Kelly Hunt’s debut album Even the Sparrow sounds as if was issued by Vanguard Records in 1966. I wouldn’t ordinary commend an album that recalls the folk revivalist styles associated with Mimi Fariña and Buffy Sainte-Marie, but the combination of Hunt’s exceptional voice and exquisitely spare instrumentation is stunning. Even the Sparrow will likely be my favorite non-jazz album of the year by a Kansas City musician. Here’s “Sunshine Long Overdue”.
Domineko’s Perfect Weekend sounds like what might transpire if Kendrick Lamar or Vince Staples spent the summer in Kansas City consuming a debilitating stockpile of intoxicants. The extremely wavy vibe is exemplified by lyrics like “I ain’t ever been this high” (“Peaking”), “I’m trying to smoke all night” (“Viewtiful”), and “addicted to ‘scriptions” (“Sundayze”). Here’s “Setlist”.
There’s plenty wrong with Streetflowers, the debut album of the Kansas City band Broken Arrows. The mix is tinny, the tempos drag, the lyrics are plain and none of the vocalists are compelling. Even so, the boyish enthusiasm of the grizzled scenesters is charming. A few of the area’s fashionable young garage-rock bands play similar forms of jangle-pop with an ironic smirk. Broken Arrows’ earnestness is refreshing. Here’s live footage.
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I write weekly concert previews for The Kansas City Star.
(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)
1 comment:
First things first. It is KELLEY not Kelly.
Debut album? Huh.
Kelley sang at our church wedding, so you know what side I am on. That was long ago, April 6, 1991.
bgo
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