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, October 19, 2022
The MidCoast Sound w/ Amy Farrand + Lotta Williams + Chris Hudson + Sam Wright + Marion Merritt + Betse Ellis
WMM celebrates The MidCoast Sound spinning some of our favorite recent MidCoastal Releases. We’ll play tracks from: Stephonne, Making Movies, LYXE, The Grisly Hand, Boxknife, The Creepy Jingles, Blackstarkids, Carswell & Hope with Katlyn Conroy, The Moose, Ivory Blue, Mensa Deathsquad, Monta At Odds, Dimension Bill Edwards, Amy Farrand & The Like, and Gullywasher. This is part-one of a two-week series.
10:00 – Station ID
- “Main Title Instrumental – It’s Showtime Folks”
from: Orig. Motion Picture Soundtrack All That Jazz / Casablanca / December 20, 1979
[WMM’s Adopted Theme Song]
- LYXE – “Wave”
from: ”Wave” – Single / LYXE / September 8, 2022
[Debut single from LYXE, a new band from Lawrence, Kansas. LYXE formed in 2019 and played locally until covid forced the band into a two year hiatus. Recently reformed, the band has had a successful string of shows in 2022 and is poised to release their first EP, Everything You Could Ever Want on September 15, 2022. Lead by frontman Ryan Wise of The Sluts, the debut single “Wave” showcases the band’s fun pop rock sensibility. We experience a different side of Wise’s songwriting with crooning vocals and vintage guitar sounds. Accompanied by drummer Jimmy Girod and bassist AJ Knudson, LYXE creates hip shaking rhythms reminiscent of classic 80’s and 90’s sounds.“Wave” is the ideal first taste of what this band can accomplish. LYXE is Ryan Wise on lead vocals & guitar, and AJ Knudson on bass & vocals.]
[LYXE play Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts St. Lawrence, KS on Saturday October 29, at 6:00 PM, with Olivia Markey, for the Liney Blu (formerly known as Caroline Blu) Album Release Party]
[LYXE play Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts St.. Lawrence, KS on Friday, November 4, 1t 10:00 PM, with Kiss Or Kill for the OxyToxin Album Release Show.]
[LYXE play miniBar, 3810 Broadway, KCMO on Saturday, November 12, at 8:00 PM with Deco Auto and 10 Watt Robot.]
- The Moose – “Tr 10 0 10”
from: Renaissance / Desert Animal Records / September 22, 2022
[new 11-track album from The Moose. On August 21, 2022 The Moose released the single “Macrowave”. On April 22, 2021 The Moose released SPATURE their 26-track double album. One of WMM’s 120 Best recordings of 2021. The album contained music and lyrics all composed by The Moose. The album was engineered, mixed, and mastered by members Emma Klein and Jake Hilger. SPATURE is a sonic amalgamation of sunny peaks and dark chasms. Join The Moose as they experiment with the fantastical worlds of space and nature. From ‘Lava’ to ‘Mother Tree’, there is a song on this double LP for everyone.The Moose is a psychedelic rock/pop alternative band from Lee’s Summit / Kansas City, formed in 2016 by Jake Hilger, Alex Huffman, and Tyler Frey with Emma Klein and Parker Tozier joining in 2016. The Moose released their debut full length album, The First Real Encounter, on Dec. 21, 2018. The Moose joined us LIVE on WMM on July 10, 2019. The Moose also recently released SONGS OF SPATURE – LIVE FROM MYCO PLANET MUSHROOM FARM April 2022. More info at: http://www.musicofthemoose.com]
[The Moose played Outer Reaches Festival on Sat, October 15 at 7:00 PM at recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd. KCMO, with Cheer-Accident, Season to Risk, Peculiar Pretzelman, The Black Mariah Theater, She Speaks in Tongues; Jacob E.chord and experimental dance project Composition of Dance.]
10:07 – Intro / Pledge Break #1
WMM celebrates “The MidCoast Sound” spinning some of our favorite recent MidCoastal Releases from: Stephonne, Making Movies, The Grisly Hand, Boxknife, The Creepy Jingles, Blackstarkids, Carswell & Hope with Katlyn Conroy, Ivory Blue, Mensa Deathsquad, Monta At Odds, Dimension Bill Edwards, Amy Farrand & The Like, and Gullywasher. This is part-one of a 2-week series. We started with LYXE and The Moose.
We take break to encourage YOU to support 90.1 FM KKFI. To help me, is my friend…
Betse Ellis. Originally from Fayetteville, Arkansas, Betse received her Bachelors of Arts in Music and a Bachelors of Arts in English, from the University of Missouri – Kansas City. She has been playing the Violin for over 40 years, with over 20 years playing fiddle and also working as a teacher of music. Betse was a founding member of the acclaimed internationally known band, The Wilders. Betse has released two solo records, and records and performs with her husband, multi-instrumentalist Clarke Wyatt, as Betse & Clarke.
Betse Ellis, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
Marion Merritt is our most frequent contributor to WMM, She grew up in Los Angeles, and St. Louis. She went to college in Columbia, Missouri. She studied art and musical engineering, and is a avid lover of classic films and punk rock music. She saw Talking Heads on their first U.S. tour when they played One Block West in 1978. For 16 years she has been sharing her musical discoveries and information from her musically-encyclopedic brain on Wednesday MidDay Medley. With her partner Ann Stewart, Marion is the proprietor of Records With Merritt, a minority owned business at 1614 Westport Rd. in Kansas City, that features new vinyl releases, in-store performances,, and was once the location for a wedding. More information at: http://www.recordwithmerritt.com
Marion Merritt, Thanks for being with us on Wednesday MidDay Medley
90.1 FM KKFI is “The Voice of the Community” Our Kansas City area Community Speaks Through our Airwaves and this Program
So Far in 2022 on Wednesday MidDay Medley on KKFI 90.1 FM we have conducted over 100 interviews with 106 special guests: Kianna Alarid White & Cale Parks of Ezmerelda, Nico Gray, Betse Ellis, Marion Merritt, Rose Brown, Ivory Blue, Klaartje Van Lue, Ernest James Zydeco, Julia Othmer, Julie Bennett Hume & Mikal Shapiro for The Innocence Project, Leslie Pories, Matt & Melissa Weinman of Dimension Bill Edwards, Oliver Hall, Jeremiah James Gonzales and Brody Lowe of Redder Moon, Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, Nick Robertson, Travis McKenzie, Andrew Woody of The Creepy Jingles, Jennifer Owen of Owen Cox Dance Group, Nate Holt of Asterales, Isaac Flynn of Hembree, D Rashaan Gilmore, Luke M. Harbur aka Music By Skippy, Fritz Hutchison of Lost Cowgirl Records, Jenna Rae, Kristie Stremel, Sondra Freeman of Midwest Music Foundation, Meighan Peifer & Patricia Doherty, Jade Green & Xavier Martin of The Black Creatures, Jesse Kates of The Sexy Accident, Chad Brothers, Kristopher Bruders & Mark Smeltzer of Freight Train Rabbit Killer, Jnabe, Jessica Salley pf Cowtown Country Club, Brodie Rush of Be/Non, Shaun Crowley of Manor Records, Nilko Andreas, Amy Farrand, Sam Platt, Stacy Busch & Kalli Siringas of No Divide KC, Taylor Avazpour aka Zava, Jessica Ayala and Les Izmore of Arquesta Del Sol Soul, Luke Petet, Chris Haghirian, Stephonne, Dedric Moore of Monta At Odds, Scott Hrabko, Just Angel, Vi Tran, KKFI Board President Catina Taylor, KKFI Interns: Yassi Armer-Shabazz, Zoey Harris, & Kotah Kauffman, Lee Walter Redding, Chalis O’Neal, Tucker Slough, Major Matt Mason USA, Brook Worlledge, Stephanie Bankston, Mia Morrow of Boxknife, Cooper Scott of Jean Claude and The Eclairs, Kadesh Flow, Dr. Sonia Hall of Bio Kansas, Necia Gamby, Kelly Hunt, Aaron Shinn & Tell Pryor of Lazy Projector, Lacey Gronniger of Dreamgirl, Bill Sundahl, Nick Carswell of Carswell & Hope, Tillie Alexandra Hall of MellowPhobia, Nathan Reusch of The Record Machine, Diane Patterson. Kiley Sutter, Steve Tulipana, Miki P, Rachel Lovelace, Ryan Wise, AJ Knudson, and Jimmy Girod of LYXE, Trent Michael Munsinger of You Monster You, Judith G. Levy, Mike McCoy, Heather Grehan, & Lisa McKenzie of Cher U.K., Brie Howard-Darling, Patti Quatro, Mia Huggins, of Fanny, Nita Norris & Jackie Nugent of Filipino Association of Greater Kansas City, Brenton Cook of Outer Reaches, Mark Ronning of Les Bons Bons Electriques, Lotta Williams, Chris Hudson and Sam Wright.
10:15
- Ivory Blue – “Starlit Love Child”
from: “Starlit Love Child’ – Single / Sound Ballistics Music & Publishing / October 28, 2022
[Ivory Blue signed a publishing deal with Sound Ballistics Music & Publishing of Atlanta GA on August 18, 2021. This company is managing Ivory and handling all of their publishing. Ivory Blue released their full length debut album COMPOUND LOVE on February 25, 2022. For COMPOUND LOVE Ivory 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. KC based singer songwriter and rock & roller, Ivory Blue is currently in the studio putting together a new full length 10-song album called “Compound Love” for release in 2022. Ivory Blue’s debut EP, Ready Get Set was released in June 2015 and had wide radio airplay on this show and multiple radio and television stations in Kansas City and across the country. In 2017 Ivory was among 1800 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 them Ivory KC, 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. While the EP helped spread the word and got much attention from regional radio and TV stations, a big break would come in 2017. Ivory entered NeXt2Rock, a nationwide talent search with over 1800 artists/bands who applied to find fresh and promising rock artists. The top 5 national bands battled it off for the win in Los Angeles CA at the legendary Viper Room, with judges Scott Borchetta (BMLG), John Varvatos (fashion designer), Steve Jones (Sex Pistols Guitarist and Host of “Jonesy’s Jukebox”), Desmond Child (Musician, producer), Chris Lord-Alge (producer), Ivory Blue won over the judges and became the grand prize winner! Ivory Ivory won the contest and a one-year record deal with BMLG who re-released the song Ready Get Set from the 2015 EP. Ivory’s 2018 re-release of ‘Ready Get Set’ undauntedly received National and International airplay within weeks. For their upcoming album, IVORY BLUE is producing all the tracks with the exception of Drums and Bass. Ivory is currently working with Lester Estelle (Drummer for Kelly Clarkson), Craig Kew (Bass) KC, Kurt Festge (Mastering | Citizen Kane & Vilent Femmes) NC. and Nick Poortman (LA based Los Angeles based Producer, Engineer, Mixer, and Songwriter) Nick has worked alongside producers including Justin Gray, Gil Norton, Big Tank, and Greg Haver on sessions throughout the USA, UK, Europe, and New Zealand. // On August 18th 2021 Ivory Blue signed a publishing deal with Sound Ballistics Music & Publishing out of Atlanta GA. // Ivory released the singles: “Elite Dreamland,” on Feb. 17, 2021, “Half a Life” on Sept. 20, 2021. 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 joined us on WMM on November 10, September 15, and July 28, in 2021. More info at: https://linktr.ee/ivorybluemusic%5D
- The Grisly Hand – “Why Make Me Cry”
from: Traitors / The Grisly Hand / July 8, 2022
[One of the singles from The Grisly Hand’s acclaimed new album, TRAITORS. On May 14, 2021, they released the single “Now That You Know.” On August 20, 2021 they released the single, “Why Make Me Cry”. On December 3, 2021 they released the single, “On The Same Side.” It had been four and a half years since The Grisly Hand has released new music. The band released HEARTS & STARS on November 18, 2016, and FLESH & GOLD on October 2, 2015. For those recordings the band had spent a year with Joel Nanos at Element Recording and decided to split the songs between two CD/digital releases: and also release them both together as a double vinyl album release, called THE GRISLY HAND released November 18, 2016 with a new reshuffling of songs for the vinyl LP format. Jimmy Fitzner on guitar & vocals, Lauren Krum on vocals & percussion, Kian Byrne on drums, Mike Stover on steel guitar, bass & vocals, Ben Summers on guitar, vocals & mandolin, Dan Loftus on bass, keyboards & vocals. For the double albums the recordings also featured: Rich Wheeler on tenor saxophone, Nick Howell on trumpet, and Mike Walker on trombone. More info at: http://www.thegrislyhand.com]
- Carswell & Hope – “Sign Of The Times (Feat. Katlyn Conroy)”
from: Sign Of The Times / Silly Goose Records / August 30, 2022
[Sign of the Times, the first single and title track from the Carswell & Hope full length originally released as a single on June 12, 2022. Featuring Katlyn Conroy on vocals. Single available on Bandcamp, Soundcloud and streaming platforms from July 12th, 2022. Recorded and produced by Jason Slote and Nick Carswell. Mixed and mastered by Joel Nanos at Element Recording Studios. Lawrence KS based 5-piece band formed June 25, 2012. The band is: Nick Carswell, Jason Slote, Austin Quick, Chris Handley, and Jordan Tucker. Songwriter Nick Carswell is originally from Ireland and has found a new home on the plains of Kansas.Songwriter Nick Carswell is originally from Limerick, Ireland, Nick Carswell has been living in Lawrence, KS since 2011. He formed Carswell & Hope in late 2012. The band released their debut album in 2014, coinciding with a two week Irish tour. Nick also plays bass in the electro-pop band Pink Royal and is the force behind Silly Goose Records and the annual MixMaster music conference, now part of the Crossroads Music Festival. More info at: http://www.carswellandhope.bandcamp.com])
10:25 – Pledge Break #2 – Champions & Challengers [8 Minutes]
Our WMM Fall Fund Drive Team: Marion Merritt and Betse Ellis
Today on WMM we are celebrating The MidCoast Sound with 15 of our Favorite recent MidCoastal Releases. 90.1 FM KKFI’s non-profit organization and governing body is the MidCoast Radio Project. MidCoastal is where we are, on the coasts of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers with a music community that spans the Kansas City Metro region and west to Lawrence and Topeka and south to Olathe and east to Columbia and North to St Joseph. Not necessarily the reach of our 100,000 watt signal but definitely the reach of our community.
WMM and KKFI are committed to featuring artists under-represented in other media, and that includes the music community that lives within Kansas City and Lawrence and the area radiance of our 100 watt signal. The story of Kansas City’s Arts and Music Community is our primary objective on WMM, where for 18 years we have shined a light on this music and the artist who create it and that story also include the music labels who help get this music out into the community and beyond Kansas City. That story also includes the recording studios where this music is engineered and mastered.
Wednesday MidDay Medley 90.1 FM was the first radio show and first radio station to ever play many if these amazing musical artists. WMM was the first to play the recordings of: Calvin Arsenia, and Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear, and Krystle Warren, and The Black Creatures and KD Kuro, The Shy Boys, The Salvation Choir. We were the first to interview these artists live on the radio and bring their music to a wider audience.
Timothy Finn Kansas City area music writer named WMM “The Best Place to Hear Local Music on the Radio.” and the Best Place to hear area musicians talk about their music.
10:33 – Underwriting
- Stephonne – “Cross My Heart (Sext M.F.) (Radio Edit)”
from: SIS: Side B [EP] / Stephonne / June 24, 2022
[Co-produced by, Justin Mantooth, and recorded at Westend Recording Studios. Johnny Hamil on bass, and Adam McKee on drums. Stephonne released the single, “Cross My Heart (Sexy M.F.) on June 3, 2022. Stephonne released the single, “Deja Vu” with Shilow and Regina Del Carmen on May 9, 2022. Stephonne released the single “The King’s Gambit” on July 28, 2021. Stephonne was part of the single, “Elephant Man (feat. Stephonne)” from Lee Walter Redding & Stephonne, released April 9, 2021. Stephonne released the single “Beautiful Life (Acoustic)” on January 15, 2021. Stephonne released SIS: Side A on August 7, 2020. The 4 song EP contained the song “Want Me” that was also made into a video featuring body painting on to Stephonne’s body from artist Ryan Wilks. Stephonne released his debut album, “Caged Bird Sings Songs About Red Beard.” The album was one of WMM’s 118 Best Recordings of 2018. Stephonne was born and raised in Wyandotte County, Kansas. Stephonne grew up in KCK. He has performed in multiple shows for Late Night Theatre. Stephonne told John Long of Camp Magazine “I was surrounded by records, and my parents always had music on.” Stephonne’s band is called: The Gay Rodeo with Miki P on drums, Benjamin Hart (Byard) on lead guitar, Ahafia Jurkiewicz-Miles on keyboards, Spencer Thut on bass. Stephonne and The Gay Rodeo hold band practice every week at Charlotte Street Foundation where Stephonne is in his second year of a residency.]
- Monta At Odds – “The Perfect Kiss”
from: Peaked – Alternative Takes and Remixes / The Record Machine / June 24, 2022
[This cover of the New Order classic is part of the companion album called PEAKED – ALTERNATE TAKES AND REMIXES that has remixes and alternative versions of Monta AT Odds’ 2021 album, PEAK OF ETERNAL LIGHT. On the track the band is: Dedric Moore on synths & programming, Mikal Shapiro on vocals, Matthew Heinrich on drums, Lucas Behrens on baritone guitar, Krysztof Nemeth on baritone guitar, and Kenn Jankowski on synths. // The Perfect Kiss” is a song by the English band New Order. It was recorded at Britannia Row Studios in London and released on May 13, 1985. It was included on a studio album, Low-Life. // The song’s themes include love “We believe in a land of love” and death “the perfect kiss is the kiss of death”. The overall meaning of the song is unclear to its writer today. In an interview with GQ magazine Bernard Sumner said “I haven’t a clue what this is about.” He agreed with the interviewer that his best known lyric is in the song: “Pretending not to see his gun/I said, ‘Let’s go out and have some fun'”. The lyrics, he added, came about after the band was visiting a man’s house in the United States who showed his guns under his bed before they went out for an enjoyable night. It had been quickly written, recorded and mixed without sleep before the band went on tour in Australia. // The song’s complex arrangement includes a number of instruments and methods not normally used by New Order. For example, a bridge features frogs croaking melodically. The band reportedly included them because Morris loved the effect and was looking for any excuse to use it. At the end of the track, the faint bleating of a (synthesized) sheep can be heard. Sheep samples would reappear in later New Order singles “Fine Time” and “Ruined in a Day”. //Despite being a fan favorite, the song was not performed live between 1993 and 2006 due to the complexity of converting the programs from the E-mu Emulator to the new Roland synthesizer. However, it returned to the live set at a performance in Athens on June 3, 2006. // Monta At Odds released their 7th album PEAK OF ETERNAL LIGHT on July 23, 2021. // Monta At Odds is a Kansas City combo led by the brothers Dedric and Delaney Moore. The two have played music together all their lives and have been exploring the Monta At Odds sound since the band’s debut in 2000. Dedric’s pulsing, melodic bass and Delaney’s artfully unhinged synthesizers frame the band’s central character, which is fleshed out by a talented cast of musicians and collaborators. The result is a heady sonic pool that has been inscrutably referred to as ‘Ummagumma meets Arthur Russell’s mutant disco at Vangelis’s house.’ // In 2020 the band added acclaimed vocalists, guitarists, and songwriters Mikal Shapiro and Teri Quinn to the lineup. With Mikal and Teri’s otherworldly vocal contributions, Monta At Odds continued to push their alternate reality into streamlined consciousness. With Lucas Behrens on guitar and synth and Matthew Heinrich on drums both rounds out the stellar lineup. The nad releaased a remix of their single “When I’m Gone” mixed by The Record Machine label mate Kenn Jankowski, lead singer, co-founder of The Republic Tigers. The remix featured Kenn’s voice singing with Teri’s voice. The collaboration led to Kenn joining Monta At Odds as a voclist and synth player. And when Kenn plays out as The Republic Tigers the members of Monta At Odds become The Republic Tigers. On December 18, 2020 Monta At Odds released A GREAT CONJUNCTION their 5-song EP released just in to coincide with the ‘double-planet’ convergence of Jupiter and Saturn on December 21 2020, which last occurred in 1226. These tunes form a soundtrack to the planetary event, five songs linked together by the vastness of space and as a meditation on our infinitesimal place in the universe. The EP featured Krystof Nemeth, Teri Quinn, Alexander Thomas, Dedric Moore and Matthew Heinrich. // In late 2020 Monta At Odds released the single “When Stars Grow Old.” // Monta At Odds released their 4-song EP Zen Diagram on May 1, 2020. The album was a more post-punk leaning follow-up to Argentum Dreams. Expect minimal rhythms set to maximum noise, shoegazed guitar signals, slo-mo psychedelic darkwave, endless dub echo, and extended-cut warped disco. Live musicians manipulating time and space via knob turning, cymbal cracking, and pedal pushing as they interlock into hypnotic moments of heavenly bliss that seem to hold forever, captivating the mind. / Info at: http://www.facebook.com/montaatodds%5D
- Dimension Bill Edwards – “Lady Lost Love”
from: SUSTENANCE / Gordophonic Records / February 10, 2022
[Dimension Bill Edwards released their single,“Surrealberry Hill” on Fat Tuesday, February 16, 2021. The single was inspired by band members move from the West 39th street area to Strawberry Hill in Kansas City, Kansas. The spoken word portion of the song is Matt reading from the Egyptian Book of The Dead. The release coincided with an amazing “Float House” that Melissa created for Mardi Gras in Pandemic times. Dimension Bill Edwards is a band that kind of organically formed through live performances at the Walnut Valley Folk Festival and the last set of the festival “Heavy Petting ZO0” held in the Pecan Grove an the band mameber’s association with the band KC Bearfighters. Dimension Bill Edwards is: Matt Weinman on lyrics, vocals & guitar; Melissa Weinman on lyrics, vocals & dance moves; Grant Buell on keyboards & accordion; Mallory Edson on violin; Phil Craven on bass & recording engineer; (John Bersuch on drums for “Surrealberry Hill”) ; Ike Golets on drums for future recordings and live performances. Matt and Melissa met John Bersuch when he moved in next door to them in Strawberry Hill on New Years Eve 2019. Grant Buell and Melissa Weinman are also in the band Good Time Charley. Phil Craven and Mallory Edson and Ike Goletz are also in the band, Whiskey for the Lady. Band members found a wooden sign that read” Dimension Bill Edwards? behinds Cupini’s on West 43rd Street. No one know what the sign was from or what it meant, but they decided to use this for the name of their band. More info at: http://www.dimensionbilledwards.bandcamp.com]
10:45 – Pledge Break #3
Our WMM Fall Fund Drive Team: Marion Merritt, and Betse Ellis
Our most played artists in 2022 are The Black Creatures. Wednesday MidDay Medley was the first radio show to play their music. They have been frequent guests on our show. The Black Creatures released their debut single “Mouth 2 Mouth” June 5, 2016. The Black Creatures released their self-produced, debut album, See No Evil, on December 6, 2017. The Black Creatures released their single Elements on February 14, 2018. Our playlists show that we first played The Black Creatures on March 14, 2018. Since that date we have championed this band. We first saw them live at InterUrban ArtHouse on July 10, 2019 as part of a Celebration of Queer Identity where Mark was also a performer. Their breakthrough album, WILD ECHOES, was self released by the band on September 30, 2019. WILD ECHOES was #2 on WMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019. WILD ECHOES was re-released and re-mastered by Center Cut Records in 2020 and named Album Of The Year from The Pitch Magazine for 2020. // Charlotte Street Foundation announced that the recipients of the 2022 Generative Performing Artist Awards are The Black Creatures and Calvin Arsenia Scott. // The Black Creatures released their new album By Thy Hand on Center Cut Records on August 12, 2022. // Jade and Xavier just completed performances in the world premiere of Christian A. Walker’s “What Came With Spring” for the Owen/Cox Dance Group October 7 thru 9 at City Stage Theatre, Union Station, 30 W Pershing Rd, KCMO. // Mark’s brief review: “Being named “Album of The Year” from The Pitch Kansas City was the recognition this young band deserved, because there is really no other band in Kansas City creating incredibly beautiful and painful protest songs in multi genre styles of beats, vocal styles, textures. The immediate personal and poetic lyrics of Jade Green and tribal, dance floor and soulful beats and melodies of Xavier bring the listener into a multicultural, mixed, gender fluid, soul celebration of life and an honest indictment of the racist, homophobic, and sexist world they are navigating through to survive. Listen carefully to these young music makers, they are wise beyond their years. They sound beautiful and speak the truth to power. They are beautiful. They are The Black Creatures.”
10:52
- Making Movies – “Sala De Los Pecadores”
rom: XOPA / Cosmica Artists / JUne 17, 2022
[Making Movies released the single “Calor” on March 11, 2022. Making Movies released “Porcelina” on May 17, 2022, which features Tennis, singing in Spanish. All three singles are from the Making Movies album, XOPA and was recorded in Memphis, produced by Ben Yonas and mixed by Tchad Blake. More info at: http://www.makingmovies.world. Making Movies is a Kansas City based 4-piece band and made up of : Enrique Chi on guitar and lead vocals; Diego Chi on bass & vocals; Juan-Carlos Chaurand on percussion & keyboards; and Duncan Burnett on drums. The band draws their influences from the origins of their families: Santiago, Panama, and KC Missouri, and Guadalajara, Mexico. Making Movies released the 5-song EP, EN VIVO (SIN APLAUSO) on February 4, 2022. Prior to that, Making Movies released the 6-track EP BORING BITS, on May 7, 2021, which includes their single “La Marcha.” On February 5, the band released a sneak peek of the new music they’ve been working on. The 7-song, La Cuarentena EP includes a brand new version of the first Making Movies song, “La Marcha” and the lullaby “Could You?” (both mixed by Jim Eno of Spoon and tracked at Memphis Magnetic studio), and the love ballad “Una Vida.” The EP was ranked #25 inWMM’s 120 Best Recordings of 2021. The EP also includes: covers of Talking Heads and Tears for Fears classics, plus bonus live acoustic tracks. This EP was made available on BandCamp for only three days on February 5 through February 7, 2021. Since then it has been made private, an is not available anywhere. Making Movies released their single “Could You” on January 12, 2021. About “Could You” lead singer Enrique Javier Chi wrote, “I was thinking about what to share for “Could You?” and I just go back to the fact that Memphis is a profound place… it is a place where you can feel what America truly is and where it comes from. I think you see and feel the reality that so much of this nation was built from exploiting people. You can see that our pop culture is driven by the Black community and yet that community is still the most oppressed in the nation. Things are still so messed up. // Memphis is the place where Elvis started singing black music with a country twang and where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. It’s a beautiful place, it’s a charming place, it feels at times downtrodden and it’s a place that reminds me of home (both KC and Panamá in different ways. Our experiences going to Memphis gave us the context to create “Could You?” It was filmed originally for AMERI’KANA TV..” Making Movies released their critically acclaimed album ameri’kana through 3/2 Recordings on May 24, 2019. This was #1 on WMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019. Produced by Steve Berlin and Ben Yonas. The notes for this album read: “ameri’kana is a canary in a coal mine, the watchman at the tower. It is a desire to remember where we come from and assure that we better ourselves in every step along our journey. Every chapter is an example, a reason to not be silent and not accept corrupt leaders as something inevitable. ameri’kana is based on faith, faith that every person on this continent carries within themselves the ability to grow, to awaken their consciousness and merits of the same rights. We were accomplices to get ourselves to this point so we will have to be accomplices in the solutions.” This was the band’s follow up release to their critically acclaimed, I Am Another You, released May 26, 2017. The quartet has toured with Arcade Fire, Thievery Corporation, Cold War Kids, Los Lobos, Ozomatli, Tennis, Sergio Mendoza of Calexico, Rodrigo y Gabriela, and Hurray for the Riff Raff. Enrique Chi joined WMM on May 19, 2021. ]
[Making Movies are currently on tour, they play Anchorage Alaska on November 4, and Fairbanks. Alaska on November 5, 2022]
11.The Creepy Jingles – “Working Class Clown”
from: TAKE ME AY MY WORDPLAY / High Dive Records / March 25, 2022
[From band’s 11-track, full-length debut, TAKE ME AT MY WORD PLAY. The Creepy Jingles are a Kansas City based, 4-piece rock and roll band that both honors and defies convention. Led by singer / song-writer Jocelyn Olivia Nixon, a transgender wordsmith who charms with razor wit and dazzles with her lyrical acrobatics. Nick Robertson on drums, Travis McKenzie on guitar, and Andrew Woody on bass guitar bring first class musicianship and creativity, helping Nixon paint the perfect picture of colors and sounds that don’t stay in the lines. Their new album, “Take Me at My Wordplay” is an eclectic blend of catchy Brit-Pop melodies that dance around the landscape of surf, NY garage rock, psychedelia and folk music. Paired up with lyrics centering on themes of identity, strained relationships, social media madness, meme magic, pandemic paranoia, paid off political pundits, backyard bullies and barking up the wrong tree. Everything and the kitchen sink or swim. No stoner left unturned. The Creepy Jingles released their Debut EP on High Dive Records on May 3, 2019. The release was in the top ten of WMM’s 119 Best Recordings of 2019. ] The Creepy Jingles released their Debut EP on High Dive Records on May 3, 2019.]
[The Creepy Jingles play The Ship, 1221 Union Ave, KCMO, West Bottoms on Friday, October 28, at 9:00 PM, with Ebony Tusks, and Rebecca]
- Gullywasher – “Returning Softly”
from: COME TOMORROW YOU’LL FALL / Chris Hudson / October 14, 2022
[Gullywasher is an acoustic, Folk, Americana Trio based in Kansas City formed by Chris Hudson on guitar & vocals, Sam Wright on banjo & vocals, and Matt Catalina on bass. More information at: http://www.gullywasherkc.com http://www.chrishudson.bandcamp.com]
[Gullywasher plays an Album Release Show, October 22, 2022, at 8:30 PM at The Kaw Valley Public House with Marty Bush and Natalie Prauser.]
11:00 – Station ID
11:00 – Interview with Chris Hudson & Sam Wright
Professional musician and teacher Chris Hudson joins us to share music and details about his new released from his band Gullywasher called COME TOMORROW YOU’LL FALL released on October 14, 2022. Chris Hudson is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, musician, visual artist, and teacher at Kansas City Young Audiences. Gullywasher is a band Chris formed with Sam Wright and Matt Cathlina. Chris was last on WMM after the released of his album with his band, The Bard Owls, a Kansas City based acoustic band created and named by Chris Hudson and Sam Wright. Chris Hudson plays as a solo artist and is part of several other bands including: The Multiverse with Julie Bennett Hume. More information at http://www.chrishudson.bandcamp.com
Sam Wright is a professional actor and musician. He graduated from Emporia State University. Sam is the co-creator of Prejudice & Pride (A Folk Musical) Book by Nicholas Collett & Sam Wright, music & lyrics by Sam Wright. Prejudice & Pride was awarded the 2022 artist residency at Music Theater Heritage in Kansas City, where it will be given a full production in July, 2022. Then the entire company traveled to Scotland in August to present a full run at Edinburgh Fringe 2022 where the production won Best of Festival Awards. From SamWrites & Nicholas Collett Productions, the international collaboration that brought you 2016’s Best of KC award winner Crazy Horse: A Dream of Thunder.
Gullywasher plays an Album Release Show, October 22, 2022, at 8:30 PM at The Kaw Valley Public House with Marty Bush and Natalie Prauser.
Chris Hudson thanks for being with us on WMM.
Chris Hudson a KC Native, Classical Guitarist, Composer, Multi-Instrumentalist, and Visual Artist. He is part of 3 bands: Gullywasher, The Multiverse, and The Bard Owls.
Chris Hudson has been playing and creating songs for decades in the KC – Lawrence area. We last talked with him on the radio show on September 22, 2021 upon the released of Chris Hudson and The Bard Owls album THE ERASING released on September 29, 2021.
Chris joined us on March 31, 2021 to share news about HOLDING THE DAWNING released on March 15, 2021 – The first studio release from the KC based Gullywasher, that includes: Matt Cathlina on upright bass & vocals, Chris Hudson on guitar & vocals, and Sam Wright on banjo & vocals.
Formed in 2018 the band started recording demos, rehearsing and performing these songs at multiple venues, including a trip to SXSW in Austin in early March 2020 just before the COVID-19 Pandemic shut down and quarantine. In the early months of the pandemic they continued to rehearse and write more songs and do live streaming shows. Chris Hudson wrote the majority of the songs. Sam Wright wrote the song “Eastward Facing Road.” The band writes that their songs are” a mix of Americana, Folk, ProgRock, Emo and Jazz.”
HOLDING THE DAWNING was recorded between September and November 2020 during the Covid-19 Pandemic, at Weights and Measures Soundlab in KCMO with Duane Trower. Gullywasher brought in special guest perfomers for several tracks local Chad Brothers of the band Old Sound on guitar, Devan Teran of The Timbers Devon Teran on pedal steel, and Mark Hamblin on Trumpet. More info at: http://www.gullywasherkc.com
Prior to that we talked with Chris Hudson on Nov. 4, 2020, when he and Julie Bennett Hume joined us to share details about their release SONGS FOR LATTER DAYS. Chris Hudson and Julie Bennett Hume have been playing and creating songs for decades in the KC – Lawrence area. Their musical project The Multiverse, released the album, Songs Of Latter Days, on Nov. 1, 2020. They played on all songs with help from the KC acclaimed alternative string duo The Wires with Laurel Morgan Parks on violin & Sascha Groschang on cello. Also contributing to the recording was Jason Beers. http://www.themultiverse.com
Gullywasher plays 9th & State, 1717 West 9th, KCMO, West Bottoms, on Friday, October 21, at 8:30 PM
Gullywasher plays an Album Release Show, October 22, 2022, at 8:30 PM at The Kaw Valley Public House with Marty Bush and Natalie Prauser.
Gullywasher plays Riverwood Winery in Rushville, MO., on Sunday, Oct. 23, at 1:00 PM.
Gullywasher plays The Pairing: Crossroads Wine & Grocer, 1615 Oak St., KCMO East Crossroads on Thursday, October 27 at 7:30 PM with Jason Buice.
Gullywasher plays Chartreuse Saloon 1625 Oak St., KCMO East Crossroads, on Saturday, October 29, 2022 at 10:00 PM.
Chris Hudson and Sam Wright thanks for being with us on WMM.
Gullywasher plays an Album Release Show, October 22, 2022, at 8:30 PM at The Kaw Valley Public House with Marty Bush and Natalie Prauser.
More information at http://www.chrishudson.bandcamp.com http://www.gullywasherkc.com
11:10
- Gullywasher – “Sunshine Stream”
from: COME TOMORROW YOU’LL FALL / Chris Hudson / October 14, 2022
[Gullywasher is an acoustic, Folk, Americana Trio based in Kansas City formed by Chris Hudson on guitar & vocals, Sam Wright on banjo & vocals, and Matt Catalina on bass. More information at: http://www.gullywasherkc.com http://www.chrishudson.bandcamp.com]
[Gullywasher plays an Album Release Show, October 22, 2022, at 8:30 PM at The Kaw Valley Public House with Marty Bush and Natalie Prauser.]
11:13 – Pledge Break #4
Our WMM Fall Fund Drive Team: Marion Merritt and Betse Ellis
Our friend and longtime listener Ann Stewart called into the show. With her partner Marion Merritt, Ann Stewart is the co-proprietor of Records With Merritt, a minority owned business at 1614 Westport Rd. in Kansas City, that features new vinyl releases, in-store performances, and was once the location for a wedding. Ann Stewart has donated to every single fund drive KKFI has had for the last 12 years!!! More information at: http://www.recordwithmerritt.com
Where can I find out about what is happening in my community? LGBTQIA, Urban, Labor Rights, The Environment, The Kansas City Visual & Literary Arts , The Performing Arts, Women’s Issues, Native American Issues, Jazz, Blues, Reggae, Classical, Hip Hop, Folk, Women’s Music, Indie Rock, Pop, Electronica, Punk…the answer is KKFI 90.1 FM Kansas City Community Radio. The Voice of The Community
Along with our National Public Affairs shows like Democracy Now and Alternative Radio we offer more locally produced public affairs programs than anywhere else on the dial.
We offer programs specifically produced for the LGBTQIA Community, Women’s Issues, Native American News and Culture, Middle Eastern Music and Information, Latino Programming, African American Public Affairs and Community News, Labor and Worker’s Unions, our prison population and justice system, environmental programming, Visual and Literary Arts, and Performing Arts.
At KKFI there is no automated robot playing the same 40 songs in a “rotation,” based on a formula, created by a singular programmer of the robot. KKFI is the opposite of a robot. There is always human being on the end of the phone line anytime you call 816-931-0901.
90.1 offers 100 different radio programs. 82 of these programs are locally, produced, hosted, engineered and written by over 100 different people, who create content, and personally handcraft each show, each week. There are 61 local music shows and 21 locally produce News, Public Affairs, Arts & Talk shows. There are 140 hours each week of locally produced handcrafted programs.
You will not find this kind of representative diversity anywhere else on your radio dial. Or from any singular source on your computer. It is very special. It needs to be nourished and kept alive in a world of corporate, nationally owned, commercial or religious broadcasting.
Not only do we bring the most diverse and unfiltered news and information, but our musical playlists are deep, and comprehensive. In one week you can hear over 2000 different songs played, in Blues, Jazz, Folk, Hip Hop, Reggae, Classical, World, Americana, Southern Soul, Fusion, Soul, Rock, New Wave, Electronic, Native, Local, Old Timey, Rockabilly, Women’s, Children’s, Gospel, and Experimental.
With all of this, you hear the voices from the hundreds of KKFI volunteers, and thousands of guests from the community, who share their stories, broadcast live from our non-commercial, midtown studios, at 39th & Main, in the center of our metro, across two states, a collective of communities, and thousands of listeners. What is this worth to you?
11:21
- BLACKSTARKIDS – “CYBERKISS 2 U”
from: CYBERKISS / Dirty Hit / September 23, 2022
[From the band’s new fifth album, and their third with Dirty Hit Records, all in the last 4 years. Blackstarkids are phenomenon who came out of Kansas City in 2020 became the soundtrack for the summer. Blackstarkids are a pop/R&B/hip-hop trio based in Kansas City, Missouri. Members include: TheBabeGabe, Deiondre, and TyFaizon (of the Drop Dead XX collective). The members have known each other since high school in Raytown, Missouri. Members met at Raytown South High School and formed the band in 2019. The group released its first album, Let’s Play Sports, on August 1, 2019. Blackstarkids then released their second album SURF through their own label Bedroom Records on February 28, 2020. Blackstarkids caught the attention of The 1975’s frontman Matty Healy and were then signed to The 1975’s management company and UK-based label Dirty Hit Records. They were featured in Clash Magazine. Blackstarkids then released, Surf Basement Demos on Dirty Hit Records on March 5, 2020. On October 29, 2020, Blackstarkids released Whatever, Man on Dirty Hit Records, their third album release of 2020. Gabe, of Blackstarkids recently described the KC Music community to an interviewer, “The music scene here is really nice. There are a lot of bands who are super talented and do all types of genres. The jazz music here is really great as well. Kansas City is honestly a hidden gem when it comes to music. I feel like you can meet an artist anywhere and anyplace in this city.” Deiondre added, “The music scene here is getting cool now, there’s a lot of jazz musicians that go to school for music here too but you can find people from different scenes all over if around the city.” Ty wrote, “The Kansas City scene is great, the community here is so supportive and genuine. This is a really prideful city here and I think they’re finally getting the musicians they deserve.”]
[Blackstarkids are scheduled to play Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on Nov. 29, 2022.]
11:24 – Underwriting
- Amy Farrand & The Like – “Sweet Thing”
from: One / Amy Farrand / April 28, 2018
[Amy Farrand & The Like are Amy Farrand on lead vocals & guitar, Steve Tubbert on bass, Felix Dukes on drums, Kyle Dahlquist on keyboards & backing vocals, Stephan Jean-Francois on trumpet, and Katie Gilchrist on backing vocals. 11-song debut album was recorded with Duane Trower at Weights & Measures Soundlab. Amy Farrand plays over a dozen intruments, bass, drums, lap steel, guitar, she has hosted variety shows, and radio shows and has been a a member of the bands: American Catastrophe, Experimental Instrument Orchestra, Shotgun Idols, Sister Mary Rotten Crotch, Atlantic Fadeout, The Silver Maggies. One reviewer wrote of her, “Amy Farrand is a tough-as-nails vocalist making her an invaluable asset to any live act.”]
[Amy Farrand and The Like play The Reproductive Rights Benefit Show featuring Boxknife, on Friday, October 21, at 9:00 PM at The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, West Bottoms of KCMO. This a fundraiser for Missouri Abortion Access Fund.]
11:30 – Interview with Amy Farrand & Lotta Williams
Amy Farrand plays over a dozen instruments, bass, drums, lap steel, guitar, she has hosted variety shows, and radio shows, and she is licsensed to has been a a member of the bands: American Catastrophe, Experimental Instrument Orchestra, Shotgun Idols, Sister Mary Rotten Crotch, Atlantic Fadeout, The Silver Maggies. One reviewer wrote of her, “Amy Farrand is a tough-as-nails vocalist making her an invaluable asset to any live act.” In April 2018, Amy’s band Amy Farrand & The Like released their 11-song debut album and were nominated for a Pitch “Best of Kansas City” Award.
Lotta Williams is the Front-of-house manager of The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, West Bottoms of KCMO and their new space called “All Else The Sea” that opened last November as a cocktail lounge serving food. Bob Asher and Josh Mobley, who own and operate neighboring bar and diner The Ship, decided to launch All Else The Sea during the pandemic to meet the needs of growing crowds making the West Bottoms a new destination to see live music. They were able to work out a plan with their landlord Adam Jones. The 4,500-square-foot space that was formerly home to Foundation Event Space, which closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. All Else The Sea takes its name from a Negro National League slogan, “We Are the Ship, All Else the Sea.” Lotta Williams leads the cocktail program, which features pre-batched seasonal cocktails, such as a barrel-aged maple Old Fashioned, hot buttered rum, whiskey-based Crown Chai Latte and an Oaxacan Old Fashioned with mezcal.
Lotta and Amy share details about The Reproductive Rights Benefit Show featuring Boxknife, and Amy Farrand & The Like, on Friday, October 21, at 9:00 PM at The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, West Bottoms of KCMO. This a fundraiser for Missouri Abortion Access Fund. More info at: http://www.theshipkc.com
The last time we talked with Amy on the radio was on May 25, 2022 when she joined us to talk about her band Amy Farrand and the Like before their first show together in almost 3 years on June 3 at The Black Box. Before that we conducted a phone interview with Amy Farrand on April 1, 2020 while she was stranded in Italy after traveling there to help a friend move back to the U.S.
In her second week of visiting her friend the Coronavirus hit hard and citizens were ordered to quarantine themselves at home. Amy was stuck in Italy for 4 months, and when it was time to come home her friend ended up staying Europe. On April 1, 2020 in the US we are at 4085 deaths and 189,785 confirmed cases. As of today there have been over 1 million deaths in the United States due to Covid.
Amy came back to her home town that was shuttered, venues were closed, friends out of work, Davey’s Uptown lost to a fire. Amy decided to turn her efforts in ward, and as she put it, “do the work, on myself, to work out those things that have been haunting me my whole life.” She says that she is happier now than she has ever been in her whole life. She is 70 pounds lighter. Amy says as she did the work, the weight just went away, gradually over the last year and a half. Amy’s hair is naturally curly, her smile as big as ever. Amy Farrand is real. One of the most real people you will ever meet. She is honest and hardworking and a walking history of the last 25 years of the KC music community.
Amy talked with us about picking up a guitar and playing for the first time in years.
Amy Farrand & The Like are
Amy Farrand on lead vocals & guitar
Steve Tubbert on bass
Felix Dukes on drums
Kyle Dahlquist on keyboards & backing vocals
Stephan Jean-Francois on trumpet
Katie Gilchrist on backing vocals.
Amy Farrand & Lotta Williams thank you for being with us on WMM.
The Reproductive Rights Benefit Show featuring Boxknife, and Amy Farrand & The Like, on Friday, October 21, at 9:00 PM at The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, West Bottoms of KCMO. This a fundraiser for Missouri Abortion Access Fund. http://www.theshipkc.com
11:40
- Boxnife – “Bp Razorblade”
from: Manifestering [EP] / Squarestab Records / May 20, 2022
[Boxknife, is a queer dark-pop band from Kansas City made up of Stephanie Bankston, Britt Wild, Mia Morrow, and Brook Worlledge who formed from the ashes of the band Lovergurl. Keyboardist and vocalist, Stephanie Bankston was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. She is a graduate of The University of Missouri. She moved abroad in her 20s, and lived in Seoul, Korea, where she played in a mostly female band called BaekMa (“White Horse”). Stephanie returned to Kansas City in the Fall 2015. Brook Worlledge,is a Kansas City native. She is the band’s drummer and she sings and writes songs for the band. Brook is a defender of the proletariat. Brook’s influences range from The B-52s, The Velvet Underground, and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Brit Wild has played to Wick and the Tricks and other bands in Kansas City.]
[Boxknife play The Reproductive Rights Benefit Show featuring Boxknife, on Friday, October 21, at 9:00 PM at The Ship, 1221 Union Avenue, West Bottoms of KCMO. This a fundraiser for Missouri Abortion Access Fund.]
11:43 – Pledge Break #5
This is WMM’s Fall Fund Drive Show with Marion Merritt & Betse Ellis
Case #5 We offer loads and loads of information about what is going on in the community. Not only does this show interview 100+ guests each year, not only do we play nearly 900 different songs with more than half of those being locally produced, but we also shine a light on area not-for-profit theatre companies, art museums & galleries, area festivals, service organizations, area record labels and record stores, the area music scene, arts scene, theatre scene, literary arts scene, political action scene.
In just this past year, we’ve featured segments shining a light on:, The Kauffman Center for The Performing Arts, UMKC Conservatory of Music, Owen Cox Dance Group, KC Bass Workshop, The Record Machine, Mills Record Company, Records With Merritt, High Dive Records, Center Cut Records, Manor Records, Lost Cowgirl Records, KC Irish Fest, The Crossroads Music Fest, MixMaster Music Conference, Too Much Rock, Midwest Music Foundation, Apocalypse Meow, filmmaker Morgan Cooper, Charlotte Street Foundation, Inter Urban Arthouse, Lemonade Park, Weights and Measure Sound Lab, Innovation Festival, Bio Kansas, Les Bons Bons Electriques, Outer Reaches Fest, The Greater Philipino Association of Kamsas City, Queer Narratives Fest, No Devide KC, Boulevardia, Gay Pride, Folk Alliance International, The Band That Fell To Earth, .
11:50
- Mensa Deathsquad – “Chin Up Eyes Wide Open”
from: YOU WILL HEAR THUNDER / Gran Cavalera / April 12, 2022
[This is the ongoing creative engine of Kansas City-based darkwave artist Brandon Phillips – the soft human center of Mensa Deathsquad writes: “Mensa Deathsquad is fundamentally about two things, Dark dance music optimized for sweaty catharsis and the most ragged, unpolished emotional honesty I can bring.” On June 13, 2022 Mensa Deathsquad released the single “Come Say Hello.”On April 12, 2022 Mensa Deathsquad released the 14-track album, YOU WILL HEAR THUNDER, Written, performed and produced by Mensa Deathsquad. Mastered at Element Recording and Mastering. Brandon Phillips of Mensa Deathsquad, writes: “By the time I wrote Chin Up Eyes Wide Open,” (second single from YOU WILL HEAR THUNDER) I was just this little emotional soap bubble, exploding in slow motion. I felt safe in my own skin for the first time in a really long time. This is part of trauma recovery – early on there is this identity crisis that starts in your bone marrow and extends outward into the far reaches of the galaxy and it takes a lot of effort to find yourself again in all that messy tissue and ice cold vastness. By some quirk of luck, I bumped into myself by chance when a friend made a joke about my being exactly her “tall, thin and emotionally unavailable” type. To which I shot back, “Babe, all I am is emotionally available. I am skin and emotions.” Boom. There I was, hiding in plain sight. So “Chin Up, Eyes Wide Open” is a song about my deciding to live that punch line and to just fully embody “skin and emotions” and to never mask that version of myself again. It’s a song about showing up for yourself in all your flawed, fucked up glory.” “Chin Up, Eyes Wide Open” is a follow up to “Light” released November 16, 2021. Brandon Phillips writes, “The electronic music that I daydream about, always has that Stooges layer of dirt and shop grease on it. That’s what I want.” Follow up to CYCLIST, the second album from Mensa Deathsquad released February 23, 2021. The cyclist was released with these notes: Brandon Phillips laid in a Kansas City hospital through the winter of 2019-2020 as his own album release (the unintentionally but appropriately named Patient Zero by his alt-synthwave band Mensa Deathsquad) passed by in the outside world. The first tracks from his debut album Patient Zero were premiering and, chained to a Luciferian merry-go-round of post-operative infections, Brandon strained through the pharmaceutical blur to do promotion for his record, emailing editors and scraping together the necessary pieces they needed. Since his surgery a month prior had gone sideways, and the time, energy, and planning for things like photos, videos and shows had been blown to smithereens, all he had left to look forward to beyond the IVs and the machines that go “ping” was this premiere and the street date. And then came COVID-19, like a rogue wave, to finish off the aimless Mensa Deathsquad sailboat. // But Brandon didn’t die and the boat didn’t sink. As the squall receded and the wanton eye of cruel gods passed over him, Brandon clung to the boat and swore revenge… // As the aphorism goes, “revenge is sweet” and thus Brandon and his Mensa Deathsquad will have the triumphant last laugh. Holed up in the spare bedroom of his apartment in Kansas City with an open wound in his abdomen, two surgical drains, and a severely compromised immune system, Brandon slipped back into his Mensa Deathsquad persona and began working on what would become his newest full length album, Cyclist. // The music that emerged from Brandon’s isolation and illness is a raw, nearly garage-rock take on darkwave and a perfect continuation of what he had begun on Patient Zero. Launching with the one-two punch of electro-punk noir in “Nothing Is Ever Enough” and “Therapist” before the pounding synth-rock of “The Disappointment Of The Christ,” Brandon fixes his furious eyes upon the provocative hypocrisy and violence that results from American Christianity. // A heady package of nudge nudges and intellectual ruminations (a trademark of Brandon’s past as a smartpunk upstart in such seminal bands as The Gadjits and Architects), Cyclist carries both a powerful music punch, a cultural rummaging through pop culture, and a run through his ever-evolving intellect. A knowing wink to fans of the seminal vampire flick The Lost Boy, “Join Us, Michael” is at once a seething appraisal of a world scorched and defiled by an older generation and a musical love letter to that pivotal ‘80s vampire movie soundtrack. “Leap Year (Chaos Reigns)” which began as a Siouxsie & the Banshees-inspired jam serves as Cyclist’s true north – the story of a drug-fueled wrinkle in time that brought the entire cyclical nature of existence into visibility one fateful night. “End Of The World” is dance-floor nihilist electro-rock blending angular post-punk guitar with the nostalgia of neon synths and electroclash drums, while “Takes One To Know One” slowly approaches the thunderstorm of toxic relationships, soulful vocals, tech house kick drums, and grimey-as-hell bass. // As a fitting conclusion to the tour de force through his psyche, Cyclist closes with yet another two-track charge, the swaggering post-electro sneer at celebrity social media, “Famous” followed by the throbbing Giorgio Moroder-via-Tech House cover of Iggy Pop’s classic “The Passenger.” “It was important to me that I cover ‘The Passenger’ as a letter of intent.” Says Brandon. “The electronic music that I daydream about, always has that Stooges layer of dirt and shop grease on it. That’s what I wanted for Cyclist.” The result is a triumph over the storm, as Mensa Deathsquad sails, unvanquished, into victory. More info at: https://mensadeathsquad.bandcamp.com or https://facebook.com/MensaDeathsquad.%5D
11:53 – Pledge Break #6
This is WMM’s Fall Fund Drive Show with Marion Merritt and Betse Ellis
KKFI’s Mission Statement: KKFI is the Kansas City area’s independent, noncommercial community radio station. We seek to stimulate, educate and entertain our audience, to reflect the diversity of the local and world community, and to provide a channel for individuals and groups, issues and music that have been overlooked, suppressed or under-represented by other media.
KKFI’s Philosophy Statement: KKFI is committed to diversity in programming and discourse and seeks to create a climate of mutual respect and collaboration among volunteers and staff.
Marion Merritt, Betse Ellis, Thank You! Thank you to everyone who called in!
- Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]
Next week on Wednesday, October 26 – Marion Merritt & Nico Gray will be back to c0-host with me for our 2022 Fall On-Air Fundraiser and we will continue with Part 2 of “The MidCoast Sound” playing many of our favorite recent MidCoastal Releases including: Arquesta Del Sol Soul, The Black Creatures, Black Light Animals, Julia Haile, Kevin Morby, Katy Guillen & The Girls, Amado Espinoza and more! Plus The Lone Stranger will play live in our 90.1 FM Studios.
Our Script/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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Show #964
Wednesday MidDay Medley 