Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Katie Gilchrist + Erin Keller + Mitzi McKee

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979
   [WMM’s Adopted Theme Song]

2. Flamy Grant – “Fortune Teller”
   from: “Fortune Teller” – Single / Glam & Glory Records / October 24, 2023
   [Produced by Ben Grace. Sound engineer and electric guitars by Daniel Shearin. // Flamy Grant is winner of 2023 Kerrville New Folk Competition; and the 2023 San Diego Music Award nominee for Best Pop Album for BIBLE BELT BABY, the world’s first contemporary Christian music record by a drag performer. With influences from gospel and blues to folk and rock, this Americana showcase shines a spotlight on queerness, faith, and overcoming the spiritual trauma so often endured by LGBTQ+ people and others who grow up in conservative religious spaces. // Flamy’s iconic roots-rock sound is influenced by singer/songwriters like Natalie Merchant, Tracy Chapman, Over the Rhine, and — of course — Amy Grant. Her art shines a spotlight on the queer spiritual journey, telling stories of resilience and recovery from religious trauma. With a bold lip, a big lash, and a blistering voice, Flamy is here to rewrite the rules when it comes to faith-based entertainment, demanding a reckoning for an industry that for too long has silenced and shut out its LGBTQ+ artists and fans. // Flamy Grant’s single “Good Day” was released September 6, 2023 and is the first song by a drag performer to reach #1 on the iTunes Christian charts. It also debuted at #20 on Billboard’s Christian digital sales chart. About “Fortune Teller” Flamy Grant writes: “There are some things queer people will always know more about — things you can only learn by navigating the often unwelcoming world as a queer person. If you let us, we can be a trustworthy guide: a fortune teller, a scientist, a time traveler, a prophet.” More information at: http://www.flamyfrant.com]

Fortune Teller (Lyrics)

I’m a medium, I’m a fortune teller
I know every word you’re gonna say
I’m a headstrong, lifelong city dweller
I can take you where you’re going by the fastest way
It’s gonna be okay

I traveled time, I’m here from the future
I can show you how this all turns out
I can save you with the data in my computer
We can flourish in the flood and avoid the drought
Yeah, we’re gonna make it out

You feel it in your bones 
But your head is moving slow

I’m a scientist, I got a method and a measure
For observable, reliable, repeatable fact
I’m a decorated educator in the field of pleasure
I’ve learned a lot of lessons I can reenact
Yeah, I been keeping track

You sense that I am true
But your heart is split in two

I’m a prophetess, singing my story
A dressed-up, effervescent, ethical fraud
But this world ain’t ready for an allegory, no
We’re still waiting on a literal god
I just smile and nod

You have intuition
And it’s telling you the story isn’t done

[Flamy Grant plays the Songwriter Round on Monday, February 19 at 7:00pm, in Lawrence, KS, with Siena Christie, and Jack Summers]

[Flamy Grant plays an Official Showcase the 2024 Folk Alliance International Conference on Thursday, February 22, at 7:30pm in Brookside Room at The Westin Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center 1 East Pershing Road, Kansas City, MO. http://www.folk.org]

3. Abraham Alexander – “Tears Run Dry”
   from: SEA/SONS / Dualtone Music Group / April 14, 2023
   [Abraham Alexander’s debut album SEA/SONS. Born in Greece to parents of Nigerian descent, Alexander moved to Texas with his family at age 11 to escape the racial tensions they faced in his birthplace. Shortly after moving to the states, his birth mother was killed in a car accident with a drunk driver, leading Alexander to be adopted later in his teens. He found solace in sports as a soccer prodigy and later, following a torn ACL that ended his playing career, in music once a friend handed Alexander a guitar and he unexpectedly found songs pouring out of him. // The 11 tracks on SEA/SONS touch on themes of loss, redemption, longing, anguish and joy. And while his lyrics speak to pain, trauma and life-changing loss, he instills his music with a joyful passion and irrepressible spirit, ultimately giving way to songs that radiate undeniable hope.][Abraham Alexander played The Madrid Theater, 3810 Main Street, KCMO on Monday, May 1, at 7:30 PM opening for Wilder Woods / The Fever / Sky Tour. More info at http://www.abrahamalexander.bandcamp.com]

[Folk Alliance International, the foremost global nonprofit for folk music, will present its 36th Annual Conference Feb. 21-25, 2024 in KCMO. The International Folk Music Awards (part of the conference) have announced the finalists for the 2023 Song of the Year and we’re thrilled that 4 of these songs have been in constant rotation on our playlists this year. The finalists are: “Changes” written by Joy Oladokun & Dan Wilson, performed by Joy Oladokun // “Keep It On A Burner” written & performed by Margo Cilker // “The Returner” written by Allison Russell, Drew Lindsay, & JT Nero, performed by Allison Russell // “Workin’ On A World” written & performed by Iris Dement // and “Tears Run Dry” written by Abraham Alexander, Ian Barter, Leo Stannard, performed by Abraham Alexander.]

4. Tracy Chapman – “Why?”
   from: Tracy Chapman / Elektra / April 5, 1988
   [Debut album by Tracy Chapman was recorded at the Powertrax studio in Hollywood, California. In 1987, Chapman was discovered by fellow Tufts University student Brian Koppelman. He offered to show her work to his father, who owned a successful publishing company; however, she did not consider the offer to be serious. After multiple performances, however, Koppelman found a demo tape of her singing her single “Talkin’ ’bout a Revolution”, which he promoted to radio stations, and she was eventually signed to Elektra Records. // In early attempts to produce the first album, many producers turned down Chapman as they did not favor her musical direction. David Kershenbaum, however, decided to produce it as he wanted to record an acoustic music album. It was recorded in Hollywood, California, in eight weeks. Most of the writing is based on political and social causes. // Tracy Chapman gained critical acclaim from a wide majority of music critics, praising the simplicity, Chapman’s vocal ability and her political and social lyrical content. The album received commercial success in most of the countries it was released, making it to the top of the charts in many countries, including Austria, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. It peaked at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 and was certified six-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with sales exceeding over six million copies in the United States alone. // Three singles were released from the album, with the most commercially successful single being “Fast Car”. The song was performed at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute. It rose to the top ten on the US Billboard Hot 100 and also did well in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and other European countries. Tracy Chapman is one of the best-selling albums of all time with sales of over 20 million copies worldwide. // Chapman started writing songs when she was immediately signed to Elektra Records. Koppelman started finding producers for the album with the demo tape of her single “Talkin’ ’bout a Revolution”. However, she was turned down due to the popularity of dance-pop and synthpop at the time. They then found David Kershenbaum, who recalled later: “I’d been looking for something acoustic to do for some time . . . There was a sense in the industry of a slight boredom with everything out there and that people might be willing to listen again to lyrics and to someone who made statements.” // Chapman’s greatest concern during her meetings with Kershenbaum was that the integrity of her songs remain intact, because she wanted to record “real simple”. Kershenbaum said, “I wanted to make sure that she was in front, vocally and thematically, and that everything was built around her.” Every song that was featured on the result of the studio album was featured on her demo tape, except for “Fast Car”, which resulted as one of the last songs recorded on the album. Kershenbaum recalled that the first time she sang and performed it for him, he “loved it the minute I [he] heard it.” // The album was, in total, recorded in eight weeks at Powertrax, Kershenbaum’s Hollywood studio. Interviewed in 2002 by The Guardian, Kershenbaum stated that a lot of the public wanted “what she had” and said, “And they weren’t getting it. She got there at the right moment with stuff that was good.” Chapman was also interviewed and talked about the background of the album. She said, “The first record [Tracy Chapman] is seen as being more social commentary . . . more political. But I think that’s just all about perspective.” // In an interview with The Guardian in 2008, Chapman said: “My first record was almost not my first record.” The proposed producer for the studio album was killed in a car accident and the record company called in someone far less experienced to take over. // “Fast Car” was later recorded by country music singer Luke Combs for his 2023 album Gettin’ Old, from which it was released as the second single. Combs’ rendition of the song reached number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, making Chapman the first black woman to solely write a country number one. Additionally, it reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, higher than Chapman’s original version.]

[Folk Alliance International will present its 36th Annual Conference February 21-25, 2024 in Kansas City, MO. FAI has confirmed the International Folk Music Awards will present a Lifetime Achievement Award to four-time GRAMMY Award-winner, thirteen-time GRAMMY nominee, Tracy Chapman!]

5. Joni Mitchell – “A Bird That Whistles”
   from: Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm / Geffen / March 23, 1988
   [13th studio album by oni Mitchell. Her third release on Geffen. The album features duets with artists such as Peter Gabriel on “My Secret Place,” Willie Nelson on “Cool Water,” Don Henley on “Snakes and Ladders,” and Billy Idol and Tom Petty on the track “Dancin’ Clown.” Henley also performs backing vocals on “Lakota,” and Wendy and Lisa perform backing vocals on “The Tea Leaf Prophecy (Lay Down Your Arms).” // In early 1986, Mitchell and Larry Klein visited Peter Gabriel’s Ashcombe House recording studio near Bath, England. Since Gabriel had mostly finished his album So by that time, he offered Mitchell and Klein the use of his studio if they wanted to record. They did, and the result was the track “My Secret Place” which was a duet between Mitchell and Gabriel. Mitchell told Musician magazine about this song: “It’s a love beginning song. The song’s about the threshold of intimacy. It’s a shared thing so I wanted it to be like the Song of Solomon, where you can’t tell what gender it is. It’s the uniting spirit of two people at the beginning of a relationship”. // In February 1987, Mitchell saw Billy Idol performing his hit version of the William Bell R&B ballad, “To Be a Lover” on the Grammy Awards show. She felt he captured the original spirit of rock’n’roll along with a new spark of energy, and would be perfect for a cameo on her song “Dancin’ Clown”. Idol came over to Mitchell’s studio one evening a few days after the Grammys and recorded his part, complete with yelps and howls. Mitchell told Macleans magazine about this pairing up: “It was for the contrast he provided. It’s a great little cameo for him, and he brings real life to the part.” Later, Tom Petty recorded his cameo on the same song. // While reminiscing about her friendship with saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Mitchell recalled their unusual style of collaboration, explaining that since both she and he were painters, they possessed a “visual” understanding of music, where she could abstractly describe an emotion or a scene for him that he would translate in to his playing, an attribute she claimed was unique to him as a saxophone player. Before recording “A Bird That Whistles (Corrina, Corrina)”, Mitchell gave Shorter the simple direction that he was “the bird on [the song],” and from there, “the first lick he made was so bird-like, it was perfect.” He immediately requested the opportunity to record a second take after finishing his first, but Joni refused, being happy with what she just heard him play. She later said that in that moment Shorter had “slept through his own magic.” // About Chalk Mark, Mitchell told interviewer Kristine McKenna: “I’ve discovered that with your focus no longer on finding a mate, you get a heightened sense of community, and I’ve become a bit more political – not too political though”. The song “Snakes and Ladders” (featuring Don Henley) was issued as a pre-release single to radio stations in January 1988.]

[Joni Mitchell (at the age of 80) was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Folk Album for AT NEWPORT released on Rhino on July 28, 2023.]

6. Buck Moon – “Indigo Night”
   from: Indigo Night / Buck Moon / January 25, 2024 (Full Moon)
   [Produced by Ivory Blue. Buck Wimberly performs as “Buck Moon” an LGBTQ artist and singer-songwriter who started his life in rural Texas growing up Southern Baptist. Being raised in smaller communities brought challenges for a young, creative, closeted gay kid, pushing Buck to hide parts of himself to minimize bullying, be accepted by his church community, and feel loved by family and friends. // Buck eventually came out at 33 after overcoming depression and has since been on a journey of self-discovery. Now in his forties, having raised two boys, and happily living with his life partner, he has been working on healing past traumas through shamanic experiences, expanded consciousness, and discovering the power of the medicine found within. // Believing that healing the world begins by healing oneself, Buck’s music aims to challenge the listener to learn self-love, connect with the Earth and the world around them, and discover the medicine within themselves. Buck weaves together genres of folk, roots, Americana, country, indie, and electronic to share personal stories and empathy-driven messages that are mindful, conscious, motivational, and self-empowering. // In Buck’s coming music, you’ll find the universally human themes of self-discovery, personal identity, love, struggle, mental health, growth, questioning one’s purpose, redemption, and self-actualization. Buck’s first single “Indigo Night” is a sonic painting of his transformative and spiritual rites of passage experience in the mountains of North Carolina. // More information at: http://www.buckmoonmusic.com]

[Buck Moon will be our guest on WMM on Valentine’s Day February 14]

[Buck and his partner Joey Mendez are the owners of ULAH Men’s Apparel & Lifestyle Store at Woodside Village, as well as LUNA by ULAH, and ULAH Home furnishings + Design. Every Month they host ULAH Live Sessions with You Found Music in an intimate performance with limited seating for 30 people. On Wednesday, February 14, at 8:00om, ULAH Live Sessions presents Nathan Corsi and My Atominc Daydream, at ULAH, 4707 Rainbow Blvd., Westwood, KS. More info at: http://www.ulahkc.com]

7. The Shangri-Las – “Radio Spot: Good Taste Tip – Gift Receiving”
   from: Remember (Hits and Rarities from the Bad Girls of 60S Pop) / Charly / 2011(UK Release)
8. The Shangri-Las – “Give Him A Great Big Kiss”
   from: 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of The Shangri-Las / Def Jam / 2002
   [Written anfd produced by Shadow Morton. It debuted at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late December 1964, and peaked at #18 for two weeks in late January/early February 1965. It was featured on their 1965 album Leader of the Pack. The New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders does a solo version of the song on his 1978 album So Alone. A version by the New York Dolls also appears on their 1985 compilation album Night of the Living Dolls. Also, on the band’s 1973 self-titled album, lead singer David Johansen quotes the “Give Him a Great Big Kiss” line, “you’d best believe I’m in love L-U-V”, in the opening of “Looking for a Kiss”. “Looking for a Kiss” tells the story of adolescent romantic desire hampered by peers who use drugs. // The Shangri-Las were an American girl group of the 1960s, consisting of Mary Weiss, Elizabeth “Betty” Weiss, Marguerite “Marge” Ganser, and Mary Ann Ganser. Between 1964 and 1966 several hit pop songs of theirs documented teen tragedies and melodramas. They continue to be known for their hits “Remember (Walking in the Sand)”, “Give Him a Great Big Kiss”, and in particular, “Leader of the Pack” which went to #1 in the US in late 1964. // The group was formed at Andrew Jackson High School in Cambria Heights, a neighborhood in Queens, New York City, in 1963. The group was two pairs of sisters: Mary Weiss (lead singer) and Elizabeth “Betty” Weiss, and identical twins Marguerite “Marge”/”Margie” Ganser & Mary Ann Ganser. // They began playing school shows, talent shows, and teen hops; Artie Ripp heard about them and arranged the group’s first record deal with Kama Sutra. Their first recording in December 1963 was “Simon Says”, later issued on the Smash label, on which Betty Weiss sang lead. They also recorded “Wishing Well” / “Hate to Say I Told You So”, which became their first release in early 1964 when leased to the small Spokane, Washington label. // They called themselves the Shangri-Las, after a restaurant in Queens. // Mary Weiss was the main lead singer; Betty, however, took lead on “Maybe” (the LP version), “Shout”, “Twist and Shout”, “Wishing Well”, and a number of B-sides and album tracks. Mary Ann Ganser took lead on most of “I’m Blue”, which is a cover of the Ikettes’ biggest hit at the time, and was included on their 1965 album Shangri-Las 65!. // The group appeared on several TV shows and continued to tour the US, but in 1966, two of three releases on Red Bird failed to crack the U.S. top 50, though the group remained popular in England & Japan. Mary Ann Ganser left, but returned early in 1967 when Marge – the most outspoken member, sometimes considered the leader – left. Red Bird Records had folded. The group recorded more tracks with Shadow Morton producing (some of which remain unreleased) and signed with Mercury Records. However, Morton had begun working with Janis Ian and Vanilla Fudge, and Mercury had little enthusiasm for the group. During their Mercury stint, the Shangri-Las had no further hits; in 1968, they disbanded, amid litigation. // All the Shangri-Las withdrew from the spotlight. Morton said, “The Shangri-Las vacated, they vanished”. Reportedly they were angry that they had received few royalties despite the millions of records they had sold. // Mary Weiss moved to NYCs Greenwich Village and then San Francisco. Returning to Manhattan a few years later and prevented from recording because of lawsuits, she worked as a secretary while taking college classes. She then went into the architectural industry, working in the accounting department of a New York architectural firm. Weiss moved up to be the chief purchasing agent and later ran a commercial furniture dealership. In the late 1980s she managed a furniture store and was an interior designer. By 2001, she was a furniture consultant to New York businesses. She married in 1974, but the marriage ended in 1988; she married again several years later, and her second husband managed her music career. // Following the successful re-issue of “Leader of the Pack” in the UK in 1976, which renewed interest in the group, Mary and Betty Weiss and Marge Ganser reunited. Contacting Seymour Stein of Sire Records, they spent summer 1977 in NYC with producer Andy Paley. Paley said the sessions went well, but they weren’t satisfied with all the material, and declined to release the record. The tapes are now owned by the Warner Music Group. They did, however, give a live performance at CBGB; Paley put together a band, including Lenny Kaye, and after two hours of rehearsal, the Shangri-Las returned to the stage for the first time in a decade. Although the Sire sessions came to naught, the group toyed with signing to another label; however, they were put off by the insistence of record executives that they be a disco vocal group, the musical trend of the day. Mary said she envisioned the Shangri-Las like punk singer Patti Smith. Eventually, the Shangri-Las split up again. // In March 2007, Norton Records released a solo album by Mary Weiss (backed by garage rockers The Reigning Sound) titled Dangerous Game. She performed in the United States, Spain, and France. // Mary Weiss died on January 19, 2024, at age 75. Betty Weiss is the last living member of the group. // She influenced The New York Dolls, Ramones, Amy Winehouse, Blondie, Sonic Youth, Black Lips, Superchunk, Le Tigre.]

9. Sleater-Kinney – “Say it Like You Mean It”
   from: Little Rope / Loma Vista – Concord / January 19, 2024
   [Little Rope is the eleventh studio album from Sleater-Kinney produced by John Congleton, the album was preceded by the singles: “Hell”, “Say It Like You Mean It”, and “Untidy Creature”. // Released to critical acclaim, Little Rope was completed in the aftermath of a deadly car accident involving Brownstein’s mother and stepfather in late 2022. Dealing with this event, the duo had to face up to questions surrounding “how we navigate grief, who we navigate it with, and the ways it transforms us” during the recording process. // The duo were joined in the studio by touring member Angie Boylan, who recorded the album’s drum parts, Death Cab for Cutie’s Dave Depper and Outer Orbit’s Galen Clark. // The idea of another Sleater-Kinney album was initially “up in the air”, as an introduction video of their previous album Path of Wellness (2021) resulted in a vague answer as to whether the duo would ever record another album. However, after the release of their tenth studio album they turned to John Congleton to produce their next record. They had planned to work with Congleton “for a long time” but had to wait for “the stars” to align. Recording took place at Flora Recording & Playback in Portland, Oregon. // Half of the record had been written prior to Brownstein’s mother’s death, with the remaining tracks “approached with grief hanging heavy”. As a result, Little Rope deals with topics including “global crisis and personal tragedy”. Described as “one of the finest, most delicately layered” within their discography, the record is enriched through “complex, ambitious instrumentation”. // r Sleater-Kinney were formed in early 1994 in Olympia, Washington, by Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein. The group’s name is derived from Sleater Kinney Road, Interstate 5 exit number 108 in Lacey, Washington, the location of one of their early practice spaces. Tucker was formerly in the influential riot grrrl band Heavens to Betsy, while Brownstein was formerly in the queercore band Excuse 17. They often played at gigs together and formed Sleater-Kinney as a side-project from their respective bands. When Heavens to Betsy and Excuse 17 disbanded, Sleater-Kinney became their primary focus. Janet Weiss of Quasi is the band’s longest lasting and final drummer, though Sleater-Kinney has had other drummers, including Lora Macfarlane, Misty Farrell, and Toni Gogin. Upon Tucker’s graduation from The Evergreen State College (where Brownstein remained a student for three more years), she and then-girlfriend Brownstein took a trip to Australia in early 1994. Their last day there, they stayed up all night recording what would become their self-titled debut album. It was released the following spring. They followed this with Call the Doctor (1996) and Dig Me Out (1997), and became critical darlings. The lineup features: Corin Tucker (vocals and guitar), Carrie Brownstein (guitar and vocals), and Janet Weiss (drums). We saw Sleater-Kinney when they played The Uptown on April 26, 2015]

[Sleater-Kinney play The Truman, 601 East Truman Road, KCMO, on Monday, March 25, 2024, at 8:00pm with Palehound.]

10:35 – Underwriting

10. Veruca Salt – “Seether”
    from: American Thighs / Minty Fresh – DCG Records / September 37, 1994
    [Seether” is a 1994 single by American alternative rock band Veruca Salt. // The song was written by Veruca Salt singer-guitarist Nina Gordon. “Seether” was more pop-sounding compared to the rest of the band’s material. In a 1994 interview with MuchMusic, an interviewer suggested that “Seether” could either be about female “animalistic instincts” or bouts of rage. Gordon agreed that her songs’ meanings often changed during and after the writing process. “You write a song, think it’s about one thing for five minutes….and discover that it’s about many different things and working on many different levels.” In Veruca Salt’s 1997 hit single “Volcano Girls,” the seether was identified as “Louise,” which presumably refers to Veruca Salt singer-guitarist Louise Post. // Veruca Salt recorded the song in early 1994, with production by Brad Wood. They then released “Seether”/”All Hail Me” as their debut single on the independent label Minty Fresh. “Seether” quickly became popular on college and alternative radio stations. Its success led the band to record and release their debut album American Thighs, which included “Seether”, later that year. Shortly thereafter, the band signed with the major label Geffen Records, which re-released the album. “Seether” peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, became a hit on MTV, and launched the band into fame. // In 1994, the song was number 3 in British Radio One DJ John Peel’s Festive Fifty. In a 2014 retrospective, music magazine Paste listed “Seether” at number 10 on their list of the 50 greatest grunge songs of all time. //Pitchfork called it, “bubblegrunge at its finest, all guitar fuzz and pop stickiness and crackling angst animating a personification of anger that just can’t be leashed. ‘I try to cram her back in my mouth,’ co-frontwoman Nina Gordon sings in the verse, but she didn’t really try that hard. // Veruca Salt is an American alternative rock band founded in Chicago in 1992 by vocalist-guitarists Nina Gordon and Louise Post, drummer Jim Shapiro, and bassist Steve Lack. They are best known for their first single, “Seether”, which was released on the 1994 album American Thighs. That success was followed up with 1997’s Eight Arms to Hold You. By 1998, Post was the only original member still in the band and continued on with other musicians. Veruca Salt released the album Resolver in 2000 and the album IV in 2006. After a hiatus in 2012, the band reformed with its original lineup. Their fifth studio album, Ghost Notes, was released in 2015.]

10:40 – Interview with Katie Gilchrist

Katie Gilchrist is a graduate of UMKC MFA Acting/Directing program and has worked as an Actor and Director professionally for over 20 years. Voted by Broadway World as Best Director of a play for last year’s “Steel Magnolias” she has directed at The Unicorn, UMKC, The Living Room, The Fishtank, and will direct “Dial M for Murder” for KC Actors Theatre this summer. Katie has appeared on almost every stage in KC. She is a member of the UMKC Conservatory Alumni Board, the AIDS Service Foundation Steering Committee, Artistic Director of KC Strips, and sings with Lost Wax.

Katie Gilchrist joins us to share details about The 1994 Project, a year-long 30th Anniversary tribute to the films & music of 1994, of which she is the creator/curator. The Black Box & The 1994 Project present “THE AUDIENCE MIXTAPE”, a tribute series featuring iconic albums or singles from 1994 on January 27, 2024, at 7:30pm at The Black Box, 1060 Union Ave, WEST BOTTOMS, KCMO. More info at: http://www.theblackboxkc.com

Katie Gilchrist, Thank you for being with us on WMM.

The 1994 Project, a year-long 30th Anniversary tribute to the films & music of 1994, of which she is the creator/curator.

Katie Gilchrist, Thank you for being with us on WMM.

The Black Box & The 1994 Project present “THE AUDIENCE MIXTAPE”, a tribute series featuring iconic albums or singles from 1994 on January 27, at 7:30pm at The Black Box, 1060 Union Ave, WEST BOTTOMS, KCMO. More info at: http://www.theblackboxkc.com

10:55

11. Jeff Buckley – “Last Goodbye”
    from: Grace (Legacy Edition) / Columbia – Sony / August 23, 1994
    [Grace is the only studio album by American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley, released on August 23, 1994, by Columbia Records. The album had poor sales and received mixed reviews at the time of its release. However, in recent years it has dramatically risen in critical reputation. An extended version of the album (subtitled “Legacy Edition”), celebrating its tenth anniversary, was released on August 23, 2004. Grace is currently certified 8× platinum in Australia. The album has been cited by critics and listeners as one of the greatest albums of all time. // Buckley’s version of “Corpus Christi Carol” was based on a version by Janet Baker. A childhood friend introduced him to the song, and Buckley sang a version on the album as a way of thanking him. // Grace won appreciation from a host of revered musicians and artists, including members of Buckley’s biggest influence, Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page considered Grace close to being his “favorite album of the decade”. Robert Plant was also complimentary, as was Brad Pitt, saying of Buckley’s work, “There’s an undercurrent to his music, there’s something you can’t pinpoint. Like the best of films, or the best of art, there’s something going on underneath, and there’s a truth there. And I find his stuff absolutely haunting. It just… it’s under my skin.” Others who had influenced Buckley’s music lauded him: Bob Dylan named Buckley “one of the great songwriters of this decade”, and David Bowie considered Grace to be the best album ever made, and had said it would be one of his ten “Desert Island Records.” // In 2006, British Hit Singles & Albums and NME organized a poll of which, 40,000 people worldwide voted for the 100 best albums ever and Grace was placed at No. 23 on the list. // On April 2, 2014 it was announced that Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah” would be inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry (the entire album hasn’t yet been inducted). // Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American musician. // Born in Anaheim, California,[1] Buckley was the only son of Mary (née Guibert) and Tim Buckley. His mother was a Zonian of mixed Greek, French, and Panamanian descent, while his father was the son of an Irish American father and an Italian American mother. Buckley was raised by his mother and stepfather, Ron Moorhead, in Southern California, and had a half-brother, Corey Moorhead. Buckley moved many times in and around Orange County while growing up, an upbringing Buckley called “rootless trailer trash”. As a child, Buckley was known as Scott “Scottie” Moorhead, based on his middle name and his stepfather’s surname. // His biological father, Tim Buckley, was a singer-songwriter who released a series of folk and jazz albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and who he said he only met once, at the age of eight. After his biological father died of a drug overdose in 1975, he chose to go by Buckley and his real first name, which he found on his birth certificate. To members of his family he remained “Scottie”. // Buckley was brought up around music; his mother was a classically trained pianist and cellist, and his stepfather introduced him to Led Zeppelin, Queen, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, and Pink Floyd at an early age. Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti was the first album he owned, and he has noted hard rock band Kiss as an early favorite. He grew up singing around the house and in harmony with his mother, and later noted that all his family sang. He began playing guitar at the age of five after discovering an acoustic guitar in his grandmother’s closet. At age 12, he decided to become a musician[19] and received his first electric guitar, a black Les Paul, at age 13. He attended Loara High School and played in the school jazz band; during this time, he developed an affinity for progressive rock bands Rush, Genesis, and Yes, as well as jazz fusion guitarist Al Di Meola. // After graduating from high school, he moved to Hollywood to attend the Musicians Institute, completing a one-year course at age 19. Buckley later told Rolling Stone the school was “the biggest waste of time”, but noted in an interview with DoubleTake Magazine that he appreciated studying music theory there, saying, “I was attracted to really interesting harmonies, stuff that I would hear in Ravel, Ellington, Bartók.”// After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by performing cover songs at venues in East Village, Manhattan, such as Sin-é, while gradually focusing more on his own material. After rebuffing interest from record labels and Herb Cohen—the manager of his father, singer Tim Buckley—he signed with Columbia, recruited a band, and recorded what would be his only studio album, Grace, in 1994. // Over the following three years, the band toured extensively to promote Grace, including concerts in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia. In 1996, they stopped touring and made sporadic attempts to record Buckley’s second album in New York City with Tom Verlaine as the producer. // On the evening of May 29, 1997, Buckley’s band flew to Memphis to join him in his studio to work on his new material. The same evening, Buckley went swimming fully dressed in Wolf River Harbor, a slack water channel of the Mississippi River, singing the chorus of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” while swimming under the Memphis Suspension Railway. Keith Foti, a roadie in Buckley’s band, remained on shore. After moving a radio and guitar out of reach from the wake from a passing tugboat, Foti looked up to see Buckley had vanished; the wake of the tugboat had swept him away from shore and under water. A rescue effort that night and the next morning by scuba teams and police failed to discover Buckley’s body. On June 4, passengers on the American Queen riverboat spotted his body in the Wolf River, caught in some branches. // Buckley’s autopsy showed no signs of drugs or alcohol in his system, and the death was ruled an accidental drowning. The official Jeff Buckley website published a statement saying his death was neither mysterious nor a suicide.]

11:00 – Station ID

11:00 – Interview with Mitzi McKee

Mitzi McKee grew up in Phoenix, Arizona in a musical theatre household, and performed in nearly 40 stage productions in Phoenix and played in punk & hardcore bands for over 10 years. Mitzi has lived in KC since 2011 where she began singing in the jazz fusion band Valency. Mitzi has also played drums, keyboards, and sang backup in the KC proto-punk Iggy & The Stooges cover band, No Fun, and the New York Dolls cover band, Trashed with Britt Adair. Mitzi played her first solo show in 2022 at the Pairing, where she also works the front-of-house. Mitzi holds a standing residency on first Saturdays, at Chartreuse Saloon in the Crossroads. Mitzi’s band, Mitzi McKee & The Precious Cargo, call them-selves a “spacey KC rock & roll trio” w/ Mitzi on guitar, piano, & vocals; Brendan Bennett on bass, and Caleb Robertson on drums. Mitzi McKee plays LIVE in our 90.1 FM Studios.

Mitzi McKee plays LIVE at Chartreuse Saloon, 1625 Oak Street, KCMO on Saturday, February 3, at 10:00pm. More info at: http://www.chartreusesaloon.com

Mitzi McKee, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

11:08

12. Mitzi McKee – “Your Scream & Your Shout” (LIVE)
    original song from Mitzi McKee

11:10 – More Interview with Mitzi McKee

Mitzi’s band, Mitzi McKee & The Precious Cargo, call them-selves a “spacey KC rock & roll trio” w/ Mitzi on guitar, piano, & vocals; Brendan Bennett on bass, and Caleb Robertson on drums. Mitzi McKee plays LIVE in our 90.1 FM Studios.

Mitzi McKee plays LIVE at Chartreuse Saloon, 1625 Oak Street, KCMO on Saturday, February 3, at 10:00pm. More info at: http://www.chartreusesaloon.com

11:16

13. Mitzi McKee – “Sugarspoon” (LIVE)
    original song from Mitzi McKee

11:18 – More Interview with Mitzi McKee

Mitzi has lived in KC since 2011 where she began singing in the jazz fusion band Valency. Mitzi has also played drums, keyboards, and sang backup in the KC proto-punk Iggy & The Stooges cover band, No Fun, and the New York Dolls cover band, Trashed with Britt Adair.

Mitzi played her first solo show in 2022 at The Pairing, where she also works the front-of-house. Mitzi holds a standing residency on first Saturdays, at Chartreuse Saloon in the Crossroads.

11:24

14. Mitzi McKee – “Inverted Shadows” (LIVE)
    original song from Mitzi McKee

Mitzi McKee, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Mitzi McKee plays LIVE at Chartreuse Saloon, 1625 Oak Street, KCMO on Saturday, February 3, at 10:00pm. More info at: http://www.chartreusesaloon.com

11:30 – Underwriting

15. Erin Keller & The James Ward Band – “You Can Feel It In The Air” (CD #13) (6:29)
    from: Songs For Times Like These / Erin Keller / January 26, 2024
    [Erin Keller on vocals, James Ward on electric bass, Jaylen Ward on drums & cymbals, Angela Ward on keyboard, Chad Meise on electric guitar. Recorded & mixed by Chad Meise. Mastered by Collin Jordan. Artwork by David Ford. Photos & Graphic design by Kayla Haskins. // On May 9, 2016 Erin Keller released her debut solo album, DISTRACTED. // Erin Keller is originally from Waukee, Iowa. She was born in 1980. Erin has been singing on a professional level for 30 years. Erin sang with the internationally competitive Des Moines Children’s Choir for 5 years, and 3 years in All-State choir in high school, which helped her earn a voice performance degree from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, in 2002. Erin peforms with the Grammy-Award winning Kansas City Chorale. Erin has also worked as a featured soloist with Owen Cox Dance Ensemble, New Ear, KC jazz musicians, the big band at University of Colorado, a West African Highlife Ensemble, the Balkan brass band Gora Gora Orkestar. Erin also has experience writing her own music, singing in rock, folk, and free improv settings and she more recently earned a Master’s in Music Education from the University of Colorado at Boulder. In Colorado she worked for two years in public schools teaching music and moved back to KC to continue her career as musician and educator.]

[Erin Keller & the James Ward Band play an Album Release Dinner Matinee Show, Friday, January 26, 2024, at 6:00pm, at The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO. More info at: http://www.theshipkc.com]

10:38 – Interview with Erin Keller

Erin Keller has performed in the Grammy Award–winning KC Chorale for 16 years, KC Civic Opera, New Ear, OwenCox Dance Group, the band Blackout Gorgeous, the folk/free improvisational ensemble, Prometheus Io, a West African High Life Ensemble, and the Balkan brass band, Gora Gora Orkestar, all the while doing solo & collaborative projects performing jazz standards & improvisation works with top musicians in KC & Denver. Erin’s voice is born out of an uncommon musical perspective, with a huge range of not only pitch, but also in execution of style and expression. Six and a half years ago, Erin was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer. She has been on chemo since her diagnosis, constantly fighting all the symptoms that come with being on chemo. During the Covid pandemic, Erin worked to create safe outdoor concerts for local performers & audiences. Since then, she has worked on multiple music projects including the upcoming release of her new recording, SONGS FOR TIMES LIKE THESE, with the James Ward Band doing original songs written & produced by Erin Keller and recorded by Chad Meise. Erin Keller & the James Ward Band play an Album Release Dinner Matinee Show, Friday, January 26, 2024, at 6:00pm, at The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO. More info at: http://www.theshipkc.com

Erin Keller thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Songs For Times Like These features Erin Keller on vocals, with the James Ward Band

James Ward on electric bass,
Jaylen Ward on drums & cymbals,
Angela Ward on keyboard,

Along with Chad Meise on electric guitar.
Recorded & mixed by Chad Meise. Mastered by Collin Jordan.
Artwork by David Ford. Photos & Graphics by Kayla Haskins.

Erin Keller & the James Ward Band play an Album Release Dinner Matinee, Fri, Jan. 26, at 6:00pm, at The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO. More info at: http://www.theshipkc.com

At The Ship on January 26, Erin Keller and The JWB will be performing Erin’s latest album “Songs for Times Like These” along with earlier original material, standards, and improvisations. Her latest release is political, funny, groovy, and thought-provoking. If you feel like the world is making you crazy, you might feel very seen and heard at this show! The songs are about humanity coming together in unity and love to make the world a better place. The JWB featuring James, Angela, and Jaylen Ward always lay down a funky groove you can dance and/or relax to. It will be a very special night!

Six and a half years ago, Erin was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer. She has been on chemo since her diagnosis, constantly fighting all the symptoms that come with being on chemo.

During the Covid pandemic, Erin worked to create safe outdoor concerts for local performers & audiences. Erin organizing shows for Raj Ma Hall and World Culture KC, a COVID SAFE outdoor series featuring world class musicians from right here in Kansas City. Raj Ma Hall and Kansas City Institution for the Arts located at the homeport/studio of artist Roger “Capt. RamJet” MacBride-Guibor. Learn more at http://www.rajmahall.org

Erin Keller is originally from Waukee, Iowa. She was born in 1980. Erin has been singing on a professional level for 30+ years. Erin sang with the internationally competitive Des Moines Children’s Choir for 5 years, and 3 years in All-State choir in high school, which helped her earn a voice performance degree from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, in 2002.

UMKC Conservatory of Music brought Erin to Kansas City, where she made friends and built collaborations with KC Civic Opera, KC Choral, Own Cox Dance Ensemble…

…but then Erin decided to get her Masters Degree and she left KC for Boulder, Colorado The University of Colorado and then later Denver where she worked for two years in public schools teaching music and moved back to KC to continue her career as musician and educator. After Colorado, Erin returned to KC.

In April 2016 Erin released her solo album, “Distracted,” and has been playing live shows while also being upfront and honest about her cancer diagnosis where she has received multiple rounds of chemo treatments. Distracted was also recorded with Chad Meise.

Erin Keller thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

16. Erin Keller & James Ward Band – “Gotta Get The White Stuff Out”
    from: Songs For Times Like These / Erin Keller / January 26, 2024
    [Erin Keller on vocals, James Ward on electric bass, Jaylen Ward on drums & cymbals, Angela Ward on keyboard, Chad Meise on electric guitar. Recorded & mixed by Chad Meise. Mastered by Collin Jordan. Artwork by David Ford. Photos & Graphic design by Kayla Haskins. // On May 9, 2016 Erin Keller released her debut solo album, DISTRACTED. // Erin Keller is originally from Waukee, Iowa. She was born in 1980. Erin has been singing on a professional level for 30 years. Erin sang with the internationally competitive Des Moines Children’s Choir for 5 years, and 3 years in All-State choir in high school, which helped her earn a voice performance degree from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, in 2002. Erin peforms with the Grammy-Award winning Kansas City Chorale. Erin has also worked as a featured soloist with Owen Cox Dance Ensemble, New Ear, KC jazz musicians, the big band at University of Colorado, a West African Highlife Ensemble, the Balkan brass band Gora Gora Orkestar. Erin also has experience writing her own music, singing in rock, folk, and free improv settings and she more recently earned a Master’s in Music Education from the University of Colorado at Boulder. In Colorado she worked for two years in public schools teaching music and moved back to KC to continue her career as musician and educator.]

[Erin Keller & the James Ward Band play an Album Release Dinner Matinee Show, Friday, January 26, 2024, at 6:00pm, at The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO. More info at: http://www.theshipkc.com]

17. Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
    from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]

Next week on Wednesday, January 31 we welcome back our WMM Co-Producer Marion Merritt of Records With Merritt who will share her latest sonic discoveries and information from her musically encyclopedic brain.

We will also talk with Jennifer Roe, Interim Executive Director of Folk Aliance International, based here in Kansas City, who are gearing up for the 36th Annual Conference Feb. 21-25, 2024 at The Westin Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center 1 East Pershing Road, Kansas City, MO. http://www.folk.org.

THANK YOU to our incredible KKFI Staff; Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers.

This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. Instead it is about a collective spirit of hundreds of hardworking people, unselfishly setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the gigantic goal of keeping our airwaves free, non-commercial, and open to all! Congratulations and thank you to all programmers & volunteers who went the extra effort to keep our station alive.

Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information.
Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org

Wednesday MidDay Medley in on the web:
http://www.kkfi.org,
http://www.WednesdayMidDayMedley.org,
http://www.facebook.com/WednesdayMidDayMedleyon90.1FM

Show #1030

Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Katie Gilchrist + Erin Keller + Mitzi McKee

Mark spins New & MidCoastal Releases from: Erin Keller & the James Ward Band, Buck Moon, Flamy Grant, Abraham Alexander, Sleater-Kinney, and also: Tracy Chapman, Joni Mitchell, The Shangri-Las, Veruca Salt, and Jeff Buckley.

At 10:30 Katie Gilchrist shares details about The 1994 Project, a year-long 30th Anniversary tribute to the films & music of 1994, of which she is the creator/curator. Katie Gilchrist is a graduate of UMKC MFA Acting/Directing program and has worked professionally for over 20 years. Voted by Broadway World as Best Director of a play for last year’s “Steel Magnolias” she has directed at The Unicorn, UMKC, The Living Room, The Fishtank, and will direct “Dial M for Murder” for KC Actors Theatre this summer. Katie has appeared on almost every stage in KC. She is a member of the UMKC Conservatory Alumni Board, the AIDS Service Foundation Steering Committee, Artistic Director of KC Strips, and sings with Lost Wax. The Black Box & The 1994 Project present “THE AUDIENCE MIXTAPE”, a tribute series featuring iconic albums or singles from 1994 on January 27, 2024, at 7:30pm at The Black Box, 1060 Union Ave, WEST BOTTOMS, KCMO. More info at: http://www.theblackboxkc.com

At 11:00 Mitzi McKee plays LIVE in our 90.1 FM Studios. Mitzi McKee grew up in Phoenix, Arizona in a musical theatre household, and performed in nearly 40 stage productions in Phoenix and played in punk & hardcore bands for over 10 years. Mitzi has lived in KC since 2011 where she began singing in the jazz fusion band Valency. Mitzi has also played drums, keyboards, and sang backup in the KC proto-punk Iggy & The Stooges cover band, No Fun, and the New York Dolls cover band, Trashed with Britt Adair. Mitzi played her first solo show in 2022 at The Pairing, where she also works the front-of-house. Mitzi holds a standing residency on first Saturdays, at Chartreuse Saloon in the Crossroads. Mitzi’s band, Mitzi McKee & The Precious Cargo, call themselves a “spacey KC rock & roll trio” with Mitzi on guitar, piano, & vocals; Brendan Bennett on bass, and Caleb Robertson on drums. Mitzi McKee plays LIVE at Chartreuse Saloon, 1625 Oak Street, KCMO on Saturday, February 3, at 10:00pm. More info at: http://www.chartreusesaloon.com

At 11:30 we talk with Erin Keller who has performed in the Grammy Award–winning KC Chorale for 16 years, KC Civic Opera, New Ear, OwenCox Dance Group, the band Blackout Gorgeous, the folk/free improvisational ensemble, Prometheus Io, a West African High Life Ensemble, and the Balkan brass band, Gora Gora Orkestar, all the while doing solo & collaborative projects performing jazz standards & improvisation works with top musicians in KC & Denver. Erin’s voice is born out of an uncommon musical perspective, with a huge range of not only pitch, but also in execution of style and expression. Six and a half years ago, Erin was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer. She has been on chemo since her diagnosis, constantly fighting all the symptoms that come with being on chemo. During the Covid pandemic, Erin worked to create safe outdoor concerts for local performers & audiences. Since then, she has worked on multiple music projects including the upcoming release of her new recording, SONGS FOR TIMES LIKE THESE, with the James Ward Band doing original songs written & produced by Erin Keller and recorded by Chad Meise. Erin Keller & the James Ward Band play an Album Release Dinner Matinee Show, Friday, January 26, 2024, at 6:00pm, at The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO. More info at: http://www.theshipkc.com

On your local radio dial 90.1 FM or
STREAMING LIVE at: kkfi.org

Show #1030

Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Michelle Bacon + Adee Dancy + Lonnie Fisher

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979
   [WMM’s Adopted Theme Song]

2. Katy Guillen & The Drive – “Discoloration”
   from: ANOTHER ONE GAINED / Katy Guillen / August 19, 2022
   [Produced by Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Heartless Bastards, Ray LaMontagne) at Invisible Creature Studio in Los Angeles. This is brimming with vibrant textures, fuzzy electric guitars, and warm vocals. “Set In Stone” marked the beginning of a major life transition for Katy Guillen (pronounced Ghee-En). Written shortly after her longtime band announced their final show, she was struggling to find the next step in her career and personal life, while longing for a past sense of stability. “The song’s vigorous structure and deliberate rhythms convey that feeling of defeat and darkness, but with a sense of resolution and surrender through the guitar solo – a favorite moment on the record for me,” explains Katy. “While it started on shaky ground, coming out on the other side meant starting over and building something new.” ANOTHER ONE GAINED is a memoir of growth and reawakening by way of heart-wrenching transition and change – loss of her long-time band, end of a romantic relationship and finding herself amidst it all. “Set In Stone” premiered earlier on Guitar Girl Magazine. Katy Guillen & The Drive – Katy Gillen (drums) and Stephanie William (drums) – dropped their first EP, Dream Girl, right before the 2020 lockdown, leaving them without opportunities to perform live. In their basement rehearsal space, they spent the year learning home recording and pre-production techniques, gradually crafting a collection of songs from the ground up. The following April, they took the demos to producer/engineer Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Heartless Bastards, Ray LaMontagne) at Invisible Creature Studio in Los Angeles. From their work with Ratterman emerged a batch of 15 songs. At the end of 2021, the band released the four-track Battles EP, offering listeners a darker, more simmering edge to their impelling indie-rock sound. Ten more would comprise Another One Gained, the full-length debut due August 19, 2022. Previously Katy Guillen & The Drive released BATTLES EP on December 17, 2021, Recorded at Invisible Creature Studio in Los Angeles, CA. Engineered and mixed by Kevin Ratterman. Produced by Kevin Ratterman, Katy Guillen, and Stephanie Williams. Mastered by Shelley Anderson at Black Lab Mastering in Louisville, KY. All songs written by Katy Guillen and Stephanie Williams. Katy Guillen on vocals, guitar, bass, & keyboarda. Stephanie Williams on drums & percussion. Additional keys and programming by Kevin Ratterman. Album design and photography by Morgan Jones. This is a follow up to Katy Guillen & The Drive’s 7-song EP, DREAM GIRL, released March 20, 2020. Katy Guillen & The Drive, is a project dedicated to Guillen’s songwriting that is founded on the creative spark and chemistry between Katy Guillen & Stephanie Williams. With Guillen on guitar & vocals and Williams on drums, the two sculpt a sound that recalls bands like Led Zeppelin, The Bangles, and Band of Skulls. In 2012, Guillen & Williams formed Katy Guillen and The Girls, and began to build a foundation of touring and recording that carried them through six years and produced three full-length albums: Katy Guillen & the Girls, Heavy Days, and Remember What You Knew Before. Between 2012 and 2018, they traveled the United States extensively, performed at the International Montreal Jazz Festival, toured Sweden, and supported major acts like The Doobie Brothers, Robin Trower, and Heartless Bastards. In these 6 years playing together, Guillen & Williams created a dynamic, sound informed by Guillen’s mesmerizing, emotive guitar style and poignant arrangements, and an equally captivating live show that showcased Williams’ technical, melodic style, resulting in a powerful on-stage chemistry. In addition to the compelling synergy formed by years of playing together, the two developed a method of working together on Guillen’s songs that only deepened their artistic connection, propelling them to forge a path to a new plateau in their music. KG & The Drive push ahead with a melodic, heavy, and soulful sound while maintaining the edge of the artist’s rock ‘n’ roll and blues roots. Katy Guillen joined us on WMM on March 18, 2020. Katy Guillen & The Drive opened for FANNY for their one-night-only reunion concert from Fanny+ (June Millington, Brie Howard-Darling, Patti Quatro, and Mia Huggins) at recordBar, 1520 Grand Ave, KCMO, on October 5, 2022. http://www.katyguillenmusic.com]

[Katy Guillen and Stephanie Williams perform as Womanish Girl, their Blues music project play Nighthawk, below Hotel Kansas City at 1228 Baltimore avenue, KCMO on Friday, January 19, 2024.]

3. Kali Uchis – “Perdiste”
   from: ORQUIDEAS / Geffen Records / January 12, 2024
   [The fourth studio album and second Spanish-language album by American singer-songwriter Kali Uchis, who was born Karly-Marina Loaiza on July 17, 1994. Kali Uchis is an American singer and songwriter. After releasing her debut mixtape Drunken Babble (2012), she released her debut EP Por Vida (2015). She released her debut studio album Isolation (2018) to widespread acclaim. Her second studio album and first Spanish-language project Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) (2021) spawned the single “Telepatía”, which became her first solo charting hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Her third studio album Red Moon in Venus (2023) became her first to debut within the top 5 on the Billboard 200. // Uchis was featured on Kaytranada’s 2019 single “10%”, which won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording. Her other accolades include an American Music Award, two Billboard Music Awards, and a nomination for a Latin Grammy Award. // Uchis was born Karly-Marina Loaiza in Alexandria, Virginia, on July 17, 1994, the daughter of a Colombian family. Her parents met during the late 1980s, and her father moved back to Colombia when Uchis was in high school. She subsequently spent summers in Colombia with her father, uncles, and aunts. During the school year, she lived with her mother and older siblings. In high school, she learned to play the piano and saxophone. She participated in a jazz band, and graduated from Alexandria City High School (then called T. C. Williams High School). She often skipped class to spend time at the photo lab, making experimental short films. Her interest in photography led to her creating mixtape cover art. Skipping class and breaking the curfew set by her parents led to her being kicked out of her home. During this time, she lived in her car and wrote songs on her keyboard which would later appear on her debut mixtape Drunken Babble (2012). She also wrote poetry and did not initially intend to sing, being more interested in directing films than being in the spotlight. She was given the nickname “Kali Uchis” by her father and adopted it as her stage name.]

4. Quiet Takes – “Meri Said”
   from: Regrets Only / Sarah Magill / February 15, 2024
   [Songwriter Sarah Magill makes music for feelers as Quiet Takes. A writer and wanderer, Magill is currently establishing a nomadic creative practice and will be releasing her first full-length solo album (recorded in Eau Claire, Wisconsin) in early 2024. Written by Sarah Michelle Magill. Produced, engineered & mixed by Zach Hanson. Mastered by Huntley Miller. Recorded at The Hive in Eau Claire, WI. Environmental sound recorded by Sarah Michelle Magill in various locations, except 2, recorded by Redditor @roffels. // On November 5, 2021 Quiet Takes released the EP, Weekly, Weakly with music written by Sarah Magill, produced by David Bennett, with vocals & keyboards by Sarah Magill. Guitars, bass and percussion by David Bennett. Drums by Jared Bond. Engineered and mixed by David Bennett at Aorist Studios in Kansas City, MO. Mastered by Zach. Weekly, Weakly the third collaboration between Magill and producer/multi-instrumentalist David Bennett. “Ghosty…” was inspired by pandemic-era panic attacks and social unease. This song was one way I tried to process the new, very anxious voice inhabiting my brain, which I nicknamed Ghosty. Sarah writes, “I made the WEEKLY, WEAKLY EP exactly as titled: During weekly Friday sessions at Aorist Studios with my producer, David Bennett, while feeling extremely weak. I was living alone during the pandemic and (like many of us) coping with isolation, depression and anxiety. Making this EP was my lifeboat. Both the process of making music — refining lyrics, experimenting with new textures, collaborating on harmonies — and the commitment to the weekly process kept me relatively grounded and connected. This project tethered me to human-ness when I was afraid I was going to float off into some kind of feral, disconnected netherworld of pandemic loneliness. I’ll forever be grateful to David and his wife, Kayla, for creating a safe space to continue working at Aorist during such a dangerous time.” WEEKLY, WEAKLY followed the release of Sarah Magill’s EP, SAN FIDEL under her moniker, Quiet Takes. Released March 5, 2021. Written by Sarah Magill. Produced by David Bennett and Sarah Magill. Vocals and keys by Sarah Magill on vocals & keyboards, David Bennett on guitars and bass, Ian Thompson on additional keyboards & synthesizers, Kyle Rausch on drums, and Bryan Koehler on percussion. Engineered and mixed by David Bennett at Aorist Studios in Kansas City, MO. Mastered by Zach Hanson. Cover image by Shawn Brackbill. Sarah Magill released her single “Wanted (The Dirty Windshield Version)” on May 1, 2020. . Sarah Magill released AHEM, a 4-song EP, on December 11, 2020. The songs were originally released under her old project name MYRY, in November 2018. Quiet Takes (formerly MYRY) is an on-going collaborative music project by Sarah Magill a writer & musician based in KC. She performs with a rotating cast of friends—although these stay-at-home days, she is playing solo. In KC, she is known for hosting house shows and co-founding Rubix, a performance art collective. MYRY’s first EP, AHEM, was released in 2018. Sarah released four of MYRY’s songs from that 2018 EP release as Quiet Takes singles in 2020. Sarah Magill was a guest on WMM on May 13, 2020. We interviewed Sarah Magill on WMM on March 10, 2021 and Nov. 2, 2021. Info at: https://quiettakes.com%5D

[Quiet Takes plays Knuckleheads Gospel Lounge, Saturday, February 24, with 8:30pm doors 9:00pm show. Quiet Takes is opening for Sara Swenson. The 6:30pm show is Sold Out.]

5. Kadesh Flow – “Overcome (Nanami)”
   from: “Overcome (Nanami)” – Single / Ryan Jamaal Davis / January 1, 2024
   [Instrumental/Verses/Hook/Trombone/Mixed/Mastered by Kadesh Flow≥ On Friday, January 19, 2024 Kadesh Flow releases another new single “Stand on Business”. On November 17, 2023 Kadesh Flow released “Stakes” produced by Dominique Sanders (who received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year for his work on Janelle Monae’s “AGE OF PLEASURE album.) // On January 6, 2023 Kadesh Flow released “Switch Up” with Instrumental Production by Dominique Sanders, Written & Performed by: Kadesh Flow, Mixed by: Kadesh Flow, Mastered by: Kadesh Flow. // In 2022 Kadesh Flow released 6 singles starting with “Move Different (feat. Gr3s0n)” on January 21, 2022, with lyrics by Kadesh Flow & Gr3ys0n. Music by Kadesh Flow. Mixing: Kadesh Flow. Mastering: Kadesh Flow and was released on January 21, 2022. :Move Different” was part of WMM’s 50 Favorite Singles of 2022. On October 21, 2022 Kadesh Flow released the single ”Chill (feat. Mir Blackwell).” On October 10, 2022 Kadesh Flow released “Dream For Me.” On September 30, 2022 Marcus Lewis Big Band released the single, “You’re Very Special (feat. Kemet Coleman, Kadesh Flow & Kevin Church Johnson).” On July 1, 2022 Kadesh Flow released the single “Away From You.”About that single Kadesh told us “I’ve been a little quiet from a release standpoint because I’ve been scoring a feature length film.” “This song is… inspired by Eren Yeager and his tragic, brutal journey in Attack on Titan but is also deeply personal to me. There’s a lot of current world problem glazing that I’m doing on it as well.” “Also, June 30, 2022, marks five years since I left my financial tech career to pursue my performing and recording artist career full time. I’m releasing this on July 1, partially in celebration of that milestone.” This was one of over nearly 30 new singles Kadesh Flow released in 24 months: In 2021 Kadesh Flow & The Enclave released, “Soft Side,” on Jan. 21, 2021, written, produced, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow released, “Assumptions feat. Shubzilla,” on Jan. 29, 2021. Kadesh Flow released, “Frosty,” on February 12, 2021, written, produced, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow & The Enclave released, “Cry For Me 2,” February 12, 2021. Kadesh Flow released, “Not on My Watch,” on February 19, 2021, Inspired by Lord Beerus (Dragonball Super). Kadesh Flow released, “Held Me Longer,” on Marc written, produced, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow released, “Your Dream Isn’t Always Yours,” on March 12, 2021, written, produced, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow & The Enclave released, “Forgot About Me,” on March 14, 2021. Kadesh Flow released, “Take Backs (feat. Ryan Heinlein),” on March 26, 2021, written, produced, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow & The Enclave released, “But Hope” on March 26, 2021, written, produced, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow released the single, “I Don’t Care” on April 9, 2021, written, performed, mixed and mastered by Kadesh Flow. Produced by D. Professor. Kadesh Flow released the single, “That Way” on April 16, 2021, written, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow, and produced by Dominique “Bassman” Saunders. Kadesh Flow released the new single, “So Far” on April 23, 2021, written, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow and produced by Dominique “Bassman” Sanders. Kadesh Flow released the single, “On Target” on April 30, 2021, written, produced, performed, mixed and mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow released the single ”Lighten Up”on May 7, 2021, written, produced, performed, mixed & mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow released the single “Elegant” on May 21, 2021. Written, Produced, Performed, Mixed & Mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow released the 13-track album ROOM SERVICE 2, on July 19, 2021. Kadesh Flow released the single “Coming For Your Neck” on August 20, 2021. Written, Produced, Performed, Mixed & Mastered by Kadesh Flow. Kadesh Flow released the single “Easy” on August 27, 2021. Written, Produced, Performed, Mixed & Mastered by Kadesh Flow. This is his 18th single the year. Kadesh Flow released the single “Fiend” on Sept. 4, 2021. Written, Performed, Mixed & Mastered by Kadesh Flow. Produced by Dominique Sanders. This is his 19th single the year. le, “Gardens Out The Gutter” on Dec. 3, 2021. Written, Performed, Mixed & Mastered: Kadesh Flow. Instrumental: Dominique Sanders. Kadesh Flow released the single, “CHOICE (The Cost)” on December 17, 2021. Written, Performed, Mixed & Mastered: Kadesh Flow. Instrumental: Dominique Sanders. Kadesh Flow is Ryan Davis is a rapper with an MBA. He is an emcee, producer, & trombonist. At age 11, he began rapping and playing trombone within two weeks of one another. His music has been featured on network television in multiple countries and territories across Southeast Asia. Kadesh performs as a solo hip hop artist. He also plays with The Phantastics, Marcus Lewis Big Band, and Deshica Rage (with Jessica Paige). More info at: http://www.kadeshflow.com]

6. Waxahatchee – “Right Back To It”
   from: Tiger’s Blood / Merge Records / March 22, 2024
   [Kansas City based Katie Crutchfield’s southern roots are undeniable. The name of her solo musical project Waxahatchee comes from a creek not far from her childhood home in Alabama and seems to represent both where she came from and where she’s going. // Tiger’s Blood was produced by Brad Cook. Engineered & mixed by Gerardo “Jerry” Ordonez. Assistant engineering by Natalia Chernitsky. Mastered by Emily Lazar. Recorded and Mixed at Sonic Ranch Recording Studios. // On March 27, 2020 Waxahatchee released SAINT CLOUD which was in the TOP 20 of WMM’s 120 Best recordings of 2020. On Saint Cloud all songs were written by Katie Crutchfield. Recorded & mixed at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, TX & Long Pond in Stuyvesant, NY. Produced by Brad Cook. Engineered by Jerry Ordonez. Additional engineering by Jon Low. Mixed by Jon Low. Mastered by Brent Lambert at The Kitchen. KATIE CRUTCHFIELD on vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, keys; BRAD COOK on bass, acoustic guitar, piano, keys, synth; BOBBY COLOMBO on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keys; BILL LENNOX on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keys, percussion; NICK KINSEY on drums, percussion; JOSH KAUFMAN on electric guitars, piano, organ, percussion. More info at: http://www.waxahatchee.com.]

[Waxahatchee plays the Uptown Theatre on April 18, 2024]

7. Beth Watts Nelson – “Too Far Gone”
   from: “Too Far Gone” – Single / Beth Watts Nelson / January 3, 2024
   [Beth Watts Nelson is an award-winning Kansas City based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and lifelong student of music. Solo performer and member of Konza Swamp Band, CATGUT, and Little Miss Dynamite. Founder and director of Notorious Chorus. // Music and lyrics by Beth Watts Nelson. Beth Watts Nelson on guitar, vocals; Caleb Garder on guitar, vocals; Jason Beers on keyboard; and Brandon Day on bass. Recorded and mixed by Scott Hrabko. More info at: http://www.bethwatsonnelson.com]

[Beth Watts Nelson and Brandon Day play The Whiskey Snug, at 404 Main Street, Weston, MO. On Friday, January 19, 2024. ]

10:29 – Underwriting

8. Lonnie Fisher – “Mojo Misfit”
   from: Seeds EP / Lonnie Fisher / July 27, 2023
   [Indie Roots and Gothic Rock – Deep from the grave. For most of hei recent recordings Lonnie Fisher works with musicians: Chris Nunez, Tim Jenkins, Brodie Rush, Julia Reynolds, and Autumn Hayes, and recording engineers: Ed Rose. And Duane Trower. Lonnie Fisher released the 8 track album BEAUTIFUL STAR on February 9, 2023. Lonnie Fisher released his 8-song, solo album FAMOUS GIRL on January 19, 2022. It was part of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2022. FAMOUS GIRL was engineered by Ed Rose and Duane Trower with contributions from: Chris Nunez. Tim Jenkins, Tim Manning, and Julia Reynolds. On October 22, 2021 with his band Lonnie Fisher And The Funeral released HAUNTED with Lonnie Fisher on lead vocals, 5 String Guitar & Keyboards; Tim Jenkins on guitars; Chris Nunez on drums, Tim Manning on bass, & Julia Reynolds on vocals & keyboards.More information at: http://www.lonniefisher.bandcamp.com.]

10:35 – Interview with Lonnie Fisher

10:35 – Interview with Lonnie Fisher

Lonnie Fisher studied music at Kansas State University, graduating in 1992. By 1999 he was touring with his band, Sturgeon Mill. After the band broke up Lonnie embarked on a solo career while also pursuing a career as a chef. After the loss of his girlfriend to cancer in 2005 Lonnie began to struggle with alcoholism. In 2008 Lonnie suffered a major stroke followed by a second stroke two years later. His life as a chef and musician stopped as Lonnie struggled to relearn everything and rehabilitate. Against all odds, Lonnie returned to the studio and stage in 2018. He couldn’t return to the kitchen due to the inability to move fast enough, but started his own business as a personal chef. Lonnie Fisher and The Funeral released the album, HAUNTED on Oct. 22, 2021; his solo album FAMOUS GIRL on Jan. 19, 2022; his solo album, BEAUTIFUL STAR on February 9, 2023; and his EP, SEEDS on July 28, 2023. Lonnie is working on a new record, FLOATING PALACE, with Duane Trower at Weights & Measures Soundlab. Info at: http://www.lonniefisher.bandcamp.com.

Lonnie Fisher Thank you for being with us on WMM.

Lonnie Fisher studied music at Kansas State University, graduating in 1992.

By 1999 he was touring with his band, Sturgeon Mill. After the band broke up Lonnie embarked on a solo career while also pursuing a career as a chef.

Lonnie: Going on tour with my group Sturgeon Mill from Lawrence, Kansas, in 1999 was one of the greatest times of my life, and we were supporting an international hit song called Kill Yourself or I Will.

Then the band broke up, and I started my solo career working with famous engineer Ed Rose and produced the Famous Girl album, which is a fan favorite and continuously in my live sets. During this time, I also was developing my culinary skills, which would lead to being able to make enough money to support my music.

Tough times hit in 2005 when I lost my girlfriend to brain cancer, and I started to struggle with alcoholism.

I continued till 2008 and then suffered a major stroke followed by another one two years later. Both of my careers stopped while I tried to rehabilitate and relearn everything.

It looked like my life was destroyed, but I worked very hard and, against all odds, returned to the studio and stage in 2018. I couldn’t return to the kitchen due to cognitive decline and inability to move fast enough, but I have been able to start my own business as a chef.

Now 6 years sober from alcohol, Lonnie Fisher had his best year in 2023, receiving numerous airplay in KC on 90.9 The Bridge and KKFI 90.1, playing multiple tracks from my albums Beautiful Star and Seeds. Lonnie Fisher played almost 50 shows in 2023 in KC, Lawrence, and several other Midwest towns.

Lonnie: “I’m so grateful to be back, and I have so many people to thank for their kindness and support. Most importantly, my wife Tara, who was with me through all the dark moments, deserves real credit for my being alive.” Sheri at The Brick in KCMO, Steve Tulipana at Record Bar KCMO, Duane Trower Weights and Measures Soundlab KCMO, Lawrence venues The Replay Lounge, Bottleneck, Gaslight Gardens, Northside Social, all of these people and places gave me a second chance to resurrect my career. I love them very much.

2024 looks to be my biggest year yet, and I have Julia Reynolds helping me in the studio and live performances on keys and vocals and Autumn Hayes on bass and vocals after looking back at it all. Life is truly a gift. Work hard. Play harder. Take care of your body and mental health. When everything is working together in harmony, there’s nothing you can’t do.

10:43

9. Lonnie Fisher – “Shiver Hotel” (LIVE)                         this song can also be found on: BEAUTIFUL STAR / Lonnie Fisher / February 9, 2022
   [Beautiful Star was part of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2023. / On July 27, 2023 Lonnie Fisher released the EP SEEDS. / On January 19, 2022, Lonnie Fisher released the 8-song, solo album FAMOUS GIRL which was part of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2022. FAMOUS GIRL was engineered by Ed Rose and Duane Trower with contributions from: Chris Nunez. Tim Jenkins, Tim Manning, and Julia Reynolds. On October 22, 2021 with his band, Lonnie Fisher And The Funeral released, HAUNTED with Lonnie Fisher on lead vocals, 5 String Guitar & Keyboards; Tim Jenkins on guitars; Chris Nunez on drums, Tim Manning on bass, & Julia Reynolds on vocals & keyboards. Lonnie Fischer played a solo album release show for his new album BEAUTIFUL STAR at The Brick, 1727 McGeee Street, KCMO, on Friday, December 23, at 8:00 PM with The Criterz and Killer City. More information at: http://www.lonniefisher.bandcamp.com.]

10:48 – Interview with Lonnie Fisher

After college at Kansas State University as a music major, Lonnie Fisher started as a singer in a rock band and worked restaurant jobs. Little did he know at the time that one day I would become a professional recording artist, singer/songwriter, and a personal chef. It’s been a journey of many extreme highs and lows.

Lonnie Fisher is currently working on a new recording “Floating Palace”
with Duane Trower at Weights and Measures.

Lonnie Fisher former band The Funeral included:
Lonnie Fisher on lead vocals, 5 String Guitar & Keyboards
Tim Jenkins on guitars
Chris Nunez on drums
Tim Manning on bass
Julia Reynolds on vocals & keyboards.

Lonnie Fisher works as a Personal Chef creates weekly meals for busy professionals and seniors who need help. I record artists and write songs about life’s struggles and our world.

Lonnie Fisher talked about how music has helped keep him alive, along with his wife Tara and his two stepchildren have made the difference in his life.

Website: https://lonniefisher.bandcamp.com/album/seeds
Instagram: Lonnie Fisher official
Facebook: Lonnie Fisher singer/songwriter
Youtube: Lonnie Fisher

Lonnie Fisher Thank you for being with us on WMM.

10:56

10. Lonnie Fisher – “If I Could Live Forever”
    from: BEAUTIFUL STAR / Lonnie Fisher / February 9, 2022
    [Beautiful Star was part of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2023. / On July 27, 2023 Lonnie Fisher released the EP SEEDS. / On January 19, 2022, Lonnie Fisher released the 8-song, solo album FAMOUS GIRL which was part of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2022. FAMOUS GIRL was engineered by Ed Rose and Duane Trower with contributions from: Chris Nunez. Tim Jenkins, Tim Manning, and Julia Reynolds. On October 22, 2021 with his band, Lonnie Fisher And The Funeral released, HAUNTED with Lonnie Fisher on lead vocals, 5 String Guitar & Keyboards; Tim Jenkins on guitars; Chris Nunez on drums, Tim Manning on bass, & Julia Reynolds on vocals & keyboards.Lonnie Fischer played a solo album release show for his new album BEAUTIFUL STAR at The Brick, 1727 McGeee Street, KCMO, on Friday, December 23, at 8:00 PM with The Criterz and Killer City. More information at: http://www.lonniefisher.bandcamp.com.]

11:00 – Station ID

11. David Bowie – “Oh You Pretty Things”
    from: Hunky Dory / RCA – (Rykodisk – Virgin – Sony – EMI – Columbia ISO) / Dec. 17, 1971
    [“Oh! You Pretty Things” is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie from his 1971 album Hunky Dory. It was the first song he wrote for the album. Bowie recorded the song as a demo before giving it to singer Peter Noone, lead singer of Herman’s Hermits, who decided to release it as his debut solo single. Featuring Bowie on piano, Noone’s recording was produced by Mickie Most and featured structural and lyrical differences from Bowie’s later version. Released by RAK Records in April 1971 under the title “Oh! You Pretty Thing”, the single peaked at number 12 in the UK, becoming Bowie’s biggest success as a songwriter since his own single “Space Oddity” two years earlier. // Bowie recorded his own version at Trident Studios in London during the sessions for Hunky Dory between June and July 1971. Co-produced by Bowie and Ken Scott, it featured the musicians who would later become known as the Spiders from Mars: guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick Woodmansey. Bowie played piano, although Rick Wakeman, who played piano on the rest of the album, contended in 2017 that he contributed. Similar to other tracks on the album, the themes of “Oh! You Pretty Things” are dark, reflecting ideals of the occultist Aleister Crowley and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, while making literary references to Arthur C. Clarke’s 1953 novel Childhood’s End and Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s 1871 novel The Coming Race. // “Oh! You Pretty Things” is considered by music critics as one of the best songs on Hunky Dory and by some publications as one of Bowie’s best songs. Bowie performed the track multiple times for BBC radio programmes between 1971 and 1972 and once on the Ziggy Stardust Tour in 1973. Bowie’s version has appeared on numerous compilation albums, while Noone’s was included on a 2006 compilation named after the track. Other covers have been recorded by Seu Jorge and Au Revoir Simone. // Upon completing a promotional tour of America in early 1971, David Bowie returned to his home at Haddon Hall in Beckenham, London. After Tony Visconti moved out of Haddon, Bowie acquired a piano for the building, which he used to write songs. It was a first for Bowie, who previously composed songs primarily on acoustic guitar. In total, he composed over three-dozen songs at Haddon, many of which would appear on his next album Hunky Dory and its follow-up The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. // The first song Bowie wrote for Hunky Dory was “Oh! You Pretty Things”. The song came to him in the early hours of a morning in January 1971. He recalled: “I couldn’t sleep … this song was going ’round in my head. I had to get out of bed and just play it … so that I could get back to sleep again.”[b] He requested studio time from his music publisher Chrysalis, whose partner Bob Grace booked time at London’s Radio Luxembourg Studios to record a demo. Bowie recorded the demo sometime between February and March 1971. Paul Trynka states that it featured him on solo piano, his only accompaniment being “the jangling of the bracelets he was wearing”. According to biographer Marc Spitz, Bowie’s demos of “Oh! You Pretty Things” and other Hunky Dory tracks “Life on Mars?” and “Andy Warhol” inspired Bowie’s new manager, Tony Defries, to look into securing a new record contract for Bowie, eventually signing him with RCA Records. // After recording its demo, Bowie gave the tape to Grace, who showed it to producer Mickie Most, the most well-known independent producer in the UK at the time. He chose Most due to his popularity, having produced numerous hits for bands such as the Animals and Herman’s Hermits, telling Record Collector magazine years later: “The most sure-fire way of getting a hit in those days was if you got Mickie Most to produce your song.” Most liked the song and contacted Herman’s Hermits’ singer Peter Noone, who believed the song would be Noone’s first solo hit. Noone recalled, “[Most] only played the intro and I said, ‘That’s it, it’s perfect!'”]

11:03 – Interview with Michelle Bacon

Multi-talented musician and writer, Michelle Bacon, is Content Manager at 90.9 The Bridge, where she helps to shine a light on area musicians, causes, and events. Michelle has written for The Kansas City Star, The Deli Magazine KC, and Folk Alliance International. Michelle plays drums in the band Frogpond who released their critically acclaimed album, TIME THIEF on Black-Site Records on November 19, 2021. Michelle has also played bass with Other Americans who released the album LAST DANCE on October 10 2022. Over the last decade Michelle Bacon has played drums or bass with, and Deco Auto, Heidi Lynne Gluck, Erica Joy, Chris Meck and the Guilty Birds, The Blackbird Revue, John L. Johnson, the Nathan Corsi Band, The Philistines, Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Katy Guillen & The Drive and several others. And for the past 8 years Michelle has served as the founder and producer as well as bass player for The Band That Fell To Earth: A Tribute to David Bowie. This year The Band That Fell To Earth will perform David Bowie‘s album, Hunky Dory, as a Special VIP Benefit, on Thursday, January 25 at 8:00 at at recordBar. The Band That Fell To Earth will continue with Bowie Tribute shows on Friday & Saturday, Jan. 26 & 27, at 8:00 PM at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd. KCMO. Tickets available at: https://linktr.ee/bowiekcmo.

Michelle Bacon, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Michelle Bacon is the producer of The Band That Fell To Earth: A Tribute to David Bowie,

The Band That Fell To Earth KC’s 8th annual tribute to David Bowie with three nights of music at recordBar – Thurs, January 25, and Friday, Jan. 26 and Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024.

ALL tix available at http://linktr.ee/bowiekcmo

From wikipedia: After Bowie’s third studio album, The Man Who Sold the World was released in the United States through Mercury Records in November 1970. The album sold poorly but fared better both critically and commercially in the US than in the UK. It was played on American radio stations frequently and its “heavy rock content” increased interest in Bowie. The critical success of the album prompted Mercury to send Bowie on a promotional radio tour of the US in February 1971. The trip inspired him to write tribute songs for three American icons: artist Andy Warhol, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and the rock band the Velvet Underground, more specifically their singer Lou Reed. After the tour, Bowie returned to his apartment in Haddon Hall, Beckenham, where he recorded many of his early 1970s demos, and began writing. According to his then-wife Angela, Bowie had spent time composing songs on piano rather than acoustic guitar, which would “infuse the flavour of the new album”. In total, he composed over three-dozen songs there, many of which would appear on Hunky Dory and its follow-up album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

Hunky Dory is the fourth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released in the United Kingdom on 17 December 1971 through RCA Records. Following the release of his 1970 album, The Man Who Sold the World, Bowie took time off from recording and touring. He settled down to write new songs, composing on piano rather than guitar as on earlier tracks. Following a tour of the United States, Bowie assembled a new backing band consisting of guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick Woodmansey, and began to record a new album in mid-1971 at Trident Studios in London. Future Yes member Rick Wakeman contributed on piano. Bowie co-produced the album with Ken Scott, who had engineered Bowie’s previous two records.

Compared to the guitar-driven hard rock sound of The Man Who Sold the World, Bowie opted for a warmer, more melodic piano-based pop rock and art pop style on Hunky Dory. His lyrical concerns on the record range from the compulsive nature of artistic reinvention on “Changes”, to occultism and Nietzschean philosophy on “Oh! You Pretty Things” and “Quicksand”; several songs make cultural and literary references. He was also inspired by his stateside tour to write songs dedicated to three American icons: Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan and Lou Reed. The song “Kooks” was dedicated to Bowie’s newborn son Duncan. The album’s cover artwork, photographed in monochrome and subsequently recoloured, features Bowie in a pose inspired by actresses of the Hollywood Golden Age.

Upon release, Hunky Dory and its lead single “Changes” received little promotion from RCA who were wary that Bowie would transform his image shortly. Thus, despite very positive reviews from the British and American music press, the album initially sold poorly and failed to chart. It was only after the commercial breakthrough of Bowie’s 1972 follow-up album Ziggy Stardust that Hunky Dory itself became a commercial success, peaking at number three on the UK Albums Chart. Retrospectively, Hunky Dory has been critically acclaimed as one of Bowie’s best works, and features on several lists of the greatest albums of all time. Within the context of his career, it is considered to be the album where “Bowie starts to become Bowie”, definitively discovering his voice and style.

This is the 8th year The Band That Fell To Earth is celebrating the music of Bowie with a “Super Group” of KC’s finest musicians organized and led by Michelle Bacon.

Each night will contain a different set list, and special guests.

Special guests:
Thursday January 25: Julia Othmer, Kris Bruders & Haviland Bruders
Friday, January 26: Seyko, Cole Bales
Saturday, January 27: Lava Dreams, Rachel Christia

This year, The Band That Fell To Earth is raising money for the Midwest Innocence Project, a nonprofit dedicated to the investigation, litigation, exoneration, and re-entry support for wrongfully convicted people in the five-state region of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.

Tickets information available at: https://linktr.ee/bowiekcmo.

7:00pm VIP doors
7:30pm GA doors
8:00pm show starts

18+ / minors allowed with guardian

11:12

12. David Bowie – “Kooks”
    from: Hunky Dory / RCA – (Rykodisk – Virgin – Sony – EMI – Columbia ISO) / Dec. 17, 1971
    [Written by David Bowie, for his newborn son Duncan Jones. The song was a pastiche of early 1970s Neil Young because Bowie was listening to a Neil Young record at home on May 30, 1971 when he got the news of the arrival of his son. Before the studio recording of the song was made, it was recorded for the BBC In Concert radio show with John Peel, on June 3, 1971 (broadcast on June 20, 1971). In 2000 this recording was released on the Bowie at the Beeb album. The song was recorded again for the BBC “Sounds of the 70s” radio show with Bob Harris on September 21, 1971 (broadcast on October 4, 1971). // David Bowie: lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitar, alto sax; Mick Ronson: string arrangement, Trevor Bolder: bass, trumpet; Mick Woodmansey: drums; Rick Wakeman: piano. // The first three lines of the song (“Will you stay in our lovers’ story / If you stay, you won’t be sorry / ‘Cause we believe in you”) are used as a repeated motif in Miranda July’s 2015 novel The First Bad Man. The British indie band The Kooks named themselves after the song. The song appears in the Futurama episode “Children of a Lesser Bog”.]

11:15 – More Interview with Michelle Bacon

Michelle Bacon joins us today to share details about The Band That Fell To Earth who’ll perform David Bowie‘s album, Hunky Dory, as a Special VIP Benefit, on Thursday, January 25 at 8:00 at at recordBar. The Band That Fell To Earth will continue with Bowie Tribute shows on Friday & Saturday, Jan. 26 & 27, at 8:00 PM at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd. KCMO.

This is the 8th year The Band That Fell To Earth is celebrating the music of Bowie with a “Super Group” of KC’s finest musicians organized and led by Michelle Bacon. This year, The Band That Fell To Earth is raising money for the Midwest Innocence Project, a nonprofit dedicated to the investigation, litigation, exoneration, and re-entry support for wrongfully convicted people in the five-state region of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Tickets available at: https://linktr.ee/bowiekcmo.

Michelle Bacon, thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

The band was curated by musician/writer Michelle Bacon to pay homage to the groundbreaking artist while showcasing talent across Kansas City’s vast musical spectrum.

Michelle Bacon – bass
Alex Alexander – guitar
Nathan Corsi – vocals/guitar
Kyle Dahlquist – keys
Katy Guillen – guitar
Steve Tulipana – vocals
Stephanie Williams – drums
Havilah Bruders – backing vocals
Julia Haile – backing vocals
Christine Broxterman – cello
Laurel Morgan-Parks – violin
Rich Wheeler – saxophone
Matt Ronan – percussion

A portion of ticket sales to benefit the Midwest Innocence Project, a nonprofit dedicated to the investigation, litigation, exoneration, and re-entry support for wrongfully convicted people in the five-state region of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.

http://linktr.ee/bowiekcmo

Michelle Bacon thanks for being with us on WMM.

The Band That Fell To Earth who’ll perform David Bowie’s album, Hunky Dory, as a Special VIP Benefit, on Thursday, January 25 at 8:00 at at recordBar. The Band That Fell To Earth will continue with Bowie Tribute shows on Friday & Saturday, Jan. 26 & 27, at 8:00 PM at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd. KCMO. Tickets at http://linktr.ee/bowiekcmo

11:24

13. David Bowie – “Andy Warhol”
    from: Hunky Dory / RCA – (Rykodisk – Virgin – Sony – EMI – Columbia ISO) / Dec. 17, 1971
    [Written by David Bowie. It is an acoustic song about one of Bowie’s early artist inspirations, the American pop artist Andy Warhol. The album track opens with a series of strange electronic tones which fades into studio chatter in which producer Ken Scott mispronounces Warhol’s name and Bowie repeatedly corrects him. Scott then solemnly reintroduces the take with the correct pronunciation, and Bowie asks if the tape is rolling. Upon realising he is indeed being recorded, Bowie bursts into laughter and the song proper begins. The song is memorable for a distinctive repeated riff played by Mick Ronson on acoustic guitar. Originally the song was written for Dana Gillespie, who recorded it in 1971, but her version of the song was not released until 1973 on her album Weren’t Born a Man. Bowie produced Gillespie’s version and Ronson also plays guitar. Gillespie performed the song in 1974 on the Dutch television programme TopPop. // Bowie, an admirer of Warhol, sent him a copy of Hunky Dory and performed “Andy Warhol” for him in person at Warhol’s studio the Factory in New York in September 1971, before the album was released. But due to Warhol’s typically minimal reaction, Bowie was never sure if he liked it. Tony Zanetta, who had brought Bowie to the Factory and later portrayed Warhol in Warhol’s first play, Pork (1971), maintained that Warhol “didn’t say anything but absolutely hated it”. // The song was released as the B-side of the single “Changes” in January 1972. It also appeared on the Japanese compilation The Best of David Bowie from 1974. An edited version, with the dialogue in the introduction cut, as it was on the US single version, is included on Re:Call 1, part of the 2015 boxed set Five Years (1969–1973). // A performance sung by Dana Gillespie was recorded for BBC Radio’s In Concert strand on 3 June 1971, presented by John Peel and first broadcast on June 20 that year. Bowie played this song at BBC’s Sounds of the 70s with Bob Harris on May 23, 1972. This was broadcast on June 19, 1972, and in 2000 was released on the Bowie at the Beeb album. A performance recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on October 20, 1972 has been released on Santa Monica ’72 and Live Santa Monica ’72. The song was a 1972 regular performance, but it was not played again until the 1995 Outside Tour with Nine Inch Nails. // One live performance from 1995 was released in 2020 on the live album Ouvre le Chien (Live Dallas 95). A November 1996 tour rehearsal recording of the song, which originally aired on a BBC radio broadcast in 1997, was released in 2020 on the album ChangesNowBowie. //
    David Bowie on lead and backing vocals, acoustic guitar; Mick Ronson on acoustic guitar, percussion; Ken Scott on ARP synthesiser. // A riff from “Andy Warhol” (at 0:48) is quoted in Metallica’s song Master of Puppets (at 6:19). It is an homage made by Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett to whom Bowie was a huge influence. Stone Temple Pilots covered the song in their MTV Unplugged performance in 1993.]

11:27 – Underwriting

14. Sisterbot – “You Won’t Play Me”
    from: “You Won’t Play Me” – Single/ Aletheia Maison Records / January 16, 2023
    [Written and Composed by Sisterbot. Engineered and Produced by Brandon Yangmi. Lead vocals: Sisterbot. Drums: Bailey Keling. Electric Guitar: Benjamin Hart. Violin: Laurel Morgan Parks, Kaydee Gabel. Viola: Victor Diaz. Cello: Sascha Groschang, Sisterbot. Cello Solo: Sisterbot. Bass Guitar: Madison Monroe. Background Vocals: Hadiza. and Logan Smalley. // Adee Rocket Dancy writes, “Three years ago, I wrote a song called “You Won’t Play Me.” I had been cleaning my apartment when I found an old pile of letters that brought back difficult memories… they were from someone who had spun many webs of lies and manipulations to gain my attention and affection. I hadn’t realized the extent of this mind-molding until my mid-20’s, after nearly a decade of experiences with this person. Holding the letters in my hand, I felt anger, embarrassment, protective of my younger self, but also, freedom. The knowledge that this person had no hold over me today, or ever again, gave me a sense of triumph. In a rush of catharsis, I ripped up all of the letters, tossing them into the air with relief. Immediately, this song came to me. I sat down at the keyboard, and out it poured. // Though it came nearly completely formed as a song, there were pieces missing that took me three years to finish. The composition, the arrangement for the band, and the recording process came slowly. During that time, I also collaborated with the amazing Marísa Adame Grady to write and film a music video for the song. The story portrays the long-term manipulation I faced, particularly on the internet, with dramatized scenes of common control and grooming tactics that I and many others have experienced. We hoped that this song and this music video would bring light to an all-too-common pattern in the dawn of the internet, empowering those who listen or watch to end patterns of manipulation in their own lives. I hope you enjoy this song and music video, “You Won’t Play Me” available now on all platforms!” More info at: sisterbotmusic.com // Sisterbot.bandcamp.com]

[Sisterbot (full band) plays The Rino, 314 Armour Road, North Kansas City, Friday, February 9, 2024 with Amy Elizabeth Queen, and Foxlin.]

11:33 – Interview with Adee Dancy

Adee Dancy (Sisterbot), a performing artist born and raised in the KC area. Adee is a student of many teachers and disciplines, attempting to amalgamate all they have learned and loved into their artistic life. Adorning many different hats, Adee has stepped into a multitude of roles in their career such as professional cellist, music director, vocalist, composer, actor, and more. With dynamic string writing and theatrical rock at the helm of their work, Adee captains a project and alter-ego called Sisterbot, that fuses their multiple disciplines. Adee feels extremely lucky to have music, art, and theater as means of expression and livelihood! Adee has collaborated with many groups including Owen Cox Dance Group, No Divide KC, and also is part of the trio, The Swallowtails. Sisterbot (full band) plays The Rino, 314 Armour Road, North Kansas City, Friday, February 9, 2024 with Amy Elizabeth Queen, and Foxlin. More information at http://sisterbotmusic.com

Adee Dancy (Sisterbot), thanks for being with us on WMM.

Adee Dancy identifies with the pronouns: They/Them

“You Won’t Play Me” was written and Composed by Sisterbot. Engineered and Produced by Brandon Yangmi. Lead vocals: Sisterbot. Drums: Bailey Keling. Electric Guitar: Benjamin Hart. Violin: Laurel Morgan Parks, Kaydee Gabel. Viola: Victor Diaz. Cello: Sascha Groschang, Sisterbot. Cello Solo: Sisterbot. Bass Guitar: Madison Monroe
Background Vocals: Hadiza. and Logan Smalley.

Adee Rocket Dancy writes, “Three years ago, I wrote a song called “You Won’t Play Me.” I had been cleaning my apartment when I found an old pile of letters that brought back difficult memories… they were from someone who had spun many webs of lies and manipulations to gain my attention and affection. I hadn’t realized the extent of this mind-molding until my mid-20’s, after nearly a decade of experiences with this person. Holding the letters in my hand, I felt anger, embarrassment, protective of my younger self, but also, freedom. The knowledge that this person had no hold over me today, or ever again, gave me a sense of triumph. In a rush of catharsis, I ripped up all of the letters, tossing them into the air with relief. Immediately, this song came to me. I sat down at the keyboard, and out it poured.

Though it came nearly completely formed as a song, there were pieces missing that took me three years to finish. The composition, the arrangement for the band, and the recording process came slowly. During that time, I also collaborated with the amazing Marísa Adame Grady to write and film a music video for the song. The story portrays the long-term manipulation I faced, particularly on the internet, with dramatized scenes of common control and grooming tactics that I and many others have experienced. We hoped that this song and this music video would bring light to an all-too-common pattern in the dawn of the internet, empowering those who listen or watch to end patterns of manipulation in their own lives. I hope you enjoy this song and music video, “You Won’t Play Me” available now on all platforms!” More info at: sisterbotmusic.com // Sisterbot.bandcamp.com

Sisterbot is a performing artist and composer dedicated to breaking genre and disciplinary boundaries in order to create musical and theatrical experiences. Each piece is episodic, cathartic, and gives an internal look into the beauty and the bizarre of the human experience through epic theatrical and musical storytelling. The 7-to-14-piece Sisterbot Ensemble is described as a “punk pop chamber orchestra,” with a full rock rhythm section and the addition of strings and background vocals. Sisterbot connects and communicates about love, community, gratitude, queerness, the preciousness of life, the preservation of our planet, and our place in this vast universe.

Adee Dancy / Sisterbot told Voyage magazine: As a kid, I was mesmerized by outer space. I was sure that I was going to be an astronaut, so much so that I begged my mom to let me go to Space Camp 6 times (the one from all the commercials in Huntsville, Alabama). At the same time that my space obsession began, I also started playing the cello, which I frequently refer to as my first love (besides my amazing parents and sisters!). My love for music was very deeply rooted, with a very musical mom who always played piano, and guitar, and sang harmonies with me, a dad with an ear for hit melodies and great albums, and a stepdad with mega rock guitar skills. And of course, I had some of the greatest and most supportive music educators I could ask for.

Fast-forward to high school- I was still on the path of becoming something within the field of astronomy, engineering, robotics, or science in general. But then, my world turned upside down when I got the chance to see the world-renowned cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, in concert with the Kansas City Symphony at the brand new, state-of-the-art Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. It was an experience that I truly will never forget. I remember being so completely engaged and involved in the performance, watching Yo-Yo Ma play the Dvorâk Cello Concerto. I had a truly out-of-body experience for the first and only time in my life, and I awakened in the middle of the piece with tears streaming down my face and the resounding, undeniable calling in my mind and heart: I have to pursue music!

From that moment forward, I changed my entire career path, switched all of my engineering classes to music classes, and went on to pursue music in college. I have a background in both classical cello and classical voice, with a degree in cello and an enthusiasm/private study of the other. I realized towards the end of my Bachelor’s degree that classical music was a love of mine, but not an avenue I wanted to truly pursue. My first few years of college were extremely difficult, with an unforgiving private teacher, being in the closet, experiencing the death of a person I loved, and a general feeling of inadequacy as a classical cellist. I realized through music directing my first musical that I had a passion for theater and popular music, and it brought me to write my own music!\

I officially began the venture of my own musical project, which was originally called “Adee Rocket Dancy.” I picked this name as a tribute to my childhood dreams- astronomy and rocket science have always been fascinating and mesmerizing to me, and I knew that I wanted to incorporate those themes into my musical journey. I released 3 singles under that name until I realized at a coffee shop with my bandmates that “Sisterbot” had a great ring to it. It was originally a joke that we laughed really hard about, but then it stuck! Two weeks before my first album, “Truth House” came out into the world, my mom, stepdad, and I were all sitting together finalizing album artwork, and we decided at that moment to make the change.

10:40

15. Sisterbot – “Time Lapse”
    from: Truth House / Sisterbot / July 10, 2021
    [Sisterbot is a performing artist dedicated to breaking genre boundaries, creating cosmic musical and theatrical experiences. The 9-piece Sisterbot Band is a “punk pop chamber orchestra” complete with electric guitar, drums, piano, strings and horn. “Truth House (2021) is a concept album written over the span of three years, encapsulating a chapter of my life that I spent in a house alone, dealing with the aftermath of trauma and rebirth.”- Sisterbot (Adee Dancy). Written by Sisterbot. Produced by Jametatone and Sisterbot. Engineered, Mixed, Mastered by Jametatone, except “Approval” which was Produced, Engineered, & Mixed by Andrew Bonci Jr. at Magnolia Tree Studios, with AJ Bonci on guitar, Just Angel and Sisterbot on vocals. Cover Art by Mazzy Mann. Adee Rocket Dancy released the single “Hello Moon (feat. The Swallowtails)” on April 26, 2021. (This song is also on the Sisterbot album.) Produced by Jametatone & Adee Rocket Dancy. Adee Rocket Dancy on piano & vocals & cello; Rachel Lovelace on bassoon; Mikala Petillo on guitar & background vocals, Mixing and Mastering by Jametatone, (J. Asley Miller). Adee Rocket Dancy writes, “This is a song about my life-long love for the moon, featuring The Swallowtails (Rachel Lovelace and Miki P). Adee chose the date April 26, 2021, as their release date, to honor the full moon called “The Pink Moon.” More info at: Sisterbot.bandcamp.com]

[Sisterbot (full band) plays The Rino, 314 Armour Road, North Kansas City, Friday, February 9, 2024 with Amy Elizabeth Queen, and Foxlin.]

10:45 – More Interview with Adee Dancy (Sisterbot)

Adee Dancy thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley

Adee Dancy / Sisterbot told Voyage magazine: Sisterbot, is a really big project. At any given time, we’ve had 7-14 members on stage. Many times, I’ve called it a “pop punk chamber orchestra,” complete with a full rhythm section (drums, bass, electric guitar, keyboard), background vocalists, and a string section (violin, viola, cello). It’s still a rock band- but with elements of all genres and disciplines. It is such an exciting ensemble to work with and write for because there are endless possibilities. I find my mind writing orchestrations all the time for this group. We make a blend of theatrical, orchestral, singer-songwriter, story-telling pop rock. I am so proud of what it’s become and how it continues to grow. With the music that I write, I try to be as truthful and honest as possible, with a central theme of authenticity, self-love, and awareness. I have very few true love songs, but I write of my deep feelings and thoughts. I want to encourage audiences to love themselves fully, wherever they’re at.
I’ve experienced a lot of trauma that I try to process through music, with empowering messages that I say for myself but also that I hope people can find within themselves. I hope to inspire and meet people where they’re at when they hear my music- I hope that people of all age ranges and backgrounds can relate to my words.

Adee Dancy, thanks for being with on WMM.

Sisterbot (full band) plays The Rino, 314 Armour Road, North Kansas City, Friday, February 9, 2024 with Amy Elizabeth Queen, and Foxlin. More info at: http://www.sisterbotmusic.com and Sisterbot.bandcamp.com

11:53

16. Sisterbot – “Lost To The Cosmos”
    from: Truth House / Sisterbot / July 10, 2021
    [Sisterbot is a performing artist dedicated to breaking genre boundaries, creating cosmic musical and theatrical experiences. The 9-piece Sisterbot Band is a “punk pop chamber orchestra” complete with electric guitar, drums, piano, strings and horn. “Truth House (2021) is a concept album written over the span of three years, encapsulating a chapter of my life that I spent in a house alone, dealing with the aftermath of trauma and rebirth.”- Sisterbot (Adee Dancy). Written by Sisterbot. Produced by Jametatone and Sisterbot. Engineered, Mixed, Mastered by Jametatone, except “Approval” which was Produced, Engineered, & Mixed by Andrew Bonci Jr. at Magnolia Tree Studios, with AJ Bonci on guitar, Just Angel and Sisterbot on vocals. Cover Art by Mazzy Mann. Adee Rocket Dancy released the single “Hello Moon (feat. The Swallowtails)” on April 26, 2021. (This song is alon on the Sisterbot album.) Produced by Jametatone & Adee Rocket Dancy. Adee Rocket Dancy on piano & vocals & cello; Rachel Lovelace on bassoon; Mikala Petillo on guitar & background vocals, Mixing and Mastering by Jametatone, (J. Asley Miller). Adee Rocket Dancy writes, “This is a song about my life-long love for the moon, featuring The Swallowtails (Rachel Lovelace and Miki P). Adee chose the date April 26, 2021, as their release date, to honor the full moon called “The Pink Moon.” More info at: Sisterbot.bandcamp.com]

[Sisterbot (full band) plays The Rino, 314 Armour Road, North Kansas City, Friday, February 9, 2024 with Amy Elizabeth Queen, and Foxlin.]

17. Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
    from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]

Next week on January 24, 2024 we welcome special guests: Katie Gilchrist, Mitzi McKee, and Erin Keller.

THANK YOU to our incredible KKFI Staff; Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers.

This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. Instead it is about a collective spirit of hundreds of hardworking people, unselfishly setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the gigantic goal of keeping our airwaves free, non-commercial, and open to all! Congratulations and thank you to all programmers & volunteers who went the extra effort to keep our station alive.

Adee Dancy (Sisterbot) Photo by Willym Brown (@strawberry_hive on socials)

Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information.
Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org

Wednesday MidDay Medley in on the web:
http://www.kkfi.org,
http://www.WednesdayMidDayMedley.org,
http://www.facebook.com/WednesdayMidDayMedleyon90.1FM

Show #1029

Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Michelle Bacon + Adee Dancy + Lonnie Fisher

Mark spins New & MidCoastal Releases from: Quiet Takes, Kadesh Flow, Waxahatchee, Beth Watts Nelson, Sisterbot, Lonnie Fisher, Katy Guillen & The Drive, Kali Uchis, and David Bowie.

At 10:30 Lonnie Fisher plays live in our 90.1 FM Studios. Lonnie Fisher studied music at Kansas State University, graduating in 1992. By 1999 he was touring with his band, Sturgeon Mill. After the band broke up Lonnie embarked on a solo career while also pursuing a career as a chef. After the loss of his girlfriend to cancer in 2005 Lonnie began to struggle with alcoholism. In 2008 Lonnie suffered a major stroke followed by a second stroke two years later. His life as a chef and musician stopped as Lonnie struggled to relearn everything and rehabilitate. Against all odds, Lonnie returned to the studio and stage in 2018. He couldn’t return to the kitchen due to the inability to move fast enough, but started his own business as a personal chef. Lonnie Fisher and The Funeral released the album, HAUNTED on Oct. 22, 2021; his solo album FAMOUS GIRL on Jan. 19, 2022; his solo album, BEAUTIFUL STAR on February 9, 2023; and his EP, SEEDS on July 28, 2023. Lonnie is working on a new record, FLOATING PALACE, with Duane Trower at Weights & Measures Soundlab. Info at: http://www.lonniefisher.bandcamp.com.

At 11:00, Michelle Bacon joins us to share details about The Band That Fell To Earth who’ll perform David Bowie‘s album, Hunky Dory, as a Special VIP Benefit, on Thursday, January 25 at 8:00 at at recordBar. The Band That Fell To Earth will continue with Bowie Tribute shows on Friday & Saturday, Jan. 26 & 27, at 8:00 PM at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd. KCMO. This is the 8th year The Band That Fell To Earth is celebrating the music of Bowie with a “Super Group” of KC’s finest musicians organized and led by Michelle Bacon. This year, The Band That Fell To Earth is raising money for the Midwest Innocence Project, a nonprofit dedicated to the investigation, litigation, exoneration, and re-entry support for wrongfully convicted people in the five-state region of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Tickets available at: https://linktr.ee/bowiekcmo.

At 11:30 Mark talks with Adee Dancy (Sisterbot), a performing artist born and raised in the KC area. Adee is a student of many teachers and disciplines, attempting to amalgamate all they have learned and loved into their artistic life. Adorning many different hats, Adee has stepped into a multitude of roles in their career such as professional cellist, music director, vocalist, composer, actor, and more. With dynamic string writing and theatrical rock at the helm of their work, Adee captains a project and alter-ego called Sisterbot, that fuses their multiple disciplines. Adee feels extremely lucky to have music, art, and theater as means of expression and livelihood! Adee has collaborated with many groups including Owen Cox Dance Group, No Divide KC, and also is part of the trio, The Swallowtails. Sisterbot (full band) plays The Rino, 314 Armour Road, North Kansas City, Friday, February 9, 2024 with Amy Elizabeth Queen, and Foxlin. More information at http://sisterbotmusic.com

Adee Dancy (Sisterbot) Photo by Willym Brown (@strawberry_hive on socials)

On your local radio dial 90.1 FM or
STREAMING LIVE at: kkfi.org

Show #1029

Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

WMM is “Remembering MLK”

Wednesday MidDay Medley celebrates the life of human rights icon, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born Jan. 15, 1929.

MLK led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, was a cofounder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, and served as it’s first president. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. King delivered his, “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination thru civil disobedience and non-violent means.

By the time of his death in 1968, Dr. King had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the Vietnam War. King was assassinated, April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 198I. Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday is Friday, January 15, 2021 The Dr. Martin Luther King Day – National Holiday is Monday January 15, 2024.

As Pete Seeger wrote: “Songs gave them the courage to believe they would not fail.”

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Motion Picture Soundtrack to All That Jazz / Universal / Dec. 20, 1979
   [WMM’s theme]

2. Soweto Gospel Choir – “Pride (In The Name of Love)”
   from: In the Name of Love – Africa Celebrates U2 / Shout! Factory Records / 2008
   [Formed in Soweto, South Africa, by David Mulovhedzi & Beverly Bryer, two choir directors. The 30-member ensemble blends African gospel, Negro spirituals, reggae and American popular music. The group performed at the first of the 46664 concerts for Nelson Mandela and has toured internationally. Their albums Blessed and African Spirit won Grammy Awards for Best Traditional World Music Album in 2007 and 2008.]

3. International Noise Conspiracy / MLK Jr. – “The First Conspiracy / Let Freedom Ring”
   from: Adbusters – Live Without Dead Time / Adbusters / 2003
   [The (International) Noise Conspiracy (abbreviated T(I)NC) were a Swedish rock band formed in Sweden in the late months of 1998. The line-up consists of Dennis Lyxzén (vocals), Inge Johansson (bass), Lars Strömberg (guitar), and Ludwig Dahlberg (drums). The band is known for its punk and garage rock musical influences, and its impassioned left-wing political stance. Influenced by a quote from 1960’s folk singer Phil Ochs, according to lead singer Lyxzén, the band wanted to achieve an ideal blend of music and politics that was, “a cross between Elvis Presley and Che Guevara.”]

4. Labelle – “Something in The Air / The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”
   from: Something Silver / Warner Archives / 1997
   

[orig. Pressure Cookin’ / 1973, 3rd album from the funk/soul trio of: Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash who each shared a rap on “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” a poem and song by Gil Scott-Heron. It was the B-side to Scott-Heron’s first single, “Home Is Where the Hatred Is”, from his album Pieces of a Man (1971). “Something in the Air” is a song orig. recorded by Thunderclap Newman, a band created by Pete Townshend for The Who’s former roadie John ‘Speedy’ Keen who wrote and sang the song. It was a UK #1 single for three weeks in July 1969.]

10:14 – Soul Brother…

MLK said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

MLK said, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

5. Curtis Mayfield – “Beautiful Brother of Mine”
   from: Roots / Curtom-Buddah / October, 1971
   [2nd solo release from Curtis Mayfield, born in Chicago, June 3, 1942. One of the most influential musicians behind soul & politically conscious African-American music. Mayfield started his musical career in a gospel choir. Moving to the North Side of Chicago he met Jerry Butler in 1956 at the age of 14, and joined vocal group The Impressions. As a songwriter, Mayfield became noted as one of the first musicians to bring more prevalent themes of social awareness into soul music. In 1965, he wrote “People Get Ready” for The Impressions, which displayed his more politically charged songwriting. After leaving The Impressions in 1970, Mayfield released several albums, including the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film Super Fly in 1972. The soundtrack was noted for its socially conscious themes, mostly addressing problems surrounding inner city minorities such as crime, poverty and drug abuse. Mayfield was paralyzed from the neck down after lighting equipment fell on him during a live performance at Wingate Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, on August 13, 1990. Despite this, he continued his career as a recording artist, releasing his final album, New World Order, in 1996. Mayfield won a Grammy Legend Award in 1994 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995, and was a double inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of the Impressions in 1991, and again in 1999 as a solo artist. He was also a 2-time Grammy Hall of Fame inductee. He died from complications of type 2 diabetes, Dec 26, 1999, at 57.]

6. Maceo & The Macks – “Soul Power ’74”
   from: James Brown’s Funky People, Pt. 2 / People Records / 1988
   [This record is sampled more than crackers and cheese at Costco, it contains samples itself in the form of tape overlays of civil rights rallies, a Dr. King speech, and an announcement of King’s assassination. Maceo Parker played saxophone with James Brown, Parliament, Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell and Prince.]

7. Sweet Honey in The Rock, Aaron Neville, Lamar Campbell & Spirit of Praise -“Ella’s Song”
   from: Soundtrack to Boycott / HBO / 2001
   [Critically acclaimed 2001 film staring Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Terrence Howard as Ralph Abernathy, and CCH Pounder as Jo Ann Robinson.]

10:26 – Underwriting

10:30 – King’s Life, Death, and Spirit…

MLK said, “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.”

8. Mahalia Jackson – “How I Got Over”
   from: The Original Apollo Sessions / Couch & Madison Partners / May 25, 2013
   [Gospel hymn composed & published in 1951 by Clara Ward (1924-1973). It was performed by Mahalia Jackson at the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 before 250,000 people. Mahalia Jackson (Oct. 26, 1911 – Jan. 27, 1972) was referred to as “The Queen of Gospel”. She became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world, heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist. She was described by entertainer Harry Belafonte as “the single most powerful black woman in the United States”. She recorded about 30 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen “golds”—million-sellers. “I sing God’s music because it makes me feel free,” Jackson once said about her choice of gospel, adding, “It gives me hope. With the blues, when you finish, you still have the blues.”]

9. Martin Luther King Jr. – “MLK – I Have A Dream 1963 (excerpt)”
   from: Inspirational Speeches, Vo. 3 / Orange Leisure / May 16, 2011
   [American civil rights leader/activist and Baptist minister, born Jan. 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. King’s speeches have been issued on numerous releases – his most well-known and influential address being “I Have a Dream”, which was held during “The March on Washington” in 1963. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.]

10. Marian Anderson – “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”
    from: He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands / BMG / Orig. 1961 [Reissued 1991]
    [Marian Anderson (Feb 27, 1897 – Apr. 8, 1993) was one of the most celebrated singers of the 20th century. In 1939, the (DAR) refused to let Anderson sing in Constitution Hall. With the aid of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. before a crowd of more than 75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions. Anderson became the first black person, to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC on Jan. 7, 1955. Anderson worked as a delegate to the UN Human Rights Committee and “goodwill ambassadress” for the U.S. Dept. of State, giving concerts all over the world. She participated in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, singing at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Anderson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1978, the National Medal of Arts in 1986, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.]

11. Tramaine Hawkins, Ella Mitchell, Billy Porter & Chorus -“Rocka My Soul”
    from: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre “Revelations” / V2 / 1998
    [Revelations is the signature choreographic work of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. It was first produced by Alvin Ailey Dance Theater in New York City, New York on January 31, 1960. Revelations tells the story of African-American faith and tenacity from slavery to freedom through a suite of dances set to spirituals and blues music. It’s been performed in over 70 countries in the half century since then and has been described as “the most widely seen modern dance work in the world.” The finale song of the three part “Revelations” is “Rocka My Soul In The Bosom Of Abraham” and it has been described by writer Juliana Lewis-Ferguson as a, “spiritually powerful conclusion to the suite and a purely physical release of emotion.”]

12. The Swan Silvertones – “Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep”
    from: Platinum Gospel: The Swan Silvertones / Sonorous Entertainment / 2012 (1959)
    [“Mary Don’t You Weep” (alternately titled “O Mary Don’t You Weep”, “Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep, Don’t You Mourn”, or variations thereof) is a Negro spiritual that originates from before the American Civil War – thus it is what scholars call a “slave song,” “a label that describes their origins among the enslaved,” and it contains “coded messages of hope and resistance.” It is one of the most important of Negro spirituals. The song tells the Biblical story of Mary of Bethany and her distraught pleas to Jesus to raise her brother Lazarus from the dead. Other narratives relate to The Exodus and the Passage of the Red Sea, with the chorus proclaiming Pharaoh’s army got drown-ded!, and to God’s rainbow covenant to Noah after the Great Flood. With liberation thus one of its themes, the song again become popular during the Civil Rights Movement. Additionally, a song that explicitly chronicles the victories of the Civil Rights Movement, “If You Miss Me from the Back of the Bus”, written by Charles Neblett of The Freedom Singers, was sung to this tune and became one of the most well-known songs of that movement. In 2015 it was announced that The Swan Silvertones’s version of the song will be inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry for the song’s “cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation’s audio legacy”. The first recording of the song was by the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1915. The best known recordings were made by the vocal gospel group The Caravans in 1958, with Inez Andrews as the lead singer, and The Swan Silvertones in 1959. “Mary Don’t You Weep” became The Swan Silvertones’ greatest hit, and lead singer Claude Jeter’s interpolation “I’ll be a bridge over deep water if you trust in my name” served as Paul Simon’s inspiration to write his 1970 song “Bridge over Troubled Water”.The spiritual’s lyric God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water the fire next time inspired the title for The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin’s 1963 account of race relations in America.]

13. Krystle Warren – “Red Clay”
    from: Three The Hard Way / Parlour Door Music / August 18, 2017
    [Inspired by the domestic terrorism and racist massacre and destruction of the Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 31, 1921, that was one of the worst acts of domestic terrorism in the history of the United States, in which more than 35 square blocks were destroyed by a wave of racial terrorism, fire bombs dropped for airplane, and sniper fire from shot guns of those trying to escape that left hundreds of Black residents dead, and more than 1,000 houses burned and destroyed. Produced by Krystle Warren and Ben Kane (D’Angelo, Emily King, PJ Morton). Recorded, engineered, and mixed by Ben Kane. Written & performed by Krystle Warren. Mixed at The Garden, Brooklyn. Mastered & cut by Alex DeTurk at Masterdisk. Krystle Warren premiered this song and her other new songs from this album at the Middle of the Map Fest in a packed room at Californos in Westport and later at The Polsky Theatre for the Performing Arts Series of Johnsons County Community College. For this record Krystle decided to play every instrument and vocals & back up vocals, “playing bass, drums, lap steel, piano, guitar, and vocals directly to analog tape. She and Ben Kane recorded in Villetaneuse, France, a small town on the outskirts of Paris in a vintage 70s era studio that offered just the right, rich sound to suggest the musical foundation for the record, and to do justice to the duo’s carefully balanced arrangements.” On the radio show last year Krystle shared inspirations for this record, early gospel recordings, that crossed over into Jazz from Pharoah Sanders, Edwin Hawkins, and The Swan Silvertones. Originally from KC, Krystle learned to play the guitar by listening to Rubber Soul & Revolver from The Beatles. Krystle graduated from Paseo Arts Academy in 2001 and began her musical career in collaborating with area jazz and pop musicians. After living in San Francisco and NYC, Krystle was signed to a French label, Because Music, and moved to Paris to release “Circles” in 2009. Krystle played French and British television programs, including Later with Jools Holland, garnering critical acclaim and traveling all over the world with Rufus Wainwright, Nick Cave, Norah Jones, and Joan As Police Woman. Krystle created, Parlour Door Music, to release “Love Songs: A Time You May Embrace” a recording from a 13-day session in Brooklyn, where she recorded 24 songs live with 28 musicians including her band, The Faculty, alongside choirs, horn and string sections.]

10:47 – Freedom…

MLK said, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

14. Nina Simone -“I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free”
    from: Silk and Soul / RCA / 1967
    [Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon on February 21, 1933. She died on April 21, 2003. Nina Simone was a singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist who worked in a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop. Born in North Carolina, the sixth child of a preacher, Simone aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of the few supporters in her hometown of Tryon, North Carolina, she enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in NYC. Simone recorded more than 40 albums. “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” is a gospel/jazz song written by Billy Taylor & “Dick Dallas.”]

15. Solomon Burke – “None Of Us Are Free”
    from: Don’t Give Up On Me / Fat Possum / 2002
    [Back up singers: The Blind Boys of Alabama. Born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1940, Solomon Burke died October 10, 2010. He was an American preacher & singer, who shaped the sound of rhythm & blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s and a “key transitional figure in the development of soul music from rhythm & blues. During the 55 years that he performed professionally, Burke released 38 studio albums on at least 17 record labels and had 35 singles that charted in the US, including 26 singles that made the Billboard R&B charts. In 2001, Burke was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a performer. His album Don’t Give Up on Me won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 45th Grammy Awards in 2003. By 2005 Burke was credited with selling 17 million albums.]

16. Nina Simone – “I Shall Be Released”
    from: To Love Somebody / RCA / 1967
    [1 of 3 Bob Dylan songs Nina Simone performed for this album. Written by Dylan in 1967. The Band recorded the first officially-released version of the song for their 1968 debut album, Music from Big Pink, with Richard Manuel singing lead vocals, and Rick Danko & Levon Helm harmonizing in the chorus. The song was also performed near the end of the Band’s 1976 farewell concert, The Last Waltz, in which all the night’s performers (except of Muddy Waters) plus Ringo Starr and Ronnie Wood appeared on the same stage.]

11:00 – Station I.D.

11:00 – The Staple Singers & Bobby Watson and “Unpaid Bills”

MLK said, “In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as ‘right-to-work.’ It provides no ‘rights’ and no ‘works.’ Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining… We demand this fraud be stopped.”

17. Pops Staples – “You Gotta Serve Somebody”
    from: e-town live volume 3 / e-town / December 18, 2002
    [Recorded Sept. 16, 1994, Live in Boulder]
    [Originally written by Bob Dylan. Roebuck “Pops” Staples was born on a cotton plantation near Winona, Mississippi, on Dec. 28, 1914, the youngest of 14 children. When growing up he heard, and began to play with, local blues guitarists such as Charlie Patton, who lived on the nearby Dockery Plantation, Robert Johnson, and Son House. He dropped out of school after the eighth grade, and sang with a gospel group before marrying and moving to Chicago in 1935. A “pivotal figure in gospel in the 1960s and 70s,” and an accomplished songwriter, guitarist and singer. Patriarch of The Staple Singers, which included his son Pervis and daughters Mavis, Yvonne, and Cleotha.]

18. Mavis Staples – “Down in Mississippi”
    from: Live – Hope At The Hideout / Anti / 2008 [Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Mavis Staples, of The Staple Singers, is a celebrated equal rights activist. She’s performed at inaugural parties for Presidents Kennedy, Carter and Clinton, Recorded in June, 2008, in the run up to the Presidential election of Barrack Obama. Recorded live in the intimate bar The Hideout, in her hometown of Chicago. Mavis Staples, marched, sang & protested alongside Dr. Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.]

19. The Staple Singers – “When Will We Be Paid”
    from: Single / Stax (Fantasy / Ace) / 1967
    [The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group from Chicago who signed their first professional contract in 1952. Roebuck “Pops” Staples (1914–2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (1934–2013), Pervis (b. 1935), Yvonne (1936-2018), and Mavis (b. 1939). They are best-remembered for their 1970s hits “Respect Yourself”, “I’ll Take You There”, “If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me)”, and “Let’s Do It Again”. In 1999 the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2005 the group was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The family began appearing in Chicago-area churches in 1948, and signed their first professional contract in 1952. They signed with United Records, then Vee-Jay, Riverside, Epic and, eventually, the black-owned indie Stax Records label where they hit their most fertile commercial peak. In 1967, on Columbia subsidiary Epic, the Staple Singers first began moving into mainstream pop markets with “Why (Am I Treated So Bad)” and “For What It’s Worth” (written by Stephen Stills). In 1968, the Staple Singers signed to Stax and released two albums recorded with Steve Cropper of Booker T & the MG’s fame – Soul Folk in Action and We’ll Get Over. By 1970, Al Bell had become producer, and the family began recording at the famed Muscle Shoals studio, moving in a more funk and soul direction. The first Stax hit was “Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)”. In 1972, the group had a No. 1 hit in the United States with “I’ll Take You There.” Their 1972 recording on Stax of “Respect Yourself,” written by Luther Ingram and Mack Rice, was number 2 on the R&B charts and a Top 40 pop hit as well. The song’s theme of self-empowerment had universal appeal, released in the period immediately following the intense American civil rights movement of the 1960s. During this Stax period they appeared at a 1972 summer concert at the LA Memorial Coliseum attended by 100,000 people and documented in the 1973 film and soundtrack album Wattstax. The Staple Singers then signed to Curtom, Curtis Mayfield’s imprint, and released the soundtrack to a comedy film co-starring Bill Cosby called “Let’s Do It Again”. The soundtrack was produced by Mayfield; and the title song was a huge hit in 1975. After this, however, they were not able to regain their commercial momentum, releasing occasional minor hits, and moving from label to label including Warner Brothers and 20th Century before returning to Epic in the mid 80s. Lead singer Mavis Staples began a fruitful solo career in earnest that continues to this day and involves live performing with her sister Yvonne Staples. The other daughters in the group who did not pursue solo careers were Pervis Staples, and Cleotha Staples. In 1994, the family made this final recording of a duet with Mary Stuart (reprising their Last Watz style backing on a cover of “The Weight” by The Band), somewhat re-establishing an audience. Pops Staples died in December 2000. Cleotha Staples died in Chicago on February 21, 2013. Yvonne Staples died in April 2018.]

20. Bobby Watson & The I Have a Dream Project–”Check Cashing Day” [feat. Glenn North]
    from: Check Cashing Day / Lafiya Music / Digital – Aug. 28, 2013 / Physical – Nov. 12, 2013
    [From wikipedia.org: “Bobby Watson was born in Lawrence, Kansas, August 23, 1953. he is an American post-bop jazz alto saxophonist, composer, producer, and educator. Watson now has 27 recordings as a leader. He appears on nearly 100 other recordings as either co-leader or in a supporting role. Watson has recorded more than 100 original compositions. Watson grew up in Bonner Springs and Kansas City, Kansas.]

21. Janelle Monáe – “Turntables”
    from: Turntables (from the Amazon Original Movie “All In: The Fight for Democracy”) – Single / Badboy Records / September 4, 2020
    [All In: The Fight for Democracy is a 2020 American documentary film directed and produced by Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés. The film revolves around voter suppression. Stacey Abrams worked with Garbus and Cortés on the film. It was released in a limited theatrical release on September 9, 2020, followed by digital streaming on Prime Video on September 18, 2020, by Amazon Studios. Originally, Abrams, a Georgia state representative, did not intend to be part of the film; eventually she agreed to include her gubernatorial race as part of the story. // Janelle Monáe Robinson was born on December 1, 1985 in Kansas City, Kansas and was raised in a working-class community of Kansas City, Quindaro. Her mother, Janet, worked as a janitor and a hotel maid. Her father, Michael Robinson Summers, was a truck driver. Monáe’s parents separated when Monáe was a toddler and her mother later married a postal worker. Monáe has a younger sister, Kimmy, from their mother’s remarriage. // Monáe was raised Baptist and learned to sing at a local church. Her family members were musicians and performers at the local AME church, the Baptist church, and the Church of God in Christ. Monáe dreamed of being a singer and a performer from a very young age, and has cited the fictional character of Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz as a musical influence. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which Monáe bought two copies of with her first check, was another source of inspiration. She performed songs from the album on Juneteenth talent shows, winning three years in a row. // As a teenager, Monáe was enrolled in the Coterie Theater’s Young Playwrights’ Round Table, which began writing musicals. One musical, completed when she was around the age of 12, was inspired by the 1979 Stevie Wonder album Journey Through “The Secret Life of Plants”. // Monáe attended F. L. Schlagle High School, and after high school, moved to New York City to study musical theater at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, where she was the only black woman in her class. Monáe enjoyed the experience, but feared that she might lose her edge and “sound, or look or feel like anybody else”. In a 2010 interview Monáe explained, “I felt like that was a home but I wanted to write my own musicals. I didn’t want to have to live vicariously through a character that had been played thousands of times – in a line with everybody wanting to play the same person.” // After a year and a half, Monáe dropped out of the academy and relocated to Atlanta, enrolling in Perimeter College at Georgia State University. She began writing her own music and performing around the campus. In 2003, Monáe self-released a demo album titled The Audition, which she sold out of the trunk of a Mitsubishi Galant. During this period, Monáe became acquainted with songwriters and producers Chuck Lightning and Nate Wonder. The three would eventually form the Wondaland Arts Collective. She worked at an Office Depot but was fired for answering a fan’s e-mail using a company computer, an incident that inspired the song “Lettin’ Go”, which in turn attracted the attention of Big Boi. // Janelle Monáe Robinson (/moʊˈneɪ/; born December 1, 1985) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and record producer. Monáe is signed to Atlantic Records, as well as to her own imprint, the Wondaland Arts Society. Monáe has received eight Grammy Award nominations. Monáe won an MTV Video Music Award and the ASCAP Vanguard Award in 2010. Monáe was also honored with the Billboard Women in Music Rising Star Award in 2015 and the Trailblazer of the Year Award in 2018. In 2012, Monáe became a CoverGirl spokesperson. Boston City Council named October 16, 2013 “Janelle Monáe Day” in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, in recognition of her artistry and social leadership. // Monáe’s musical career began in 2003 upon releasing a demo album titled The Audition. In 2007, Monáe publicly debuted with a conceptual EP titled Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase). It peaked at number two on the US Top Heatseekers chart, and in 2010, through Bad Boy Records, Monáe released a first full-length studio album, The ArchAndroid, a concept album and sequel to her first EP. In 2011, Monáe was featured as a guest vocalist on fun.’s single “We Are Young”, which achieved major commercial success, topping the charts of more than ten countries and garnering Monáe a wider audience. Her second studio album, The Electric Lady, was released in 2013 and debuted at number five on the Billboard 200, serving as the fourth and fifth installments of the seven-part Metropolis concept series. // In 2016, Monáe made her theatrical film debut in two high-profile productions; Monáe starred in Hidden Figures as NASA mathematician and aerospace engineer Mary Jackson, and also starred in Moonlight. Hidden Figures was a box office success, while Moonlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 89th annual ceremony. Monáe’s third studio album, Dirty Computer, also described as a concept album, was released in 2018 to widespread critical acclaim; it was chosen as the best album of the year by several publications and earned Monáe two nominations at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The album debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 and was further promoted by Monáe’s Dirty Computer Tour, which lasted from June to August 2018.]

22. Calvin Arsenia – “Scars & Stripes”
    from: Summer in Hindsight / Calvin Arsenia & Mike Dillon / October 16, 2020
    [Soundtrack by Calvin Arsenia and Mike Dillon for The West 18th Street Fashion Show’s 20th year as a feature-length film. COVID-19 changed everything in 2020. “We are moving it from the street to the screen,” Peregrine Honig told inkansascitymagazine. “Mike Dillon and Calvin Arsenia will be scoring and performing in the film.” The film premiered October 16, 2020 at The Boulevard Drive-In. Honig wrote,. “We did this during a pandemic and a cultural revolution. I am not sure where else or how else this could happen at this moment in history.” Calvin Arsenia had recently been emotionally and greatly moved by the area and national Black Lives Matter Movement. His own research into his own family revealed that Calvin’s great, great, great grandmother Alice Gilliam Scott, was a former slave who lived to observe her 100th birthday as noted by a regional newspaper Calvin had written. In the summer of 2020 Calvin wrote “Revelation” an unreleased track inspired by Black Lives Matter. Calvin premiered the song on WMM on August 12, 2020. He later shared his other new songs, “Scars and Stripes” and “The Flying Monkees are Coming!” on our October 14, 2020 edition of WMM. Both of those songs ended up on Summer in Hindsight. Calvin Arsenia was our guest on WMM on August 12 and October 14, 2020. Born in Orlando, Florida, Calvin’s creative journey really began when he moved to the KC suburb of Olathe, teaching himself the guitar, and eventually the harp. He learned his signature instrument at the age of 20 after he couldn’t find a harpist as determined as him to meld folk, rock, classical, rap and R&B into the irresistible fusion which has become his calling card in KC and beyond. His passion for stretching the boundaries of musical expression saw him transform a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland’s Fringe Festival early in his career into a life-changing music mission, with an Edinburgh church offering him a role as musical liaison between the church and the city that would change his life. Two years and 300 shows later, Calvin returned to KC reborn as a humanistic songwriter / performer whose impassioned and conceptual stage shows (regularly sold-out in Kansas City, currently catching fire on the West Coast with a diverse following across Europe), are collaborative, costumed-culture-bridging spectacles which In KC Magazine has hailed as ‘equal parts opera, symphony, musical theatre, rock show, all built around its creator: a charismatic 6-foot-6-inch harpist with a natural stage command and knack for gilding gold and painting lilies.’ Calvin’s 2018 national debut, Cantaloupe, September 15, 2018 on Center Cut Records, has been acclaimed for melding diverse textures into an alluring signature sound for the adventurous artist. On June 28, 2019 Calvin released Honeydew, an EP including a remix of three songs from Cantaloupe. On Dec. 13, 2019 Calvin released his full length Christmas album “all is calm.” Congratulations to Calvin & his fantastic team of co-conspirators & creators: Khitam Jabr, John P. Beatty, Ignacio Galarza III, Ashlee Fairchild Jones, production assistants, & crew. The Toxic music video earned its sixth set of laurels as an official selection of the L.A. Music Video Awards, where they were nominated for Best Music Video, Best Cover Song & Best Male Vocalist. More info at: http://www.calvinarsenia.com]

11:25 – Underwriting

23. The Black Creatures – “wretched (it goes)”
    from: “wretched (it goes)” – Single / Center Cut Records / July 17, 2020 [remastered]
    [“wretched (it goes)” was originally released on The Black Creatures 2019 album Wild Echoes. Recently released as a single in collaboration with Center Cut Records who remixed a few of the songs, and added some new vocals, and remastered the album. Although it is basically the same record, the sound quality was improved. Center Cut Records released the full remastered album on August 28, 2020. The Black Creatures are Jade Green & Xavier Martin. The band joined us on the radio on the August 26 edition of WMM. “Wild Echoes” was #2 in WMM’s 119 Favorite Releases of 2019 (Albums & EPs). Since the release of ”Wild Echoes” the band has released seven entirely new songs, nearly one per month, all posted to their bandcamp page. The Black Creatures fuse dark-pop hip-hop, soul, jazz, and electronic music with elements from science fiction to tell inter-dimensional stories of love, community, life, culture, history. Xavier & Jade have made an impression in the KC music community with their live shows in clubs, galleries, record stores, and area music festivals. The Black Creatures released their debut single “Mouth 2 Mouth” June 5, 2016. They released the album, See No Evil, December 6, 2017. The duo released the singles, “Elements” February 14, 2018; “Silver Tears” June 19. 2018; “Dare” a Gorillaz cover August 8, 2019. They released the album “Wild Echoes” September 30, 2019. The Black Creatures released the singles “Turn” October 30, 2019; “Quartz (Twilight)” November 13, 2019; “SHINE” December 11, 2019; Ghost Bustin’ Dead Prezidentz” January 8, 2020; “To Whom It May Concern” January 22, 2020; “Arcade Love” February 5, 2020; and “Run Up” Feb. 19, 2020. The Black Creatures – released their single, “Negative Zero” on April 2, 2021. All proceeds from this track go to the Tamir Rice Foundation. Info at: http://www.tamirericefoundation.org. The Black Creatures are Jade Green & Xavier Martin. This song was originally on the December 6, 2017 release, SEE NO EVIL The song was recently re-recorded. Band member Xavier Martin told us that, “Everything was done from the ground up. Remixing, rerecording, mastering, etc.” The Black Creatures wanted to released this as a single and video as a “part-two” to their earlier single and video release for “wretched (it goes)”, which was originally released on The Black Creatures 2019 album Wild Echoes. The video for “Negative Zero” picks up where the video for “Wretched (It Goes)” left off, “so there is a conceptual thread between the two,” says Patrick Sprehe of Center Cut Records. All music produced, arranged, recorded, and performed by The Black Creatures. Engineering and Mastering by J. Ashley Miller aka Jametatone. The Black Creatures released their latest single “True Friends” on September 17, 2021. The Black Creatures were last on WMM on May 26, 2021 and September 15, 2021.]

24. H.E.R. – “I Can’t Breathe”
    from: “I Can’t Breathe” – Single / RCA-Sony Records / June 19, 2020
    [Winner of the 2021 Grammy Award for Song of the Year. Gabriella Wilson was born June 27, 1997. She is known professionally as H.E.R. (pronounced “her”, a backronym for Having Everything Revealed). She is an American singer and songwriter. Before gaining notability as H.E.R., Wilson rose to fame by participating in Radio Disney’s Next Big Thing in 2009. She later signed to RCA Records at the age of 14 and released the single “Something to Prove” under her real name in 2014. Wilson re-emerged in 2016 with the H.E.R. persona, releasing her debut EP H.E.R. Volume 1. She then released subsequent EPs H.E.R. Volume 2 (2017), The B Sides (2017), I Used to Know Her: The Prelude (2018) and I Used to Know Her: Part 2 (2018). Her first compilation album H.E.R. was released in October 2017, consisting of tracks from the singer’s first two EPs plus six additional songs. H.E.R. was nominated for five Grammy Awards at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019, winning Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Album. // In 2020, she was nominated for five awards at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for I Used to Know Her and Song of the Year for “Hard Place”. On September 20, 2020, she sang Sinéad O’Connor’s version of Prince’s song “Nothing Compares 2 U”, for the In Memoriam segment of the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards. // Wilson was born in Vallejo, California to a Filipina mother and an African-American father. Raised in California’s San Francisco Bay Area, she was introduced to the public as an artist as a young child, covering Alicia Keys on piano on the Today Show, before competing on Radio Disney’s The Next BIG Thing when she was 12 years old. // Addressing the secrecy over her identity, she has said: “The mystery is a metaphor for who I am, or who I was at the time of creating the project… I feel like oftentimes we don’t like to be open as people about our emotions or things that we are going through. At the time [of recording], I was very closed off except for when I was writing or when I was in the studio.” // She explained further: “I am a voice for women who feel like they’re alone in these situations. This project came from emotion, and that’s what I want it to be about – not what I look like or who I’m with, but the raw emotion and support for women.” To NPR she said, “I feel like this is the era of the anti-star. I really just wanted it to be about the music, and get away from, ‘Who is she with?’ and ‘What is she wearing?'” // After being signed to RCA under Sony at the age of 14, Wilson released a single in 2014 titled “Something to Prove” under her real name. // Re-emerging in late 2016 with a new persona, Wilson released her debut EP, H.E.R. Vol. 1 on September 9, 2016, produced by songwriter David “Swagg R’Celious” Harris. She received support from Usher, Tyrese, Pusha T, and Wyclef Jean; labelmates Alicia Keys and Bryson Tiller helped get the word out through Twitter co-signs, shoutouts, and re-posts. In April 2017, Rihanna posted an Instagram clip with H.E.R.’s track “Focus” playing in the background. The clip has been viewed over 5 million times. Additional public support came from Issa Rae of HBO’s Insecure, Taraji P. Henson of Empire, Kylie Jenner, and Kendall Jenner. // NPR listed H.E.R. Vol. 1 as the first selection in its “5 Essential R&B Albums You Slept On”. Calling the music “Slow-burning R&B that zooms in on emotional highs and lows,” Rolling Stone included H.E.R. in its March 2017 “10 Artists You Need To Know” roundup. Forbes named her one of “5 Alternative R&B Artists to Look Out for in 2017”, reporting: “In the same vein as The Weeknd’s enigmatic introduction to the world, H.E.R.’s image remains a mystery. The irony, though, is that her moniker is an acronym for Having Everything Revealed.” // Wilson’s follow-up EP, H.E.R. Vol. 2 (2017) also produced by Harris, was released on June 16, 2017 and includes the single “Say It Again”. Also in 2017, she was on tour with Bryson Tiller for the Set It Off tour, and concluded her first headlining tour, the Lights On Tour, in support of her most recent effort H.E.R. Vol. 2. She released H.E.R. Vol. 2, The B Sides (2017), also produced by Swagg R’Celious on October 20, 2017 along with the single titled 2, released on October 13, 2017. The compilation album H.E.R. was released on October 20, 2017, comprising the songs from each of the three EP’s in this series. The album won Best R&B Album and received four other nominations at the 61st Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best New Artist for H.E.R. // Wilson announced on September 12, 2018, she will be embarking on the “I Used to Know H.E.R. Tour” in support of her EP series I Used to Know Her: The Prelude and I Used to Know Her: Part 2. Her second compilation album I Used to Know Her was released on August 30, 2019. ]

25. The Freedom Affair – “Rise Up”
    from: Freedom is Love / Sunflower Soul Records / September 25, 2020
    [Debut album from KC’s newest soul juggernaut. The album explores themes of love, heartache, empowerment, and togetherness through a varying landscape of hard-hitting funk, luscious soul, and everything in between. The Freedom Affair is a unique collective featuring 3 powerhouse female vocalists in front of a dynamic 6-piece band. On “Freedom Is Love”, each of the ladies get their time to shine individually, but the magic is on full display when all 3 come together in unison and harmony, symbolically embodying the messages that they sing about. The album was recorded and produced by Chris Hazelton, utilizing the best of vintage and new recording technologies to create an authentic experience, befitting of a soul record that would have been relevant 50 years ago as much as it will be 50 years from now. The Freedom Affair is: Misha Roberts on vocals; Paula Saunders on vocals; Seyko Groves on vocals; Cole Bales on guitar, sitar (Track 3); Branden Moser on guitar; Chris Hazelton on bass guitar, organ (Tracks 1, 2, 9, & 10), Tambourine (Track 1), Glockenspiel (Track 3), & Chimes (Track 4); Dave Brick on drums; Pete Carroll on trumpet; Brett Jackson on tenor sax, baritone sax (Tracks 1 & 5), & tambourine (Tracks 5, 6, & 8). Additional Musicians: Pat Conway on Congas (Tracks 1, 3, & 6), Alyssa Bell on viola (Tracks 3, 4, & 7), Elizabeth Codd on violin (Tracks 3 & 4), Matt Bennett on violin (Tracks 3 & 7), John Wickersham on timpani (Track 4), Pamela Baskin-Watson on piano (Track 10), Nick Howell on tambourine (Track 10), The Freedom Family Choir (Track 10): Misha Roberts, Erica Hazelton, Seyko Groves, Paula Saunders, Jordyn Saunders, Cole Bales, and Chris Hazelton. All Horn & String Arrangements by Chris Hazelton except: “Heartaches Don’t Come Easy” and “Give A Little Love” by Pete Carroll & Brett Jackson “Don’t Shoot” by Chris Hazelton & Allyssa Bell. Produced, Recorded, & Mixed by Chris Hazelton. Assistant Produced by Dave Brick. Rhythm Section on Track 10 recorded by Chad Meise. Mastered by JJ Golden. Cover Artwork by Matthew “Mo” Manley. Front cover photograph of civil rights protesters in Kansas City, MO (April 9th, 1968). The Freedom Affair and their track “Rise Up” were selected to be part of Colemine Records 3xLP box set, “Soul Slabs Vol. 2” a Record Store Day Exclusive, released April 13, 2019. Colemine writes: “The Freedom Affair is a freight train of KC soul! Dirty, funky drums, gritty horns, and the combined vocals of Misha Roberts, Seyko Groves, and Paula Saunders to put this band over the top. Politically charged soul music for the dancefloor!”]

11:43:43 – Gospel & Folk Music Carried the Message…

26. Pete Seeger – “We Shall Overcome”
    from: The Essential Pete Seeger / Columbia – Legacy / 2004
    [Derived from a gospel song by Reverend Charles Tindley called “We Will Overcome” written in 1901. Adapted and made famous by Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and others the song became central to the civil rights movement of the 1950 and 1960s and eventually used all around the world. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made use of “we shall overcome” in the final Sunday March 31, 1968 speech before his assassination.]

27. Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion – “Dr. King”
    from: exploration / New West / March 8, 2005
    [written by Pete Seeger][Sarah Lee Guthrie was born February 17, 1979 and Johnny Irion was born February 3, 1969. They are a musical duo. Guthrie and Irion were married on October 16, 1999 and began performing together as an acoustic duo in the fall of 2000. Their music combined Irion’s love of rock and blues with Guthrie’s roots of folk and country. Guthrie is the youngest daughter of folksinger Arlo Guthrie and the granddaughter of Woody Guthrie. As a third generation singer/songwriter Guthrie released her first self-titled album on the family owned and operated Rising Son Records in 2002. As a child she was involved in theater and dance. Her interest in music was sparked when she worked as her father’s road manager on the 1997 Further Festival tour and saw other members of the tour group having fun at late-night hootenannies. She picked up an acoustic guitar and started playing as a way to join in on the fun. “I always wrote poems, so it wasn’t that far off for me to turn that into songs.” “My dad was absolutely thrilled, of course, and would teach me stuff every day when we were on the road together. That was a really cool way to get to know my dad, because I’d never known him that way. And that’s another thing that made it easy: my dad was so supportive.” Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion performing live for Valentine’s Day 2008 at Tales From The Tavern at The Maverick Saloon in Santa Ynez, CA. Irion originates from a family of artists. His uncle is author Thomas Steinbeck, his great uncle is author John Steinbeck, and his grandmother, Rubilee Knight, is a classical violinist. His late grandfather, Fred Knight, sang tenor in numerous venues. Irion and Guthrie met through a mutual friend (Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes) while the two were working together in Los Angeles. In 1999 Guthrie and Irion joined guitarist Tao Rodríguez-Seeger, grandson of Pete Seeger, and performed as a trio under the name RIG.]

28. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – “This Land is Your Land”
    from: Naturally / Daptone / January 25, 2005
    [written by Woody Guthrie, Sarah Lee’s Grandfather.]
    [In November 2016, Sharon Jones suffered a stroke while watching the 2016 United States presidential election results and another the following day. Jones remained alert and lucid during the initial period of her hospital stay, jokingly claiming that the news of Donald Trump’s victory was responsible for her stroke. She died on November 18, 2016, in Cooperstown, New York, aged 60. Sharon Lafaye Jones was born May 4, 1956 and died this year on November 18, 2016. She was an American soul and funk singer. Although she collaborated with Lou Reed, David Byrne and others, she is best known as lead singer of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, a soul and funk band based in Brooklyn, New York. Jones experienced breakthrough success relatively late in life, releasing her first record when she was 40 years old. In 2014, Jones was nominated for her first Grammy, in the category Best R&B Album, for Give the People What They Want. Jones was born in Augusta, Georgia, the daughter of Ella Mae Price Jones and Charlie Jones, living in adjacent North Augusta, South Carolina. Jones was the youngest of six children; her siblings are Dora, Charles, Ike, Willa and Henry. Jones’s mother raised her deceased sister’s four children as well as her own. She moved the family to New York City when Sharon was a young child. As children, she and her brothers would often imitate the singing and dancing of James Brown. Her mother happened to know Brown, who was also from Augusta.Jones grew up in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. In 1975, she graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn. She attended Brooklyn College. A regular gospel singer in church, Jones often entered talent shows backed by local funk bands in the early 1970s. Session work then continued with backing vocals, often credited to Lafaye Jones, but in the absence of any recording contract as a solo singer, she spent many years working as a corrections officer at Rikers Island and as an armored car guard for Wells Fargo, until receiving a mid-life career break in 1996 after she appeared on a session backing the soul and deep funk legend Lee Fields. Sharon Jones was part of the very beginning of Daptone Records Daptone Records’ first release was a full-length album by Sharon Jones. A new band, the Dap-Kings, was formed from the former members of the Soul Providers and the Mighty Imperials. Some of the musicians went on to record for Lehman’s Soul Fire label, while some formed the Budos Band, an Afro-beat band. From the original Soul Providers, Roth (also known as Bosco Mann) on bass, guitarist and emcee Binky Griptite, percussionist Fernando Velez, trumpet player Anda Szilagyi and organist Earl Maxton were joined by original Mighty Imperials saxophonist Leon Michels and drummer Homer Steinweiss, plus Neal Sugarman from Sugarman 3, to form The Dap-Kings. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, the released the album Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings in May of 2002, for which they received immediate attention and acclaim from enthusiasts, DJs and collectors. Next they released, Naturally (2005), 100 Days, 100 Nights (2007) and I Learned the Hard Way (2010). They are seen by many as the spearhead of a revival of soul and funk.]

29. Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
    from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]

Next week, on January 17, we will spin more Bowie with Michelle Bacon from The Band That Fell To Earth and Calvin Arsenia who will perform Bowie’s album, Hunky Dory, in it’s entirety, as a special VIP Benefit, on Thursday, Jan 25, 2024 at recordBar. The Bowie Tribute continues with The Band That Fell To Earth performing from all of Bowie’s albums in special shows on Fri & Sat night, Jan. 26 and 2, at 8:00 PM at recordBar.

We also welcome Adee Dancy and Lonnie Fisher

Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information.
Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org

Wednesday MidDay Medley in on the web:
http://www.kkfi.org,
http://www.WednesdayMidDayMedley.org,
http://www.facebook.com/WednesdayMidDayMedleyon90.1FM

Show #1028

Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

“Remembering MLK”

WMM celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born January 15, 1929. Dr. King led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King’s efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. By the time of his death, Dr. King had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the Vietnam War, both from a religious perspective. Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 1981.

Mark plays music of the movement from: Bobby Watson & The I Have A Dream Project (featuring Glenn North), Krystle Warren, The Freedom Affair, Calvin Arsenia, The Black Creatures, H.E.R., Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Curtis Mayfield, Maceo & The Macks, Mahalia Jackson, Marian Anderson, The Staple Singers, Pops Staples, Mavis Staples, The Swan Silvertones, Sweet Honey in The Rock, Aaron Neville, Tramaine Hawkins, Ella Mitchell, Billy Porter, Solomon Burke, Nina Simone, Pete Seeger, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Soweto Gospel Choir, The Intl. Noise Conspiracy, and Labelle.

On your local radio dial 90.1 FM or
STREAMING LIVE at: kkfi.org

Show #1028

Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

WMM Celebrates Iris DeMent and David Bowie

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”rom: Motion Picture Soundtrack to All That Jazz / Universal / Dec. 20, 1979 [WMM’s theme]

2. Greg Brown – “Let The Mystery Be”
   from: Freak Flag / Yep Roc / May 10, 2011
   [Iris DeMent’s song “Let The Mystery Be” from her debut album, Infamous Angel, from 1992. This song was covered by David Bryne, 10,000 Maniacs, Bun E. Carlos, and many others, it also became the theme song for the 2nd season of The Leftovers.While Greg Brown was recording this album, lighting hit the studio where he was recording songs for his 24th album: Freak Flag, the title track was all that remained of the lost original album. Greg wrote ten new songs, recording them at Memphis, Tennessee’s legendary Ardent Studios. Produced by Bo Ramsey, the album also includes a cover of Pieta Brown’s song, ”Remember the Sun.”]

Thanks for tuning into WMM, here on 90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio, 
I’m Mark Manning. Today on WMM we give you a double header. In our 2nd hour, just 5 days before what would have been his 77h birthday on January 8, we celebrate David Bowie, with a more electronic tribute to a musical chameleon who was such an important influence on so many of us queer kids, trapped in small towns.

But first…In our 1st hour, we celebrate the birthday of Iris DeMent, born on, January 5, 1961, in rural Paragould, Arkansas. She was the youngest of 14 children. At the age of 3, her devoutly religious family moved to California, where she grew up singing gospel music. Within her own family there were many incredible vocalists, including her mother During her teenage years, Iris was exposed to country, folk, & R&B.

In the mid 1980s Iris moved to the Midwest, and after a series of jobs as a waitress and typist, she wrote her first song at the age of 25. She moved to Kansas City and played Harling’s Upstairs and open-mic nights along side Scott Hrabko and Howard Iceberg. Iris met producer Jim Rooney from Nashville, in 1988, who helped her land a record contract. Iris Dement made her national recording debut in 1992, with her independently produced album, “Infamous Angel.” The record won critical acclaim and John Prine mentioned Iris in his list of favorite recordings of the year, published in Rolling Stone. Despite a complete lack of support from country radio, the word of mouth praise for Iris DeMent’s INFAMOUS ANGEL earned her a deal with Warner Bros Records, which reissued INFAMOUS ANGEL in 1993. The album also included the song, “Let The Mystery Be” a composition also covered by David Bryne, 10,000 Maniacs, Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick, Greg Brown, and it was the theme song for the second season of HBO’s The Leftovers.

Today we feature music from some of Iris DeMent’s 7 full length albums, her collaborative work with Greg Brown, John Prine, and classic songs from her inspirations: Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Merle Haggard. Please stay with us.

10:08 – The Influences of Iris DeMent

Iris DeMent represents that place in the road, where Country and Folk music merge, with honest stories of working class people, not afraid to tell the truth about the times they are living through. Iris DeMent grew up singing gospel music, but in her teenage years, she discovered other music through the radio: country, folk, and R&B, and the music of Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell.

3. Loretta Lynn – “You Ain’t Woman Enough To Take My Man”
   rom: Legends of Country Music / Columbia – Legacy / 1997
   [Live performance for Austin City Limits taped in 1983. Loretta Webb was the second of 8 children; grew up in Butcher Holler, a section of Van Lear, a mining community in Kentucky. Growing up with such humble roots had a huge effect on Lynn’s life and heavily influenced her music as an adult. Her autobiography describes how, during her childhood, the community had no motor vehicles, paved roads, or flush toilets. She married Oliver Vanetta Lynn, known as “Doo,” on Jan. 10, 1948, at age 13. In an effort to break free of the coal mining industry, at 14, Lynn moved to the logging community Custer, Washington, with her husband. The Lynns had 4 children – Betty Sue, Jack Benny, Cissy and Ernest Ray – by the time Loretta was 18, and in her early 20s she then had twin girls, Peggy & Patsy. Loretta Lynn possibly had more banned songs than any other country music artist, prior to The Dixie Chicks, including “Rated X,” about the double standards divorced women face, “Wings Upon Your Horns,” about the loss of teenage virginity, and “The Pill,” lyrics by T. D. Bayless, about a wife and mother becoming liberated via the birth control pill. Her song “Dear Uncle Sam,” released in 1966 during the Vietnam War, describes a wife’s anguish at the loss of a husband to war.]

4. Merle Haggard – “Workin’ Man Blues”
   from: Oh Boy Classic Presents Merle Haggard / Oh Boy Records / 2000
   [Originally released in 1969, a tribute to a core group of his fans: The American blue-collared working man. Backed by an electric guitar that typified Haggard’s signature Bakersfield Sound, he fills the role of one of those workers expressing pride in values of hard work & sacrifice, despite the resulting fatigue & the stress of raising a large family. On Haggard’s 1969 “A Portrait of Merle Haggard,” and John Prine’s Oh Boy Records.]

5. Johnny Cash – “Ring of Fire”
   from: 16 Biggest Hits / Columbia Legacy / 2007
   [Co-written by June Carter (wife of Johnny Cash) and Merle Kilgore. The song was recorded on March 25, 1963 and became the biggest hit of his career, staying at #1 on the charts for 7 weeks. “Ring of Fire” refers to falling in love – which is what June Carter was experiencing with Johnny Cash at the time. Some sources claim that June had seen the phrase, “Love is like a burning ring of fire,” underlined in one of her uncle A. P. Carter’s Elizabethan books of poetry. She worked with Kilgore on writing a song inspired by this phrase as she had seen her uncle do in the past. In the 2005 film, Walk the Line June is depicted as writing the song while agonizing over her feelings for Cash despite his drug addiction and alcoholism as she was driving home one evening. She had written: “There is no way to be in that kind of hell, no way to extinguish a flame that burns, burns, burns”. Cash claims he had a dream where he heard the song accompanied by “Mexican horns”. Four years after the song was released, Carter and Cash were married which Cash states helped to stop his alcohol and drug addictions. Cash’s daughter, Rosanne has stated, “The song is about the transformative power of love and that’s what it has always meant to me and that’s what it will always mean to the Cash children.]

6. Bob Dylan – “I Shall Be Released”
   rom: The Essential Bob Dylan / Columbia – Sony / 2000
   [Originally recorded October, 1971 for Greatest Hits Vol. 2. Originally written for The Basement Tapes. Originally recorded by The Band. Later recorded by Nina Simone in 1973.]

7. Joni Mitchell – “For The Roses”
   from: For The Roses / Asylum / 1972
   [Released between her 2 biggest commercial and critical successes, “Blue” and “Court & Spark.” In 2007 it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. “For the Roses” was Mitchell’s farewell to the business; she took an extended break for a year after. The album was critically acclaimed with The New York Times saying, “Each of Mitchell’s songs on For the Roses is a gem glistening with her elegant way with language, her pointed splashes of irony & her perfect shaping of images. Never does Mitchell voice a thought or feeling commonly. She’s a songwriter and singer of genius who can’t help but make us feel we are not alone.” A nude photograph of Joni Mitchell was included on the inside cover of the original LP and is included in the CD booklet. The photograph shows the singer from the rear & was taken from a considerable distance; she is shown standing on a rock and staring out at the ocean. This created some controversy at the time.]

10:22

Iris DeMent’s first three releases, all on Warner Brothers records, were critically acclaimed. She received two Grammy nominations during this time, in the “Folk Music” category. Meanwhile country radio completely overlooked her original songs, and her amazing voice, that has been compared to Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. For Iris’ 1992 debut album, Infamous Angel, John Prine wrote the liner notes:

“One night after receiving a copy of “Let the Mystery Be,” I was listening to the tape while frying a dozen or so pork chops in a skillet. Well Iris DeMent starts singing about “Mama’s Opry,” and being the sentimental fellow I am, I got a lump in my throat and a tear fell from my eyes into the hot oil. Well the oil popped out and burnt my arm as if the pork chops were trying to say, “Shut up, or I’ll really give you something to cry about.” Of course, pork chops can’t talk. But Iris DeMent’s songs can. They talk about isolated memories of life, love and living. And Iris has a voice I like a whole lot, like one you’ve heard before— but not really. So listen to this music, this Iris DeMent. It’s good for you. And if pork chops could talk, they’d probably learn how to sing one of her songs. Then we’d all have something to cry about.”

• John Prine, Songwriter, musician & president Oh Boy! Records

11:24

8. Iris DeMent – “Infamous Angel”
   from: Infamous Angel / Warner Brothers / 1992 / 1993
   [Debut studio album of singer-songwriter Iris DeMent. It was released by Warner Bros. Records in 1992. In 1995, her song “Our Town” was played in the closing moments of the last episode for the CBS TV series Northern Exposure.. “Let the Mystery Be” became the theme song for the 2nd season of The Leftovers.]

9. John Prine w/ Iris Dement – “We’re Not The Jet Set”
   from: In Spite Of Ourselves / Oh Boy / 1999
   [In 1968 country superstar George Jones witnessed a fight between Tammy Wynette and her husband Don Chapel. At Jones’s urging, Wynette and her daughters drove away with him. Wynette and Jones married Feb. 16, 1969, and Wynette’s 4th daughter, Georgette, was born in 1970. Jones and Wynette, were nicknamed the “President and First Lady” of country music, and they recorded a string of hit duets that seemed drawn directly from their volatile relationship, which resulted in their divorcing in 1975. Their classic recordings included “Two Story House,” “Golden Ring,” and the humorous “(We’re Not) The Jet Set.” ]

10:30 – Underwriting

10:32 – Greg Brown

Welcome back to WMM, and our Annual Birthday Celebration of Iris DeMent. Iris followed up her debut album INFAMOUS ANGEL with the autobiographical, MY LIFE, released in 1994. Iris followed with her third Warner Brother’s release, THE WAY I SHOULD, released in 1996, which contains some of Iris DeMent’s most political songs.

In the 2002 Iris DeMent did a benefit concert for The Friends of Community Radio at Unity Temple on The Plaza. I remember when Iris asked us if it was okay that she have a musician friend open the concert for her, we agreed because Iris was donating her talent to the cause of community radio. And then she told us that this musician friend was Greg Brown, who is known all over the country, but had never before played KC.

Later that year, on November 21, 2002 Greg married Iris DeMent in a private ceremony in the office of Rev. Sam Mann of St. Mark Church in East KC. Iris had originally learned about Rev. Sam Mann from listening to his radio show “East of Troost” on 90.1 FM KKFI. Iris started attending his church, and eventually Rev. Mann realized he had a Grammy nominated musical artist in his parish.

Grammy Nominated Greg Brown is one of the most respected singer songwriters working in music. He started singing professionally at the age of 18 organizing early folk concerts in New York City, Portland, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. In the 1980s, he worked and toured extensively as musical director for Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion radio program. He also founded his own record label, named Red House Records after a home in which he lived in Iowa.

Greg Brown has released over 30 recordings and has allowed much of his music to be used to raise funds and awareness for environmental and social causes. His songs have been performed by Willie Nelson, Jack Johnson, Carlos Santana, Michael Johnson, Ani DiFranco, Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Iris DeMent and Joan Baez.

10:35

10. Greg Brown – “Bucket”
    from: Evening Call / Red House / 2006
    [The Washington Post writes, “The singer-songwriter from Iowa has a baritone as rough and chunky as Thanksgiving gravy with the turkey bits still in, and that’s just how his words drip out on his album, “The Evening Call.” on “Whippoorwill” he sing as sweetly as his lover down in KC. That’s his wife, Iris DeMent, and on “Joy Tears,” he tells her, “When you start your singing, honey, the heavens open up with grace.”]

Iris released her 5th album, SING THE DELTA in 2012, to glowing reviews from, The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, and was #1 on WMM’s 112 Best Recordings of 2012. Iris DeMent released her 6th album, THE TRACKLESS WOODS in 2015 with even more national acclaim, and a #5 spot on WMM’s 115 Best Recordings of 2015. THE TRACKLESS WOODS sets 18 poems by acclaimed 20th century Russian poet Anna Akhmatova to life. Hailed as one of Russia’s finest poets, Akhmatova survived the Bolshevik Revolution, both World Wars and Stalin. When Iris randomly stumbled upon Akhmatova’s work in a book of poetry a friend sent as a gift, she was immediately taken by the sorrow and burden of the poems. Iris recorded the album with co-producer Richard Bennett in her living room over a five-day period. The project also fulfilled a long yearned for desire to connect with her adopted daughter’s culture and history. Iris and her husband Greg Brown has adopted their daughter from Siberia in 2005, when she was 6, and Iris says ”I’d never have made this record were it not for her.”

10:41

1. Iris DeMent – “Listening to Singing”
   from: The Trackless Woods / FlariElla / August 7, 2015 [6th album from Grammy nominated Iris DeMent who NPR said was ”one of the great voices in contemporary popular music.” The Trackless Woods sets 18 poems by acclaimed 20th century Russian poet Anna Akhmatova to life. Hailed as one of Russia’s finest poets, Akhmatova survived the Bolshevik Revolution, both World Wars and Stalin. She lost family, friends & fellow writers to political killings and labor in the gulags. When Iris randomly stumbled upon Akhmatova’s work in a book of poetry a friend sent as a gift, she was immediately taken by the sorrow and burden of the poems, juxtaposed with Akhmatova’s lightness and transcendence in the face of inhumanity. ”Anna’s gift of song is so strong, about alI I had to do was get really quiet and listen,” says Iris. After reading that first poem the melodies began pouring out of her, and before she even fully understood what was driving her, Iris was gathering musicians & friends, including co-producer Richard Bennett (Emmylou Harris, Neil Diamond, Steve Earle), to record ‘The Trackless Woods’ in her living room over a 5-days. The result is a pairing of piano and voice in Iris’ style with timeless melodies that are rooted in the American South.]

On September 3, 2020, Grammy nominated singer songwriter Iris DeMent released the single “How Long.” Then, in October of 2020 Iris DeMent sent me a new song she had just written and created a lyric video. I immediately wrote back to Iris and said, “This song is so beautiful and so needed right now. I cried several times listening to it.” She wrote back, “It’s a cry and dance at the same time song. Can’t say I’ve written one of those before. She ended her message with a smily face and the words, “Much love!”

Just as 90.1 FM KKFI was the first radio station to play Iris Dement’s music, we were also the first radio station to play her song, “Going Down To Texas.”

10:45

12. Iris DeMent – “Going Down To Sing In Texas”
    from: Workin’ On A World / FlariElla / February 24, 2023
    [Stereogum on October 13, 2020 wrote: Other than a handful of guest appearances, Americana legend Iris DeMent hasn’t released new music since her 2015 album The Trackless Woods, a collection of Anna Akhmatova poems set to original music. But DeMent is back today in a big way with “Going Down To Sing In Texas,” a lengthy rambler that’s a lot more serious than its casual, jazzy piano groove lets on. Over the course of nine minutes, DeMent addresses police brutality, George W. Bush (“What’s the deal with all these war criminals who get to walk around free?”), Islamophobia, progressive protesters (“I’m so proud of all of these young people for taking it to the streets”), gun control, Jeff Bezos (“Ain’t we all just a little bit tired of greedy people getting a free pass?”), the Chicks, the Squad, and Jesus Christ (“He spoke truth to power, he stood up for the poor/ The church today wouldn’t even let him through the door”) among other things.It’s a hell of a song, clear and direct yet artful in its conversational ease. Never forget that DeMent can go toe to toe with songwriting legends like her old duet partner John Prine.]

Iris DeMent’s 7th full length album, WORKING ON A WORLD was stalled partway through by the pandemic, the record took six years to make with the help of three friends and co-producers: Richard Bennett, Pieta Brown, and Jim Rooney. It was Pieta Brown, (Greg Brown’s daughter,) who gave the record its final push. Iris write, “Pieta asked me what had come of the recordings I’d done with Jim and Richard in 2019 and 2020. I told her I’d pretty much given up on trying to make a record. She asked would I mind if she had a listen. So, I had everything we’d done sent over to her, and not long after that I got a text, bouncing with exclamation marks: ‘You have a record and it’s called Workin’ On A World!’” With Bennett back in the studio with them, Brown and DeMent recorded several more songs and put the final touches on the record in Nashville in April of 2022. // DeMent sets the stage for the album with the title track in which she moves from a sense of despair towards a place of promise. “Now I’m workin’ on a world I may never see ‘ Joinin’ forces with the warriors of love / Who came before and will follow you and me.”

In his review for WHYY’s Fresh Air, Entertainment Weekly Music Editor – Ken Tucker wrote: “Iris DeMent possesses one of the great voices in contemporary popular music: powerfully, ringingly clear, capable of both heartbreaking fragility and blow-your-ears-back power. Had she been making country albums in the ’70s and ’80s and had more commercial ambition, she’d probably now be considered right up there with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. Instead, she’s lived a contemporary life, a somewhat private life. As she recently told an interviewer, “There’s a lot that goes into life besides songwriting.” And she’s taken her time in composing songs that fit into no genre easily.”

I communicate with Iris every year, checking in with her, giving her news from Kansas City a place where she loved living, where she found herself as a singer-songwriter, and where she doesn’t mind if we say it’s her “chosen” hometown. Iris joined us live on the show on March 22, 2023 just before her SOLD OUT show at Knuckleheads on Thursday, March 23, 2023 with guest Ana Egge ” Happy Birthday Iris DeMent. We love you!

13. Iris DeMent – “Say A Good Word”
    from: Workin’ On A World / FlariElla / February 24, 2023
    [Iris DeMent’s 7th full length album, WORKING ON A WORLD was stalled partway through by the pandemic, the record took six years to make with the help of three friends and co-producers: Richard Bennett, Pieta Brown, and Jim Rooney. It was Pieta Brown who gave the record its final push. “Pieta asked me what had come of the recordings I’d done with Jim and Richard in 2019 and 2020. I told her I’d pretty much given up on trying to make a record. She asked would I mind if she had a listen. So, I had everything we’d done sent over to her, and not long after that I got a text, bouncing with exclamation marks: ‘You have a record and it’s called Workin’ On A World!’” With Bennett back in the studio with them, Brown and DeMent recorded several more songs and put the final touches on the record in Nashville in April of 2022. // DeMent sets the stage for the album with the title track in which she moves from a sense of despair towards a place of promise. “Now I’m workin’ on a world I may never see ‘ Joinin’ forces with the warriors of love / Who came before and will follow you and me.” “Goin’ Down To Sing in Texas” is an ode not only to gun control, but also to the brave folks who speak out against tyranny and endure the consequences in an unjust world. // On October 6, 2020 iris DeMent released her single “Going Down To Sing In Texas.” Stereogum on October 13, 2020 wrote: Other than a handful of guest appearances, Americana legend Iris DeMent hasn’t released new music since her 2015 album The Trackless Woods, a collection of Anna Akhmatova poems set to original music. But DeMent is back today in a big way with “Going Down To Sing In Texas,” a lengthy rambler that’s a lot more serious than its casual, jazzy piano groove lets on. Over the course of nine minutes, DeMent addresses police brutality, George W. Bush (“What’s the deal with all these war criminals who get to walk around free?”), Islamophobia, progressive protesters (“I’m so proud of all of these young people for taking it to the streets”), gun control, Jeff Bezos (“Ain’t we all just a little bit tired of greedy people getting a free pass?”), the Chicks, the Squad, and Jesus Christ (“He spoke truth to power, he stood up for the poor/ The church today wouldn’t even let him through the door”) among other things.It’s a hell of a song, clear and direct yet artful in its conversational ease. Never forget that DeMent can go toe to toe with songwriting legends like her old duet partner John Prine. In his review for WHYY’s Fresh Air, Entertainment Weekly Music Editor – Ken Tucker wrote: “Iris DeMent possesses one of the great voices in contemporary popular music: powerfully, ringingly clear, capable of both heartbreaking fragility and blow-your-ears-back power. Had she been making country albums in the ’70s and ’80s and had more commercial ambition, she’d probably now be considered right up there with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. Instead, she’s lived a contemporary life, a somewhat private life. As she recently told an interviewer, “There’s a lot that goes into life besides songwriting.” And she’s taken her time in composing songs that fit into no genre easily.”] [Iris DeMent played Knuckleheads 2715 Rochester Street, KCMO on Thursday, March 23, 2023 in a SOLD OUT SHOW with guest Ana Egge opening the show.] [Iris Dement was our guest LIVE on WMM on March 22, 2023]

11:00 – Station ID – Celebrating David Bowie

You are listening to 90.1 FM KKFI Kansas City Community Radio. Please stayed tuned to the 2nd hour of WMM as we celebrate David Bowie born January 8, 1947.

In school he studied art, music, and design before embarking on a music career in 1963. Over a span of 5 decades, he sold over 140 million records and released 27 studio albums, if you count Tin Machine, which you should. His career is notable for his reinvention, his pushing of the boundaries of gender, art and music. He was the first to create a concert tour that was a big as a broadway touring show. He help invent Glam Rock, New Wave, and electronica. He created stage personas to carry thematic concepts with costumes and lights and the very best guitarists and musicians of his time. David Bowie was an actor on stage and in many great independent films including: The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Hunger, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Basquiat, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Labyrinth, and 15 others. He played John Merrick in The Elephant Man on Broadway. He influenced multiple generations with his music, recordings, live concerts, films, music videos, and his ever changing, image.

Bowie was a gateway to other discoveries: The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, T-Rex, Iggy Pop, Andy Warhol, Glam Rock, Electronica, Brian Eno, William S. Burroughs, Kraftwerk, Mick Ronson, Tony Visconti, Klaus Nomi, Bauhaus, Gender Expression, and much more.

Eight years ago on January 10, 2016, and two days after he released his 25th solo album, Blackstar, on his 69th birthday, David Robert Jones passed away at home surrounded by his wife Iman, son Duncan Jones from his marriage to Angela Bowie, and daughter Alexandria from his marriage to Iman. David Bowie’s death sent shock waves of grief across the world, touching every one of us, that he made feel, less alone. He was a light, a shining star, that guided so many of us through the darkness.

We celebrate David Bowie with musical tracks from deeper inside Bowie’s studio albums, “Blackstar” performed by Chase Horseman, Calvin Arsenia with an original unreleased track called “Ashes”, the Steve Reich remix of “Love is Lost” from THE NEXT DAY (Extra), The Sea and Cake with “Sound and Vision” from LOW, electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk who name check Bowie and Iggy Pop in lyrics to their “Trans-Europe Express” from 1977; Bowie responding with “V-2 Schneider” from HEROES of the same year; Julia Othmer’s beautiful cover of “Heroes” followed by Ondara, with “I’m Afraid of Americans” from Bowie’s EARTHLING from 1997; “Under Pressure” from from Bowie’s Reality Tour Live with bandmate Gail Ann Dorsey, and ending with Oscar winning film composer Ryuichi Sakamoto who in his very first film acting role and first job as a composer of a film’s soundtrack, played opposite of David Bowie in the film “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” from 1983. WMM celebrates the life of David Bowie in music.

14. David Bowie – “Ian Fish U.K. Heir (Moonage Daydream Mix 1)”
    from: Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film / Parlophone / September 16, 2022
    [Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film is the soundtrack to the 2022 documentary film Moonage Daydream based on the life of English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released digitally on September 16, 2022 by Rhino Entertainment and Parlophone Records, preceded by a two-disc CD release on November 18, 2022 and a three-disc vinyl edition, set for later release in 2023. // The album was announced on August 25 2022, to accompany the film, that contained previously unreleased live singles, tracks cut from the album, film-specific remixes of Bowie’s tracks, orchestral performances and interview excerpts and monologues from Bowie himself. A single from the album – the remixed version of the song “Modern Love” – released on the same date. Bowie’s official website, stated it as “This version is a unique mix starting with the isolated piano motif from the track, building up into the chorus before ending on the a cappella backing vocals offering an insight into the individual elements that create the classic we all know and love”. The film-specific remix of the song “D.J.” was released as the second single on September 9, 2022 // Brett Morgan worked for nearly 18 months to design the accompanying soundtrack, with the sound design team — re-recording mixers Paul Massey and David Giammarco, sound and music editor John Warhurst, supervising sound editor Nina Hartstone — working with him. On designing the film’s music, Massey mashed up “a lot of music that wasn’t designed to go together into some amazing pieces of work. And the sound design is fully integrated into that. The soundtrack is like a huge dissolve, from the very beginning of the film until the end.” // At the Cannes Film Festival premiere on May 2022, Carey Matthew of Deadline Hollywood called it as “thundering soundtrack that literally shakes the seats”. Kenji Fujishima of Slant Magazine wrote “Though Bowie’s music dominates the soundtrack (with his songs remixed for maximum heart-thumping arena-rock impact), the documentary also includes music inspired by the man’s art, including snippets from the Philip Glass symphonies based on Bowie’s Low and Heroes albums.” Max Bell of Classic Rock wrote “If it’s axiomatic that great artistic careers build to a form of crescendo then this double CD, the official soundtrack to Brett Morgen’s anticipated documentary on the musical odyssey of David Bowie, meets that criterion. Morgen’s work on Crossfire Hurricane, for the Rolling Stones, and Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck, persuaded Bowie’s estate to give him carte blanche on over fifty years of material, utilising sonic enhancement, mixes that veer from the sublime to the ridiculously sublime, and a spoken word narrative of sorts that threads the meaning of time, death and faith.”]

15. David Bowie – ““You’re aware of a deeper existence…”
    from: Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film / Parlophone / September 16, 2022
    [Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film is the soundtrack to the 2022 documentary film Moonage Daydream based on the life of English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released digitally on September 16, 2022 by Rhino Entertainment and Parlophone Records, preceded by a two-disc CD release on November 18, 2022 and a three-disc vinyl edition, set for later release in 2023.]

16. Chase Horseman – “Blackstar”
    from: “Blackstar” – Single / Chase Horseman / To be released January 31, 2024
    [Produced, engineered, & mixed by Chase Horseman who also played everything, except for Ian Dobyns who played drums, and also mastered the track. // David Bowie’s 25th solo studio album BLACKSTAR was released eight years ago on his 69th birthday on January 8, 2016. Two days later David Robert Jones passed away at home surrounded by his wife Iman, son Duncan Jones from his marriage to Angela Bowie, and daughter Alexandria from his marriage to Iman. BLACKSTAR has received universal critical acclaim and commercial success, reaching the number one spot in a number of countries in the wake of Bowie’s death and becoming his first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 album chart in the U.S.]

17. David Bowie – “Let me tell you one thing…” (CD #17) ( :18)
    from: Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film / Parlophone / September 16, 2022
    [Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film is the soundtrack to the 2022 documentary film Moonage Daydream based on the life of English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released digitally on September 16, 2022 by Rhino Entertainment and Parlophone Records, preceded by a two-disc CD release on November 18, 2022 and a three-disc vinyl edition, set for later release in 2023.

18. Calvin Arsenia – “Ashes” (CD #18) (1:59)
    from: Live at Greenwood Social Hall / Calvin Arsenia / Unreleased, 2017
    [from Calvin’s June 11, 2017 live performance at Greenwood Social Hall, 1760 Bellevue. Born in Orlando, Florida, Calvin’s creative journey really began when he moved to the KC suburb of Olathe, teaching himself the guitar, and eventually the harp. He learned his signature instrument at the age of 20 after he couldn’t find a harpist as determined as him to meld folk, rock, classical, rap and R&B into the irresistible fusion which has become his calling card in KC and beyond. His passion for stretching the boundaries of musical expression saw him transform a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland’s Fringe Festival early in his career into a life-changing music mission, with an Edinburgh church offering him a role as musical liaison between the church and the city that would change his life. Two years and 300 shows later, Calvin returned to KC reborn as a humanistic songwriter / performer whose impassioned and conceptual stage shows (regularly sold-out in Kansas City, currently catching fire on the West Coast with a diverse following across Europe), are collaborative, costumed-culture-bridging spectacles which In KC Magazine has hailed as ‘equal parts opera, symphony, musical theatre, rock show, all built around its creator: a charismatic 6-foot-7-inch harpist with a natural stage command and knack for gilding gold and painting lilies.’]

19. David Bowie–”Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix by James Murphy for the DFA)”
    rom: The Next Day Extra EP / ISO Columbia / November 4, 2013
    [The Next Day Extra was released Nov. 4, 2013. This 3-disc collector’s edition includes two CDs and a DVD. The first CD is the original 14-track album. The second is a 10-track CD comprising the deluxe edition bonus tracks “Plan”, “I’ll Take You There”, and “So She”, the Japanese exclusive track “God Bless the Girl”, two remixes, and four new songs (“Atomica”, “The Informer”, “Like a Rocket Man”, and “Born in a UFO”). The DVD includes the four promotional music videos (“Where Are We Now?”, “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)”, “The Next Day”, and “Valentine’s Day”). // The Next Day is the 24th studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on March 8, 2013 on his ISO Records label, under exclusive licence to Columbia Records. Co-produced by Bowie and longtime collaborator Tony Visconti, the album was recorded in secret at The Magic Shop and Human Worldwide Studios in New York City between 2011 and 2013. It is primarily a rock album, featuring elements of art rock. The cover art is an adapted version of his 1977 album “Heroes”, featuring a white square with the album’s title obscuring his face. It was announced on Bowie’s 66th birthday, 8 January 2013. Bowie’s website was updated with the video for the lead single, “Where Are We Now?”, and the single was immediately made available for purchase on the iTunes Store. // It was Bowie’s first album of new material in ten years, since 2003’s Reality, and surprised fans and media who had presumed that he had retired from the music business. The album was streamed in its entirety on iTunes days before its official release. The Next Day Extra, an additional disc featuring four more tracks, and remixes of songs from the original album, was released in November. The Next Day was met with critical acclaim, and earned Bowie his first number-one album in the United Kingdom since 1993’s Black Tie White Noise. It was ranked as the second best album of 2013 (in a tie with Blue October’s Sway) by German music magazine Kulturnews and was also nominated for the 2013 Mercury Prize. The album was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 2014 Grammy Awards and for MasterCard British Album of the Year at the 2014 Brit Awards. // Recording of the album took place at The Magic Shop and Human Worldwide Studios in New York City. Bowie and producer Tony Visconti worked in secret alongside long-term engineer Mario J. McNulty, recording the album over a two-year period. The recording sessions were sporadic, and Visconti estimated that only three full months were spent demoing and recording material. Visconti recalled that the album began with a one-week recording session: Sterling Campbell was on drums, I was on bass, David was on keyboards, Gerry Leonard was on guitar. By the end of five days we had demoed up a dozen songs. Just structures. No lyrics, no melodies and all working titles. This is how everything begins with him. Then he took them home and we didn’t hear another thing from him for four months. // Bowie would disappear with the music “to make sure he was on the right track”, then bring the band back together to take the next step in recording when he was ready. Visconti described the recording sessions as “intense”, but they stuck to regular hours. “The last time we did all-nighters was Young Americans”. // During breaks from the studio, Visconti would walk the streets of New York listening to music from The Next Day on his earphones: “I was walking around New York with my headphones on, looking at all the people with Bowie T-shirts on—they are ubiquitous here—thinking, ‘Boy, if you only knew what I’m listening to at the moment.'”// Despite the statement that no guest artists were used to record the album, Bowie did use some of the musicians he’s worked with in the past, including Earl Slick, who recorded his parts for the album in July 2012. Gail Ann Dorsey (bass guitar) and Sterling Campbell (drums), who had both worked with Bowie since the 1990s, also contributed to the album. Dorsey also recorded vocals for the song “If You Can See Me”. Drummer Zachary Alford and guitarists Gerry Leonard and David Torn were hired for the sessions and Slick revealed that Visconti also contributed bass. Saxophonist Steve Elson, who had worked with Bowie since the 1980s, also plays on the album. A story that Robert Fripp, who previously has worked with Bowie in the studio, was invited to play on the album but could not due to other commitments was denied by Fripp, who said, “I haven’t spoken to David for a while and I wasn’t approached [to take part in the album]”, adding “I’m not angry at all. No one is hurt, I’m not upset, just keen for clarity.” // Bowie took great pains to keep the recording of the album secret, requiring people involved in the recording to sign NDAs. Bowie had to change recording studios after one day when someone at the studio disclosed that Bowie was recording there. He moved to the studio The Magic Shop, which ran the studio with a skeleton crew of only one or two employees on days when Bowie was there. Columbia Records’s UK PR firm learned of the project only a few days before the album was released. // Canadian band Metric almost uncovered the secret recording sessions when they arrived at Magic Shop recording studios unannounced in 2011, and Bowie saxophonist Steve Elson said he was tempted to reveal all. // The Next Day is a rock album, mainly featuring art rock. Tony Visconti told the NME that The Next Day “is quite a rock album” and Alexis Petridis of The Guardian considered the record “a straightforward rock album.” // The first single was the ballad “Where Are We Now?”, a track which Visconti described as “the only track on the album that goes this much inward for him”. Visconti suggested that Bowie chose “Where Are We Now?” as the opening single because “people had to deal with the shock that he was back [after a 10-year absence]” and that the introspective nature of the song made it an appropriate choice. The song reached No.6 in the UK charts. Opening lyrics for “Where Are We Now” reflectively recall the name of a train station (plaza) and a street in west Berlin, where Bowie once lived. A video accompanying the single includes props such as a dismantled photo frame lying discarded on the floor in the opening shot, a large ear in the background, and a two-headed soft doll with the torn faces of Bowie and a voiceless counterpart “pasted” onto it in. Lyrics also include the phrase “the moment you know you know, you know”. // “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)” was released as the second single from the album on 26 February 2013. A music video in the form of a short film was premiered the previous day. The song received moderate airplay on BBC Radio 2 and 106.9FM WHCR, peaking at number 102 on the UK Singles Chart. // Visconti, who accepted an interviewer’s suggestion that he was Bowie’s “voice on earth”, commented on the album to the international press and provided insights into the individual tracks. The songs cover a wide spread of subjects and are largely observational: most probe the mind-sets of different individuals. “Valentine’s Day” is about a high school shooter. “I’d Rather Be High” related the story of a Second World War soldier. Visconti described the material as “extremely strong and beautiful”. He added “if people are looking for classic Bowie they’ll find it on this album, if they’re looking for innovative Bowie, new directions, they’re going to find that on this album too.” Visconti commented that 29 tracks were recorded for the album and suggested that some of the material left out of The Next Day could appear on a subsequent record. Visconti speculated that Bowie could return to the studio to produce a new album later in 2013, but this did not happen. // The cover art for the album is an adapted version of Bowie’s 1977 album, “Heroes”, with a white square with the album’s title obscuring Bowie’s face. Designed by Jonathan Barnbrook, who also designed packaging for Heathen and Reality and follow-up Blackstar, the obscuring of the photograph connotes “forgetting or obliterating the past”. The original cover image was shot by Masayoshi Sukita. Barnbrook explained the cover, saying: “If you are going to subvert an album by David Bowie there are many to choose from but this is one of his most revered, it had to be an image that would really jar if it were subverted in some way and we thought “Heroes” worked best on all counts.” A viral marketing campaign was launched to promote the album on 15 February 2013. The campaign grew out of the concept behind the album cover, taking seemingly ordinary images and subverting them through the addition of a white square. // The Next Day debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling 94,048 copies in its first week. It was Bowie’s ninth number-one album in the United Kingdom, and his first in twenty years since Black Tie White Noise (1993). The album fell to number two the following week, selling 35,671 copies. In its third week, it slipped to number three on sales of 23,157 units. // In the United States, the album entered the Billboard 200 at number two with first-week sales of 85,000 copies, earning Bowie his largest sales week for an album in the Nielsen SoundScan era, and also his highest charting album on the Billboard 200. The album has sold 208,000 copies in the US as of December 2015. Elsewhere, The Next Day topped the charts in several countries, including Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland, while reaching number two in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Italy, and Spain.] [Born February 4, 1970. James Murphy is a musician, producer, DJ, and co-founder of record label DFA Records. His most well-known musical project is LCD Soundsystem. James Murphy was influenced by Bowie and remixed songs for Bowie’s The Next Day Extras, and is credited as a percussionist on Bowie’s Backstar.]

20. The Sea and Cake – “Sound & Vision”
    from: One Bedroom / Thrill Jockey Records / January 21, 2003
    [6th album from American indie rock band with a jazz influence, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The group has released 11 albums. The group formed in the mid-1990s from members of The Coctails (Archer Prewitt), Shrimp Boat (Sam Prekop and Eric Claridge), and Tortoise (John McEntire). The group’s name came from a willful reinterpretation (as the result of an accidental miscomprehension) of “The C in Cake”, a song by Gastr del Sol. Starting with 1997’s The Fawn, the group has relied on electronic sound sources, such as drum machines and synthesizers, to color its music, but has retained its distinctive post-jazz combo style. The band has shied away from releasing singles, preferring the album format. Contrary to his multi-instrumentalist role in Tortoise, John McEntire almost exclusively plays drums in The Sea and Cake. Members Sam Prekop, Archer Prewitt, and John McEntire each have released solo albums. The cover art of The Sea And Cake’s releases are largely paintings by member Eric Claridge and photographs by Prekop. Prewitt has been involved in publishing his own comic books and doing graphic design. In 1995, the band contributed the song “The Fontana” to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Bothered produced by the Red Hot Organization. The band was on hiatus from 2004 to 2007. Their most recent album Any Day was released in May 2018.] [“Sound and Vision” is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie which appeared on his 1977 album Low. The song is notable for juxtaposing an uplifting guitar and synthesizer-led instrumental track with Bowie’s withdrawn lyrics. In keeping with the minimalist approach of Low, Bowie and co-producer Tony Visconti originally recorded the track as an instrumental, bar the backing vocal (performed by Visconti’s wife, Mary Hopkin). Bowie then recorded his vocal after the rest of the band had left the studio, before trimming verses off the lyrics and leaving a relatively lengthy instrumental intro on the finished song. Selected as the first single from the album, “Sound and Vision” was used by the BBC on trailers at the time. This provided considerable exposure, much needed as Bowie opted to do nothing to promote the single himself, and helped the song to No. 3. The song was also a top ten hit in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. However, it stalled at No. 87 in Canada and only managed No. 69 in the United States, where it signaled the end of Bowie’s short commercial honeymoon until “Let’s Dance” in 1983. The first live performance of the song was at Earl’s Court during the Isolar II Tour on 1 July 1978. In 1990, it was a regular number for Bowie’s greatest hits Sound+Vision Tour. The name was also used for a Rykodisc boxed set anthology in 1989.]

11:31 – Underwriting

21. Kraftwerk – “Trans-Europe Express (Remastered)”
    from: Trans Europe Express (Remastered) / Parlophone – Warner Music / March 1, 1977 – 2009
    [Kraftwerk translates to: “power station”. They are a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered as innovators and pioneers of electronic music, they were among the first successful acts to popularize the genre. The group began as part of West Germany’s experimental Krautrock scene in the early 1970s before fully embracing electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers, drum machines, and vocoders. Trans-Europe Express is the sixth studio album by German electronic music band Kraftwerk. The song’s lyrics reference the album Station to Station and meeting with musicians Iggy Pop and David Bowie. Hütter and Schneider had previously met up with Bowie in Germany and were flattered with the attention they received from him. Ralf Hütter was interested in Bowie’s work as he had been working with Iggy Pop, who was the former lead singer of the Stooges; one of Hütter’s favorite groups. Recorded in mid-1976 in Düsseldorf, Germany, the album was released in March 1977 on Kling Klang Records. It saw the group refine their melodic electronic style, with a focus on sequenced rhythms, minimalism, and occasionally manipulated vocals. The themes include celebrations of the titular European railway service and Europe as a whole, and meditations on the disparities between reality and appearance. // Trans-Europe Express charted at 119 on the American charts and was ranked number 30 in The Village Voice’s 1977 Pazz & Jop critics’ poll. Two singles were released: “Trans-Europe Express” and “Showroom Dummies”. The album has been re-released in several formats and continues to receive acclaim. In 2014, the Los Angeles Times called it “the most important pop album of the last 40 years.” // After the release and tour for the album Radio-Activity, Kraftwerk continued to move further away from their earlier krautrock style of improvised instrumental music, refining their work more into the format of melodic electronic songs. During the tour for Radio-Activity, the band began to make performance rules such as not to be drunk on stage or at parties. Karl Bartos wrote about these rules, stating that “it’s not easy to turn knobs on a synthesizer if you are drunk or full of drugs… We always tried to keep very aware of what we were doing while acting in public.” During this tour, early melodies that would later evolve into the song “Showroom Dummies” were being performed. // In mid-1976, Kraftwerk began to work on the album which was then called Europe Endless. Paul Alessandrini suggested that Kraftwerk write a song about the Trans Europ Express to reflect their electronic music style. Hütter and Schneider met with musicians David Bowie and Iggy Pop prior to the recording, which influenced song lyrics. Maxime Schmitt encouraged the group to record a French language version of the song “Showroom Dummies”, which led the group to later record several songs in French. The album was recorded at Kling Klang Studio in Düsseldorf. Artistic control over the songs was strictly in the hands of members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, with Bartos and Wolfgang Flür contributing sequenced electronic percussion. Kraftwerk went to railway bridges to listen to the sounds the train would actually produce. The group found the sound the train made was not danceable and changed it slightly. // An important piece of new equipment used on the album was the Synthanorma Sequenzer, a customized 32-step 16-channel analog sequencer made for the band by Matten & Wiechers. This allowed the construction of more elaborate sequenced synthesizer lines, which are featured prominently in the tracks “Franz Schubert” and “Endless Endless”, and liberated the player from the chore of playing repetitive keyboard patterns. // Whereas Radio-Activity had featured a mixture of German and English lyrics throughout the album, Trans-Europe Express went further and was mixed as two entirely separate versions, one sung in English, the other in German. At the recommendation of Maxime Schmitt, a French version of the song “Showroom Dummies”, titled “Les Mannequins”, was also recorded. “Les Mannequins” was the group’s first song in French and would influence decisions to record songs in French on later albums. After recording the album in Düsseldorf, Hütter and Schneider visited Los Angeles to mix the tracks at the Record Plant Studio. Elements of the mixing sessions that were done in Los Angeles were dropped from the album, including the use of more upfront vocals in order to do more mixing in Düsseldorf and Hamburg later.// The artwork for the album cover of Trans-Europe Express was originally going to be a monochrome picture of the group reflected in a series of mirrors. This idea was dropped for a photo by New York-based celebrity photographer Maurice Seymour, with the group dressed in suits to resemble mannequins. J. Stara’s image of the group was taken in Paris and is a highly retouched photo-montage of Kraftwerk from their shoulders up again posed as mannequins which are shown on the cover of the English version of the album. On the inside sleeve, a color collage of the group sitting at a small cafe table designed by Emil Schult was used. The photo for this scene was from the session by Maurice Seymour, taken on the group’s American tour. Other photos were taken by Schult that show the group laughing and smiling. These were not used for the album’s release. // Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described the album’s influence as “unprecedented, reaching as wide as rock (Radiohead’s Kid A), hip-hop (Afrika Bambaataa’s classic ‘Planet Rock’, Jay Dee’s recent ‘Big Booty Express’) and pop (Madonna’s Drowned World Tour, which incorporated samples of ‘Metal on Metal’)”. // In the late 1970s, the album influenced post-punk band Joy Division; bassist Peter Hook related: “We were introduced to Kraftwerk by [singer] Ian Curtis, who insisted we play T.E.E. before we went on stage every time. The tape was played at the venue over the PA system, to be heard by everyone. The first time was Pips [a Manchester club well known for its ‘Bowie Room’]. Ian got thrown out for kicking glass around the dance floor in time to the track. It took us ages of pleading to get him back in.” Drummer Stephen Morris also confirmed that Joy Division “used to play Trans-Europe Express before we went on stage, to get us into the zone. It worked because it gets up a lot of momentum. Trans-Europe Express just seemed to express an optimism – even if people see it as machine music”. Morris also said: “It reminds me of Cabaret, the film, with all of the 1920s singing. … When you get that marriage between humans and machines, and you get it right, it’s fantastic. I have to say it’s my favourite Kraftwerk album.” In the mid-1980s, Siouxsie and the Banshees’ rendition of “The Hall of Mirrors”, on their album Through the Looking Glass, was one of the few cover versions that Ralf Hütter hailed in glowing terms as “extraordinary”

22. David Bowie – “V-2 Schneider”
    from: “Heroes” / Parlophone – Warner Music / October 14, 1977 (RCA)
    [“V-2 Schneider” is a largely instrumental song written by David Bowie in 1977 for the album “Heroes”. It was a tribute to Florian Schneider, co-founder of the band Kraftwerk, whom Bowie acknowledged as a significant influence at the time. The title also referenced the V-2 rocket, the first ballistic missile, which had been developed for the German Army during World War II, and whose design (and engineers) played a key role in the American space program. The only words sung are those in the title, initially distorted by phasing. Musically, the track is unusual for the off-beat saxophone work by Bowie, who kicked off his part on the wrong note, but continued regardless. “V-2 Schneider” achieved considerable circulation as the B-side of “‘Heroes'”, released prior to the album, but was not played on the subsequent 1978 concert tour, its first live rendition occurring 20 years after it was recorded (see Live versions). A live version recorded at Paradiso, Amsterdam in June 1997, was released as the B-side of the single “Pallas Athena” in August 1997, under the name Tao Jones Index. This version also appeared on the bonus disc for the Digibook Expanded Edition of Earthling. // “Heroes” is the 12th studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on October 14, 1977 by RCA Records. After releasing Low earlier that year, Bowie toured as the keyboardist of his friend and singer Iggy Pop. At the conclusion of the tour, they recorded Pop’s second solo album Lust for Life at Hansa Tonstudio in West Berlin before Bowie regrouped there with collaborator Brian Eno and producer Tony Visconti to record “Heroes”. It was the second installment of his “Berlin Trilogy,” following Low and preceding Lodger (1979). Of the three albums, it was the only one wholly recorded in Berlin. Much of the same personnel from Low returned for the sessions, augmented by King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp. // The album was recorded sporadically from July to August 1977. The majority of the tracks were composed on the spot in the studio, the lyrics not being written until Bowie stood in front of the microphone. The music itself is based in art rock and experimental rock, and builds upon its predecessor’s electronic and ambient approaches, albeit with more positive tones, atmospheres and passionate performances. The album also follows the same structure as its predecessor, side one featuring more conventional tracks and side two featuring mostly instrumental tracks. // The cover photo, like Iggy Pop’s The Idiot, is a nod to the painting Roquairol by German artist Erich Heckel. Upon release, “Heroes” was a commercial success, peaking at No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 35 on the US Billboard 200. It was the best-received work of the “Berlin Trilogy” on release, NME and Melody Maker naming it Album of the Year. Bowie promoted the album extensively, appearing on several television programmes and interviews. He supported Low and “Heroes” on the Isolar II world tour throughout 1978, performances of which have appeared on the live albums Stage (1978) and Welcome to the Blackout (2018). // Retrospectively, “Heroes” has continued to receive positive reviews, many reviewers praising Bowie’s growth as an artist and Fripp’s contributions. Although opinion has tended to view Low as the more groundbreaking record, “Heroes” is regarded as one of Bowie’s best and most influential works. The title track, initially unsuccessful as a single, remains one of Bowie’s best-known and acclaimed songs. An altered and obscured version of the cover artwork later appeared as the artwork for Bowie’s 2013 album The Next Day. The album has been reissued several times and was remastered in 2017 as part of the A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982) box set.]

23. Julia Othmer – “Heroes”
    from: Seeds (Volume 1) / Julia Othmer & James Lundie / November 13, 2020
    [“Seeds” is Julia Othmer’s 3rd full length album and contains 10 live songs selected from her 30-day Songs of September Project, where Julia performed a different live cover of her favorite songs and broadcast the performance throughout the streaming social media platforms to inspire people to register and vote on November 3. From those songs Julia’s fans democratically selected their favorite tracks to be released together on “Seeds.” Julia Othmer released “Sound,” on April 12, 2019, her second album, that took 3 years to complete, and was produced with James Lundie, who also married Julia in January of 2016, during the completion of the record. Julia Othmer, is a graduate of Park Hill High School. She moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to record her 1st full-length album, “Oasis Motel.” In 2018 to 2019 Julia Othmer toured with and opened for The Alarm in US show and shows in the United Kingdom. When Julia Othmer is in Kansas City she plays with Johnny Hamil on bass, Chris Tady on guitar, John Floyd Whitaker on drums. Info: http://www.juliaothmer.com. Julia Othmer joined us onWMM on Nov. 11, 2020.] [“‘Heroes'” is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was co-written by Bowie and Brian Eno, produced by Bowie and Tony Visconti, and recorded in July and August 1977 at Hansa Studio by the Wall. It was released on 23 September 1977 as the lead single from his 12th studio album of the same name, backed with the song “V-2 Schneider”. A product of Bowie’s “Berlin” period, the track was not a huge hit in the United Kingdom or the United States after its release, but it has since become one of his signature songs. In January 2016, following Bowie’s death, the song reached a new peak of number 12 in the UK Singles Chart. “‘Heroes'” has been cited as Bowie’s second-most covered song after “Rebel Rebel”. Inspired by the sight of Bowie’s producer-engineer Tony Visconti embracing his lover by the Berlin Wall, the song tells the story of two lovers, one from East and one from West Berlin. Bowie’s performance of “‘Heroes'” on 6 June 1987, at the German Reichstag in West Berlin has been considered a catalyst to the later fall of the Berlin Wall. Following his death in January 2016, the German government thanked Bowie for “helping to bring down the Wall”, adding “you are now among Heroes”. “‘Heroes'” has received numerous accolades since its release, as seen with its inclusion on lists ranking the “greatest songs” compiled by various music publications; Rolling Stone named the song the 46th greatest ever, NME named it the 15th greatest. Bowie scholar David Buckley has written that “‘Heroes'” “is perhaps pop’s definitive statement of the potential triumph of the human spirit over adversity”.]

24. Ondara —“I’m Afraid of Americans”
    from: Tales of America (The Second Coming) / Verve Forecast – UMG Recordings / Sept. 20, 2019
    [28 year old J.S. Ondara is a Kenyan singer-songwriter whose debut album, Tales of America, was released on February 15, 2019 via Verve Label Group. J.S. Ondara was born in August 1992 in Nairobi, Kenya. As a child, he wrote poems and stories as well as songs despite not having an instrument to play them on because his family couldn’t afford one. He was inspired by Radiohead, Nirvana, Death Cab For Cutie, Jeff Buckley, Pearl Jam, Guns N’ Roses, and Bob Dylan. He grew up listening to rock songs on his older sisters’ battery-powered radio. Having discovered The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan following a dispute with a friend over whether Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door was a Guns N’ Roses song, Ondara resolved to travel to the United States to pursue a career in music. In February 2013, after winning in the green card lottery, he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota at the age of 20. He taught himself to play guitar and perform during open mic nights. Eventually, he decided to study music therapy in college, but dropped out of school to return to playing small shows at coffee houses after attending a concert. After moving to Minnesota, Ondara tried his hand at making music and performing in small venues. His big break came when Minneapolis radio station KCMP 89.3 The Current played one of his songs on air by pulling audio from his YouTube channel, where he had been uploading covers of his favorite songs. At the time, he was going by the name Jay Smart. Ondara’s debut album, Tales of America, was released in February 2019 by Verve Label Group. Despite only 11 tracks making the final tracklist, Ondara wrote more than 100 songs for the album, all based on an immigrant’s life in America. The album was produced by Mike Viola of the Candy Butchers. In support of the album, Ondara embarked on his first headlining tour in March 2019. After the release of the album, Ondara debuted on Billboard’s Emerging Artist chart at No. 37 in March 2019. The album also landed on the Billboard Heatseekers Album, Americana/Folk Album Sales, and Rock Album Sales charts. He was nominated for Best Emerging Act at the 2019 Americana Music Honors & Awards. Ondara cites Bob Dylan as his musical hero, which is why he chose to live in Minnesota and why he wears his signature fedora. He has toured with the Milk Carton Kids, Lindsey Buckingham and in 2019, he opened for select dates on tour with Neil Young.]

25. David Bowie – “Under Presssure” w/ Gail Ann Dorsey
    from: A Reality Tour (Bonus Track Version) [Live] / Sony Music Entertaiment / Jan. 22, 2010
    [“Under Pressure” is a song by the British rock band Queen and singer David Bowie. Originally released as a single in October 1981, it was later included on Queen’s 1982 album Hot Space. The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Queen’s second number-one hit in their home country (after 1975’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which topped the chart for nine weeks) and Bowie’s third (after the 1975 reissue of “Space Oddity” and “Ashes to Ashes” in 1980). The song charted in the top 10 in more than ten countries around the world, and peaked at No. 29 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in January 1982. // A Reality Tour is a live album by David Bowie that was released on January 25, 2010. The album features November 22, and 23, 2003 performances in Dublin during his concert tour A Reality Tour. The 2004, live version features David Bowie – vocals, guitars, stylophone, harmonica; Earl Slick – guitar; Gerry Leonard – guitar; Gail Ann Dorsey – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Under Pressure”; Sterling Campbell – drums; Mike Garson – keyboards, piano; Catherine Russell – keyboards, percussion, acoustic guitar, backing vocals. A Reality Tour was a worldwide concert tour by David Bowie in support of the Reality album. The tour commenced on 7 October 7, 2003 at the Forum, Copenhagen, Denmark continuing through Europe, North America, Asia, including a return to New Zealand and Australia for the first time since the 1987 Glass Spider Tour. The tour grossed $46,000,000, making it the ninth-highest grossing tour of 2004. At over 110 shows, the tour was the longest tour of Bowie’s career. Bowie played Kansas City, May 10, 2004, at Starlight Theatre. I was there, seven rows from the stage.]

26. Ryuichi Sakamoto – “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence”
    from: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence / Milan Entertainment / 2015
    [Ryuichi Sakamoto was born Jan. 17, 1952. He is a Japanese composer, singer, songwriter, record producer, activist, & actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With bandmates Haruomi Hosono & Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto influenced and pioneered a number of electronic music genres. Sakamoto began his career while at university in the 1970s as a session musician, producer, & arranger. His first major success came in 1978 as co-founder of YMO. He concurrently pursued a solo career, releasing the experimental electronic fusion album Thousand Knives in 1978. Two years later, he released the album B-2 Unit. It included the track “Riot in Lagos”, which was significant in the development of electro and hip hop music. He produced more solo records, and collaborate with many international artists, David Sylvian, Carsten Nicolai, Youssou N’Dour, Fennesz among them. Sakamoto composed music for the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and his composition “Energy Flow” (1999) was the first instrumental #1 single in Japan’s Oricon charts history. As a film-score composer, Sakamoto has won an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, 2 Golden Globe Awards. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) marked his debut as both an actor (playing Captain Yonoi the commander of a POW camp in Japanese-occupied Java and also serving as the conposer of the film’s score. Its main theme was adapted into the single “Forbidden Colours” which became an international hit. His most successful work as a film composer was The Last Emperor (1987), after which he continued earning accolades composing for films: The Sheltering Sky (1990), Little Buddha (1993), The Revenant (2015). Sakamoto has also worked as a composer & a scenario writer on anime & video games. In 2009, he was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Ministry of Culture of France for his contributions to music.]

27. David Bowie –“Well you know what, this has been an incredible pleasure”
    from: Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film / Parlophone / September 16, 2022
    [Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film is the soundtrack to the 2022 documentary film Moonage Daydream based on the life of English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was released digitally on September 16, 2022 by Rhino Entertainment and Parlophone Records, preceded by a two-disc CD release on November 18, 2022 and a three-disc vinyl edition, set for later release in 2023.

You’ve been listening to Wednesday MidDay Medley’s Tribute to David Bowie on 90.1 FM.

We just heard and new recording of “Blackstar” performed by Chase Horseman, followed by Calvin Arsenia with an original unreleased track called “Ashes”, then the Steve Reich remix of “Love is Lost” from THE NEXT DAY (Extra), followed by The Sea and Cake with their version of “Sound and Vision” from Bowie’s LOW, and then electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk who name check Bowie and Iggy Pop in lyrics to their “Trans-Europe Express” from 1977; and Bowie responding with “V-2 Schneider” from HEROES of the same year; Julia Othmer‘s beautiful cover of “Heroes,” followed by Ondara, with his version of “I’m Afraid of Americans” from Bowie’s EARTHLING from 1997; follwed by “Under Pressure” from Bowie’s Reality Tour Live with bandmate and bassist Gail Ann Dorsey singing the Freddy Mercury part. Bowie’s Reality Tour played Kansas City, the week I startd doing WMM, May 10, 2004, at Starlight Theatre. We ended with Oscar winning film composer Ryuichi Sakamoto who in his very first film acting role and first job as a composer of a film’s soundtrack, played opposite of David Bowie in the film “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” from 1983.

32. Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
    from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]

On Friday January 5, at 12:00 NOON Calvin Arsenia plays live on MidCoast LIVE!

Next week on January 10, 2024, we present “Remembering MLK,” our annual tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born Jan. 15, 1929. We’ll play: Bobby Watson & The I Have A Dream Project (featuring Glenn North), Krystle Warren, The Freedom Afair, Calvin Arsenia, The Black Creatures, H.E.R., Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Curtis Mayfield, Maceo & The Macks, Mahalia Jackson, Marian Anderson, The Staple Singers, Pops Staples, Mavis Staples, The Swan Silvertones, Sweet Honey in The Rock, Aaron Neville, Tramaine Hawkins, Ella Mitchell, Billy Porter, Solomon Burke, Nina Simone, Pete Seeger, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Soweto Gospel Choir, The Intl. Noise Conspiracy, and Labelle.

In 2 weeks on January 17 we’ll spin even more Bowie with Michelle Bacon from The Band That Fell To Earth who will be presenting their annual Tribute to Bowie with a VIP show Thursday, January 25, and regular shows Friday and Saturday, January 26th and 27th at recordBar. We also welcome Lonnie Fisher, and Adee Dancy

THANK YOU to our incredible KKFI Staff; Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers.

This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. Instead it is about a collective spirit of hundreds of hardworking people, unselfishly setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the gigantic goal of keeping our airwaves free, non-commercial, and open to all! Congratulations and thank you to all programmers & volunteers who went the extra effort to keep our station alive.

Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information.
Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org

Wednesday MidDay Medley in on the web:
http://www.kkfi.org,
http://www.WednesdayMidDayMedley.org,
http://www.facebook.com/WednesdayMidDayMedleyon90.1FM

Show #1027

Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

WMM Celebrates Iris DeMent and David Bowie

At 10:00 we dedicate our first hour for Iris DeMent, born January 5, 1961, in rural Paragould, Arkansas. She was the youngest of 14 children. At the age of 3, her devoutly religious family moved to California, where she grew up singing gospel music. During her teenage years, Iris was exposed to country, folk, & R&B. In the mid 1980s Iris moved to the midwest, and after a series of jobs as a waitress and typist she wrote her first song at the age of 25. She moved to Kansas City and played Harling’s Upstairs and open-mic nights alongside Scott Hrabko and Howard Iceberg. Iris DeMent made her recording debut in 1991, with her album, “Infamous Angel.” We’ll feature music from Iris Dement, Greg Brown, and John Prine, and from her inspirations: Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Merle Haggard.

At 11:00 we fill up our second hour in tribute to David Bowie, born January 8, 1947. Over a span of 5 decades, Bowie sold over 140 million records and released 27 studio albums. His career is notable for his reinvention, his pushing of the boundaries of gender, art and music. He was also an actor who appeared in over 20 films. We celebrate David Bowie with musical tracks from his studio albums, from his Reality Tour Live recordings, from songs performed by musicians he influenced: The Sea and Cake, Chase The Horseman, Calvin Arsenia, Julia Othmer and Ondara, from electronic musical pioneers Kraftwerk, and from Oscar winning film composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who in his very first motion picture role as an actor and film composer played opposite of David Bowie in the 1983 feature, “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence”.

On your local radio dial 90.1 FM or
STREAMING LIVE at: kkfi.org

Show #1027

Wednesday MidDay Medley’s 120 Best Recordings of 2023

WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2023 are based on the playlists of this little ole radio show. We’ve compiled our favorite full-length albums and EP recordings of 2023. This year we’ve broadcast nearly 900 different tracks over our 100,000 watts of 90.1 FM KKFI – Community Radio Airwaves. Over 500 of these tracks were from New & MidCoastal Releases. 70 of the representative tracks in our “Best of” list are from MidCoastal Releases. We conducted over 150 interviews with 145 special guests. 50 of the bands and artists in our “Best of” list have joined us as guests on Wednesday MidDay Medley. We realize these “Best of” lists can seem subjective, so we ask that you please accept our list as a celebration of the year in music.

1. Heidi Lynne Gluck – Migrate Or Die / Heidi Lynne Gluck / July 7, 2023

[Heidi Lynne Gluck released the singles: “All I See Is Magic” on May 25, 2023, “I’m Not Free” on June 2, 2023 and “Skyscraper” on June 7, 2023 Lawrence, Kansas based Heidi Lynne Gluck is a songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist originally from the middle of Canada. After transplant-ing herself from the plains of Manitoba to the midwestern United States, Heidi quickly became an in-demand player, performing on stage and in the studio both as a solo artist and with renowned musicians including Juliana Hatfield & Some Girls, Margot & The Nuclear So and Sos, Lily & Madeleine, The Pieces, The Only Children, and others. Heidi Lynne Gluck joined us live on WMM on June 8, and Aug. 24, 2016. Heidi Lynne Gluck released her critically acclaimed album, PONY SHOW through Lawrence based Lotuspool Records on Aug. 26, 2016. This was the follow-up to her critically acclaimed release THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ROOM, released April 28, 2015. Heidi Lynne Gluck released the 8th edition of the Too Much Rock, limited edition, 7” vinyl Single Series on Aug. 3, 2018, featuring her original song, “Party Line.” and the B-side, “Good Guys and Bad Guys” a new version of Camper Van Beethoven song. Heidi Lynne Gluck also plays with the band the Roseline and was a featured vocalist on “Beauty in the Distance” with Asterales. Heidi recently released two new singles with Tom Brosseau, “Sunflower” on Dec. 15, 2022, and “Under African Skies” on Feb. 17, 2023.] [Heidi Lynne Gluck was our guest on WMM on July 12, 2023]

2. Iris DeMent – Workin’ On A World / FlariElla / February 24, 2023

[Iris DeMent’s 7th full length album, WORKING ON A WORLD was stalled partway through by the pandemic, the record took six years to make with the help of three friends and co-producers: Richard Bennett, Pieta Brown, and Jim Rooney. It was Pieta Brown who gave the record its final push. “Pieta asked me what had come of the recordings I’d done with Jim and Richard in 2019 and 2020. I told her I’d pretty much given up on trying to make a record. She asked would I mind if she had a listen. So, I had everything we’d done sent over to her, and not long after that I got a text, bouncing with exclamation marks: ‘You have a record and it’s called Workin’ On A World!’” With Bennett back in the studio with them, Brown and DeMent recorded several more songs and put the final touches on the record in Nashville in April of 2022. // DeMent sets the stage for the album with the title track in which she moves from a sense of despair towards a place of promise. “Now I’m workin’ on a world I may never see ‘ Joinin’ forces with the warriors of love / Who came before and will follow you and me.” “Goin’ Down To Sing in Texas” is an ode not only to gun control, but also to the brave folks who speak out against tyranny and endure the consequences in an unjust world. // On October 6, 2020 iris DeMent released her single “Going Down To Sing In Texas.” Stereogum on October 13, 2020 wrote: Other than a handful of guest appearances, Americana legend Iris DeMent hasn’t released new music since her 2015 album The Trackless Woods, a collection of Anna Akhmatova poems set to original music. But DeMent is back today in a big way with “Going Down To Sing In Texas,” a lengthy rambler that’s a lot more serious than its casual, jazzy piano groove lets on. Over the course of nine minutes, DeMent addresses police brutality, George W. Bush (“What’s the deal with all these war criminals who get to walk around free?”), Islamophobia, progressive protesters (“I’m so proud of all of these young people for taking it to the streets”), gun control, Jeff Bezos (“Ain’t we all just a little bit tired of greedy people getting a free pass?”), the Chicks, the Squad, and Jesus Christ (“He spoke truth to power, he stood up for the poor/ The church today wouldn’t even let him through the door”) among other things.It’s a hell of a song, clear and direct yet artful in its conversational ease. Never forget that DeMent can go toe to toe with songwriting legends like her old duet partner John Prine. In his review for WHYY’s Fresh Air, Entertainment Weekly Music Editor – Ken Tucker wrote: “Iris DeMent possesses one of the great voices in contemporary popular music: powerfully, ringingly clear, capable of both heartbreaking fragility and blow-your-ears-back power. Had she been making country albums in the ’70s and ’80s and had more commercial ambition, she’d probably now be considered right up there with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. Instead, she’s lived a contemporary life, a somewhat private life. As she recently told an interviewer, “There’s a lot that goes into life besides songwriting.” And she’s taken her time in composing songs that fit into no genre easily.”] [Iris DeMent played Knuckleheads 2715 Rochester Street, KCMO on Thursday, March 23, 2023 in a SOLD OUT SHOW with guest Ana Egge opening the show.] [Iris Dement was our guest LIVE on WMM on March 22, 2023]

3. Red Kate – Exit Strategy / Black Site / November 10. 2023

[First single from new album “Shut It Down” was released April 27, 2023. This song became anthemic as 2023 drudged with the never ending bombing of Gaza and the war in Ukraine and a United States Congress strangled by bad leadership and hypocrisy. The Kansas City based, class-conscious punk rock and rollers, Red Kate, are proud to announce their first new music in five years. EXIT STRATEGY, is a blistering, no-holds-barred call to action for the oppressed, marginalized and working class. The track “Shut It Down” was written by the band’s former guitar player, Desmond Poirier, after attending a Stand Up KC march, “Shut It Down” reminds us that when push comes to shove, the one power the powerless still have when they come together in solidarity is to SHUT! IT! DOWN // In late 2021, singer/bassist, L. Ron Drunkard, drummer Andrew Whelan, rhythm guitarist Shawn Hamontree, and newly added lead guitarist Chris Kinsley returned to the band’s mainstay studio, Duane Trower’s Weights and Measures Soundlab, to finish what, at this point, had become a multi-year project. The group laid down four new tracks written during lockdown and then began the long process of turning twelve songs recorded over several sessions in two different studio locations with four different guitarists into the best sounding, and best collection of, songs the band has ever recorded. // BLACK SITE is a record label cooperative created by Kansas City musicians interested in supporting regional punk and rock bands release their recordings on a physical medium. With the world around us becoming a deluge of digital l’s and 0’s, transient as a trust fund crust punk on a cross country excursion, tangible art is critical to maintaining connections to our past, our sense of place, and who we are as a people. Only WE can create the world we want to live in. Reciprocity and solidarity are the cornerstones of building long lasting, self-sustaining community power that pushes back against the commodification of culture. Music is not a business; Punk is not a brand, and DIY is not a lifestyle to be consumed. This is a way of life, and if we don’t hang together, we’ll surely hang alone. Info at: http://www.black-site.org ][L. Ron Drunkard of Red Kate was our guest on WMM on November 15, 2023.]

4. IVORY BLUE – Starlit Love Child / IVORY BLUE / November 17, 2023

[On October 27, 2023 IVORY BLUE released the sIngle “Ghost of Life.” This single followed IVORY’s previous releases,”In A World Like This” from September 22, 2023, ”The Best of Life” from August 4, 2023 and “Control” from May 26, 2023. IVORY released the single “All Outta Love” on February 24, 2023. IVORY BLUE released their full length debut album COMPOUND LOVE on February 25, 2022. COMPOUND LOVE was in the Top Ten of WMM’s 120 Best recordings of 2022. For COMPOUND LOVE, IVORY BLUE served as songwriter, producer, vocalist and played all instruments with the exception of: Lester Estelle on drums, Klaartje Van Lue on piano, Craig Kew on bass, Lennon Bone on drums, and Marco Pascolini on pedal steel guitar. Nick Poortman served in mixing, with Kurt Festge who also served in mixing & Mastering. IVORY BLUE’s debut EP, Ready Get Set was released in June 2015. While the EP helped spread the word and give IVORY BLUE attention from regional radio and TV stations, a big break would come in 2017. In 2017 Ivory was among 1800 artists/bands that competed in neXt2Rock. Ivory won local & regional challenges and advanced to nationals in Los Angeles to win the top prize. // IVORY BLUE has played Crossroads Music Festival, The Middle of the Map Festival, The Westport Roots Festival, the KCPT Screening of “Real Boy” at The Kansas City Public Library, and Kauffman Stadium. // Ivory Blue was born in 1986 in Peoria Illinois, as Devin James Miclettet. Ivory’s birth mother put them up for adoption at the age of four. Ivory speaks about how it was difficult to find trust in people offering their home to someone denied it for so long, Ivory lived with eight different families, before running away at 15. // Ivory has talked with us about how in their life they have turned to music to express pain. Ivory spent most of their childhood looking for a family. In 2010 Klaartje Van Lue saw Ivory performing in a YouTube video and contacted them, flying Ivory to Kansas City, and adopting Ivory into the Van Lue family. During the past 10 years Ivory came out as “Non-Binary Transgender”. // As a multi-instrumentalist, Ivory began refining their performance style, using digital looping pedals to stack harmonies and guitar parts live on stage, giving their solo shows the feel of a full band. In 2011, Ivory settled in Kansas City, MO and quickly began attracting an intense regional following for their strong vocals and incisive, deeply personal lyrics. // By 2013, IVORY BLUE was playing regularly in and around Kansas City and the first EP ‘Ready Get Set’ was released. in 2015. IVORY BLUE released the video of “Family Table” directed by Mikal Shapiro, on August 21, 2021 and the audio track was released on September 7, 2021. IVORY BLUE released the single “Good Changes” on Oct 26, 2021. Ivory Blue released the singles: “Heavy,” “Bad Weather,” “It Must Have Been Me,” “Compound Love,” and “The Start” on December 14, 2021. IVORY BLUE released their debut album COMPOUND LOVE on February 25, 2022. IVORY BLUE released the single “Red Light” on July 29, 2022. IVORY BLUE released the single “Starlit Love Child” on October 28, 2022. IVORY BLUE released the single “All Outta Love” on February 24, 2023. More info at: https://linktr.ee/ivorybluemusic%5D [Ivory Blue was our guest on WMM on: March 8, 2023, June 7, 2023, our 1000th show on June 28, 2023, and September 27, 2023.]

5. Bad Alaskan – Red & Black / Bad Alaskan / June 19, 2023

[Bad Alaskan is Lawrence, Kansas based musician, scientist, researcher, speaker, activist, teacher, Alex Kimball Williams who identifies and celebrates her Native Alaskan / Black / Portuguese origins, with the motto: “Music is medicine.” Alex Kimball Williams also played in the band UltraVivid. Band Alaskan released the single “Red & Black” on December 10, 2021 The album also contains a cover of “Strange Fruit” that Bad Alaskan released as a single on August 17, 2019. Bad Alaskan writes: “This cover of ‘Strange Fruit’ is the perfect blend of old school & new school; direct reference & innovation; the blues & electronic. I’ve always loved the song & wanted to put my own indigenous spin on it. My classical & jazz training leaks through with solos & alterations to the lead melody. The 1939 recording featuring Billie Holiday’s vocals is my favorite cut of this classic. My variation alters the melody to fit a minor blues scale. The key is raised just slightly to stimulate discomfort, the tempo is more upbeat. Originally when she sang the song, it was always the end of her set, staff in the venue was instructed not to make any transactions. She would sing the song with eyes closed. Due to that devotional, prayer-like feel, I begin my sets with this song if I’m going to include it. I read somewhere that this song reminded her of her father. It lines up with my thoughts on my own ancestors, from what would have been his time. Instruments used are Korg Minilogue, Microkorg (vocoding) & Novation circuit. I always record all my parts at once (no over-dubbing), so please enjoy the “fruits” of my labor! Audio engineer: Ross Williams.]

6. Silicone Prairie – Vol. II / Feel It Records / July 28, 2023

[Ever since releasing ‘My Life on the Silicone Prairie Vol. I’ in 2021, Ian Teeple has been riding a creative high. Whether you’ve noticed his incredible visual art, witnessed the cathartic Silicone Prairie live band, or know Ian as the newest member of Sn​õ​õ​per – his driving, free-spirited energy abounds. Silicone Prairie have transcended landlocked guitar punk/jangle into new realms on Vol. II. The album manages to color outside the lines of genre, blurring worlds of sound together beautifully. Cloudy bedroom pop tangles with fields of flute, warbled tape editing, thick fuzzed guitars, and a sage sense of introversion. ‘My Life on the Silicone Prairie Vol. II’ is a deeply personal, ethereal ride through the mind of Ian Teeple, joined by friends from Kansas City and abroad. // “You can’t really listen to Silicone Prairie on record without noticing the laborious production and limber musicianship. Take for one, the way organized horns and muffled jungle beast roars harmoniously make themselves adjacent. Or the polarity of the bass and guitar, the grace of every instrument when it peeps. It has a raw edge though, the idiom and architecture does not impede the visceral, emotional content. It’s about form AND heart AND realness, the more rigorous AND open AND boiled down, the more wrenching. It communicates in introspections and outbursts. The vocal can lilt with melancholy only to turn with smug angst within a phrase. For all its forethought, the end result pends until the application of the last stroke. There is nuance and humanity in this, there is aim and aimlessness, side by side and both fully present. Like Ayers or Newell or Stamey. Like Carole King or Abba or Don Mclean in the power pop Olympics, and then closed off and difficult and foaming at the mouth. See: bittersweet folk unknowns, reprobate bedroom glammists, serpentine flight simulators, or synchronized swimmers.” -Joe Chamandy (Celluloid Lunch) // Recorded in 2021 & 2022 at Troost House by Shoutsie on the Tascam 388, then something snapped I couldn’t fix. Serpent, Willkommen + Cows recorded in the Winkler-verse. // Kyle Rausch plays drums on Elysian Fields; Leslie Butsch plays sax on Mirror on the Wall, Neon Moon, and Elysian Fields (on which she also sings.) Lina Dannov plays the flute on Mirror on the Wall. Duet on The Minotaur and Deutschspraching is Johann Schreier. Intro Segura Como La Leche by Esli Meuly. Buz Clatworthy plays the 12 string guitar on Elysian Fields. Without them I wouldn’t have made this record.]

7. Calvin Arsenia – Paradise / Calvin Arsenia / June 23, 2023

[Paradise is Calvin Arsenia’s new 14 track album. It is only available through http://www.calvinarsenia.com // A new turning point as a songwriter. His most biographical album yet, with songs about Black Lives Matter, Racism, The Police, being on probation, gay love. The album contains collaborations with Cheery, Kadesh Flow and Jametatone. Calvin Arsenia one of our most frequent guests, who first appeared on WMM on July 25, 2012. KC Magazine has hailed Calvin as ‘equal parts opera, symphony, musical theatre, rock show, all built around its creator: a charismatic 6-foot-7-inch harpist with a 3 and ½ octave range, natural stage command and knack for gilding gold and painting lilies.’ Born in Orlando, Florida, Calvin’s creative journey began when he moved to Olathe, Kansas, teaching himself the guitar, piano, banjo. He learned his signature instrument, the harp, at the age of 20. His passion for stretching the boundaries of musical expression saw him transform a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland’s Fringe Festival early in his career into a life-changing music mission, with an Edinburgh church offering him a role as musical liaison between the church and the city that would change his life. Two years and 300 shows later, Calvin returned to KC reborn as a humanistic songwriter / performer where at 24 he released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. On February 14, 2017 Calvin released his critically acclaimed full length debut, Catastrophe, with a live show at recordBar in November 2016 that involved a company of 50 people, dancers, stilt walkers. After signing to Center Cut Records, Calvin released the albums: Cantaloupe in 2018, with a sold out gigantic spectacle at The Gem Theatre on Saturday, September 15, 2018. He then released, L.A. Sessions in 2019, and the EP HONEY DEW, and the EP Goddess with Quixotic, the Holiday album, ALL IS CALM. In 2020 Calvin collaborated with Mike Dillon on the Soundtrack to “Summer in Hindsight,” a feature-length film created by The West 18th Street Fashion Show that also starred Calvin as an actor. Calvin is also the co-creator of the podcast “We Were Christian Kids” created with childhood friend Justin Randall who is a stand up comedian working in New York City and Los Angeles. Calvin Arsenia is the author of EVERY GOOD BOY DOES FINE, a collection of Poetry & Prose published on October 5, 2021, by Andrews McMeel Universal. Calvin was voted KC’s Best Musician in The Pitch 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. He has been featured in Billboard, NPR.org. Calvin Arsenia Scott is the recipient of the 2022 Charlotte Street Foundation Generative Performing Artist Award. More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com][Calvin Arsenia was our guest on WMM on Jan. 18, 2023, June 21, 2023, and our 1000th Show on June 28, 2923.]

Calvin Arsenia Discography

Calvin Arsenia – Moments [EP] / Independent / April 9, 2014
Calvin Arsenia was 24 when he released this EP after returning home to Kansas City after living and performing in Edinburgh, Scotland. Calvin works as a songwriter, composer, lyricist, producer, and engineer.

Calvin Arsenia – Prose [EP] / Independent / February 3, 2015
Recorded over the course of three live sessions at Edinburgh’s Napier University. Produced by Graham Coe. Engineered by David O’Leary. Music and Lyrics: Calvin Arsenia, with Fiona Reid & Liselot Van Oosterom on Vocals, Graham Coe on Cello, Mark Smith on Percussion, Lyle Watt on Guitar Calvin Arsenia on Vocals & Guitar & Piano.

Calvin Arsenia – Caviar [EP] / Calvin Arsenia / December 5, 2017
Produced for attendees at Calvin’s “Secret Show,” Tuesday, December 5, at Wickstock West, 1324 West 12th Street, in The West Bottoms, and for supporters of his Outlyre Tour. Words and Music by Calvin Arsenia. Produced by Jametatone, Simon Huntley and Calvin Arsenia. Recorded at The Infoaming Vertex.

Calvin Arsenia – Catastrophe {EP] / Calvin Arsenia / February 17, 2016
Limited edition EP, produced for Folk Alliance International, contains demo recordings of original gems that are the blueprints for Calvin’s soon to be released full length debut, coming in 2017. Since Calvin Arsenia came home to KC after living in Edinburgh, Scotland, he has released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. He has played all over town, including showcases at Folk Alliance International, Kansas City Fringe Fest, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, and collaborations with bands like My Brothers and Sisters. Standing at 6 foot 5 inches, Arsenia’s powerful vocals span a 3.5 octave range, while playing piano, bango, guitar and harp. Calvin Arsenia is getting ready to release a new album in the fall. Calvin teaches music to elementary students. Calvin is also a graduate of Artist INC professional development program for artists in the Kansas City metro area and across the Mid-America Arts Alliance five state region.

Calvin Arsenia – Catastrophe [Album] / Calvin Arsenia / February 14, 2017
Calvin Arsenia premiered these songs in a live show at recordBar in November 2016 in a stage show that involved a cpmpany of 50 people, dancers, stilt walkers, special lighting, back up singers, guest artists. Since Calvin Arsenia came home to KC after living in Edinburgh, Scotland, he has released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. Standing at 6 foot 6 inches, Arsenia’s powerful vocals span a 3.5 octave range, while playing piano, banjo, guitar and harp Calvin teaches music to elementary students. Calvin is also a graduate of Artist INC. Since 2014 we have been celebrating the music of Calvin Arsenia. He has played Folk Alliance International, Kansas City Fringe Fest, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, The Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts, The Middle of the Map Fest., The Folly Theatre. Calvin recently returned home from a three month US/European Outlyre Tour where he has played San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, NYC, Boston, Edinburgh, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Switzerlnd, Lyon and Paris. in over 40 shows, with musician and friend Simon Huntley who plays with Quixotic. Calvin Arsenia played Big Bang Buffet’s “Black Sheep Rising,” Tuesday, April 11, at 8:00 at The Buffalo Room. A benefit for 90.1 FM KKFI featuring Ron Megee, Lisa Cordes, Jon “Piggy” Cupit, The Sleazebeats, Kristie Stremel, Jen Harris, Maria Vasquez Boyd, Jen Appell, Bill Belzer, Charlie Colborne, Mark Manning, Susan Cedarquis-Brewington, BJ McBride, Michael McQuary, Janet Henry, Ryan Wilks, and Nico Gray.

Calvin Arsenia – Live at Greenwood Social Hall / Unreleased / June 11, 2017
Solo live performance at Greenwood Social Hall, 1760 Bellevue, KCMO.

Calvin Arsenia – Caviar [EP] / Calvin Arsenia / December 5, 2017
Produced for attendees at Calvin’s “Secret Show,” Tuesday, December 5, at Wickstock West, 1324 West 12th Street, in The West Bottoms, and for supporters of his Outlyre Tour. Words and Music by Calvin Arsenia. Produced by Jametatone, Simon Huntley and Calvin Arsenia. Recorded at The Infoaming Vertex. Since Calvin Arsenia came home to KC after living in Edinburgh, Scotland, he has released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. n the late Summer and Fall Calvin went on a three month US/European Outlyre Tour where he has played San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, NYC, Boston, Edinburgh, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Switzerlnd, Lyon and Paris. in over 40 shows, with musician and friend Simon Huntley who plays with Quixotic.

Calvin Arsenia – Cantaloupe / Center Cut Records / September 15, 2018
Calvin’s 2018 national debut, Cantaloupe (Center Cut Records), has been acclaimed for melding diverse textures into an alluring signature sound for the adventurous artist.

Calvin Arsenia – L.A. Sessions / Center Cut Records / September 20, 2019
Calvin performed live at L.A.’s The Mint, showcasing songs on LA Sessions with musicians who collaborated on the album. Says Calvin: “It’s such a special experience to play with them. To be able to perform these songs in front of an audience and do this for a living – to have made a career out of something I love is so amazing – it is an honor that I never take for granted.”

Calvin Arsenia – Honeydew / Center Cut Records / June 28, 2019
On September 15, 2018 Calvin released Cantaloupe on Center Cut Records. This new EP is a remix of three of the songs from Cantaloupe, plus a Talking Heads cover that was performed live in this style at a New Year’s Eve show at The Truman opening for Making Movies who performed the entire Talking Heads album, Remain in Light. The last three songs on Honeydew were from performed in this style at The Nelson Atkins 2019 event “Party Arty.” Honeydew was produced by Jametatone, Simon Huntley, Calvin Arsenia.

Quixotic & Calvin Arsenia – “Goddess – EP / Quixotic / May 17, 2019
An innovative performance art collective that fuses imagination with technology, dance, projection, mapping & live music to create fully-immersive, multi-sensory experiences. Quixotic harnesses light, rhythm and expressive emotion. Quixotic was given Silicon Valley’s unofficial stamp of genius when they were invited to perform at the global TED Conference in 2012. A unique blend of performance art, technology & emotion. Quixotic fuses all these elements in to what the New York Times branded an “innovative circus performance”.

Calvin Arsenia – all is calm / Calvin Arsenia. / December 13, 2019
Arsenia’s dreamlike whimsy shimmering through your favorite Christmas Classics. All proceeds for this album go towards the purchase of Calvin’s first harp. Featuring: Ben Muñoz on Cello, Shane Borth on Violin & Voila, & Luke “Skippy” Harbur on Beatbox. Mastered by Jametatone at the Infoaming Vertex and special thanks to Simon Huntley. Calvin wrote: “I recorded the majority of this album in my bedroom in between flights to and from KC and SF. I had my nephews and friend’s kids in mind and wanted an album of Christmas lullabys. I think it became just a little more sassy than anticipated, but I think you’ll enjoy it regardless.”

Calvin Arsenia – Summer in Hindsight / Calvin Arsenia & Mike Dillon / Oct. 16, 2020
Soundtrack by Calvin Arsenia and Mike Dillon for The West 18th Street Fashion Show’s 20th year as a feature-length film. COVID-19 changed everything in 2020. “We are moving it from the street to the screen,” says Peregrine Honig to inkansascitymagazine. “Mike Dillon and Calvin Arsenia will be scoring and performing in the film.” The film premiered October 16, 2020 at The Boulevard Drive-In. Honig wrote,. “We did this during a pandemic and a cultural revolution. I am not sure where else or how else this could happen at this moment in history.” Calvin Arsenia had recently been emotionally and greatly moved by the area and national Black Lives Matter Movement. His own research into his own family revealed that Calvin’s great, great, great grandmother Alice Gilliam Scott, was a former slave who lived to observe her 100th birthday as noted by a regional newspaper Calvin had written. In the summer of 2020 Calvin wrote “Revelation” an unreleased track inspired by Black Lives Matter. Calvin premiered the song on WMM on August 12, 2020. He later shared his other new songs, “Scars and Stripes” and “The Flying Monkees are Coming!” on our October 14, 2020 edition of WMM. Both of those songs ended up on Summer in Hindsight.

Rewound & Calvin Arsenia – Lovestory [EP / House of Outlyre Productions / May 9, 2023
Rewound & Calvin Arsenia released Lovestory (4-song) EP that included several other singles they released this year, including “All Too Well” on April 25, 2023, All 4 tracks are instrumental covers the songs of Taylor Swift. // Rewound is a trio with Carmen Dieker on violin, Alyssa Bell on viola, and Ezgi Karakus on cello that perform classical and contemporary music re-imagined. For these recordings they collaborated with Calvin Arsenia on harp.

Calvin Arsenia – Paradise / Calvin Arsenia / June 23, 2023
The 14 track album is (only) available through http://www.calvinarsenia.com A new turning point as a songwriter. His most biographical album yet, with songs about Black Lives Matter, Civil Rights, Racism, gay love. The album contains collaborations with Cheery, Kadesh Flow and Jametatone. Calvin Arsenia plays a PARADISE Album Release Party, Friday, June 23, and Saturday, June 24, at 7:00 PM at The Emerald, 1715 West 9th Street, KCMO, WEST BOTTOMS. More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com

8. Dragon Inn 3 – Trade Secrets / American Laundromat Records / April 18, 2023

[The long-anticipated sophomore release from Dragon Inn 3, features 10 brand new songs plus a fantastic cover of Yazoo’s “Only You.” // Dragon Inn 3 is: Grace Bentley on vocals; Philip Dickey on synths, drums, guitar, bass & vocals; Sharon Hamm on synths & vocals; David Hill on vocals & synths. Recorded from 2018 to 2022 at Davey’s house and Sharon’s house. Recorded, mixed, and produced by Philip Dickey. Additional recording and mixing help from Ross Brown, David Hill, and Chase Horseman. Mastered by Sean Glonek at SRG studios. Additional musicians: Bill Belzer percussion “I Can’t Stop”, John Cardwell guitar “Finally Going Down”, Ben Collins guitar “I Can’t Stop”, Tim Gillespie saxophone “I Can’t Stop” “Out Of Control” “Trade Secrets Theme”, Anita Kitungano vocals “See It Your Way”, John O’Hallaron guitar “Teleport”, Bora Wilondja vocals “See It Your Way” “Trade Secrets Theme”, Mauwa Wilondja vocals “Trade Secrets Theme”, Pelo Wilondja percussion “I Could Never”. Additional writers: Emma Bentley Ruzicka “Not Enough”, Bora Wilondja “See It Your Way”, JR Top “See It Your Way”, and Vincent Clark “Only You”. Cover photo: Dominik Podlipniak. Design: Dustin Williams. // Kansas City based band formed in 2012 with Grace Bentley, Sharon Bowie, Philip K. Dickey, E.P. Marcus. Dragon Inn 3’s debut LP DOUBLE LINE on August 17, 2018 through American Laundromat records. DOUBLE LINE was part of WMM’s 118 Best Recordings of 2018. The band spent six years whittling away on the songs. Combining sugary pop hooks, hypnotic beats, and huge MOOG synths, Dragon Inn 3’s playful take on 80s pop could double as the soundtrack to a John Hughes movie (if John Hughes directed Blade Runner). The cinematic origins of Dragon Inn 3 can be traced back to 2012, when Philip Dickey (leader of the indie-pop group, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin) wrote a theme song for the award-winning short film Ghoul School. “If you watch the trailer you can tell it’s the same premise and look as Stranger Things–we just accidentally made it three years before them,” Dickey says. “I had so much fun making the soundtrack with the director (E.P. Marcus) that we decided to start a band.” Dickey recruited his sister, Sharon Bowie, an occupational therapist, and his wife, children’s librarian Grace Bentley, to help with songwriting and vocal duties. The group self-released the Ghoul School Soundtrack EP in late 2012, receiving high praise from Consequence of Sound, Philadelphia’s WXPN, and The Riverfront Times, before climbing to #1 on Bandcamp’s cassette charts. Then it was back to the studio (i.e. the bedrooms, kitchens, garages, and hotel rooms that doubled as makeshift recording studios). In between full-time jobs, parenthood, graduate school classes, and cross country moves, the members of Dragon Inn 3 put Double Line to tape. “I’m a stay-at-home dad now, so I would work on song arrangements and rough mixes when our toddler was taking his naps,” explains Dickey. “Grace would come home from work and record all her parts after his bedtime. We recorded all the breathy vocals in the living room and all the yelly parts in the garage so we wouldn’t wake him up.” The result is a highly addictive album that creates “a soundtrack for the more introspective moments on and off the dance floor,” according to critic David Greenwald. With members spread out over the country (KC, LA, and Springfield, MO), the group signed to American Laundromat Records in early 2018. A demo of “Bad Boy” (co-written with Free Energy’s Paul Sprangers) landed in a commercial for Ryan Adams’ Beats 1 Radio show before the song was even completed. More Info at: http://www.dragoninn3.com] [Philip Dicky joined us LIVE on WMM on May 3, 2023.]

9. Mike Dillon & Punkadelic – Inflorescence / Royal Potato Family / January 27, 2023

[Punkadelick: Mike Dillon – Vibraphone, Marimba, Prophet 6, Congas, Bongo; Brain Haas – Fender Rhodes, Piano, Bass Moog, Melodica; Nikki Glaspie – Drums, Cymbals, Vocals. Mixed and Recorded by Chad Meise. Mastered by Collin Jordan / Boiler Room Mastering. Cover Art: Peregrine Honig. // From Bandcamp notes: Mike Dillon & Punkadelick makes its recorded debut with Inflorescence, an album of heady, instrumental rock highlighting a band deep in the throes of creative freedom, road tested and wild. Consisting of 10 tracks in 42-minutes, it’s an expansive, focused and fearless collection, representing a world where Duke Ellington and Augustus Pablo rub shoulders with crate-digger exotica, the freak-funk of Parliament and the ‘anything fits’ outsider ethos of acid-fried punks like The Meat Puppets. // A trio featuring Mike Dillon (Ricki Lee Jones, Ani DiFranco, Les Claypool) on vibraphone, marimba, Prophet 6, congas, and bongos, Brian Haas (Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey) on Fender Rhodes, piano, bass Moog and melodica and Nikki Glaspie (Beyonce) on drums, cymbals and vocals, Punkadelick is the unified vision of six hands creating a world that often sounds like the work of an ensemble three times the size. // During 2020 and 2021, while many music venues were still shuttered, the group began touring, sweating their way through cuts Dillon and Haas had composed during quarantine writing sessions. Locking in on stage, it quickly became clear the band was functioning at a level that made the hair on their arms stand at attention—even for three live music veterans accustomed to life on the road. // “It became obvious to let this become a collaboration,” Dillon says. “This is really something all three of us are doing because we have so much love for one another and a love for the music that we started creating.” // “There’s only three of us, but we move together like a big, nasty school of fish,” Haas adds, laughing. // During the tail end of a 2021 tour, the band booked time to record with engineer—and functioning fourth band member—Chad Meise, and Inflorescence sprouted. Opener “Desert Monsoon,” sets the stage with a spiritual-jazz intro of organ, vibraphone, percussion and wordless vocal coos before crackling to life as a swaggering funk strut. The title track, and “Pandas,” dig into thick dub textures built around Glaspie’s drumming and Haas’s subwoofer-straining bass synths. // “Apocalypse Daydream,” which appeared as an exotic head-nodder on 2020’s Shoot the Moon (titled “Apocalyptic Daydreams”) is reborn as a meatier jazz-rock slab where Dillon and Haas circle each other like Television performing as a lounge act on a cruise ship sailing seas of psilocybin. // Bending ears and surprising audiences has long been part of Dillon’s MO and Glaspie and Haas act as perfect foils for forays into the weird. While Dillon bristles at the “punk jazz” tag, punk rock and jazz remain core influences to the band, in sound and spirit. // “We’re students of the titans of music. We grew up listening to punk and rock ’n’ roll but we also love instrumental music—particularly the forefathers of Black American Music. In our minds, Led Zeppelin and Milt Jackson, Parliament-Funkadelic and The Minutemen, The Bad Brains and Frank Zappa are interconnected influences,” explains Dillon. “All that comes together in how we approach instrumental creative music. Both punk rock and jazz are not prefab things, they’re about the freedom. We have no genre restriction in this band, and people who get it really respect that.” // Maybe the greatest example of the band’s punk-steeped sonic free-for-all is “Slowly But Surely,” a track Dillon told Haas to compose as if he were “writing for Queens of the Stone Age.” The song plays like QOTSA translated to piano runs, vibes and deeply swinging drums—big-riff stoner rock upended and played with huge smiles by America’s premier proponents of the unclassifiable. // “We try to challenge our listeners. We’re touching a nerve with people who maybe don’t want to see the same songs done in the same variations all night long,” continues Dillon. “Part of my mission is taking these instruments that are primarily designed for the orchestral or jazz world and taking them to the rock world, the club world, running them through pedals and effects. We’re not afraid to be soft, or to surprise. That’s what we all do in this band — get beyond our own conceptions of what music is supposed to be.” // “We are so blessed and lucky to do what we do for a living — it’s apparent in the music,” Glaspie chimes in. “It doesn’t matter how the day is going, but we get to the club, set up and crush the gig, all the other stuff doesn’t matter. We’re likeminded individuals who love life, love people and want to spread happiness.” ] [Mike Dillon was our guest on WMM on May 24, 2023]

10. Saving Miles Lemon – LOVELY / Saving Miles Lemon / October 6, 2023

[“’Til the Suns Comes” was released as a single on July 13, 2023. The new 13-track full-length album from Saving Miles Lemon is the psychedelic-pop project of Miguel Silva-Leon. Formed in 2019 with the goal of releasing an album by the end of the year, the project has transformed into a full-blown musical odyssey for Miguel (who likes to go by Mig) to explore new sounds. It’s hard to define what genre Saving Miles Lemon fits into as they like to let the music go where it wants to go. From smooth dance pop, to blown-out stoner rock, Mig likes to keep things interesting and never stay with one sound for too long.​ // Having grown up learning to play the piano at the age of 7, Miguel found themselves picking up new instruments frequently from the clarinet, saxophone, and oboe to guitar/bass and drums. Just as with their instruments, Mig began practicing their production skills in high school with small bedroom projects and hardcore bands. In a way, nothing has changed, as all of Saving Miles Lemon’s music is recorded and produced entirely by Mig in their bedroom studio to this day. // Their live members include Jacob Frisbee (bass), James Wiltfang (keys), and Zeke Bockleman (drums). // As a live act, the band began performing in 2021 and quickly took over the DIY scene in Kansas City before moving on to the bar/venue scene with sold-out shows at The Rino (KCMO) and The Bottleneck (LFK). They’ve opened for national and international touring bands such as Cub Sport at The Encore at Uptown Theatre (KCMO). // Saving Miles Lemon has released two full-length LPs and a handful of singles. A third album is set to release in 2023.] [Saving Miles Lemon played Outer Reaches Fest, Fri, Oct. 13 at recordBar, 1w/ Bombino, The Philistines, & Teri Quinn.]

11. Allison Russell – The Returner / Birds of Chicago LLC – Fantasy Records / September 8, 2023

[4x GRAMMY-nominated singer, songwriter, poet, activist, and multi-instrumentalist Allison Russell has announced her new album, The Returner. The album was written and co-produced by Allison along with dim star (her partner JT Nero and Drew Lindsay) and was recorded over Solstice week in December 2022 at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles, CA. It features Russell’s “Rainbow Coalition” band of all female musicians along with special guest appearances from the legendary Wendy & Lisa, Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, and Hozier. Allison Russell on The Returner: “My goal with The Returner – sonically, poetically, and spiritually – is a radical reclamation of the present tense, a real time union of body, mind, and soul. This album is a much deeper articulation of rhythm, groove, and syncopation. Groove as it heralds the self back into the body, groove as it celebrates sensual and sexual agency and flowering, groove as an urgent call to action and political activism. // In just a word, it’s funkier. But as is the history of anything funky, it’s never just a party. It is a multiverse of energies that merges the celebration and the battle cry. For while an embrace of the present tense is a celebration, it is equally an unquestioning leap into battle – cultural, political, environmental.” // Since the release of her debut solo LP two years ago Outside Child, Russell’s often devastating, deeply moving, cathartic celebration of survivor’s joy has become one of the most acclaimed albums of the past 10 years. Now comes the second chapter in her story, The Returner, a body-shaking, mind-expanding, soulful expression of liberation, love, and self-respect that serves as a fierce declaration of joy for all survivors that have made it to the other side. Allison, JT, and Drew built The Returner from the bottom up with a rhythm-first, genre-fluid approach. The improvisational energy of great female artists sparked the album’s fierce joy, and provided a wider canvas for Allison’s immense, unlimited talent. In all, the new album doesn’t just deliver on the promise of the last two years, it exceeds all reasonable (and unreasonable) expectations and affirms Allison Russell’s place among music’s most vital artists and The Returner, as one of 2023’s most essential recordings. // Allison Russell has spent her career in multiple bands, including Po’ Girl, Our Native Daughters, and Birds of Chicago. After a career spent as a gifted multi-instrumentalist, backing numerous other artists, she finally dared to release her solo project in 2021. “It’s an album of strength and affirmation, not victimization,” said The New York Times in their profile on Russell and Outside Child. Following the album’s release, Russell performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Ellen, Late Night With Stephen Colbert, CBS Saturday Morning, Austin City Limits, The Kelly Clarkson Show made her Opry debut and appeared at the Country Music Hall of Fame and performed at the 2022 GRAMMY’s Premiere Ceremony. // The accolades for Russell have been immense. In addition to her four GRAMMY nominations, she has earned three 2022 Americana Award nominations and a win for Album of the Year, two International Folk Music Award wins, a 2022 Juno nomination for ‘Songwriter of the Year,’ and her first-ever Juno Award win for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year. Russell received two 2021 Americana Awards nominations, won three Canadian Folk Music Awards, two UK Americana Music Awards, and more. She was recently nominated for Song of the Year and Artist of the Year for the 2023 Americana Awards. In addition, Russell has consistently used her newfound platform to elevate, educate and inspire; curating the history making Once And Future Sounds: Roots and Revolution set for the Newport Folk Festival in 2021 and mobilizing this year’s triumphant Love Rising All-Star benefit concert in support of LGBTQIA+ causes in Nashville – raising over $550,000 and calling national attention to Tennessee’s dangerous anti/trans and anti/drag laws. Russell has also announced a book deal with Flatiron/MacMillan for her debut novel, a memoir based on her life and the material that inspired Outside Child and The Returner. // All songs written by Allison Russell, JT Nero, and Drew Lindsay // Co-Producers: Dim Star and Allison Russell // Recorded by Brandon Bell at Henson Recording Studios (Los Angeles, CA) Assistant Engineer: Kelsey Porter. Mixed by Brandon Bell at The Cabin Studio (Nashville, TN). Mastered by Kim Rosen at Knack Mastering (Ringwood, NJ) // Allison Russell (vocals, banjo, clarinet), Elenna Canlas (keyboards/synth, backing vocals), Elizabeth Pupo-Walker (percussion), Chauntee Ross (violin, backing vocals) & Monique Ross (cello, backing vocals) aka SistaStrings, Ganessa James (bass, backing vocals), Joy Clark (guitar), Kerenza Peacock (violin), Larissa Maestro (cello, backing vocals), Lisa Coleman (piano), Mandy Fer (guitar, backing vocals), Meg Coleman (drums), Meg McCormick (guitar), Wendy Melvoin (guitar, bass), and Wiktoria Bialic (drums). Special guests Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, and Hozier provide backing vocals on “Requiem”. //We first saw Allison Russell as part of the band/duo with her partner JT Nero as, The Birds of Chicago at the 2014 International Folk Alliance Conference, where they were an Official Showcase Artist . More info at http://www.folk.org. Russell was born in Montreal to a Grenadian student and a Scottish-Canadian teenage single mother. Her mother struggled with postpartum depression and schizophrenia, and Russell was initially placed in foster care. Her mother regained custody of her after marrying a white-supremacist American expatriate. From the ages of 5 to 15, she was physically and sexually abused by her adoptive father. At the age of 15, Russell ran away from home, eventually moving to Vancouver in 1998. She attended Dawson College. // Russell was initially a member of the Vancouver-based Celtic folk band Fear of Drinking. // In 2003, Russell formed the band Po’ Girl with The Be Good Tanyas member Trish Klein. She recorded seven albums with the band: Po’ Girl (2003), Vagabond Lullabies (2004), B-side Recordings (2006), Home to You (2007), Deer in the Night (2008), Live (2009), and Follow Your Bliss (2010). Russell formed the music group Birds of Chicago with JT Nero in 2012. As part of Birds of Chicago, Russell released three studio albums, Birds of Chicago (2012), Real Midnight (2016) and Love in Wartime (2018). With the group, she also released a live album, Live from Space, and an EP titled American Flowers in 2018. In 2018, Russell joined the musical collective Our Native Daughters alongside fellow musicians Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Amythyst Kiah In 2019, the group released the album Songs of Our Native Daughters under the Smithsonian Folkways label. Russell was also featured alongside the rest of the group in a Smithsonian Channel documentary titled Reclaiming History: Our Native Daughters. Info: http://www.allisonrussellmusic.com]

12. ANOHNI and The Johnsons – My Back Was a Bridge For You To Cross / Secretly Canadian / July 7, 2023

[All tracks written by Anohni Hegarty. All tracks produced & mixed by Jimmy Hogarth. Executive Producers, Geoff Travis & Jeannette Lee. Mastered by Greg Calbi. Published by Downtown Music Publishing // from Bandcamp notes: “I’ve been thinking a lot about Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. That was a really important touchstone in my mind,” says ANOHNI of her sixth studio album, My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross. “A couple of these songs are almost a response to the call of What’s Going On, from 2023. They are a kind of an echo from the future to that album from 50 years ago.” // As the British-born, New York-based artist’s first full album since 2016’s HOPELESSNESS, ANOHNI explains that the creative process was painstaking, yet also inspired, joyful, and intimate, a renewal and a renaming of her response to the world as she sees it. // A record its creator acknowledges is inextricably both personal and political, and one that is full of heartfelt music that also questions its own right to be heard, My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross demonstrates music’s unique capacity to bring harmony to competing, sometimes contradictory, elements. // “For me, there’s no heavenly respite; creation is a spectral and feminine continuum, and our souls are an inalienable part of nature.” // In 2022, having sought producer recommendations from Rough Trade Records’ Jeannette Lee and Geoff Travis, ANOHNI began working with Jimmy Hogarth (Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Tina Turner) noting his sensitivity towards soul music. Having always helmed and written her previous records – bar HOPELESS-NESS, for some of which, producers were invited to submit instrumentals – this kind of collaboration was a first for ANOHNI. “There was a great ease to this songwriting process,” she says of her writing and recording sessions with Hogarth. “I loved making this record in a way that I’ve never done before.” // Bringing in with her several years of texts, ANOHNI and Hogarth shared musical ideas and sketched out a series of demos with Hogarth playing guitar. Hogarth then assembled a studio band – including guitarist Leo Abrahams and string arranger/instrumentalist Rob Moose – to record the full album. // “Many of the recordings on this record – like“It Must Change”and “Can’t” – capture the first and only time I have sung those songs through. There’s a magic when you suddenly place words you have been thinking about for a long time into melody. A neural system awakens. It isn’t personal and yet is so personal. Things connect and come alive.” // Hogarth’s intuitive guitar leads the listener across ten songs, touching on elements of American soul, British folk and experiment-al music. ANOHNI places her heart on the line and in a groove in the opening track “It Must Change,” describing systems in collapse with a note of compassion for humanity: “The truth is I always thought you were beautiful in your own way / That’s why this is so sad.”“Scapegoat” waivers between tenderness and instrumental brutality, “Take all of my hate into your body / It doesn’t matter what you’ve got to give / or why you want to live / You’re my scapegoat / It’s not personal.” The primordial, Kali-esque curse “Rest” positions the record at moments in conversation with experimental rock of the 1970s: “Rest like the enemy of all that sees / Rest like the enemy of all that breathes / In the poison ocean blue / She’ll come home to you.” “Go Ahead” presses melody through dissonance. “You are determined to take me down / Go ahead kill your friends / I can’t stop you.” My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross shape shifts through its subject matter: the loss of loved ones, inequality, alienation, privilege, denial, ecocide and the tidal power of Earth, isolation, Future Feminism, and the intention that we might yet transform our ways of thinking, our religious ideas, our societal structures, and our relationships with the rest of nature. // “You know how they always said that light was the opposite of darkness? / It’s just fire in darkness, creating life / So those opposites, they don’t exist / It’s just an idea that someone told you” (“It Must Change”) // ANOHNI’s voice is sensual and smoothed, selectively reaching to the edges of what it can contain. “I don’t want you to be dead, I can’t accept it,” she cries out at the climax of “Can’t.” “We’re not getting out of here / No one’s getting out of here / This is our world,” she murmurs on “It Must Change.” “How sweet the vista, the portal view / On my way to black and blue,” she grieves on “Sliver of Ice,” a remembering of some of the last words Lou Reed shared with her. // A portrait of gay rights activist Marsha P. Johnson taken by Alvin Baltrop features on the cover of My Back Was a Bridge For You To Cross, reflecting a 25-year relationship with the memory of Johnson that ANOHNI has held space for in the presentation of her own work. Paintings by Sylvester Hustito, a Zuni Two Spirit artist from New Mexico, depict another crucial vision of America, from a queer, indigenous historical point of view. On “You Be Free,” ANOHNI sings from with heartbreak about the passing of trans intergenerational knowledge: “Done my work / My back was broke / My back was a bridge for you to cross / Then I wished in the aftermath / That the Earth would take my life / Like she took the lives of my Mother and my Sister.” // “I’m careful with the emotional pathways I am drawing. The stories we tell ourselves are the basis of our cultural mythologies, and often a foreshadowing of our destinies. We live in a world where story-telling has become another abuse of power, a threat, fake news, anti-female, anti-nature,” ANOHNI says of her intentions as lyricist. The album artwork states ”IT’S TIME TO FEEL WHAT’S REALLY HAPPENING”. In some ways it feels as if she is reaching across her life’s expression, and has found a moment of unique composure, wearing her long exploration of disarming intensity, but with the maturity of a painter choosing colors. // On listening to My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross, one is reminded of music’s power and ability to articulate the political and the personal concurrently. “As much as I was British or American, I was identified as a non-viable part of family, community, church, society. At moments I was deemed not worth protecting, as being expendable, on account of my femininity. Ultimately that was a gift for me because it brought me unique insight into the societies I found myself having to navigate. It forced me to be more willing to look at who and where I really was.” // With “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” Marvin Gaye made a visionary plea for the environment in 1971, a gesture that ANOHNI has echoed across her own output, from “Rapture” in 1992 and “Another World” in 2009, to “4 Degrees” and “Why Did You Separate Me From The Earth?” from her last record HOPELESSNESS in 2016. // ANOHNI’s approach since her last record has shifted from someone tasked with challenging global denial, to an artist seeking to support others on the front lines. “I want the record to be useful. I learned with HOPELESSNESS that I can provide a soundtrack that might fortify people in their work, in their activism, in their dreaming and decision-making. I can sing of an awareness that makes others feel less alone, people for whom the frank articulation of these frightening times is not a source of discomfort but a cause for identification and relief.” // “I see myself as a part of a process. I know that I’m not there, but I feel that someone in the future might know how to get there. An innovation in our way of dreaming or thinking might help us get back home. I hope that this record is another step in that direction. As problematic and broken as it might be, maybe there’s an element in this music that’s going to be useful to a future iteration of us. They’re going to be able to distill what’s right about it and make something better out of it. So I do my work hoping that someone’s going to be able to pick it up and take it further, that it can be a source of something positive at some later point in our evolution – if we’re lucky to continue to have an evolution.” // “We are each moving through massive impersonal systems that we feel powerless to change. And yet we’re being asked in this moment to pull back the curtain and recognize these systems for what they are – not the preordained will of a god, but something we created over centuries. If we can’t do this collective-ly, we will forfeit our remaining ability to influence our trajectory. We have to dismantle systems that are destructive, and yet upon which many of us are dependent. Whether it’s because of malevolence, or fear, or addiction… ultimately it’s been one big survival strategy. We’ve never been faced with a challenge this conse-quential before as a species. Because of their structural hatred of Femaleness, Abrahamic religions and capital-ism can only realize an apocalyptic future, rather than facilitate the emergence of a life-sustaining sensibility that might allow us to continue to exist as a part of Nature. So that’s a challenge that we’re facing now.”]

13. Monta – Crystal Momentum EP / The Record Machine / March 24, 2023

[The band released the single “Looking Back” on February 27, 2023, and “Everybody’s Baby” on January 27, 2023. Monta’s latest, the Crystal Momentum EP, hones the Kansas City band’s mastery of electrified dreamworld post-punk, presenting four spacious songs to accompany out-of-body explorations. Monta’s core players — Mikal Shapiro on vocals, Krysztof Nemeth and Lucas Behrens on guitars, Dedric Moore on electronics, Matthew Heinrich on drums, and Teri Quinn with additional vocals — accompany their visions with a groovy flow that rings with subtle tensions, introspective instrumentation, and chorus-fed uplifts. // Found within are “Everybody’s Baby,” an otherworldly adoration of unnamed strangers set to transfixing melodies and a snake-like groove; the buoyant “Looking Back,” which shines a danceable, sonic brightness through a haze of ecstatic reminiscence; the inspired “Perimeter Dancer,” an ode to those who fight for the cause, accompanied by a punky disco beat and a chorus that launches the song upward to a mirror-ball-lit sky. And then there’s “Luna Lost In Your Gaze,” a righteous desert sleepwalk of a tune that recalls the spaghetti western tones of Monta’s past while remaining on the current trajectory. // With the Crystal Momentum EP, Monta grabs the moment, further defining the distinctive mix of synth-pop and dark psychedelia that’s become the band’s trademark. Take a leap and fall into their world. // Monta means “to climb higher.” Through lineup changes and scenes ebbing and flowing, this band continues that climb. Founded by brothers Dedric and Delaney Moore, Monta (originally Monta At Odds) has grown into its own community with a rotating cast of musicians and characters. More Information at: kosmiccity.com / therecordmachine.co] [Monta played 20 Years of The Record Machine featuring The Noice FM, Black Light Animals Soultru and Pala Zolo, on Saturday, November 11, 2023, at 6:00 PM to 1:00 AM at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd] [Dedric Moore joined us on WMM on October 4, 2023]

14. Andrew Connor – In Colorado / Pretend Outlaw Music / April 21, 2021

[Darien Williams on drums, Justin Fernando on bass guitar, Joseph Murphy on synth, Ryan Connor on guitar & lap steel, Andrew Connor on guitar, keys, & bass guitar. // Engineered by Doug Malone at Jamdek, Chicago // additional tracking by Andrew Connor. // Mixed by Mike Nolte and Andrew Connor in Portland, OR // Mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering // Songs by Andrew Connor, Pretend Outlaw Music ASCAP. Except “Misery” by Ryan Connor and Andrew Connor.] [Andrew Connor played The Ship, 1221 Union Ave. KCMO WEST BOTTOMS, on Friday, June 2 at 8:00 PM with Daniel Gum, and 95 Sweetbird.] [Andrew Connor plays the Eight Street Tap Room, 801 New Hampshire Street, Lawrence Kansas on Saturday, June 3, with Miss Boating, and Empty Moon. More info at: http://www.ghostysounds.com Andrew Connor & Ryan Connor & Billy Belzer joined us on WMM on May 31, 2023.]

Ghosty Discography

Ghosty released the 3-song EP, PRODIGAL SUN on February 28, 2020 with Bill Belzer on drums, percussion / Ross Brown on guitar, keys / Andrew Connor on guitar, keyboards, vocals / Mike Nolte on bass

Ghosty released the self titled album GHOSTY on April 17, 2014. It was there 3rd full length release with Andrew Connor, Mike Nolte and Bill Belzer who recorded their new album themselves over the last couple of years with help from David Wetzel, Josh Adams, Jake Blanton, Konnor Ervin, Ryan Connor, Kirsten Paludan, and Dan Talmadge. The new release was pressed on vinyl and available on LP and digital download.]

Ghosty released the single “Love U 2” on July 15, 2013, recorded June 2013 at Westend, Kansas City, KS.
Documentary about the recording of this song by surrounding media vimeo.com/70317712 // with: Mike Nolte on bass, engineering, mastering // Andrew Connor on guitar, keys, vocals / Bill Belzer – drums, & percussion

Ghosty released the 5-track EP, TEAM UP AGAIN on April 13, 2010 with Andrew Connor, Mike Nolte, David Wetzel, Josh Adams, Jake Blanton, Suzannah Johannes, Konnor Ervin, Ryan Johnson // Team Up Again,” “Ocean of Heat (Setting FIres),” and “Quell The Hunger” by Andrew Connor, arranged by Ghosty, Pretend Outlaw Music, ASCAP, 2010. “Virginia Song” by Rev. Howard Finster, arranged by Ghosty. “On A Saturday” by Jake Blanton, arranged by Ghosty. // “Team Up Again,” “Setting Fires,” “Virginia Song,” and “On A Saturday” recorded and mixed at Run Riot / More Famouser Studios, Shawnee, KS, September 2009 through March 2010. Engineered and mixed by Mike Nolte and Ghosty. // “Quell The Hunger” recorded at Mixtape Soundlab, Lawrence, KS, January 2009 additional tracking and mixing and Run Riot / More Famouser studios, Shawnee, KS, and February 2010. Engineered and mixed by Mike Nolte and Ghosty.

Ghosty released the 3-track EP, FOOLISH PRIDE on November 17, 2009 with All songs by Andrew Connor, arranged by Ghosty, Pretend Outlaw Music, ASCAP, 2009 // “Foolish Pride” and “Rose-Colored Glasses” basic tracks recorded at Jack’s House, Merriam, Kansas, Fall 2007. Engineered by Mike Nolte and Ghosty. Additional tracking and mixing at More Famouser Studios, Kansas City, MO, and Run Riot Studios, Shawnee, KS, Fall 2009. // “Hey Bill” basic tracks recorded at Mixtape Soundlab, Lawrence, KS, January 2009. Engineered by Mike Nolte and David Wetzel. Additional tracking and mixing at More Famouser Studios, Kansas City, MO by Mike Nolte and Ghosty, Spring 2009.

Ghosty released the 3-track EP, A MYSTIC’S ROBE on September 15, 2009 with Andrew Connor, David Wetzel, Mike Nolte, Jake Blanton, Josh Adams, Carmen Winters // All Songs by Andrew Connor, arranged by Ghosty, Pretend Outlaw Music, ASCAP, 2009 // “My Girl Is Strong” and “Sunday Morning” basic tracks recorded at Mixtape Soundlab, Lawrence, KS, January 2009. Engineered by Mike Nolte and David Wetzel. Additional tracking & mixing at More Famouser Studios, KCMO by Mike Nolte & Ghosty Spring 2009. // “Secret Language” basic tracks recorded at Jack’s House, Merriam, KS, Fall 2007 Engineered by Mike Nolte & Ghosty. Additional tracking & mixing at More Famouser Studios, by Mike Nolte & Ghosty Spring 2009.

Ghosty released the 11-song album ANSWERS on January 15, 2008 with tracks recorded by Paul Malinowski at Westend and Run Riot Studios, Kansas City, KS, 2006-07. racks 4, 6, 7, and 9 were recorded and mixed by Trent Bell at Bell Labs, Norman, OK, 2006. // Track 8 was recorded by Tim Brandsted at UMKC and Paul Malinowski at Westend. Mixed by Paul Malinowski at Westend, 2007. // Tracks 2 and 10 were recorded by Chris Behmer at the Ferrell home, Overland Park, KS, 2005, and with Trent Bell at Bell Labs. Mixed by Trent Bell at Bell Labs, 2006. // Mastered by Roger Seibel at SAE Masterin // All songs by Andrew Connor, arranged by Ghosty // Pretend Outlaw Music, ASCAP. // Released on Oxblood Records.

Ghosty released the 5-track EP, ME, ME, ME on January 15, 2006 w/ Andrew Connor on guitar & vocals / Jeff Ferrell on guitar & vocals // David Wetzel on keyboards &* vocals // Mike Nolte – bass & vocals // Josh Adams on drums & vocals // Recorded & mixed Fall 2005 by Jeff Ferrell and Ghosty at New York St. house, Lawrence, KS. Artwork by Paul Browning. Songs by Andrew Connor, Pretend Outlaw Music

Ghosty released the 19-track album GROW UP OR SLEEP IN (Deluxe Edition) on August 30, 2005 with Josh Adams, Andrew Connor, Jeff Ferrell, Mike Nolte, David Wetzel// and Alums: Jacob Baum, Richard Gintowt, Mark Hurst, Andrew Sallee, James Duft // Big Surrender, Henry Greene, and Hey! Somebody were recorded by Mike Mogis at Presto! in Lincoln, NE in the summer of 2002 // Jacqueline, Rooms in the Dark, (In a Big World)Little Dreams Count, High on Life, Clouds Solve It, Go to Add/Drop City, and World Travelers were recorded by Trent Bell and Andy Nunez at Bell Labs in Norman, OK in the fall 2003 // Mastered by Doug Van Sloun at Studio B // Design by Patrick Giroux at Blue Collar Press // All songs by Andrew Connor, Copyright 2005 // Pretend Outlaw Music(ASCAP) // Wayne Coyne appears courtesy of Warner Brothers Records // BONUS TRACKS: Primadonna, John Hunter, and Sad Sack recorded Summer 2006? at the Ferrell Home in Overland Park, KS by Chris Behmer and Ghosty // Dust Box Nites and Rok Town Air recorded and mixed with Tom Wagner at Underground Sound in Lawrence Kansas, Winter 2005? James Duft plays bass // Going Home Recorded in the Spring of 2002 at 1225 and 1137 Tennessee in Lawrence, KS by Ghosty, Mixed with Jeff Ferrell.

Ghosty released the 6-track EP THE FIVE SHORT MINUTES on February 2, 2002 with Andrew Connor: Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards / Jacob Baum: Bass, Organ, Percussion, Guitar / Richard Gintowt: Drums, Percussion / Jeff Jackson: Pedal Steel Guitar on Track 5 // Recorded Fall 2001 at the haunted house by Jacob Baum / Produced by Ghosty / Mastered by Boyd Bristow

15. Sweeping Promises – Good Living is Coming For You / Feel it – Sub Pop / June 30, 2023

[“For more than a half century, underground music revolutionaries have taken a whack at the mundane mainstream like a piñata. England punks spat “NO FUTURE” at germ-free adolescents. Ohio new wavers devolutionized mankind with whips. Athens art school students chomped at hero worship. MetroCard-carrying riot grrrls rebirthed the bomp with a gasoline gut. In 2020, Sweeping Promises read our pandemic minds with Hunger for a Way Out. In 2023, they return with a new message: Good Living Is Coming For You. At first glance, this nouveau wave slogan offers hope wrapped around relief. At first listen, we realize this may actually be a warning. Darker still, a threat. // A band famous for their unfussy, monolithic anthems, Sweeping Promises elegantly ravage us again with another future classic. They return as a fist of velvet rose petals roaring inside a compact wrecking ball. Gone is the Boston brutalist ambience of their subterranean concrete laboratory and the revelatory single mic recording technique. In its place, a retired and resplendent nude painting studio in Lawrence, Kansas, bathed in light with high ceilings and hardwood floors. Guided once again by their surrounding architecture, a reverb-rich space remains the defining element at the heart of their highly stylized sound. A watery ghost from the golden age of art-punk now wields sharper knives and more microphones. // If the mood of HFAWO was hungry, GLICFY is RAVENOUS. In 2023, appetite is addressed in new ways: Power struggles are aired in “Eraser,” restraints are broken in “You Shatter,” anguished exclamations sting in “Good Living Is Coming for You.” The taboo subject of aging is (s)heroically dragged out into the open. Every line is delivered with such joyous, soaring layers that each punch lands like a chef’s kiss. // Sweeping Promises are Lira Mondal and Caufield Schnug. A chance meeting in Arkansas led to a decade of playing in an eclectic assortment of projects together. Their relentless practice made perfect. Bass playing Lira is an emotive bolt of thunderous energy with the iconic blast of a girl group rolled into one robust throat. Caufield is an intentional guitar player and drummer. No note or hit is extraneous. Together they are meticulous sound engineers, using space as a key ingredient to their distinct sound. Controlling every aspect of their craft, from the first note they write together, all the way through to the final mastering process, each record is an unspoiled fingerprint unique to their dynamic chemistry. // Written before the pandemic, Hunger for a Way Out was released on Feel It Records in the summer of 2020. These songs drip with the anxious urgency of a commanding live performance yet their gauzy production transports us like the fading memory of a favorite song. This distorted sense of time resonated with thousands of quarantined listeners who turned the album into a life-saving floatation device and most beloved album of the year. This is when Feel It Records (North America) and Sub Pop (everywhere else) joined forces to divide/unite and conquer; beginning with the 2021 single “Pain Without a Touch” and now carrying through to Good Living Is Coming For You. // The pandemic went on to trigger an absurd chain of events for Sweeping Promises. Under financial strain, Mondal and Schnug uprooted their lives. They surrendered their studio in Cambridge to take refuge with family in Texas. They completed over 50 demos between their Austin bathroom and a Marfa abode, but feeling unsatisfied, they sought another fresh start. When a disused church in Ohio proved too difficult to rehab, they ultimately found lasting inspiration in Kansas. With their home and studio all under one roof, life is music and music is life. //Good Living Is Coming For You ultimately reflects being thrust into a severely unpredictable world. A capsized boat isn’t entirely bad. In fact, it can be the necessary push toward finding solid ground.” -Tracy Wilson (Courtesy Desk). Sweeping Promises played Outer Reaches Fest, on Sat, October 14 at recordBar, On the Les BonsBons Electrique stage w/, Keo & Them, Static Phantoms]

16. Sufjan Stevens – Javelin / Asthmatic Kitty / October 6, 2023

[adrienne maree brown sings on “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?“ “Everything That Rises“ “Genuflecting Ghost,“ “My Red Little Fox,“ “So You Are Tired,“ and “Javelin (To Have And To Hold).“ Nedelle Torrisi sings on “A Running Start.“ Pauline Delassus sings on “Shit Talk.“ Bryce Dessner plays acoustic and electric guitars on “Shit Talk“. Megan Lui and Hannah Cohen sing on “Goodbye Evergreen,“ “A Running Start,” “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?“ “Everything That Rises,“ “My Red Little Fox,“ “So You Are Tired“ “Javelin (To Have And To Hold),“ “Shit Talk,“ and “There’s A World.“ Sufjan Stevens performs everything else. This album was recorded, engineered, arranged, produced and mixed by Sufjan Stevens. Mastered by Heba Kadry, NYC. Vinyl mastering by Josh Bonati. // All original artwork, collage, painting, photography, typography, layout and design by Sufjan Stevens. // Over the course of his career, Sufjan Stevens has blurred distinctions between the major and the minor, between the details that color our existence and the big events that frame our lives. He has turned historical footnotes of States into kaleidoscopic pop, and rendered the immeasurable grief of loss with intimacy and grace. // His new album ‘Javelin’—Sufjan’s first solo album of songs since 2020’s The Ascension and his first in full solo singer-songwriter mode since 2015’s Carrie & Lowell—bridges all these approaches. Sufjan uses the quietness of a solitary confession to ask universal questions in songs we can share communally. // Where The Ascension, lauded by The New York Times as “a cry of despair and prayer for redemption,” used ornate but urgent electronics to square up to its moment, ‘Javelin’ begins more like a self-portrait, detailed yet plain. Yet whether listened to individually or as an album, these 10 songs become something much bigger, the entire experience of Sufjan’s 25-year career expressed in four-minute bursts. Choral, orchestral, and electric wonder: it all shows in ‘Javelin’, all of it animating these songs as full spectacles. In each song we hear the vulnerability and candor of quiet starts, then Sufjan raising the stakes. // At times, ‘Javelin’ has the feel of a big team album production—but it is decidedly not: almost every sound here is the result of Sufjan at home, building by himself what sometimes feels like a testament to classic ’70s Los Angeles studio recording sessions. There are indispensable contributions from a close circle of friends; the harmonies of five singers who afford ‘Javelin’ so much frisson: adrienne maree brown, Hannah Cohen, Pauline Delassus, Megan Lui, and Nedelle Torrisi. Bryce Dessner plays acoustic and electric guitar on “Shit Talk.” And, of course, Neil Young wrote the tender and mystic closer, “There’s a World.” // And speaking of the world: there is a permeable sense of world-building imbued in every corner of ‘Javelin’, especially in the 48-page book of art and essays that accompanies the album. With a series of meticulous collages, cut-up catalog fantasies, puff-paint word clouds, and iterative color fields, Sufjan builds order from seeming chaos and vice versa. And toward the middle of it all are 10 short essays by Sufjan, another window into the process that informed ‘Javelin’. // On ‘Javelin’, Sufjan returns as we may know him best, offering vulnerable reflections on love and relationships, so that in listening we may see ourselves more fully.

17. Abraham Alexander – SEA/SONS / Dualtone Music Group / April 14, 2023

[Abraham Alexander’s debut album SEA/SONS. Born in Greece to parents of Nigerian descent, Alexander moved to Texas with his family at age 11 to escape the racial tensions they faced in his birthplace. Shortly after moving to the states, his birth mother was killed in a car accident with a drunk driver, leading Alexander to be adopted later in his teens. He found solace in sports as a soccer prodigy and later, following a torn ACL that ended his playing career, in music once a friend handed Alexander a guitar and he unexpectedly found songs pouring out of him. // The 11 tracks on SEA/SONS touch on themes of loss, redemption, longing, anguish and joy. And while his lyrics speak to pain, trauma and life-changing loss, he instills his music with a joyful passion and irrepressible spirit, ultimately giving way to songs that radiate undeniable hope.][Abraham Alexander played The Madrid Theater, 3810 Main Street, KCMO on Monday, May 1, at 7:30 PM opening for Wilder Woods / The Fever / Sky Tour. More info at http://www.madredtheatre.org]

18. Janelle Monáe – The Age of Pleasure / Wondaland Productions – Badboy Records /June 8, 2023

[The Age of Pleasure is the fourth studio album by Janelle Monáe. Two singles have been released so far to promote the album: “Float” and “Lipstick Lover”. Monáe announced the album alongside the release of “Lipstick Lover”, which they first previewed at their Met Gala after-party in early May. It is her first studio album in over five years since her previous album Dirty Computer (2018). // Janelle Monáe Robinson was born on December 1, 1985 in Kansas City, Kansas and was raised in a working-class community of Kansas City, Kansas in the neighborhood of Quindaro. Her mother, Janet, worked as a janitor and a hotel maid. Her father, Michael Robinson Summers, was a truck driver. Monáe’s parents separated when Monáe was a toddler and her mother later married a postal worker. Monáe has a younger sister, Kimmy, from their mother’s remarriage. // Monáe was raised Baptist and learned to sing at a local church. Her family members were musicians and performers at the local AME church, the Baptist church, and the Church of God in Christ. Monáe dreamed of being a singer and a performer from a very young age, and has cited the fictional character of Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz as a musical influence. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which Monáe bought two copies of with her first check, was another source of inspiration. She performed songs from the album on Juneteenth talent shows, winning three years in a row. // As a teenager, Monáe was enrolled in the Coterie Theater’s Young Playwrights’ Round Table, which began writing musicals. One musical, completed when she was around the age of 12, was inspired by the 1979 Stevie Wonder album Journey Through “The Secret Life of Plants”. // Monáe attended F. L. Schlagle High School, and after high school, moved to New York City to study musical theater at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, where she was the only black woman in her class. Monáe enjoyed the experience, but feared that she might lose her edge and “sound, or look or feel like anybody else”. In a 2010 interview Monáe explained, “I felt like that was a home but I wanted to write my own musicals. I didn’t want to have to live vicariously through a character that had been played thousands of times – in a line with everybody wanting to play the same person.” // After a year and a half, Monáe dropped out of the academy and relocated to Atlanta, enrolling in Perimeter College at Georgia State University. She began writing her own music and performing around the campus. In 2003, Monáe self-released a demo album titled The Audition, which she sold out of the trunk of a Mitsubishi Galant. During this period, Monáe became acquainted with songwriters and producers Chuck Lightning and Nate Wonder. The three would eventually form the Wondaland Arts Collective. She worked at an Office Depot but was fired for answering a fan’s e-mail using a company computer, an incident that inspired the song “Lettin’ Go”, which in turn attracted the attention of Big Boi. // Janelle Monáe Robinson (/moʊˈneɪ/;[9] born December 1, 1985) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and record producer. Monáe is signed to Atlantic Records, as well as to her own imprint, the Wondaland Arts Society. Monáe has received eight Grammy Award nominations. Monáe won an MTV Video Music Award and the ASCAP Vanguard Award in 2010. Monáe was also honored with the Billboard Women in Music Rising Star Award in 2015 and the Trailblazer of the Year Award in 2018. In 2012, Monáe became a CoverGirl spokesperson. Boston City Council named October 16, 2013 “Janelle Monáe Day” in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, in recognition of her artistry and social leadership. // Monáe’s musical career began in 2003 upon releasing a demo album titled The Audition. In 2007, Monáe publicly debuted with a conceptual EP titled Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase). It peaked at number two on the US Top Heatseekers chart, and in 2010, through Bad Boy Records, Monáe released a first full-length studio album, The ArchAndroid, a concept album and sequel to her first EP. In 2011, Monáe was featured as a guest vocalist on fun.’s single “We Are Young”, which achieved major commercial success, topping the charts of more than ten countries and garnering Monáe a wider audience. Her second studio album, The Electric Lady, was released in 2013 and debuted at number five on the Billboard 200, serving as the fourth and fifth installments of the seven-part Metropolis concept series. // In 2016, Monáe made her theatrical film debut in two high-profile productions; Monáe starred in Hidden Figures as NASA mathematician and aerospace engineer Mary Jackson, and also starred in Moonlight. Hidden Figures was a box office success, while Moonlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 89th annual ceremony. Monáe’s third studio album, Dirty Computer, also described as a concept album, was released in 2018 to widespread critical acclaim; it was chosen as the best album of the year by several publications and earned Monáe two nominations at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The album debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 and was further promoted by Monáe’s Dirty Computer Tour, which lasted from June to August 2018.]

19. Dan Jones and The Squids – Rock And Roll Daydreams / Dan Jones / Aug. 5, 2023

[ROCK AND ROLL DAYDREAMS that was released on vinyl on September 1, 2023. Dan Jones and The Squids are: Dan Jones on vocals & guitar; Matt Ronan on drums & vocals, and Steve Tulipana on bass. On the record Rich Wheeler joined them on tenor saxophone for the songs, “Rock & Roll Daydreams” and “Rhythm and The Rhyme.” Their album was engineered by Brendan “JB” Moreland at Temple Sounds in KCMO and mixed by Brendan at Massive Sound Studios in Shawnee, KS. // Dan Jones and The Squids released SERVE WITHOUT DELAY on February 5, 2021. It was recorded Friday, February 13, 2020 at recordBar, with Paul Malinowski: live sound & recording engineer. Mixed and edited by Paul Malinowski at Massive Sound, Shawnee Kansas. Mastered by Tom Nunes at Atomic Disc. Dan Jones on guitar & vocals, Matt Ronan on drums & vocals; Steve Tulipana on bass & vocals. All songs by Daniel Sherman Jones (BMI), except “I Wanna Be You” by Ed Cole. In 2020 the band didn’t get to play out much, so they hunkered down and worked up a double album’s worth of new tunes. It was a weekly woodshed-workshop that culminated with a live-streamed live-album show on November 13, 2020 at recordBar. Paul Malinowski engineered and mixed. // Dan Jones and The Squids released WE LIVE IN A WORLD THAT IS OUT OF THIS WORLD on December 6, 2019. It was Recorded at Temple Sounds in KCMO, 2018-2019. Engineered. by JB Moreland. Produced by Dan Jones and The Squids and JB Moreland. Mastered by Tom Nunes at Atomic Disc. With Dan Jones on acoustic & electric guitars, keyboard, lead vocals + drums/bass on “Love/Life”; Matt Ronan on drums, percussion, vocals; Alex Alexander on electric guitar, vocals; Steve Tulipana on bass, vocals; Joey Slab on poem and spiel on “Beach, Please”; Scot Sperry on electric slide guitar on “Love/Life”; Donna Jones on lyrics to “The Violet Man.” / Dan Jones is among the hardworking lifers with taste and talent, keeping the dream alive that music matters. This is the Kansas City singer/songwriter’s seventh LP over two decades, starting in Eugene, OR before returning to his native, non-coastal home. His bio speaks of support gigs with Mike Watt (who plays these Squids on his radio show), Dinosaur Jr., Steve Wynn, John Doe, Tav Falco, Pedaljets, Peter Case, and Minus 5, all hinted at in his fine music. But what he/they most remind of is Watt’s influence The Urinals/100 Flowers, in the way he breaks out homey tunes in the rush of spikier energy—like “My Favorite Lounge,” which spits guitar glory with gusto following tight circular riffs, while hailing soulful, sweaty dives with honest bands. It’s where you’d want to catch Jones and his cephalopods, happily blasting away. . // More info at: More info at: http://www.danjonesmusic.com][Dan Jones and The Squids played a Record Release Show at Woodyard BBQ, 3001 Merriam, in KCK, on Saturday, September 9, at 7:00 PM. with Tick Check. Dan Jones & Steve Tulipana joined us on WMM on Sept. 6, 2023.]

Dan Jones Discography

dan jones: for your radio (2000)
dan jones: one man submarine (2003)
dan jones: get sounds now (2005)
dan jones and the squids: totally human (2007)
dan jones and peter wilde: my name is john smith (2010)
the golden motors (2011)
the golden motors II (2018)
dan jones and the squids: we live in a world that is out of this world (2019)
dan jones and the squids: serve without delay (2021)

20. Mitski – The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We / Dead Oceans / September 15, 2023

[7th studio album from Mitski Miyawaki, born Mitsuki Laycock on September 27, 1990, known mononymously as Mitski. She is an American singer and songwriter. She self-released her first two albums, Lush (2012), and Retired from Sad, New Career in Business (2013), while studying studio composition at Purchase College’s Conservatory of Music. The albums were originally made as her senior project. Her third studio album, Bury Me at Makeout Creek, was released in 2014 on the label Double Double Whammy. // Mitski signed with Dead Oceans in 2015 and released Puberty 2 (2016), Be the Cowboy (2018), and Laurel Hell (2022), the last of which made the top ten in several countries. In 2022, The Guardian dubbed her the “best young songwriter” in the United States. That same year, she co-wrote “This Is a Life” for the film Everything Everywhere All at Once, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Her seventh studio album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, was released in 2023. // Mitski was born in Mie Prefecture, Japan to an American father and a Japanese mother. Her first language was Japanese. She moved frequently while growing up due to her father’s job at the United States Department of State, living in Turkey, China, Malaysia, the Czech Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo before settling in the United States. She sang in a choir in high school and was 18 when she wrote her first song on the piano.]

21. Supermassive Black Holes – Stop Safely Now / Supermassive Black Holes / October 27, 2023

[The album was recorded, engineered, mixed and mastered by Duane Trower at Weights and Measures Soundlab. Supermassive Black Holes are: Alexis Barclay on bass guitar & vocals; John Johnson on electric & acoustic guitar, synthesizer, kazoo & vocals; Matt Davis on drums, piano & vocals; and Chad Brothers on electric & acoustic guitar & vocals. Song written by Chad Brothers] [Supermassive Black Holes played an Album Release Party “Acoustic” Show at Mike Kelly’s Westsider, 1515 Westport Rd. KCMO on Thursday, October 26, 2023.] [Supermassive Black Holes played an Album Release Party Electric Show at Lucia, 1016 Massachusetts St., Lawrence, KS. on Friday, November 10, 2023.] {Chad Brothers joined us on WMM on Oct. 25, 2023]

22. MeShell Ndegeocello – The Omnichord Real Book / Blue Note – Verve / June 16, 2023

[13th album from acclaimed GRAMMY-winning multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello who makes her Blue Note Records debut with The Omnichord Real Book, a visionary, expansive, and deeply jazz-influenced album that marks the start of a new chapter in her career. Following her 2018 album Ventriloquism, Meshell returns with an album of new original material that taps into a broad spectrum of her musical roots. The Omnichord Real Book was produced by Josh Johnson and features a wide range of guest artists including Jason Moran, Ambrose Akinmusire, Joel Ross, Jeff Parker, Brandee Younger, Julius Rodriguez, Mark Guiliana, Cory Henry, Joan As Police Woman, Thandiswa, and others. // Meshell Ndegeocello was born Michelle Lynn Johnson on August 29, 1968 in West Berlin, Germany, to US Army Sergeant Major and saxophonist father Jacques Johnson and health care worker mother Helen. She was raised in Washington, D.C. where she attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Oxon Hill High School. She is a singer-songwriter, rapper, and bassist. She has gone by the name Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur which is used as a writing credit on some of her later work. Her music incorporates a wide variety of influences, including funk, soul, jazz, hip hop, reggae and rock. She has received significant critical acclaim throughout her career, being nominated for eleven Grammy Awards, and winning one. She also has been credited for helping to “spark the neo-soul movement”. // Ndegeocello adopted her surname, which she says means “free like a bird” in Swahili. Early pressings of Plantation Lullabies were affixed with stickers to help pronounce her name. The spelling has changed in the hands of record labels a few times during her career; the correct spelling of her stage name as of 2001 is Meshell Ndegeocello.]

23. Noname – Sundial / AWAL Recordings / august 11, 2023

[From the Pitchfork, August 11, 2023, 8.8 review of SUNDIAL >>> “Sometimes the only way to work through the bullshit is to point at your close friends and ask, “Do you all see this, too, or am I bugging?” Their confirmations stop you from feeling like you’re on a different planet from everyone else. That’s the driving force behind Noname’s first project in five years, the eye-opening and disruptive Sundial. On the first track, with her typical buttery, head-in-the-clouds delivery, she raps, “We smokin’ positivity like dust, trust.” It’s a cutting quip: She’s fed up with anti-critical positivity, the kind that leads corporations to dress up and commodify Black art, turning an artist’s politics into a commercialized performance. She has no time for the idea that It’s all good as long as they’re Black, no matter what they’re selling. Sundial pushes back against that complacency in a real regular-person kind of way. It’s not preachy or too heavy. Noname is not trying to sell herself as a revolutionary. She’s also unafraid of biting self-reflection that leaves her own contradictions out in the open. In rap, where it’s so often about seeming indestructible, hanging yourself out to dry is a gutsy move.” // From wikipedia: Fatimah Nyeema Warner was born September 18, 1991. She is known professionally as Noname (pronounced “no name”), and is an American rapper, poet, and record producer. Since 2019, she has run the Noname Book Club, which focuses on radical texts by authors of color. She is also one-third of the musical supergroup Ghetto Sage with fellow rappers Smino and Saba. // Noname began rapping and performing slam poetry in 2010, and gained wider recognition in 2013 for her appearance on the track “Lost” from Chance the Rapper’s mixtape Acid Rap. Noname released her debut mixtape, Telefone, on July 31, 2016, to critical acclaim. Her debut album, Room 25, was released on September 14, 2018, and received further critical acclaim. // Noname grew up in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. She was raised by her grandparents until she was in middle school. Her grandparents were entrepreneurs, as was her mother, who owned Afrocentric Bookstore. When she returned to live with her mother, she had a new sibling and she and her mother did not get along. // As a teenager, she listened to blues musicians Buddy Guy and Howlin’ Wolf, and spent time in her mother’s bookstore. She started writing poetry after taking a creative writing class in high school. As a teen, she spent time in the YOUMedia project, a space for young artists to create and network then based at the Harold Washington Library. There, she befriended many local talents, including Chance the Rapper. // Noname’s interest in poetry led her to compete in local open mics and slam poetry competitions; she took third place in Chicago’s annual Louder Than a Bomb competition. Noname then started to freestyle rap with friends, collaborating with local Chicago artists including Chance the Rapper, Saba, and Mick Jenkins. // In 2013, she appeared on Chance the Rapper’s second mixtape, Acid Rap, contributing a verse to the track “Lost” and singing the chorus. She later contributed a verse to the song “Finish Line/Drown” from Chance the Rapper’s 2016 mixtape Coloring Book. In December 2016, she appeared with Chance the Rapper on Saturday Night Live. She announced her first tour on November 13, 2016. // In 2014, she was featured on Mick Jenkins’s mixtape The Waters, contributing to the track “Comfortable”. In 2015, she was featured on multiple tracks from Kirk Knight’s album Late Knight Special. That year, she also featured on fellow Chicago rapper Ramaj Eroc’s single “I Love You More”. // Noname first used the stage name “Noname Gypsy”, which she chose as a teenager when she was transitioning from poetry to music, believing “gypsies were very nomadic, just not about staying in one space for a long time”. In March 2016, she removed “Gypsy” from her stage name after learning of its racial connotation, saying she had been unaware of its negative connotations and did not want to offend Romani people. In a 2016 interview with The Fader, she explained her current stage name, following the change: “I try to exist without binding myself to labels. I’m not really into labels at all, even the way I dress; I usually don’t wear anything with a name brand. For me, not having a name expands my creativity. I’m able to do anything. Noname could potentially be a nurse. Noname could be a screenwriter. I’m not limited to any one category of art or other existence, on a more existential level.” // Noname released her first mixtape, Telefone, on July 31, 2016, after three years of production. Telefone publicized her new stage name through songs presented as open-ended telephone conversations. The album centers on important telephone conversations Noname has had. Her rap speaks of black women’s pain and highlights the struggles of growing up in Chicago. The album was originally released as a free download on Bandcamp, and then on vinyl in September 2017. Rolling Stone called it one of 2016’s “most thought-provoking hip-hop.” Stereogum wrote that Noname possessed “a potency and urgency in her complicated, spoken word-esque cadences and subdued delivery that escapes many of her more animated peers.” Consequence of Sound wrote that “the louder her music is played, the brighter her cadence glows, giving her lyrics a type of 3D craft that makes Telefone a diary of lessons too relevant to keep to yourself.” // In October 2016, Noname and fellow Chicago resident Saba collaborated to produce “Church/Liquor Store”, a song that explores the Westside of Chicago, where liquor stores sit directly next to places of worship. Noname critiques the gentrification of the neighborhood and the erasure of crime believed to accompany it. // Noname performed a NPR Tiny Desk Concert in April 2017.]

24. Yves Tumor – Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) / Warp Records / March 17, 2023

[Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) is produced by Noah Goldstein (Frank Ocean, Rosalía, Drake, Rihanna, Bon Iver), and mixed by Alan Moulder (My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails), lending the album with a sonic signature that acts as a distillation and amplification of Yves’ previous work. The album’s boundlessly visceral aesthetic is bolstered by invaluable contributions from long-time collaborators Chris Greatti (Yungblud, WILLOW), Yves Rothman (Girlpool, Amaarae) and Rhys Hastings, melding restraint and chaos in a soulful clarity. // Yves Tumor released their 4th album HEAVEN TO A TORTURED MIND on April 2, 2020. Yves Tumor aka Sean Bowie is best known by the recording alias Yves Tumor, is an American producer of experimental electronic music, born in Miami, Florida and currently based in Turin, Italy. Raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tumor started making music at age 17 as an outlet away from “dull, conservative surroundings.” They taught themself to play drums, bass, guitar, and keyboards. Describing their experience growing up in Tennessee as unpleasant, they moved at age 20 to San Diego, and after college to Los Angeles, where they met Mykki Blanco in 2012, with whom they later toured for two and a half years throughout Europe and Asia.In the early 2010s, Tumor recorded as Teams, and made music which AllMusic described as “post-chillwave”. They debuted their Yves Tumor project in 2015 with an EP for Berlin’s experimental club label Janus, and another one for Blanco’s label, Dogfood MG. That same year, they self-released their first album, When Man Fails You (which would later be re-released by Apothecary Compositions on April 29, 2016). In September 2016, Tumor signed with PAN Records and released its label debut, Serpent Music. They had worked on the album for three years after moving to Leipzig, Germany. The album was recorded between Miami, Leipzig, Los Angeles and Berlin. In Pitchfork’s review of the album, critic Andy Beta compared Tumor’s musical style to James Ferraro and Dean Blunt, and noted their use of “unsettling percussive loops and field recordings to create a mood as if lost in a strange urban landscape”. In September 2017, Tumor released a compilation album titled Experiencing the Deposit of Faith for free. Later that week, it was revealed through a tour announcement that Tumor had signed to Warp Records. Following the announcement, they embarked on a tour with a new audiovisual show. In September 2018, Tumor released their Warp debut, Safe in the Hands of Love, with no prior announcement. It was preceded by the singles “Noid” on July 24, “Licking an Orchid” featuring James K on August 29, and “Lifetime” on September 3. The album received universal acclaim from music critics. Pitchfork’s Jayson Greene stated in their review that the album “dwarfs everything the artist has released by several orders of magnitude. The leap is so audacious it’s disorienting.” Tumor’s fourth album, Heaven to a Tortured Mind, was released on April 3, 2020, preceded on March 3 by the single “Kerosene” featuring Diana Gordon. Alexis Petridis, reviewing the album for The Guardian, awarded it Album of the Week, describing it as “extraordinary: experimental, capable of any genre, with an internal logic powering its shifts in mood. Tumor has cited Throbbing Gristle as a major influence, saying: “There’s something about their music, like the hypnotic trance vibes, that really influenced me.]

25. Various Blonde – “Love Is How We Will Survive / Various Blonde / September 1, 2023

[10 track album hat contains 4 singles released over the last two years. Various Blonde is a Kansas City based experimental, rock, pop, and funk band originally formed in 2008 and currently served by founder Joshua Allen on guitar, synthesizers, and vocals; and Mark Lomas on drums. The band has been described by Mills Record Company as, “Having all the sex appeal of The Weeknd and all the grit of Rage Against the Machine–the combination makes for a performance that is explosive.” On September 24, 2022 Various Blonde released the single, “Love is How We Survive.” On August 19, 2022 Various Blonde released the single, “Obtuse”. On June 9, 2022 Various Blonde released the single, “Too Many Secrets.” On March 13, 2020 Various Blonde released a three song EP called 3s 2 through The Record Machine. On January 2020 Various Blonde released a three song EP called 3s 1 through The Record Machine. On September 16, 2016 Various Blonde released the 10-track album ALL BASES COVERED through The Record Machine. On January 13, 2015 Various Blonde release the 10-track album, SUMMER HIGH. “More info at: http://www.variousblonde.com]

26. Bob Walkenhorst – My Version Of The Story/ BAT Records / November 1, 2023

[For this record Bob played all instruments and sang all vocal parts and recorded this himself in his home studio. This new release follows Bob Walkenhorst’s last album A Thousand Words a 12 song album released June 1, 2021 on Bob’s 68th Birthday. Bob’s solo releases are beautiful and demonstrate the range of Bob Walkenhorst’s gifts as a master songwriter and poet. The album is also evidence of the wide open vocal range of a rock and roller who can call upon his expressive voice, giving listeners lyrics with a growl and also rising to sing the high parts of the harmony, not in a falsetto, but actually singing like a angel in a duet with Una Walkenhorst his equally talented singer songwriter daughter. With Una, Bob recorded the critically acclaimed FOR TOMORROW with that was released October 12, 2018, where they split the difference, taking turns as songwriters for the album’s songs, written individually, and recorded together, in clear beautiful harmonies, with that extra special shared musical DNA, that can be heard in the harmonies of The Carter Family, Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear, or Shy Boys. FOR TOMORROW was #2 on WMM’s 118 Best recordings of 2018. Una Walkenhorst is the youngest daughter of Bob Walkenhorst, a founding member of The Rainmakers, which had national and international hits in the 1980s and 90s, and continue to this day touring and recording new music. With The Rainmakers Bob has released over 12 albums. Bob’s solo record continues the spirit of FOR TOMORROW. // From http://www.bobwalkenhorst.com : Bob Walkenhorst has spent most of his life as a musician, as lead singer and songwriter for the critically acclaimed rock band, The Rainmakers. Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, Bob and the band have released 9 albums over their 30+ year career, and continue to tour and record. // Bob’s songs gained attention for their lyrical content – thoughtful, humorous, witty, with insightful social commentary. This interest in the power of words eventually led to the publication of a book of Bob’s song lyrics – Scribbling On the Walls of the Mansion – published in 2019. And now Whirlybird Day – published in 2020. // Bob grew up in the small town of Norborne, Missouri, and also spent years in Maryville and Branson. These years of small town life served as the inspiration for the stories in Whirlybird Day. // Bob lives in Kansas City, Missouri, with his wife, Michele Sewell, two daughters and two granddaughters nearby. // Bob Walkenhorst is a Kansas City-based singer, songwriter, musician, and painter. After growing up in his hometown of Norborne, Missouri, he became a founding member of the popular Midwestern U.S. roots rock band The Rainmakers. In the Kansas City area, he currently gives weekly performances and participates in art gallery shows. For some shows, he is joined by his daughter Una. // As the singer/songwriter of his band, The Rainmakers, from 1986 to 1996, Walkenhorst’s discography included five full-length studio albums, one live concert recording, and one “best-of” album. After the dissolution of the band, he released his first solo album, The Beginner, in 2003. In 2009, Walkenhorst and fellow Kansas City musician Jeff Porter released an album entitled No Abandon, under the moniker Walkenhorst and Porter. The Rainmakers reformed in 2011 and have since released three more albums. // Throughout his career as a musician, Walkenhorst has maintained a reputation for producing clever and provocative lyrics, which have garnered him wide critical acclaim. In discussing the self-titled debut of The Rainmakers, Billboard called them “a band with a rarity: a genuinely witty songwriter.” A 1987 review in the Washington Post cited the cleverness while also noting irreverent humor. On a very different note, a review from later that year in the Chicago Tribune observed, “Walkenhorst’s lyrics are preoccupied with morality, although he avoids a moralizing tone.” Over three decades later, in 2018, the Richmond (Missouri) News said, “His unique vocals and viewpoints have garnered him a dedicated following, through more than 30 years in the music scene.” // Perhaps the best-known fan of The Rainmakers and Walkenhorst was Stephen King, who included lyrics from the songs “Downstream” and “Drinkin’ on the Job” in The Tommyknockers. In Gerald’s Game, King excerpted “One More Summer”—citing Walkenhorst by name—and adopted Walkenhorst’s character “The Lakeview Man” in service of the story. // More info at: http://www.bobwalkenhorst.com] [Bob Walkenhorst joined us in WMM on June 2, 2021]

27. Wednesday – Rat Saw God / Dead Oceans / April 7, 2023

[Rat Saw God is the fifth studio album by American rock band Wednesday. On September 8, 2022, the band left Orindal Records and signed to Dead Oceans, releasing the single “Bull Believer”. On January 18, 2023, the band released the single “Chosen to Deserve” and announced their fifth album, Rat Saw God, which was released on April 7, 2023. // Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Mark Deming concluded, “Some albums sound like the artists were trying with all their might to make an epic statement in words and music; Rat Saw God sounds like Wednesday had no such lofty aims, but their commitment to the people they write about and their instincts about crafting music to match make this a stunningly powerful work that may well turn out to be a masterpiece.” In Beats Per Minute, Tim Sentz claimed that the album is an example of, “a band operating at their highest most infectious potency, and the end result is riveting.” Craig Howwieson at Clash described it as, “Finding magic in the mire – ‘Rat Saw God’ is an emphatic, uplifting reminder of the privilege of being alive.” // Wednesday is an American band from Asheville, North Carolina, currently signed to Dead Oceans. The band consists of vocalist Karly Hartzman, guitarist Jake Lenderman, lap steel player Xandy Chelmis, and drummer Alan Miller. Wednesday was formed in 2017 as Karly Hartzman’s personal songwriting project. // Hartzman was inspired to start playing guitar after watching Mitski’s NPR Tiny Desk concert. Hartzman attended college in Asheville, where she met Daniel Gorham. The two recorded an album together under the moniker Wednesday titled yep definitely. The band’s name was inspired by the British band The Sundays. // After releasing this record, Hartzman formed another band called Diva Sweetly, alongside members of the band Pictures of Vernon. Hartzman was interested in making shoegaze music, which was not the music Diva Sweetly was making. Thus, Hartzman gathered new members to join the Wednesday band and released the second album with the group, titled I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone in 2020. The group released their third record, Twin Plagues, on August 13, 2021.// On March 11, 2022, the band released a covers album titled Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling ’em Up, featuring covers versions of songs by Gary Stewart, Chris Bell, Roger Miller, Drive-By Truckers, Hotline TNT, Greg Sage, Vic Chesnutt, Medicine and The Smashing Pumpkins. On September 8, 2022, the band left Orindal Records and signed to Dead Oceans, releasing the single “Bull Believer”. On January 18, 2023, the band released the single “Chosen to Deserve” and announced a fifth album, Rat Saw God, which was released on April 7, 2023.] [Wednesday played the recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd, KCMO, on Wednesday, May 17 at 7:00 PM.]

28. Joanna Sternberg – I’ve Got Me / Fat Possum Records / June 30, 2023

[Joanna Sternberg was born August 18, 1991. Joanna is a singer, songwriter, visual artist and multi-instrumentalist based in New York City. Sternberg released their debut full-length album, Then I Try Some More, on Team Love Records, later picked up on Fat Possum Records. Sternberg went on their first tour opening for Conor Oberst in North America in July 2018. Sternberg’s second album, I’ve Got Me, was released in 2023, on Fat Possum Records; it was produced by Matt Sweeney. Sternberg identifies as gender neutral and uses singular they/them pronouns. They are based in Manhattan. Sternberg is Jewish. At Joanna’s Bandca,p page she writes: “i, my name is Joanna. I am a person who sings songs, writes songs, draws, plays different musical instruments, and watches what the majority of the world would consider “WAY TOO MUCH” TV. You do not have to buy my album but if you do, THANK YOU SO MUCH! And also thank you so much if you are reading this! I love you!” More info at” http://www.joannasternberg.com]

29. Photo Ops – Burns Bright / Paul Is Dead Records / April 28, 2023

[Photo Ops is the musical project of Terry Price. This is Photo Ops’ 4th album. Burns Bright explores hope, loss, and nostalgia through the lens of hushed yet sweeping melodies, anchored with fingerpicked guitar, lush piano, and synth flourishes. Burns Bright is out April 28, 2023 on Paul Is Dead Records. // The autumn blaze maple tree, famous as music in Nashville, is a fast grower. Imagine its teeming majesty of red leaves from above one house in the city’s Inglewood neighborhood. You see it ensconced like a controlled flame by rolling hills and winding roads. A familiar pattern lulls you from days into nights in this dreamy park town. You never realized from the ground, under the shade of that tree, how all these beautiful designs in any city keep you sane. // The sweeping vantage points of Photo Ops’ Burns Bright belong first to the quiet of Nashville’s first modern suburb after World War II. Terry Price lived there while perfecting the melodic soft-rock modes that pleased audiences on tour with Camera Obscura and Fences. Price took this way of seeing to a new home in Los Angeles. Long drives through dimensional vistas ended in his room in Los Feliz where he recorded Burns Bright. When Etta James, Molly Drake, and The Byrds are all touchpoints of sound and silence, what emerges is a gentle homage to the commonalities of lasting influence in pop music, a kind of time-bending presentiment — the moment of tracking in a studio when everyone senses it’s a moment that will be remembered. Reaching through the layer of industry noise in both hallmark cities as we know them from a distance — is this a hit? — Price treasures the visceral experience of making and recognizing music. // The most devout of craftspeople, Price is on a quest toward the merciful essence of recognition when he writes songs; each line discovers a pure element of comfort, calling back to the land and to his musician mother’s love of transcendent melodies. Burns Bright reminds us how those forces are one and the same. // Price’s heroes in music are more than inspirations. To him, they offer examples of how to keep breathing in a culture that discourages total presence. It’s true that moving an open heart through the world comes with constant risk. Looking out at the expanse we all share — really seeing that world — is the practice of Burns Bright, and the special ability that makes Price a songwriter to cherish.]

30. The Ratboys – The Window / Topshelf Records / August 25, 2023

[Chicago’s beloved Ratboys release their fourth studio album, The Window, via Topshelf Records featuring the single “It’s Alive!” and launched their US tour. After more than ten years and four studio albums, The Window finally captures Ratboys as they were always meant to be heard—expansive while still intimate, audacious while still tender—the sound of four friends operating as a single, cohesive unit. The album is sonically diverse, shifting wildly from track to track and flexing everything from fuzzy power pop choruses to warm country twang to mournful folk.// Lyrically, The Window sees Julia Steiner at her most personal, reflecting on love and grief with occasional humor and levity. She frequently leans on windows as a theme—the idea of an interrupted connection, the feeling of being near someone without being fully present—like on the pounding lead single, “It’s Alive!” Opening with Steiner’s honeyed vocals, “Outside my window the birds dance alone // I sit back and take it in // Like some sort of medicine,” it’s a bright and vivacious track that, in Steiner’s words, captures “the overarching feeling of the world spinning on beneath you while you’re stuck in one place.” In the video, directed by John TerEick, Ratboys play in an empty house, as its owners slowly start to move in. // The Window marks a number of firsts for the band. Throughout the last few years, Sean Neumann (bass) and Marcus Nuccio (drums) became full-time members alongside Julia Steiner (vocals, guitar) and Dave Sagan (guitars), making The Window the first album Ratboys have written collaboratively from start to finish. It was also the first time they’d ever traveled outside their home base of Chicago to record an album, journeying to Seattle to work with producer Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara, Foxing) for three weeks. The group worked on the arrangements together over the course of a year and half, so by the time the band showed up to the Hall of Justice Recording Studio in February 2022, The Window’s songs were well rehearsed and airtight. “We spent 2020 demoing the songs, and spent 2021 practicing them,” says Steiner. “We practiced twice a week for six months, exploring the songs and developing them. We’d send early versions to Chris and he’d give us notes. It went like that for weeks. It was such a dedicated and intentional process.”]

31. Mireya & The Poor Choices – Sin Fronteras / Mireya Ramos / September 15, 2023

[from mireyaramos.com: The U.S. border with Mexico has always been a fault line where cultural and political forces clash and meld with one another in a close embrace that is centuries old. The monumental musical project, Sin Fronteras, out September 2023, by Latin Grammy winner Mireya Ramos and the Poor Choices proves this 5,525-mile-long expanse that physically bisects the two countries and cultures doesn’t spiritually separate them. It is a ranchera and country dialogue that could only happen in Kansas City, Missouri which has become a second home for the New York City-based Mireya. // “La Frontera showcases the similarities between styles of music and traditions that on the surface may seem very different. I like that this album sparks a conversation—that’s always been important to me as an artist,” – Mireya Ramos // Mireya is a vocalist, violinist, composer, and arranger, and the founder of Flor de Toloache, NYC’s first and only all-women mariachi band. She co-produced Sin Fronteras with Beau Bledsoe, founder/director of classical chamber Ensemble Iberica. The 10-song album features 25 musicians, including Latin Grammy winners Texmaniacs, Ensemble Iberica, and western band Slim Hanson and the Poor Choices. Though this community spans different genres, generations, and cultures, it coalesced around an album of original and traditional songs that meld influences from both sides of the border. // “The parallels between the music on both sides of the border became obvious to me years ago—you can see that in the traditions of cowboys in the U.S. and Mexico,” says Beau, who grew up in Arkansas but spent summers in the early 1990s studying ranchera in a tiny town in Mexico near KCMO. // Mireya might be best known for her pioneering work with her two-time Latin Grammy-winning group Flor de Toloache, and her acclaimed solo career. Flor de Toloache has toured nationally and internationally, and performed on NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concert,” The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and BBC 2’s Later with Jools Holland. The mariachi quartet has garnered critical-acclaim from Rolling Stone, Billboard Magazine, The New Yorker, GQ Magazine, and The New York Times. // Mireya was born in California to proud Dominican and Mexican parents, and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her earliest connection to county music was through Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt. When her family relocated from Puerto Rico to New York City, the Suzuki method, classically-trained violinist began to connect with bluegrass musicians and see firsthand the connections between the music of her Latin heritage and country music. Meeting Beau a decade ago and working with him for an internationally-themed seasonal performance series he curated in Kansas City only deepened the ranchera-country conversation for Mireya. // The shows documented a uniquely KCMO musical expression. Because of the city’s proximity to Interstate 35, a main tree branch for immigration to Mexico, Kansas City has had a long history of both traditional country and Latin music. “When I first moved here, I would study classical music at the conservatory, and play two-chord ranchera’s at night on the historic Southwest Blvd,” Beau recalls. // Latin-Grammy-winning, multiple Latin Grammy nominated and Grammy-nominated vocalist, violinist, Guitarron player, composer, producer, arranger and founder of Flor de Toloache – NY’s only all-women mariachi. She embodies all of her musical influences whether classical, mariachi, salsa, merengue or hip-hop, always creating a unique and refreshing sound. Her versatility, natural improvisational skills and beautiful tone has made her one of the top Latin artists in New York City and has landed her features on legendary albums by Latin Grammy Winner percussionist Luisito Quintero, Bobbito & Stretch, Len Smythe, Chicano Batman, Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas) and many more. As a big advocate of empowering the next generation and promoting the importance of representation, she has been an integral part of educational projects like México Beyond Mariachi, Lincoln Center, and Mariachi Academy NY. She continues to share her experience and knowledge through workshops, educational programs and performances. Apart from touring with her band, she is proudly involved in She is the Music, the Recording Academy as a serving governor of the NY Chapter, a SAG-Aftra member and promoting her debut solo album self titled “Mireya” which include collaborations with Flor de Toloache, Gaby Moreno, Haydée Milanés, Camilo Lara, Adrian Quesada, Velcro and the legendary Mike Garson. Originally for San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mireya Ramos, has an exciting new album coming out that was recorded here in Kansas City titled, Sin Fronteras, co-produced with Beau Bledsoe and the KC-based super-group, Slim Hanson and the Poor Choices. Sin Fronteras will be officially released on September 15, 2023. Mireya Ramos was on WMM on March 15 and August 23 ]

32. The Swallowtails – THE WORLD STILL SPINS [EP] / Miki P / May 22, 2023.

[7-track EP from Rachel Lovelace on bassoon, Adee Dancy on cello & vocals, and Miki P on guitar & lead vocals. Each member is an integral part of the Kansas City music scene, writing, arranging, performing, and collaborating original music for their own groups and several other projects in the metro. “Introspective pop music with lyric-driven folk influences, mixed with collaborative energy & an odd pairing of instruments.” Miki P is a self-taught musician/multi-instrumentalist & songwriter driving the Swallowtails into a creative collaboration like any other. Miki P was born in Kansas City, KS. Miki P started playing guitar in middle school. She taught herself to play the drums, while listening to Mitch Mitchell, Keith Moon and Ringo Starr. Miki P performed “She Loves You” at her 7th grade talent show. In 9th grade she joined a teen-band called American Slim as drummer & vocalist, and she wrote songs for their full-length album Irreplaceable released in 2017, followed by a single “Queen of Hearts” released April 11, 2018. Miki P has played Middle of the Map Fest, Crossroads Music Fest, Kauffman Stadium, Arrowhead Stadium, and The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art before officially ending in 2018. As a teen she played drums for various groups including American Slim. At 21, Miki P began work on her debut solo-record, DOME OF SWALLOWS, that was released August 2, 2018. She then formed Miki P and the Swallowtails who released their first EP, Swallowtail in 2019, In 2021 Miki P released the 6-song EP, DON”T LOSE HOPE, created in covid isolation, in Miki P’s home space. Sitting & working from Miki’s computer, she composed and recorded 80% of the EP, working through the music like a journal entry, creating each song from her internal hurricane of emotions. All songs written, recorded, played, & mixed by Miki P. Recorded & Mixed with Emma Klien & Jake Hilger. Mastered by Joel Nanos. Miki P released her single “Your Love” on June 24, 2022. Miki P’s released the single “Peter Parker!” on March 18, 2022. // Miki P & The Swallowtails released the single, “Who’s Gonna Be There” on March 30, 2022.] [The Swallowtails play The Warwick Theater, 3927 Main Street, KCMO on Saturday, Sept. 2, at 7:00 PM with Howard Mahan & Friends.] [The Swallowtails play Lemonade Park, 1628 Wyoming St., KCMO, West Bottoms, on Saturday, Sept. 9, at 3:30 PM for Lemonade Social – Day 2 with Black Light Animals, Steddy P, Mr. Golden Sun, Paris Williams, Flora, Gipson, and Paul Jesse.][More info at: http://www.mikipmusic.com] [Miki P joined us on WMM on Aug. 30]

33. Keo & Them – This Time Around / Midtopia / October 28, 2023

[When Neo-soul meets funk, meets R&B, meets pop, meets hip hop & even rock sometimes. Keo & Them released the single “Fool Me Once” on October 6, 2023 on Midtopia. Leo & Them released the three song single “Don’t Say” with “Be Still” and “Money Grooves (feat. Greg Spero)” on June 2, 2023 on Midtopia. And earlier “Money Grooves (feat. Greg Spero)” was release by itself on March 2, 2023. For Wichita-based, Texas-raised singer/songwriter Keo, making music is as much about the one creates and the songs one writes as it is about making deeper connections with the other people partaking in an artistic journey. From the unique flavors, perspectives, and performances they each contribute, Keo finds the “Them” that brings her project Keo & Them full circle. // First formed and conceptualized by Keo in 2018, the collective consists of Keo and a revolving door of musicians and collaborators, each of whose contributions would leave an indelible mark on the project’s ever-adapting sound that merges the worlds of 70’s pop and R&B with the moody glow of contemporary neo-soul and beyond. For Keo, the project’s sole constant member, the fluid line-up allowed her to become immersed and acquainted with a Wichita music scene she was completely new to and overwhelmed by. Through meeting, jamming, and performing with the Kansas town’s tight-knit and eclectic music scene in which Keo found something akin to a family. More info at: https://linktr.ee/keoandthem [Keo & Them played Outer Reaches Fest, on Sat, Oct. 14 at recordBar, On the Les BonsBons Electrique stage w/ Sweeping Promises, Static Phantoms, Alyssa Murray.]

34. Erik Voeks & The Ghosters – It Means Nothing Now / Erik Voeks / December 1, 2023

[Produced by The Ghosters. All songs written by Bermejo, Ferrari, Hawley & Voeks. The Ghosters are: Juan Ferrari on guitars & keyboards, Pepe Bermejo on bass guitar & vocals, Patrick Hawley on drums & percussion, and Erik Voeks on vocals & guitar. Recorded at Sandusky Sound, Temple Sound, Weights and Measures Soundlab, Rolltop, La Quinta Disminuida and Village Green. Mixed by: Duane Trower (tracks 1,3,5,6,8,11,12). Adam Schmitt (tracks 4,9,10). Pepe Bermejo (tracks 2,7). Horns composed/arranged by Ryan Oldham. Horn session produced by David George. Horns played by: Brett Jackson, Peter Fucinaro, Kristen Nall, Nate Nall. Artwork by Sonia M Paredero. Thanks to: Coleen, Ryan Oldham, David George, Duane Trower, Adam Schmitt, Jack Petracek, JB Moreland, Bárbara, Olivia, Alberto León, Kike and Yani Marinelli for continuous faith, trust and cheer up, and Sonia for her beautiful artwork. Pepe would like to thank Erik, Patrick and Juan. More info at: http://www.erikvoeks.bandcamp.com]

35. Kirstie Lynn & Galen Clark – Cindergarden (B Sides) / Lost River Sound / June 21, 2023

[Kirstie Lynn is a classically trained soprano with a passion for songwriting, always looking to marry poetry and melody. Though Kirstie’s voice has been compared to that of Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, her sound is uniquely her own. Kirstie Lynn is a folk singer-songwriter originally from the Fingerlakes region of upstate, NY. She began her professional music studies at the age of 15, and has since received both a Bachelor’s degree from Shenandoah University and a Master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University in voice and opera performance. Her vocal training lends her the freedom to paint her nature inspired lyrics with a wide range and a beautiful and effortless sound. Kirstie Lynn is one half of the duo Kirstie Lynn and Galen Clark. // Galen Clark introduces an alternative perspective and approach to music that contains multitudes. Migratory melodies, multi-instrumental fluency, and mysterious texture all outline the stylings of the newly transplanted Cuyahoga Valley songwriter, producer, and musician. // Born into an Air Force family, Clark grew up in many places with family anchors in Vermont and Colorado. At the age of 9 following many failed piano lessons, Clark’s grandparents gifted him a Harmony parlor guitar from a Shelburne flea market, starting a journey that would span almost 2 decades of stylistic development, a plethora of ephemeral bands, a degree in music production and recording technology, and a refined take on songwriting. .. Sharing songs spanning the stoic mountains of Idaho’s lost river range to the ancient hum of the Shenandoah Valley, Galen draws upon energy strewn between varied time and place, a broader quest for belonging, and rejuvenation beyond the front door. Clark’s previous records, Providence (2018) and The Well (2020) offer a contemplative portrait of moods in natural ambiguity, collective consciousness, and introspection. His most recent collaboration with KC – based artist, Kirstie Lynn is a reckoning that is to be heard live and will transport you elsewhere if not in mind than in spirit.] [Kirstie Lynn & Galen Clark play a CINDERGARDEN B-Sides, Special Release Show at Hillsiders, 403 N. 5th Street, KCK, TONIGHT on Wednesday, June 21, 2023 with Kelly Hunt opening the show.][Kirstie Lynn & Galen Clark joined us live on WMM on June 21.]

36. boygenius – the record / Interscope Records / March 31, 2023

[Debut studio album from indie rock supergroup formed by Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, & Lucy Dacus. Bridgers has called the formation of the group “kind of an accident,” wherein each of the members were simply fans of each other’s work and then became friends. Both Dacus and Bridgers had opened for Baker on separate tours in 2016, and they all ran in similar circles as young up-and-coming performers navigating the indie scene. // The three became close and shared their frustrations of constantly being compared to each other as “women in rock” despite their considerably different musical styles. Dacus has commented that the idea of women in music “should not be remarkable whatsoever,” with Bridgers adding, “it’s not a genre.” Each has spoken on the tendency of the music industry to pit women against each other, and the group was formed in part to reject this idea. “I hope people see the three of us and know there isn’t competition,” Dacus has said. “You don’t have to compete with your contemporaries. You can make something good with people you admire.” // Baker had joked to Dacus years before about a “pipe dream” that they could one day all form a band. The three decided to book a co-headlining tour in early 2018, and they originally planned to record a single or a cover version so that they could perform something together on stage Their self-titled debut EP was written and recorded in four days at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles and released on Oct. 26, 2018 on Matador Records. Following the release, in November 2018, Baker & Bridgers hit the road in North America for a co-headline tour, with Dacus opening. Each artist played her own individual set of tunes. The tour kicked off at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Nov. 4th, and traveled through the Northeast, Midwest, West Coast.]

37. Loraine James – Gentle Confrontation / Hyperdub / September 22, 2023

[Loraine James is also known as Whatever the Weather. Loraine James was raised in an Alma Estate tower block in Enfield, North London. Her interest in music began in childhood. She took piano lessons, and was allured by 2000s alternative bands like Paramore and Death Cab for Cutie, as well as the calypso and funk music her mother introduced her to. In her adolescence, James took an interest in electronic music and was inspired by IDM artists like Squarepusher and Telefon Tel Aviv. / She majored in commercial music at the University of Westminster. Despite this, James planned on following in the footsteps of her mother and pursuing a career in education. // James is queer. // James continued to work on music during her spare time, producing a number of experimental electronic tracks. Starting 2015, she released many of these tracks on Bandcamp. In 2017, she self-released Detail before signing with electronic music record label Hyperdub. // In 2019, her Hyperdub-released debut album For You and I received significant attention and topped end-of-year lists in publications including The Quietus and DJ Mag, where it was named Favourite Album of the Year. The following year, James released two EPs; Hmm in July followed by Nothing in October, a four-track EP featuring a cadre of international vocalists such as Uruguayan singer Lila Tirando a Violeta, Iranian-born rapper Tardast, and HTRK’s Jonnine Standish. In early 2021, she remotely collaborated with Dominican performance artist and dancer Isabel Lewis for CTM’s 2021 virtual edition. // Her 2nd album, Reflection, was conceived during the COVID-19 lockdown after she had quit her teaching job to focus on music. Released in June 2021, the experimental album encompasses a variety of genres and was lauded by critics. // In February 2022, James announced that she had adopted the moniker Whatever the Weather and that an eponymous album would be released in April 2022. The lead single “17°C” and its accompanying music video were previewed. The following month, she released a collaborative EP w/ TSVI, titled 053. // Her 3rd release of the year, James’ album Building Something Beautiful for Me was released on Oct. 7, 2022. It is an homage to American composer Julius Eastman and is inspired by a mix of his unreleased & previously available works.]

Loraine James Discography

Gentle Confrontation / Album / 2023
Building Something Beautiful for Me / Album / 2022
Whatever the Weather / Album / 2022
Reflection / Album / 2021
Nothing / EP / 2020
Hmm / EP / 2020
For You and I / Album / 2019
Detail / Album / 2018

38. The War and Treaty – Lover’s Game / Mercury Nashville – UMG / March 10, 2023

[We first met The War and Treaty right before their Official Showcase at Folk Alliance International Conf-erence on Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. We first played them on Feb 7, 2018. The War and Treaty released their full length debut album, “Healing Tide” on Aug. 10, 2018. Michael Trotter Jr & Tanya Blount-Trotter are from Albion, Michigan. For Michael Trotter Jr., the journey began in 2004, when he arrived in Iraq, an untested soldier stricken by fear and self-doubt. His captain made it his personal mission to see to Trotter’s survival. The unit was encamped in one of Saddam Hussein’s private palaces, and in a forgotten corner in its basement, they found a black upright piano that once belonged to the dictator himself. When Trotter shared the fact he could sing, he was encouraged to teach himself to play piano on that confiscated keyboard. “I wrote my first song after that captain was killed,” Trotter recalls. “I sang it for his memorial in Iraq.” Soon after it became his mission to sing at the memorial services for those that had fallen. For the next 3 years, he sang songs that brought solace and comfort to the members of his unit. His efforts eventually garnered wider recognition as well. He came in first place in “Military Idol,” the army’s version of “American Idol,” during a competition held in Baumholder, Germany. Following his discharge, he was featured on the Hope Channel program “My Story, My Song.” Then he met Tanya Blount. Blount’s musically influences include Mahalia Jackson, Sister Odette & Aretha Franklin. The two fell in love, got married and used the experiences they had gained to create a new musical collaboration. The couple then secured the services of musicians whose skills add a distinctive sound to The War and Treaty’s blend of roots music, blue grass, folk, gospel and soul. Their 2017 EP Down to the River was released July 21, 2017. Recorded in Albion, Michigan, Down to the River boasts a sound that’s both stirring and sensual, driven by joy, determination and an unceasing upward gaze. The music is visceral but never morose, flush with emotion but void of despair… a style that touches on a variety of genres, but never finds itself confined to anyone. The arrangements are uncluttered– harmonies, basslines, guitar & mandolin licks, settle drum patterns and keyboards create an immensely moving soundscape — but the sentiments and emotions are fully realized and soar with a steady, chilling assurance. “The recording process wasn’t like anything I ever experienced,” Tanya recalls. “This EP has allowed me to breathe musically. I feel like all I have wanted to express for the past ten years has come forth with what we’ve done. The combination of heart, soul & the overwhelming amount of love that Michael & I have for one another comes across in this record.“ “I was sitting on the banks of the Euphrates River in Baghdad dreaming about one day being able to play & sing professionally for people all around the world,” Michael reflects. “As we recorded our music, I constantly had flashbacks of those desert dreams. I thought to myself that this is actually the perfect ending to usher in a new beginning in my life.” The War and Treaty played Boulevardia June 16, 2023 at Crown Center.]

39. Kemet Coleman – Duality / Kemet Creative / April 21, 2023

[With his latest album “Duality,” Kemet invites you on a journey through the depths of the human psyche and nature, blending hip-hop, jazz, funk, and house progressions into a sonically vast soundscape. This album showcases Kemet’s skills as a music producer and features some of the most up-and-coming Kansas City-based artists. At the release party, you’ll be able to experience these sounds in person, surrounded by a community of music lovers who share your passion for dynamic, soulful beats. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to witness the future of music and immerse yourself in the mesmerizing world of Kemet Coleman. // Hip hop MC extraordinaire, Kemet Coleman is a Kansas City based musician, producer and is a member of the Funk/Rap/Soul band The Phantastics. Kemet is also a core element of The Marcus Lewis Big Band for Brass & Boujee. Kemet is Founder and Director at Troostival Kemet is a two time Pitch Music Award nominee for “Best Hip-Hop Act.” Kemet is known for his unprecedented collaborations with Crane Brewing Company, UMKC, KC Streetcar, and The Kansas City Royals. He is also highly regarded for his impresario role within the Sly James for Mayor Campaign in the 2010-2011 where he created the first ever KC mayoral candidate rap song. A University of Missouri – Kansas City alumnus, Kemet, created “Gold and Blue” for UMKC’s sports teams, which has garnered thousands of plays on YouTube and has been featured on prime-time television commercials for the university. In 2020. Coleman contributed his song, “The Virus” to the compilation, Kansas City Syzygy, music created by over 25 Kansas City-based musicians in the middle of the map of a pandemic. “The Virus” is his comment on the impact of the coronavirus, as well as the virus that is racial injustice in America that has received global attention during the past months. All proceeds donated to KC Tenants, a local nonprofit organized to ensure that everyone has a safe, accessible, affordable home. On November 3, 2020 Kemet Coleman released EPISODE TWO: THE RISE OF KEMET EP. On August 1, 2020 Kemet Coleman released BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL. On August 16, 2019 Kemet Coleman released ELECTRIC PARK. On May 5, 2017 Kemet Coleman released PARIS OF THE PLAINS EP. On March 9, 2017 Kemet Coleman released THE INVISIBLE MAN.] [Kemet Coleman played a “Duality” Album Release Show, with DJ Skeme & Friends Friday, April 21, at 10:00 PM at The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, Kansas City, WEST BOTTOMS]

40. Paris Williams – REBEL HEART / Bitter Sweet Sound / January 31, 2023

[Paris Williams is a 24-year old artist from Muskegon, Michigan in the midst of redefining the bedroom pop label. Employing his own sound that he’s dubbed, “bittersweet,” Williams never shuts away from his DIY aesthetic – producing his own work to maintain full creative flexibility. Premiering in December of 2019 with his debut album, DROP DEAD GORGEOUS, Paris is a believer in hitting the ground running and then just never letting off the gas. This mentality was shaped by the inspiration he’s pulled from other famously out-of-the-box artists: such as Kanye West, Pharrell, and Toro y Moi. // Fueled by the multi-faceted artists, Williams believes heavily in pulling from all creative mediums as a way to add layers and texture to his music. This approach has led to Williams seeing support from larger than life musical pillars, like Iggy Pop himself – who showed love to Williams’ song of the same name by spinning it on his BBC radio show in 2018. Williams reshapes the musical landscape around him as his burgeoning career continues to solidify its own form more and more each day by bringing in a breath of fresh air with him everywhere since he wrote his first bars in elementary school. Paris Williams previously released the single, “Hopscotch” on June 21, 2022. He released,“Chunky”on April 20, 2022. He released the single, “Sunsets & Solariums (feat. Bloom Allen)” on October 21, 2021 through Bittersweet Sounds. More info at: allmylinks.com/popstarparis] [Paris Williams joins us LIVE on WMM on March 8, 2023 and August 2, 2023]

41. Julie Byrne – The Greater Wings / Ghostly International / July 7, 2023

[Julie Byrne was born 1990. She is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist from Buffalo, New York. To date, she has released three studio albums, Rooms with Walls and Windows (2014), Not Even Happiness (2017), and The Greater Wings (2023). Julie Byrne was Born and raised in Buffalo, New York. She was influenced by her father’s guitar playing at an early age: “I grew up with the sound of his playing, which was finger style guitar, so I would say that my style is completely rooted in his influence.” At the age of seventeen, Byrne began learning the instrument herself, after her father could no longer play due to complications from multiple sclerosis: “The opportunity to play his instrument and honor the legacy of his craft and all of the time it took for him to cultivate a skill that he ultimately had to find a way to give up—it feels like a bit of an offering to him.” At the age of 18, Byrne left Buffalo, living in various different cities in America, including, Pittsburgh, Northampton, Chicago, Lawrence, Seattle, and New Orleans. // In addition to her recording and touring work, Byrne has studied environmental science, and, in 2016, worked at New York City’s Central Park as a Seasonal Ranger. She notes, “[I] came to view it as a sanctuary, not only for New Yorkers to experience their connection to nature but also for the wildlife that take refuge there. And while the surrounding neighborhoods don’t reflect the same ethos, the parks really do belong to the people of New York and the parks department upholds that mission. I liked working in that form of service to the public.”]

42. Alyssa Murray – ‘SCROLLIN’ / LYSSA RECORDS / September 1, 2023

[SCROLLIN’ is a sonic kaleidoscope of synth-tastic beats and experimental delight. Alyssa Murray is a keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and producer who combines a keen songwriting sense with a playful display of sonic influences, Alyssa Murray creates a satisfying juxtaposition of synth and song. The Kansas City based singer/songwriter, keyboardist, and producer takes after some of the very best art-pop mainstays, electronic wizards, and west coast beat makers. // Alyssa has been featured on the Los Angeles based ‘Beat Cinema’ and was noted as one of KC’s 90.9 The Bridge’s favorite of EPs of 2021. She was selected to collaborate with visual-artist Barry Anderson for Charlotte Street and Eddie Moore’s ProDo Lab Series and in 2022 was awarded a CFX Grant from the Creative Arkansas Community Hub and Exchange. // Always feeling a strong pull towards songwriting, Alyssa studied piano, voice, and guitar in her teens deep diving into such influences as Fiona Apple and Stevie Wonder. Further pursuing her passion for jazz and improvisation, Alyssa moved to Kansas City to study jazz-piano at the UMKC Conservatory while immersing herself in the local music scene. Her 2015 debut ‘As of Now’ showcases her ability to combine elements of jazz with the narrative sophistication of contemporary-folk. // In addition to performing, Alyssa is an experienced music educator and teaches 20+ private lessons a week covering subjects ranging from entry-level piano, ukulele, to jazz improvisation. // She also has years of experience as a dance accompanist with the Kansas City Ballet’s community-outreach program Reach Out And Dance and Owen/Cox Dance Group’s in-school program Take the Stage. // Alyssa has a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and has studied under the direction of Bobby Watson and Dan Thomas; as well as classical repertoire with Karen Kushner and Diane Petrella. // More info at: http://www.alyssamurraymusic.com][Alyssa Murray played Outer Reaches Fest, on October 14 at recordBar, on the Les BonsBons Electrique stage w/ Sweeping Promises, Keo & Them, Static Phantoms] [Alyssa Murray was on WMM on Sept. 20.]

43. Nathan Corsi and My Atomic Daydream – Shangri La / myowndamnrecords / July 8, 2023

[Debut album from Nathan Corsi’s new rock band featuring Kansas City veterans Chris Meck, Tom Hudson, and Benjamin Hart. Nathan Corsi and My Atomic Daydream released their second single, “Hits You Twice” on September 28, 2022. Nathan Corsi has one of the best voices in Kansas City music. With Steve Tulipana he fronts The Band That Fell To Earth paying tribute to David Bowie in this annual project created by Michelle Bacon. Nathan toured for nearly a decade with his band Not A Planet who released critically acclaimed EP, NAP on December 1, 2011; the album, THE FEW, THE PROUD, THE STRANGE on May 10, 2013; SMOKE BOMBS & CIGARETTES: THE HISTORY OF NOW (EP) on September 9, 2016.] [Nathan Corsi and My Atomic Daydream play recordBar, at 1520 Grand Boulevard, KCMO, on Saturday, July 8, at 7:00 PM for their Record Release Party, w/ The Philistines and Friendly Thieves.] [Nathan Corsi and My Atomic Daydream played Apocalypse Meow 16, Saturday, Nov 4, at 7:00 PM at recordBar, with The Phantastics, and True Lions, for Midwest Music Foundation More info at: http://www.midwestmusicfoundation.org]

44. The Frightened Stag – Songs From The Exultant Stag / Jeffery Stolz / Sept. 22, 2023

[Earlier in the year The Frightened Stag released the 4-song EP The Frightened Stag on July 21, 2023. All songs written by J.Stolz and performed by The Frightened Stag. Engineered by Chad Bryan at High Chaparral. Mixed by Scott Gribble. “Hang Loose” features Heidi Lynne Gluck on vocals. Born and raised in Lawrence, Kansas, and featuring absolutely no guitar for whatever reason, the Frightened Stag is Jeff Stolz, Paul Schmidt, Sam Goodell, and Ryan Johnson. Jeffrey Stolz & Wallace Cochran played LIVE on WMM on September 20, 2023. Jeffrey Stolz & Wallace Cochran are in the half-alive band Drakkar Sauna and formerly of The Hips. Wallace Cochran from North Carolina to be the character of Sonny. Jeff has been working hard on a project called The Frightened Stag, with a digital EP released on bandcamp on Friday July 14, 2023 and a vinyl album soundtrack coming out at the end of September for a “musical” Jeff wrote called “The Exultant Stag: at Lawrence Arts Center, Sept. 22-24. Since 2004 Jeffrey Stolz & Wallace Cochran, have released 5 albums and multiple singles, including their 2010 release on Third Man Records all under the moniker of their musical project Drakkar Sauna. Jeffrey Stolz & Wallace Cochran appeared on stage together in the musical project The Frightened Stag and the upcoming theatrical production, THE EXULTANT STAG on Friday, Sept. 22 at 7:00 PM, Saturday Sept. 23 at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM, and Sunday, Sept. 24 at 7:00 PM, at Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St., Lawrence, KS. THE EXULTANT STAG is an off-beat musical comedy aiming to de-stigmatize mental health struggles and celebrate the bravery of seeking professional support and guidance. Written by Jeff Stolz, this original play takes us through the world of Roman mythology combined with live dance and brand-new indie rock music by Stolz’s band, The Frightened Stag with a line-up of all-star back-up vocalists: Heidi Gluck, Hannah Novaria, & Raven Naramore. THE EXULTANT STAG doubles as a vinyl release show of the soundtrack featuring all the songs from the play by The Stag, including a new single by Stolz’s long-term collaboration with Wallace Cochran, and Drakkar Sauna. Jeffrey Stolz is currently playing drums for Heidi Lynne Gluck’s band, in is also in another band with her called 95 Sweetbird, where he sings with her and plays keyboards. More info at: http://www.lawrenceartscenter.org]

45. Black Pumas – Chronicles of a Diamond / ATO / October 27, 2022

[When Black Pumas made their self-titled debut in 2019, the Austin-bred duo set off a reaction almost as combustible and rapturous as their music itself. Along with earning a career total of seven Grammy Award nominations (including Album Of The Year) and winning praise from leading outlets like Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, singer/songwriter Eric Burton and guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada achieved massive success as a live act, touring large theaters all over Europe and North and South America and delivering a transcendent show Burton aptly refers to as “electric church.” As they set to work on their highly awaited sophomore album, the band broadened their palette to include a dazzling expanse of musical forms: heavenly hybrids of soul and symphonic pop, mind-bending excursions into jazz-funk and psychedelia, starry-eyed love songs that feel dropped down from the cosmos. Wilder and weirder and more extravagantly composed than its predecessor, Chronicles of a Diamond arrives as the fullest expression yet of Black Pumas’ frenetic creativity and limitless vision. // In creating the follow-up to one of the most celebrated debuts in recent years, Black Pumas made a point of tuning out any sense of anticipation from the outside world. “I knew the first record was good when we finished it, but I had no idea people would respond like they did,” says Quesada. “This time around there was a lot of pressure and expectation that we hadn’t felt before, which was overwhelming at times, but we did our best to tune that out and focus on trusting ourselves like we always have.” As a result, Chronicles of a Diamond wholly echoes an essential intention behind its creation. “More than anything I wanted to make something we’d be thrilled to play live 200 days a year,” says Burton. “I wanted to be able to laugh, cry, bob my head, do the thing: it was all very much a selfish endeavor.” // Like Black Pumas, Chronicles of a Diamond once again harnesses the lightning-in-a-bottle chemistry between Burton (a self-taught musician who got his start busking on beaches and subway platforms in his native Los Angeles) and Quesada (a Grammy Award winner whose background includes playing in Latin-funk orchestra Grupo Fantasma and accompanying legendary artists like Prince). Produced by Quesada and primarily mixed by six-time Grammy Award winner Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, The War on Drugs), the ten-song LP finds Burton taking the role of co-producer and infusing his free-spirited musicality into every track. Although Black Pumas made much of the album at Quesada’s own Electric Deluxe Recorders in Austin, Chronicles of a Diamond also came to life in such far-flung cities as Amsterdam and Mexico City and San Francisco, with their longtime band joining in to shape the album’s explosive yet artfully crafted sound. “On the first record my goal was to make something that felt modern but without using any loops or programming or editing of any kind—everything was completely live,” says Quesada. “With this record, we threw out all those rules and created something that’s very much a studio album but also captures that crazy energy that happens in the live show.” // The first piece recorded for Chronicles of a Diamond, opening track “More Than a Love Song” instantly reveals the heightened creative freedom Black Pumas brought to the album-making process. After building a potent momentum with its brisk beats, effervescent strings, and brightly buzzing guitar riffs, the long-beloved live staple shape shifts into a moment of pure unbridled exultation powered by radiant gospel harmonies and a spellbinding bit of spoken word from Burton. “My entire approach to singing was definitely informed by our live show,” Burton points out. “Whenever we take the stage it’s the classic us-against-the-world kind of thing, and in reaching for my greatest strengths I ended up discovering new ones. With this album I felt very free in my vocal performance, which has a lot to do with Adrian hearing something in my voice and helping me to explore that.” // For Quesada, one of the most memorable experiences in the making of Chronicles of a Diamond took place on a solo trip to Mexico City in the final stages of the album’s production. “I was finishing up a lot of the sonic manipulation of the tracks and needed to be completely immersed, which ended up feeling like a very full-circle moment,” he recalls. “That same summer when I first started working with Eric, it was in Mexico City that I got inspired by the whole jungle-cats motif—which is how we came up with the name Black Pumas.” First introduced by a mutual friend back in 2017, after Quesada began seeking a potential collaborator who “liked Neil Young as much as Sam Cooke,” the two musicians quickly felt a near-telepathic musical connection. “We never had to discuss much or plot out what we wanted to do with the project—it all came together so easily and naturally,” says Quesada. “The way Eric creates is so in-the-moment and fits perfectly with how my brain works, and it makes everything immediately come to life in a way that’s so exciting and inspiring.” // One of the most electrifying new acts to emerge in recent years, Black Pumas first brought their unbridled breed of psychedelic soul to their 2019 self-titled debut—a widely acclaimed LP whose deluxe edition landed a Grammy Award nomination for Album of the Year. With seven Grammy nominations now under their belt, the Austin-bred duo have made a major cultural impact with smash singles like “Colors”: a gold-certified anthem that’s amassed over 450 million streams, in addition to hitting No. 1 at AAA Radio and earning Grammy nominations for Record of the Year and Best American Roots Performance. Known for their exhilarating live show (as shown on multiple sold-out tours across North and South America and Europe), singer/songwriter Eric Burton and guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada first discovered their once-in-a-lifetime chemistry back in 2017, after Quesada began searching for a potential collaborator and connected with Burton through a mutual friend. Thanks to the potent collision of their distinct sensibilities—Burton is a self-taught musician who got his start busking in his native Los Angeles, Quesada is a Grammy winner whose background includes playing in Latin-funk orchestra Grupo Fantasma—Black Pumas soon set off on a meteoric rise that’s included performing at the Grammys and at President Biden’s inauguration, making high-profile appearances on shows like “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”, winning Emerging Act of the Year from the Americana Music Association, and selling over a million album equivalents worldwide. Produced by Quesada and co-produced by Burton, their massively anticipated sophomore album Chronicles of a Diamond finds Black Pumas bringing their singular vision to life with more power, passion, and daring originality than ever before.]

46. Blonde Redhead – Sit Down for Dinner / Section 1 Records / September 29, 2023

[Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino (vocals, keys/rhythm guitar) and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace (drums/keys and lead guitar/bass/keys/vocals, respectively) that formed in New York City in 1993. The band’s earliest albums were noted for their noise rock influences, though their sound evolved by the early 2000s with the releases of Misery is a Butterfly (2004) and 23 (2007), which both incorporated elements of dream pop, shoegaze and other genres. They have released nine regular studio albums and have toured internationally. //Amedeo and Simone Pace were born in Milan, Italy, and grew up in Montreal (Saint-Léonard), but later moved to Boston to study jazz. After earning Bachelor’s degrees, they entered the New York City underground music scene. Blonde Redhead formed in New York in 1993 after Amedeo and Simone met Kazu Makino, an art student at the time, by chance at a local Italian restaurant.[6] The band named themselves after a song on the 1981 EP A Taste of DNA by the no wave group DNA. // Blonde Redhead’s self-titled debut album was released in 1995. Shortly afterwards, fourth member Maki Takahashi left the band and was replaced by her friend Toko Yasuda as bassist. Yasuda played on the band’s second album La Mia Vita Violenta also released in 1995. Both records appeared on the New York label Smells Like. The band continued as a trio. // Their third album, Fake Can Be Just as Good, was released through Touch & Go in 1997. The band enlisted the help of Vern Rumsey of Unwound, who filled the role of guest bassist. Subsequent albums featured Skúli Sverrisson, who the twins knew from their time in Boston. // On their fourth album, In an Expression of the Inexpressible, Guy Picciotto of Fugazi was hired as producer. Picciotto also contributed in the construction to the song “Futurism vs. Passéism Part 2” as well as lending it his vocals to the 1998 release. In 2000 Picciotto also co-produced Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons with Ryan Hadlock, an album about the relationship between Makino and Amedeo Pace. // The four-year delay between Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons and Misery Is a Butterfly is attributed to Makino’s recovery time after being trampled by a horse. Much of the visual and lyrical imagery of Misery Is a Butterfly is reflective of the accident, especially in the music video for “Equus.” It was the last time Picciotto produced the band. // In 2006 Makino recorded vocals for the film Sisters. Alan Moulder mixed the trio’s album 23 which was released on 4AD, in April 2007. // In mid-2008, they wrote and recorded the score of the documentary feature film The Dungeon Masters. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released on February 12, 2010; a soundtrack album was released in July 2010. In 2009, Blonde Redhead contributed to the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night produced by the Red Hot Organization. // In March 2010 the band included a demo version of the song “Not Getting There” on a 4AD sampler entitled Fragments From Work In Progress. Their eighth album, Penny Sparkle, was released in September 2010 through 4AD. The album was again mixed by Alan Moulder, and reached 79 in the Billboard 200 chart. For the subsequent tour the band added a key-board player. The band released a six-track remix EP in July 2011. // A year later, the band started the project for their next album but without the support of 4AD. Self-financed, the band embarked on a haphazard recording schedule with producer Drew Brown. Simone Pace noted about Brown’s involvement that “he has so much experience and definitely dictated the direction of the record; the choices of instruments, concept and that it was minimal.” He forced the band to use analogue instruments. // In April 2014 their song “For the Damaged Coda” was used in an episode of the first season of the cartoon Rick and Morty. The use of this song was again repeated in April 2017 in the third season. The use of the song became an important plot device regarding the character “Evil Morty” for the series. Around 2018 this song became an Internet meme expressing the sadness one feels at the worst moments of one’s life. The band released their ninth album, Barragán, on September 2, 2014, through Kobalt. It was preceded by the single “No More Honey” that appeared in June. It was followed by the second single, “Dripping,” which included a video. The band also provided the soundtrack to the Danish film The Commentator. // In June 2016 it was announced that the band would release the box set Masculin Féminin on September 30 through The Numero Group. It contains 37 tracks, which cover the first two albums, associated singles, radio sessions and unreleased demos from the period. In 2017, the band released the EP 3 O’Clock, which comprises four songs and featured contributions from Eyvind Kang, Michael Leonhart, Sam Owens and Mauro Refosco, among others. // In September 2019, Kazu Makino released her first solo album, Adult Baby, which featured Ryuichi Sakamoto (on piano, field recordings, and “organic instruments”), Ian Chang and Greg Saunier (drums), and Mauro Refosco (percussion). // The band toured the US in 2022 on select dates supporting Tool // Current members: Kazu Makino on rhythm guitar, keyboards, vocals (1993–present); Amedeo Pace on lead guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals (1993–present); and Simone Pace on drums, keyboards (1993–present).]

47. Joy Zimmerman – WHERE THE LIGHT LIVES / Cultivate Joy Records / August 4, 2023

[WHERE THE LIGHT LIVES was recorded and mixed by Maggie Heeren at La Luna Recording & Sound in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Joy Zimmerman and Maggie Heeren co-produced this album with mastering by Anna Frick of Ally Sound. Kansas City musicians were recorded at Weights and Measures Soundlab by Duane Trower. Joy’s acoustic guitar and soulful violin are featured on WHERE THE LIGHT LIVES, along with a grand collection of musicians – her son Ryan Dugan (guitars), Mike Fuerst (bass), Carolyn Koebel (percussion), Christine Broxterman (cello), Adam Danis (electric guitar and Rhodes), Je  Freling (electric guitar), James Isaac (sax), Joel Tyrone Myers (mandolin), and Beau Bledsoe (dobro). The vocals of Joy Zimmerman, Katie Dahl, Danielle Anderson, Erin McGrane, Eboni Fondren, Maggie Heeren, Ryan Dugan, Jeff Freling, Beth Patterson, and Mike Anyonga ring out. Joy Zimmerman played lIVE on WMM on August 2, 2023.]

48. Kara Jackson – Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love / September Recordings / April 14. 2023

[Kara Jackson wants to be dangerous. Wielding her voice like a honey-coated blade, Kara crafts a blend of emotional folk music and poetic alt-country. With the radical honesty of Nina Simone, and the intricate lyricism of Fiona Apple and Joana Newsom, Kara’s writing blurs the line between poetry and song, demanding an attentive ear and a repeat listen. // Raised by country folk and Black feminist poets like Gwendolyn Brooks and Lucille Clifton, Kara’s songs have the softness and warmth of a southern drawl, while still being sharp enough to cut deep. Born and raised in Oak Park, IL, a community 10 miles west of Chicago, with a Southern sensibility imbued by their parent’s background, her innate talent was unlocked early on honing her skills for music and writing from a very young age. At five years old she began piano lessons; she later taught themself guitar and eventually her passion for poetry took full force during high school. It was then that she began to be appreciated as the Black Queer polymath that she is, earning the prestigious and coveted honour of being 2019’s National Youth Poet Laureate and releasing her debut EP A Song for Every Chamber of the Heart in the same year. // Why Does the Earth GIve Us People to Love, Kara’s debut album, out April 14th via September Recordings, continues in their already signature style: asking open ended questions; the meandering process of trying to answer them leaves us pause for thought. Specifically, Kara’s debut album is a sonic invitation to process our grief. The title is a question the author is always answering. How do we give ourselves permission to yearn for the people we miss? How do we find the courage to let go of what begs to be released? How do we have the audacity to love in spite of everything invented to deter us from it?]

49. Marty Bush – Cowboy Chords / Marty Bush / October 13, 2023

[Hailing from the plains of eastern Kansas, Marty Bush is a torchbearer of the American songwriting tradition. His songs resonate with the weight of his influences such as Townes Van Zandt, Blaze Foley, and Kris Kristofferson, but he has channeled their emotional honesty and unvarnished truth-telling into something uniquely his own. While his 2022 solo debut “The Long Way Home” established him as a devout follower of the country and western songwriting tradition, his follow-up LP “Cowboy Chords” (out OCTOBER 13th 2023) takes a bold step forward in establishing his voice as both a songwriter and performer. Taking the reins as both producer and engineer, Bush plays every instrument on the album with the exception of pedal steel which is skillfully manned by Devon Teran (Timbers). The result is a clear and precise vision of songs that honor the past and think to the present. Touring extensively, Bush played over 250 shows in 2022. He continued that break-neck pace into 2023, writing songs from behind the wheel and testing material in dives, honky-tonks, and juke-joints all over the US, pausing in May and June to record, then hitting the road again this July, August, September and October with Natalie Prauser and November with Johnny Lawhorn of The Pentagram String Band. Marty Bush was our guest on WMM on October 4, 2023.]

50. Daisy Buckët – Welcome To Springfield / Spencer Brown Productions / September 19, 2023

[“Son of a Preacher Man” written by John Hurley, Ronnie Wilkins. Daisy’s sophomore album, she turns to the soulful sound of Dusty Springfield, the British pop star of the swingin’ sixties known for her signature blonde bouffant and soulful sound. Daisy Buckët delves into the catalogue of the late great Dusty Springfield with faithful covers and interpretations of some of her biggest hits . // Recorded in Kansas City with local musicians including Jeff Freling, this new offering showcases a side of Daisy’s vocal range that needs to be heard to be believed. // Daisy Buckët on lead vocals; Jeff Freling on guitars, arrangements, writing horn charts and bells & whistles!; Jeff Harshbarger on bass; Ken Lovern on pianos, and Hammond B3 Organ; Brian Steever on Drums; Mark Hamblin on trumpet; Trevor Turla on trombone; James Isaac on tenor & baritone sax; Spencer Brown on backing vocals; Talya Groves – additional backing vocals (1,3, & 6). Produced by Spencer Brown aka Daisy Buckët & Jeff Freling. Co-Produced by Amy Hull and Michael Wood. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Duane Trower at Weights and Measures Soundlab, Kansas City, MO. Album Artwork, Design, and Photos by Spencer Brown. Dress by Donna’s Dress Shop. Rhinestone Embesllishments by Jessica “Glittahgal” Loughran. Wig by Hollywood Custom Wigs. Necklace by The Glass Sequin.// Spencer Brown studied Musical Theatre, Voice, Dance, Acting at American Musical & Dramatic Academy where he graduated in 2006. Since 2008 Spencer has been playing Trampolina in the America’s Favorite Dragapella® Beautyshop Quartet! – The Kinsey Sicks. With The Kinsey Sicks Spencer has performed all over the world, including on Bravo Television’s Watch What Happens Live! With Andy Cohen, RuPaul’s Drag Race (Season 8 Finale), and ABC’s The Gong Show. The Kinsey Sicks have garnered praise from Forbes Magazine and The New Yorker and a featured on CNN. In 2020, they released their tenth album, “Quarantunes”. Spencer has also worked with Late Night Theatre as Blanche Devereaux in Golden! Girls Gone Wild (in Tybee Island), in Designed Women (Mary Jo), The Alternative Facts of Life (Blair), Cluelessness (Cher), and A Scarrie Carrie Christmas Carol (Sue Snell). Spencer wrote a stage musical adaptation of the film, The Rose, where he played the lead role originated by Bette Midler. For 10 years Spencer has performed as another Bette Midler film role, Winifred Sanderson, in the widely-acclaimed drag “staged reading” of HOCUS POKE US! Spencer has also performed in The Rocky Horror Show (Riff Raff), and Psycho Beach Party (Chicklet), at The Unicorn Theatre, Union Station, the Folly Theater, Off Center Theatre, and the Just Off Broadway Theater (all of them in drag!). Spencer Brown is best known as his blonde wig wearing, original drag creation, Daisy Buckët, winning various honors including: Queen of Kansas City Pride 2008, The Pitch Magazine’s Best Local Album 2018, and 2023. Best 7″ Single “Pansy,” Best Cabaret Show, Best Drag Queen in Kansas City in 2019, 2021 and 2022. In 2021, Daisy was recognized by the Heartland Men’s Chorus as their first Hero of Note for her support of the chorus and their mission. On September 19, Daisy released her 2nd album, WELCOME TO SPRINGFIELD of 11 songs made famous by Dusty Springfield. Next year, Spencer will co-direct Music Theater Heritage’s summer production of “La Cage aux Folles”. Daisy performs 3rd Sundays at Enzo, 5:00 to 8:00 PM with Mark Lowrey on piano. Spencer’s work for KC’s HIV/AIDS organizations has raised more than $100,000. Info at http://www.missdaisybucket.com] [Daisy Bucket / Spencer Brown joined us on WMM on Sept 27, 2023.]

51. Anna St. Louis – In The Air / Woodsist – Mare Record / June 9, 2023

[Follow up to her October 12, 2018, debut album IF ONLY THERE WAS A RIVER. Born of a thousand nights lost in a surrender to stillness and contemplation, In The Air is Anna St. Louis’ second full length album and her most considered work yet. // St. Louis’ debut If Only There Was a River seemed to emerge fully formed out of the recesses of her mind; a gritty, mesmerizing affair, filled with jagged edges and ghostly apparitions. The type of record that announces a new voice; one haunted by what has come before. // But this time, St. Louis is no longer concerned with what could have been and sets her sights to exploring what could be. // It’s an outlook on the world that was formed when her immediate one was small. The intervening years since her last album found St. Louis in a small one-bedroom cabin in the middle of the woods of upstate New York with a new love and time to think of what she wanted to express with her music. For weeks on end, the only trips she took were to and from her job as the front desk clerk at a nearby hotel. The previous years she had spent on tour and performing constantly in the venues of Los Angeles felt like they had occurred in another lifetime. // “It really compelled me to surrender to the unknown,” she says. // And in this surrender, she found liberation. St. Louis is more self-assured, open-hearted and ready to say what she wants. // St. Louis describes the writing period as one of a slow harvest; a fertile time but one that required a newfound patience. Instead of documenting her first thoughts, she spent more time with each song, going deeper with the themes and ideas she wanted to express. // This slower approach also guided the sonic textures of the album. Working with producer Jarvis Taveniere (Purple Mountains, Woods) in two extended recording sessions in Los Angeles in 2021, St. Louis used the studio in a previously unexplored way, opening up her songs to more experiment-ation featuring brighter tones and a more orchestral sound to accompany her new perspective. To that end, she was aided by a cast of friends and collaborators including Jess Williamson, Kacey Johansing, Oliver Hill (Kevin Morby, Vagabon) on strings, Alex Fischel (Spoon) on piano, Josh Adams on drums (Bedouine, Tim Heidecker) and Keven Lareau (Cut Worms, Hand Habits). // In the Air has the sound of a joyous consideration of the present moment; a quiet morning revealing a new snowfall outside, steam coming from the kettle, just before it whistles, St. Louis with her guitar, staring out the window, with a few free hours before work. She’s reflecting on the scene in front of her, imagining the times yet to come. You can hear it; she’s a long way from the noisy bars of Los Angeles, the rigors of the road. As she intones in “Rest”: “You spend your whole life believing in the chase. And then you realize that being somewhere doesn’t matter like it used to.” She doesn’t need a river to carry her anymore. // She’s in the air. – Justin Sullivan]

52. Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World / Matador Records / February 10, 2023

[Yo La Tengo (YLT; Spanish for “I’ve got it”) is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan (guitars, piano, vocals), Georgia Hubley (drums, piano, vocals), and James McNew (bass, vocals). In 2015, original guitarist Dave Schramm rejoined the band and appears on their fourteenth album, Stuff Like That There. // Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called “the quintessential critics’ band” and maintains a strong cult following. Though they mostly play original material, the band performs a wide repertoire of cover songs both in live performance and on record. // Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley formed the band as a couple in 1984. They chose the name Yo La Tengo, Spanish for “I have it”. The name came from a baseball anecdote that occurred during the 1962 season, when New York Mets center fielder Richie Ashburn and shortstop Elio Chacón found themselves colliding in the outfield. When Ashburn went for a catch, he would scream, “I got it! I got it!” only to run into Chacón, a Venezuelan who spoke only Spanish. Ashburn learned to yell, “Yo la tengo! Yo la tengo!” instead. In a later game, Ashburn happily saw Chacón backing off. He relaxed, positioned himself to catch the ball, and was instead run over by left fielder Frank Thomas, who understood no Spanish and had missed a team meeting that proposed using the words “Yo la tengo!” as a way to avoid outfield collisions. After getting up, Thomas asked Ashburn, “What the hell is a yellow tango?” // Kaplan and Hubley placed an advertisement to recruit other musicians who shared their love for bands such as the Soft Boys, Mission of Burma, and Arthur Lee’s Love. The group’s debut recording was a 7″ single entitled “The River of Water” backed with a cover of Lee’s “A House Is Not a Motel”, released in late 1985 with Dave Schramm on lead guitar and Dave Rick on bass. After recording “Private Doberman” for inclusion on a Coyote Records compilation entitled Luxury Condos Coming to Your Neighborhood Soon, Rick left the band and was replaced by Mike Lewis, the founding bass player of Boston garage-punk bands DMZ and Lyres, who was also a member of Brooklyn garage rock band the A-Bones throughout his tenure in YLT. // In 1986, Yo La Tengo released their first LP, Ride the Tiger on Coyote Records. Produced by former Mission of Burma bassist Clint Conley who also took over bass duties on three songs, the album “marked Yo La Tengo as a band with real potential” according to reviewer Mark Deming. Kaplan was credited as “naive guitar” on the sleeve, and in the liner notes for the 1993 reissue of the album on City Slang Records, went so far as to say “Dave’s guitar playing is inarguably the best thing about the record.” // Schramm and Lewis left the band after the album’s release, with Kaplan subsequently taking on the role of lead guitar and Stephan Wichnewski joining to play bass. The group’s next album New Wave Hot Dogs (1987) sold poorly, but, in the words of Mark Deming, “was a quantum leap over the sound of their debut.” // The release of President Yo La Tengo in 1989 did much to establish the band’s reputation among rock critics including Robert Christgau who praised the “mysterioso guitar hook” in the first song titled “Barnaby, Hardly Working”. Produced by Gene Holder of The dB’s, the album was the band’s last release on Coyote. Despite the positive reception of the album, sales were still poor and Wichnewski left the band not long after. Hubley and Kaplan carried on as a duo and began playing two-electric-guitar shows. Kaplan, though typically a pragmatist, started carrying a bug trapped in amber in his pocket for luck. // Yo La Tengo reunited with Dave Schramm in 1990 to record Fakebook, an album of mostly acoustic tunes, including covers of Cat Stevens, Gene Clark, the Kinks, Daniel Johnston, among others, with five original songs by the band themselves, including an acoustic version of Barnaby Hardly Working. Again produced by Gene Holder, the album’s folk sound was a change of pace for the band. Years later, Kaplan recalled that the album was “just me and Georgia looking for an excuse to record with Dave Schramm and Al Greller” who played guitar and double bass on the album, respectively. // In 1991, with Dave Schramm in tow, Yo La Tengo collaborated with Daniel Johnston on the song “Speeding Motorcycle” which was released as a single. The band also released a 7″ single on Bar/None Records with the song “Walking Away from You” backed with a cover of Beat Happening’s “Cast a Shadow.” Gene Holder produced the single and played the bass. The That Is Yo La Tengo EP released later that year included some tracks that would end up on the group’s next LP. // After the release of That Is Yo La Tengo, James McNew (who also records under the solo moniker Dump) began playing bass with the band, forming the trio that continues to make up the band today. According to McNew, “I originally signed on as a fill-in for a short US tour, and a 4-week summer tour of Europe with Eleventh Dream Day. One night after a show in Munster, I was to look after our box of merchandise while Ira and Georgia went gallovanting through the town, meeting their policemen. Needless to say, during our soundcheck in Hamburg the next day, it suddenly dawned on me that I had left the box filled with copies of this EP back at the club in Munster. Oh man, was I in trouble… Sure… blame it on the rookie.” // The band recorded May I Sing with Me in Boston with Holder producing and Lou Giordano engineering. The album was released on Alias Records in 1992. Three of the album’s eleven songs (“Swing for Life”, “Out the Window” and “Five-Cornered Drone”) were carried over from the That Is Yo La Tengo EP and feature Holder on bass. The Upside-Down EP was released on CD in support of the album, rounding out the band’s releases on Alias. // In 1993, Yo La Tengo began their partnership with Matador Records, releasing a 7″ and CD5 of the song “Shaker” which the band recorded with John Siket in New Jersey. The following LP, 1993’s Painful, was also the beginning of the band’s fruitful creative partnership with producer Roger Moutenot, who has produced all of their subsequent albums up until 2013’s Fade, which was produced by John McEntire. Painful is the first Yo La Tengo album to feature James McNew on every song. Ira Kaplan explains: “I think this group really started when we made the record Painful. . . . Painful was the first record that we made as the three of us, and I think it sounds different from the things that came before it. Even though I can see connections with the earlier records and things we’ve done since, it really seems like mostly we’ve built on that record. Anything from before then is really, really different to me. Since Painful, I think we’ve gotten more confident and more willing to trust ourselves and trust each other, and probably better at dealing with things that go wrong.” // Rob Sheffield, writing in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide remarked that McNew “became an essential part of the sound on Painful, the 1993 album that kept every promise Yo La Tengo ever made and blew their previous highlights away.” Critical reaction was quite positive, with reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine calling it “a subtly addicting album.” Robert Christgau also praised the group once again, writing in his review that Yo La Tengo is “always friendly. This is not the forbidding experimentation of an aspiring vanguard. This is the fooling around of folks who like to go out on Saturday night and make some noise—and then go home humming it.” The band released Electr-O-Pura in 1995 to similar acclaim. For the first time, all songs were credited to the band as a whole rather than individual members; this became the norm for all future releases. // The band’s 1997 LP I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One synthesized the group’s eclectic combination of folk, punk rock, shoegazing, long instrumental noise-jams, and electronic music into a sprawling, multi-faceted style. Critical reaction was extremely positive; Pitchfork awarded the album a 9.7 out of 10, and AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that it was “arguably Yo La Tengo’s finest and most coherent album to date.” Kaplan recalled a turning point in the band’s musical progression: “I think after Electr–O-Pura we’ve had a direction of trying not to worry too hard about what the next album is going to sound like. Everything we’ve ever played on we just do whatever seems right at the moment, we just write a bunch of songs, and then go one baby step at the time and just do what seems right.” // With their critical reputation higher than ever before, the band toured extensively and their fan base continued to grow. In 1998, they collaborated with Jad Fair and released the album Strange but True to mixed reviews. Yo La Tengo had a cameo role as a Salvation Army band in the 1998 Hal Hartley film The Book of Life, and feature on its 1999 soundtrack release.[17] The band entered the studio again in late 1999 to record their ninth LP. And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out was released in February 2000 to a warm reception. The album features some intimate songs with hushed, varied instrumentation and includes the 17-minute meditation “Night Falls On Hoboken”. // In 2001, Yo La Tengo recorded an instrumental score for eight short undersea documentaries by Jean Painlevé, entitled The Sounds of the Sounds of Science. The program debuted at the San Francisco Film Festival and has been performed live approximately twelve times. The band also released an EP with covers of Sun Ra’s “Nuclear War” in late 2002. // The band’s tenth LP, Summer Sun, was released in 2003. Although the album received generally favorable reviews, some critics found the album’s quiet atmosphere “underwhelming.” Others criticized the band for a perceived lack of invention. When asked about the album’s quiet nature, Kaplan stated,”We made a decision at the last second just to leave the loud songs off. We were looking at the material we recorded and just trying to put out the best record that we could. At a certain point, we just thought it seemed right to put out the quiet ones. I’ve been aware that there’s been some surprise about that and people saying it’s even quieter than the last record, which has sort of taken me by surprise.” // Yo La Tengo collaborated with Yoko Ono on the 2003 charity album Wig in a Box: Songs from and Inspired by Hedwig and the Angry Inch in support of the Harvey Milk High School. The band put together their first “best of” compilation entitled Prisoners of Love: A Smattering of Scintillating Senescent Songs: 1985–2003 which was released in 2005. They composed scores for four more films, 2005’s Junebug and Game 6, and 2006’s Shortbus and Old Joy. Their scores for these four films were collected on the 2008 compilation They Shoot, We Score. // Their eleventh LP, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, was released in 2006 to universal acclaim. Informed by their soundtrack work, the arrangements included more strings and horns than any of the band’s previous albums. Kaplan told an interviewer: “I think we gained an element of comfort with using that kind of instrumentation, and it became something we could draw on for our other songs.” In addition, the album was book-ended with two guitar jams lasting over ten minutes each. // In 2006, the band released Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics, a compilation of their live impromptu cover-song performances on the New Jersey freeform radio station, WFMU. As part of the station’s annual fundraising marathon, listeners who call in to pledge money to the station may request a favorite which the band will then perform on the spot. In late 2007, the band began performing acoustically for “The Freewheelin’ Yo La Tengo” tour. Audiences were encouraged to request songs and ask questions which, Kaplan stated, the band tried to answer “in a strategic manner so that the answers to the questions will lead to the next song.” // In March 2008, Yo La Tengo performed under the alias “Condo Fucks” at Brooklyn’s Magnetic Field. As Condo Fucks, the band released an album of cover songs, Fuckbook, on Matador in March 2009. // Popular Songs, the band’s 12th album, was released on Sept. 8, 2009. The album was recorded in the band’s rehearsal space in New Jersey and features two songs with elaborate string sections (composed by jazz composer Richard Evans). It entered the Billboard chart at No. 58, the highest entry of the band’s career thus far. // In 2009, Yo La Tengo contributed to Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox, a tribute album for New Zealand rock and roll musician Chris Knox who suffered a stroke in June 2009. Yo La Tengo covered Knox’s song “Coloured”. All proceeds from the album go towards Knox’s recovery. Also in 2009, Yo La Tengo contributed a cover of the song “Gentle Hour” to the AIDS benefit album, Dark Was the Night, produced by the Red Hot Organization. // Preceding their album Popular Songs, Yo La Tengo released an EP entitled Here to Fall Remixes in the summer of 2010. Remixes of their single Here to Fall were done by De La Soul, RJD2, and Pete Rock. This was Yo La Tengo’s third out-of-the-box remix EP in 14 years, following the Autumn Sweater and Danelectro Remix EPs. // In 2012 Yo La Tengo recorded a cover of Todd Rundgren’s “I Saw the Light” for a fund raising cd titled “Super Hits Of The Seventies” for radio station WFMU. In August 2012, they announced the release of an EP in September 2012 to be followed by a full-length album in January 2013. The EP includes three versions of the song “Stupid Things”: the single version, a remix by EYƎ, and the original 12-minute instrumental version. // In 2014 they toured and performed live onstage as film maker Sam Green live narrated an evolving version of his new film The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller in Austin, Burlington, Detroit, Ithaca, Portland, New Orleans and Vancouver. // In 2014, they played an Indiana-based Night Ranger cover band Bobby Night Ranger in the final episode of season 6 of the television series Parks and Recreation. // On August 28, 2015, Yo La Tengo released Stuff Like That There, an album (and “a sequel of sorts to Fakebook”) of re-recorded versions of some of their old songs as well as covers, including songs by The Cure, Hank Williams, and Sun Ra. // In 2016, the band released Murder in the Second Degree, a second compilation of their live impromptu cover-song performances on the New Jersey freeform radio station, WFMU. // In 2017, the band played two dates in New York City with Robyn Hitchcock. The performances included the Hitchcock album “Black Snake Diamond Role” in its entirety, as well as collections of classic Hitchcock songs and covers of other artists. // In 2018, Yo La Tengo released their 15th studio album, There’s a Riot Going On, which Pitchfork decided ‘reflects the group’s greatest and most instantly recognizable strengths’. // In 2020, Yo La Tengo released We Have Amnesia Sometimes which was recorded over a 10-day period from late April to early May amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The album consists of five instrumental, ambient compositions which were recorded with one microphone in the room and the band spread out adhering to social distance protocols laid out by Governor Murphy of New Jersey. // On February 10, 2023, the band will release their seventeenth studio album This Stupid World. // Yo La Tengo have always had the core members Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley. They have had 14 bass players. James McNew has been the bass player since 1992’s May I Sing With Me.]

53. Sampha – Lahai / Young Turks Recordings / October 20, 2023

[Sampha Sisay was born November 16, 1988. He performs under the mononym Sampha. He is a British singer, songwriter and record producer from Morden, South London, United Kingdom. Sampha is known widely for his collaborative work with SBTRKT, Jessie Ware, Drake, Kanye West, Solange and others. Sampha has previously released Process on Young Turks Recordings on February 3, 2017, plus two solo EPs: Sundanza (2010) and Dual (2013). Sampha’s debut album, Process, won the 2017 Mercury Prize.]

54. The Whiffs – Scratch ‘N’ Sniff / DIG! / March 3, 2023

[The Whiffs are: Rory Cameron on vocals & guitar, Zach Campbell on vocals & bass, Joey Rubbish on vocals & guitar, and Jake Cardwell on drums. Recording produced by The Whiffs // Mixed by Steve Squire & Rob Pope at The Green Lodge in Lawrence, KS // Mastered by Steve Squire // Photography by Shawn Brackbill. // On August 4, 2023, The Whiffs released the single “Satellites.” // The Whiffs released the 13 track album Scratch ‘N’ Sniff on March 3, 2023. // The Whiffs released the 14 track album, Another Whiff on December 6, 2019. The Whiffs released their 8-track debut release on March 10, 2017. // The Whiffs are a band from Kansas City, Missouri. “…one of the most accomplished examples of the genre I’ve heard in some time.” — SORRY STATE RECORDS. “This album just feels like America. It transports me to some mythical dive bar where The Replacements, Tom Petty, and Cheap Trick still rule the jukebox. ” — FASTER AND LOUDER // Scratch ‘N’ Sniff by The Whiffs — the second album by Kansas City’s foremost power pop foursome is upon us via Dig! Record Co (US) & Bachelor Records (EU). Not unlike their first album (Another Whiff), and as rock critic Jon Harrison heralds in the album’s liner notes: “this sophomoric offering provides all of the things you love about The Whiffs.” … Now, if you’re asking yourself ‘what do I love about the Whiffs’? Here’s a clue: SONGS. You love The Whiffs’ songs! And now Scratch ‘N’ Sniff’s got 13 new boffo numbers brimming with the hook-laden, never-far-from-the-bar pub-rock snarl The Whiffs nail every time. // The Whiffs are less recording artists than a band of journeymen, from the drums Jake Cardwell (C&C Drum Co.) built-by-hand, to Joey Rubbish’s home recording studio (Club Sandwich). It’s only natural Scratch ‘N’ Sniff is a homegrown production from the floor (tom) up, and was recorded in the band’s living room. The songs are all their own too. Whether penned by Cameron (Rory), Campbell (Zach) or Rubbish (Joey), they all stink of The Whiffs broken-in power pop confectionery. A close listen will reveal the cracks of many-a-can and roommates laughing at vocal takes. As such, everyone’s invited to Scratch ‘N’ Sniff and dive in!]

55. Wills Van Doorn – Rosedale Speedway / Rust Records / October 20, 2023

[Wills Van Doorn released “Flying Bird” as the second single from the album and it was released with “Blue’ an extra track not on the album that features Kat King on vocals. That single is art of WMM’s Favorite 5p Singles of 2023Wills Van Doorn released the single “The Lawn-mower Collector” on July 28, 2023, also from ROSEDALE SPEEDWAY. Wills Van Doorn released the single, “Shake The Frost” on March 10, 2023, and the single, “Lately” on Oct. 22, 2022, and the EP RUN WITH YOU on December 11, 2020. Wills Van Doorn released the singles: “1000 Times” on March 26, 2020, “On My Mind” on July 12, 2019, and “Out of Season” on April 5, 2019. Will Van Doorn has played guitar with Supermoto, Brent Windler’s live band, and he recently signed on as the new lead guitarist for The Creepy Jingles who are currently in the studio recording their new album. http://www.willsvandoorn.bandcamp.com]

56. Soultru – The Legend of Guitar Boy [EP] / The Record Machine / April 7, 2023

[Soultru released, The Truth: an Acoustic EP. through the Record Machine, on October 19, 2020, with vocals by Terrance Banks. Singer, songwriter, poet and emcee Terrance A Banks is a;so known as Soultru is a native of Davenport, Iowa and is currently based out of the Quad Cities area of NW Illinois/NE Iowa. Combining his poetic and lyrical talents with a soulful voice, Soultru has forged his own unique sound. Soultru credits a wide range of influences, including Gavin Degraw, John Legend, Yelawolf and Son Little. More info at: http://www.soultrumusic.com] [Soultru played the 20 Years of The Record Machine featuring The Noise FM, Black Light Animals, Monta and Pala Zolo, on Nov. 11, 2023 at recordBar. More info at: http://www.therecordmachine.co]

57. SPINE – RAICES / Convulse Records / June 30, 2023]

[KC hardcore band Spine released its third LP, Raíces, via Denver label Convulse Records. Many of the lyrics are in Spanish and discuss vocalist Antonio Marquez’ struggles as the son of Cuban-American immigrants. // The album is 12 songs in 13 minutes and aside from featuring some of their best songs yet, there are samples of salsa music and voicemails from Antonio’s family. It was recorded by guitarist Alex Tunks in their South-west Boulevard storage unit practice space. // We’re hoping to drum up some press. This is their 12th year as a band. // Another possible peg is Antonio’s brother, Julian “The Cuban Missile Crisis” Marquez, who is a signed UFC fighter with a 9-4 pro record. He was signed in 2017 after a head kick knock-out in a Contender Series match attended by Dana White and Snoop Dogg. // Longevity is rarely achieved in hardcore but, Raíces is a testament to a band as uncompromising and aggressive as they were over 10 years ago. In fact, Raíces may be the band’s most aggressive output to date, presenting the band’s usual blend of classic USHC and early west coast powerviolence at its most raw – tipping the scale to the latter influence. Lyrically, Raices grapples with the interplay of heritage & identify, family, and world outlook in the face of oppressive governments. // With Raíces, Kansas City’s Spine becomes the rare hardcore band with three notable LPs. They enter the ranks of band’s like Gauze, Madball, Poison Idea, and Integrity, and further establish their legacy as one of the great aggressive bands of their era and of the Midwest. // On this recording, Spine was Antonio Marquez, Alex Tunks, Max Chaney and Dylan Bendetti. // Recorded and Mixed by Alex Tunks at The Space (KCMO) // Mastered by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air More info at: https://linktr.ee/spinecrew%5D [[SPINE played a RAÍCES Album Release show at recordBar, on August 5, with Candy Apple, World I Hate, The Consequence, Livid, Asbestos, PerfumeUSA, Madman, Make No Mistake.]

Raíces

Mira que bien hablas
What they say
Que bola asere
Is what I say

But in reality
It’s never enough
Mixed Identity
You don’t see me

Mira que bien hablas
What they say
Que bola asere
Is what I say

But in reality
It’s never enough
Mixed Identity
You don’t see me

Never accepted
I don’t fit in
Mixed identity
You will see me

58. Joy Oladokun – Proof of Life / Amigo Records – Verve Forecast / April 28, 2023

[Proof of Life is the fourth studio album and second major label album by American singer-songwriter Joy Oladokun. The album has been supported by five singles released throughout 2022 and 2023. The album features guest appearances from Mt. Joy, Manchester Orchestra, Chris Stapleton, Maxo Kream, and Noah Kahan. In a press release about the album, Oladokun said that she intended for the songs on Proof of Life to be “helpful anthems” and to resonate with “anybody who feels normal and needs a little musical boost to get through the day”. The album has been supported by five singles, two of which were released before the album was announced. The first single, “Keeping the Light On”, was released on January 21, 2022. The second single, “Sweet Symphony” (featuring Chris Stapleton), was released on September 23, 2022. Of the song, Oladokun said that the song was about “the vulnerability, the fear, and the ups and downs that come from loving someone.” The third single, “Changes”, was released on February 17, 2023, simultaneously with the album announcement. The fourth single, “We’re All Gonna Die” (with Noah Kahan), was released on March 17, 2023. The fifth and final single, “Taking Things for Granted”, was released on April 21, 2023. // Joy Oladokun was born April 6, 1992, she is an American singer-songwriter. Oladokun’s music spans the genres of folk, R&B, rock, and pop and is influenced by her identity as a queer woman of color. Oladokun grew up in Casa Grande, Arizona, listening to country and folk music, as well as Bob Marley and Lauryn Hill. Both of her parents are Nigerian immigrants to the United States. Her family regularly attended a Christian church, where Oladokun was chosen to lead worship. Later, Oladokun left the church because it limited her creativity. // When Oladokun was 10, a video of Tracy Chapman inspired her to learn guitar.// After college, at a friend’s suggestion, Oladokun moved to Los Angeles to pursue her music career. She later moved to East Nashville, where she signed with Prescription Songs. She has released three studio albums. In 2015, Joy Oladokun self-released her debut EP Cathedrals. Her debut studio album, Carry Me was funded by Kickstarter and released on April 29, 2016 through Well Records. // Oladokun released the single “Sunday” in 2019, saying “‘Sunday’ is the song that 12-year-old Joy, seated in the back of church youth group, needed to hear. She needed to hear that you can be queer and happy. Queer and healthy. Queer and holy. She needed to see married women kissing and playing with their kids.” The music video highlights people in LGBTQ relation-ships and has a predominantly queer cast. // Oladokun’s song “Mercy” follows in the same theme, describing her experience as a Black person in the United States, while the single “I See America” criticizes systemic racism. NPR listed “I See America” on its 100 Best Songs of 2020. // On July 17, 2020, Oladokun released her second studio album, In Defense of My Own Happiness (Vol. 1) hite Boy Records. Billboard described the album as a “stunningly emotional collection.” Mitch Mosk, editor-in-chief of Atwood Mag., called it a “a sweeping, soaring, and stunning sophomore record oozing heart and soul.” // In 2021, Oladokun received a grant from YouTube’s “#YouTubeBlack Voices Fund”. The same year she signed with Amigo Records, Verve Forecast Records, & Republics. Info: http://www.joyoladokun.com] [Oladokun played The Truman on Sept. 12.]

59. The Distant Now – Want Not is Deth / The Distant Now / July 29, 2023c

[KCK based The Distant Now is Jacob E.chord, Anson The Ornery, & Brandan Hoffman. // Too Much Rock reviewed The Distant Now’s Sept. 9, 2022 concert at The Rino in NKC, MO. : “The evening began punctually at 8pm. The three-piece of The Distant Now was up first. Three dudes. Patchy beards. Long dark hair. Lanky. Glasses. They could be brothers, but they’re not. They’re guitarist Jacob E.chord (Eckhardt to the taxman), keyboardist Anson DeOrnery, and drummer Brandan Hoffman. You’ve seen some before in other bands. You’ve seen all of them at other shows. The band hasn’t been around long. In fact, The Distant Now only has two songs that they’ve written as a band. They played both (as the opener and the closer I believe) and then padded the half-hour set with five other songs from the players’ other projects. As such it’s hard to get a feel for what the band is or where it is going. There are short psych songs augmented by E.chord’s pedal board. There are long multi-movement prog suites colored by DeOrnery’s synthesized organ tones. There’s elements of jazz and indie throughout. Originality is hard to pull off, but the Distant Now is giving it a go. E.chord carried most of the vocals. Sometimes they’re a bit campy in that Peter Murphy or even Ziggy-era Bowie way. That’s fun. DeOrnery provided backing vocals throughout the night and took lead on a few. One was a bit iffy. He sounded better on the next. That must have been the closer. It had a solid piano ballad foundation elevated with phased guitar weaving in and out. Between songs E.chord chatted with the audience. DeOrnery chimed in. The set was relaxed and unpretentious. The audience, engaged and supportive. Time will tell where the band goes, but everyone should pay attention to find out.” (from http://www.toomuchrock.com)

60. The Brian Jonestown Massacre – THE FUTURE IS YOUR PAST / A Records / February 10, 2023

[BJM’s 19th album following the release of FIRE DOESN’T GROW ON TREES in 2022. and. The Brian Jonestown Massacre is an American musical project and band led and started by Anton Newcombe. It was formed in San Francisco in 1990. // The group was the subject of the 2004 documentary film called Dig!, and have gained media notoriety for their tumultuous working relationships as well as the erratic behavior of Newcombe. The collective has released 19 albums, five compilation albums, five live albums, 13 EPs, 18 singles as well as two various-artist compilation albums to date. // The bandname is a portmanteau of deceased Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones and the 1978 Jonestown Massacre.]

61.Semper Viridis – “SNAKES AND LADDERS EP / Mixtape Meditation Records / July 14, 2023

[Born in the spinnel of the life changing power of creativity. We are celestial twins who are driven to share our love of music with the world.’ Kirsten Paludan (Olympic Size, KP & the Key Party) and Nate Holt aka Asterales (DJNOTADJ) met in the mid 90’s on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence, but didn’t start collaborating until nearly 20 years later. After being reintroduced to each other by playing together in the local scene, they discovered that they were musical kindred spirits and quickly formed a bond. During the second year of the pandemic, KP recorded guest vocals for several Asterales tracks, and their creative connection was cemented. Not long after, they actively began making original music together as Semper Viridis. // Out everywhere on July 14th, Semper Viridis’ first EP Snakes and Ladders is released with the support of Mixtape Meditation Records (Dallas, TX). Mastered by Brutus DeClaibornio (BAC Studios, Lincoln, NE), Snakes and Ladders features six tracks of eclectic electro, including the title song and first single, an uptempo electro pop anthem that clocks in at just over three minutes. Two music videos are being released in conjunction with the EP, (Projecting Shadows and Snakes and Ladders), both created by David Jerret Fulton. // On January 6, 2023 Semper Viridis released the singke, “Dreams in Color” written and recorded by Kirsten Paluden & Asterales (Nate Holt). Mixed by Asterales. Mastered by Brent Clabaugh. Semper Viridis is the Kirsten Paluden and Nate Holt recently collaborated for Nate’s musical project Astereles and the album, FUTURESPECTIVE on Datura Records released on March 25, 2022 that was Produced, mixed & mastered by Asterales. They performed for the track “Let Go.” KC based leftfield, experimental, electronica music maker, also known as Nate Holt. Asterales eleased the 5-track EP, WORK HOURS on Sept. 6, 2016 in collaboration with Aikido Bray, Leo Minor, Katlyn Conroy, and Tanner Walle, with synthesizers, production, recording, engineering & mastering by Etan Tioh for Datura Records. This was followed by the 3-track EP, FRAGMENTS, released Feb. 3, 2017. Asterales released the single A.M. on Feb. 4, 2017. Asterales released the 10-track album, OUTSIDE THE BOX on Oct. 31, 2017. Asterales released the singles: “Brkfst 4 Btlvrs” on Oct. 31, 2017; and “Soft Spheres” on April 21, 2018. Asterales released the 10-track album ORBITAL DEBRIS: VOL. 1 on Aug. 14, 2020 on Mr. Furious Records. Asterales released the single “ASTR_40” on Aug. 26, 2020. Asterales released the 4-song EP EXTRA JUNK on Dec. 4, 2020 through Mr. Furious Records. Asterales released the singles: “Solstice Song” on Dec. 21, 2020, and “Desire (Tanner Walle) – Asterales Remix” on Jan. 29, 2021. Asterales released the single “Offline” on Feb. 26, 2021. Asterales released the single, “Beauty In The Distance feat. Heidi Gluck)” on March 31, 2021. Produced & mixed by Asterales, vocals by Heidi Gluck. lyrics by Approach, mastered by Royce Diamond. Asterales released the single, “So Easy (feat. Royce Diamond)” on April 30, 2021. Asterales released the single, “Let Go” on May 31, 2021. Produced, mixed & mastered by Asterales, lyrics by Royce Diamond, vocals by Asterales. Asterales released the single, “Paraglider” on June 30, 2021. Produced, mixed & mastered by Asterales. Asterales released the single, “Kinugemi” on July 31, 2021. Produced, mixed and mastered by Asterales. Asterales released the single, “Variable Stars Pt. 1″ on August 30, 2021. Produced, mixed & mastered by Asterales. Asterales released the remix single, “She Left (Asterales Remix)” on Sept. 2, 2021, produced by Asterales. Remix artwork by Gordon Leadfoot & Asterales. Asterales released the single, “P​@​!​omAr​-​1” on September 28, 2021. Produced, mixed and mastered by Asterales. More info at: http://www.asterales.bandcamp.com Asterales released the remix single, “Cory Phillips & the Band of Light – Give & the Take (Asterales Remix)” on October 1, 2021. “Give & the Take” was written by Cory Phillips coryphillipsmusic.com “Give & the Take – Asterales Remix” Produced by Asterales. Asterales released the single, “Calling Me (feat. Ghostmind)” on October 31, 2021. Produced, mixed & mastered by Asterales. Vocals and guitar performed and recorded by Ghostmind. Lyrics by Ghostmind. Artwork by Asterales. Asterales released the single “Your World or Mine (Feat. Approach)” on November 30, 2021. Produced, mixed and mastered by Asterales. Lyrics and vocals by Approach. Asterales released “Right Here, This Moment (feat. Royce Diamond & Maria Cuevas)” on December 31, 2021, produced, mixed & mastered by Asterales. Lyrics & vocals by Royce Diamond. Background vocals by Maria Cuevas (of Maria The Mexican). One of 14 singles Asterales released in 2021. More information at http://www.asterales.bandcamp.com] [Nate Holt and Kirsten Paludan joined us Live on WMM on July 12, 2023.] 

62. Flooding – Silhouette Machine / Ghost is Clear Records & Manor Records / Sept. 29, 2023

[Flooding also released a 3-Way Split with Nightosphere and Abandoncy on February 24, 2023. Flooding’s self-titled album Flooding was released on physical cassette on February 19, 2022, on Manor Records. Flooding is a three-piece band based in Lawrence, Kansas. Fronted by guitarist and vocalist Rose Brown, who began releasing music in 2019 under the name Window Seat. Joining Rose Brown are Cole Billings on bass, and Zach Cunningham on drums. For their debut album Brown wrote the music for the album in the spring of 2020. In early 2021 the group started playing the music to record in Cunningham’s converted shed studio in Gardner, Kansas. Rose Brown of Flooding was our guest on WMM on February 16, 2022. More information at: http://www.manorrecords.com]

63. L’Rain – I Killed Your Dog / Mexican Summer / October 13, 2023

[Taja Cheek, known professionally as L’Rain, is an American experimentalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and curator known primarily as the lead vocalist and songwriter of her eponymous band. L’Rain has been recognized for experimental music that draws on a vast number of traditions and genres in a practice and aesthetic Cheek calls “approaching songness”. // Her self-titled debut, L’Rain, was included in best-of-year lists by publications including Pitchfork and Bandcamp Daily; her second album, Fatigue (2021), was named the best album of the year by The Wire. She has collaborated with artists including Vagabon, Helado Negro, and Naama Tsabar, 8 and performed with Kevin Beasley at the Whitney Museum of American Art. // Cheek was born and raised in Crown Heights, Brooklyn,[9] where she lived with her mother, father, and grandparents. Her father, Wyatt Cheek, worked in music marketing and promotion for entities including Select Records and Kiss FM; her grandmother ran a liquor store; and in the 1950s her grandfather owned a neighborhood jazz club. Cheek’s mother, Lorraine C. Porter, taught physical education, health, math, and science in Brooklyn schools.The stage name L’Rain is an homage to Porter, who died before the release of the self-titled debut. // Cheek studied ballet and modern dance at The Ailey School and learned piano, cello, and Baroque recorder before picking up bass in high school, then forming and joining groups that included an Iron Maiden cover band. She attended Yale to study music but dropped the major, citing factors including a lack of diversity among the program’s course offerings. She transferred to the American Studies program, where her major included a concentration in visual, audio, literary, and performance cultures; in 2011, she completed her Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction. While at Yale she worked as music director of radio station WYBC and booked shows. // After graduation, Cheek returned to New York, where she resumed playing in Brooklyn bands including Throw Vision, who released their debut in 2013 and an EP in 2015. // In 2017, Cheek released the self-titled L’Rain on New York City-based label Astro Nautico. She composed and performs vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, guitar, bass, samples, and percussion on the album. L’Rain also features Alex Goldberg, Jeremy Powell, Kyp Malone (of TV on the Radio), and Andrew Lappin, who co-produced the album with Cheek. Pitchfork included L’Rain among their 20 Best Experimental Albums of 2017, and Bandcamp Daily listed the release as #10 in their Best Albums of 2017. // In 2018, L’Rain (represented by Cheek and Ben Chapoteau-Katz) collaborated with producer Morgan Wiley and vocalist Patrick Gordon to remake the 1980s Chicago house track “Your Love” for a benefit compilation which paired electronic artists with formerly-incarcerated singers. The release, Bring Down The Walls, raised money for Critical Resistance, an organization dedicated to ending the prison–industrial complex. // L’Rain’s second album, Fatigue, was released on Mexican Summer in 2021. Fatigue was named album of the year by The Wire, included among the year’s best by Pitchfork,and met with wide acclaim from outlets including NPR. Cheek provides vocals and plays guitar, bass, synth, keyboards, piano, percussion, tape effects, and airhorn on the album, which features an expanded roster of twenty performers; these include executive producer Andrew Lappin, on guitar and programming, and co-producer Ben Chapoteau-Katz, who contributes synths, saxophone, vocals, percussion, and airhorn. // In August 2023, L’Rain announced a third album, I Killed Your Dog, released in October 2023;the album was co-produced by Cheek with Lappin and Chapoteau-Katz, who perform alongside L’Rain bandmates Zachary Levine-Caleb, Justin Felton, and Timothy Angulo. // L’Rain has toured with bands including Black Midi (2021),Animal Collective (2022), Sharon Van Etten (2022), Big Thief (2023), and LCD Soundsystem (2023). // In 2011, Cheek began working with arts nonprofit Creative Time;in 2014, as site manager for an exhibit co-presented with the Weeksville Heritage Center, Cheek installed and ran a pop-up radio station from a pink Cadillac parked outside the Utica Avenue A/C subway station. (The project was conceived by Otabenga Jones and Associates in homage to Jitu Weusi, black nationalist community arts center The East, and the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium.) The same year, Cheek––along with Ariana Allensworth, Salome Asega, Sable Elyse Smith, and Nadia Williams––co-organized “The Kara Walker Experience: WE ARE HERE”, a public gathering of people of color at the Domino Sugar Refinery for Kara Walker’s installation A Subtlety. In 2015, Cheek’s work as Curatorial Assistant for High Line Art included helping to organize an installation and performance by Kevin Beasley. // In 2016, Cheek joined the curatorial team at contemporary art institution MoMA PS1; the same year, she also opened the basement of her Brooklyn apartment to experimental music events under the name 49 Shade (initially co-organized with Max Alper, Dann Lawrence, and Matteo Liberatore). At PS1, Cheek co-organized Sunday Sessions and the Warm Up series through 2021; Warm Up lineups receiving extensive media coverage included a 2017 event with Cardi B, A$AP Ferg, and YATTA (of artist collective PTP); a 2018 show pairing Lizzo with 2019’s season opener, with Queens local duendita and Freddie Gibbs; 2020’s livestream edition, with Eartheater and KeiyaA;[48] and a limited-capacity 2021 event with Baby Tate and Patia’s Fantasy World.[49] As of July 2022, Cheek was listed as “former Associate Curator” at PS1. Her DIY space 49 Shade has presented artists including Kyp Malone, Miho Hatori, and Otomo Yoshihide, and Bartees Strange credits the space as introducing him to many of his collaborators. // In 2023, Cheek was announced as the first artist curator for BRIC’s Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival. // L’Rain often layers and loops her vocals, and her work frequently features samples from her collection of hundreds of field recordings, some pitch-shifted or otherwise manipulated beyond recognition. She has spoken in interviews about her work’s tendency to evade or reject categorization, saying that she is “more interested in a Barthes, Death of the Author, approach to genre”, values illegibility, and seeks to complicate assumptions about the relationship between identity and aesthetics: “I’m hyper-aware of how marketing and packaging happens for Black people and women and Black women […] I like feeling a sense of agency in how those stories are told”. // AllMusic described L’Rain as making “dreamy, genre-blurring music […], reflecting on grief, change, joy, and resistance through a collage-like mixture of soul, psychedelia, gospel, musique concrète, and numerous other genres.” Pitchfork described her 2021 album Fatigue as “painterly and methodical, daubing vocal loops over clattering percussion, sweeping strings, and resonant synths to create a shapeshifting strain of experimental pop.” Reviewers have variously identified her style and influences as including free jazz, ambient, noise music, and disco; dance; “psychedelic orchestral pop” and “distorted shoegaze”; krautrock, outsider music, and hip hop; R&B and avant-garde rock; gospel, funk, and post-punk; and soul, drone, avant-pop, and musique concrète. // While Cheek is the sole fixed figure in L’Rain recordings and performances, she says the project follows a “more nuanced and collective [model]” than that of the “lone genius or creator”: “I’m trying to find a way to nurture my own voice and singular vision, especially as a Black woman musician, while also acknowledging that I work collaboratively with a team that is essential to the project.”[ Andrew Lappin and Ben Chapoteau-Katz are credited as Cheek’s closest collaborators and co-producers of L’Rain’s second and third albums; as of 2023, the band’s members are Cheek, Lappin, and Chapoteau-Katz with Zachary Levine-Caleb, Justin Felton, and Timothy Angulo.]

64. Anjimile – The King / 4AD Records / September 8, 2023

[Queer & trans song-maker / boy king Anjimile Chithambo, is better known as Anjimile. He released the lead single, ‘The King’, accompanied by a visualiser by Daniela Yohannes, whose striking painting takes centre stage on the album cover. // Highlighting the artistic shift from Giver Taker to now, ‘The King’ opens with a lofty, melodic choir, an intro that belies the song’s motives. Suddenly, sinister arpeggios interrupt the reverie, and the voices grow darkly serious. Deeply steeped in the confusion, grief, and rage of being Black in America, ‘The King’ pushes back against the tired adage, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” hissing, “What don ’t kill you almost killed you// What don’t fill you//pains you// drains you.” // “If Giver Taker was an album of prayers, The King is an album of curses.” In his second album, Anjimile continues exploring what it means to be a Black trans person in America. The brutally honest reflection of 2020’s deadly summer is less reminiscent of the pink cloud of early sobriety and more rooted in the reality of seeing brutality with clear eyes. Drawing from influences ranging from religion, Phillip Glass, and lived experiences, the album is a grand step forward for Anjimile. Nearly every sound you hear on The King comes from two instruments: an acoustic guitar and Anjimile’s own voice. Other than a few beautiful contributions from Justine Bowe, Brad Allen Williams, Sam Gendel, and James Krivchenia (Big Thief), the album is the result of a year in LA working intimately with Grammy and Juno winner Shawn Everet. t// Anjimile release his debut alum On Giver Taker, on September 18, 2020. On the album Anjimile wrote about how death and life are always entwined, wrapping around each other in a dance of reverence, reciprocity, and, ultimately, rebirth. // Giver Taker is confident, intentional and introspective. Anjimile Chithambo (they/them, he/him) wrote much of the album while in treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, as well as while in the process of living more fully as a nonbinary trans person. Loss hovers over the album, whose songs grieve for lost friends (“Giver Taker”) and family members (“1978”) along with lost selves (“Maker,” “Baby No More,” “In Your Eyes.”) But here, grief yields an opening: a chance for new growth. “A lot of the album was written when I was literally in the process of improving my mental health, so there’s a lot of hopefulness and wonder at the fact that I was able to survive,” says Chithambo. “Not only survive but restart my life and work towards becoming the person I was meant to be.” // Each song on the album is its own micro-journey, adding up to a transformative epic cycle created in collaboration with bandmate Justine Bowe of Photocomfort and New-York based artist/producer Gabe Goodman. “1978” and “Maker” both begin as Sufjan Stevens-esque pastoral ballads with Chithambo’s mesmerizing voice. foregrounded against minimal instrumentation and swell into the realm of the majestic through the addition of warm, steady instrumentation (informed by the mix of 80’s pop and African music Chithambo’s Malawi-born parents played around the house) and harmonies by Bowe. “In Your Eyes” starts out hushed and builds to a crescendo via a mighty chorus inspired by none other than The Lion King. The allusion is fitting: each song encapsulates a heroic voyage, walked alone until accompanied by kindred souls. The choirs present throughout are equally deliberate. Chithambo grew up as a choir boy himself, and several songs (notably “Maker”) grasp not only towards reconciliation between his trans identity and his parents’ strong religious beliefs, but towards reclaiming his trans identity as an essential part of his own spirituality. (“[Less] Judeo-Christian, more ‘Colors of the Wind.’”) There is a boldness to this borrowing and shaping, a resoluteness that results from passing through hardship and emerging brighter, steadier. As a closing refrain on “To Meet You There” might sum it up: “Catalyst light of mine / now is your time.” // Giver Taker was recorded in Brooklyn, Boston, and New Hampshire by Goodman, thanks in part to the Live Arts Boston Grant by the Boston Foundation. All songs written by Anjimile Chithambo. Produced by Gabe Goodman & Justine BoweEngineered by Gabe Goodman. Additional engineering by Will G. Radin . Mixed by Will G. Radin. Mastered by Joe Lambert.]

65. Easy Match – Easy Match EP / Claire Adams / November 1, 2023

[“Best Thing” was originally released as a single on March 25, 2023 Easy Match is another of the multiple musical projects Claire Adams is involved with. In this case the band is a trio of Claire Adams, Alyssa Murray, and Steve Gardels (wh each have their own multiple, musical projects.) About Easy Match Claire Adams writes: “I’m so proud of these five songs and so honored to have collaborated with Alyssa and Steve… this was the first project in a long time where I had the chance to write the songs with specific musicians in mind, and I feel like it pushed all of us to lean into building a sound that really felt like our own. The project name comes from a line in the third song ‘Pass The Time,’ but is also inspired by the many uses of the word ‘match,’ which all make appearances throughout the EP, a connection, a contest, a combustible… we had a blast making this music.” // Claire Adams also released the single: “It’s All in Fun” on June 30, 2023. Claire Adams told Michelle Bacon at The Bridge, “”I wrote the string arrangement in the summer of 2021 and we went in to record it this past spring,” Adams said. “I’ve had the happiness of working with Alyssa Bell (viola) and Carmen Dieker (violin) for several years now, mostly playing my songs as arranged by others and I wanted to give a try to arranging a song myself.” “I feel like having an understanding of everyone else’s styles and strengths gives me a sense of direction and focus on what can otherwise be a really abstract craft,” she said. On bass, she, Guillen and Williams comprised the acclaimed trio Katy Guillen & The Girls for seven years, while she has consistently been working with Murray in the years to follow. The four of them got to work with Duane Trower, who has recorded and engineered the majority of Adams‘ solo songs. “Going into [Duane’s studio] Weights & Measures with Katy, Steph and Alyssa was a total comfort zone, and this song just came together out of that,” she said. Claire Adams released “If It Isn’t Right (Alyssa Murray Remix)” on April 15, 2022. This featured Rewound and Alyssa Murray. Our friend Claire Adams recently wrote “Alyssa Murray made a super cool remix of one of the songs off the last album and I wanted to share it with you. The song is ‘If It Isn’t Right’ and also features the Rewound string trio and an arrangement by Peter Lawless. Alyssa really made it her own and gave it a whole new spin, she’s amazing!” Here are the full credits: Vocals: Claire Adams, Alyssa Murray, Fritz Hutchison. Synths and Beats: Alyssa Murray. Cello: Ezgi Karakus. Viola: Alyssa Bell. Violin: Carmen Dieker. String Arrangement: Peter Lawless. Mixed and Mastered by Duane Trower at Weights + Measures Soundlab. Cover Art by Cassie Allen. ‘If It Isn’t Right’ written by Claire Adams. This song was originally on Claire’s acclaimed album YOU KNOW I KNOW YOU originally released April 24, 2020. The album was lost in the COVID 19 of 2020. The album was properly given a “release show” and put out on CD in 2021. 10 songs all written by Claire Adams. Recorded at The Blue House in Kansas City, MO. Additional tracking at MARZ Studios in Nederland, TX. Mixed & mastered at Weights + Measures Soundlab in KCMO. Written by Claire Adams, with Claire Adams on guitars, bass, and vocals; Alyssa Murray on keyboards & vocals; and Fritz Hutchison on drums & vocals. // Claire also released: Words of Love on Feb. 5, 2021 – Recorded and Produced by Claire Adams at Casa 34 in Guadalajara, Jalisco. Mixed and Mastered by Duane Trower at Weights + Measures in Kansas City, MO. Cover Photo by Hugo Parasol. ‘So This Is Love’ written by Mack David, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston. ‘Pocketful Of Rainbows’ written by Ben Weisman, ‘Till There Was You’ written by Meredith Wilson. “Words of Love” written by Claire Adams. ‘Calico Skies’ written by Paul McCartney. Claire also released the EP Moras under the moniker, Mismo Sismo (same earthquake) on July 21, 2021. Claire Adams wrote and recorded this EP at home during the first months of the COVID-19 quarantine. The three songs are meant to be played all together but also stand alone. Mismo Sismo is a collaboration with photographer Hugo Parasol. Claire played guitar on True Lions album THE FEMPIRE STRIKES BACK. In 2020 Clairplayed with the band Ondist for their three full length albums, No Coincidence on June 12, and Electricity on Aug. 14, and Mise en Place on Nov. 13, 2020 with songs recorded at Weights & Measures with Duane Trower with Sam Platt on drums, Eddie Moore on keyboards, DeAndre Manning on bass, Jamie Anderson on guitar, Claire Adams on vocals, and Jillian Riscoe on vocals. Claire also participated in Katy Guillen and The Girls Reunion shows in summer of 2021. Claire Adams on WMM on April 7, 2021. More info at: http://www.easymatch.bandcamp.com]

66. Friendly Thieves – Til Death / Friendly Thieves / October 31, 2023.

[Friendly Thieves released their single “Redbone” on October 4, 2023. Friendly Thieves released their single “Rush” on July 31, 2023. Friendly Thieves released their debut single “You Better Run” on October 28, 2022. The five-piece alt-funk band Friendly Thieves are: Sam Wells on lead vocals, Jamae Breeze on lead guitar, Sam Millard on bass, John Goss on drums, and Ben Baker on saxophone. // From Michelle Bacon’s piece in http://www.bridge909.org: Friendly Thieves describes themselves as if “Alabama Shakes and Young The Giant had a Vulfpeck-inspired love child,” and well, that’s pretty spot on. Their single captures that intersection of vibrant indie-rock energy and exceptional musicianship, with an intriguing funk aroma. // The bands show at ULAH is their only KC show so far this year before the ban sets off on tour to Austin, Chicago, Denver, and Nashville. // Sam Wells released her debut EP, FOR THE DEFLATED on French Exit Records on December 31, 2020. Sam Wells is a Kansas City, based singer songwriter who has shared stages with Betsy Phillips, Kelly Hunt, Andrew Ryan, The Zack Pietrini Band, and The Phantastics. She was featured as a composer and performer in the Kansas City Repertory Theater production of “Ghost Light” performed on the lawn of The Nelson Atkin Museum of Art in October, 2020. Sam has also performed in Troostival (2020), Kansas City Porchfest (2019) and Jamdemic. In 2019, Wells released her debut single “Lesson Learned.” In early 2020 Wells released her second single “Sugar” producer and engineered by Riley Corbin at the Lawrence Kansas Public Library recording studio. It was only a decade ago, Sam Wells sat in her bedroom learning the Corrine Bailey Ray classic “Put Your Records On”. This was all it took to ignite a lifetime love affair with music. With her smooth and sultry voice and the warm tones of a baritone ukulele, she shares stories of love, loss and everything in between. Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Sam Wells has lived in Lawrence, but now calls KC home. Sam Wells also contributed to The Black Lives Matter Compilation from French Exit Records that featured tracks from 22 acts from the area, and was released on July 6, 2020. Sam contributed the song, “Dear Black People”. On WMM we featured tracks from: Blackstarkids, Daniel Gum, Crystal Rose, UpKeep, Bream, Heavy Surface, Palace Intrigue, Self Harmony, and Sam Wells. All proceeds donated to One Struggle KC’s Liberation Fund, a Black-led coalition of KC activists seeking to connect the struggles of oppressed communities, locally & globally. French Exit Records launched in 2018, and is an independent music label based out of Kansas City, Missouri founded by Brad Girard. French Exit Records has released albums for No Magic and Raymond, and has organized live events. The Black Lives Matter Compilation is available on French Exit Record’s Bandcamp page: http://www.frenchexitrecords.bandcamp.com. More information at: http://www.whoissamwells.com. Sam Wells was on WMM on May 13, 2020 and January 20, 2021.][Friendly Thieves played MUSIC UNITES, a Benefit for KKFI w/ Calvin Arsenia on Nov. 2, 2023 at 7:30 PM on the Drexel Hall Stage at KC Irish Center, 19 Linwood Blvd, KCMO.]

67. Jess Williamson – Time Ain’t Accidental / Mexican Summer / June 9, 2023

[Endless prairies and ocean waves; long drives and highway expanse; dancing, smoke, sex, and physical desire – the core images of Jess Williamson’s new album Time Ain’t Accidental revel in the earthly and the carnal. After a protracted breakup with a romantic partner and longtime musical collaborator who left Williamson and their home in Los Angeles at the start of the pandemic, the album’s reckoning with loss, isolation, romance, and personal reclamation signals a tectonic shift for Williamson as a person and as an artist: from someone who once accommodated and made herself small to a woman emboldened by her power as an individual. // A daringly personal but inevitable evolution for the Texas-born, Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Time Ain’t Accidental is evocative of iconic Western landscapes, tear-in-beer anthems, and a wholly modern take on country music that is completely her own. Above everything, sonically and thematically, this album is about Williamson’s voice, crystalline and acrobatic in its range, standing front and center. Think Linda Rondstadt turned minimalist, The Chicks gone indie or even Emmylou Harris’ work with Daniel Lanois. Ringing boldly and unobscured, it’s the sound of a woman running into her life and art head-on, unambiguously, and on her own terms for the first time. // Last year, Williamson and Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee released I Walked With You A Ways under the name Plains; a critically acclaimed record filled to the whiskey-barreled brim with feminine confidence, camaraderie, and straight-up country bangers and ballads. After past records Cosmic Wink (2018) and Sorceress (2020), both released on Mexican Summer, Williamson felt primed to shift in a new direction. Revisiting what she loved growing up, simplifying her process, and making music with a friend proved to be the best step forward for Williamson. // In early 2020, while getting used to the new estrangement and in quarantine with her thoughts, Williamson wrote and recorded the stripped-back standalone single “Pictures of Flowers” by herself at home. This experience became the foundation on which Time Ain’t Accidental was built. The song’s lyrical themes were terrestrial and plain-spoken, with Williamson’s voice set against a drum machine and paired with textural guitar by her friend Meg Duffy (Hand Habits). Soon, Williamson realized that musically she was just as good—better, even—on her own. Tours with Weyes Blood, Kevin Morby and Hamilton Leithauser, and José González bolstered this newfound self-assurance, letting her voice ring out in rooms the size of which she hadn’t played before. // Amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic, Williamson began dating in Los Angeles and tracking demos centered on the realness of those experiences, filled with excitement, anxiety, and disappointment. The drum machine stuck around (this time in the form of an iPhone app), as did her determination to forge a new path as a truly solo singer and songwriter; as a woman finding the sound of herself without anyone else’s input. It was a lonely, but revelatory, period. // The core essence of that time is summed up in the opening line of “Hunter.” “I’ve been thrown to the wolves and they ate me raw,” Williamson sings, clear-eyed and with resolve, having come out the other side. Though tumultuous, the process of dating in LA revealed the album’s North Star, which anchors the song’s chorus and the album’s underlying sentiment more broadly: “I’m a hunter for the real thing.” // This theme comes up on the vivid torch song “Chasing Spirits,” when she sings, over whispers of steel guitar, that “the difference between us is when I sing it I really mean it.” The same energy resurfaces on “God in Everything”, with Williamson turning to the supernatural as a way of rising above the earthly realities of dating and rejection. “Being in lockdown alone, fresh out of a breakup, was a real hard time for me,” she remembers. “What I’m grateful for is having a period of stillness and desperation that forced me to turn inward and find comfort in a power greater than myself”. // In the album liner notes, Williamson too included a quote from Carl Jung that was sent to her by a close friend during this era of uncertainty and upheaval. It reads: “To this day God is the name by which I designate all things which cross my willful path violently and recklessly, all things which upset my subjective views, plans, and intentions, and change the course of my life for better or worse.” // After many months spent alone and searching, Williamson finally found the realness she’d been longing for. First came the idea of Plains and the subsequent writing and recording sessions. Then, on one of her regular drives between her adopted home in southern California and her native Texas, Williamson found and rescued her dog, Nana, who had been abandoned and was running alongside a desert highway in New Mexico. // But all good things come in threes, and she soon found new love with an old acquaintance in Marfa, Texas, addressed straightforwardly in the title track “Time Ain’t Accidental.” “We fell for each other when I was out in West Texas visiting a friend, but then I left to go back to LA,” Williamson explains. “I wasn’t sure if or when we’d see each other again, but I felt so full of love and I hadn’t felt that way in a very long time. I wrote this song the day I got back home. It’s really the story of a day together—we flirted by a hotel pool bar and went on a drive, we had a sweet night—and then I had to go, neither of us really knowing what, if anything, would come next.” // Williamson brought the suite of demos and her newfound assurance to Brad Cook (who’d produced Plains) in Durham, North Carolina. The familiar setting fostered a safe environment for the deeply personal material, and Williamson unleashed her voice with total unselfconsciousness. They tracked her vocals in just a couple of takes for each song. “I kept thinking, ‘my voice feels different now – it’s been liberated,’” Williamson reflects. Cook encouraged Williamson to keep the iPhone app drum machine beats she’d programmed for some of the demos, then married it with banjos and steel guitars for an evident sense of old-meets-new. // Williamson now splits her time between Marfa, Texas and Los Angeles. Time Ain’t Accidental, with its synthesis of traditional country instrumentation with digital effects and modern sounds, unequivocally embodies the energy of the two very different places that she calls home. The album’s artwork, subtly menacing and neon in awareness and strength, displays, in Williamson’s words, “that supernatural forces are acting all around us, that we can trust that we will be in the right place at the right time.” // While Time Ain’t Accidental is remarkable for its bare confidence born of searching and longing for something real, Williamson also recognizes the mysterious whims of time that bricked her path (and she memorialized them on the title track). Ultimately, these unseen forces lured the singer back into her own. The timing was, indeed, no accident. // All songs written by Jess Williamson. Recorded at Puff City (Durham, NC). Produced by Brad Cook. Engineered by Gerard “Jerry” Ordonez, Brad Cook and Paul Voran. Mixed by Brad Cook and Paul Voran. Mastered by Heba Kadry (New York City, NY). Cover photo by Samuel Walker. Inner photos by Jess Williamson. Cover photo retouching by Mike Krol.. Layout by Alex Tults // Jess Williamson – Vocals, Acoustic guitar, Piano, Drum programming; Brad Cook – Acoustic and electric guitar, Piano, Wurlitzer, Organ, Synths, Electric bass, Synth bass, Drum programming, Background vocals; Phil Cook – Banjo, Dobro, Acoustic guitar, Piano, Wurlitzer, Organ; Matt Douglas – Tenor sax, Clarinet, Baritone sax; Deshawn Hickman- Sacred Steel Guitar; Matt McCaughan- Acoustic drums, Percussion, Modular synth, Drum programming. All songs published by Orgasmic Bliss c/o Covertly Canadian Publishing (BMI)license]

68. Kelly Hunt – Ozark Symphony / Compass Records / October 13, 2023

[Kelly Hunt released her critically acclaimed album, EVEN THE SPARROW through Rare Bird Records on May 17, 2023. The daughter of an opera singer and a saxophonist, Kelly Hunt was raised in Memphis, TN, and grew up performing other people’s works through piano lessons, singing in choirs, and performing theater. “It was a very creative, artistic household,” says Hunt. During her teenage years, influenced by musical inspirations as diverse as Norah Jones, Rachmaninov, and John Denver, she began writing her own songs on the piano as a creative outlet. After being introduced to the banjo in college while studying French and visual arts, Hunt began to develop her own improvised style of playing, combining old-time picking styles with the percussive origins of the instrument. “I’m self-taught, I just started letting the songs dictate what needed to be there,” she says. “I heard a rhythm in a song that I wanted to execute, so I figured out how to do it on the drum head while still being able to articulate certain notes in one motion.” After college, Hunt followed a rambling path that took her through careers in acting, graphic design, traditional French bread making, and medicine, all the while making music as a private endeavor. “I wanted to get serious about a responsible career choice, but music kept bubbling up. I was writing a lot and playing a lot and started to not be satisfied just playing to my walls of my room.” After moving to Kansas City and discovering her mysterious Depression-era tenor banjo, Hunt began recording Even The Sparrow in Kansas City alongside collaborator Stas’ Heaney and engineer Kelly Werts. “It took almost two years to record,” she says, “learning how to let the songs dictate the production.” Having finally come to light, the album displays Hunt’s penchant for masterful storytelling and intriguing arrangement, as researched and complex as they are memorable, punctuated by her articulate melodies and a well-enunciated and creative command of lyrical delivery infused with deft emotional communication. While reminiscent of modern traditionalists such as Gillian Welch–a number of her songs even borrow titles and phrasing from traditional American music (“Back to Dixie,” “Gloryland”)–Even The Sparrow reveals an ineffable quality that hovers beyond the constraints of genre, à la Anais Mitchell and Patty Griffin. In “The Men of Blue & Grey,” what begins as a Reconstruction-era ballad about the repurposing of Civil War glass plate negatives in a greenhouse roof soon becomes a meditation on the hope that growth and life may one day be able to emerge from the ruins of suffering and haunting of violence. “Across The Great Divide” turns an otherwise traditional accounting of spurned love into a philosophical epic of the ethics of forgiveness and freedom, evoking the ideas of Søren Kierkegaard and Walt Whitman.] [Kelly Hunt’s EVEN THE SPARROW was in the TOP TEN of WMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019.] [Kelly Hunt played an Album Release & The Matchsellers 10 Year Bandiversary at The Warwick, 3927 Main Street, KCMO, Friday, August 18, at 6:00PM to 10:00 PM]

69. Hannah Jadagu – Aperture / Sub Pop Records / May 19, 2023

[Fresh out of high school, Hannah Jadagu released her debut EP, What Is Going On?, a collection of intimate bedroom pop tracks recorded entirely on an iPhone 7, which was, at the time, Jadagu’s most accessible mode of production. An off-the-cuff approach to music making and instinctive ability to write unforgettable hooks belied the intensity of Jadagu’s subject matter. In a short run time, What Is Going On? confronts some of the nation’s most urgent struggles all through Jadagu’s compassionate perspective. “I want my songs to be both super intimate and still universally relatable,” Jadagu says. “With the EP, so many people told me that the songs resonated with them on a personal level, and that’s what I’m always hoping for.” // Resonate it did; What Is Going On? is Jadagu’s first Sub Pop release, but she’d been putting out music on SoundCloud for years, garnering a small online fanbase as she settled into an aesthetic, and recognition from a broader audience was overdue. “It really took off when I became a percussionist in my middle school’s band,” she says. “Writing songs started as a hobby and quickly became a passion to the point that I spent all my free time recording.” // On May 19th, 2023 Jadagu premiered Aperture, her first LP and most ambitious work to date. Written in the years between graduating from high school in Mesquite, TX and her sophomore year of college in New York, Aperture finds Jadagu in a state of transition. “Where I grew up, everyone is Christian; even if you don’t go to church, you’re still practicing in some form,” Jadagu says, laughing. “Moving out of my small hometown has made me reflect on how embedded Christianity is in the culture down there, and though I’ve been questioning my relationship to the church since high school, it’s definitely a theme on this album, but so is family.” // As a kid, Jadagu followed her older sister – a major source of inspiration who she refers to as “the blueprint” – to a local children’s chorus, where she received choral training. “I hated it,” Jadagu admits. “But it taught me how to harmonize, how to discover my tone, how to recognize and write melody.” The aching single “Admit It” is dedicated to Jadagu’s sister, whose boundless love and impeccable taste has been a constant for Jadagu ever since she was a kid. At home, the siblings were raised on mom’s Young Money mixtapes and the Black Eyed Peas (to whom she credits her love of vocoder) but it was in the sanctity of her sister’s car that Jadagu discovered indie artists who would go on to inspire her work. // “Lose” showcases Jadagu’s love of contemporary indie auteurs as it weaves a spare and unpretentious guitar riff with barebones piano chords all while Jadagu sings about the thrill and underlying fear that comes with beginning a new relationship. It is, in her words, a “classic pop song.” “The things we haven’t done/ Play out in my mind/ Would you just give me time?” she sings, nearing the end, as the skittering drumbeat propels the song from a place of contemplative yearning to defiance. “Every track on this album, except for “Admit It”, was written first on guitar, which is an instrumental throughline,” Jadagu says. “But the blanket of synths I use throughout helps me move between sensibilities. There’s rock Hannah, there’s hip-hop Hannah, and so on. I didn’t want any of the songs to sound too alike.” // Emblematic of this ethos is the single “Warning Sign,” which starts out as an acoustic, R&B slowburner before a muscular electric guitar enters the mix and the song morphs into something akin to psychedelic. “I knew I could make another album on my phone, but I wanted to make sure that I was leveling up, especially for the debut,” Jadagu says. So she began the difficult process of searching for a co-producer capable of complementing her work without dominating it. Enter Max Robert Baby, a French songwriter and producer who captured Jadagu’s attention with his take on Aperture’s lead single “Say It Now.” The duo worked together remotely, sending stems to one another via email, before eventually meeting in-person for the first time at Greasy Studios on the outskirts of Paris. // “When I recorded my EP, it was all MIDI, but in the studio Max and I worked with a ton of analog instruments,” Jadagu says. “There’s some Glockenspiel on the album, calling back to my percussionist days, and some synth warping that adds texture.” While What Is Going On? was heavy on layered reverb, making Jadagu’s vocals feel “shy,” she took what she calls a more “intimate, up close” approach while recording her voice for the LP. That experimentation is best heard on the rousing “What You Did,” which leverages crushing accusations against the song’s unnamed subject. Screaming static and a crunchy guitar part softens under Jadagu’s calm delivery as she sings: “Act like it’s best if we make amends, but I don’t wanna talk to you again.” // An aperture is strictly defined as an opening, a hole, a gap. On a camera, it’s the mechanism that light passes through, allowing a photographer to immortalize a moment in time. For Jadagu, the word perfectly encapsulates the mood of her debut album. In the years it took her to complete, she faced moments of darkness, sure, but the process of making it, her first ever in a professional studio, was ultimately a cathartic experience, one she now shares with you, the listener. Let the light in.] [Hannah Jadagu played the Bottleneck in Lawrence Kansas on Friday, September 29, 2023]

70. The Noise FM – Deleted Scenes: Unreleased Hits 2013 – 2023 / The Record Machine / November 3, 2023

[Formed by the core duo of brothers Austin and Alex Ward in the small town of Fort Scott, Kansas, The Noise FM plays melodic, beat-driven indie-rock. Sometimes the band’s songs get really loud, emphasizing bombastic drums, fuzzed-out synthesizers, and intricate guitar riffs — a sound inspired by the brothers’ love of the 90s alternative bands they grew up watching on Canada’s MuchMusic channel (inexplicably, Fort Scott aired MuchMusic instead of MTV, likely making it the only rural Kansas town with a teenage population fluent in Canadian alternative rock). At other times, The Noise FM’s music focuses on tight, danceable grooves and harmonized vocal melodies. / Following multiple years touring behind the release of 2014’s full-length record Attraction (The Record Machine), the band temporarily shifted its focus to outside projects with Alex & Austin moonlighting as members of successful Chicago garage-pop group Archie Powell & The Exports and internationally touring rock group Hembree. / After living nearly 9 years in Chicago, the brothers recently relocated to Los Angeles to pay significantly more in rent while completing The Noise FM’s long-awaited follow-up to Attraction. // Austin and Alex Ward also play in the band Hembree // Austin and Alex Ward also play in the band Scores with CJ Calhoun, and Greg Panciera. Scores just released the 5-track EP Vol. 2 through Oread Records on October 6, 2023] [The Noise FM played 20 Years of The Record Machine featuring Soultru, Black Light Animals, Monta and Pala Zolo, on Saturday, November 11, 2023, at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd. KCMO. Info at: http://www.therecordmachine.co]

The Noise FM Discography

Dream of the Attack / 9-track Album / November 14, 2008
Enclave / 6-track EP / May 14, 2010
Attraction / 10-track Album / The Record Machine / January 28, 2014
Road Warrior Remix / 8 Remixes / The Record Machine / December 2, 2014
Hot Sauce: The Noise FM Live From recordBar/ The Record Machine / Dec. 9. 2016
“Cooler Heads Prevail” / “Who’s Watching Who?” / Singles / TRM / 7-31-20
“Will You Spend Merry Christmas with Me?” / Single / TRM / Dec. 1, 2022
Deleted Scenes: Unreleased Hits 2013 – 2023 / The Record Machine / Nov. 3, 2023

71. Modern Day Fitzgerald – MEET ME ON ARMOUR ROAD / Modern Day Fitzgerald / September 13, 2023

[This is a concept/rock opera that takes place on Armour Road in North Kansas City, Missouri. This is a love and hate letter to the music scene. From playing a late night show in a small run down club to waking up early to go to back to work. The album deals with the excitement of being in the music scene, falling in and out of love, the stress of wanting to be recognized and heard, and the burnout. The majority of the album was recorded in a studio inside a music venue on Armour Road with producer Alex Garnett. Modern Day Fitzgerald is: Mica-Elgin Vi on guitar & lead vocals, Noah Bartelt on bass & vocals, Sean East on drums. The band wrote all of the songs. More information at: http://www.Moderndayfitzgerald.net]

72. Lonnie Fisher – BEAUTIFUL STAR / Lonnie Fisher / February 9, 2022

[Last year, Lonnie Fisher’s 8-song, solo album FAMOUS GIRL was part of WMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2022. FAMOUS GIRL was released January 19, 2022 and was engineered by Ed Rose and Duane Trower with contributions from: Chris Nunez. Tim Jenkins, Tim Manning, and Julia Reynolds. On October 22, 2021 with his band, Lonnie Fisher And The Funeral released, HAUNTED with Lonnie Fisher on lead vocals, 5 String Guitar & Keyboards; Tim Jenkins on guitars; Chris Nunez on drums, Tim Manning on bass, & Julia Reynolds on vocals & keyboards.Lonnie Fischer played a solo album release show for his new album BEAUTIFUL STAR at The Brick, 1727 McGeee Street, KCMO, on Friday, December 23, at 8:00 PM with The Criterz and Killer City. More information at: http://www.lonniefisher.bandcamp.com.]

73. Gemini Parks – Mom, Why is everyones a Hoe? / Love You Tons Records / Sept. 29. 2023

[Gemini Parks is the Genre-Bending Funk Project of Kansas City Musician Josh Berwanger. Josh Berwanger is known for the bands: the Anniversary, and The Only Children. Gemini Parks is on a mission to make you dance. On March 39m 29023 Gemini Parks released the single “Snake Charmer (featuring J. Arrr & Backwood Sweetie) recorded with Oklahoma producer Jarod Evans (Broncho, Flaming Lips) in 2021 at Blackwatch Studios, Berwanger later added Mitch Hewlit on drums and J-Swamp on bass. Gemini Parks released the debut single “Up All Night” on August 4, 2022, followed by “Price You Pay in September 2022, and “Hypocrisy” on June 28, 2023.]

74. PJ Harvey – I Inside the Old Year Dying / Partisan Records / July 7, 2023

[The story behind PJ Harvey’s tenth album – I Inside the Old Year Dying – goes back six years to the end of touring around her previous record The Hope Six Demolition Project, and Harvey’s keen feeling that somewhere in the endless grueling cycle of albums and shows, she had lost her connection with music itself. “I was quite lost,” she says. “I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do: if I wanted to carry on writing albums and playing, or if it was time for a change in my life.” // Eventually (thankfully), she once again began to feel pulled in the direction of new songs, music, and sounds. The resulting body of work is audacious and original even by the standards of an artist who has always ensured that each phase of her progress has taken her somewhere new. Full of a sense of a cyclical return to new beginnings, it combines its creative daring with feelings of openness and invitation, in the most fascinating way. Collectively, the songs emerge as one of the most powerful and arresting statements of Harvey’s career. // Anchored by her nearly thirty-year creative partnership with her most trusted, long-term musical associates John Parish and Flood, Harvey set out with an explicit mission: to avoid anything reminiscent of their musical past. She draws on the creative freedom she had felt in past musical work on soundtracks, and in the theater. Her perspective shifts away from the big themes of previous albums Let England Shake and Hope Six (“looking out, at war, politics, the world”), towards something more intimate, eerie, and human. “I instinctively needed a change of scale,” she says. “There was a real yearning in me to change it back to something really small – so it comes down to one person, one wood, a village.” Meanwhile, her voice has become, if anything, a more intensely pure instrument over the years. // With I Inside the Old Year Dying, Harvey builds a sonic universe somehow located in a space between life’s opposites, something embodied by Wyman-Elvis, a Christ-like presence in some of the songs who symbolizes the thin line between life and death – and, for that matter, between recent history and the ancient past. Scattered with biblical imagery and references to Shakespeare, all these distinctions ultimately dissolve into something profoundly uplifting and redemptive. “I’m somewhere where I’ve not been before,” Harvey says. “What’s above, what’s below, what’s old, what’s new, what’s night, what’s day? It’s all the same, really – and you can enter it and get lost. And that’s what I wanted to do with the record, with the songs, with the sound, with everything.” // PJ Harvey has commanded attention since the start of her career and is the only musician to have been awarded the UK’s Mercury Music Prize more than once, winning first in 2001 for Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea and again in 2011 for Let England Shake. An accomplished poet and visual artist, as well as a musician and songwriter, her work is striking in its originality: vivid, absorbing and distinct. Since the release of The Hope Six Demolition Project, which went to #1 album in her native UK, she has contributed compositions for stage and screen; most recently for Sharon Horgan’s acclaimed Bad Sisters mini-series.]

75. Shamir – Homo Anxietatem / Kill Rock Stars / August 18, 2023

[Shapeshifting Philadelphia-via-Vegas artist Shamir shares a sentimental third and final single & video “The Beginning”from Homo Anxietatem the 9th album & debut for Kill Rock Stars out August 18, 2023. “The Beginning” dives into the missteps of a relationship gone by, while feeling emotionally trapped as time barrels forward. Opening with a jolting record scratch, then seamlessly flowing into a driving guitar strum, the building chorus evokes a nostalgia akin to the soundtrack of a coming-of-age film. With playful lyrical snacks like “I wish I could turn back time, just like Cher” to the painful reality check “we’re so caught up on having a happy ending…we forgot the beginning” – you can’t help but dance & cry along to Shamir’s ever poignant songwriting. The new track follows healing first single “Oversized Sweater”, bittersweet “Our Song”, and surprise release “Crime” featured in HBO’s Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York. // Shamir (he/she/they) directed the hometown video filmed in Bartram’s Garden with musician friends, including members of the band Friendship and Accidental Popstar Records’ own Ladifa, saying “’The Beginning’ is a song I wrote when I was 14 years old and had never experienced love, yet I was already inundated by all the typical tropes. Even back then I realized a happy ending was contingent on a healthy beginning. The video represents the healing power of being around friends after a break up.” // Homo Anxietatem releases August 18, 2023 . For the 9th Shamir album in eight years, and his debut for the legendary Kill Rock Stars label, the shapeshifting songsmith tries on yet another shade of perfect popcraft. After a run of critically acclaimed heavy rock and industrial-tinged records, Shamir forms his literally unforgettable tunes into alternately subdued and soaring alt-pop. For a 28 year-old, Shamir’s amassed a huge body of work. His live show and recorded output are more closely aligned than ever, holding close to guitar-bass-drums combos. The songs are elemental, yet flawless in their own Shamir-ness. And with the studio polish provided by Hoost (Rina Sawayama, VC Pines), the barebones songwriting becomes the foundation for Shamir in a more introspective mode. This is what happens when one of the most prolific songwriters of a generation calms down a bit: the search for meaning becomes mundane. What happens when someone who lives a chronically unstable life finds solid ground? Well, out comes a perfect pop-punk-rock record. // All songs Written by Shamir Bailey with the exception of “Appetizer” written by Grant Pavol. // All songs Produced by Justin Tailor with the exception of “Appetizer” Produced by Grant Pavol and Justin Tailor and “Words” produced by Teddy Thompson. // All guitar, bass, and live instrument performed by Shamir Bailey and Justin Tailor with the exception of “Appetizer” guitar, bass, and drums performed by Grant Pavol and “Words” bass by Teddy Thompson. // All songs Mixed by Charlie McClean // Mastered by Amy Dragon.]

76. Jungle – Volcano / AWAL Recordings / August 11, 2023

[Jungle are back in 2023 with their new album Volcano. This record builds upon the success of the 2021 album Loving in Stereo, which was met with critical and commercial success, becoming one of the most acclaimed albums of the year. With Volcano, Jungle has once again proven themselves to be one of the most exciting and innovative artists in electronic music. With the infusion of disco, soul and hip-hop elements, Jungle continues to push the boundaries of their sound, creating an uplifting and free-spirited album which is sure to be one of the highlights of the year, solidifying the duo’s status as one of the most important voices in contemporary music. // Jungle’s journey began in Tom McFarland’s bedroom in London, where he and childhood friend Joshua Lloyd-Watson began experimenting with music production. With a passion for creating soulful, funky beats and an affinity for live instrumentation, the duo quickly developed a unique sound that would set them apart from their contemporaries. Jungle’s music quickly gained traction, and they soon found themselves performing at some of the most prestigious music festivals and venues around the world. // The Mercury Prize-nominated, Gold-certified debut and 2018’s follow-up For Ever both entered the UK Top 10. Loving in Stereo then amplified Jungle’s success further, reaching number 3 in the UK charts, whilst rocketing to #1 in the US Billboard Dance Album Chart. These three records have since amassed over 1,000,000 equivalent album sales and gained over a billion streams. From the confines of Tom’s bedroom, Jungle is about to embark on its next journey with the release of Volcano, a testament to the power of passion, creativity, and hard work. // With Volcano, Jungle are expanding their sound even further, with more innovative and forward thinking production. From intricate and complex beats to soaring synths and soulful melodies, this record is testament to Jungle’s skill as producers and their ability to create music that is both timeless and modern. Collaboration is a key feature of this album, with legendary artists such as Roots Manuva, Erick the Architect, Channel Tres and Bas all appearing across the record.]

77. Collidescope – FunHouse / Collidescope / October 13, 2022

[“The Blackness” is from the upcoming album “Clown Town” that Collidescope hopes to release in early 2023. Collidescope is essentially a duo that includes: Hadiza. on vocals, beats, & synthesizers; and Madison Monroe on guitar, bass, beats, synthesizers, mixing & vocals. On December 31, 2020 Collidescope released their 7-track album DEEP TAPE. DEEP TAPE includes Victoria Falls Stillwater on addition sound production and vocals, and was mixed and mastered by J.Ashley Miller. DEEP TAPE is a follow up the band’s debut EP SYSTEMIC released December 16, 2017. Hadiza also released her solo album SHADOW WEIGHT on Nov. 22, 2019. More info at: http://www.hadizaisnothere.bandcamp.com or http://www.acollidescope.bandcamp.com ]

78. Shawn M Stewart – Easter Eggs / Shawn M Stewart / June 10, 2023

[Singer songwriter Shawn M Stewart is a constant collaborator as part of the indie punk band Critterz and in the single release “Rocket in My Pocket” with Stephonne. Shawn Stewart has had 10 songs inducted into the TV/Film Sync Publishing catalogs. In 2021 he release his album POP containing songs in multiple genres for multiple programming choices. Several singles made the year end lists of favorites of 90.9 The Bridge listeners. But for 2023, Shawn worked on a project very personal to his own interests. He got into a songwriting mode by attempting to tap into the spiritual energy of the late rock and roller Syd Barrett. Shawn worked to receive Sid Barrett’s energy, and he was really happy with the new songs he created. Shawn writes: “What I don’t have is a single song that any major publisher is going to want to publish. That’s okay-they’ve already scooped up two Critterz tunes, But what I do have is the best work of art I’ve ever created.” // Shawn continues, “EASTER EGGS is a reimagining of what Syd might have written if he’d written it 56 years later than his brief catalog. It’s 100% modern, incorporating the very newest of software and effects. There are lots of titular easter eggs- sound effects, voices, AI imitating voices, all lurking just slightly below the surface. Oh, and the songs will jump tracks between consciousness, meta-conscious states, other eras, video games and the matrix, without warning.” Shawn continues, the “EASTER EGGS (album) is the first I’ve ever attempted to self-produce and mix.” More information at: ww.shawnmstewart.com]

79. Youth Lagoon – Heaven is a Junkyard / Fat Possum Records / June 9, 2023

[Youth Lagoon is amidst “a striking reclamation of artistic identity” (Pitchfork). The cherished project of Trevor Powers released “Prizefighter,” the new single/video from his album (and Youth Lagoon’s first in eight years), Heaven Is a Junkyard, on Fat Possum, with a massive tour of North America, his first in 8 years, and will be playing songs from his entire catalog. Following lead single, “Idaho Alien,” “one of Powers’ best feats of songwriting to date”(Paste), “Prizefighter” explores the bond between two brothers, leaving undefined what is fact and what is fiction. // Powers explains:”4 years ago, I started writing a song about brothers. I grew up with 3 of them, so our house was doomsday but with more sugar cereal. Our love was strong and so was our barbarity. It was real joy — the kind you didn’t have to look for cuz it smacked you in the face or pushed you off the bed into a file cabinet. Beyond that, we were homeschooled. 4 fuckin’ weirdos home all day who adored each other and hated each other and played baseball everyday in the backyard and threw rocks at each other’s heads and laughed ’till we threw up. Our bond is forever. That song I started those years ago meant too much to me to finish. I was scared of it. Scared of not making it great… so I tabled it. // A couple weeks before leaving to make the record, I went through some old voice memos while watching a VHS of Drugstore Cowboy. I listened to that 30-second sketch called “Prizefighter.” It was like an angel fell from the sky to tell me how to finish it. “Don’t make it great,” she said. “Make it true.” I finished the song in 2 days.” // Throughout Heaven Is A Junkyard, Powers stitches together a lyrical style that feels both punk and western. With whispers of country, Heaven Is a Junkyard is mutant Americana in a world of love, drugs, storytelling, and miracles — held together by Powers’ voice and an upright piano. In Powers’ own words, “Heaven Is a Junkyard is about all of us. It’s stories of brothers leaving for war, drunk fathers learning to hug, mothers falling in love, neighbors stealing mail, cowboys doing drugs, friends skipping school, me crying in the bathtub, dogs catching rabbits, and children playing in tall grass.”]

80. Levelle – Promise To Love / SRC Records / June 9, 2023

[LeVelle, also referred to as “LB,” is an R&B/ Neo-Soul artist and songwriter from Kansas City. LeVelle’s drive and dedication for his music career is personified through his ecstatic personality. This coupled with his soulful voice gives way to the talented artist that is LeVelle. // The inspiration for his musical career stems from his early exposure to different forms of music. Drawing influence from artists like Sam Cooke, Al Green, and Gerald LeVert, he has an assorted range of musical role models. These influences alongside his life experiences have allowed for the development of his unique musical style. // LeVelle was blessed with the opportunity to be Charlie Wilson’s background singer, and has graced the stage with other award-winning and talented artists such as Anthony Hamilton, Tank, and Robin Thicke, to name a few. //Promise To Love, is not just the name of his new project, but its his way of life concerning his music career.]

81. Yaeji — With A Hammer / XL Recordings / April 7, 2023

[Kathy Yaeji Lee is known professionally as Yaeji, is an American singer, DJ, and producer based in Brooklyn, New York City. Her style blends elements of house music and hip hop with mellow, quiet vocals sung in both English and Korean. // She was born August 6, 1993, in Flushing, Queens, as a single child in a Korean family. She moved from New York to Atlanta when she was 5, and then to South Korea in the third grade. While living in South Korea, Yaeji switched between different international schools on a yearly basis, leading her to find friends on the Internet, where she would first discover music. She also briefly attended school in Japan before moving back to Korea. // Yaeji eventually moved back to the United States to study conceptual art, East Asian studies, and graphic design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She embraced DJing as a hobby while attending Carnegie Mellon, crediting the afterhours electronic music dance party Hot Mass with her “indoctrination into nightlife.” Yaeji learned how to use Traktor and began DJing at house parties. She DJed for two years before learning Ableton, making her own music and debuting on Carnegie Mellon’s college radio station WRCT. Yaeji graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 2015. // After graduation, Yaeji moved back to New York City to get involved in the music scene and to DJ. Her first single, “New York ’93”, referring to her year of birth, was issued on the New York City label Godmode on February 29, 2016, followed by a cover of “Guap” by Australian DJ Mall Grab that May. She had previously uploaded songs to SoundCloud, although they were removed; this included “Areyouami”, which was released when she was at college. // Her debut eponymous EP, including both prior singles, was released by Godmode on March 31, 2017. // She began to gain attention following her first Boiler Room session in May 2017, which involved a remix of Drake’s single “Passionfruit”. The song was later released officially on Godmode’s SoundCloud page. The first of several stand-alone singles, “Therapy” was issued in July 2017, followed by a two-track digital single, Remixes, Vol. 1, on August 1 and the “Last Breath” single on August 28. The music video for the single “Drink I’m Sippin On” was released on 88rising’s YouTube channel in October 2017, quickly gaining over one million views in two weeks. On November 3, 2017, Yaeji released her second EP, EP2, to positive reviews and moderate commercial success. The video for “Raingurl” was released on November 16. // Yaeji was named to the BBC’s Sound of 2018 longlist in November 2017. She also performed at the 2018 Coachella Festival. // In 2021, “Raingurl” made it into New York Times’s T magazine Spotify playlist, “Right Here: Asian Women Artists in the West.” She also performed at BRIC’s Celebrate Brooklyn! music festival, where she was rushed by fans. // A year after her release of “What We Drew”, and a year into the global COVID-19 pandemic, Yaeji released her first collaborative work with Korean Indie band front man Oh Hyuk of Hyukoh. The release consisted two tracks: “Year to Year” and “29”. Despite being artists of different genres, both artists were able to rediscover the joy that they feel when creating music because of the collaboration. Her debut album, With a Hammer, was released in April 2023. The lead single, “For Granted”, was released in January 2023. “Done (Let’s Get It)” followed in February 2023. Yaeji performed at Coachella 2023.]

82. Bodikhuu – Tokyo / Farsi Records – Mississippi Records / March 24, 2023

[Mongolian producer BODIKHUU returns with a sonic journey through Japan in the form of 13 instrumental hip- hop vignettes. // “I wanted to portray the 80s Japanese atmosphere through my style,” Bodikhuu writes from his home in Ulaanbaatar, the coldest capital city on earth. “Even though I have never been there, this is my way of saying that I have seen the place.” // Unable to travel to Japan, Bodikhuu instead conjures an imagined city through sound. “Tokyo” evokes the neon, sweat, traffic, exhaust, gloaming towers and “monotonous lonely lives” of the sprawling megalopolis through its music. The album is a rich collage of cast-off sounds and razor sharp interpolations of city pop, obscure Japanese jazz, and 80s J-pop, all expertly chopped up on one of the few MPC-1000s in Ulaanbaatar. Faded voices over thundering drums give tracks like “Office Melancholia” and“Subway” a sense of place and emotional weight uncommon in beat tapes. // “Tokyo” builds on the international success of 2019’s “Rio/Bodianova” (the first Mongolian hip-hop record on vinyl), which found Bodi traveling through Rio on a lush bed of 1970s bossa nova and tropicalia. On this album, we’re jet-propelled into the 80s – all smooth surfaces, shimmering synths, and twinkling lights. // Collaged cut-up artwork by Digital Sting (Feel- Free Hi-Fi), warm analog master from Dave Vettraino (International Anthem) and loud-cut 160gm vinyl from Smashed Plastic in Chicago complement Bodikhuu’s considered beats. // A note from Bodikhuu: “The album’s idea came from my friend Jargalan aka Jack. I wanted to portray the 80s Japanese atmosphere through my style. Basically it represents the tremendously busy lifestyle of Tokyo – subway stations, roads, towers, factories monotonous and lonely lives of people in it. Even though I have never been there, this is my way of saying that I have seen the place. All of the samples come from city pop, j-pop, Japanese jazz & funk music and the production was done on an MPC-1000.]

83. Everything But The Girl – Fuse / Buzzin’ Fly – Virgin / April 21, 2023

[Everything But The Girl have revealed their new track “Caution To The Wind” and its accompanying lyric video. The track is taken from the band’s upcoming album Fuse out April 21st. The song is the follow up to current single “Nothing Left To Lose” which has seen fantastic support across radio and press, with BrooklynVegan calling it “one of the year’s most welcome surprises,” radio and editorial playlists. The track has topped one million streams on Spotify, and the video has been viewed over 1 million times on YouTube. // Written and produced by Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn over the spring-summer of 2021, Everything But The Girl’s new album Fuse is a modern take on the lustrous electronic soul the band first pioneered in the mid-90s. Thorn’s affecting and richly-textured voice is once again up front in Watt’s glimmering landscape of sub-bass, sharp beats, half-lit synths and empty space, and as before, the result is the sound of a band comfortable with being both sonically contemporary, yet agelessly themselves. // The pair recorded in secret at home and in a small riverside studio outside Bath with friend and engineer Bruno Ellingham. For the first two months, the artist name on the album files was simply TREN (Tracey and Ben), and early takes focused on ambient sound montages and improvised spectral piano loops recorded by Ben on his iPhone at home during his enforced pandemic isolation – ideas which later blossomed into atmospheric tracks such as “When You Mess Up” and “Interior Space.” // Everything But The Girl broke through on the UK indie scene in 1982 with a stark jazz-folk cover of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day.” They then released a string of UK gold albums throughout the 80s, experimenting with jazz, guitar pop, orchestral wall-of-sound and drum-machine soul. After Watt’s near-death experience from a rare auto-immune condition in 1992, the pair returned unbowed with the million-selling ardent folktronica of Amplified Heart in 1994. It includes their biggest hit, “Missing,” after New York DJ-producer Todd Terry’s remix unexpectedly made the leap from heavy club play to global radio success (Number 2 US Hot 100; Number 3 UK Top 40). The sparkling Walking Wounded – emotional songs brimming with ideas from the mid 90s electronic scene – followed in 1996 (Number 4 UK Album Chart). Spawning four UK Top 40 hits, the record became the band’s first platinum selling album. After their final show at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2000, the pair chose to quit Everything But The Girl on a high. // Everything but the Girl is an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, producer and singer Ben Watt. The group’s early works have been categorized as sophisti-pop with jazz influences before undergoing an electronic turn following the worldwide success of the 1994 hit single “Missing”. // The duo have accomplished four top ten and twelve top 40 singles in the UK and have received eight gold and two platinum album BPI certifications in the UK as well as one gold album RIAA certification in the US. Their cover of “I Don’t Want to Talk About It” reached number three on the UK Singles Chart in 1988, a feat which would later be matched by “Missing”, which charted high in several countries and reached number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1995 and spent over seven months on the UK Singles Chart thanks to an extremely popular remix by Todd Terry which later led to a Brit Award nomination for Best British Single. // Their ninth album Walking Wounded (1996) set a new career best by entering the UK albums chart at number four; it spawned the top ten singles “Walking Wounded” and “Wrong”. The band went inactive in 2000, with Thorn declaring that she would no longer perform live. Thorn and Watt, who did not publicise their romantic relationship with each other while active, married in 2009, both released solo albums and said it was unlikely that Everything But the Girl would be active again. // However, in November 2022, Thorn announced that a new album had been recorded for release in spring 2023. Fuse, the band’s first new material in 24 years, will be released on 21 April 2023. // When Thorn and Watt met, they were both attending the University of Hull and both had contracted with the independent record company Cherry Red Records, as solo artists. Thorn was also a member of the trio Marine Girls. The pair each had solo album releases through Cherry Red: Thorn’s 1982 LP was A Distant Shore, an eight-track mini-album. Watt’s 1983 debut LP – the follow-up to his 1982 5-track EP Summer Into Winter featuring Robert Wyatt – was entitled North Marine Drive. // 1985 view of Turners, with the slogan Everything but the Girl. They formed a duo and adopted the name “Everything but the Girl” from the slogan used by the Hull shop Turner’s Furniture on Beverley Road. // EBTG’s debut single, a cover version of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day”, was released in June 1982. After steady sales and exposure from a compilation album entitled Pillows & Prayers, the single was re-issued in August 1983. // Their debut album, Eden, was released in the UK in 1984. It reached number 14 on the UK Albums Chart, spending twenty weeks on the chart. It featured the single “Each and Every One”, which reached number 28 on the UK top 40. Thorn wrote in 2016 that her lyric was misunderstood: “Our first single, ‘Each and Every One’, was intended as an angry lyric about being a female musician, patronised and overlooked by male music critics. My band the Marine Girls had attracted several reviews along the lines of ‘not bad for a girl’ and so the opening lines addressed this: ‘If you ever feel the time/To drop me a loving line/Maybe you should just think twice/I don’t wait around on your advice’. It was the instructions of music critics I wasn’t waiting around for, but I wrote it too subtly, and so it was heard as a lovelorn lament, a lonely girl waiting for a letter from a boy.” // In spite of their early history as established independent artists, to newcomers Everything but the Girl was considered part of the jazz/popular music style known as “sophisti-pop”, alongside other British acts like Carmel, Swing Out Sister, Sade, Matt Bianco and The Style Council. Both Watt and Thorn were guest musicians on the Style Council’s Café Bleu album, while EBTG worked with producer Robin Millar and engineers Ben Rogan and Mike Pela—who also collaborated with Sade—on their early albums. Although Eden was released in the UK, a different recording, Everything but the Girl, was released in the United States on the Sire label. The US release contains six tracks from Eden, two UK singles and four alternate tracks. // The 1985 album Love Not Money was their second studio album release, and signalled a move away from jazz and Latin influences to a more traditional electric guitar, bass and drums arrangements. The US edition included two additional songs that were not on the original UK release: a cover version of the Pretenders’ song “Kid” and “Heaven Help Me”. // The next year they released Baby, the Stars Shine Bright, recorded with an orchestra at Abbey Road Studios.[1] They revealed the album’s inspiration by their choices of B-sides for its single releases: songs from Bacharach and Jimmy Webb on the 12″ versions (as well as a cover version of Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces”). The first single from the album was “Come on Home”, followed by “Don’t Leave Me Behind”. // In 1988, EBTG released Idlewild. Blending acoustic instrumentation with sequenced drums and synthesisers, it reached number 13 on the UK Albums Chart, spending fifteen weeks on the chart.[8] A cover version of Danny Whitten’s “I Don’t Want to Talk About It”, previously a success for Rod Stewart, was released as a single shortly afterwards. It reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart and was added to the latter issues of the album. Around this time, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions asked Thorn to contribute vocals to the song “Big Snake” on their final studio album Mainstream. // Tommy Lipuma produced the band’s 1990 album The Language of Life, which featured the single “Driving”. “Driving” received heavy rotation on American adult alternative radio. The album featured a host of leading west coast session musicians including Omar Hakim, Joe Sample and Michael Brecker. Stan Getz contributed a tenor sax solo on the song “The Road”. // In 1991, they released the self-produced album Worldwide. It charted at number 29 on the UK Albums Chart. // 1992 saw the release of the acoustic Covers EP. It reached number 13 on the UK top 40. The lead track was “Love Is Strange”. It also included cover versions of Bruce Springsteen’s “Tougher Than the Rest”; Cyndi Lauper’s “Time after Time” and Elvis Costello’s “Alison”. These four tracks were included on the US only album, Acoustic. // In the summer of 1992, the duo was forced to curtail recording and touring for several months when Watt developed Churg–Strauss syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease. Hospitalised for 10 weeks, and enduring several life-saving operations, he subsequently wrote a memoir, Patient, about his near-death ordeal. // In 1993, EBTG released two EPs in the UK. One featured a cover version of Paul Simon’s “The Only Living Boy in New York”. The other spawned a subsequent top ten UK hit, “I Didn’t Know I Was Looking for Love”, for Karen Ramirez. // 1994 saw EBTG release their seventh album, Amplified Heart, a hybrid of folk rock and electronica featuring contributions from guitarist Richard Thompson, double bassist Danny Thompson, drummer Dave Mattacks, and producer/programmer John Coxon. Producer Todd Terry remixed the track “Missing”, and when released as a single, it became an international success. It reached the top ten around the world, including the US, where it peaked at No. 2 in the Billboard Hot 100. // While recording Amplified Heart Thorn and Watt wrote lyrics and music for two tracks – “Protection” and “Better Things” on Massive Attack’s second album Protection. Thorn sang lead vocals on both. The single “Protection” reached number 14 on the UK top 40. The album reached number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. // Buoyed by the recent successes and out of contract at WEA, EBTG released the self-produced Walking Wounded in 1996 exclusively licensed to Atlantic Records for the United States and Canada and Virgin Records for the Rest of the World. Featuring collaborations with Spring Heel Jack and Howie B it ushered in a new electronic sound for their own work. It charted at number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and spawned two top ten UK singles – “Walking Wounded” and “Wrong”. Two further singles – “Single” and “Before Today” – reached number 20 and number 25 respectively. // In 1999, the duo followed it up with their ninth and final studio album, Temperamental. It charted at number 16 on the UK Albums Chart. // “Self-awareness is a dangerous thing: by about the third or fourth record, people were throwing comparisons at us and you have to be very tough to withstand it. And by the end of the ’90s, we were playing to 5,000 people a night. I’d stand on stage, looking out, thinking, “I don’t want to be this big.” —Ben Watt in 2012, recalled a lacklustre feeling from the late 1990s, during the latter years of EBTG. // Between 2000 and 2022, there were no new recordings from Everything but the Girl. In 2002, 2004 and 2005, the duo curated compilations of their material. The 2004 compilation, Like the Deserts Miss the Rain, was a DVD release that included footage of a 1999 performance at the Forum venue in London, UK, for which John McKenzie and long-time collaborator Martin Ditcham performed alongside the pair as session musicians. // From 1999, Watt concentrated on DJ and production/remix work, finding success as one half of Lazy Dog, with partner Jay Hannan, and collaborating with Beth Orton on her 1999 album Central Reservation and her 2002 album Daybreaker. Watt then proceeded with a new angle on his solo career that included launching the Buzzin’ Fly record label in 2003, and becoming the part-owner-founder of the Neighbourhood and Cherry Jam nightclubs from 2002–2005. Watt released a string of club-oriented productions including the Bright Star EP, with producer Stimming and British singer Julia Biel, on Buzzin’ Fly in 2010. // In 2005, Thorn co-wrote and recorded vocals for the song “Damage”, a collaboration with German band Tiefschwarz that appeared on their Eat Books album. Thorn’s second solo album, Out of the Woods, was then released in 2007, followed by her third solo album, Love and Its Opposite, in 2010. In October 2011, Thorn released a cover version of The xx’s “Night Time”, on which Watt played guitar and sang backing vocals. This was their first recording together in over a decade, although it was not an Everything but the Girl release. // In an April 2011 interview, Thorn was asked whether she would ever work again with Watt as Everything but the Girl. Thorn responded, “Yes, we do keep saying we are nearly ready to maybe do some work together again. There are certain obstacles, some practical, some psychological, that we would need to overcome. But it may well happen.” A collection of Christmas songs, Tinsel and Lights, for which Thorn recorded cover versions of Christmas songs with two new original songs, was released in October 2012 on Buzzin’ Fly’s sister record label Strange Feeling. Watt and the couple’s children provided backing vocals on the original song “Joy”. // In 2012, the band’s first four albums were reissued by Edsel Records as “deluxe” double CDs, with demo recordings and other additional material. At the time, Watt explained that Warner Music Group still maintained control over their back catalogue: “our big fear was that one day we’d wake up and they’d have reissued them, without telling us.”; when the representative from Edsel, a company that specialises in reissued material, made contact, the couple decided that the time was appropriate. Additionally, Thorn stated that the thought of reforming the band and playing live filled her “with cold dread”—upon re-listening to the early EBTG records, Thorn experienced a sense of “Gosh, well, I’m not really that person any more.” // A second tranche of Demon/Edsel reissues, covering the four albums released between 1990 and 1994, was announced in September 2013. According to the EBTG website, “Once again, Ben and Tracey have helped at every stage of the process, sourcing demos, rarities and memorabilia for the releases.” // The band’s final two albums, Walking Wounded and Temperamental were given the deluxe treatment and were reissued by Demon/Edsel on September 4, 2015. // Watt hit the pause button on his record labels and DJ activities to return to his folk-jazz singer-songwriter roots in 2014. His first solo album since 1983, Hendra was released on April 14, 2014. It featured collaborations with Bernard Butler, formerly of the band Suede, Berlin-based producer Ewan Pearson and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. The album won the ‘Best ‘Difficult’ Second Album’ category at the AIM Independent Music Awards 2014. It was included at No 27 in Uncut’s Top 75 Albums of 2014. He followed it up in 2016 with Fever Dream. It continued his relationship with Bernard Butler, and added guest cameos from MC Taylor of North Carolina folk-rock band, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Boston singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler. It received a 9/10 review in Uncut magazine. In a four-star review, The Guardian said: ‘In his early 50s, he is making some of the best music of his career.’ // In addition to solo music projects, both Thorn and Watt have written books. Thorn’s 2013 memoir, Bedsit Disco Queen, covers a significant portion of the history of EBTG as a band. // In July 2017, Everything but the Girl reclaimed the rights to eight of their albums, plus the American rights to Temperamental and Walking Wounded from Warner Music Group; this catalogue will now be distributed through Chrysalis Records under licence from Watt’s Strange Feeling label. // On November 2, 2022, Thorn announced on Twitter that a new Everything but the Girl album had been recorded and would be released in spring 2023. // The first single from their forthcoming album Fuse, “Nothing Left to Lose” premiered on BBC Radio 6 Music on January 10, 2023. Fuse will be released April 21, 2023 and will feature “Nothing Left to Lose” and nine more original songs both electronic and acoustic.]

84. Chris Hazelton – Easy Talk / Cellar Live – La Reserve Records LLC / August 11, 2023

[Chris Hazelton – Hammond B-3 Organ, Brett Jackson – Baritone Saxophone, Jamie Anderson – Guitar, John Kizilarmut – Drums, Pat Conway – Congas (Tracks 1, 5, & 7). Executive Producer: Cory Weeds. Produced by Chris Hazelton. Recorded at Weights & Measures Soundlab (Kansas City, MO) on February 19th & 20th, 2022. Engineered and mixed by Duane Trower. Mastered by Adam Boose at Cauliflower Audio. Photography by Cory Weeds. // On his Bandcamp page Chris writes: “Dark (noun): a: a place or time of little or no light (ex: night, nightfall) b: absence of light. // I’ve always been somewhat of a night owl. I suppose it comes with the territory of being a jazz musician. We feel at home in dimly lit, hazy settings during the wee small hours of the morning. Something about nighttime has always been enchanting to me. There are endless possibilities, and one never knows what could happen before daybreak. // Towards the end of 2021, however, I found myself in a state of darkness that was truly unfamiliar to me. Like every other musician, the pandemic had brought my career to a grinding halt in the previous year. It seemed like losses were becoming a pattern and grief was becoming more than I could bear. At times, I even questioned whether I still WAS a musician. As the beginning of 2022 approached, I was faced with the reality that three of my greatest musical mentors had passed on, and I suddenly felt a new weight of responsibility for carrying on the tradition of the Hammond B-3 Organ in jazz. Consequently, I found a fresh sense of purpose and inspiration. // So with no real game plan in place, I booked a weekend in the studio and hired friends that I knew could deliver the feeling I was looking for. I have always had an affinity for the sound of a baritone sax in front of the organ trio. Going all the way back to George Benson’s first two albums with Ronnie Cuber and Lonnie Smith, as well as recent releases by my friends Adam Scone and Ian Hendrickson-Smith, the format has a certain grit and heaviness not found in other configurations within the jazz realm. // After dark, there is magic and mystique waiting… and maybe even some true darkness… but AFTER dark, there is always light! // from http://www.chrishazelton.com: Some things in life are just meant to be. The first time Chris Hazelton experienced a real Hammond B-3 organ, he knew instantly that it was the instrument he was destined to play. At the request of his college professor, the then-underage aspiring musician snuck into a dark Kansas City jazz club called Bobby’s Hangout to hear the man behind the console, jazz organ master Everette DeVan. After several weeks of coaxing, Mr. DeVan agreed to take Chris on a student, showing him the ins and outs of the complex machine. With a background in string bass and piano, Chris’ transfer to organ was a natural one. // From 2007 to 2009, Chris called the Big Apple home. New York City provided an education that can only be found by living there. The rhythm of the city and the constant presence of jazz royalty helped sharpen his playing into a potent combination of groove and artistry. During his time there, Chris regularly performed at legendary Harlem jazz clubs such as Minton’s Playhouse, the Lenox Lounge, and Showman’s Jazz Lounge. In 2009, Chris had the honor of studying with the world’s foremost authority in the jazz organ world, Dr. Lonnie Smith! // Upon returning to his native Kansas City, Chris has made a name for himself as one of the premier jazz organists in the midwest and recently made an appearance with the Kansas City Jazz Orchestra at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. // His flagship ensemble, Chris Hazelton’s Boogaloo 7, was assembled in 2013 and held a impressive seven-year Friday night residency at Kansas City’s Green Lady Lounge. This seven piece unit focuses on funky, rhythmic soul-jazz that harkens back to the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, a time when Lou Donaldson, Jimmy McGriff, Charles Earland, Grant Green, Lonnie Smith, and a host of others packed dance floors and venues along the “Chitlin Circuit”. The Boogaloo 7 has released two 45rpm 7-inch vinyl singles and two full-length LPs on Sunflower Soul Records, a label established by Hazelton in 2014 that produces soulful recordings with unashamedly old-school, analog vibe. // For nearly 10 years, Chris served as the organist at “The Historic” Centennial United Methodist Church in the 18th & Vine Jazz District of Kansas City, MO – a church that was once home to Count Basie and Charlie Parker. He plays bass guitar with the popular soul ensemble The Freedom Affair. He is happily married to the love of his life, Erica, and together have a daughter named Evelyn and a son named Jaxon.]

85. Adam Larson Trio – With Love, from New York / Adam Larson / April 7, 2023

[Adam Larson (b. 1990) is an American saxophonist, composer, educator and author currently residing in the Kansas City-area. // Larson holds BM and MM degrees in jazz performance from The Manhattan School of Music and was a part of the vibrant NYC jazz scene for eleven years before relocating in 2019. While a resident of the KC-Metro, Larson has held positions at UMKC Conservatory, University of Kansas and The Kansas City Art Institute. Larson currently teaches Entrepreneurship at KCAI. // Larson continues to perform in NYC with some of the greatest musicians in the genre. // As a guest artist, Larson has been invited to present masterclasses on music business, improvisation and composition at more than one hundred universities across the globe. // Adam has recorded eight albums as a leader and maintains an active touring and clinician schedule, playing and presenting his original music and educational materials. http://www.adamlarsonjazz.com]

86. The Electric Lungs – WHERE I GO FOR WHERE I AM [EP] / Independent / October 17, 2023

[The Electric Lungs are a KC based 4-piece band formed in 2012 by Tripp Kirby, Marc Bollinger, Eric Jones, and Jason Ulanet. The Electric Lungs released their EP THE ELECTRIC LUNGS on February 8, 2018. The Electric Lungs released their album, DON’T BE ASHAMED OF THE WAY THAT YOU WERE MADE on October 20, 2015, recorded mastered with Joel Nanos of Element Recording. The Electric Lungs released their breakthrough album, SIMPLIFIED AND CIVILIZED in 2013. The Electric Lungs joined us on WMM on April 8, 2015 and on October 18, 2023]

87. Sunny War – Anarchist Gospel / New West / February 3, 2023

[I feel like there are two sides of me,” says the Nashville-based singer-songwriter and guitar virtuoso known as Sunny War. “One of them is very self-destructive, and the other is trying to work with that other half to keep things balanced.” That’s the central conflict on her fourth album, the eclectic and innovative Anarchist Gospel, which documents a time when it looked like the self-destructive side might win out. // Extreme emotions can make that battle all the more perilous, yet from such trials Sunny has crafted a set of songs that draw on a range of ideas and styles, as though she’s marshaling all her forces to get her ideas across: ecstatic gospel, dusty country blues, thoughtful folk, rip-roaring rock and roll, even avant garde studio experiments. She melds them together into a powerful statement of survival, revealing a probing songwriter who indulges no comforting platitudes and a highly innovative guitarist who deploys spidery riffs throughout every song. // Because it promises not healing but resilience and perseverance, because it doesn’t take shit for granted, Anarchist Gospel holds up under such intense emotional pressure, acknowledging the pain of living while searching for something that lies just beyond ourselves, some sense of balance between the bad and the good. Credits: Produced by Andrija Tokic. Engineered by Andrija Tokic at The Bomb Shelter (Nashville, TN). Assistant Engineer: John Tellmann. Mastered by Dave Gardner at Infrasonic Mastering (Los Angeles, CA).]

88. Approach – Jump [EP] / Datura Records / May 25, 2023

[Lawrence based hip-hop artist. Written, Produced, Recorded, Mixed & Mastered By: Approach/Aikido Bray @Prosidio Garden in Lawrence, KS. Design & Layout: DesignedByMilk. Cover Photo Taken By: Approach]

89. Geese – 3D Country / Partisan Records / June 23, 2023

[n the summer of 2021, Geese emerged from out of nowhere, sparking a hype cycle unlike anything that had been seen for a young American rock band in recent memory. Suddenly a band that had previously planned to release some music, break up, and go away to college was touring the world. They made their TV debut on Colbert, were profiled by the NY Times, Stereogum Band To Watch, Consequence Artist Of The Month, Paste Best Of What’s Next, Rolling Stone called them “indie rock prodigies,” and they toured with Jack White and Spoon. // And during this entire process, that very same band everyone was getting to know ceased to exist. On a practical level, Geese are still the group we were introduced to in 2021: vocalist Cameron Winter, guitarist Gus Green, guitarist Foster Hudson, bassist Dom DiGesu, and drummer Max Bassin. But spiritually, Geese have returned as an entirely different prospect. ‘3D Country’ is the sound of a restless, adventurous band redefining themselves. // ‘3D Country’ fuses recognizable sounds with warped meditations on daily life in a world sliding out of view, Geese repurposing fragments of classic rock into a sound that is stranger and wholly their own. Right out the gates, the album kicks off with serpentine grooves underneath the armageddon visions of “2122,” before quickly ceding to the title track’s gospel-flecked chorus.“Undoer” is a slowburn simmer constantly building to something apocalyptic; “Crusades” travels back to Medieval times but chugs along on a “Heroes”-esque groove before strings swoop in around it. Later, Green and Hudson’s guitars bend and fry while Hudson also jumps in on vocals for an inhuman wail on “Mysterious Love,” and the whole album ends with the sideways piano elegy of “St. Elmo,” playing out like a saloon song viewed through a funhouse mirror. // With a heightened ambition fueling ‘3D Country,’ the band created a bugged-out, wild, unpredictable ride — an almost phantasmagoric reflection of contemporary life. Drummer Max Bassin sums up, “It feels like going to the circus and instead of having a good time, everyone is trying to kill you.” // Geese will tour extensively behind ‘3D Country,’ including a headline run of UK and European dates which they have shared today. Full dates below and here. More info: http://www.geeseband.com]

90. Feeble Little Horse – Girl With Fish / Saddle Creek / June 9, 2023

[Songs written, recorded, and mixed by feeble little horse. Recorded and Produced by Sebastian Kinsler and Ryan Walchonski in Pittsburgh, PA + Washington, DC + Rochester, NY. Mixed by Sebastian Kinsler. Mastered by Heba Kadry, NYC. Songs by Ryan Walchonski, Sebastian Kinsler, Lydia Slocum, and Jacob Kelley. Vocals: Lydia Slocum (+ Sebastian Kinsler on Sweet, + Ryan Walchonski on Slide, + Jacob Kelley on Tin Man). Guitar: Sebastian Kinsler (all tracks), Ryan Walchonski (tracks 3-8, 10, 11). Bass: Sebastian Kinsler (+ Connor Peters on “Paces”). Drums: Jacob Kelley. Keyboard / synth: Sebastian Kinsler (tracks 2-11), Ryan Walchonski (tracks 2, 4, 7, 8), Lydia Slocum (track 9) // feeble little horse makes thrilling and wildly unpredictable songs that are a reflection of the joys that come with making music with your best friends. The Pittsburgh quartet’s sophomore album, Girl with Fish, was made focusing on intuition over intention: letting the magic of collaboration come first. “Anything that makes us laugh or puts a smile on our faces, we usually end up keeping in the songs,” explains drummer Jake Kelley. Across 11 self-recorded and self-produced tracks, the band careens from blissed-out pop to harsh noise, glitchy programmed drum beats, and off-kilter indie rock—sometimes all in one song. As a follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2021 debut Hayday, this LP, with its overwhelmingly inviting and emotionally resonant tracklist, is a document of four people trusting their instincts and most importantly each other. // Like the album name, which came from an inside joke the band shared about imagined painting titles at a museum, there’s a sense of humor that’s welcoming and light. The bruising opener “Freak,” for all its pummeling drums and guitar blasts, is a breezy track about an unrequited crush on a college star athlete (Slocum sings, “how can you be satisfied / she’s 5’1 and you’re 6’5”). “I think we just felt more confident on this album,” says Slocum. “We could have felt more pressure and more unsure of ourselves. But we just wanted to try new things, and learn from what people liked about Hayday but not make the same song again.” Girl with Fish is a testament to the power of self-recording, doing it yourself, and taking a leap with the people you are closest with. “Besides our friendship getting stronger and our songs becoming more interesting to us, nothing’s really changed,” says Kinsler. “It’s still us just hanging out: This is what we do instead of playing video games.”]

91. True Lions / Fritz Hutchison Split Cassette / Manor Records / April 26, 2023

[“Fake Tears” contains lyrics from the poem “The Fake Tears of Shirley Temple” by Patricia Lockwood, from Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals, published by Penguin Books, New York (2014) “Fake Tears” was the first single from the True Lions / Fritz Hutchison Split Cassette. True Lions released their debut full length album, “The Fempire Strikes Back,” on Manor Records on April 9, 2021 with Alisön Hawkins on keytar & vocals; Adee Rocket Dancy on cello & vocals; Claire Adams on guitar, Elizabeth Kosko on drums & percussion; Iona DeWalt on synthesizers; Miki P on guitar & vocals, and Teri Quinn on bass & vocals. Recorded at Deep Space Co-op. Tracking & engineering by Ross Brown at Escape Pod Audio. Mixing and mastering by Joel Nanos at Element Recording. In 2019 True Lions released their EP debut, “Cute at Best,” on February 5, 2019. They followed up with a second EP called. You’re Not Invited, released on November 9, 2019. For these recordings True Lions was: Alison Hawkins on guitar, synth, and vocals; Elizabeth Kosko on percussion, vocals; Mikala Petillo on bass, vocals; Claire Adams on guitar, vocals; Leslie Butsch on saxophone, Ezgi Karakus on cello; and Teri Quinn on vocals. All songs written by True Lions and produced by Claire Adams and Alison Hawkins. Tracking & Engineering by Claire Adams. Mixing and Mastering by Ian Dobyns and Chase Horseman. More info at: http://www.manorrecords.com .] [True Lions played The True Lions / Fritz Hutchison Split Cassette Release Show is Wednesday, April 26, at 7:00 PM with Jass & The Boys at The Ship 1221 Union Avenue, KCMO WEST BOTTOMS. More info at http://www.manorrecords.com] {true Lions were our guests on WMM on April 19, 2023 and July 12, 2023.]

92. Blanky – Blood Harmony / Manor Records / December 15, 2022

[Anthony Cunard of Blanky joined us on the show on Nov. 4, 2020, to talk about Blanky his band that moved from North Carolina, to KCK, and then to Lawrence, KS. // Blanky’s new record ‘Blood Harmony’ was recorded on a half inch reel-to-reel tape machine in various locations around Lawrence, Kansas during multiple sessions from December of 2021 to April of 2022. The intent was to embrace a lo-fi recording production and to emulate some of the style and intimacy captured on select enduring analog classics such as Charlie Megira’s ‘The Abtomatic Meisterzinger Mambo Chic’, The Breeders’ ‘Pod’, and Roland S. Howard’s ‘Teenage Snuff Film’. The process of recording live to tape allows for the inimitable chemistry of players, the uncontrollable variables of a busy household, and the sound of rooms, squeaking chairs and peripheral noise to be captured in a way that the contemporary digital norm just doesn’t. We’ve always loved those small details encapsulated forever in our favorite albums and we think some of that charm has been captured on ‘Blood Harmony’. The record is a snapshot in time of a band that regularly shifts its form and embraces the coming and going of members and collaborators. On ‘Blood Harmony’ the core of the band consists of songwriter and guitarist Anthony Cunard, drummer Max Smith, bass player Maxfiled Yoder and multi-instrumentalist Edward Madill. They’re joined by a handful of friends and contributors including Adam Brisbin (Buck Meek, Sam Evian, Dig Nitty) on pedal steel, Santo Rizzolo (Jackson Pines) on auxiliary drums and percussion and Luke Annis on various brass instruments. The record was mixed by Julian Fader in NYC and mastered by Amar Lal. // Max Smith on Drums & Vocals, Maxfield Yoder on Bass, Edward Madill: on Guitar & Synth, Santo Rizzolo on Drums, Adam Brisbin on Pedal Steel, Luke Annis on Trombone & Trumpet. // Mixed by: Julian Fader // Audio Mastering: Amar Lal // Cover Painting: Ian Felice // Album Design: Claire Monroe // Blanky embodies the languor left of a perfect day gone past. The always evolving musical project has thus far successfully mirrored the tumultuous transition of an agnostic adolescence to a freeing acceptance of life’s unapologetic inhumanity. The result is a dark happiness; simultaneously baffling and enticing. Incubated in a Black Mountain basement and left in the fields ’til full maturity. Blanky has settled in Lawrence, KS by way of Asheville, North Carolina. Southern origins and midwestern sentimentality are bound together in the timeless mindscape provoked by the broad assortment of compositions and styles performed and produced by the band. The ongoing experimentations of Blanky are a testament to their commitment to combining the culture of sharing and adaptation of 60’s folk and the do-it-yourself ethos of contemporary underground music. Blanky’s poignantly devitalized interpretations of rock’n’roll sound both new and familiar. The sense of desolation induced by their work is all so appropriate for an era marked by post-fact disenfranchisement. Blanky released NO SUMMERTIME on Manor records on October 9, 2020. Recorded in 2019 at El Rancho Morbido in Black Mountain, NC, and Lakehouse Sudios in Asbury Park, NJ. Engineered by Nick Semanchik & Anthony Cunard. Mixed by Anthony Cunard and Kevin Drew. Anthony Cunard on guitar & vocals, Santo Rizzolo on drums, Joseph Makoviecki on bass, Edward Madill on pedal steel.][Anthony Cunard of Blanky joined us as our guest on WMM on November 4, 2022.]

93. The Black Mariah Theatre – Mean To Be Mean / The Black Mariah Theatre / July 21, 2023

[Twin sisters Analiese and Sophia make up the Kansas City based band, The Black Mariah Theater. Their sparkly witch-rock sound, as it’s been described, is genre-bending funky drum beats, jazzy guitar tones, and tell-it-like-it-is lyrics. Perfect for anyone who’s had a bad day, a lonely night or a broken heart. // released Recorded and mastered by Joel Nanos at Element Recording Studios in Kansas City. // released On The Black Mariah Theater released the single “Broken Bone” was also recorded, mixed, and mastered at Element Recording Studios by Joel Nanos. alternative duo female vocals garage rock indie rock Kansas City][Analiese and Sophia of The Black Mariah Theater joined us live on WMM on August 16, 2023]

94. yeule – Softscars / Ninja Tune Records / September 22, 2023

[3rd studio album from Yeule (stylised as yeule). It is the musical project of Singaporean songwriter and producer Nat Ćmiel (born Natasha Yelin Chang). Formed in 2012, Yeule incorporates elements of ambient, glitch and Asian post-pop. The name Yeule is derived from the Final Fantasy character of the same name (spelled differently), as well as their middle name. // Ćmiel was born Natasha Yelin Chang in Singapore where they attended school. They first started playing music at the age of 6 on their parents’ Yamaha piano and learned classically although eventually dropped taking lessons, and wanted to explore something more challenging which led them to guitar and drums. Ćmiel initially started playing waltz pieces, though they soon moved onto songs from the soundtracks of Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts. They later went onto sing in a jazz band under the name Riot Diet, covering songs from Ella Fitzgerald and the Pixies. After graduating from high school, they applied to Central Saint Martins to study fashion communication and womenswear. // Growing up, feelings of loneliness and depression were present due in part to Ćmiel’s nomadic upbringing. They found solace on the internet, which would influence their later works. // Ćmiel’s first release under the Yeule title was their self titled EP on March 3, 2014. // On December 11, 2016, Ćmiel released their second EP, Pathos, which was dedicated to David Singh. // Ćmiel followed up with the OST to interactive simulator game Lost Memories Dot Net, which was released on July 17, 2017. // On September 27, 2017, Ćmiel released their third EP, Coma. With regard to the writing, they said that “I wrote this album to commemorate the people I’d lost.” The EP received a positive reception with Duncan Cooper of The Fader describing it as “dream-pop perfection”. // Ćmiel signed to Bayonet Records on July 17, 2019. // On October 25, 2019, Ćmiel released their debut studio album Serotonin II. On the process of creating the album they said that “Writing the record, I was dreadful. I didn’t ask for much, I don’t need to be happy. I just wanted to be content.” The album received a positive critical reception with Jude Noel of Tiny Mix Tapes giving the album 4/5 and saying that “Melancholia aside, it’s Serotonin II’s impeccable sound design that has kept me coming back”. //Ćmiel teased the release of their second album Glitch Princess via Bayonet Records with a track titled “My Name is Nat Ćmiel”—released at the end of 2020. The full album was released on February 4, 2022. It was qualified as “pioneering” by Colin Lodewick from Pitchfork and featured in their ‘Best New Music’ section with a critical score of 8.3. // In between “My Name Is Nat Ćmiel” and Glitch Princess, Ćmiel released the remix EP Serotonin X Remixes and the covers album Nuclear War Post X, the latter issued directly through their website as a limited edition paperback art book with a download for the entire album. // Over the first weekend of May 2023, Yeule teased some images on their social media channels mentioning the date of May 10. On that date, Yeule premiered the video and released the single for their new song “Sulky Baby” and announced that they had signed to the Ninja Tune label. They told Rolling Stone, “The creative trajectory is shapeshifting, and Ninja Tune was the most versatile with their views on artistic direction as most of my creative pitches often tend to be fringe in conceptual aspects. I admire the team’s work ethic and tastes, and they’ve also worked with other creatives I know and love to this day, it feels nice to be with them!” // Ćmiel graduated from Central Saint Martins in London for a degree in Fine Arts in 2020. // They are non-binary.]

95. Emily King – Special Occasion / ATO Records / May 5, 2023

[New York native Emily King is set to release her latest studio album Special Occasion. The new body of work is King’s first album in 4 years, following her multi-Grammy-nominated ‘Scenery.’ Using music as a means of meditation, King works through the most overwhelming emotions with ineffable grace and resilience. Today King releases the project’s second single “Medal,” a joyfully upbeat song punctuated by driving-low end bass, rhythmic hand claps, and a soaring chorus. // “I’d had this melody in my head for a very long time,” Emily King explains. “It was a slow song until I got in the studio with my producer and we picked up the tempo. He started playing this funky bassline on the chorus and it was like instant joy! The lyric was ‘I wanna be the girl with the medal’ like, I want that shiny feeling you get when the person you have a crush on gives you their attention. These days though, I’ve been singing the song to myself which gives it a slightly different meaning. Like, ‘Hey you are the prize girl!’ ‘You are the medal and you already won yourself!’ Ha. Makes me feel good and then I get to dancing.” // ‘Special Occasion’ sees King bring ever-evolving levels of depth and nuance to her songwriting, rooting each revelation into a mesmerizing blend of soul, R&B, and forward-thinking pop. “It’s about trying to find some kind of light in the middle of your hardest times: those moments when you don’t really have anything to celebrate, you’re just alone and sitting in those feelings and trying to make sense of it all,” King explains. // Emily King (born July 10, 1985) is an American singer and songwriter. She started her career in 2004 and her first album East Side Story was released in August 2007. In December 2007, King was listed as a Grammy nominee for Best Contemporary R&B Album. In 2019 Emily King was nominated for Best R&B Song for the 62nd Grammy Awards and her album Scenery was nominated for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. In 2020 Emily King was nominated again, this time for t for her song “See Me”. // Born in New York City in 1985, King grew up in a small apartment on the Lower East Side. Her parents, Marion Cowings and Kim Kalesti, were a singing duo who performed and traveled regularly taking her and her older brother with them. At age 16, King left high school after earning her GED to pursue her music career. She began playing shows in restaurants and venues around New York City including CBGB and The Bitter End. // King signed her first record deal with J Records in 2004 and appeared on Nas’ 2004 album Street’s Disciple credited as simply “Emily”. Her first album East Side Story was released in August 2007. It received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album of the Year. After leaving the label in 2008, King continued her work independently with producer Jeremy Most. She self-recorded her follow-up EP Seven in her home, released in July 2011. Throughout this time, King toured domestically and internationally with many artists including Nas, John Legend, Floetry, Alicia Keys, Chaka Khan, Erykah Badu, and Maroon 5. // In 2012, King was awarded the Holly Prize (a tribute to the legacy of Buddy Holly) from The Songwriters Hall of Fame for recognition of the “all-in songwriter” whose work exhibits the qualities of Holly’s music: true, great and original. In the fall, King was invited by Emeli Sandé to open for her UK tour playing sold out shows in five cities including at The Royal Albert Hall in London. King collaborated with José James on his album No Beginning No End in 2013 and can be heard on the tracks “Heaven on the Ground” and the acoustic version of “Come to My Door”. In 2014, King performed as an opening act for Sara Bareilles’ Little Black Dress tour. //King’s second studio album, The Switch, was self-released by her own label, Making Music Records, on 26 June 2015. The Wall Street Journal remarked that the album is “a tasteful collection of eleven songs that showcase King’s distinctive voice”. // She signed with the independent label ATO Records in 2017 and with them released her third studio album, Scenery, on 1 February 2019. // In late 2019, King once again performed as an opening act for Sara Bareilles in her Amidst The Chaos Tour. // In 2019, King helped to compose “Being Human”, the ending theme song for the Cartoon Network animated series Steven Universe Future, which she sang. Her song “Can’t Hold Me” was also used in an episode of the series. // King released her fourth studio album, Sides, on January 17, 2020. The album features acoustic takes on her previous songs, and includes a guest appearance by Sara Bareilles on the track “Teach You.” In response to racial unrest in the summer of 2020, King released the song “See Me” in August. The song was nominated for Best R&B Performance in the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.]

96. Big Freedia – Central City / Queen Diva Music / June 23, 2023

[Raised on Josephine Street in uptown New Orleans, Big Freedia, born Freddie Ross, was raised by his mother, a hairdresser, and stepfather, a truck driver for Coca-Cola. When Freddie was 15, the family moved to a more upscale neighborhood in New Orleans. Freddie—along with his brother Adam and sister Crystal Ross—were immersed in music at home by their mother, who often sang along to her Gladys Knight and Patty LaBelle records around the house. But it was the Baptist church choir where a young Freddie flourished. ”My mother made sure I never missed practice,” recalls Freedia. It’s no wonder that by the time he was 18, Freedia moved from member to director of the choir. Big Freedia is known as the Queen of Bounce, at the forefront of the Bounce rap movement (a subgenre of hip-hop born out of New Orleans and known for its call and response style and lightening speed booty-shaking dance). Though gay and proud, Big Freedia asserts that her (Freedia is a he but uses the feminine pronoun for her stage persona) sexuality has little to do with her music and rejects the term Sissy Bounce (the queer brand of Bounce). “All Bounce is Bounce,” he insists. “There’s no need to separate it out. All types of people—gay, straight, rich, poor, black, white come to my shows. People just wanna get out and shake their azzzz and have a good time!” And therein lies the beauty of Big Freedia: She can rock a pair of dangling gold earrings and light up a blunt and chop it up with the hardest rapper around. She’s not a gay artist, but rather an artist who happens to be gay. Big Freedia has gone from a local New Orleans phenomenon to a national one after appearing on the HBO series ‘Treme’ [as herself] and in 2010, she released her debut EP on Scion A/V Presents: Big Freedia, produced by NOLA producer BlaqNmilD. The EP featured notables “Excuse” and “Almost Famous; other fan-favorites include “Gin in my System” “Azz Everwhere” and “Y’all Get Back Now.” Shefollowed that up by releasing “Nah Who Mad” and “Booty Whop,” and she was featured on Spank Rock’s “Everything is Boring and Everyone is a Fucking Liar” LP, on the track “Nasty.” She was also featured on “Peanut Butter” with RuPaul. Freedia made her network television network debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live! She appeared on “Last Call with Carson Daly,” FADERTV, PITCHFORK TV and has been lauded in press outlets such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Fader, RollingStone.com, SPIN, OffBeat, Chicago Tribune.] [Big Freedia played, Boulevardia, Saturday, June 17, at 5:05 PM on the Visit Missouri Grand Stage.]

97. Kye Colors – Colorman: Red [EP] / Wasteland Records / March 16, 2023

[Kye Colors released his single “Phil Collins” on March 25, 2022. // Kye Colors, born J’Kye Slatton, is a 21 year-old rapper and producer from the South side of Kansas City, Missouri. Kye began writing music as early as age 5, usually done in crayons. “I’d describe my music as very colorful and vibrant from the beats to the lyrics” Colors says. “I’d describe my music as very colorful and vibrant from the beats to the lyrics” // The name Kye Colors derives from multiple meanings. The first coming from the idea that hues enact certain moods, “you can feel orange, you can feel yellow, you can feel brown; it’s like an emotion” says Kye. The second is best described through his lyrics on the track Broken Place, “I’m KC for real, check the initials.” // His gift of rap was nurtured and harbored from Elementary School to High School. As a teenager, Kye’s talent was quickly taken notice by his peers. While in school, his seniors made sure that he would get his high school diploma before he could fully pursue his music career. After sporadic trials with rap he went by the name Kye Colors by age 14. The same year he began producing. // In 2015 he released his first mixtape entitled “00“. The project garnered attention from hip hop fans all over the Kansas City Metropolitan. In 2017, he joined the rap collective “CaviArt” alongside artists Gee Watts, A’Sean, Ray Muney, and others. // Soon after and at only 17 years old, he would release his 1st full length project “Milk Is Nasty”. It was nationally acclaimed by Lyrical Lemonade, publicized in local Newspapers such as The Kansas City Star and The Pitch KC, and also gained notable local airplay. The project also led to him performing alongside Denzel Curry, Famous Dex, Wiz Khalifa, Lil TJay and many more. // “Milk Is Nasty”. It was nationally acclaimed by Lyrical Lemonade, publicized in local Newspapers such as The Kansas City Star and The Pitch KC, and also gained notable local airplay. // In 2019, Kye released some of his most popular single releases to date including “Sweet Thang,” “Doggy,” “Talk About It” and more. These independent releases would land him on platforms such as Baller Alert, a modeling gig with Lee Jeans, and national airplay on Shade45. // In 2020, at the age of 20 he founded his label “Wasteland Records” partnering with manager Jesse Brown and Jaron Baston. He went on his first independent tour and released his 2nd LP With Love By Faith. It peaked at 166 on the Top 200 Rap/Hip Hop albums on iTunes. // Come 2021, Kye delivered three glossy singles “Nike Boy Freetstyle”, “Grateful”, “1-800” and an impressive five-track EP “WOW” in which helped him rank in the top 10K “R&B, Funk & Soul” artists in the world. // Kye kicked off 2022 with a flamboyant and captivating new single “TAKE UR PLACE”. A track thats surely setting the mood for whats to come. // From having a vibrant young passion for his penmanship to flourishing on the energy of his supporters, Kye looks to establish his mark in the industry as a rapper, and creative with a purpose. The artist intends to create moving and powerful connections through his newly-constructed label, releasing quality music, and collectively refining the abilities of his sound. More info at: http://www.kyecolors.com]

98. Paul Jesse & Deegan Poores – “Remedy (Radio Edit)”

from: Hello Paul Jesse, Pt. II – [EP] / Frog Party / June 23, 2023
[Paul Jesse & Deegan Poores released a total of 3 EPs in 3 parts: Hello Paul Jesse, Pt. I EP on Februarty 17, 2023, and Hillo Paul Jesse Part III EP on November 3, 2023. Paul Jesse is a singer, songwriter, and producer based out of Lawrence, Kansas, whose debut EP, Stuck This Way came out in 2021 and combines his smooth and passionate vocals with psychedelic R&B, hip-hop, and electronic bedroom-pop production. Deegan Poores is also a singer, songwriter, and producer based out of Lawrence, whose debut album from last year, The “Vanishing” Album, combines indie rock, yacht rock, power pop, and synth pop to create a genre-bending sound with co-production from singer-songwriter-producer-filmmaker Remy Styrk from Kansas City. After coming together last year to make the song “Your Sunshine”, which features Lawrence based singer-songwriter Hannah Davis, Paul asked Deegan to executive produce his debut album. Hello Paul Jesse, releasing over the upcoming months as three EPs by Lawrence arts collective Frog Party, takes the sound Paul established on Stuck This Way and expands it to include elements of Deegan’s sound as well as trip hop, hyperpop, and folk, among other genres, all cohering around Paul’s voice and hooks. The lyrics chronicle Paul’s growth and development as a person through heartache, self-reflection, and love, and each EP captures a different stage of that transition. Hello Paul Jesse, Part I was released February 17, 2023. “Remedy” the first single from the EP Hello Paul Jesse, Pt. II featuring Arkko was released on Friday, March 17, 2023.] [Paul Jesse plays Lemonade Park, 1628 Wyoming St., KCMO, West Bottoms, on Saturday, Sept. 9, at 3:30 PM for Lemonade Social – Day 2 with Black Light Animals, Steddy P, Mr. Golden Sun, Paris Williams, Flora, Gipson, and The Swallowtails.] [ Paul Jesse & Deegan Poores were our guests on WMM on March 15, 2023]

99. Arlo Parks – My Soft Machine / Transgressive Records / May 26, 2023

[Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho is known professionally as Arlo Parks, She is a British singer-songwriter and poet. The title, My Soft Machine, comes from a piece of dialogue from the 2019 film The Souvenir. Of the song, “Pegasus” Parks said it is about experiencing the warmth and lightness of good love for the first time,” and “It also explores how the absence of chaos and the presence of real connection can be a little bit terrifying after a long time of not having it. // Her debut studio album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, was released through Transgressive Records on January 29, 2021, to critical acclaim and peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart. // Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho was born on August 9, 2000 and raised in Hammersmith, West London. She is half Nigerian, quarter Chadian and quarter French. Her mother was born in Paris. Marinho learnt to speak French before she did English. // Parks chose her stage name in the manner of King Krule and Frank Ocean. In 2018, she began uploading demos to BBC Music Introducing which caught the attention of BBC Radio 1 DJ Jess Iszatt who distributed these demos to Ali Raymond of Beatnik Creative, who soon began managing Parks. She made her solo debut when she released the song “Cola” through Beatnik Records in November 2018, and announced the release of her debut EP, Super Sad Generation. She told Line of Best Fit that the song is “a reminder that betrayal is inevitable when it comes to pretty people that think flowers fix everything.” Olivia Swash wrote that the vocals on the song “flourish thanks to [Parks’] creative writing background, with her delicate tone taking centre stage against the gently plodding guitars and soft crackle of vinyl.” By November 2019, the song had amassed over three million streams on Spotify. // Following the release of “Cola”, Parks signed to Transgressive Records. She released the title track of her upcoming EP, Super Sad Generation, in January 2019. Robin Murray told Clash that the song portrays an “astute, nuanced creative control that also utilises word-play that speaks of youthful emotions spinning out of control.” Her third single, “Romantic Garbage”, was released in March 2019, before the release of the full four-track EP, Super Sad Generation in early April 2019. The EP was recorded in her home in South West London and an Airbnb in the Angel district of London. // Parks performed her first-ever gig at The Great Escape in Brighton in May 2019, and has gone on to perform on the BBC Music Introducing stage at Glastonbury Festival in late June 2019, as well as at Latitude Festival in July 2019. She embarked on her first tour supporting Jordan Rakei on the UK leg of his tour in September 2019. Throughout the last half of 2019 Parks released the songs “George”, “Second Guessing”, “Sophie”, and “Angel’s Song” ahead of her second EP, Sophie Sean Kerwick told DIY that the five-track EP “oozes with the hang-ups of heartbreak and mortality; a topic that seems to overshadow many gen-Z musicians.” // Parks embarked on her first headlining tour of Europe in February/March 2020, but could not complete it due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May 2020, Parks released the singles “Eugene” and “Black Dog”, which were well received during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, the latter of which became BBC Radio 1’s Tune of the Week. Parks made the front cover of NME in late July 2020. She won the AIM Independent Music Award for One to Watch in 2020 in August 2020, after losing the same award to Georgia a year before. Parks and Moses Boyd made the front cover of Music Week for the publication’s indie takeover special following the AIM Awards ceremony. Parks released her debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, on 29 January 2021. // Parks is openly bisexual and is based in London. She was educated at Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith and completed her A Levels in early 2019. In her auto-biographical blurb on her Spotify profile, Parks claimed that she spent most of secondary school “feeling like that black kid who couldn’t dance for shit, listening to too much emo music and crushing on some girl in her Spanish class.” // Parks has named Sylvia Plath & Joni Mitchell as among her influences.]

100. Jamogi – Star-Crossed Lover [EP] / Jam Tunes / March 3, 2023

[Jamogi Bridges is also know as Byron Hyde a Kanas City based singer, songwriter, MC, producer, originally form Los Angeles, California. Since releasing this EP Jamogi released a “Star-Crossed Lover GALACTIC REMIX (feat. Watchman)” single on June 9, 2023.Jamogi previously released the AGE OF AQUARIUS EP on March 3, 2023, and the single “Celebration” on December 9, 2022, and the single “Anymore” on May 6, 2022. Jamogi played the 19th Annual Crossroads Music Fest, Saturday, August 26, at 6:15 PM on the Kissick Construction Stage at The Ship, 1221 Union Ave, KCMO (Indoor Stage) one of 6 STAGES in West Bottoms with over 25 Bands.] [Jamogi plays an AGE OF AQUARIUS FINALE CONCERT at Englewood Arts, on October 26, at 7:00 PM.][Jamogi was our guest on WMM on Oct. 18, 2023]

101. Cautious Clay – KARPEH / Blue Note Records – UMG / August 18, 2023

[Cautious Clay has released his Blue Note debut KARPEH, a deeply personal new album which finds the singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer also known as Joshua Karpeh taking a giant artistic leap forward with an ambitious yet introspective song cycle about growth, conceptions of intimacy, and lineage that reveals a new side of his artistry by delving deeper than ever into his jazz roots. Following his performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, Cautious will be making a headline appearance at SummerStage in New York City’s Central Park this Saturday, August 19. // Across the album’s 15 tracks Cautious can be heard on vocals, flute, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, guitar, synthesizer, and bass. He also invites a wide range of collaborators into the fold including leading lights of the modern jazz world including guitarist Julian Lage, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, keyboardist Julius Rodriguez, bassist Joshua Crumbly, and drummer Sean Rickman. Other guests on the album include his uncle, bassist Kai Eckhardt, and the acclaimed Pakistani vocalist Arooj Aftab. // For all of Cautious’ dexterity around multiple instruments, it’s always in service of the music’s narratives. “I wanted it to be musical for the sake of telling a story,” he explains. “Throughout this album, I am equating my life’s journey to an amalgamation of my family’s past life experiences, an exploration of my present, and how those pieces will influence by future.” // Cautious sequenced the album thematically in three sections with interludes throughout containing audio recordings of his relatives recounting bits of family history. The first section he calls “The Past Explained” with songs that touch upon his early experiences growing up in Cleveland including the album’s lead single “Ohio.” The middle section of the album is what Cautious calls “The Honeymoon of Exploration.” These five songs depict some of his experiences with psychedelics, which inspired self-reflection and the desire for deeper forms of intimacy with others. The concluding four songs constitute the third thematic section, which Cautious calls “A Bitter & Sweet Solitude.” Cautious posits that when we allow ourselves to spend quality time in solitude it enables us to forge better relationships with ourselves and others, therefore sparking deeper intimacy. // Since 2017, Cautious Clay has been steadily building a devoted fanbase with his heartfelt songwriting and a unique sound that moves fluidly between pop, alternative R&B, and indie rock. He began receiving wide recognition with the 2018 release of Blood Type featuring the breakthrough single “Cold War,” a naked call for emotional honesty and transparency that resonated deeply with listeners and has since been streamed more than 150 million times. The song was featured on Issa Rae’s hit HBO TV show, Insecure, and Olivia Wilde’s movie, Booksmart, and was interpolated by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff on “London Boy” from the pop star’s album Lover. Cautious’ other outside writing and production credits include working with Billie Eilish, John Mayer, John Legend, Khalid, Kavinsky, Melanie Martinez, Remi Wolf, and more. Following two more EPs—Resonance and Table of Context—Cautious released his debut full-length, Deadpan Love in 2021, delivering on his early promise with an album that centered on the balance between oneself and others. With his Blue Note debut KARPEH, Cautious Clay offers an even more intimate glimpse inside his highly biographical artistic vision. More info at; http://www.cautiousclay.com.]

102. Elizabeth Moen – For Arthur [EP] / Elizabeth Moen / July, 28, 2023

[About Elizabeth’s new EP she writes, “Finding Arthur Russell’s music was a special moment in my life. Finding out he was also from a small town in Iowa was too. His work expanded over genres and he brought together so many people through his love of music and sound throughout his career. It was a joy to make these covers. I’m grateful for them and all the friends involved. We all love Arthur. Thank you to my grandfather, another dear Iowan, for painting the cover.” “This EP of covers is For Arthur. For my brother. For my friends. For queer artists. For queer people in Iowa. For queer people in red states or small towns who don’t feel like they can be themselves. For anyone who feels lonely or heartbroken. For anyone who loves Arthur. For anyone who happens to hear it. If you do, thanks for listening.” // Elizabeth Moen grew up in Vinton, IA and taught herself how to play guitar as a teenager. She moved to Iowa City, IA for college where she studied French and Spanish at the University of Iowa. She played her first open mic at The Mill at age 20 and wrote her first original song at age 21. Elizabeth is currently based in Chicago. // Moen self-released a self-titled EP in 2016, a debut LP That’s All I Wanted in 2017 and became a staple of the Iowa City music scene. Her sophomore album A Million Miles Away, released in 2018 drew praise from regional press as well as Paste Magazine. // In 2019, her recording of a new song “Headgear” for the Tiny Desk Contest drew praise from NPR Music. Listed as “one of the entries we can’t stop watching.” // Moen has recorded at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco, Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Hellfire Studios in Dublin, Ireland and Flat Black Studios in Lone Tree, Iowa. (The tracks from these various recordings will all be featured on her upcoming album to be released in 2022. // Moen was accepted into the 2020 SXSW festival as an official showcase artist and featured in NPR Music’s Austin 100. Moen has also appeared in several festivals including Hinterland, Lollapalooza (official after show), Mission Creek, Mile of Music, 80/35, Lincoln Calling, and Knockan Stockan. She was also invited to perform at The Ruby Sessions in Dublin, Ireland. // Moen has toured throughout the United States and Europe and supported artists such as Lake Street Dive, Margaret Glaspy, Houndmouth Ani DiFranco, St Paul and the Broken Bones, Lucy Dacus, Esme Patterson, The Weepies, Buck Meek, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Birds of Chicago, Margaret Glaspy, William Elliott Whitmore, LP and Lissie. // In the 2020 Democratic primary, she supported Bernie Sanders and was invited to play several of the Senator’s rallies in Iowa. // Elizabeth has had several songs featured in television series and movies including the following: How it Ends, Candy Jar, Elsewhere, Roswell New Mexico (CW network), Tell Me a Story (CBS), and Shameless (Showtime). More info at http://www.elizabethmoen.com] [Elizabeth Moen played the 19th Annual Crossroads Music Fest, Sat, Aug 26, at 10:00 PM at All Else The Sea (The Ship), 1221 Union Ave, (Indoor Stage) Sponsored by Somera Road.]

103. Corinne Bailey Rae – Black Rainbows / Black Rainbows Music / September 15, 2023]

2 time Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae confirms her years-in-the-making Black Rainbows project. Inspired by the objects and artworks collected by Theaster Gates at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago, the work includes a collection of songs, a book Refraction/Reflection of the Arts Bank photographed by Koto Bolofo, live performances, visuals, lectures and exhibitions—a bold move from her previous work. // The album Black Rainbows is set for release September 15 via Thirty Tigers. The first single, “New York Transit Queen,” is out now. “I knew when I walked through those doors that my life had changed forever,” says Bailey Rae. “Engaging with these archives and encountering Theaster Gates and his practice has change how I think about myself as an artist and what the possibilities of my work can be. This music has come through seeing. Seeing has been like hearing, for me. While I was looking, songs/sounds appeared.” // Wide ranging in its themes, Black Rainbows’ subjects are drawn from encounters with objects in the Arts Bank, a curated collection of Black archives comprising books, sculpture, records, furniture and problematic objects from America’s past. From the rock hewn churches of Ethiopia to the journeys of Black Pioneers westward, from Miss New York Transit 1957 to how the sunset appears from Harriet Jacobs’ loophole. Black Rainbows explores Black femininity, Spell Work, Inner Space/Outer Space, time collapse, ancestors and music as a vessel for transcendence. // About Corinne Bailey Rae: English singer/songwriter/musician Corinne Bailey Rae shot to stardom with her self-titled #1 U.K. debut album in 2006, featuring the global hits “Put Your Records On” and “Like A Star.” Over the course of her career she has released three critically acclaimed studio albums—Corinne Bailey Rae, The Sea and The Heart Speaks in Whispers—and earned two Grammy Awards, two MOBOS, and has been nominated for multiple awards including the BRIT Awards, Mercury Music Prize and BET Awards. Her work for film and television includes the theme to Stan Lee’s Lucky Man (SKY1), “The Scientist” for Universal Pictures’ Fifty Shades Darker openin title and soundtrack which charted globally, and in 2020 her song “New to Me” was performed in the film The High Note by Tracee Ellis Ross. Bailey Rae has collaborated with a wide range of artists including Mary J. Blige, Al Green, Herbie Hancock, KING, Paul McCartney, Kele Okereke (Bloc Party), Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Questlove, Salaam Rami, RZA, Tyler The Creator, Paul Weller, Richard Hawley, Stevie Wonder, Tracey Thorn, Pharrell, Logic, Mick Jenkins and many more.]

104. Michael B. Tipton – Out Of The Woods / Michael B. Tipton / October 13 , 2023

[Recorded & Produced by Duane Trower at Weights & Measures Soundlab, Kansas City, MO. Musicians: Michael B Tipton on vocals, guitars, percussion; Aaron “Big Al” Lewis on Bass;| Justin Danner on Drums; Matt Smithmier on Mandolin; Jace Hughes on Electric Guitar; Brad King on Slide Guitar; Mallory Edson on Fiddle; Devon Teran on Pedal Steel Guitar; Nate Holt on Organ, Piano; Kate Valliere on Backing Vocals. // Michael B Tipton is a seasoned singer-songwriter who has performed for audiences nationwide for over 26 years. With a remarkable versatility across genres like folk, country, electronic, indie rock, and hard rock, his compositions are written to be adapted to various musical styles. Michael made his mark as a member of acclaimed bands: Tabla Rasa (1999-2005), 5 Defy (2006-2008), Molly Picture Club (2009-2013), and Kodascope (2013-2016). He is also the driving force behind Found A Job, a popular 8-piece tribute to Talking Heads since 2012, where he embodies David Byrne’s essence.][Michael B. Tipton was our guest on WMM on August 9, 2023]

105. Robert Finley – Black Bayou / Easy Eye Sound – Concord / October 27, 2023

[The 69 year opld soul singer-songwriter returns with a Dan Auerbach-produced album: a swaggering tour de force of Blues, Soul, and Funk sharing stories from the swamps of Louisiana his timeless tales of srviving love, betrayal, and alligators cements him as one of the last true bluesman of his time. // Robert Finley announces his third studio album Black Bayou, set for release October 27 on Easy Eye Sound / Concord. Finley is joined again by frequent collaborator and producer Dan Auerbach for a thundering, swaggering record that tells Finley’s story of his life in the bayou of Louisiana. Finley also releases his first track “What Goes Around (Comes Around)” – a sweltering, swampy rock track that shows off Finley’s smooth-as-whiskey vocals. // Of the track Finley states, “You gotta reap what you sow…do to another what you would have done to you. Be real, tell the truth. For all those out there hurting, you just have to keep the faith. I’ve seen it over the years, especially with my career — you got to put joy out into the world and it will come back. It’s never been anything short of the truth for me.” // Black Bayou, Finley’s third studio album, is a portrait of Louisiana from an insider who’s lived there all his life and coalesces all of the vibrant genres bubbling in the bayou from gospel, blues, rock and roll and more. With this Auerbach-produced album, they created a vivid collection of songs that depict life in North Louisiana, with Finley playing the role of charismatic and knowledgeable tour guide. // “It’s amazing to realize how much of an impact Louisiana has had on the world’s music,” says Auerbach, “and Robert embodies all of that. He can play a blues song. He can play early rock and roll. He can play gospel. He can do anything, and a lot of that has to do with where he’s from.” Finley recorded Black Bayou at producer Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound Studio in Nashville. // It’s the fourth time the duo have worked together, although for this record they did things a little differently. Rather than write songs beforehand—as they did on 2017’s Goin’ Platinum and 2021’s Sharecropper’s Son—they devised everything in the studio, with Auerbach leading a band of some of the finest players around: drummers Patrick Carney (The Black Keys) and Jeffrey Clemens (Ani DiFranco, G. Love & Special Sauce), bassist Eric Deaton, and legendary Hill Country blues guitarist Kenny Brown along with vocalists Christy Johnson and LaQuindrelyn McMahon—who just happen to be Finley’s daughter and granddaughter. They worked quickly, devising their parts spontaneously and getting everything in one take. “I started singing, and they started playing,” Finley explains. “That’s how we made the album. It wasn’t written out. Nobody used a pencil and paper. We just sang and played together in the studio.” // If Finley’s previous albums established him as a formidable blues and soul artist — overcoming losing his sight in his 60s to become a music star — Black Bayou reveals Finley as something even more distinctive: a truly original Louisiana storyteller who evokes the place and its unique culture for the rest of the world. Finley doesn’t plan to call any other place home. “I’m not interested in living in no big city,” he says. “There’s good places here for hunting and fishing. I can fall asleep in my yard or sleep out on my porch, and nobody’s gonna bother me. Nothing bad is gonna come and get me.” // Struggle and celebration commingle in the stories of Black Bayou. In everyday life death looms. Through the jaws of an alligator on “Alligator Bait,” where Finley shares a true tale of his grandfather using him as as bait to catch an alligator when he was a child or just the gradual pace of time, on “Nobody Wants To Be Lonely” a poignant track spotlighting the generation forgotten in nursing homes across the nation. On “Sneakin’ Around” or “Miss Kitty,” Finley’s tales of lust and love are a timeless induction into the canon of the blues tradition. In all, a collection set to establish Finley as perhaps one of the last true bluesmen of our time.]

106. Eggs On Mars – Warm Breakfast / Eggs On Mars / March 21, 2023

[Eggs on Mars, a four-piece soft psych pop band from KCMO. Brad Smith on guitar/lead vocals/keys; Mason Potter on drums/percussion/backing vocals; Doug Bybee on bass/keys/backing vocals; and Joel Stratton on keys/backing vocals; with Austin Smith on additional guitars; Sam Smith on backing vocals; and Rodd Fenton on backing vocals/hand claps. Recorded/Engineered/Mixed by Rodd Fenton. Mastered by Josh Johnson. Recorded 2023 at Solstice Audio. Cover painting by Shannon Brouk. Photography and album layout by Doug Bybee. More info at: http://www.eggsonmars.bandcamp.com] [Eggs On Mars played Manor Fest 5 in Lawrence on Friday, May 19, at 10;00 PM at Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts St., Lawrence, KS with Parry, Saving Miles Lemon, and Scabb.]

Eggs On Mars Discography

Welcome to our Family – August 25, 2014
10-track album
Recorded Summer 2014 at Potter Underground Studios
Guitars/Lead Vocals-Brad Smith
Bass/Other Vocals-Justin Longmeyer
Drums-Mason Potter

Spacey Stacy – September 4, 2015
8-track album
Recording/Mixing/Mastering/Pancakes-Doug Bybee
Recorded August 2015 at Sound + Vision Studios of the Lawrence Public Library
Cover photo taken by Mason Potter
Guitars/Vocals – Brad Smith
Bass – Justin Longmeyer
Drums – Mason Potter

On Hold, Hold On – October 7, 2016
5-track EP
Album art by Anna Smith
Recorded/Mixed/Mastered by Justin Longmeyer
Guitars/Vocals/Keys – Brad Smith
Bass – Justin Longmeyer
Drums – Mason Potter

In A Desert Place – March 15, 2018
10-track album
Recorded/Mixed/Mastered by Justin Longmeyer
Recorded at 2319
Guitars/Vocals – Brad Smith
Bass/Vocals/Guitar solo – Justin Longmeyer
Drums – Mason Potter

Mama Pancake – November 9, 2018
10-track album
Recorded/mixed/mastered by Rodd Fenton
Recorded May through September of 2018 at 2319
Artwork by Julie Smith
Brad Smith – guitars/vocals/keys
Justin Longmeyer – bass
Mason Potter – drums/percussion

It Will Be Like It Was – October 4, 2019
10-track album
Recorded/Mixed/Mastered by Rodd Fenton
Recorded summer of 2019 at Bread Basket Music Studios
Guitars/Vocals/Keys – Brad Smith
Bass – Justin Longmeyer
Drums – Mason Potter

Brighter Now – June 25, 2021
7-track EP
Recorded / mixed / mastered by Rodd Fenton
Recorded in the fall of 2020 at Solstice Audio
Cover painting by Jesse Bartmess
Brad Smith – Vocals, guitar
Mason Potter – Drums, backing vocals, self-sacrificial tambourine
Bennie Neselroad – Keys, backing vocals,
Doug Bybee – Bass, backing vocals

Warm Breakfast – March 21, 2023
10-track album
Recorded/Engineered/Mixed by Rodd Fenton
Mastered by Josh Johnson.
Recorded 2023 at Solstice Audio.
Cover painting by Shannon Brouk
Brad Smith – guitar/lead vocals/keys
Mason Potter – drums/percussion/backing vocals
Doug Bybee – bass/keys/backing vocals;
Joel Stratton – keys/backing vocals;
with
Austin Smith – additional guitars
Sam Smith – backing vocals
Rodd Fenton – backing vocals/hand claps.

107. Rewound & Calvin Arsenia – Lovestory (4-song) [EP] / House of Outlyre Productions / May 9, 2023

[Rewound & Calvin Arsenia released four singles in 2023, including “All Too Well” on April 25, 2023, All 4 singles are covering the songs of Taylor Swift. // Rewound is a trio with Carmen Dieker on violin, Alyssa Bell on viola, and Ezgi Karakus on cello that perform classical and contemporary music re-imagined. For these recordings they are collaborating with Calvin Arsenia on harp.c// Calvin Arsenia Born in Orlando, Florida, Calvin’s creative journey really began when he moved to the KC suburb of Olathe, teaching himself the guitar, and eventually the harp. He learned his signature instrument at the age of 20 after he couldn’t find a harpist as determined as him to meld folk, rock, classical, rap and R&B into the irresistible fusion which has become his calling card in KC and beyond. His passion for stretching the boundaries of musical expression saw him transform a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland’s Fringe Festival early in his career into a life-changing music mission, with an Edinburgh church offering him a role as musical liaison between the church and the city that would change his life. Two years and 300 shows later, Calvin returned to KC reborn as a humanistic songwriter / performer whose impassioned and conceptual stage shows (regularly sold-out in Kansas City, currently catching fire on the West Coast with a diverse following across Europe), are collaborative, costumed-culture-bridging spectacles which In KC Magazine has hailed as ‘equal parts opera, symphony, musical theatre, rock show, all built around its creator: a charismatic 6-foot-6-inch harpist with a natural stage command and knack for gilding gold and painting lilies.’ Calvin released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. On February 14, 2017 Calvin released his critically acclaimed full length debut, Catastrophe. Calvin Arsenia premiered these songs in a live show at recordBar in November 2016 in a stage show that involved a company of 50 people, dancers, stilt walkers, special lighting, back up singers, guest artists. Calvin’s 2018 national debut, Cantaloupe, September 15, 2018 on Center Cut Records, has been acclaimed for melding diverse textures into an alluring signature sound for the adventurous artist. On June 28, 2019 Calvin released Honeydew, an EP including a remix of three songs from Cantaloupe. On Dec. 13, 2019 Calvin released his full length Christmas album “all is calm.” Since 2014 we have been celebrating the music of Calvin Arsenia. He has played Folk Alliance International, Kansas City Fringe Fest, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, The Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts, The Middle of the Map Fest., The Folly Theatre. Calvin is a graduate of Artist INC. // Charlotte Street Foundation announced that the recipients of the 2022 Generative Performing Artist Awards are The Black Creatures and Calvin Arsenia Scott.]

108. Bach Aria Soloists – Le Dolce Sirene / Reference Recordings / February 19, 2023

[Elizabeth Suh Lane, Violin–Artistic Director–Founder; Sarah Tannehill Anderson, Soprano; Elisa Williams Bickers, Harpsichord–Organ–Piano; and Hannah Collins, Cello. Producer: Elizabeth Suh Lane, Artistic Director. Editing by: Elizabeth Suh Lane, Elisa Williams Bickers. Recording Engineer and Editor: PJ Kelley of The Post Haus Acoustic,. Kirk Patton (Mendelssohn Organ Sonata). Mix and Mastering Engineer: Robert Friedrich of Five/Four Productions, LLC®. Recorded, Mixed and Mastered using REVEAL SDM Technology®. REVEAL—Superior Dimension Music Technology is employed exclusively by Five/Four Productions, LLC to raise the standard ofexcellence in both music recording and the music listening experience. Digital Audio Workstation System: Merging Technologies Pyramix DAW. Monitored Through: EMM Labs Switchman. Monitor Speakers: ATC SCM 150, SCM 50 and SCM 25 Album Art Director: JoAnn Nunes. Cover Photo: Dan White Liner Notes: Steven Ledbetter. Bach Aria Soloists’ vision is to collaborate with world-class artists; perform in unique and traditional venues; present BachReach, BAS’ innovative education that introduces exciting, interactive music and multi-discipline programs, and Orchestral and Chamber Music Clinics for schools in our community for FREE, thanks to BAS’ BachReach funders. Their recently announced alliance with Marsalis Mansion Artists opens the ensemble to touring in the U.S. and beyond. More info: http://www.bachareasolists.com]

109. wrker – Mind Work / wrker / September 27, 2023

[Kansas City based Wrker is Zachary Laman who Chopped, sampled, tickled, and keyed. Made on the Polyend tracker. Album ART by AARON HAYES] [wrker played Outer Reaches Fest, Saturday, October 14 at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd. KCMO, on the KC Synthesizer Collective Stage features headliner, bizarro-pop group, Summer Like the Season, from Detroit, along with KC acts: Agrekulture, and Bobcat Attack. More info at: http://www.outerreachesfest.com.]

110. Ethan Eckert – 21, PUNISHMENT and DISARRAY / Ethan Eckert / March 29, 2023

[Ethan Eckert is a musician, writer, painter, and filmmaker from Harrisonville, Missouri. He started his music career age 12 playing drums with his father’s band. At 14 he started writing his own songs for his first punk band, Acadia, and has since began a solo career releasing two albums (Duets with You and Non), three EPs (Punishment Part One, Two, and Three), and fifteen singles. He has toured the country as a solo artist and as drummer for the now dissolved punk band Salty. Ethan currently resides in Kansas City, Kansas with his partner Abbey, their dog, Zeus, and three kitties Julius, Sookie, and Stevie Nicks. He is hard at work on his second novel, Thanks Again, and is busy releasing his next single “Disarray” (following the same nonprofit model as his previous dozen singles released every month of 2021—$1,000 donated so far) as well as editing the music video. His happiest days begin with some Yoga and meditation, then a tennis match, making an exorbitant dinner for his family, and then playing a show to the punk kids. More info at: http://www.ethaneckert.bandcamp.com]

111. Danielle Ate the Sandwich – Over Again (24 Hour Album) / Danielle Ate the Sandwich / February 26, 2023

[The 6 songs on this album were written and recorded in 24 hours on February 25th-26th, 2023, during Danielle Ate the Sandwich’s 8th annual 24 Hour Album. This project challenges the artist to write, record, produce, and release a new album in just twenty four hours, live streaming the process to her fans. Patrons of Danielle Ate the Sandwich tuned in from all across the world to suggest ideas and offer support with Danielle during live streams held throughout the 24 hours. Life is short! Stay up all night and make stuff! // On February 20, 2022 Danielle Ate The Sandwich released the 7-track release, “Continued Curfew (24 Hour Album 2022)”. Danielle Ate The Sandwich released the 7-song album, 24 HOUR ALBUM (2021), on April 25, 2021. The 7 songs on this album were written and recorded in 24 hours on April 24th-25th, 2021, during Danielle Ate the Sandwich’s 6th annual 24 Hour Album. On May 28, 2021 Danielle Ate the Sandwich released, It’s Not a Burden (Original Songs from the Documentary Film) on Youngest Daughter Records. It’s Not A Burden is a powerful and brilliant film about the joys and pain of raising elderly parents. The songs are produced by Joanna Katcher. // Danielle Ate The Sandwich released the single, “A Weight, A Wall” on June 1, 2021. Danielle Ate The Sandwich released the single, “Goodbye to You” on August 22, 2021. More info at: http://www.danielleatethesandwich.com.]

112. Overcoats – Winner / Never Fall Back Records / April 7, 2023

[Overcoats is the New York-based female duo of Hana Elion and JJ Mitchell. // The third full-length from Overcoats, Winner takes place in the kind of New York City spaces meant for unencumbered dreaming: fire escapes and rooftops, downtown late at night, the majestic Manhattan skyline as glimpsed from the George Washington Bridge. But in paying homage to the city that formed them, singer/songwriters Hana Elion and JJ Mitchell set their storytelling against a sonic backdrop more reminiscent of wide-open landscapes—an unbridled and euphoric sound that evokes the wild rush of hitting the road with your closest confidant, with no particular destination in mind. // Produced by two-time Grammy-winner Daniel Tashian (a co-producer on Kacey Musgraves’s widely acclaimed Golden Hour), Winner marks an evolution of the graceful musicality first displayed on Overcoats’ debut album YOUNG (a 2017 release that earned praise from outlets like the New York Times and NPR Music, who placed it at #4 on its best-of-the-year list). As a bold departure from YOUNG’s sparse electronic pop and the atmospheric indie-rock of The Fight (a 2020 release that nabbed them a Breakthrough Artist nomination from the American Association of Independent Music), the album encompasses a warm and luminous sound sculpted from a tightly curated mix of elements: earthy guitar tones, elegantly rugged textures, the duo’s signature heavenly harmonies. // Produced by Daniel Tashian except “Horsegirl” produced by Jackson Phillips & “Attention” produced by Nick Lobel. Co-produced by Mikey Reaves on “Never Let You Go” & “Vagabond” // Engineered by Konrad Snyder at The Study in Nashville, TN // Mixed by Lars Stalfors (“Horsegirl”, “New Suede Shoes”, “Green Eyes”, & “Vagabond” // Mixed by Tony Maserati (“Never Let You Go” & “Better Off”) // Mixed by James Krausse (“Want You Back”, “Say My Name”, “Attention”, “Don’t You Wanna”, & “Winner” // Mastered by Ruairi O’Flaherty at Nomograph Mastering in Los Angeles, CA . // Their debut album YOUNG was released on April 21, 2017. We played “Nighttime hangover” on March 8, 2017. Their captures a sound rich in minimalism and melody: songs of connection and tension, on the depths of love and challenges of family. Overcoats’ music draws strength from vulnerability, finding light through darkness, and the catharsis of simple, honest songwriting. YOUNG is about a transformation: the passage into womanhood, sung through the shared experience of two best friends. YOUNG was written by Overcoats and co-produced by Nicolas Vernhes (Daughter, The War On Drugs, Dirty Projectors, Cass McCombs) and experimental R&B artist Autre Ne Veut, with additional production from Myles Avery and mixing by Ben Baptie (Lapsley, Lianne La Havas, Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson). All songs written by Hana Rose Elion, Justine Mitchell and Adley Arthur Atkin.][Overcoats played Middle of The Map Fest Saturday, May 6, at The Tank Room, opening for Arkells, after Tart, and Pageant Boys.]

113. Joni Mitchell – Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) / Rhino / Oct. 6, 2023

[In 2023 Joni Mitchell (at the age of 80) was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Folk Album for AT NEWPORT released on Rhino on July 28, 2023. // Come 1972, Joni Mitchell’s singular songwriting talent and poetic gifts were undeniable. Fresh off the back-to-back Platinum-certified releases of 1970’s Ladies of the Canyon and 1971’s Blue (totemic albums whose artfulness and ubiquity would influence generations of songwriters) Mitchell had grown wary of mounting media scrutiny. Everything from her style choices to romantic partners became the subject of far more gossip column inches than were ever dedicated to the lifestyle minutiae of her male counterparts. // In response, she had pulled back, announcing an early retirement from the stage in 1970 and moving to the quiet expanses of British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast. It was a fruitful change of scenery. Inspired by her proximity to nature and refreshed by the peaceful seclusion, she began constructing the songs that would become For The Roses. This respite thrust Mitchell into a remarkably fertile creative period, yielding a run of albums — 1972’s For The Roses, 1974’s Court And Spark, and 1975’s The Hissing Of Summer Lawns — that would simultaneously expand and refine the scope of her music. Her adventurous, intricate arrangements and growing formidability as a bandleader injected these songs with a clarity of purpose, a potent muscularity, and a sense of possibility — it is among the most exciting eras of a near peerless career. // This era comes into even greater focus on Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975), out October 6, 2023 on Rhino Records. It’s the latest entry in Rhino’s ongoing, GRAMMY® Award-winning series exploring the vast untapped archives of rare Joni Mitchell recordings — a project guided intimately by Mitchell’s own vision and personal touch. Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975) will be available both in a 5CD / digital version and a 4LP cut-down version, both with an accompanying book featuring photos and a conversation about this period between Joni Mitchell and longtime friend Cameron Crowe. // As Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) — which won a 2022 GRAMMY® Award for Best Historical Album — and Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971) did, Vol. 3 boasts an embarrassment of riches. The collection begins with an early cut of “Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire,” one of two songs (along with “For The Roses”) test-driven during a visit to a Graham Nash David Crosby recording session at Wally Heider’s in Hollywood. // From there, listeners are treated to early demos and alternate versions from sessions from For The Roses, Court & Spark, and The Hissing Of Summer Lawns; historic live show recordings, including the entirety of Mitchell’s triumphant 1972 return to Carnegie Hall and a definitive gig with her Court And Spark backing band Tom Scott & the L.A. Express; and tracks from sessions cut alongside James Taylor, Graham Nash, and Neil Young. // As she approaches her 80th birthday later this year, Joni Mitchell is reaffirming the vitality and resonance of her music. Last month, she released At Newport, a live album commemorating her incredible comeback performance at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival. Pitchfork described it as “a joyous surprise, a moment of wonder,” while NPR Music says it “[shows] Mitchell’s legacy in action and how younger generations of musicians carry forth her spirit of imagination and fearless reconfiguration.” // Back in June, Mitchell held her first ticketed performance in over 20 years at a sold-out Gorge Amphitheatre in Quincy, WA. Rolling Stone called it “The triumph of the human spirit we all desperately craved…a powerful celebration of Mitchell’s life and resiliency.”] [For The Roses was originally released on Asylum Records in November 1972. Joni Mitchell originally wrote the song “You Turn Me On I’m A Radio” in response to her record label’s desire for her to write a hit song. Mitchell reveals her purpose on lines such as, “And I’m sending you out this signal here, I hope you can pick it up loud and clear”. She believed that including words in the song about radio themes would convince stations to play the recording. The song was recorded in preparation for Mitchell’s upcoming fifth studio album in Hollywood, California, United States at A&M Studios. Although Graham Nash, David Crosby, and Neil Young all contributed to the recording session for the song, only the harmonica piece performed by Graham Nash was included on the official release. “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio” was released as a single in November 1972 via Asylum Records. The song became Mitchell’s first top-ten hit in Canada, reaching the tenth position on the RPM Top Singles chart. Additionally, the single became her first top-forty hit in the United States, reaching number twenty-five on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside North America, “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio” peaked within the top-forty on the Australian Kent Music Report chart. The single was included on Mitchell’s fifth studio effort For the Roses, which was issued in November 1972. Released between her 2 biggest commercial and critical successes – “Blue” and “Court & Spark”. In 2007 it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. “For the Roses” was Mitchell’s farewell to the business; she took an extended break for a year after. The album was critically acclaimed with The New York Times saying “Each of Mitchell’s songs on For the Roses is a gem glistening with her elegant way with language, her pointed splashes of irony & her perfect shaping of images. Never does Mitchell voice a thought or feeling commonly. She’s a songwriter and singer of genius who can’t help but make us feel we are not alone.”]

114. Tre’ Mutava – The Reality [EP] / Currently Crafting / June 30, 2023

[New 14-song album from Tre’ Mutava a 21-year old, self-made indie producer, singer and songwriter based in Overland Park, Kansas. Tre’s last single was “Fantasy I Found” released January 13, 2023. Tyre’ Mutava released the single and video, “Moving” (feat. Noah Anthony), on September 30, 2022. Tre’ released his debut solo album, THE MOVIES on July 31, 2021. Tre’ called his debut album a “bedroom symphony”. Tre’ Mutava was born December 21, 2001. Te’ Mutava is strong-willed, perceptive, goal oriented and keen. More info at: http://www.tremutava.com] {Tre was our guest on WMM on Nov. 9, 2022]

115. Perfume USA – Kiss it Goodbye [EP] / Setterwind Records / May 18, 2023

[Kansas City Missouri based 4-piece band isL Jamie Woodard on vocals & lead guitar, Anthony Kearney on guitar, Tyler Snowden on bass, and Travis Boaz on drums. Their new EP Kiss It Goodbye is the follow-up to their 2021 debut Charlie’s Angels. All songs written and performed by Perfume USA. Art by Kamtin Mohager. Photography by Lovesick Ethan. Produced by Perfume USA and Justin Mantooth. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Justin Mantooth @ Westend Recording Studios in Kansas City. Published and Distributed by Setterwind Records. // New Noise Magazine writes, “The middle of the United States is often thought of as desolate middle ground between the two coasts. Yet, as of late, places like Oklahoma City, Louisville and Kansas City have become hubs of creativity spawning new bands and thriving scenes. The latter being home to Perfume USA, a band that has become a staple in their region opening for bands like Candy, Heart Attack Man and Greet Death, each of which Perfume USA somehow fit perfectly on the bill with.”” // “”From their heavy and punchy riffs, to their pop hooks and droning fuzz scattered throughout their songs, listeners can’t help but get lost in their music, which is sure to resonate with fans of Nothing, Narrow Head, Far, Deftones, and Smashing Pumpkins. Kiss It Goodbye, Perfume USA’s forthcoming three-song 7-inch (May 19 via Setterwind Records), is the perfect introduction to this band’s ’90s grunge and alt rock inspired music.” More info at: tr.ee/perfumeusa]

116. Lael Neale – Star Eaters Delight / Sub Pop Records / April 21, 2023

[Lael Neale returns with her beguiling new full-length Star Eaters Delight. The album, which features the highlights “I Am The River,” “In Verona,” “Must Be Tears,” and “Faster Than The Medicine,” was written by Neale, with arrangements and production by Guy Blakeslee. The recordings were made on cassette in Virginia and mastered by Chris Coady in Los Angeles.// Star Eaters Delight reveals an expansion of Neale’s sonic collaboration with producer and accompanist Blakeslee and arrives on the heels of her Sub Pop debut Acquainted With Night, which won international acclaim for its crystalline vocals, clever songwriting, and excellent use of Omnichord to build a world of beautiful reveries. That album saw praise from the likes of Uncut, MOJO, Loud & Quiet, The AV Club, Stereogum, SPIN, and earned “Best of 2021” placement from Under the Radar, Les Inrocks, Aquarium Drunkard, Gold Flake Paint, Still Listening, Secret Meeting and more. // April of 2020, Lael moved from Los Angeles back to her family’s farm in rural Virginia. Looking at the world from a distance and getting in tune with her own rhythms, she wrote and recorded steadily for two dreamlike years, driven by a need to make order out of chaos. Forged in isolation, Star Eaters Delight is a vehicle for returning, not just to civilization, but to celebration. She explains: “The unbroken silences on the farm compelled me to break them with sound. This album is louder and more external, calling out to the world.” // Album opener “I Am The River” melts the ice with a dynamic explosion of minimalist transcendental pop clearly descended from the Velvets branch of modern music’s family tree. Watch the official self-directed video for “I Am The River” below. // Lael Neale is also sharing her international tour schedule for 2023 in support of Star Eaters Delight which begins April 22nd in Los Angeles at Permanent Records Roadhouse and currently runs through May 27 in Gothenburg, Sweden. For the US run, the tour will have stops in Washington, Austin, Nashville, Tucson, New York, Northampton, and Philadelphia. Tickets for these shows are on sale now.]

117. Sigur Rós – ÁTTA / BMG Rights Management / June 16, 2023

[On June 16, 2023, Sigur Rós released “Blóðberg”, the first single from their eighth studio album, Átta (eight in icelandic). The self-produced album was recorded at Sundlaugin Studio, on the rural outskirts of Reykjavik. // Sigur Rós (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈsɪːɣʏrous] is an Icelandic post-rock band that formed in 1994 in Reykjavík. It comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Jón Þór “Jónsi” Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal sound, frontman Jónsi’s falsetto vocals, and their use of bowed guitar, Sigur Rós incorporate classical and minimal aesthetic elements. Jónsi’s vocals are sung in Icelandic and non-linguistic vocalisations the band terms Vonlenska. They have released eight studio albums, and attracted critical and commercial attention with their second album Ágætis byrjun. Current members include: Jón Þór “Jónsi” Birgisson on lead vocals, guitars, bowed guitar, keyboards, harmonica, banjo, bass guitar (1994–present); Georg “Goggi” Hólm on bass guitar, glockenspiel, toy piano, keyboards, backing vocals (1994–present); Kjartan “Kjarri” Sveinsson on synthesizers, keyboards, piano, organ, programming, guitars, flute, tin whistle, oboe, banjo, backing vocals (1998–2013, 2022–present)]

118. Bebel Gilberto – João / Pias America / August 25, 2023

[Isabel Buarque de Hollanda Gilberto de Oliveira (born May 12, 1966), known as Bebel Gilberto, is an American-born Brazilian popular singer often associated with bossa nova. She is the daughter of João Gilberto and singer Miúcha. Her uncle is singer/composer Chico Buarque. // Gilberto was born in New York City to Brazilian parents, bossa nova pioneer João Gilberto and singer Miúcha, who were briefly living in the city at the time of her birth. She often traveled with her father when he recorded albums in different countries; she lived in Mexico at age three and moved to Rio de Janeiro at age five. Gilberto’s parents separated when she was seven, and she spent her time between Rio de Janeiro with her mother and New York with her father. Gilberto has been performing since her youth in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. // Gilberto recalls that her childhood was “music nonstop”; when reflecting on her father’s influence, Gilberto states, “He taught me to be a perfectionist. But my mother taught me how to lose it. And you can hear it in my music today, I think.” She grew acquainted with popular artists such as Caetano Veloso, David Byrne, and Stan Getz, who often visited her father’s home to collaborate. She began singing with her mother at a young age and participated in professional musicals such as Saltimbancos and Pirlimpimpim. At the age of seven, she made her recording debut on her mother’s first solo album, Miúcha & Antônio Carlos Jobim (1977). Two years later, she performed at Carnegie Hall with her mother and Stan Getz. // Gilberto was a great friend of Cazuza and composed several songs with him in addition to “Eu preciso dizer que te amo”, including “Amigos de Bar”, “Mais Feliz”, and “Mulher sem Razão”. // Gilberto next participated in the project Red Hot + Rio, joining major music stars such as Everything but the Girl, Maxwell, George Michael, and others for the benefit CD recording. She also collaborated on Towa Tei’s CD Future Listening!, singing on the hits “Technova” and “Batucada,” and also participated in Peeping Tom with Mike Patton (lead singer of Faith No More), singing “Caipirinha”. // Tanto Tempo, an electronic bossa nova album released in 2000, was popular at clubs around the world and positioned Gilberto as one of the best-selling Brazilian artists in the U.S. since the 1960s. With her second album, Bebel Gilberto (2004), she refined her sound to create an acoustic lounge style that showcased her strengths as a Brazilian composer. // With Momento (2007), her third album in seven years, she wanted to do a fusion of both. Mixing the taste of Rio’s Orquestra Imperial with the melting pot of New York’s Brazilian Girls, and following the direction of the English producer Guy Sigsworth (Madonna’s partner in “What It Feels Like for a Girl”), Momento reaffirmed the international character of Gilberto’s music. In 2007, she was a judge for the 6th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists’ careers. // Gilberto recorded her fourth studio album, All in One, in New York, Jamaica, and the Brazilian state of Bahia. It was released worldwide on September 29, 2009, on the American jazz label Verve, and was released in Brazil by Universal Music. It is the least electronic-infused of her albums, and brings to the forefront more of Gilberto’s personality and love for organic styles. All in One had a team of accomplished producers including Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen), John King (Dust Brothers, Beck), Daniel Jobim, Carlinhos Brown, Didi Gutman (Brazilian Girls) and Mario Caldato Jr (Beastie Boys, Björk, Jack Johnson). Gilberto also provided the voice of the bird Eva in the animated film Rio (2011), an experience she called “amazing”. // Since the launch of Tanto Tempo in 2000, she has sold over 2.5 million records and has been featured on seven film soundtracks including Next Stop Wonderland, The Bubble, Closer and most recently 2010s Eat Pray Love and 2011’s Rio; and seven TV series including Sex and the City, Six Feet Under, and Nip/Tuck. // In 2011, she contributed a track entitled “Acabou Chorare” to the Red Hot Organization’s most recent charitable album, Red Hot+Rio 2. The album is a follow-up to the 1996 Red Hot+Rio. Proceeds from the sales will be donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues. In 2015, her song “Tudo” was nominated for the 16th Latin Grammy Awards in the Best Brazilian Song category.]

119. Sparks – The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte / Island Records / May 26, 2023

[The Girl is Crying in Her Latte is the 25th studio album by American rock group Sparks, released through Island Records on May 26, 2023, their first release through the label since 1976. It was preceded by the release of two singles, and received acclaim from critics. The duo will tour the world until July 2023 in support of the album, the biggest headlining tour of their career. // On January 24, 2023, Sparks announced that they had again signed with Island Records, the label which released their albums Kimono My House (1974), Propaganda (1974), Indiscreet (1975) and Big Beat (1976). On March 3, 2023, the lead single, “The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte” was released, with a music video starring Australian actress Cate Blanchett. The second single, “Veronica Lake”, was released on April 21, 2023. The third single, “Nothing Is as Good as They Say It Is”, was released on May 12, 2023, and is “sung from the perspective of a 22-hour old baby who is disgusted with the world, and wants to return to the womb” // Sparks is an American pop and rock duo formed by brothers Ron (keyboards) and Russell Mael (vocals) in Los Angeles. The duo is noted for their quirky approach to songwriting; their music is often accompanied by sophisticated and acerbic lyrics—often about women, and sometimes containing literary or cinematic references —and an idiosyncratic, theatrical stage presence, typified by the contrast between Russell’s animated, hyperactive frontman antics and Ron’s deadpan scowling. Russell Mael has a distinctive wide-ranging voice, while Ron Mael plays keyboards in an intricate and rhythmic style. Their frequently changing styles and visual presentations have kept the band at the forefront of modern, artful pop music. // Career highlights include “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us”, which reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart in 1974; the disco hit “The Number One Song in Heaven” in 1979, resulting from a collaboration with Giorgio Moroder and marking a stylistic shift towards new wave/synth-pop; “When I’m with You”, which made the Australian and French Singles Charts in 1980; the single “I Predict”, which provided Sparks’ first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 60 in May 1982; the 1983 single “Cool Places” with the Go-Go’s rhythm guitarist and vocalist Jane Wiedlin, and “When Do I Get to Sing ‘My Way'”, which was the top airplay record in Germany for 1994. // The 2002 release of Lil’ Beethoven, the duo’s self-proclaimed “genre-defining opus”, fused repetitive song structures with orchestral arrangements, and brought them renewed critical success. In 2015, the band released an album with Scottish indie rock band Franz Ferdinand, as the supergroup FFS, titled FFS. In 2017, returning to a rock-group format, Sparks released Hippopotamus, which entered the UK Albums Chart at no. 7, as did their next album, A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip, released in 2020, bringing their tally of UK Top 10 albums to four. In 2021, Sparks were involved in two films: the Leos Carax musical film Annette for which they wrote all songs (winning the César Award for Best Original Music), and the Edgar Wright documentary The Sparks Brothers recounting the history of the band.] [Sparks played The Midland Theatre, 1228 Main Street, KCMO, on Saturday, July 8, at 8:00 PM]

120. Sparklehorse – Bird Machine / Anti / 2023

[The music for Bird Machine was recorded by Sparklehorse prior to Mark Linkous’ 2010 suicide. Linkous’ brother Matt oversaw unreleased music and found the track “It Will Never Stop” in 2022. In June 2023, the full album was announced, made up of older recordings, with additions made by Matt and Melissa Linkous. The initial tracks were recorded with Steve Albini and were intended to be the band’s fifth studio album prior to collaborating with Danger Mouse for Dark Night of the Soul. “Scull of Lucia” was previewed on July 11. // Sparklehorse was an American indie rock band from Richmond, Virginia, led by singer & multi-instrumental-ist Mark Linkous. It was active from 1995 until Linkous’s 2010 death. Before forming Sparklehorse, Linkous fronted local bands Johnson Family and Salt Chunk Mary. Only one song, “Someday I Will Treat You Good”, survived from these earlier bands to be played by Sparklehorse. Linkous said he chose the name Sparklehorse because the two words sounded good together and could be a loose metaphor for a motorcycle. At its incept-ion, members of Sparklehorse included Paul Watson (banjo, cornet, lap steel and electric guitar), Scott Minor (drums, chord organ, banjo), Johnny Hott (Wurlitzer organ, percussion, backing vocals), & Scot Fitzsimmons (standup bass). // Sparklehorse’s first album, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot (1995), produced by Cracker frontman David Lowery (credited as “David Charles” on the record), was a modest college radio success. In 1996, while touring Europe with Radiohead shortly after the album’s release, Linkous consumed a combinat-ion of anti-depressants, valium, alcohol, and heroin in a London hotel room. Unconscious and with his legs pinned beneath him for almost 14 hours, the resulting potassium build-up caused his heart to stop for several minutes after his body was lifted up. The ensuing surgery almost caused him to lose the use of both legs and, as a result, he needed to use a wheelchair for six months and required dialysis for acute kidney failure. // Good Morning Spider (1998) was recorded following this incident. Critics have conjectured that Linkous’s brush with death inspired the album’s somber tone, but Linkous said that much of GMS had already been written. One song that resulted from his affliction is “St. Mary”, which is dedicated to the nurses at the eponymous hospital in Paddington where Linkous recuperated. // In 1999 Sparklehorse performed at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. 2001 saw the release of It’s a Wonderful Life, featuring appearances by Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Bob Rupe, Nina Persson and Dave Fridmann. Much of Vivadixie… and Spider were recorded solely by Linkous on his Virginia farm, but the new album was more collaborative. Linkous expressed his satisfaction with the overall sound of It’s a Wonderful Life, which was engineered by Joel Hamilton, while also saying he would have preferred to include more experimental and instrumental material. // On Sept. 25, 2006, Sparklehorse released its fourth album, Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain, collaborating with Danger Mouse, Christian Fennesz, and Steven Drozd. This album featured the radio release “Don’t Take My Sunshine Away” and a remastered version of “Shade & Honey”, which Linkous originally wrote for Alessandro Nivola to sing in the 2003 movie Laurel Canyon, as well as a virtually unchanged re-release of “Morning Hollow”, the bonus track on It’s a Wonderful Life. // In 2008, Sparklehorse recorded a cover of “Jack’s Obsession” from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas for the official compilation album Nightmare Revisited. // In 2009, Sparklehorse teamed up with Danger Mouse & David Lynch on the project Dark Night of the Soul. Corliss et al. (2010) described Dark Night of the Soul as “spooky, beautiful,… bittersweet…considering Linkous’ untimely death.” // In 2009, Linkous collaborated with electronic ambient-music artist Christian Fennesz to create In the Fishtank 15, an EP of experimentation & dreamy atmospherics. In Oct. 2009, Linkous performed with Fennesz during a European tour. // Linkous committed suicide in Knoxville, TN, Mar. 6, 2010]

Wednesday MidDay Medley
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org

Our Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information.
Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org

Find our playlists for the past 10 years at: http://www.WednesdayMidDayMedley.org

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Wednesday MidDay Medley
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

The 120 Best Recordings of 2023
(Part 4 of 4)

Wednesday MidDay Medley presents part-four, of our four-week special: The 120 Best Recordings of 2023. Based on playlists of this little ole radio show, we’ve compiled representative tracks from our favorite full-length albums and EP recordings of 2023. We realize these “Best of” lists can seem subjective, so we ask that you please accept our list as a celebration of the year in music.

In 2023 we’ve broadcast nearly 900 different tracks on WMM over our 100,000 watts of 90.1 FM Community Radio Airwaves. Over 500 of these tracks were from New & MidCoastal Releases. We played tracks from National Releases, and MidCoastal Releases. 70 of the representative tracks in our “Best of” list are from MidCoastal Releases. We conducted over 150 interviews with 145 special guests. 50 of the bands and artists in our “Best of” list have joined us as guests on Wednesday MidDay Medley.

This Wednesday, we’ll count down from #30 through #1 of our list, with music from: Heidi Lynne Gluck, Red Kate, Iris Dement, Silicone Prairie, Janelle Monae, Dan Jones & The Squids, Bad Alaskan, Saving Miles Lemon, Various Blonde, Ivory Blue, Calvin Arsenia, Bob Walkenhorst, Supermassive Black Holes, Monta, Dragon Inn 3, Mike Dillon and Punkadelic, Andrew Connor, Sweeping Promises, Yves Tumor, Joanna Sternberg, Meshell Ndegeocello, Photo Ops, Wednesday, Noname, Sufjan Stevens, Mitski, Allison Russell, Ratboys, Anohni and The Johnsons, and Abraham Alexander.

The 120 Best Recordings of 2023 is our celebration of the year in music.

1. “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
   from: Motion Picture Soundtrack to All That Jazz / Universal / Dec. 20, 1979 [WMM’s theme]

2. (#30.) The Ratboys – “Morning Zoo”
   from: The Window / Topshelf Records / August 25, 2023
   [Chicago’s beloved Ratboys release their fourth studio album, The Window, via Topshelf Records featuring the single “It’s Alive!” and launched their US tour. After more than ten years and four studio albums, The Window finally captures Ratboys as they were always meant to be heard—expansive while still intimate, audacious while still tender—the sound of four friends operating as a single, cohesive unit. The album is sonically diverse, shifting wildly from track to track and flexing everything from fuzzy power pop choruses to warm country twang to mournful folk.// Lyrically, The Window sees Julia Steiner at her most personal, reflecting on love and grief with occasional humor and levity. She frequently leans on windows as a theme—the idea of an interrupted connection, the feeling of being near someone without being fully present—like on the pounding lead single, “It’s Alive!” Opening with Steiner’s honeyed vocals, “Outside my window the birds dance alone // I sit back and take it in // Like some sort of medicine,” it’s a bright and vivacious track that, in Steiner’s words, captures “the overarching feeling of the world spinning on beneath you while you’re stuck in one place.” In the video, directed by John TerEick, Ratboys play in an empty house, as its owners slowly start to move in. // The Window marks a number of firsts for the band. Throughout the last few years, Sean Neumann (bass) and Marcus Nuccio (drums) became full-time members alongside Julia Steiner (vocals, guitar) and Dave Sagan (guitars), making The Window the first album Ratboys have written collaboratively from start to finish. It was also the first time they’d ever traveled outside their home base of Chicago to record an album, journeying to Seattle to work with producer Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara, Foxing) for three weeks. The group worked on the arrangements together over the course of a year and half, so by the time the band showed up to the Hall of Justice Recording Studio in February 2022, The Window’s songs were well rehearsed and airtight. “We spent 2020 demoing the songs, and spent 2021 practicing them,” says Steiner. “We practiced twice a week for six months, exploring the songs and developing them. We’d send early versions to Chris and he’d give us notes. It went like that for weeks. It was such a dedicated and intentional process.”]

3. (#29.) Photo Ops – “When You See Something Beautiful”
   from: Burns Bright / Paul Is Dead Records / April 28, 2023
   [Photo Ops is the musical project of Terry Price. This is Photo Ops’ 4th album. Burns Bright explores hope, loss, and nostalgia through the lens of hushed yet sweeping melodies, anchored with fingerpicked guitar, lush piano, and synth flourishes. Burns Bright is out April 28, 2023 on Paul Is Dead Records. // The autumn blaze maple tree, famous as music in Nashville, is a fast grower. Imagine its teeming majesty of red leaves from above one house in the city’s Inglewood neighborhood. You see it ensconced like a controlled flame by rolling hills and winding roads. A familiar pattern lulls you from days into nights in this dreamy park town. You never realized from the ground, under the shade of that tree, how all these beautiful designs in any city keep you sane. // The sweeping vantage points of Photo Ops’ Burns Bright belong first to the quiet of Nashville’s first modern suburb after World War II. Terry Price lived there while perfecting the melodic soft-rock modes that pleased audiences on tour with Camera Obscura and Fences. Price took this way of seeing to a new home in Los Angeles. Long drives through dimensional vistas ended in his room in Los Feliz where he recorded Burns Bright. When Etta James, Molly Drake, and The Byrds are all touchpoints of sound and silence, what emerges is a gentle homage to the commonalities of lasting influence in pop music, a kind of time-bending presentiment — the moment of tracking in a studio when everyone senses it’s a moment that will be remembered. Reaching through the layer of industry noise in both hallmark cities as we know them from a distance — is this a hit? — Price treasures the visceral experience of making and recognizing music. // The most devout of craftspeople, Price is on a quest toward the merciful essence of recognition when he writes songs; each line discovers a pure element of comfort, calling back to the land and to his musician mother’s love of transcendent melodies. Burns Bright reminds us how those forces are one and the same. // Price’s heroes in music are more than inspirations. To him, they offer examples of how to keep breathing in a culture that discourages total presence. It’s true that moving an open heart through the world comes with constant risk. Looking out at the expanse we all share — really seeing that world — is the practice of Burns Bright, and the special ability that makes Price a songwriter to cherish.]

4. (#28.) Joanna Sternberg – “I’ve Got Me”
   from: I’ve Got Me / Fat Possum Records / June 30, 2023
   [Joanna Sternberg was born August 18, 1991. Joanna is a singer, songwriter, visual artist and multi-instrumentalist based in New York City. Sternberg released their debut full-length album, Then I Try Some More, on Team Love Records, later picked up on Fat Possum Records. Sternberg went on their first tour opening for Conor Oberst in North America in July 2018. Sternberg’s second album, I’ve Got Me, was released in 2023, on Fat Possum Records; it was produced by Matt Sweeney. Sternberg identifies as gender neutral and uses singular they/them pronouns. They are based in Manhattan. Sternberg is Jewish. At Joanna’s Bandca,p page she writes: “i, my name is Joanna. I am a person who sings songs, writes songs, draws, plays different musical instruments, and watches what the majority of the world would consider “WAY TOO MUCH” TV. You do not have to buy my album but if you do, THANK YOU SO MUCH! And also thank you so much if you are reading this! I love you!” More info at” http://www.joannasternberg.com]

5. (#27.) Wednesday – “Quarry”
   from: Rat Saw God / Dead Oceans / April 7, 2023
   [Rat Saw God is the fifth studio album by American rock band Wednesday. On September 8, 2022, the band left Orindal Records and signed to Dead Oceans, releasing the single “Bull Believer”. On January 18, 2023, the band released the single “Chosen to Deserve” and announced their fifth album, Rat Saw God, which was released on April 7, 2023. // Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Mark Deming concluded, “Some albums sound like the artists were trying with all their might to make an epic statement in words and music; Rat Saw God sounds like Wednesday had no such lofty aims, but their commitment to the people they write about and their instincts about crafting music to match make this a stunningly powerful work that may well turn out to be a masterpiece.” In Beats Per Minute, Tim Sentz claimed that the album is an example of, “a band operating at their highest most infectious potency, and the end result is riveting.” Craig Howwieson at Clash described it as, “Finding magic in the mire – ‘Rat Saw God’ is an emphatic, uplifting reminder of the privilege of being alive.” // Wednesday is an American band from Asheville, North Carolina, currently signed to Dead Oceans. The band consists of vocalist Karly Hartzman, guitarist Jake Lenderman, lap steel player Xandy Chelmis, and drummer Alan Miller. Wednesday was formed in 2017 as Karly Hartzman’s personal songwriting project. // Hartzman was inspired to start playing guitar after watching Mitski’s NPR Tiny Desk concert. Hartzman attended college in Asheville, where she met Daniel Gorham. The two recorded an album together under the moniker Wednesday titled yep definitely. The band’s name was inspired by the British band The Sundays. // After releasing this record, Hartzman formed another band called Diva Sweetly, alongside members of the band Pictures of Vernon. Hartzman was interested in making shoegaze music, which was not the music Diva Sweetly was making. Thus, Hartzman gathered new members to join the Wednesday band and released the second album with the group, titled I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone in 2020. The group released their third record, Twin Plagues, on August 13, 2021.// On March 11, 2022, the band released a covers album titled Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling ’em Up, featuring covers versions of songs by Gary Stewart, Chris Bell, Roger Miller, Drive-By Truckers, Hotline TNT, Greg Sage, Vic Chesnutt, Medicine and The Smashing Pumpkins. On September 8, 2022, the band left Orindal Records and signed to Dead Oceans, releasing the single “Bull Believer”. On January 18, 2023, the band released the single “Chosen to Deserve” and announced a fifth album, Rat Saw God, which was released on April 7, 2023.] [Wednesday played the recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd, KCMO, on Wednesday, May 17 at 7:00 PM ]

6. (#26.) Bob Walkenhorst – “My Version Of The Story”
   from: My Version Of The Story/ BAT Records / November 1, 2023
   [For this record Bob played all instruments and sang all vocal parts and recorded this himself in his home studio. This new release follows Bob Walkenhorst’s last album A Thousand Words a 12 song album released June 1, 2021 on Bob’s 68th Birthday. Bob’s solo releases are beautiful and demonstrate the range of Bob Walkenhorst’s gifts as a master songwriter and poet. The album is also evidence of the wide open vocal range of a rock and roller who can call upon his expressive voice, giving listeners lyrics with a growl and also rising to sing the high parts of the harmony, not in a falsetto, but actually singing like a angel in a duet with Una Walkenhorst his equally talented singer songwriter daughter. With Una, Bob recorded the critically acclaimed FOR TOMORROW with that was released October 12, 2018, where they split the difference, taking turns as songwriters for the album’s songs, written individually, and recorded together, in clear beautiful harmonies, with that extra special shared musical DNA, that can be heard in the harmonies of The Carter Family, Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear, or Shy Boys. FOR TOMORROW was #2 on WMM’s 118 Best recordings of 2018. Una Walkenhorst is the youngest daughter of Bob Walkenhorst, a founding member of The Rainmakers, which had national and international hits in the 1980s and 90s, and continue to this day touring and recording new music. With The Rainmakers Bob has released over 12 albums. Bob’s solo record continues the spirit of FOR TOMORROW. // From http://www.bobwalkenhorst.com : Bob Walkenhorst has spent most of his life as a musician, as lead singer and songwriter for the critically acclaimed rock band, The Rainmakers. Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, Bob and the band have released 9 albums over their 30+ year career, and continue to tour and record. // Bob’s songs gained attention for their lyrical content – thoughtful, humorous, witty, with insightful social commentary. This interest in the power of words eventually led to the publication of a book of Bob’s song lyrics – Scribbling On the Walls of the Mansion – published in 2019. And now Whirlybird Day – published in 2020. // Bob grew up in the small town of Norborne, Missouri, and also spent years in Maryville and Branson. These years of small town life served as the inspiration for the stories in Whirlybird Day. // Bob lives in Kansas City, Missouri, with his wife, Michele Sewell, two daughters and two granddaughters nearby. // Bob Walkenhorst is a Kansas City-based singer, songwriter, musician, and painter. After growing up in his hometown of Norborne, Missouri, he became a founding member of the popular Midwestern U.S. roots rock band The Rainmakers. In the Kansas City area, he currently gives weekly performances and participates in art gallery shows. For some shows, he is joined by his daughter Una. // As the singer/songwriter of his band, The Rainmakers, from 1986 to 1996, Walkenhorst’s discography included five full-length studio albums, one live concert recording, and one “best-of” album. After the dissolution of the band, he released his first solo album, The Beginner, in 2003. In 2009, Walkenhorst and fellow Kansas City musician Jeff Porter released an album entitled No Abandon, under the moniker Walkenhorst and Porter. The Rainmakers reformed in 2011 and have since released three more albums. // Throughout his career as a musician, Walkenhorst has maintained a reputation for producing clever and provocative lyrics, which have garnered him wide critical acclaim. In discussing the self-titled debut of The Rainmakers, Billboard called them “a band with a rarity: a genuinely witty songwriter.” A 1987 review in the Washington Post cited the cleverness while also noting irreverent humor. On a very different note, a review from later that year in the Chicago Tribune observed, “Walkenhorst’s lyrics are preoccupied with morality, although he avoids a moralizing tone.” Over three decades later, in 2018, the Richmond (Missouri) News said, “His unique vocals and viewpoints have garnered him a dedicated following, through more than 30 years in the music scene.” // Perhaps the best-known fan of The Rainmakers and Walkenhorst was Stephen King, who included lyrics from the songs “Downstream” and “Drinkin’ on the Job” in The Tommyknockers. In Gerald’s Game, King excerpted “One More Summer”—citing Walkenhorst by name—and adopted Walkenhorst’s character “The Lakeview Man” in service of the story. // More info at: http://www.bobwalkenhorst.com] [Bob Walkenhorst joined us in WMM on June 2, 2021]

7. (#25.) Various Blonde – “Love Is How We Will Survive”
   from: Love Is How We Will Survive / Various Blonde / September 1, 2023
   [10 track album hat contains 4 singles released over the last two years. Various Blonde is a Kansas City based experimental, rock, pop, and funk band originally formed in 2008 and currently served by founder Joshua Allen on guitar, synthesizers, and vocals; and Mark Lomas on drums. The band has been described by Mills Record Company as, “Having all the sex appeal of The Weeknd and all the grit of Rage Against the Machine–the combination makes for a performance that is explosive.” On September 24, 2022 Various Blonde released the single, “Love is How We Survive.” On August 19, 2022 Various Blonde released the single, “Obtuse”. On June 9, 2022 Various Blonde released the single, “Too Many Secrets.” On March 13, 2020 Various Blonde released a three song EP called 3s 2 through The Record Machine. On January 2020 Various Blonde released a three song EP called 3s 1 through The Record Machine. On September 16, 2016 Various Blonde released the 10-track album ALL BASES COVERED through The Record Machine. On January 13, 2015 Various Blonde release the 10-track album, SUMMER HIGH. “More info at: http://www.variousblonde.com]

8. (#24.) Yves Tumor – “Echolalia”
   from: Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) / Warp Records / March 17, 2023
   [Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) is produced by Noah Goldstein (Frank Ocean, Rosalía, Drake, Rihanna, Bon Iver), and mixed by Alan Moulder (My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails), lending the album with a sonic signature that acts as a distillation and amplification of Yves’ previous work. The album’s boundlessly visceral aesthetic is bolstered by invaluable contributions from long-time collaborators Chris Greatti (Yungblud, WILLOW), Yves Rothman (Girlpool, Amaarae) and Rhys Hastings, melding restraint and chaos in a soulful clarity. // Yves Tumor released their 4th album HEAVEN TO A TORTURED MIND on April 2, 2020. Yves Tumor aka Sean Bowie is best known by the recording alias Yves Tumor, is an American producer of experimental electronic music, born in Miami, Florida and currently based in Turin, Italy. Raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tumor started making music at age 17 as an outlet away from “dull, conservative surroundings.” They taught themself to play drums, bass, guitar, and keyboards. Describing their experience growing up in Tennessee as unpleasant, they moved at age 20 to San Diego, and after college to Los Angeles, where they met Mykki Blanco in 2012, with whom they later toured for two and a half years throughout Europe and Asia.In the early 2010s, Tumor recorded as Teams, and made music which AllMusic described as “post-chillwave”. They debuted their Yves Tumor project in 2015 with an EP for Berlin’s experimental club label Janus, and another one for Blanco’s label, Dogfood MG. That same year, they self-released their first album, When Man Fails You (which would later be re-released by Apothecary Compositions on April 29, 2016). In September 2016, Tumor signed with PAN Records and released its label debut, Serpent Music. They had worked on the album for three years after moving to Leipzig, Germany. The album was recorded between Miami, Leipzig, Los Angeles and Berlin. In Pitchfork’s review of the album, critic Andy Beta compared Tumor’s musical style to James Ferraro and Dean Blunt, and noted their use of “unsettling percussive loops and field recordings to create a mood as if lost in a strange urban landscape”. In September 2017, Tumor released a compilation album titled Experiencing the Deposit of Faith for free. Later that week, it was revealed through a tour announcement that Tumor had signed to Warp Records. Following the announcement, they embarked on a tour with a new audiovisual show. In September 2018, Tumor released their Warp debut, Safe in the Hands of Love, with no prior announcement. It was preceded by the singles “Noid” on July 24, “Licking an Orchid” featuring James K on August 29, and “Lifetime” on September 3. The album received universal acclaim from music critics. Pitchfork’s Jayson Greene stated in their review that the album “dwarfs everything the artist has released by several orders of magnitude. The leap is so audacious it’s disorienting.” Tumor’s fourth album, Heaven to a Tortured Mind, was released on April 3, 2020, preceded on March 3 by the single “Kerosene” featuring Diana Gordon. Alexis Petridis, reviewing the album for The Guardian, awarded it Album of the Week, describing it as “extraordinary: experimental, capable of any genre, with an internal logic powering its shifts in mood. Tumor has cited Throbbing Gristle as a major influence, saying: “There’s something about their music, like the hypnotic trance vibes, that really influenced me.]

10:29 – Underwriting

9. (#23.) Noname – “beauty supply”
   from: Sundial / AWAL Recordings / august 11, 2023
   [From the Pitchfork, August 11, 2023, 8.8 review of SUNDIAL >>> “Sometimes the only way to work through the bullshit is to point at your close friends and ask, “Do you all see this, too, or am I bugging?” Their confirmations stop you from feeling like you’re on a different planet from everyone else. That’s the driving force behind Noname’s first project in five years, the eye-opening and disruptive Sundial. On the first track, with her typical buttery, head-in-the-clouds delivery, she raps, “We smokin’ positivity like dust, trust.” It’s a cutting quip: She’s fed up with anti-critical positivity, the kind that leads corporations to dress up and commodify Black art, turning an artist’s politics into a commercialized performance. She has no time for the idea that It’s all good as long as they’re Black, no matter what they’re selling. Sundial pushes back against that complacency in a real regular-person kind of way. It’s not preachy or too heavy. Noname is not trying to sell herself as a revolutionary. She’s also unafraid of biting self-reflection that leaves her own contradictions out in the open. In rap, where it’s so often about seeming indestructible, hanging yourself out to dry is a gutsy move.” // From wikipedia: Fatimah Nyeema Warner was born September 18, 1991. She is known professionally as Noname (pronounced “no name”), and is an American rapper, poet, and record producer. Since 2019, she has run the Noname Book Club, which focuses on radical texts by authors of color. She is also one-third of the musical supergroup Ghetto Sage with fellow rappers Smino and Saba. // Noname began rapping and performing slam poetry in 2010, and gained wider recognition in 2013 for her appearance on the track “Lost” from Chance the Rapper’s mixtape Acid Rap. Noname released her debut mixtape, Telefone, on July 31, 2016, to critical acclaim. Her debut album, Room 25, was released on September 14, 2018, and received further critical acclaim. // Noname grew up in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. She was raised by her grandparents until she was in middle school. Her grandparents were entrepreneurs, as was her mother, who owned Afrocentric Bookstore. When she returned to live with her mother, she had a new sibling and she and her mother did not get along. // As a teenager, she listened to blues musicians Buddy Guy and Howlin’ Wolf, and spent time in her mother’s bookstore. She started writing poetry after taking a creative writing class in high school. As a teen, she spent time in the YOUMedia project, a space for young artists to create and network then based at the Harold Washington Library. There, she befriended many local talents, including Chance the Rapper. // Noname’s interest in poetry led her to compete in local open mics and slam poetry competitions; she took third place in Chicago’s annual Louder Than a Bomb competition. Noname then started to freestyle rap with friends, collaborating with local Chicago artists including Chance the Rapper, Saba, and Mick Jenkins. // In 2013, she appeared on Chance the Rapper’s second mixtape, Acid Rap, contributing a verse to the track “Lost” and singing the chorus. She later contributed a verse to the song “Finish Line/Drown” from Chance the Rapper’s 2016 mixtape Coloring Book. In December 2016, she appeared with Chance the Rapper on Saturday Night Live. She announced her first tour on November 13, 2016. // In 2014, she was featured on Mick Jenkins’s mixtape The Waters, contributing to the track “Comfortable”. In 2015, she was featured on multiple tracks from Kirk Knight’s album Late Knight Special. That year, she also featured on fellow Chicago rapper Ramaj Eroc’s single “I Love You More”. // Noname first used the stage name “Noname Gypsy”, which she chose as a teenager when she was transitioning from poetry to music, believing “gypsies were very nomadic, just not about staying in one space for a long time”. In March 2016, she removed “Gypsy” from her stage name after learning of its racial connotation, saying she had been unaware of its negative connotations and did not want to offend Romani people. In a 2016 interview with The Fader, she explained her current stage name, following the change: “I try to exist without binding myself to labels. I’m not really into labels at all, even the way I dress; I usually don’t wear anything with a name brand. For me, not having a name expands my creativity. I’m able to do anything. Noname could potentially be a nurse. Noname could be a screenwriter. I’m not limited to any one category of art or other existence, on a more existential level.” // Noname released her first mixtape, Telefone, on July 31, 2016, after three years of production. Telefone publicized her new stage name through songs presented as open-ended telephone conversations. The album centers on important telephone conversations Noname has had. Her rap speaks of black women’s pain and highlights the struggles of growing up in Chicago. The album was originally released as a free download on Bandcamp, and then on vinyl in September 2017. Rolling Stone called it one of 2016’s “most thought-provoking hip-hop.” Stereogum wrote that Noname possessed “a potency and urgency in her complicated, spoken word-esque cadences and subdued delivery that escapes many of her more animated peers.” Consequence of Sound wrote that “the louder her music is played, the brighter her cadence glows, giving her lyrics a type of 3D craft that makes Telefone a diary of lessons too relevant to keep to yourself.” // In October 2016, Noname and fellow Chicago resident Saba collaborated to produce “Church/Liquor Store”, a song that explores the Westside of Chicago, where liquor stores sit directly next to places of worship. Noname critiques the gentrification of the neighborhood and the erasure of crime believed to accompany it. // Noname performed a NPR Tiny Desk Concert in April 2017.]

10. (#22.) MeShell Ndegeocello – “Call The Tune”
    from: The Omnichord Real Book / Blue Note – Verve / June 16, 2023
    [13th album from acclaimed GRAMMY-winning multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter Meshell Ndegeocello who makes her Blue Note Records debut with The Omnichord Real Book, a visionary, expansive, and deeply jazz-influenced album that marks the start of a new chapter in her career. Following her 2018 album Ventriloquism, Meshell returns with an album of new original material that taps into a broad spectrum of her musical roots. The Omnichord Real Book was produced by Josh Johnson and features a wide range of guest artists including Jason Moran, Ambrose Akinmusire, Joel Ross, Jeff Parker, Brandee Younger, Julius Rodriguez, Mark Guiliana, Cory Henry, Joan As Police Woman, Thandiswa, and others. // Meshell Ndegeocello was born Michelle Lynn Johnson on August 29, 1968 in West Berlin, Germany, to US Army Sergeant Major and saxophonist father Jacques Johnson and health care worker mother Helen. She was raised in Washington, D.C. where she attended Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Oxon Hill High School. She is a singer-songwriter, rapper, and bassist. She has gone by the name Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur which is used as a writing credit on some of her later work. Her music incorporates a wide variety of influences, including funk, soul, jazz, hip hop, reggae and rock. She has received significant critical acclaim throughout her career, being nominated for eleven Grammy Awards, and winning one. She also has been credited for helping to “spark the neo-soul movement”. // Ndegeocello adopted her surname, which she says means “free like a bird” in Swahili. Early pressings of Plantation Lullabies were affixed with stickers to help pronounce her name. The spelling has changed in the hands of record labels a few times during her career; the correct spelling of her stage name as of 2001 is Meshell Ndegeocello.]

11. (#21.) Supermassive Black Holes – “Weatherby Lake”
    from: Stop Safely Now / Supermassive Black Holes / October 27, 2023
    [The album was recorded, engineered, mixed and mastered by Duane Trower at Weights and Measures Soundlab. Supermassive Black Holes are: Alexis Barclay on bass guitar & vocals; John Johnson on electric & acoustic guitar, synthesizer, kazoo & vocals; Matt Davis on drums, piano & vocals; and Chad Brothers on electric & acoustic guitar & vocals. Song written by Chad Brothers] [Supermassive Black Holes played an Album Release Party “Acoustic” Show at Mike Kelly’s Westsider, 1515 Westport Rd. KCMO on Thursday, October 26, 2023.] [Supermassive Black Holes played an Album Release Party Electric Show at Lucia, 1016 Massachusetts St., Lawrence, KS. on Friday, November 10, 2023.] {Chad Brothers joined us on WMM on Oct. 25, 2023]

[Supermassive Black Holes play a New Year’s Eve Eve Show at OurHouseKC, 1815 West 39th St., KCMO, on Saturday, December 30, 2023.]

12. (#20.) Mitski – “Bug Like An Angel”
    from: The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We / Dead Oceans / September 15, 2023
    [7th studio album from Mitski Miyawaki, born Mitsuki Laycock on September 27, 1990, known mononymously as Mitski. She is an American singer and songwriter. She self-released her first two albums, Lush (2012), and Retired from Sad, New Career in Business (2013), while studying studio composition at Purchase College’s Conservatory of Music. The albums were originally made as her senior project. Her third studio album, Bury Me at Makeout Creek, was released in 2014 on the label Double Double Whammy. // Mitski signed with Dead Oceans in 2015 and released Puberty 2 (2016), Be the Cowboy (2018), and Laurel Hell (2022), the last of which made the top ten in several countries. In 2022, The Guardian dubbed her the “best young songwriter” in the United States. That same year, she co-wrote “This Is a Life” for the film Everything Everywhere All at Once, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Her seventh studio album, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We, was released in 2023. // Mitski was born in Mie Prefecture, Japan to an American father and a Japanese mother. Her first language was Japanese. She moved frequently while growing up due to her father’s job at the United States Department of State, living in Turkey, China, Malaysia, the Czech Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo before settling in the United States. She sang in a choir in high school and was 18 when she wrote her first song on the piano.]

13. (#19.) Dan Jones and The Squids – “Shook Loose”
    from: Rock And Roll Daydreams / Dan Jones / Aug. 5, 2023
    [ROCK AND ROLL DAYDREAMS that was released on vinyl on September 1, 2023. Dan Jones and The Squids are: Dan Jones on vocals & guitar; Matt Ronan on drums & vocals, and Steve Tulipana on bass. On the record Rich Wheeler joined them on tenor saxophone for the songs, “Rock & Roll Daydreams” and “Rhythm and The Rhyme.” Their album was engineered by Brendan “JB” Moreland at Temple Sounds in KCMO and mixed by Brendan at Massive Sound Studios in Shawnee, KS. // Dan Jones and The Squids released SERVE WITHOUT DELAY on February 5, 2021. It was recorded Friday, February 13, 2020 at recordBar, with Paul Malinowski: live sound & recording engineer. Mixed and edited by Paul Malinowski at Massive Sound, Shawnee Kansas. Mastered by Tom Nunes at Atomic Disc. Dan Jones on guitar & vocals, Matt Ronan on drums & vocals; Steve Tulipana on bass & vocals. All songs by Daniel Sherman Jones (BMI), except “I Wanna Be You” by Ed Cole. In 2020 the band didn’t get to play out much, so they hunkered down and worked up a double album’s worth of new tunes. It was a weekly woodshed-workshop that culminated with a live-streamed live-album show on November 13, 2020 at recordBar. Paul Malinowski engineered and mixed. // Dan Jones and The Squids released WE LIVE IN A WORLD THAT IS OUT OF THIS WORLD on December 6, 2019. It was Recorded at Temple Sounds in KCMO, 2018-2019. Engineered. by JB Moreland. Produced by Dan Jones and The Squids and JB Moreland. Mastered by Tom Nunes at Atomic Disc. With Dan Jones on acoustic & electric guitars, keyboard, lead vocals + drums/bass on “Love/Life”; Matt Ronan on drums, percussion, vocals; Alex Alexander on electric guitar, vocals; Steve Tulipana on bass, vocals; Joey Slab on poem and spiel on “Beach, Please”; Scot Sperry on electric slide guitar on “Love/Life”; Donna Jones on lyrics to “The Violet Man.” / Dan Jones is among the hardworking lifers with taste and talent, keeping the dream alive that music matters. This is the Kansas City singer/songwriter’s seventh LP over two decades, starting in Eugene, OR before returning to his native, non-coastal home. His bio speaks of support gigs with Mike Watt (who plays these Squids on his radio show), Dinosaur Jr., Steve Wynn, John Doe, Tav Falco, Pedaljets, Peter Case, and Minus 5, all hinted at in his fine music. But what he/they most remind of is Watt’s influence The Urinals/100 Flowers, in the way he breaks out homey tunes in the rush of spikier energy—like “My Favorite Lounge,” which spits guitar glory with gusto following tight circular riffs, while hailing soulful, sweaty dives with honest bands. It’s where you’d want to catch Jones and his cephalopods, happily blasting away. . // More info at: More info at: http://www.danjonesmusic.com][Dan Jones and The Squids played a Record Release Show at Woodyard BBQ, 3001 Merriam, in KCK, on Saturday, September 9, at 7:00 PM. with Tick Check. Dan Jones & Steve Tulipana joined us on WMM on Sept. 6, 2023.]

Dan Jones Discography

dan jones: for your radio (2000)

dan jones: one man submarine (2003)

dan jones: get sounds now (2005)

dan jones and the squids: totally human (2007)

dan jones and peter wilde: my name is john smith (2010)

the golden motors (2011)

the golden motors II (2018)

dan jones and the squids: we live in a world that is out of this world (2019)

dan jones and the squids: serve without delay (2021)

14. (#18.) Janelle Monáe – “Lipstick Lover
    from: The Age of Pleasure / Wondaland Productions – Badboy Records /June 8, 2023
    [The Age of Pleasure is the fourth studio album by Janelle Monáe. Two singles have been released so far to promote the album: “Float” and “Lipstick Lover”. Monáe announced the album alongside the release of “Lipstick Lover”, which they first previewed at their Met Gala after-party in early May. It is her first studio album in over five years since her previous album Dirty Computer (2018). // Janelle Monáe Robinson was born on December 1, 1985 in Kansas City, Kansas and was raised in a working-class community of Kansas City, Kansas in the neighborhood of Quindaro. Her mother, Janet, worked as a janitor and a hotel maid. Her father, Michael Robinson Summers, was a truck driver. Monáe’s parents separated when Monáe was a toddler and her mother later married a postal worker. Monáe has a younger sister, Kimmy, from their mother’s remarriage. // Monáe was raised Baptist and learned to sing at a local church. Her family members were musicians and performers at the local AME church, the Baptist church, and the Church of God in Christ. Monáe dreamed of being a singer and a performer from a very young age, and has cited the fictional character of Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz as a musical influence. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which Monáe bought two copies of with her first check, was another source of inspiration. She performed songs from the album on Juneteenth talent shows, winning three years in a row. // As a teenager, Monáe was enrolled in the Coterie Theater’s Young Playwrights’ Round Table, which began writing musicals. One musical, completed when she was around the age of 12, was inspired by the 1979 Stevie Wonder album Journey Through “The Secret Life of Plants”. // Monáe attended F. L. Schlagle High School, and after high school, moved to New York City to study musical theater at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, where she was the only black woman in her class. Monáe enjoyed the experience, but feared that she might lose her edge and “sound, or look or feel like anybody else”. In a 2010 interview Monáe explained, “I felt like that was a home but I wanted to write my own musicals. I didn’t want to have to live vicariously through a character that had been played thousands of times – in a line with everybody wanting to play the same person.” // After a year and a half, Monáe dropped out of the academy and relocated to Atlanta, enrolling in Perimeter College at Georgia State University. She began writing her own music and performing around the campus. In 2003, Monáe self-released a demo album titled The Audition, which she sold out of the trunk of a Mitsubishi Galant. During this period, Monáe became acquainted with songwriters and producers Chuck Lightning and Nate Wonder. The three would eventually form the Wondaland Arts Collective. She worked at an Office Depot but was fired for answering a fan’s e-mail using a company computer, an incident that inspired the song “Lettin’ Go”, which in turn attracted the attention of Big Boi. // Janelle Monáe Robinson (/moʊˈneɪ/;[9] born December 1, 1985) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and record producer. Monáe is signed to Atlantic Records, as well as to her own imprint, the Wondaland Arts Society. Monáe has received eight Grammy Award nominations. Monáe won an MTV Video Music Award and the ASCAP Vanguard Award in 2010. Monáe was also honored with the Billboard Women in Music Rising Star Award in 2015 and the Trailblazer of the Year Award in 2018. In 2012, Monáe became a CoverGirl spokesperson. Boston City Council named October 16, 2013 “Janelle Monáe Day” in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, in recognition of her artistry and social leadership. // Monáe’s musical career began in 2003 upon releasing a demo album titled The Audition. In 2007, Monáe publicly debuted with a conceptual EP titled Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase). It peaked at number two on the US Top Heatseekers chart, and in 2010, through Bad Boy Records, Monáe released a first full-length studio album, The ArchAndroid, a concept album and sequel to her first EP. In 2011, Monáe was featured as a guest vocalist on fun.’s single “We Are Young”, which achieved major commercial success, topping the charts of more than ten countries and garnering Monáe a wider audience. Her second studio album, The Electric Lady, was released in 2013 and debuted at number five on the Billboard 200, serving as the fourth and fifth installments of the seven-part Metropolis concept series. // In 2016, Monáe made her theatrical film debut in two high-profile productions; Monáe starred in Hidden Figures as NASA mathematician and aerospace engineer Mary Jackson, and also starred in Moonlight. Hidden Figures was a box office success, while Moonlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 89th annual ceremony. Monáe’s third studio album, Dirty Computer, also described as a concept album, was released in 2018 to widespread critical acclaim; it was chosen as the best album of the year by several publications and earned Monáe two nominations at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. The album debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 and was further promoted by Monáe’s Dirty Computer Tour, which lasted from June to August 2018.]

15. (#17.) Abraham Alexander – “Déjà Vu (feat. Mavis Staples)”
    from: SEA/SONS / Dualtone Music Group / April 14, 2023
    [Abraham Alexander’s debut album SEA/SONS. Born in Greece to parents of Nigerian descent, Alexander moved to Texas with his family at age 11 to escape the racial tensions they faced in his birthplace. Shortly after moving to the states, his birth mother was killed in a car accident with a drunk driver, leading Alexander to be adopted later in his teens. He found solace in sports as a soccer prodigy and later, following a torn ACL that ended his playing career, in music once a friend handed Alexander a guitar and he unexpectedly found songs pouring out of him. // The 11 tracks on SEA/SONS touch on themes of loss, redemption, longing, anguish and joy. And while his lyrics speak to pain, trauma and life-changing loss, he instills his music with a joyful passion and irrepressible spirit, ultimately giving way to songs that radiate undeniable hope.][Abraham Alexander played The Madrid Theater, 3810 Main Street, KCMO on Monday, May 1, at 7:30 PM opening for Wilder Woods / The Fever / Sky Tour. More info at http://www.madredtheatre.org]

16. (#16.) Sufjan Stevens – “Will Anybody Ever Love Me”
    from: Javelin / Asthmatic Kitty / October 6, 2023
    [adrienne maree brown sings on “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?“ “Everything That Rises“ “Genuflecting Ghost,“ “My Red Little Fox,“ “So You Are Tired,“ and “Javelin (To Have And To Hold).“ Nedelle Torrisi sings on “A Running Start.“ Pauline Delassus sings on “Shit Talk.“ Bryce Dessner plays acoustic and electric guitars on “Shit Talk“. Megan Lui and Hannah Cohen sing on “Goodbye Evergreen,“ “A Running Start,” “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?“ “Everything That Rises,“ “My Red Little Fox,“ “So You Are Tired“ “Javelin (To Have And To Hold),“ “Shit Talk,“ and “There’s A World.“ Sufjan Stevens performs everything else. This album was recorded, engineered, arranged, produced and mixed by Sufjan Stevens. Mastered by Heba Kadry, NYC. Vinyl mastering by Josh Bonati. // All original artwork, collage, painting, photography, typography, layout and design by Sufjan Stevens. // Over the course of his career, Sufjan Stevens has blurred distinctions between the major and the minor, between the details that color our existence and the big events that frame our lives. He has turned historical footnotes of States into kaleidoscopic pop, and rendered the immeasurable grief of loss with intimacy and grace. // His new album ‘Javelin’—Sufjan’s first solo album of songs since 2020’s The Ascension and his first in full solo singer-songwriter mode since 2015’s Carrie & Lowell—bridges all these approaches. Sufjan uses the quietness of a solitary confession to ask universal questions in songs we can share communally. // Where The Ascension, lauded by The New York Times as “a cry of despair and prayer for redemption,” used ornate but urgent electronics to square up to its moment, ‘Javelin’ begins more like a self-portrait, detailed yet plain. Yet whether listened to individually or as an album, these 10 songs become something much bigger, the entire experience of Sufjan’s 25-year career expressed in four-minute bursts. Choral, orchestral, and electric wonder: it all shows in ‘Javelin’, all of it animating these songs as full spectacles. In each song we hear the vulnerability and candor of quiet starts, then Sufjan raising the stakes. // At times, ‘Javelin’ has the feel of a big team album production—but it is decidedly not: almost every sound here is the result of Sufjan at home, building by himself what sometimes feels like a testament to classic ’70s Los Angeles studio recording sessions. There are indispensable contributions from a close circle of friends; the harmonies of five singers who afford ‘Javelin’ so much frisson: adrienne maree brown, Hannah Cohen, Pauline Delassus, Megan Lui, and Nedelle Torrisi. Bryce Dessner plays acoustic and electric guitar on “Shit Talk.” And, of course, Neil Young wrote the tender and mystic closer, “There’s a World.” // And speaking of the world: there is a permeable sense of world-building imbued in every corner of ‘Javelin’, especially in the 48-page book of art and essays that accompanies the album. With a series of meticulous collages, cut-up catalog fantasies, puff-paint word clouds, and iterative color fields, Sufjan builds order from seeming chaos and vice versa. And toward the middle of it all are 10 short essays by Sufjan, another window into the process that informed ‘Javelin’. // On ‘Javelin’, Sufjan returns as we may know him best, offering vulnerable reflections on love and relationships, so that in listening we may see ourselves more fully.

11:00 – Station ID

17. (#15.) Sweeping Promises – “Eraser”
    from: Good Living is Coming For You / Feel it Records – Sub Pop / June 30, 2023
    [“For more than a half century, underground music revolutionaries have taken a whack at the mundane mainstream like a piñata. England punks spat “NO FUTURE” at germ-free adolescents. Ohio new wavers devolutionized mankind with whips. Athens art school students chomped at hero worship. MetroCard-carrying riot grrrls rebirthed the bomp with a gasoline gut. In 2020, Sweeping Promises read our pandemic minds with Hunger for a Way Out. In 2023, they return with a new message: Good Living Is Coming For You. At first glance, this nouveau wave slogan offers hope wrapped around relief. At first listen, we realize this may actually be a warning. Darker still, a threat. // A band famous for their unfussy, monolithic anthems, Sweeping Promises elegantly ravage us again with another future classic. They return as a fist of velvet rose petals roaring inside a compact wrecking ball. Gone is the Boston brutalist ambience of their subterranean concrete laboratory and the revelatory single mic recording technique. In its place, a retired and resplendent nude painting studio in Lawrence, Kansas, bathed in light with high ceilings and hardwood floors. Guided once again by their surrounding architecture, a reverb-rich space remains the defining element at the heart of their highly stylized sound. A watery ghost from the golden age of art-punk now wields sharper knives and more microphones. // If the mood of HFAWO was hungry, GLICFY is RAVENOUS. In 2023, appetite is addressed in new ways: Power struggles are aired in “Eraser,” restraints are broken in “You Shatter,” anguished exclamations sting in “Good Living Is Coming for You.” The taboo subject of aging is (s)heroically dragged out into the open. Every line is delivered with such joyous, soaring layers that each punch lands like a chef’s kiss. // Sweeping Promises are Lira Mondal and Caufield Schnug. A chance meeting in Arkansas led to a decade of playing in an eclectic assortment of projects together. Their relentless practice made perfect. Bass playing Lira is an emotive bolt of thunderous energy with the iconic blast of a girl group rolled into one robust throat. Caufield is an intentional guitar player and drummer. No note or hit is extraneous. Together they are meticulous sound engineers, using space as a key ingredient to their distinct sound. Controlling every aspect of their craft, from the first note they write together, all the way through to the final mastering process, each record is an unspoiled fingerprint unique to their dynamic chemistry. // Written before the pandemic, Hunger for a Way Out was released on Feel It Records in the summer of 2020. These songs drip with the anxious urgency of a commanding live performance yet their gauzy production transports us like the fading memory of a favorite song. This distorted sense of time resonated with thousands of quarantined listeners who turned the album into a life-saving floatation device and most beloved album of the year. This is when Feel It Records (North America) and Sub Pop (everywhere else) joined forces to divide/unite and conquer; beginning with the 2021 single “Pain Without a Touch” and now carrying through to Good Living Is Coming For You. // The pandemic went on to trigger an absurd chain of events for Sweeping Promises. Under financial strain, Mondal and Schnug uprooted their lives. They surrendered their studio in Cambridge to take refuge with family in Texas. They completed over 50 demos between their Austin bathroom and a Marfa abode, but feeling unsatisfied, they sought another fresh start. When a disused church in Ohio proved too difficult to rehab, they ultimately found lasting inspiration in Kansas. With their home and studio all under one roof, life is music and music is life. //Good Living Is Coming For You ultimately reflects being thrust into a severely unpredictable world. A capsized boat isn’t entirely bad. In fact, it can be the necessary push toward finding solid ground.” -Tracy Wilson (Courtesy Desk). Sweeping Promises played Outer Reaches Fest, on Sat, October 14 at recordBar, On the Les BonsBons Electrique stage w/, Keo & Them, Static Phantoms]

[Sweeping Promises play Replay Lounge 946 Massachusetts St., Lawrence On New Year’s Eve Sunday, December 31, 2023 at 9:00pm with Daysleeper, Virga, and Blanky]

18. (#14.) Andrew Connor – “Real Boy Now”
    from: In Colorado / Pretend Outlaw Music / April 21, 2021
    [Darien Williams on drums, Justin Fernando on bass guitar, Joseph Murphy on synth, Ryan Connor on guitar & lap steel, Andrew Connor on guitar, keys, & bass guitar. // Engineered by Doug Malone at Jamdek, Chicago // additional tracking by Andrew Connor. // Mixed by Mike Nolte and Andrew Connor in Portland, OR // Mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering // Songs by Andrew Connor, Pretend Outlaw Music ASCAP. Except “Misery” by Ryan Connor and Andrew Connor.] [Andrew Connor played The Ship, 1221 Union Ave. KCMO WEST BOTTOMS, on Friday, June 2 at 8:00 PM with Daniel Gum, and 95 Sweetbird.] [Andrew Connor plays the Eight Street Tap Room, 801 New Hampshire Street, Lawrence Kansas on Saturday, June 3, with Miss Boating, and Empty Moon. More info at: http://www.ghostysounds.com Andrew Connor & Ryan Connor & Billy Belzer joined us on WMM on May 31, 2023.]

Ghosty Discography

Ghosty released the 3-song EP, PRODIGAL SUN on February 28, 2020 with Bill Belzer on drums, percussion / Ross Brown on guitar, keys / Andrew Connor on guitar, keyboards, vocals / Mike Nolte on bass

Ghosty released the self titled album GHOSTY on April 17, 2014. It was there 3rd full length release with Andrew Connor, Mike Nolte and Bill Belzer who recorded their new album themselves over the last couple of years with help from David Wetzel, Josh Adams, Jake Blanton, Konnor Ervin, Ryan Connor, Kirsten Paludan, and Dan Talmadge. The new release was pressed on vinyl and available on LP and digital download.]

Ghosty released the single “Love U 2” on July 15, 2013, recorded June 2013 at Westend, Kansas City, KS.
Documentary about the recording of this song by surrounding media vimeo.com/70317712 // with: Mike Nolte on bass, engineering, mastering // Andrew Connor on guitar, keys, vocals / Bill Belzer – drums, & percussion

Ghosty released the 5-track EP, TEAM UP AGAIN on April 13, 2010 with Andrew Connor, Mike Nolte, David Wetzel, Josh Adams, Jake Blanton, Suzannah Johannes, Konnor Ervin, Ryan Johnson // Team Up Again,” “Ocean of Heat (Setting FIres),” and “Quell The Hunger” by Andrew Connor, arranged by Ghosty, Pretend Outlaw Music, ASCAP, 2010. “Virginia Song” by Rev. Howard Finster, arranged by Ghosty. “On A Saturday” by Jake Blanton, arranged by Ghosty. // “Team Up Again,” “Setting Fires,” “Virginia Song,” and “On A Saturday” recorded and mixed at Run Riot / More Famouser Studios, Shawnee, KS, September 2009 through March 2010. Engineered and mixed by Mike Nolte and Ghosty. // “Quell The Hunger” recorded at Mixtape Soundlab, Lawrence, KS, January 2009 additional tracking and mixing and Run Riot / More Famouser studios, Shawnee, KS, and February 2010. Engineered and mixed by Mike Nolte and Ghosty.

Ghosty released the 3-track EP, FOOLISH PRIDE on November 17, 2009 with All songs by Andrew Connor, arranged by Ghosty, Pretend Outlaw Music, ASCAP, 2009 // “Foolish Pride” and “Rose-Colored Glasses” basic tracks recorded at Jack’s House, Merriam, Kansas, Fall 2007. Engineered by Mike Nolte and Ghosty. Additional tracking and mixing at More Famouser Studios, Kansas City, MO, and Run Riot Studios, Shawnee, KS, Fall 2009. // “Hey Bill” basic tracks recorded at Mixtape Soundlab, Lawrence, KS, January 2009. Engineered by Mike Nolte and David Wetzel. Additional tracking and mixing at More Famouser Studios, Kansas City, MO by Mike Nolte and Ghosty, Spring 2009.

Ghosty released the 3-track EP, A MYSTIC’S ROBE on September 15, 2009 with Andrew Connor, David Wetzel, Mike Nolte, Jake Blanton, Josh Adams, Carmen Winters // All Songs by Andrew Connor, arranged by Ghosty, Pretend Outlaw Music, ASCAP, 2009 // “My Girl Is Strong” and “Sunday Morning” basic tracks recorded at Mixtape Soundlab, Lawrence, KS, January 2009. Engineered by Mike Nolte and David Wetzel. Additional tracking & mixing at More Famouser Studios, KCMO by Mike Nolte & Ghosty Spring 2009. // “Secret Language” basic tracks recorded at Jack’s House, Merriam, KS, Fall 2007 Engineered by Mike Nolte & Ghosty. Additional tracking & mixing at More Famouser Studios, by Mike Nolte & Ghosty Spring 2009.

Ghosty released the 11-song album ANSWERS on January 15, 2008 with tracks recorded by Paul Malinowski at Westend and Run Riot Studios, Kansas City, KS, 2006-07. racks 4, 6, 7, and 9 were recorded and mixed by Trent Bell at Bell Labs, Norman, OK, 2006. // Track 8 was recorded by Tim Brandsted at UMKC and Paul Malinowski at Westend. Mixed by Paul Malinowski at Westend, 2007. // Tracks 2 and 10 were recorded by Chris Behmer at the Ferrell home, Overland Park, KS, 2005, and with Trent Bell at Bell Labs. Mixed by Trent Bell at Bell Labs, 2006. // Mastered by Roger Seibel at SAE Masterin // All songs by Andrew Connor, arranged by Ghosty // Pretend Outlaw Music, ASCAP. // Released on Oxblood Records.

Ghosty released the 5-track EP, ME, ME, ME on January 15, 2006 w/ Andrew Connor on guitar & vocals / Jeff Ferrell on guitar & vocals // David Wetzel on keyboards &* vocals // Mike Nolte – bass & vocals // Josh Adams on drums & vocals // Recorded & mixed Fall 2005 by Jeff Ferrell and Ghosty at New York St. house, Lawrence, KS. Artwork by Paul Browning. Songs by Andrew Connor, Pretend Outlaw Music

Ghosty released the 19-track album GROW UP OR SLEEP IN (Deluxe Edition) on August 30, 2005 with Josh Adams, Andrew Connor, Jeff Ferrell, Mike Nolte, David Wetzel// and Alums: Jacob Baum, Richard Gintowt, Mark Hurst, Andrew Sallee, James Duft // Big Surrender, Henry Greene, and Hey! Somebody were recorded by Mike Mogis at Presto! in Lincoln, NE in the summer of 2002 // Jacqueline, Rooms in the Dark, (In a Big World)Little Dreams Count, High on Life, Clouds Solve It, Go to Add/Drop City, and World Travelers were recorded by Trent Bell and Andy Nunez at Bell Labs in Norman, OK in the fall 2003 // Mastered by Doug Van Sloun at Studio B // Design by Patrick Giroux at Blue Collar Press // All songs by Andrew Connor, Copyright 2005 // Pretend Outlaw Music(ASCAP) // Wayne Coyne appears courtesy of Warner Brothers Records // BONUS TRACKS: Primadonna, John Hunter, and Sad Sack recorded Summer 2006? at the Ferrell Home in Overland Park, KS by Chris Behmer and Ghosty // Dust Box Nites and Rok Town Air recorded and mixed with Tom Wagner at Underground Sound in Lawrence Kansas, Winter 2005? James Duft plays bass // Going Home Recorded in the Spring of 2002 at 1225 and 1137 Tennessee in Lawrence, KS by Ghosty, Mixed with Jeff Ferrell.

Ghosty released the 6-track EP THE FIVE SHORT MINUTES on February 2, 2002 with Andrew Connor: Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards / Jacob Baum: Bass, Organ, Percussion, Guitar / Richard Gintowt: Drums, Percussion / Jeff Jackson: Pedal Steel Guitar on Track 5 // Recorded Fall 2001 at the haunted house by Jacob Baum / Produced by Ghosty / Mastered by Boyd Bristow

19. (#13.) Monta – “Perimeter Dancer”
    from: Crystal Momentum EP / The Record Machine / March 24, 2023
    [The band released the single “Looking Back” on February 27, 2023, and “Everybody’s Baby” on January 27, 2023. Monta’s latest, the Crystal Momentum EP, hones the Kansas City band’s mastery of electrified dreamworld post-punk, presenting four spacious songs to accompany out-of-body explorations. Monta’s core players — Mikal Shapiro on vocals, Krysztof Nemeth and Lucas Behrens on guitars, Dedric Moore on electronics, Matthew Heinrich on drums, and Teri Quinn with additional vocals — accompany their visions with a groovy flow that rings with subtle tensions, introspective instrumentation, and chorus-fed uplifts. // Found within are “Everybody’s Baby,” an otherworldly adoration of unnamed strangers set to transfixing melodies and a snake-like groove; the buoyant “Looking Back,” which shines a danceable, sonic brightness through a haze of ecstatic reminiscence; the inspired “Perimeter Dancer,” an ode to those who fight for the cause, accompanied by a punky disco beat and a chorus that launches the song upward to a mirror-ball-lit sky. And then there’s “Luna Lost In Your Gaze,” a righteous desert sleepwalk of a tune that recalls the spaghetti western tones of Monta’s past while remaining on the current trajectory. // With the Crystal Momentum EP, Monta grabs the moment, further defining the distinctive mix of synth-pop and dark psychedelia that’s become the band’s trademark. Take a leap and fall into their world. // Monta means “to climb higher.” Through lineup changes and scenes ebbing and flowing, this band continues that climb. Founded by brothers Dedric and Delaney Moore, Monta (originally Monta At Odds) has grown into its own community with a rotating cast of musicians and characters. More Information at: kosmiccity.com / therecordmachine.co] [Monta played 20 Years of The Record Machine featuring The Noice FM, Black Light Animals Soultru and Pala Zolo, on Saturday, November 11, 2023, at 6:00 PM to 1:00 AM at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd] [Dedric Moore joined us on WMM on October 4, 2023]

20. (#12.) ANOHNI and The Johnsons – “It Must Change”
    from: My Back Was a Bridge For You To Cross / Secretly Canadian / July 7, 2023
    [All tracks written by Anohni Hegarty. All tracks produced & mixed by Jimmy Hogarth. Executive Producers, Geoff Travis & Jeannette Lee. Mastered by Greg Calbi. Published by Downtown Music Publishing // from Bandcamp notes: “I’ve been thinking a lot about Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. That was a really important touchstone in my mind,” says ANOHNI of her sixth studio album, My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross. “A couple of these songs are almost a response to the call of What’s Going On, from 2023. They are a kind of an echo from the future to that album from 50 years ago.” // As the British-born, New York-based artist’s first full album since 2016’s HOPELESSNESS, ANOHNI explains that the creative process was painstaking, yet also inspired, joyful, and intimate, a renewal and a renaming of her response to the world as she sees it. // A record its creator acknowledges is inextricably both personal and political, and one that is full of heartfelt music that also questions its own right to be heard, My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross demonstrates music’s unique capacity to bring harmony to competing, sometimes contradictory, elements. // “For me, there’s no heavenly respite; creation is a spectral and feminine continuum, and our souls are an inalienable part of nature.” // In 2022, having sought producer recommendations from Rough Trade Records’ Jeannette Lee and Geoff Travis, ANOHNI began working with Jimmy Hogarth (Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Tina Turner) noting his sensitivity towards soul music. Having always helmed and written her previous records – bar HOPELESS-NESS, for some of which, producers were invited to submit instrumentals – this kind of collaboration was a first for ANOHNI. “There was a great ease to this songwriting process,” she says of her writing and recording sessions with Hogarth. “I loved making this record in a way that I’ve never done before.” // Bringing in with her several years of texts, ANOHNI and Hogarth shared musical ideas and sketched out a series of demos with Hogarth playing guitar. Hogarth then assembled a studio band – including guitarist Leo Abrahams and string arranger/instrumentalist Rob Moose – to record the full album. // “Many of the recordings on this record – like“It Must Change”and “Can’t” – capture the first and only time I have sung those songs through. There’s a magic when you suddenly place words you have been thinking about for a long time into melody. A neural system awakens. It isn’t personal and yet is so personal. Things connect and come alive.” // Hogarth’s intuitive guitar leads the listener across ten songs, touching on elements of American soul, British folk and experiment-al music. ANOHNI places her heart on the line and in a groove in the opening track “It Must Change,” describing systems in collapse with a note of compassion for humanity: “The truth is I always thought you were beautiful in your own way / That’s why this is so sad.”“Scapegoat” waivers between tenderness and instrumental brutality, “Take all of my hate into your body / It doesn’t matter what you’ve got to give / or why you want to live / You’re my scapegoat / It’s not personal.” The primordial, Kali-esque curse “Rest” positions the record at moments in conversation with experimental rock of the 1970s: “Rest like the enemy of all that sees / Rest like the enemy of all that breathes / In the poison ocean blue / She’ll come home to you.” “Go Ahead” presses melody through dissonance. “You are determined to take me down / Go ahead kill your friends / I can’t stop you.” My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross shape shifts through its subject matter: the loss of loved ones, inequality, alienation, privilege, denial, ecocide and the tidal power of Earth, isolation, Future Feminism, and the intention that we might yet transform our ways of thinking, our religious ideas, our societal structures, and our relationships with the rest of nature. // “You know how they always said that light was the opposite of darkness? / It’s just fire in darkness, creating life / So those opposites, they don’t exist / It’s just an idea that someone told you” (“It Must Change”) // ANOHNI’s voice is sensual and smoothed, selectively reaching to the edges of what it can contain. “I don’t want you to be dead, I can’t accept it,” she cries out at the climax of “Can’t.” “We’re not getting out of here / No one’s getting out of here / This is our world,” she murmurs on “It Must Change.” “How sweet the vista, the portal view / On my way to black and blue,” she grieves on “Sliver of Ice,” a remembering of some of the last words Lou Reed shared with her. // A portrait of gay rights activist Marsha P. Johnson taken by Alvin Baltrop features on the cover of My Back Was a Bridge For You To Cross, reflecting a 25-year relationship with the memory of Johnson that ANOHNI has held space for in the presentation of her own work. Paintings by Sylvester Hustito, a Zuni Two Spirit artist from New Mexico, depict another crucial vision of America, from a queer, indigenous historical point of view. On “You Be Free,” ANOHNI sings from with heartbreak about the passing of trans intergen-erational knowledge: “Done my work / My back was broke / My back was a bridge for you to cross / Then I wished in the aftermath / That the Earth would take my life / Like she took the lives of my Mother and my Sister.” // “I’m careful with the emotional pathways I am drawing. The stories we tell ourselves are the basis of our cultural mythologies, and often a foreshadowing of our destinies. We live in a world where story-telling has become another abuse of power, a threat, fake news, anti-female, anti-nature,” ANOHNI says of her intentions as lyricist. The album artwork states ”IT’S TIME TO FEEL WHAT’S REALLY HAPPENING”. In some ways it feels as if she is reaching across her life’s expression, and has found a moment of unique composure, wearing her long exploration of disarming intensity, but with the maturity of a painter choosing colors. // On listening to My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross, one is reminded of music’s power and ability to articulate the political and the personal concurrently. “As much as I was British or American, I was identified as a non-viable part of family, community, church, society. At moments I was deemed not worth protecting, as being expendable, on account of my femininity. Ultimately that was a gift for me because it brought me unique insight into the societies I found myself having to navigate. It forced me to be more willing to look at who and where I really was.” // With “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” Marvin Gaye made a visionary plea for the environment in 1971, a gesture that ANOHNI has echoed across her own output, from “Rapture” in 1992 and “Another World” in 2009, to “4 Degrees” and “Why Did You Separate Me From The Earth?” from her last record HOPELESSNESS in 2016. // ANOHNI’s approach since her last record has shifted from someone tasked with challenging global denial, to an artist seeking to support others on the front lines. “I want the record to be useful. I learned with HOPELESSNESS that I can provide a soundtrack that might fortify people in their work, in their activism, in their dreaming and decision-making. I can sing of an awareness that makes others feel less alone, people for whom the frank articulation of these frightening times is not a source of discomfort but a cause for identification and relief.” // “I see myself as a part of a process. I know that I’m not there, but I feel that someone in the future might know how to get there. An innovation in our way of dreaming or thinking might help us get back home. I hope that this record is another step in that direction. As problematic and broken as it might be, maybe there’s an element in this music that’s going to be useful to a future iteration of us. They’re going to be able to distill what’s right about it and make something better out of it. So I do my work hoping that someone’s going to be able to pick it up and take it further, that it can be a source of something positive at some later point in our evolution – if we’re lucky to continue to have an evolution.” // “We are each moving through massive impersonal systems that we feel powerless to change. And yet we’re being asked in this moment to pull back the curtain and recognize these systems for what they are – not the preordained will of a god, but something we created over centuries. If we can’t do this collective-ly, we will forfeit our remaining ability to influence our trajectory. We have to dismantle systems that are destructive, and yet upon which many of us are dependent. Whether it’s because of malevolence, or fear, or addiction… ultimately it’s been one big survival strategy. We’ve never been faced with a challenge this conse-quential before as a species. Because of their structural hatred of Femaleness, Abrahamic religions and capital-ism can only realize an apocalyptic future, rather than facilitate the emergence of a life-sustaining sensibility that might allow us to continue to exist as a part of Nature. So that’s a challenge that we’re facing now.”]

21. (#11.) Allison Russell – “Rag Child”
    from: The Returner / Birds of Chicago LLC – Fantasy Records / September 8, 2023
    [4x GRAMMY-nominated singer, songwriter, poet, activist, and multi-instrumentalist Allison Russell has announced her new album, The Returner. The album was written and co-produced by Allison along with dim star (her partner JT Nero and Drew Lindsay) and was recorded over Solstice week in December 2022 at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles, CA. It features Russell’s “Rainbow Coalition” band of all female musicians along with special guest appearances from the legendary Wendy & Lisa, Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, and Hozier. Allison Russell on The Returner: “My goal with The Returner – sonically, poetically, and spiritually – is a radical reclamation of the present tense, a real time union of body, mind, and soul. This album is a much deeper articulation of rhythm, groove, and syncopation. Groove as it heralds the self back into the body, groove as it celebrates sensual and sexual agency and flowering, groove as an urgent call to action and political activism. // In just a word, it’s funkier. But as is the history of anything funky, it’s never just a party. It is a multiverse of energies that merges the celebration and the battle cry. For while an embrace of the present tense is a celebration, it is equally an unquestioning leap into battle – cultural, political, environmental.” // Since the release of her debut solo LP two years ago Outside Child, Russell’s often devastating, deeply moving, cathartic celebration of survivor’s joy has become one of the most acclaimed albums of the past 10 years. Now comes the second chapter in her story, The Returner, a body-shaking, mind-expanding, soulful expression of liberation, love, and self-respect that serves as a fierce declaration of joy for all survivors that have made it to the other side. Allison, JT, and Drew built The Returner from the bottom up with a rhythm-first, genre-fluid approach. The improvisational energy of great female artists sparked the album’s fierce joy, and provided a wider canvas for Allison’s immense, unlimited talent. In all, the new album doesn’t just deliver on the promise of the last two years, it exceeds all reasonable (and unreasonable) expectations and affirms Allison Russell’s place among music’s most vital artists and The Returner, as one of 2023’s most essential recordings. // Allison Russell has spent her career in multiple bands, including Po’ Girl, Our Native Daughters, and Birds of Chicago. After a career spent as a gifted multi-instrumentalist, backing numerous other artists, she finally dared to release her solo project in 2021. “It’s an album of strength and affirmation, not victimization,” said The New York Times in their profile on Russell and Outside Child. Following the album’s release, Russell performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Ellen, Late Night With Stephen Colbert, CBS Saturday Morning, Austin City Limits, The Kelly Clarkson Show made her Opry debut and appeared at the Country Music Hall of Fame and performed at the 2022 GRAMMY’s Premiere Ceremony. // The accolades for Russell have been immense. In addition to her four GRAMMY nominations, she has earned three 2022 Americana Award nominations and a win for Album of the Year, two International Folk Music Award wins, a 2022 Juno nomination for ‘Songwriter of the Year,’ and her first-ever Juno Award win for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year. Russell received two 2021 Americana Awards nominations, won three Canadian Folk Music Awards, two UK Americana Music Awards, and more. She was recently nominated for Song of the Year and Artist of the Year for the 2023 Americana Awards. In addition, Russell has consistently used her newfound platform to elevate, educate and inspire; curating the history making Once And Future Sounds: Roots and Revolution set for the Newport Folk Festival in 2021 and mobilizing this year’s triumphant Love Rising All-Star benefit concert in support of LGBTQIA+ causes in Nashville – raising over $550,000 and calling national attention to Tennessee’s dangerous anti/trans and anti/drag laws. Russell has also announced a book deal with Flatiron/MacMillan for her debut novel, a memoir based on her life and the material that inspired Outside Child and The Returner. // All songs written by Allison Russell, JT Nero, and Drew Lindsay // Co-Producers: Dim Star and Allison Russell // Recorded by Brandon Bell at Henson Recording Studios (Los Angeles, CA) Assistant Engineer: Kelsey Porter. Mixed by Brandon Bell at The Cabin Studio (Nashville, TN). Mastered by Kim Rosen at Knack Mastering (Ringwood, NJ) // Allison Russell (vocals, banjo, clarinet), Elenna Canlas (keyboards/synth, backing vocals), Elizabeth Pupo-Walker (percussion), Chauntee Ross (violin, backing vocals) & Monique Ross (cello, backing vocals) aka SistaStrings, Ganessa James (bass, backing vocals), Joy Clark (guitar), Kerenza Peacock (violin), Larissa Maestro (cello, backing vocals), Lisa Coleman (piano), Mandy Fer (guitar, backing vocals), Meg Coleman (drums), Meg McCormick (guitar), Wendy Melvoin (guitar, bass), and Wiktoria Bialic (drums). Special guests Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, and Hozier provide backing vocals on “Requiem”. //We first saw Allison Russell as part of the band/duo with her partner JT Nero as, The Birds of Chicago at the 2014 International Folk Alliance Conference, where they were an Official Showcase Artist . More info at http://www.folk.org. Russell was born in Montreal to a Grenadian student and a Scottish-Canadian teenage single mother. Her mother struggled with postpartum depression and schizophrenia, and Russell was initially placed in foster care. Her mother regained custody of her after marrying a white-supremacist American expatriate. From the ages of 5 to 15, she was physically and sexually abused by her adoptive father. At the age of 15, Russell ran away from home, eventually moving to Vancouver in 1998. She attended Dawson College. // Russell was initially a member of the Vancouver-based Celtic folk band Fear of Drinking. // In 2003, Russell formed the band Po’ Girl with The Be Good Tanyas member Trish Klein. She recorded seven albums with the band: Po’ Girl (2003), Vagabond Lullabies (2004), B-side Recordings (2006), Home to You (2007), Deer in the Night (2008), Live (2009), and Follow Your Bliss (2010). Russell formed the music group Birds of Chicago with JT Nero in 2012. As part of Birds of Chicago, Russell released three studio albums, Birds of Chicago (2012), Real Midnight (2016) and Love in Wartime (2018). With the group, she also released a live album, Live from Space, and an EP titled American Flowers in 2018. In 2018, Russell joined the musical collective Our Native Daughters alongside fellow musicians Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Amythyst Kiah In 2019, the group released the album Songs of Our Native Daughters under the Smithsonian Folkways label. Russell was also featured alongside the rest of the group in a Smithsonian Channel documentary titled Reclaiming History: Our Native Daughters. Info: http://www.allisonrussellmusic.com]

22. (#10.) Saving Miles Lemon – “Til the Suns Comes”
    from: LOVELY/ Saving Miles Lemon / October 6, 2023
    [“’Til the Suns Comes” was released as a single on July 13, 2023. The new 13-track full-length album from Saving Miles Lemon is the psychedelic-pop project of Miguel Silva-Leon. Formed in 2019 with the goal of releasing an album by the end of the year, the project has transformed into a full-blown musical odyssey for Miguel (who likes to go by Mig) to explore new sounds. It’s hard to define what genre Saving Miles Lemon fits into as they like to let the music go where it wants to go. From smooth dance pop, to blown-out stoner rock, Mig likes to keep things interesting and never stay with one sound for too long.​ // Having grown up learning to play the piano at the age of 7, Miguel found themselves picking up new instruments frequently from the clarinet, saxophone, and oboe to guitar/bass and drums. Just as with their instruments, Mig began practicing their production skills in high school with small bedroom projects and hardcore bands. In a way, nothing has changed, as all of Saving Miles Lemon’s music is recorded and produced entirely by Mig in their bedroom studio to this day. // Their live members include Jacob Frisbee (bass), James Wiltfang (keys), and Zeke Bockleman (drums). // As a live act, the band began performing in 2021 and quickly took over the DIY scene in Kansas City before moving on to the bar/venue scene with sold-out shows at The Rino (KCMO) and The Bottleneck (LFK). They’ve opened for national and international touring bands such as Cub Sport at The Encore at Uptown Theatre (KCMO). // Saving Miles Lemon has released two full-length LPs and a handful of singles. A third album is set to release in 2023.] [Saving Miles Lemon played Outer Reaches Fest, Fri, Oct. 13 at recordBar, 1w/ Bombino, The Philistines, & Teri Quinn.]

23. (#9.) Mike Dillon & Punkadelic – “Pandas”
    from: Inflorescence / Royal Potato Family / January 27, 2023
    [Punkadelick: Mike Dillon – Vibraphone, Marimba, Prophet 6, Congas, Bongo; Brain Haas – Fender Rhodes, Piano, Bass Moog, Melodica; Nikki Glaspie – Drums, Cymbals, Vocals. Mixed and Recorded by Chad Meise. Mastered by Collin Jordan / Boiler Room Mastering. Cover Art: Peregrine Honig. // From Bandcamp notes: Mike Dillon & Punkadelick makes its recorded debut with Inflorescence, an album of heady, instrumental rock highlighting a band deep in the throes of creative freedom, road tested and wild. Consisting of 10 tracks in 42-minutes, it’s an expansive, focused and fearless collection, representing a world where Duke Ellington and Augustus Pablo rub shoulders with crate-digger exotica, the freak-funk of Parliament and the ‘anything fits’ outsider ethos of acid-fried punks like The Meat Puppets. // A trio featuring Mike Dillon (Ricki Lee Jones, Ani DiFranco, Les Claypool) on vibraphone, marimba, Prophet 6, congas, and bongos, Brian Haas (Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey) on Fender Rhodes, piano, bass Moog and melodica and Nikki Glaspie (Beyonce) on drums, cymbals and vocals, Punkadelick is the unified vision of six hands creating a world that often sounds like the work of an ensemble three times the size. // During 2020 and 2021, while many music venues were still shuttered, the group began touring, sweating their way through cuts Dillon and Haas had composed during quarantine writing sessions. Locking in on stage, it quickly became clear the band was functioning at a level that made the hair on their arms stand at attention—even for three live music veterans accustomed to life on the road. // “It became obvious to let this become a collaboration,” Dillon says. “This is really something all three of us are doing because we have so much love for one another and a love for the music that we started creating.” // “There’s only three of us, but we move together like a big, nasty school of fish,” Haas adds, laughing. // During the tail end of a 2021 tour, the band booked time to record with engineer—and functioning fourth band member—Chad Meise, and Inflorescence sprouted. Opener “Desert Monsoon,” sets the stage with a spiritual-jazz intro of organ, vibraphone, percussion and wordless vocal coos before crackling to life as a swaggering funk strut. The title track, and “Pandas,” dig into thick dub textures built around Glaspie’s drumming and Haas’s subwoofer-straining bass synths. // “Apocalypse Daydream,” which appeared as an exotic head-nodder on 2020’s Shoot the Moon (titled “Apocalyptic Daydreams”) is reborn as a meatier jazz-rock slab where Dillon and Haas circle each other like Television performing as a lounge act on a cruise ship sailing seas of psilocybin. // Bending ears and surprising audiences has long been part of Dillon’s MO and Glaspie and Haas act as perfect foils for forays into the weird. While Dillon bristles at the “punk jazz” tag, punk rock and jazz remain core influences to the band, in sound and spirit. // “We’re students of the titans of music. We grew up listening to punk and rock ’n’ roll but we also love instrumental music—particularly the forefathers of Black American Music. In our minds, Led Zeppelin and Milt Jackson, Parliament-Funkadelic and The Minutemen, The Bad Brains and Frank Zappa are interconnected influences,” explains Dillon. “All that comes together in how we approach instrumental creative music. Both punk rock and jazz are not prefab things, they’re about the freedom. We have no genre restriction in this band, and people who get it really respect that.” // Maybe the greatest example of the band’s punk-steeped sonic free-for-all is “Slowly But Surely,” a track Dillon told Haas to compose as if he were “writing for Queens of the Stone Age.” The song plays like QOTSA translated to piano runs, vibes and deeply swinging drums—big-riff stoner rock upended and played with huge smiles by America’s premier proponents of the unclassifiable. // “We try to challenge our listeners. We’re touching a nerve with people who maybe don’t want to see the same songs done in the same variations all night long,” continues Dillon. “Part of my mission is taking these instruments that are primarily designed for the orchestral or jazz world and taking them to the rock world, the club world, running them through pedals and effects. We’re not afraid to be soft, or to surprise. That’s what we all do in this band — get beyond our own conceptions of what music is supposed to be.” // “We are so blessed and lucky to do what we do for a living — it’s apparent in the music,” Glaspie chimes in. “It doesn’t matter how the day is going, but we get to the club, set up and crush the gig, all the other stuff doesn’t matter. We’re likeminded individuals who love life, love people and want to spread happiness.” ] [Mike Dillon was our guest on WMM on May 24, 2023]

24. (#8.) Dragon Inn 3 – “I Can’t Stop”
    from: Trade Secrets / American Laundromat Records / April 18, 2023
    [The long-anticipated sophomore release from Dragon Inn 3. Features 10 brand new songs plus a fantastic cover of Yazoo’s “Only You.” // Dragon Inn 3 is: Grace Bentley on vocals; Philip Dickey on synths, drums, guitar, bass & vocals; Sharon Hamm on synths & vocals; David Hill on vocals & synths. Recorded from 2018 to 2022 at Davey’s house and Sharon’s house. Recorded, mixed, and produced by Philip Dickey. Additional recording and mixing help from Ross Brown, David Hill, and Chase Horseman. Mastered by Sean Glonek at SRG studios. Additional musicians: Bill Belzer percussion “I Can’t Stop”, John Cardwell guitar “Finally Going Down”, Ben Collins guitar “I Can’t Stop”, Tim Gillespie saxophone “I Can’t Stop” “Out Of Control” “Trade Secrets Theme”, Anita Kitungano vocals “See It Your Way”, John O’Hallaron guitar “Teleport”, Bora Wilondja vocals “See It Your Way” “Trade Secrets Theme”, Mauwa Wilondja vocals “Trade Secrets Theme”, Pelo Wilondja percussion “I Could Never”. Additional writers: Emma Bentley Ruzicka “Not Enough”, Bora Wilondja “See It Your Way”, JR Top “See It Your Way”, and Vincent Clark “Only You”. Cover photo: Dominik Podlipniak. Design: Dustin Williams. // Kansas City based band formed in 2012 with Grace Bentley, Sharon Bowie, Philip K. Dickey, E.P. Marcus. Dragon Inn 3’s debut LP DOUBLE LINE on August 17, 2018 through American Laundromat records. DOUBLE LINE was part of WMM’s 118 Best Recordings of 2018. The band spent six years whittling away on the songs. Combining sugary pop hooks, hypnotic beats, and huge MOOG synths, Dragon Inn 3’s playful take on 80s pop could double as the soundtrack to a John Hughes movie (if John Hughes directed Blade Runner). The cinematic origins of Dragon Inn 3 can be traced back to 2012, when Philip Dickey (leader of the indie-pop group, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin) wrote a theme song for the award-winning short film Ghoul School. “If you watch the trailer you can tell it’s the same premise and look as Stranger Things–we just accidentally made it three years before them,” Dickey says. “I had so much fun making the soundtrack with the director (E.P. Marcus) that we decided to start a band.” Dickey recruited his sister, Sharon Bowie, an occupational therapist, and his wife, children’s librarian Grace Bentley, to help with songwriting and vocal duties. The group self-released the Ghoul School Soundtrack EP in late 2012, receiving high praise from Consequence of Sound, Philadelphia’s WXPN, and The Riverfront Times, before climbing to #1 on Bandcamp’s cassette charts. Then it was back to the studio (i.e. the bedrooms, kitchens, garages, and hotel rooms that doubled as makeshift recording studios). In between full-time jobs, parenthood, graduate school classes, and cross country moves, the members of Dragon Inn 3 put Double Line to tape. “I’m a stay-at-home dad now, so I would work on song arrangements and rough mixes when our toddler was taking his naps,” explains Dickey. “Grace would come home from work and record all her parts after his bedtime. We recorded all the breathy vocals in the living room and all the yelly parts in the garage so we wouldn’t wake him up.” The result is a highly addictive album that creates “a soundtrack for the more introspective moments on and off the dance floor,” according to critic David Greenwald. With members spread out over the country (KC, LA, and Springfield, MO), the group signed to American Laundromat Records in early 2018. A demo of “Bad Boy” (co-written with Free Energy’s Paul Sprangers) landed in a commercial for Ryan Adams’ Beats 1 Radio show before the song was even completed. More Info at: http://www.dragoninn3.com] [Philip Dicky joined us LIVE on WMM on May 3, 2023.]

11:30 – Underwriting

25. (#7.) Calvin Arsenia – “Help! The Flying Monkees are Coming”
    from: Paradise / Calvin Arsenia / June 23, 2023
    [Paradise is Calvin Arsenia’s new 14 track album. It is only available through http://www.calvinarsenia.com // A new turning point as a songwriter. His most biographical album yet, with songs about Black Lives Matter, Racism, The Police, being on probation, gay love. The album contains collaborations with Cheery, Kadesh Flow and Jametatone. Calvin Arsenia one of our most frequent guests, who first appeared on WMM on July 25, 2012. KC Magazine has hailed Calvin as ‘equal parts opera, symphony, musical theatre, rock show, all built around its creator: a charismatic 6-foot-7-inch harpist with a 3 and ½ octave range, natural stage command and knack for gilding gold and painting lilies.’ Born in Orlando, Florida, Calvin’s creative journey began when he moved to Olathe, Kansas, teaching himself the guitar, piano, banjo. He learned his signature instrument, the harp, at the age of 20. His passion for stretching the boundaries of musical expression saw him transform a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland’s Fringe Festival early in his career into a life-changing music mission, with an Edinburgh church offering him a role as musical liaison between the church and the city that would change his life. Two years and 300 shows later, Calvin returned to KC reborn as a humanistic songwriter / performer where at 24 he released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. On February 14, 2017 Calvin released his critically acclaimed full length debut, Catastrophe, with a live show at recordBar in November 2016 that involved a company of 50 people, dancers, stilt walkers. After signing to Center Cut Records, Calvin released the albums: Cantaloupe in 2018, with a sold out gigantic spectacle at The Gem Theatre on Saturday, September 15, 2018. He then released, L.A. Sessions in 2019, and the EP HONEY DEW, and the EP Goddess with Quixotic, the Holiday album, ALL IS CALM. In 2020 Calvin collaborated with Mike Dillon on the Soundtrack to “Summer in Hindsight,” a feature-length film created by The West 18th Street Fashion Show that also starred Calvin as an actor. Calvin is also the co-creator of the podcast “We Were Christian Kids” created with childhood friend Justin Randall who is a stand up comedian working in New York City and Los Angeles. Calvin Arsenia is the author of EVERY GOOD BOY DOES FINE, a collection of Poetry & Prose published on October 5, 2021, by Andrews McMeel Universal. Calvin was voted KC’s Best Musician in The Pitch 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. He has been featured in Billboard, NPR.org. Calvin Arsenia Scott is the recipient of the 2022 Charlotte Street Foundation Generative Performing Artist Award. More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com][Calvin Arsenia was our guest on WMM on Jan. 18, 2023, June 21, 2023, and our 1000th Show on June 28, 2923.]

Calvin Arsenia Discography

Calvin Arsenia – Moments [EP] / Independent / April 9, 2014
Calvin Arsenia was 24 when he released this EP after returning home to Kansas City after living and performing in Edinburgh, Scotland. Calvin works as a songwriter, composer, lyricist, producer, and engineer.

Calvin Arsenia – Prose [EP] / Independent / February 3, 2015
Recorded over the course of three live sessions at Edinburgh’s Napier University. Produced by Graham Coe. Engineered by David O’Leary. Music and Lyrics: Calvin Arsenia, with Fiona Reid & Liselot Van Oosterom on Vocals, Graham Coe on Cello, Mark Smith on Percussion, Lyle Watt on Guitar Calvin Arsenia on Vocals & Guitar & Piano.

Calvin Arsenia – Caviar [EP] / Calvin Arsenia / December 5, 2017
Produced for attendees at Calvin’s “Secret Show,” Tuesday, December 5, at Wickstock West, 1324 West 12th Street, in The West Bottoms, and for supporters of his Outlyre Tour. Words and Music by Calvin Arsenia. Produced by Jametatone, Simon Huntley and Calvin Arsenia. Recorded at The Infoaming Vertex.

Calvin Arsenia – Catastrophe {EP] / Calvin Arsenia / February 17, 2016
Limited edition EP, produced for Folk Alliance International, contains demo recordings of original gems that are the blueprints for Calvin’s soon to be released full length debut, coming in 2017. Since Calvin Arsenia came home to KC after living in Edinburgh, Scotland, he has released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. He has played all over town, including showcases at Folk Alliance International, Kansas City Fringe Fest, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, and collaborations with bands like My Brothers and Sisters. Arsenia’s powerful vocals span a 3.5 octave range, while playing piano, bango, guitar and harp. Calvin teaches music to elementary students. Calvin is also a graduate of Artist INC professional development program for artists in the Kansas City metro area and across the Mid-America Arts Alliance five state region.

Calvin Arsenia – Catastrophe [Album] / Calvin Arsenia / February 14, 2017
Calvin Arsenia premiered these songs in a live show at recordBar in November 2016 in a stage show that involved a cpmpany of 50 people, dancers, stilt walkers, special lighting, back up singers, guest artists. Since Calvin Arsenia came home to KC after living in Edinburgh, Scotland, he has released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. Standing at 6 foot 6 inches, Arsenia’s powerful vocals span a 3.5 octave range, while playing piano, banjo, guitar and harp Calvin teaches music to elementary students. Calvin is also a graduate of Artist INC. Since 2014 we have been celebrating the music of Calvin Arsenia. He has played Folk Alliance International, Kansas City Fringe Fest, The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, The Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts, The Middle of the Map Fest., The Folly Theatre. Calvin recently returned home from a three month US/European Outlyre Tour where he has played San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, NYC, Boston, Edinburgh, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Switzerlnd, Lyon and Paris. in over 40 shows, with musician and friend Simon Huntley who plays with Quixotic. Calvin Arsenia played Big Bang Buffet’s “Black Sheep Rising,” Tuesday, April 11, at 8:00 at The Buffalo Room. A benefit for 90.1 FM KKFI featuring Ron Megee, Lisa Cordes, Jon “Piggy” Cupit, The Sleazebeats, Kristie Stremel, Jen Harris, Maria Vasquez Boyd, Jen Appell, Bill Belzer, Charlie Colborne, Mark Manning, Susan Cedarquis-Brewington, BJ McBride, Michael McQuary, Janet Henry, Ryan Wilks, and Nico Gray.

Calvin Arsenia – Live at Greenwood Social Hall / Unreleased / June 11, 2017
Solo live performance at Greenwood Social Hall, 1760 Bellevue, KCMO.

Calvin Arsenia – Caviar [EP] / Calvin Arsenia / December 5, 2017
Produced for attendees at Calvin’s “Secret Show,” Tuesday, December 5, at Wickstock West, 1324 West 12th Street, in The West Bottoms, and for supporters of his Outlyre Tour. Words and Music by Calvin Arsenia. Produced by Jametatone, Simon Huntley and Calvin Arsenia. Recorded at The Infoaming Vertex. Since Calvin Arsenia came home to KC after living in Edinburgh, Scotland, he has released his EP, Moments, in 2014, and his EP Prose in 2015, and his Folk Alliance exclusive EP Catastrophe in 2016. In the late Summer and Fall Calvin went on a three month US/European Outlyre Tour where he has played San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, NYC, Boston, Edinburgh, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Switzerlnd, Lyon and Paris. in over 40 shows, with musician and friend Simon Huntley who plays with Quixotic.

Calvin Arsenia – Cantaloupe / Center Cut Records / September 15, 2018
Calvin’s 2018 national debut, Cantaloupe (Center Cut Records), has been acclaimed for melding diverse textures into an alluring signature sound for the adventurous artist.

Calvin Arsenia – L.A. Sessions / Center Cut Records / September 20, 2019
Calvin performed live at L.A.’s The Mint, showcasing songs on LA Sessions with musicians who collaborated on the album. Says Calvin: “It’s such a special experience to play with them. To be able to perform these songs in front of an audience and do this for a living – to have made a career out of something I love is so amazing – it is an honor that I never take for granted.”

Calvin Arsenia – Honeydew / Center Cut Records / June 28, 2019
On September 15, 2018 Calvin released Cantaloupe on Center Cut Records. This new EP is a remix of three of the songs from Cantaloupe, plus a Talking Heads cover that was performed live in this style at a New Year’s Eve show at The Truman opening for Making Movies who performed the entire Talking Heads album, Remain in Light. The last three songs on Honeydew were from performed in this style at The Nelson Atkins 2019 event “Party Arty.” Honeydew was produced by Jametatone, Simon Huntley, Calvin Arsenia.

Quixotic & Calvin Arsenia – “Goddess – EP / Quixotic / May 17, 2019
An innovative performance art collective that fuses imagination with technology, dance, projection, mapping & live music to create fully-immersive, multi-sensory experiences. Quixotic harnesses light, rhythm and expressive emotion. Quixotic was given Silicon Valley’s unofficial stamp of genius when they were invited to perform at the global TED Conference in 2012. A unique blend of performance art, technology & emotion. Quixotic fuses all these elements in to what the New York Times branded an “innovative circus performance”.

Calvin Arsenia – all is calm / Calvin Arsenia. / December 13, 2019
Arsenia’s dreamlike whimsy shimmering through your favorite Christmas Classics. All proceeds for this album go towards the purchase of Calvin’s first harp. Featuring: Ben Muñoz on Cello, Shane Borth on Violin & Voila, & Luke “Skippy” Harbur on Beatbox. Mastered by Jametatone at the Infoaming Vertex and special thanks to Simon Huntley. Calvin wrote: “I recorded the majority of this album in my bedroom in between flights to and from KC and SF. I had my nephews and friend’s kids in mind and wanted an album of Christmas lullabys. I think it became just a little more sassy than anticipated, but I think you’ll enjoy it regardless.

Calvin Arsenia – Summer in Hindsight / Calvin Arsenia & Mike Dillon / Oct. 16, 2020
Unreleased Soundtrack by Calvin Arsenia and Mike Dillon for The West 18th Street Fashion Show’s 20th year as a feature-length film. COVID-19 changed everything in 2020. “We are moving it from the street to the screen,” says Peregrine Honig to inkansascitymagazine. “Mike Dillon and Calvin Arsenia will be scoring and performing in the film.” The film premiered October 16, 2020 at The Boulevard Drive-In. Honig wrote,. “We did this during a pandemic and a cultural revolution. I am not sure where else or how else this could happen at this moment in history.” Calvin Arsenia had recently been emotionally and greatly moved by the area and national Black Lives Matter Movement. His own research into his own family revealed that Calvin’s great, great, great grandmother Alice Gilliam Scott, was a former slave who lived to observe her 100th birthday as noted by a regional newspaper Calvin had written. In the summer of 2020 Calvin wrote “Revelation” an unreleased track inspired by Black Lives Matter. Calvin premiered the song on WMM on August 12, 2020. He later shared his other new songs, “Scars and Stripes” and “The Flying Monkees are Coming!” on our October 14, 2020 edition of WMM. Both of those songs ended up on Summer in Hindsight.

Rewound & Calvin Arsenia – Lovestory EP / House of Outlyre Productions / May 9, 2023
Rewound & Calvin Arsenia released Lovestory (4-song) EP that included several other singles they released this year, including “All Too Well” on April 25, 2023, All 4 tracks are instrumental covers the songs of Taylor Swift. // Rewound is a trio with Carmen Dieker on violin, Alyssa Bell on viola, and Ezgi Karakus on cello that perform classical and contemporary music re-imagined. For these recordings they collaborated with Calvin Arsenia on harp.

Calvin Arsenia – Paradise / Calvin Arsenia / June 23, 2023
The 14 track album is (only) available through http://www.calvinarsenia.com A new turning point as a songwriter. His most biographical album yet, with songs about Black Lives Matter, Civil Rights, Racism, gay love. The album contains collaborations with Cheery, Kadesh Flow and Jametatone. Calvin Arsenia plays a PARADISE Album Release Party, Friday, June 23, and Saturday, June 24, at 7:00 PM at The Emerald, 1715 West 9th Street, KCMO, WEST BOTTOMS. More info at http://www.calvinarsenia.com

26. (#6) Silicone Prairie – “Elysian Fields”
    from: Vol. II / Feel It Records / July 28, 2023
    [Ever since releasing ‘My Life on the Silicone Prairie Vol. I’ in 2021, Ian Teeple has been riding a creative high. Whether you’ve noticed his incredible visual art, witnessed the cathartic Silicone Prairie live band, or know Ian as the newest member of Sn​õ​õ​per – his driving, free-spirited energy abounds. Silicone Prairie have transcended landlocked guitar punk/jangle into new realms on Vol. II. The album manages to color outside the lines of genre, blurring worlds of sound together beautifully. Cloudy bedroom pop tangles with fields of flute, warbled tape editing, thick fuzzed guitars, and a sage sense of introversion. ‘My Life on the Silicone Prairie Vol. II’ is a deeply personal, ethereal ride through the mind of Ian Teeple, joined by friends from Kansas City and abroad. // “You can’t really listen to Silicone Prairie on record without noticing the laborious production and limber musicianship. Take for one, the way organized horns and muffled jungle beast roars harmoniously make themselves adjacent. Or the polarity of the bass and guitar, the grace of every instrument when it peeps. It has a raw edge though, the idiom and architecture does not impede the visceral, emotional content. It’s about form AND heart AND realness, the more rigorous AND open AND boiled down, the more wrenching. It communicates in introspections and outbursts. The vocal can lilt with melancholy only to turn with smug angst within a phrase. For all its forethought, the end result pends until the application of the last stroke. There is nuance and humanity in this, there is aim and aimlessness, side by side and both fully present. Like Ayers or Newell or Stamey. Like Carole King or Abba or Don Mclean in the power pop Olympics, and then closed off and difficult and foaming at the mouth. See: bittersweet folk unknowns, reprobate bedroom glammists, serpentine flight simulators, or synchronized swimmers.” -Joe Chamandy (Celluloid Lunch) // Recorded in 2021 & 2022 at Troost House by Shoutsie on the Tascam 388, then something snapped I couldn’t fix. Serpent, Willkommen + Cows recorded in the Winkler-verse. // Kyle Rausch plays drums on Elysian Fields; Leslie Butsch plays sax on Mirror on the Wall, Neon Moon, and Elysian Fields (on which she also sings.) Lina Dannov plays the flute on Mirror on the Wall. Duet on The Minotaur and Deutschspraching is Johann Schreier. Intro Segura Como La Leche by Esli Meuly. Buz Clatworthy plays the 12 string guitar on Elysian Fields. Without them I wouldn’t have made this record.]

27. (#5.) Bad Alaskan – “Reservations”
    from: Red & Black / Bad Alaskan / June 19, 2023
    [Bad Alaskan is Lawrence, Kansas based musician, scientist, researcher, speaker, activist, teacher, Alex Kimball Williams who identifies and celebrates her Native Alaskan / Black / Portuguese origins, with the motto: “Music is medicine.” Alex Kimball Williams also played in the band UltraVivid. Band Alaskan released the single “Red & Black” on December 10, 2021 The album also contains a cover of “Strange Fruit” that Bad Alaskan released as a single on August 17, 2019. Bad Alaskan writes: “This cover of ‘Strange Fruit’ is the perfect blend of old school & new school; direct reference & innovation; the blues & electronic. I’ve always loved the song & wanted to put my own indigenous spin on it. My classical & jazz training leaks through with solos & alterations to the lead melody. The 1939 recording featuring Billie Holiday’s vocals is my favorite cut of this classic. My variation alters the melody to fit a minor blues scale. The key is raised just slightly to stimulate discomfort, the tempo is more upbeat. Originally when she sang the song, it was always the end of her set, staff in the venue was instructed not to make any transactions. She would sing the song with eyes closed. Due to that devotional, prayer-like feel, I begin my sets with this song if I’m going to include it. I read somewhere that this song reminded her of her father. It lines up with my thoughts on my own ancestors, from what would have been his time. Instruments used are Korg Minilogue, Microkorg (vocoding) & Novation circuit. I always record all my parts at once (no over-dubbing), so please enjoy the “fruits” of my labor! Audio engineer: Ross Williams.]

28. (#4.) Ivory Blue – “Starlit Love Child”
    from: Starlit Love Child / IVORY BLUE / November 17, 2023
    [On October 27, 2023 IVORY BLUE released the sIngle “Ghost of Life.” This single followed IVORY’s previous releases,”In A World Like This” from September 22, 2023, ”The Best of Life” from August 4, 2023 and “Control” from May 26, 2023. IVORY released the single “All Outta Love” on February 24, 2023. IVORY BLUE released their full length debut album COMPOUND LOVE on February 25, 2022. COMPOUND LOVE was in the Top Ten of WMM’s 120 Best recordings of 2022. For COMPOUND LOVE, IVORY BLUE served as songwriter, producer, vocalist and played all instruments with the exception of: Lester Estelle on drums, Klaartje Van Lue on piano, Craig Kew on bass, Lennon Bone on drums, and Marco Pascolini on pedal steel guitar. Nick Poortman served in mixing, with Kurt Festge who also served in mixing & Mastering. IVORY BLUE’s debut EP, Ready Get Set was released in June 2015. While the EP helped spread the word and give IVORY BLUE attention from regional radio and TV stations, a big break would come in 2017. In 2017 Ivory was among 1800 artists/bands that competed in neXt2Rock. Ivory won local & regional challenges and advanced to nationals in Los Angeles to win the top prize. // IVORY BLUE has played Crossroads Music Festival, The Middle of the Map Festival, The Westport Roots Festival, the KCPT Screening of “Real Boy” at The Kansas City Public Library, and Kauffman Stadium. // Ivory Blue was born in 1986 in Peoria Illinois, as Devin James Miclettet. Ivory’s birth mother put them up for adoption at the age of four. Ivory speaks about how it was difficult to find trust in people offering their home to someone denied it for so long, Ivory lived with eight different families, before running away at 15. // Ivory has talked with us about how in their life they have turned to music to express pain. Ivory spent most of their childhood looking for a family. In 2010 Klaartje Van Lue saw Ivory performing in a YouTube video and contacted them, flying Ivory to Kansas City, and adopting Ivory into the Van Lue family. During the past 10 years Ivory came out as “Non-Binary Transgender”. // As a multi-instrumentalist, Ivory began refining their performance style, using digital looping pedals to stack harmonies and guitar parts live on stage, giving their solo shows the feel of a full band. In 2011, Ivory settled in Kansas City, MO and quickly began attracting an intense regional following for their strong vocals and incisive, deeply personal lyrics. // By 2013, IVORY BLUE was playing regularly in and around Kansas City and the first EP ‘Ready Get Set’ was released. in 2015. IVORY BLUE released the video of “Family Table” directed by Mikal Shapiro, on August 21, 2021 and the audio track was released on September 7, 2021. IVORY BLUE released the single “Good Changes” on Oct 26, 2021. Ivory Blue released the singles: “Heavy,” “Bad Weather,” “It Must Have Been Me,” “Compound Love,” and “The Start” on December 14, 2021. IVORY BLUE released their debut album COMPOUND LOVE on February 25, 2022. IVORY BLUE released the single “Red Light” on July 29, 2022. IVORY BLUE released the single “Starlit Love Child” on October 28, 2022. IVORY BLUE released the single “All Outta Love” on February 24, 2023. More info at: https://linktr.ee/ivorybluemusic%5D [Ivory Blue was our guest on WMM on: March 8, 2023, June 7, 2023, our 1000th show on June 28, 2023, and September 27, 2023.]

29. (#3.) Red Kate -“Shut It Down”
    from: Exit Strategy / Black Site / November 10. 2023
    [First single form new album. Single was released April 27, 2023. The Kansas City based, class-conscious punk rock and rollers, Red Kate, are proud to announce their first new music in five years. “Shut It Down”, the debut single from the band’s upcoming third album, EXIT STRATEGY, is a blistering, no-holds-barred call to action for the oppressed, marginalized and working class. Written by the band’s former guitar player, Desmond Poirier, after attending a Stand Up KC march, “Shut It Down” reminds us that when push comes to shove, the one power the powerless still have when they come together in solidarity is to SHUT! IT! DOWN! The song begins streaming on all platforms Thursday, April 27, 2023. // In late 2021, singer/bassist, L. Ron Drunkard, drummer Andrew Whelan, rhythm guitarist Shawn Hamontree, and newly added lead guitarist Chris Kinsley returned to the band’s mainstay studio, Duane Trower’s Weights and Measures Soundlab, to finish what, at this point, had become a multi-year project. The group laid down four new tracks written during lockdown and then began the long process of turning twelve songs recorded over several sessions in two different studio locations with four different guitarists into the best sounding, and best collection of, songs the band has ever recorded. // Exit Strategy is set for release in the Fall of 2023 on Kansas City record label cooperative Black Site. // BLACK SITE is a record label cooperative created by Kansas City musicians interested in supporting regional punk and rock bands release their recordings on a physical medium. With the world around us becoming a deluge of digital l’s and 0’s, transient as a trust fund crust punk on a cross country excursion, tangible art is critical to maintaining connections to our past, our sense of place, and who we are as a people. Only WE can create the world we want to live in. Reciprocity and solidarity are the cornerstones of building long lasting, self-sustaining community power that pushes back against the commodification of culture. Music is not a business; Punk is not a brand, and DIY is not a lifestyle to be consumed. This is a way of life, and if we don’t hang together, we’ll surely hang alone. Info at: http://www.black-site.org ][L. Ron Drunkard of Red Kate was our guest on WMM on November 15, 2023.]

30. (#2.) Iris DeMent – “Workin’ On A World”
    from: Workin’ On A World / FlariElla / February 24, 2023
    [Iris DeMent’s 7th full length album, WORKING ON A WORLD was stalled partway through by the pandemic, the record took six years to make with the help of three friends and co-producers: Richard Bennett, Pieta Brown, and Jim Rooney. It was Pieta Brown who gave the record its final push. “Pieta asked me what had come of the recordings I’d done with Jim and Richard in 2019 and 2020. I told her I’d pretty much given up on trying to make a record. She asked would I mind if she had a listen. So, I had everything we’d done sent over to her, and not long after that I got a text, bouncing with exclamation marks: ‘You have a record and it’s called Workin’ On A World!’” With Bennett back in the studio with them, Brown and DeMent recorded several more songs and put the final touches on the record in Nashville in April of 2022. // DeMent sets the stage for the album with the title track in which she moves from a sense of despair towards a place of promise. “Now I’m workin’ on a world I may never see ‘ Joinin’ forces with the warriors of love / Who came before and will follow you and me.” “Goin’ Down To Sing in Texas” is an ode not only to gun control, but also to the brave folks who speak out against tyranny and endure the consequences in an unjust world. // On October 6, 2020 iris DeMent released her single “Going Down To Sing In Texas.” Stereogum on October 13, 2020 wrote: Other than a handful of guest appearances, Americana legend Iris DeMent hasn’t released new music since her 2015 album The Trackless Woods, a collection of Anna Akhmatova poems set to original music. But DeMent is back today in a big way with “Going Down To Sing In Texas,” a lengthy rambler that’s a lot more serious than its casual, jazzy piano groove lets on. Over the course of nine minutes, DeMent addresses police brutality, George W. Bush (“What’s the deal with all these war criminals who get to walk around free?”), Islamophobia, progressive protesters (“I’m so proud of all of these young people for taking it to the streets”), gun control, Jeff Bezos (“Ain’t we all just a little bit tired of greedy people getting a free pass?”), the Chicks, the Squad, and Jesus Christ (“He spoke truth to power, he stood up for the poor/ The church today wouldn’t even let him through the door”) among other things.It’s a hell of a song, clear and direct yet artful in its conversational ease. Never forget that DeMent can go toe to toe with songwriting legends like her old duet partner John Prine. In his review for WHYY’s Fresh Air, Entertainment Weekly Music Editor – Ken Tucker wrote: “Iris DeMent possesses one of the great voices in contemporary popular music: powerfully, ringingly clear, capable of both heartbreaking fragility and blow-your-ears-back power. Had she been making country albums in the ’70s and ’80s and had more commercial ambition, she’d probably now be considered right up there with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. Instead, she’s lived a contemporary life, a somewhat private life. As she recently told an interviewer, “There’s a lot that goes into life besides songwriting.” And she’s taken her time in composing songs that fit into no genre easily.”] [Iris DeMent played Knuckleheads 2715 Rochester Street, KCMO on Thursday, March 23, 2023 in a SOLD OUT SHOW with guest Ana Egge opening the show.] [Iris Dement was our guest LIVE on WMM on March 22, 2023]

31. (#1.) Heidi Lynne Gluck – “Severance”
    from: Migrate Or Die / Heidi Lynne Gluck / July 7, 2023
    [Heidi Lynne Gluck released the singles: “All I See Is Magic” on May 25, 2023, “I’m Not Free” on June 2, 2023 and “Skyscraper” on June 7, 2023 Lawrence, Kansas based Heidi Lynne Gluck is a songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist originally from the middle of Canada. After transplant-ing herself from the plains of Manitoba to the midwestern United States, Heidi quickly became an in-demand player, performing on stage and in the studio both as a solo artist and with renowned musicians including Juliana Hatfield & Some Girls, Margot & The Nuclear So and Sos, Lily & Madeleine, The Pieces, The Only Children, and others. Heidi Lynne Gluck joined us live on WMM on June 8, and Aug. 24, 2016. Heidi Lynne Gluck released her critically acclaimed album, PONY SHOW through Lawrence based Lotuspool Records on Aug. 26, 2016. This was the follow-up to her critically acclaimed release THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ROOM, released April 28, 2015. Heidi Lynne Gluck released the 8th edition of the Too Much Rock, limited edition, 7” vinyl Single Series on Aug. 3, 2018, featuring her original song, “Party Line.” and the B-side, “Good Guys and Bad Guys” a new version of Camper Van Beethoven song. Heidi Lynne Gluck also plays with the band the Roseline and was a featured vocalist on “Beauty in the Distance” with Asterales. Heidi recently released two new singles with Tom Brosseau, “Sunflower” on Dec. 15, 2022, and “Under African Skies” on Feb. 17, 2023.] [Heidi Lynne Gluck was our guest on WMM on July 12, 2023]

32. Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
    from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]

NEXT WEEK, on January 3, 2024, we ring in the new year with our annual Birthday Tribute shows to Rock Icon David Bowie and singer songwriter Iris DeMent.

On Friday January 5, at 12:00 NOON Calvin Arsenia plays live on MidCoast LIVE!

THANK YOU to our incredible KKFI Staff; Director of Development & Communications – J Kelly Dougherty, Volunteer Coordinator – Darryl Oliver, Chief Operator – Chad Brothers.

This radio station is more than the individual hosts of each individual radio show. Instead it is about a collective spirit of hundreds of hardworking people, unselfishly setting aside ego, to work for the greater good of community building and the gigantic goal of keeping our airwaves free, non-commercial, and open to all! Congratulations and thank you to all programmers & volunteers who went the extra effort to keep our station alive.

Our Script/Playlist is a “cut and paste” of information.
Sources for notes: artist’s websites, bios, wikipedia.org

Wednesday MidDay Medley in on the web:
http://www.kkfi.org,
http://www.WednesdayMidDayMedley.org,
http://www.facebook.com/WednesdayMidDayMedleyon90.1FM

Show #1026