The ongoing rants of one man out to introduce the world to the tunes that inhabit the space inside of that region known as his mind a collection of the songs that have shaped his day, his Song of the Day.
Excuse me for a second while I fangirl out a bit on ya because this fucking group sometimes they just fucking get it.
HOLY FUCKING JESUS CHRIST ALMIGHTY IS THIS SONG FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC!
Ah ever since they dropped this little new wave tune on Spotify I've just been in awe people it's a simple song about the scary parts of love and relationships with a host of questions to ask about if the struggles make the relationship and how differences are a real thing (I'm into analogue, you're into digital) Rachel Mallin has written what's a very simple tune but the thing that makes it something special is it's lighter than air dreamy instrumentals and her just exceptional vocal performance.
There's a vulnerable charm to her subtle yet captivating singing that just hooks me in a way that she's yet to really do and in all honesty I get some these weird spine shivering feels whenever I listen to this song because of these slight vocal deliveries that are equal parts strong and sultry, weak yet confident, just the type of things I find myself obsessing over how to properly contextualize to you guy's but yet I fail at doing so beyond just telling you it's maybe the best song they've put out yet and to think I just originally remembered it as a captivating but overly feedback heavy live track the first time I heard it.
I like to give these guy's hell for not putting out I Pick Winners but when the songs coming out are this I can't be mad in the slightest this is a phenomenal piece of work you need to hear now.
Things got a whole lot more groovy all up in this bitch now didn't they?
With production courtesy of the all mighty Hembree's Isaac Flynn what we got here is a track that eludes plenty of 80's New Wave tones in it's heavy use of synthesizers with that patented surf rock vibe that little Mrs. Mallin and company are known for along with a vocal performance that has small hints reminiscent of a Cyndi Lauper with it's eccentric verses backed with a chorus that's about as pop perfect as it get's you get a late release tune I recall seeing get played in it's early stages of writing that managed to completely morph into something great whenever they got around to recording it.
This song is a step in a direction that is a bit different from the feedback heavy indie vibes of Dropout and Degenerate Matters scattered styles but it still maintains lyrics that are equally playful in both Mallin's vocal delivery and content from lines about cutting one's own hair and how growing older leads us all to take more of a conscious effort to, “Wake up before noon,” and put a better effort towards your psychical appearance that express the continued themes of growing into one's self that's populated this young performers output for the past few years.
They did an excellent little interview explaining the influences that created this track that you can view riiiiight....here:
Although I did manage to ask one Rachel Mallin what her's and the wild types plans for 2018 were and well the response was a simple list:
"Tour
Liberation
money
hopefully
new work
strong bands
more fans?"
-Rachel Mallin
Sounds like the making of the next great song to me.
These guy's rule and this song is a great late year tune that just kind of crept in and took me by surprise just how much I loved it keep on keeping on Rachel I see you really being some thing huge.
So I've had the flu all week and in the process of continuing to be poor as fuck I realized I'd only really get to have one show for probably the next 2 maybe 3 weeks and boy oh fucking boy did I make a good show pick.
Momma's Boy just had their EP release show at the Tank Room with Rachel Mallin and the Wild Type and Scruffy and the Janitors acting as the supporting bands and it was like Manor Fest all over again one great big pile of AH THE FUCK YEAH people so let's not bullshit a whole lot and with a series of bad photos let's get to telling you how fucking bad ass this show was.
Rachel Mallin and company
So yeah I didn't get a pic of their set because....I really don't know why I just kind of didn't and I've written about them and Momma's Boy a lot on here so you know that I've been following these wonderful acts around for quite a while and tonight was a pretty good example as to why they're a consistently tight act that performs a very well structured set of excellently crafted songs with a lot of their soon to be released tunes seriously taking shape in the form of some heavier more rock oriented tracks that show a lot of girth and that's fucking dope as hell and I for one can't wait for them to finally put out their tune I Pick Winners because it seriously has the potential to be even bigger than White Girls.
(With Permission Video of The exceptional Razorback courtesy of Kansas City's best interviewer and radio media advisory bestliness himself Mr. McClain Johnson)
In a couple of words this band delivered tonight as they always do and even a sick Rachel still delivered on the vocal front very well and they played a very jammy kind of heavier rendition of Razorback for the first time since their EP release show and my heart literally skipped a beat so yeah they currently have a level of love I haven't felt in a minute.
Straight outta St. Joe is a group of raccous rockers that bring the pure unadulterated blues tinged kind of 70's inspired doomy rock and roll played at 11, with rifts that will make you bang your head and lyrics that are admittedly repetitive but destined to get stuck in your head for months on end you have a band that's almost legendary in a sense of the Tank room felt almost too sanitary for their kind of bad assery and this show like many of theirs I've had the pleasure of seeing was just dripping in awesome and a broken bass string that I may or may not have jinxed into happening I for one am taking no claims as to it happening it's just merely a coincidence I'm just saying.
Top to bottom they brought the fucking thunder and once Dirtleg stepped in bodies where bashing about and beer was getting spilled and everyone was reminded don't fuck with Scruffy. They have been working on an album for the past 2+ years and should be getting something released at some point this year so I definitely would advise you stay on the lookout because that album will kick some serious fucking ass I guarantee that.
Momma's Boy
If you look back all of a few post I wrote about how fucking phenomenal a set these guy's did at a midcoast takeover showcase well in a nut shell this set was that good and then about another twenty two and a quarter times more awesome this band filled out the Tank room and gave everyone there about a hundred dollars worth of excellent for 8 and since that's all that needs to be said in terms of how fucking phenomenally good their show was technical difficulties and all let's talk about Liquid Courage for a bit because you should just buy it like RIGHT THE FUCK NOW!
From the fast paced swirling psychedelics of Make Believe, the mildly depressing Sleepin', the utter gem of a track that is Sweet Girl, and of course the bad ass singles Cool Heat and Be Good Boy I've literally watched all of these tracks grow and this EP is the amalgamation of a year of being dedicated to this band and being rewarded in the best way possible what we have here is 6 songs of straight fire that live and on this album are just fucking awesome I couldn't of thrown my money at these guy's fast enough and those reading this need to run out and see these guy's live and download the fuck out of this album because this fucking show and EP are just validation of why I've dedicated so much blog space to these handsome fucking devils.
I've done good this year and seen some mind blowingly good shows and it's only FUCKING FEBRUARY GOD FUCKING DAMN IT PEOPLE!
So I started a twitter late last year and like Myspace of yesteryear I came to realize it's a platform of a lot of bands reaching out to a lot of people in an attempt to really get their music out there and one day just out of the blue one Rachel Mallin decided to follow me on there and I'm not a hundred percent sure what but I decided to actually check out her stuff and at the time I remember the only thing immediately available was a page to a kickstarter campaign for the as yet to be released Degenerate Matters EP and I'm not going to lie as much as that video amused the ever loving fuck out of it and as cool as the 15 second clip of Dropout was I didn't have the money to pay towards it and I kind of am weary of those kinds of things because you really don't know what you're going to get.
Now with that in mind I eventually just asked her if she had any other music out and that's when she told me to just look her up and upon doing that I found out that I had one of her songs on an old Spotify playlist that I quite enjoy and after going through a VERY sudden and sad breakup I kind of found her music to be incredibly therapeutic with specifically her track Razorback, which I manged to write a very nice little article about in one of my KC showcase's, being something that I formed a bit of an obsession with that actually lead me to really give Dropout a solid chance an that lead to me really investing in this band.
When I was coming up with this list I originally intended on putting White Girls in this spot because for all intense purposes it's not only a fucking spectacular song, has proved to be a good launchpad for this group, and has lead to plenty of solid radio play to cause people to REALLY take notice of this band and it's quite a great breakout single I just kind of couldn't really do that because if I were to be really honest this song is just something of a beast of it's own.
It's maybe the simplest fucking song they have released right now, a very autobiographical tale obviously inspired by Rachel's decision to drop out of college in order to achieve a dream and a passion that holds way more importance to her than a sleeve of paper and massive debt this song more so than any of the rest of Degenerate Matters is maybe the most passionately important sounding tune she's done so far.
For real every single time I've seen them live the embarrassingly large number of times that is they end their fucking phenomenal live show with this song Rachel putting her guitar down and firmly grasping her microphone in hand before she then belts out this song with the most ferocious intensity, “They'll pray for you, they'll pray for you,” screamed with all the intensity she can muster it really get's driven in just how good this really is and the more time I spend getting to see this band evolve and listen to them live or on whatever device I feel the need to have their music blasting out of this song right here just consistently seems to grow in both importance and quality.
This song is absolutely phenomenal and it deserves all the praise I can possibly give it and then some and if any cool independent directors are out there they need to put this in a movie because I'll be the first mother fucker in line to see it that's for god damn sure.
This band is honestly responsible for the single greatest live set that I saw all year and this song is the thing that lead me to check this band out and go see them live all those times and see that phenomenal performance that has stuck with me in a way that few other shows have managed to come just a hair short of that shows utter magic.
It's a vacant ghost land here at Sam's Song of the Day but there's things on the horizon and for the most part the articles have been slightly better than in years past when I didn't plan shit and went straight off the cuff with my song of the day post but those day's have passed and now I try to put some thought it but with this being one of my favorite months to be festive with my song selections I've kind of decreased that over the past year or so and haven't really been too into the creepy vibes as yesteryear.
Well today I was listening to the radio and there's a Halloween show tonight so one of the programs today had a bunch of themed tunes to celebrate that and I was reminded of whenever I use to go gaga over that shit and that's a dope feeling because getting a bit festive here and there is pretty dope and while I'm not going on some ghoulish binge or seeing the awesomeness that is this show I figured I'd for old times sake just post a quick article with a great themed tune for you guy's to get your jam on so here's one of my favorite new acts Rachel Mallin and the Wild Type with a tune that's perfect for this time of year Something Wicked.
This song is a non-album single recorded for some How To Keep Dreaming project thrown by a local label known as The Record Machine and this track was from the first volume of that series back in 2015 and it's a very kind of creepy tinged moody tune that's filled to the brim with atmosphere that will give you a hallow feeling before Rachel comes in with some wonderfully echo heavy singing that helps give the song a wonderful tone.
They don't really acknowledge this tune much since the release probably because it's more in tone with her solo EP The Persistence of Vision with it's heavier electronic instrumentation and she's since grown from that into more of a surf rocking garage rock direction but this track still has a lot of charm for me personally and since I'm in the mood for some spooky jams I'll be rocking out to this bad ass little cut just before I throw in my Concrete Blonde cassette later tonight.
OH and on a lesser note they're opening for Phantogram tonight and to say that it's fucking awesome to be able to say that is an understatement great job guy's.
Rachel Mallin and The Wild Type-Degenerate Matters
I've covered this band a few times on this blog already so introductions shouldn't really take to much but for those who haven't heard Rachel Mallin and the Wild type are a 5 piece Indie rock act consisting of bassist Justin Walker, lead vocalist/guitar player/songwriter Rachel Mallin, drummer/back-up vocalist Austin Edmisten, keyboardist Jesse Bartmess, and lead guitarist Matt Kosinski and just recently after months of hard work and a successful Kickstarter they have finished recording their debut EP Degenerate Matters and if you're like me and have spent the past few months seeing these songs form you got to believe the anticipation is FUCKING REAL!
If I were to try and put a description to this bands sound I'd probably say it's like a very melody focused brand of indie rock that is equal parts 60's danceable-jangly-rock along jams with some 90's fuzz thrown in to keep things interesting with a variety of lyrics that are sweet, a little tongue and cheek, and every bit as real as the people performing them.
Degenerate Matters starts out with one fucking doozy of a track White Girls which has a kind of a doo-wop and surf rock sound to it that's filled with plenty of hand claps and tempo changes to keep the listener interested and wanting to groove along to it's very summery tone and Rachel Mallins almost hypnotic vocal delivery that is so damn chilling that you will find yourself almost distracted you from it's rather snide lyrics.
Starting with the almost venomous, “there's a special place in Hell for girls like you, who go out on weekends and prey upon weak men who have a girl,” to it's constant uttering of, “I can't compete with these filthy white girls,” that I'll personally change to FUCKING white girls which is going a bit off track but that's just me, as well as the constant repetition of the phrase, “God Save the White Girls,” give it a very kind of fuck you vibe that's almost like a statement about society as much as it is a means of acting as a perfect counterbalance to it's dreamy instrumentals before the track decides to just build up to a final minute where Rachel just delivers one intensely satisfying final verse that she just fucking belts out in such a way that will leave you screaming along as you find yourself blasting it out of your radio and it's especially potent when done live.
It's also quite satisfying that this song is actually starting to breaking on radio in the Kansas City area even if it's courting some awkward controversy that is neither here nor there when talking about one breakthrough of a single.
Afterwards we're treated to the very shoe-gaze 90's sounding feedback heavy tune and the records hype track with Dropout a track that came out late last year and is still as awesome as the first time I remember hearing it in their Kickstarter promo video.
It's an almost autobiographical track about leaving college to go do more fulfilling things with yourself and the way's people seem to react to such a decision. This song is just filled with plenty of parts to clap along to, some super fuzzy guitar tones, various tempo changes to make you think twice about when to keep clapping along, and plenty of strongly delivered verses that all around really do highlight what is just a damn great track through and through, and it's a track that often serves as the closer to their live shows.
Whenever I'm listening to this track it sounds a lot like it needs to be used as the background music for the opening shot of the best god damn low budget independent movie you've ever seen.
So after a bad ass kind of surf rock track and an equally awesome fuzzy almost shoe-gaze indie track what could we possibly have next? Well Cash 4 Gold is a track that I can only really describe as probably the most adorably cheery thing I think I've heard in a while. For real it has an almost sing along the campfire feel with Mallin and Edmisten sharing vocal duties very well along a variety of whistles and toy pianos that give it an almost feel good vibe that's sure to make you smile more then you intended on.
From all that we reach the end of the EP with the track Dance Card which is by far the most ambitious track on this whole album. A very dreamy little poppy number that shows constant changes in tone that at one second are dreamy as fuck and the next feel kind of like you spiraled down a rabbit hole of awesome this song in my opinion has THE best guitar and bass work on this whole EP has to offer with everyone kind of firing on all cannons this song just effortlessly covers the biggest spectrum of sounds.
In a way what you have is a track that's kind of the best showcasing of a formula that they seem to have of songs slowing down and speeding up while also never getting too complaisant or predictable to a degree that you come to expect after a while when listening to this little collection of songs but even with that in mind this one still kind of does that the best out of all the songs on here and the little section about how, “I smoke too much (you smoke too much), I drink to much (you drink too much),” and her punchy delivery of the line, “To punch my dance Card,” give the multiple stanzas this song takes a bit more of an effective feeling .
This song is also a bit of a juggernaut when played live because of all those moving parts that make up the song it really shows just how fucking talented each member of this group really is because every single time they play it they knock it out of the park and it's easy to see why they choose it to end what's maybe one of if not THE BEST extended play or even album to come out this year beyond just the Kansas City scene.
I have to say that what's really crazy is as good as this collection of songs is there's still plenty more tracks that didn't make the cut that they play around at their shows that are just fucking phenomenal and will leave you begging for the future full length release because these guy's are on a roll right now and the great songs are just pouring out left and right but until the day comes that they can put out an album proper this EP can help at least make that wait not too terribly long.
Image Courtesy of Facebook
To quote the cinematic masterpiece that is Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, “I FUCKING LOVE THIS BAND, THEY ARE THE BEST BAND EVER PERIOD.” ladies and gentelmen Kansas City's finest Rachel Mallin and the Wildtype with a collection of songs so good that it's a god damn crime that you don't have it in your possession at this very moment you definitely need to do yourself a favor and go pick yourself up a copy as soon as you physically can like at their upcoming EP release party tomorrow at the new Record Bar here in Kansas City Missouri with special guest Pink Royal and Spirit is the Spirit or if you live to far you can also download it over at their official website which I'll link below but either way you NEED TO BUY THIS ALBUM it's fucking great and well deserving of a good listen or half a dozen million squared times two.
You know covering all this local music is a pretty damn good time and there's a shit load more I have to cover but you know this blog being called Sam's Song of the Day I figured I'd actually cover a couple of individual tracks that have been in pretty heavy rotation or that are just REALLY FUCKING GREAT in this edition of the KC Showcase known as KC's Finest 10 where it's just 10 tracks/acts you should give a listen to right now with a little Youtube Playlist at the end of this post so here's in no particular order 10 kick ass Kansas City acts...
So if you're into acts like All Time Low, Panic! At the Disco, and maybe Boy's like Girls to an extent I think you could find a lot to dig about these handsome little group of alt rockers Tall Tales.
They sure know how to have delightfully poppy melodies and almost dreamy tones but still manage a little bit of girth in how they approach songs and this semi-romantic little bit of clever wordplay in the form of Queen of Hearts a delightfully catchy little number that's very simple in a lot of way's but ever so satisfying with just the right blend of pop and New Wave that I think it could get some good traction for people who want to just jam and have some fun.
This band kicks ass and they are one energetic and amusing live show if you get the chance to see them and this song in particular is just fun as hell to kind of echo along to it's uttering of the phrase WHITE TERROR seriously I'll just be chillin at home and get that line stuck in my head and just kind of sing it.....don't judge.
I don't entirely know just what it is but this short track just kind of keeps getting stuck in my head and amusing the hell out of me with it's kind of Gothy sound and completely groovy tone I just kind of keep listening to it over and over hoping they give it the proper studio treatment.
This song is just the sweetest thing and I've gone into just how great a songwritter Rachel Mallin is on here already and this song is just another example of her knack for making the most amusing indie rock you'll hear.
Just a damn catchy song with plenty of tone changes to keep things from getting predictable and plenty of bad ass dreamy guitar work from all involved along with plenty of amusingly tongue and cheek lyrics to keep things amusing.
If you've read my write up of these guy's The Beautiful Fight EP you know that they've got a pretty bad ass record on their hands and this song being the opening track is a good start to get you a pumping your fist along to a pretty bad ass track.
From beginning to end this song just hooks you in and only get's better with each and every listen you give it.
This song has a very Neighbourhood kind of dreamy vibe to it and I'm pretty sure it's beat would make one bad ass sample for a rap act with it's super smooth bass lines and tight guitar work you have quite a relaxing track on your hands but what's funny is this band actually puts on a really bad ass rock show if you get the chance to see them and this song is so bad ass when the amps are fucking cranked and the guitar work is really given some time to shine but this studio cut is still pretty great and quite a good sit back and chill track.
So this band at points kind of reminds me a bit of some earlier Neon Trees with their knack for crafting damn good New Wave toned tracks with dreamy chorus' and easily sing along song structures that kind of feel like a lost relic from the 80's and their track Just Curious as great as it was to introduce them time is really showing that their song crafting is only getting even better and this song is a good example of just how strong this group is getting.
It is a damn good song that feels like the best 80's teenage date flick like you should be driving in the moonlight with a pretty girl listening to this track before pulling off to to a great little make out spot. Just a damn good time for all.
Yet another act who's most recent release I covered not to long ago and this song the Title track of their debut album and one of my highlighted tracks is just that a real highlight in every way and one bad ass catchy fucking rocker that is more punk then classic rock which of course I'm all for.
HOLY DAMN have I been rotating the ever loving fuck out of this song seriously it's just such a larger then life rocker with a kind of addictive quality to it that keeps me coming back and back screaming it's chorus over and over, just straight up good old fashioned big addictive chorus driven rock and roll that's all killer from the opening lines to the very end it's a non-stop rollercoaster ride of straight fucking awesome. 9. The Greeting Committee-Out of My Head
How Many of you can say that you got to touch faces with the lead singer of a band while singing into the microphone along with them to the best line of any given song? I can and god damn it's fucking great almost as great as this song.
It's a very simple rocker that just kind of has a youthful charm and simplicity to it that kind of reminds you of when you just liked a song because it's fucking great and Addie Sartino's repition of, “Get out of my head, You!, Get out of my head,” at the bridge near the end of the song is just fucking great live because she'll throw her all and then some into it.
I can't wait for the full length to get recorded but until then even after a year plus I still think this song holds up. 10. Hembree-Can't Run Forever
Well here we are the last song on my playlist of awesome and it's from a band that's been keeping hush-hush since their exceptional Christmas show busily recording what's sure to be one bad ass fucking album and the only track currently available on their Spotify Can't Run Forever is a dreamy cut with a chorus that I can't help but love and constantly sing even at the most inappropriate times or whenever I'm just walking around my house.
This song is fucking great and it's still leaving me salivating for more music from one of my favorite local acts and a group that I can't wait to see just fucking make it big.
Well there you have it 10 songs to go listen to RIGHT THE FUCK NOW that are a pretty decent variety of sounds of awesome coming from the must see music capital of this great country of ours and if any of these bands would love to continue being awesome I'm all for that and if you want to listen to them the play-list is right here below so enjoy just a small slice of what this town has to offer with convenient links to each bands social media accounts on each name if you like what you hear.
So there's this singer named Rachel Mallin, she's a local singer/song writer and is currently performing with The Wild Type and currently recording their debut Ep and have a track currently called Dropout that's a really good little fuzzy indie rock track that sounds like it belongs in a movie or something, but as great as it is there's a track that I've been mildly obsessed with recently that she actually recorded back in 2014 which is kind of awkward but at the same time it's something that I'm kind of driven to want to cover and explain just how incredibly fucking good it is so pardon the large amount of exploitative that'll be coming but sometimes things can only be described with some interesting word choices for me.
There's this song she recorded called Razorback which is a very slow tempo synth heavy number that starts out with a very stark beat that's both moody and kind of atmospheric before a steady drum track and moody synthesizer come in and kind of bring a very steady rhythm that only builds up musically to create an even starker more depressive sound that in a weird way has mildly romantic points that is until you just kind of stop and pay attention to the lyrics which at that point is where things get very spine-tinglingly-great.
This song is fucking heartbreaking as fuck with it's delivery of fairly simple lines like, “I don't wanna scare you away, you're laughing cause it's funny how you're fooling everybody but me,” “feeling hopeless and you're holding out for you,” or her constant repetition of how, “You're Lying to yourself,” but it's this weird joyfully depressive cut that kind of takes time, multiple listens, and a certain heartbroken state to really hit you but when it does hits you you're hit square in every part of you that feels any sense of love and emotion.
Admittedly there have been things that have gone on to make me feel such heartbreak but there's an odd light at the end of the tunnel feeling in knowing that I've managed in that to at least find something great or at the very least gotten a better appreciation for an artist work.
This chick is a hell of a talent people and if you get a chance to check out her and the Wildhearts it's much advised that you do because good things are coming from that project and their live show is fucking great especially when she bust out a more rock oriented rendition of this song that just builds up on things and becomes a very grab this fucking microphone and bust every bit of my emotions into this piece and it'll confirm just how spectacularly great this song really is, and just between me and you watching them play and listening to the music it kind of makes me want to finish a story and turn it into a movie just so she can do the soundtrack.
Also if you're in the area you can catch her playing at Davey's Uptown, KC at the UK's album release show this Saturday and May 6th at the middle of the map festival if you want to you know see what all this well deserved hype is all about and of course there's links below for some of her social media...
