary of Marva Whitney for The New York Times.   My remembrance is here.

---
Ray Collins, best known as the vocalist for Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, has died.

---
The 2013 edition of the Middle of the Map festival is April 4-6.

---
Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the annual Blues Masters at the Crossroads concerts in Salina, Kansas.

---
Tony's Kansas City was nice enough to link to this site's Top Ten Kansas City Music Videos of 2012 post.   Get a load of this (edited) comment he received: From afar, it looks like Kansas City is nothing but N******, mayhem, drinking and murders. Yeah, I think enough said too.

---
The Kansas City Symphony drops the Mahler hammer.

---
Plastic Sax revealed the recipients of the site's 2013 people of the year.

---
Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)