July Recap

Top Five Performances
1. Khalid- Sprint Center
(My review.)
2. Ehud Ettun and Henrique Eisenmann- 1900 Building
(My review.)
3. Alessia Cara- Sprint Center
(My review.)
4. Gov’t Mule- Crossroads KC
(My Instagram clip.)
5. Ryan Keberle & Catharsis- National World War I Museum and Memorial
(My review.)


Top Five Albums
1. Laura Jurd- Stepping Back, Jumping In
The British whiz kid can do no wrong.
2. Avery R. Young- Tubman.
Good news from Chicago.
3. J. Cole and Dreamville- Revenge of the Dreamers III
Number one with a rubber bullet.
4. Torche- Admission
Coerced confessions.
5. Elew- Cubism
Kurt Rosenwinkel’s compositions stripped bare.


Top Five Songs
1. Beyoncé- “Spirit”
Luxury brand pop.
2. A$AP Ferg- “Floor Seats”
Front row.
3. Volbeat- “Pelvis on Fire”
Goofing on Elvis.
4. Miranda Lambert- “It All Comes Out in the Wash”
So fresh and so clean, clean.
5. Willow- “Time Machine”
Kate Bush meets Future.


I conducted the same exercise in June, May, April, March, February and January.

(Original image of Gov’t Mule by There Stands the Glass.)

So What

The new boxed set The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6 documents the death knell of jazz as a form of popular music.  Months after Miles Davis’ sublime Kind of Blue and John Coltrane’s monumental Giant Steps were released, the jazz titans toured Europe with pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb.

Eager audiences expected to hear a unified band firing on all cylinders.  The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6 is the sound of disappointment.  A press release insists that the 220-minute collection showcases the “musical chemistry shared by Miles and Trane.”  What a laugh!

Davis and Coltrane are clearly at odds with one another.  Coltrane’s connection with the rhythm section is even shakier.  I’m on #teamtrane, but I understand how Coltrane’s lengthy and often dissonant solos could be construed as selfish grandstanding.  The band’s unwillingness or inability to respond with a corresponding sense of exploration is cringe-inducing.

The clearly audible responses of enraged fans seem misguided in hindsight, but the auspiciousness of the participants places these sessions among the most significant breaches of jazz’s accord with the general public.


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I consider suburban jazz at Plastic Sax.

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Avicii has died.

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“Groomed By the Block” is the best track on Kontra-Band, a collaboration between the Kansas City rappers Stevie Stone and JL.

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Kandace Springs reveals her supper club inclinations on the three-song Black Orchid.  RIYL: Diana Ross, formal wear, Dionne Warwick.  Here’s the title track.

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I like J. Cole as a person but I don’t particularly care for his music.  Most of KOD is insufferable.

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Sorrows & Triumphs may be too much of a good thing.  Edward Simon’s latest effort features a large cast of ringers including Brian Blade, Imani Winds, David Binney and Gretchen Parlato.  The result is aggravatingly fussy.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

Concert Review: Pure Disgust at the Encore Room

I was out for blood on Wednesday.  Not having attended a proper all-ages punk event since last summer, I wanted to taste danger and smell teen spirit at the show at the Encore Room headlined by the consequential Washington D.C. based hardcore band Pure Disgust. 

During its best moments, the abrasive jamboree looked and sound a lot like this. Shuttlecock documented the evening with a photo set.

After paying the $8 cover charge, I joined a distressingly meager audience of about 75 (including the members of the five bands and their significant others) as Agent made a racket on the low-slung stage of the venue adjacent to the Uptown Theater.  The band’s defiant slovenliness and the blood smeared on the face of the front man put me in mind of Sex Pistols.  The amateurish insolence of The Drippies evoked Sorry Ma-era the Replacements.

Incomprehensibly loud, Blindside’s set sounded like a plague of locusts descending on a bowling alley.  With my ears blown out by Blindside, I only managed to track Pure Disgust’s surprisingly nimble rhythm section during the quintet’s exciting but abrupt set.


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I yakked about Isaac Cates & Ordained on KCUR yesterday.

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My selections are among The Kansas City Star’s compilation of Top Albums of 2016 lists.

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I previewed Andy McKee’s concert at the Bottleneck for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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I write weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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I reviewed a concert by the Floozies, Autograf and Linear Symmetry in December. 

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I felt thousands of brain cells dying horrible deaths as I listened to Chief Keef’s Two Zero One Seven- and I enjoyed the sensation.  I won’t argue with anyone who insists that the first important rap mixtape of 2017 is infantile trash, but a willingness to get stupid has long been an integral component of the form’s history.

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The late George Michael was the Justin Timberlake of the late 1980s.  The pop star’s unexpectedly wonderful album Faith received an inordinate amount of spins in my home in 1987 and 1988.

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The jazz fusion giant Alphonse Mouzon has died.

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Bobby Previte’s Mass is recommended if you like Bill Laswell, noble but failed experiments, Black Sabbath.

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I like what J. Cole is trying to do.  I just wish he did it better.  4 Your Eyez Only is RIYL thoughful hip-hop, Big Sean, maudlin raps.

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Quality control is an issue on Whale Mafi 2, Rich the Factor’s fifth album in nine months.

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Kindred the Family Soul’s Legacy of Love is RIYL the Isley Brothers, love, Ashford & Simpson.

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Hey!  Van Der Graaf Generation releaseed a new album last year.  RIYL: Soft Machine, lovable geezers, Kevin Ayers.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

The Sickness

An ongoing battle with the flu has left me feeling like a desiccated bird.  The following loose ends are all I muster at the moment.


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I reviewed Karrin Allyson's concert at the Folly Theater.

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The Kansas City Star published a few dozen top album lists.

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Deborah Brown is Plastic Sax's Person of the Year.

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I participated in a Best Music of 2014 program on KCUR's Up to Date.  I also contributed Local Listen segments about BCR and Oleta Adams to the show.

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I lost my mind over The Gobots' D-Boy Era in 2010.  What Happened to the World, the Jacka's new album, is the best thing he's done since then.  RIYL: Mac Dre, crack, Too Short.  Here's "Gang Starz".

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I had to stop listening to Beautiful Life, Jimmy Greene's tribute to his late daughter, when a children's choir entered on "Ana's Song."

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J. Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive is entertaining radio rap.  RIYL: Wale, rappers rapping about their careers, Kid Cudi.

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I regret not listening to Sunny Sweeney's Provoked sooner.  It may be the best contemporary country album of 2014.  RIYL: Miranda Lambert, cheatin' songs, Kacey Musgraves.

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Orange Goblin's Back From the Abyss is RIYL: Motorhead, beer, Black Sabbath.

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Sleaford Mod's Divide and Exit is a hoot.  RIYL: Art Brut, getting yelled at, The Fall.

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The hilarious Stromae demonstrates his great taste in a "What's In My Bag?" segment.

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I respect the fact that a lot of my friends adore TV on the Radio's Seeds, but the album is not for me.  At every turn I expect the band to break into "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway."  RIYL: The Mars Volta, punk-prog, The Police's Synchronicity.  Here's "Happy Idiot".

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

The Top 40 of 2013

These songs- each is a single released in 2013- made me glad that I still listen to the radio.  Here's a corresponding Spotify playlist.

1. J. Cole featuring TLC- "Crooked Smile"
A most unlikely civil rights anthem.

2. Lorde- "Royals"
The zeitgeist.  

3. David Bowie- "Where Are We Now?"
The lion in winter.

4. Pusha T- "Numbers On the Boards"
Barbarous. 

5. Gary Allan- "It Ain't the Whiskey"
Drinking the pain away.

6. K. Michelle- "V.S.O.P."
Classic old-school R&B.

7. Janelle Monae featuring Erykah Badu- "Q.U.E.E.N."
"Am I a freak for getting down?"

8. Miley Cyrus- "We Can't Stop"
Can't stop, won't stop.

9. B.o.B- "We Still In This Bitch"
The soundtrack of the January 20  inauguration.

10. Ace Hood- "Bugatti"
Ridiculous but undeniable.

11. Action Bronson- "Strictly 4 My Jeeps"
12. Kelly Rowland- "Dirty Laundry"
13. Robin Thicke- "Blurred Lines"
14. Alice In Chains- "Stone"
15. Jay-Z featuring Justin Timberlake- "Holy Grail"
16. Toby Keith- "Drinks After Work"
17. A$AP Rocky- "Fashion Killa"
18. Marc Antony- "Vivir Mi Vida"
19. Justin Timberlake- "Suit & Tie"
20. Charlie Wilson- "My Love Is All I Have"

21. Volbeat- "Lola Montez"
22. Ms. Jody- "Still Strokin'"
23. Black Sabbath- "God Is Dead?"
24. Future- "Karate Chop (Remix)"
25. Foxygen- "San Francisco"
26. Jaheim- "Age Ain't a Factor"
27. Carlos Vives- "Como Le Gusta a Tu Cuerpo"
28. Ashley Monroe- "Like a Rose"
29. Tamar Braxton- "Love and War"
30. Yo Gotti- "Act Right"

31. Florida Georgia Line featuring Nelly- "Cruise (Remix)"
32. Chris Brown- "Fine China"
33. Arctic Monkeys- "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?"
34. Bruce Springsteen- "High Hopes"
35. Lady Antebellum- "Downtown"
36. Dr#@e- "Started From the Bottom"
37. Alicia Keys featuring Maxwell- "Fire We Make"
38. The Uncluded- "Delicate Cycle"
39. Steel Panther- "Party Like Tomorrow Is the End of the World"
40. 2 Chainz- "Feds Watching"

Here's a Spotify playlist of my favorite singles of 2012.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)