Kansas City Music Blog

The compilation this tune is from, Kansas City Jazz - 20s, was put out by Audio Book & Music Company, also known as ABM. It's one of those companies that puts together compilations of songs with obscure copyright statuses. George E. Lee died in 1958 in San Diego, where he'd moved after retiring from music in 1940, so I imagine that the copyright on this tune is long-gone.

​"Merritt Stomp" was recorded for the Merritt label in 1927. It's interesting, as the band is billed as the "Novelty Singing Orchestra," and you hear not a whit of human voice anywhere on it. Still, the banjo and clarinet on this hot jazz tune give it a bit more of an edge than the rest of the songs on the compilation on which it's found.

All information and images regarding George Lee come courtesy of Club Kaycee.

MP3: George E. Lee & His Novelty Singing Orchestra, "Merritt Stomp"

After over a decade of rocking and rolling you all over Kansas City, the Throttlers are throwing down for one last time tonight. Born out of the ashes of Johnny Black & the Assassins, the Throttlers have been the closest thing this poor world has seen to a hot rod rock 'n' roll band since the New Bomb Turks broke up.

​In their time, the band's played with every Kansas City rock band that's ever mattered, as well as opening for touring badasses like the Boss Martians. When they play tonight, the Throttlers will be rocking out with the help of some friends: The Haunted Creepys (direct from Transylvania), the Federation of Horsepower, and the Klusterfux.

I saw the band play numerous times over the years, both as the Throttlers, and as Johnny Black & the Assassins, and they never gave anything less than their all. PK would play his heart out, and I saw him break out a full-on "YEAAAAAAAAAH!" when sick once. Cuzin' Mike played bass like he was born to it, and Claes Frehley was a welcome addition, adding some serious breadth to the band's sound when he joined on guitar, adding to the three-piece they'd been with drummer Rob.

Now, despite the fact that the band's playing their last show tonight, and despite the fact that you've only got one album's worth of material -- Let the Eagle Fly -- you can find a silver lining to this black cloud. The band might be declared after this show, but the band does remind you "the dead have been know to walk on occasion..."

The Runaway Sons have a new album out, entitled Soy España, and they'd like you to hear it. Rather than just listening to rockers like "Jerk and Gyrate" or "Kathleen Turner Overdrive" via the tinny speakers on your laptop, the band would like you to get a taste of the album the way it was meant to be heard -- blasting out of some speakers, surrounded by a bunch of like-minded individuals.

​
Now, should you care to hear the EP at ear-blistering volume, you can join the band and other fans at the Soy España listening party tonight.

The party gets going at 6pm tonight, at the Hot Topic in the Great Mall of the Great Plains in Olathe. To find Hot Topic in the vast oval that is the Great Mall, follow these easy instructions:

Hot Topic is located inside the theater entrance at the NorthWest side of the mall. Walk past the movie ticket kiosk, and we are right after Java Jive on the right hand side.

Coalesce not only released the amazing OX earlier this year, they planned the followup OXEP as a continuation of the full-length's brutal roar.

​In other words, these aren't b-sides or leftovers that were released yesterday. This is an honest-to-goodness new release. As the band puts it:

These songs are not cuts that didn't make ox. We wrote and recorded these songs specifically for an ep release after ox was already done and delivered to Relapse for production. We continued our americana theme and expanded them on these songs, therefore wanted them to be considered part of the 2009 ox sessions.

MP3: Coalesce, "Absent In Death"

MP3 via Stereogum.

Lord, there's not a day that goes by that I don't miss BR5-49. Now, to be fair, the world's greatest hillbilly band wasn't really local. Chuck Mead had fronted Lawrence's Homestead Grays, and was in fact from Lawrence, but BR5-49 was really based out of Nashville.

​The band's first release, the Live From Robert's EP, has a fairly fantastic story. The band got their start at the western wear store, playing for nothing but tips every night for years. When it was released back in 1996, Rolling Stone listed the band in its "Hot issue," giving them a high profile.

BR5-49 released a full length live album later in their career, but their debut was probably the high point. Featuring covers of songs by Doc Watson and the Stanley Brothers alongside the band's originals, as well as a healthy dollop of clever stage banter ("plugs" abound, both for tips and to get people to buy some boots), Live From Robert's is one of those albums that leaves the listener wanting more, and whet my appetite for the band's full-length.

My favorite number on the EP is "Me n' Opie (Down by the Duck Pond)," a true story of "drug abuse and sexual deviance," also known as the untold story from the Andy Griffith Show. Led by its military cadence, it certainly bears more than a little musical resemblence to Jimmie Driftwood's "The Battle of New Orleans" -- although the lyrical content is more akin to Homer & Jethro's "Battle of Kookamonga."

Interesting fact: 1/3 of the writing credit goes to Kief's Downtown Music's (and former member of Ricky Dean Sinatra) Mark Roseberry.

MP3: BR5-49, "Me 'n' Opie (Down By the Duck Pond)"

We mentioned a couple of weeks ago about Ian MacDougall, guitarist for the Riverboat Gamblers, and the injuries he sustained when hit by a car while he was riding his bike.

​While you can still go to the Help Ian page to donate, perhaps you're the sort of person who needs to get a little something for your donation -- the person who doesn't send any money to PBS until they offer up the tote bag, as it were.

Well, here you go: tonight at the Riot Room, there's a benefit for MacDougall, featuring some of the finest rock 'n' roll Kansas City has to offer. When benefits for musicians are usually done, it's inevitably the case that the bands playing have little-to-no connection with the musician whom they're helping, other than the tenuous "fellow musician" connection.

In the case of tonight's show, you get a healthly dose of bands who share a sonic connection with MacDougall's band: The Sixteens, Wrong Crowd, The Also Rans, Hopeless Destroyers, and 45th St. Porch Band.

The Rumblejetts have provided the Kansas City area with high-quality, high-octane rockabilly for over a decade now, and the group shows no signs of stopping. Their live shows are a guaranteed good time, with a mix of classic Sun Records covers, as well as the group's originals, which blend into the set so well as to be indistinguishable from songs written half a century prior.

​Oh, and their fliers are always stellar. Usually designed by drummer Jud Kite's Killer Kite Productions, they are by far the most professional fliers you will ever see in the Kansas City area. Much like the poster you see to your left, most of Kite's work wouldn't look out of place hanging in the garage of a filling station somewhere. They're always wholesome, but with a hint of hot rod racer edge.

The Rumblejetts' new CD is called Summertime Apples, and is the band's third full-length (in addition to Roostina and Cool Down, Baby, they've also released the Branded EP). You'll be able to grab it when they have the CD release party for the record at Knucklehead's on Saturday, November 21.

You might also want to give the guys a hug. They'd made it to the second round of CMT's Music City Madness competition, but didn't make it past that to the final sixteen.

Watch the video for Summertime Apples' first single, "Blue Broadway," below.

As a journalist, one of the most validating experiences one can have is being quoted by someone else. It indicates that someone finds your words to be worthwhile enough to bear repeating elsewhere. There are exceptions to this, of course. Someone could be using your work as an example of bad journalism, holding you up as the Uwe Boll of writing. ("Seriously, I don't care what the fuck you do. Just don't do this. Please. For the love of God.") Another way to have that validation slapped right the hell down?

When someone dies.

My mom called me five years ago to say that the Star had quoted me in an article about the death of "some kid who was in a ska band." She then asked, "Do you know a kid named Richie Restivo?"

I had to search my brain, and I realized he was a kid whom I'd interviewed via e-mail the previous year regarding his ska band, the Uprights. He'd been nice, and incredibly enthusiastic about ska, and El Torreon, and pretty much everything we'd talked about. He ended up getting stabbed in the throat and dying, the result of a high school parking lot encounter gone terribly wrong.

​The terrible thing is...I never actually saw the Uprights when Restivo fronted the band. I later saw them opening for someone at the Bottleneck, a couple of years later, but they'd become a full-bore reggae act, completely lacking all the 2-Tone influences they sported on their one and only release, the Going Somewhere EP.

This is the song I've always associated with the band. It's a tribute to the all-ages club the band often played, and whether you're a ska kid, someone who hung out at El Torreon or not, you'll recognize the exuberance that comes with having a place where you're welcome and comfortable.

MP3: the Uprights, "31st & Gillham"

The competitors for Farmer's Ball, KJHK 90.7FM's annual battle of the bands, have been announced. In no particular order, the bands and acts are:
​

Cloud Dog
Burger Kingdom
Dutch Newman
Katlyn Conroy
Hidden Pictures
The California Craisins
Eagle Us Pets
DJ Avi

Impressive.

Preliminaries are November 20 at the Jackpot, and finals are November 21 at the Bottleneck.

Lawrence kaleidoscopic art pop act Mammoth Life recently returned from a trip to New York and the CMJ Music Marathon. As they're settling back in to life in the Midwest, the group has begun recording new songs in hopes of soon completing their second full-length, An American Movement.

​They are releasing their next single, "Boy Blue, An American Lion" sometime in December or January, in advance of the album's drop in 2010. An American Movement was described thusly in a press release from the band:

A self described 'spaghetti-pop, western opus' about a character that goes by the name of Boy Blue...it is said, 'Boy Blue can do anything that he wants to do.' It is a romantic and introspective account about the author, but also a passionate and fanciful doctrine that asserts individuality, creativity, freedom acquired from knowledge, ego, critical thinking, perseverance and drive, tolerance for diversity, and attainment for this is to be an American movement.

MP3: Mammoth Life, "Boy Blue, An American Lion"

We've recently clued you in to the upcoming Deastro performance opening for Max Tundra at Cazr Bar. We've also given you the skinny on Sam Billen's new album, Headphones and Cellphones.

​
What in the hell does a Kansas City electro-pop artist have to do with a touring electronic artist named after a GI Joe character? Not only do they both bring indie to electronic music in beautifully crafted songs, but the Record Machine was kind enough to provide for us a meeting of those two amazing characters, with Sam Billen's cover of Deastro's "Spritle."

MP3: Sam Billen, "Spritle" (Deastro Cover)

In other Record Machine news, also of a fantastic nature, Record Machine artist Capybara were featured in a Sound Advice mixtape put together by Spike Jonze and assorted other folks as sort of an unofficial Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack part two. A gentleman over at MTV was cool enough to single out Capybara for praise over artists like Girls and Times New Viking.

Way to go, Capybara!

Since it's Halloween this week, I figured I would go in two directions for this week's Throwback MP3. That means that you get two MP3s. Not only do you get one really creepy, scary metal number, you also get an epic, Halloween-themed cowpunk number, as well.

​The first track is from Wormwood. Originally from Lawrence, the gothic black metal band made a name for themselves by being scary as hell in their music, using lots and lots of organ in a way that sound like they were soundtracking a black mass. They moved to Seattle in 2000, and that's where they played their final show last summer. This track's off their self-titled debut 7", released back in 1998 on Arm Records.

MP3: Wormwood, "Circus"

Boot Hill was a band that was originally a three-piece with Gary Cloud and his wife, Allegra. To avoid telling a story that is probably more conjecture on my part than actual fact, let's just say that the two parted ways, and the band had broken up before that. In addition to Boot Hill's first album, the Laudenum full-length, they recorded a little-heard EP entitled Spook Light, which not only contained a cover of the Five Blobs' "The Blob" (theme song to The Blob), but also yielded this tale of a zombie hippie trying to steal beer from a Punk Rods party. The line-up for Spook Light featured former Honeywagen drummer Jason Meier, as well as Last Call Girls bassist Liz Schoch. It was recorded by Lou Whitney, too -- a strong-ass pedigree for a CD that was burned to CD-R and barely saw the light of day.

MP3: Boot Hill, "Creepy Hippie"

Creed reunited after five years and decided to release a new album. It's called Full Circle. There is no God.

​In what has to be the biggest release in Kansas City today, we get the tenth studio release from powerhouse rapper Tech N9ne, entitled K.O.D.. The title stands for "King of Darkness," and as you might expect, the album continues Mr. Yates' plumbing the depths of the human soul. The album also has appearances from the Oscar-winning Three 6 Mafia, in addition to the usual Tech N9ne collaborators Kutt Calhoun and Krizz Kaliko.

​The Swell Season's Strict Joy not only comes in a regular compact disc, but a limited deluxe version includes the CD, as well as a live CD and DVD entitled One Step Away - Live from the Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI. May 8, 2008. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova came together during the making of Once, and the relationship in the movie turned into something real and beautiful. Now they're broken up, and still making music and touring. This should be interesting.

MP3: the Swell Season, "Low Rising"

​Los Lobos Goes Disney is an Amazon exclsuive, meaning you'll have to order it from the online retailer to get it. On the bright side, the album features their cover "I Wan'na Be Like You," originally release in 1988. It also has some very nice, not obvious covers. The two songs from Robin Hood, "Not In Nottingham" and "Ooh-De-Lally," pretty much make this worth buying in and of themselves. "Heigh Ho," "Bare Necessities," and "Cruella De Vil" are just icing on the cake at this point.

Lastly, the movie I exhort you to buy this week is Night of the Creeps. Fred Dekker's first movie -- the one that allowed him to make the also-fantastic Monster Squad -- is finally seeing a DVD release after being unavailable for years, except in Internet bootlegs. A large portion of James Gunn's Slither took its plot from the film, as well as its tongue-in-cheek delivery. It's one of the most fun horror comedies ever -- I ranked it number six on a list I did for Scene-Stealers last Halloween.

It was announced earlier this month that the Get Up Kids had stopped by the Daytrotter studios and recorded a session. Well, that session has finally been posted. You can go right over there and listen to, as well as download, four song​s.

There are two songs you've probably never heard before: a new song called "Your Petty Pretty Things" and a cover of the Vitreous Humor's "Sharin' Stone," as well as versions of Something to Write Home About's "I'm A Loner, Dottie, A Rebel" and "Overdue" from On A Wire.

Sean Moeller had this to say about the band, and why they were -- and continue to be -- so important:

[T]here was never any argument about what was inside the songs that the band brought to life - these earnest snapshots of simple and natural ferocity, the most understandable and constructive angst bursting out of young men familiar with the wilds of it, pounding through the dark chambers of what it means to really hurt and be hurt for the first times ever.

The concept of a video flier intrigues us here at Wayward Blog. The possibilities inherent in the form offer a lot more than just words and a carefully chosen picture on a photocopied 8.5x11 sheet of paper.

This video flier for local electro-poppers London Transit's show with Springfield's Black Box Revue and We Are Like The Spider at Cazr Bar this Saturday, October 24 shows all sorts of electronic things, and has a bit of the group's music playing as it shows. Simple, but effective. It's not to be confused with a music video, as there's no performance footage, nor do you even hear an entire song. It's a short, highly visual way of grabbing someone's attention -- not quite commercial, not quite music video, thus a video flier.

The group is planning to release an EP follow-up to its debut full-length, The Digital Kid, in a few months. Here's an early demo.

MP3: London Transit, "Trees"

In a mail crate on my dining room floor is a stash of compilations I've discovered in the clearance racks of every store that sells CDs from Kansas City to Topeka. There are punk comps, ska comps, rockabilly comps, and everything in between. Every so often, I dig through to figure out what I've got, and usually come up with a gem to keep me company while I'm sitting on the couch, reading through whatever I've recently snagged from the library. I'd forgotten about the Doowopin' with the King, Federal, and DeLuxe Vocal Groups Volume 1 - "Dynamite Darlings" compilation on West Side until it came up last week, and was surprised to discover that it featured three tracks by a group from Kansas City, MO, called the Carpets.

​The Carpets recorded one session for the Federal label, and had the misfortune to have their debut single, "Why Do I," see release at the same time the label put out James Brown's "Please Please Please." The second single, "Lonely Me," saw release a few months later, and went nowhere. The Carpets were let go from Federal, and that was the end of them while several of the members joined the armed forces. The Carpets reunited in 1961, and renamed themselves the Derbys.

However, the lead singer of the group was a tenor by the name of James Gadson. When the group stopped in Florida, Gadson quit the Derbys and joined the Midnighters (Hank Ballard's group, famous for their hits "Work With Me, Annie" and "The Twist"). From there, he went on to be part of the original line-up of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, as well as drumming on Bill Withers' Still Bill. There's a stellar interview with Gadson in the September 2007 issue of Modern Drummer that's well worth reading for the full story of his career, which is nicely supplemented by Marv Goldberg's R&B notebook on the Carpets.

However, it was as a young man in Kansas City that Gadson started on his career in music, and his voice is stellar in this unreleased alternate take of the Carpets' second single. It's amazing to think that Gadson was just 16 when he recorded this track.

MP3: the Carpets, "Lonely Me" (alternate take)

S'ar Lavoe is a local hip-hop supergroup that contains Approach, Royce Diamond, and Smoov Confusion. Their debut, Ashes, is due out as a free download on Datura Music. In the meantime, you can enjoy the first single off the record, "The Same," produced by Ill Poetic.

Okay, so Matt Pryor of the Get Up Kids told a story to Spinner earlier this month about the tour they did opening for Weezer back in 2001 (it played Memorial Hall, and Ozma also played, and it was fucking AWESOME). So, in it, Pryor said of the Weez that they were "the only band I've toured with for a month that I've never spoken to. They're jackasses."

Well, Rivers Cuomo is telling his story and making overtures towards healing via Twitter:
​
Aw. How sweet. If anyone is going to be in NYC around that time, let us know it goes down, okay? In other news from that story...the Get Up Kids played with the guys from Cheap Trick?!?! Is there footage of this?

Ohio Price Ltd. posted pictures to Photobucket of every single Casket Lottery release ever. You can view the gallery here.

Ohio Pride Ltd.

​It's impressive, containing each and every variant of everything the Casket Lottery has ever released, from cassette demos to test pressings. Simultaneously, it's a little sad that someone went to the trouble of collecting twelve different versions of the same record -- in this case, the Casket Lottery's split with Hot Water Music.

However, in terms of what impact a band had on someone, it's amazing to think that someone loved a band enough to want to have everything they ever did. This guy not only wanted to have every song, he wanted every version of every song, in every possible variation of packaging or production. I can't say I've ever been a fan of a band enough to buy a new copy of an album just because it's in a different color of vinyl.

MP3: the Casket Lottery, "Code Red"

Usually, when an ex-girlfriend tells you that her friend Chris has recorded some new songs, and she can get you a demo, you're inclined to shudder. Your next step is to politely take the CD-R handed you, promise to listen to it, and add it to the stack of other demos you never intend to put in the stereo...unless, of course, your ex-girlfriend's friend Chris is Chris Crisci of the Appleseed Cast.

​That demo were the first four songs I'd hear from Old Canes, Crisci's side project. Over the next few years, Old Canes would always contain Crisci, as well as a constantly rotating cast of characters. Sometimes the band would be Crisci and one person, other times the stage would be packed. Every time, the show was phenomenal, and it felt like a gathering of friends, rather than a concert.

The actual album, Early Morning Hymns (which you can stream here) was notable for Crisci's stipulation that Second Nature release the record as-is, with no further studio fuckery. The demos are even more raw than that, sounding more singer-songwriter-y, with the acoustic guitar especially notable on this song, "Taxi On Vermont."

MP3: Old Canes, "Taxi On Vermont" (demo)

Self-described "noisy hard-pop rock band" the Scriveners have three demo songs up for your listening pleasure on MySpace.

Richard Gintowt

​In addition, Dan Cook was cool enough to hook us up with one of 'em, so you can download it and play it on your iPod, Zune, or what-have-you each and every time you want to, regardless of Internet connection or power outage.

The Scriveners, which is Cook and Chris Bulgren (both late of the Bubble Boys) and Ron E. Raney, also have a couple of shows coming up. As Cook put it in an e-mail, they "are the quintessential opening band for mid-nineties reunion shows," opening for Danger Bob at the Bottleneck on October 17, and Cher U.K. at the Replay on November 27.

MP3: the Scriveners, "Buzzkill"

I never saw Butterglory, or, for that matter, Matt Suggs' other band, White Whale. But reading Our Noise: the Story of Merge Records reminded me a lot of Suggs and his music.

​Once upon a time, 10 years ago, I hosted KJHK's local music show, Plow the Fields. In the course of my year and a half on the program, I was introduced to quite a few amazing bands, and heard quite a few songs that have stuck with me through the years. No song has ever grabbed me quite the way Butterglory's "Carmen Cross" did, however.

From the band's final album, Rat Tat Tat, it's one of those songs that I could hear every day, and never get tired of. Debby Vander Wall's vocals are gorgeous, but it's the guitar line to "Carmen Cross" that will work its way into your brain and never, ever let go. Like the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?" and that dog.'s "Minneapolis," "Carmen Cross" is a song that is just so pretty that you can't help but stop everything you're doing for three to four minutes and stare at the speakers in awe.

Shake Your Fist's "Butterglory Reconsidered" post from three years ago says everything I said, and more.

MP3: Butterglory, "Carmen Cross"

The Architects have been spending their time post-Warped Tour opening for Flogging Molly and updating their MySpace page with awesome video. You can now view all three of the band's music videos, as well as some stellar live footage from their CD release show and stops on the Warped Tour.

1. "Knowing Is Half the Bottle," live at the August 1 Warped Tour stop. It sounds rough, but the video lets you see the band rock the fuck out. You can also find several other live vids if you watch it on YouTube.

2. Totally bad-ass, pro-shot and edited (amongst other hyphenated terms) video from the bands' CD release show for The Hard Way. Done by Gnarly Enterprises, who also did the video for "Bastards at the Gate."

Harper adds: Also, if you become the Architects fan on Facebook, you'll get access to a plethora of Warped Tour photos, including the gem below, which is of Adam getting showered with beer for doing a good job on the drums.

​

Video of a band on the radio? The mind boggles.

Here is the first of many tour videos you will be seeing from Capybara as they are on the road, in support of Try Brother on The Record Machine. The video has the band jammed in a tight little KCOU radio station booth in Columbia, MO, playing "The Wimp," the first song on their new album, which debuted at #156 on the CMJ charts last week, and is now at #128.

I am sometimes surprised that Tenderloin only released two singles on Sub Pop. There was the "Supernatural Bologna/Heard it On the X" 45, and then this split with the Supersuckers. You'd think that a label that released the first few albums from both the Supersuckers themselves, as well as the Reverend Horton Heat, would've been more interested.

​
Maybe it was too late by the time the act became known to the Sub Pop folks - Tenderloin released two full-lengths on Warner Brothers: Let It Leak and Bullseye, with their final album coming out on Time Bomb (home for a time to many artists, and now pretty much devoted to releasing Social Distortion records).

Now, prior to Tenderloin, Locke had been in the Sin City Disciples, and afterward, Parlay. They're all fairly similar, with each band featuring Locke's distinctive twangy drawl and harp playing. The difference from one act to another is slim -- Sin City was punky, Tenderloin had a bit of metal, and Parlay was bluesier. Each band had badass swagger, and if you culled an Ernie Locke best-of, it'd be sick.

This tune here is a Thin Lizzy cover. The other side to the 45 is the Supersuckers covering UFO's "Mother Mary." You can still pick it up from Sub Pop for the low, low price of $3.75. It's not near as wild as Tenderloin's cover of ZZ Top's "Heard It On the X," but this is certainly less well-known, and you can get that cover on Bullseye, anyhow.

MP3: Tenderloin, "Leave This Town"

Deep Elm Records, purveyors of the finest in emo rock, offer up a free sampler. The label's back in the swing of things after a bit of a hiatus, with eight releases set to be scheduled.

​Of particular note to local music fans, Deep Elm was the label that put out the majority of the Appleseed Cast's records. In general, they were also the label which produced the "Emo Diaries" series of compilations that, for better or for worse, introducing the world to bands like Further Seems Forever (and via them, Chris Carraba and Dashboard Confessional).

Go to this page and enter your e-mail address, and they'll send you a link to download the sampler.

You've learned how to paint your face like the Ssion wants you to.

​You've seen what it looks like when hundreds of people join up, painted up like that.

Now you can see it all come together on the screen this weekend.

The premiere of the Ssion movie, BOY is at the Tivoli on Thursday at 7:30pm. The Grand Arts opening is Friday at 6pm. The Grand Arts show has an opening reception with a performance from NOISS, a SSION cover band, plus Casey Spooner (Fischerspooner) and Jeppe (Junior Senior) will be in attendance.

Ssion frontman Cody Critcheloe says, "it'll be fun! PROMISE!"

That's a PROMISE from the man who made the movie, folks. He parties with Beth Ditto. He knows fun.

Once upon a time, there was a show on Channel 38. This is back before it was "38 the Spot," and possibly even predating the "38 Family Greats" identity. The show was called Burning Down the House, and the half hour show featured live performances every week, taped live at the Hurricane. It's similar to what Lawrence's Channel 6 does with the Turnpike, but easily predating it (and its predecessor, Fusion) by half a decade.

​I very rarely ever caught the program, as it aired at a weird time, and most of the bands, I'd never heard of. However, thanks to the repeated airing of their song "Better" on the Lazer, I did know who TV Fifty were. Now, I saw that band play live exactly once, probably opening for Danger Bob shortly after I moved to Lawrence. Their performances were stellar and featured big bunches of power pop. Of course, it wasn't meant to last, and the band broke up. Byron Huhmann, the band's frontman, would go on to spend time in bands like Anvil Chorus, Exit 159 and the Dark Circles.

Still, when going through stacks of videos, all crammed with shit I'd taped off TV back in high school, I discovered this performance. Thanks to issues with when I'd set the timer on the VCR, the last song, "Better," got cut off. However, the rest of the performance managed to turn out just fine. This song, "Bath Time," comes from that performance, sometime in the mid-'90s. It's a VHS transfer, so behoove the usual warnings regarding tape hiss and whatnot. I find it appropriate that I'm featuring an MP3 pulled from a TV show for a band named after a Christian television station (also defunct, right around the same time).

MP3: TV Fifty, "Bathtime" (live)

Maybe it's because I did Ruskabank for this post a couple weeks ago, which has me thinking of Manhattan, and the fun times I had every time I went out there to visit folks or see shows. Or maybe it's because Sound Opinions had the Jesus Lizard on this week, and I got in the mind for some post-punk rock. Or maybe -- just maybe -- I wanted to see the word "birdshit" in the subject header.

​Whichever way it is, the Egomaniacs "Whiteshirt/Birdshit," the opening track to their 2000 release Primer, is a damn fine track that never really got the attention it deserved. It's that sort of ebb-and-flow rock that I never got 100% into, but every time I hear a track like this, I wonder why I didn't. The sound dynamics on this song, if not the whole record, are definitely aided by the production work of Paul Malinowski. That man knows how to make a band with that whole "loud/quiet/loud" aesthetic work, and work well.

Unfortunately, as I recall, this was a posthumous release. The band broke up slightly before it came out, and then reformed and did that off and on until last year, when it seems they played their last reunion show. I only got the chance to see them live once or twice, and I cannot for the life of me recall when or where it was. At that time, I was in the second year of a seven year stretch, wherein I lived at the Bottleneck and Replay, and after a while, those shows blur together pretty heavily. They were just as dynamic on stage as on record, however, and it's a shame they never really got any strong recognition outside of the Little Apple.

MP3: the Egomaniacs, "Whiteshirt/Birdshit"

Lots of new tunes from local label the Record Machine, whom I've loved ever since they released the James Dean Trio's Getting Scary six years ago. They do quality work, these kids.

​First up is a proper EP from former Billions frontman Sam Billen. It's called Tokyo Sessions, and it's a teaser for a full-length coming later this year. The Record Machine says:

"Sam Billen took a family vacation in June of 2009 to visit his in-laws in Tokyo. While he was there, he decided to buy an inexpensive acoustic guitar and work on writing some new songs. All of the songs on Tokyo Sessions are inspired by experiences in Tokyo and thoughts about life in 'the big city'. All five songs were written and recorded on his laptop computer in the guest room of his in-laws house in a matter of two weeks"

In addition, TRM has many records that have either come out recently or will be out soon, and they'd like to share some cuts off those records, if you be so inclined. There's everything from the newly released Max Justus electronicky dance sensation, No Mercy, to the Stephen Merrit/Magnetic Fields inspired State Bird, as well as forthcoming tunes off the new Parade Schedule and Caleb Winn. And you can hear all of that on the Record Machine Summer 2009 Sampler! For free! Hooray!