Album Review: Sturgill Simpson- Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

I'm skeptical when people who wouldn't know Ray Price from Luke Bryan rave about a country artist.  Having been raised on albums by Waylon, Willie and Kris, I take it personally when jokers subvert those sounds to amuse people who look down on the form.  That's why I avoided Sturgill Simpson's fashionable Metamodern Sounds in Country Music for months.  I'm finally willing to admit that it's really good.  With lyrics that could have been written by Jimmie Dale Gilmore and production modeled on Honky Tonk Heroes, the album sends me back to my smoke-filled childhood home.


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I reviewed the Zombie Pub Crawl.

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I participated in a discussion about Kansas City's jazz scene on KCUR's Central Standard last week.

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D/Will and Stik Figa made a video for "Work".

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Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar are at their best on "Never Catch Me".

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Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood is my favorite jam band.  Juice is RIYL: Garage a Trois, outdoor festivals, Umphrey's McGee.

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It really goes without saying, but Prince's messy new Art Official Age contains about 20 minutes of brilliance.  RIYL: Controversy, freaks, Sign o' the Times.

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Yelawolf's "Till It's Gone" is one of my favorite songs of 2014.  RIYL: Lindsey Buckingham, classic rock, Tech N9ne.

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Roni Size is back.  His new album Take Kontrol is RIYL: 1997, video game soundtracks, Orbital.

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Jazz can be a chore.  It took four sessions for me to work my way through Joris Roelof's Aliens Deliberating.  RIYL: Eric Dolphy, nails on chalkboards, Ned Rothenberg.

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Everclear's spoof of U2's partnership with Apple is perfect.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: D/Will- Reset

I had the pleasure of attending a small listening party for D/Will's Reset album last month.  I'd delayed reviewing the masterful recording partly because its unconventional nature makes it difficult to analyze.

Only after enduring a new release that's likely to be my least favorite Kansas City album of 2014 did I begin to fully appreciate the subtle brilliance of Reset.

Rather than being obsessed by the shallow topics of marijuana and rap status that consume many of his contemporaries, D/Will engages in a profound examination of spirituality.  Kanye West may be the only hip-hop artist to address the topic of salvation with as much finesse as D/Will.  Yet characterizing Reset as a Christian album wouldn't be accurate.

Reset is a bold reckoning of what it means to reside in America.

D/Will isn't a great rapper but he's an excellent producer.  The surprising array of sounds on Reset enhances the project's cultivated message.  "Meeting With God" relects the album's intent.


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Here's my review of T-Pain's woefully under-attended concert at Crossroads KC.

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I reviewed Nickel Creek's concert at the Uptown Theater.

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I contributed a Local Listen segment about the Phantastics to KCUR's Up To Date.

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Radkey was featured in USA Today.

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Mac Lethal has, as they say, found his lane.  Here's his new Mozart rap.

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John Blake has died.  I bought the violinist's album Twinkling of an Eye as a new release in 1985. 

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Jean Redpath has died.  (Via BGO.)

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The band name and album title of the National Jazz Trio of Scotland's Standards, Vol. III are amusingly misleading.  Bill Wells' project is RIYL: Belle and Sebastian, nuance, Robert Wyatt.  "Surprising Word" isn't the best track on the album, but the video is solid.

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The Messenger's Illusory Blues is RIYL: Kansas, 1975, Renaissance.  Here's the video for “Somniloquist”.

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Action Bronson is hilarious.

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I'm not convinced that Benjamin Booker is all that.  The self-titled album of the current media darling is RIYL: Kings of Leon, NPR, the Black Keys.

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Rittz owns it.

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Bless their metallic hearts.  The current lineup of the stalwart thrash band Overkill sounds better than ever on White Devil Armory, the New Jersey band's seventeenth studio album.  Here's the video for "Armorist".

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The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra's OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer is worthwhile.

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My latest obsession: the music of the Lebanese singer Fairuz.

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"I don't know how you can sit there and listen to that mess."  That's what a member of my compound told me as I was ingesting Wiring, a new all-star jazz collaboration.  RIYL: Vijay Iyer, annoying others, Reggie Workman.

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I spent the remainder of the day cowering under my desk in a fetal position after I watched the videos for Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" and Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" back-to-back last week.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Beach Music

My biggest concern while spending a few days in the California sunshine has stepping on a stingray.  The blissful environment wreaks havoc on my sonic acumen.  Of all the music I hear on the beach and on the boardwalk, the only two styles that sound right are contemporary country/pop hits like Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" and classic West Coast hip-hop like Snoop Dogg's "Up Jump Tha Boogie".  I have little doubt that had I been raised in this environment, my interest in jazz would be negligible and my knowledge of ska would be deeper than the Pacific Ocean.


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Here's my Local Listen feature about Quixotic for KCUR's Up To Date.

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D/Will created a video for "Meeting With God."

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Gee Watts' latest video is "Gator Dance/Dreams".

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I prefer Richard Reed Parry's new classical album Music For Heart and Breathto the output of Arcade Fire.  RIYL: Nico Muhly, string sections, Terry Riley.

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The guys in Deltron 3030 reveal what's in their bags.

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Sean Jones' im.pro.vise never before seen is a fine mainstream jazz album.  RIYL: Orrin Evans, tradition, Wynton Marsalis.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

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.)

Album Review: Paul Cebar- Fine Rude Thing

Albums like Fine Rude Thing, the new release by Milwaukee's Paul Cebar, provided the primary soundtrack of my mid-20s.  Cebar's sound is rooted in a divine combination of Creedence, Otis Redding and the Faces.  When my life started getting complicated, however, my taste for party-oriented roots music diminished.  It's a drag- Fine Rude Thing is a good time.  Perhaps I'll add regaining an undiluted enjoyment of cheerful bar bands to my list of long-term goals. 


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I reviewed a concert by Kenny G and the Kansas City Symphony at Helzberg Hall on Friday.

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From my friend Chris Doolittle: I don't know if you remember Symetrix from the late 80's and early 90's but a friend of mine, Eason Pritchard, is an old high school friend and the band's leader. His drummer and friend, Jerry Bayton, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma cancer… Eason asked me to help him finish these few songs he has been working on for a couple of years before Jerry left for treatment in New York earlier this month. This mission was accomplished. Now I am trying to spread the good word to all and especially my music friends about this release as all proceeds go to Jerry's treatment. There are only 3 songs and I play lead on the first two.

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Making Movies made a video for "Pendulum Swing."

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Kansas City pianist Mark Lowrey filmed a performance of a new composition.

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A video was made for D/Will's "Pure."

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My favorite album of the first three weeks of 2014 is the self-titled outing by the supergroup De La Tierra. RIYL: Sepultura, metal en Español, Deftones.

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NPR's coverage of GlobalFest is impressive.  And why didn't any of you jerks tell me about Brushy One-String?

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Fusion lives!  "Just Call Me Nige" is a track from Mehliana, a collaboration between Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana.

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A new album by Neneh Cherry will be released next month.  The advance track "Everything" is RIYL: Four Tet, the future, Dessa.

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I hadn't realized that Anthony Braxton was (the best kind) of hippie until I heard his fascinating speech at the 2014 NEA Jazz Masters Concert.  Braxton's segment begins a bit before the one-hour-17-minute mark here.

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I'm a Rick Rubin fanboy, but I have to call him out for whatever role he played in spoiling Jennifer Nettles' That Girl.  The new album might have been as impressive as Gwen Stefani's Love. Angel. Music. Baby. had Nettles' enormous voice not been allowed to overwhelm the mix.  RIYL: ibuprofen, Ethel Merman, epic production fails.

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"CS60" is a track from BadBadNotGood's forthcoming album.  RIYL: Jack DeJohnette's electronic albums, jazz with a young and enthusiastic audience, OFWGKTA.

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I don't want to be "that guy," but really, Jazz Fest?

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A$AP Ant "See Me" fails to impress me.

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I was excited to hear that Plague of Babylon was Iced Earth's "heaviest album in years."  It's not all that.  Legion of the Damned's Ravenous Plague is more like it. RIYL: Vader, punching walls, Morbid Angel.

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The trailer for Mary Chapin Carpenter's new orchestral album is appropriately overblown.

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I recently discovered Ausmuteants' 100 Ausmuteants Fans Can't Be Wrong?100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can.  RIYL: T.S.O.L., the spirit of rock and roll, 999.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

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.)

Dreams I'll Never See

The disorienting sense that my recent reality is actually an extended waking dream was heightened by my experiences in an odd little town at Lake Erie last week.

Soon after I checked into a 1950s-style motel, I heard a band performing nearby.  A stellar version of "The Weight" sounded as if it was being played by the Avett Brothers.  I quickly made the one-block walk to the biker bar that was hosting the band.  

The musicians- a motley crew of middle-aged rockers in sequins and blue jeans- wasn't much to look at.  And they didn't sound good in close proximity either.  The band launched into a bevy of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers Band and Molly Hatchet covers when I grabbed a seat.  Several bikers played air guitar to "Dreams I'll Never See".  I washed down a sandwich prepared by Chef Mic with a couple beers as I observed the surreal scene.

As I tried to collect myself back at the motel, the band transformed again as it launched into a series of excellent covers of frat-rock songs like "Expressway to Your Heart."  Wake me up when it's over.


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I wrote a fall jazz preview for The Kansas City Star.

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Yet another piano trio!  I reviewed the Paul Shinn Trio's Reason Pure at Plastic Sax.

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Billboard cites the success of Strange Music.

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Reach's Loosies is available as a free download.  RIYL: KRS-One, Gang Starr, Rakim.  (Via Tony's Kansas City.)

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D/Will's Lamb & Lion is also available at Bandcamp.  RIYL: Kanye West, Gil Scott-Heron, A Tribe Called Quest.

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The Numero Group published the track listing of its new Eccentric Soul: The Forte Label compilation.

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Yeah, I watched MTV's VMA show on Sunday.  Pontificating on drummed-up controversies isn't my thing.  The fact that not a single rock or EDM act performed at the event is far more interesting to me than the calculated shenanigans of pop stars.

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Buika shines in a Tiny Desk Concert.

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Dent May's Warm Blanket is RIYL: Destroyer, George Harrison, Randy Newman.

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The Akku Quartet's Stages of Sleep album is RIYL: Tortoise, Pink Floyd, Charles Lloyd.

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The new releases of the most interest to me this week include titles by Avenged Sevenfold, Belle & Sebastian, Big Sean, Black Joe Lewis, Devil Driver, Franz Ferdinand, Robbie Fulks, Goodie Mob, Juicy J, Lorde, Maps for Travelers, Dent May (see above), Pieces of a Dream and Quiet Corral.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here every Wednesday.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)