Song of the Day 1/31/19

Blow Up the Outside World-Soundgarden

It's difficult to really explain what made me so drawn to this song because if I'm going to be honest as good as these guy's are I never really held this band on a level compared to their contemporaries regardless of how solidly good their music was it just never clicked with me but this song has always been something and in thinking through the various songs I've ever discussed this one has it's own special place because it's the song that eventually lead to me starting this blogger site and in order to understand that I have to post the original archived post I'd made to the song because it's kind of eerie to me the fact that I had almost the same exact feelings as the day I'd originally written this(Ignore the spelling errors):

 August 4, 2010 

Blow Up the Outside World-Soundgarden 

You know I'm going to be honest with ya world, I just wasn't really into anything today, I'm not too sure what it was but I just had a very moody little day that left me really unable to do much of anything, so like all great adults I took a nap. Yeah REAL mature of me wasn't it, but surprisingly enough it actually worked that and a nice chicken salad, and now I'm in tip top shape to present to all of you the song of the day. HELL YEAH!!! lol 

Well I remember reading that Soundgarden are releasing some new song that something like 4 people are excited for, and I dececided to give them a listen, becuase while most of the bands that Chris Cornell seems to be in are usually pretty decent, as a whole he just seems to bring down most of them and kinda make them result in only a handfull of really any listenable tracks, and for some reason or another this one is one of the few Soundgarden songs I can actually dig. I'm not really sure as to what it is cause normally I'm not too into tripped out psychedellic jams that like to start slow and quiet only to soon become a lound noisy bomb of feedback and confusing drug addled lyrics with simple yet slightly disturbing chorus'.......wait a minute I actually can dig on some of that this is just the one time they seemed to have actually been able to do that right. Eh better late then never I say but really this song is just surprisingly good and that's saying something considering I don't really like Chris Cornell but hey everyone's gotta have a moment of brilliants, don't they?  

Yeah that's  an interesting thing for me to read back but what makes this post stand out is the fact that I remember at the time I had a woman in my life that was a bit of an internet friend/facebook ex wife...hey I was young and awkward don't fucking judge, REGARDLESS this person was a bit of a creative muse for me and even though she'd long since deleted herself from internet existence I can still vividly remember her commenting that I need to start a blog already and in all my infinite wisdom I did and I guess you can say the rest is history.

Sam's Best of 2011

Rope-Foo Fighters

Prior to this song I personally thought Dave Grohl was a fuck riding the coattails of Kurt Cobain's legacy and that the Foo Fighters made OK at best music then one morning I was woken up by this song's world premier in the KC area and that all changed.

I couldn't ever really consider myself a fan of this band beyond a handful of tracks but of that handful of tracks that make me get why people enjoy this group this song is probably still the one that I'd stand behind as being the track that is everything great about this band.

It's a straightforward high energy rocker with a simple but effective solo near the end point, Grohl perfectly mixing his scream/sung style of vocals, and at the time it didn't get overplayed to a point of making me hate it which is quite the rarity when it comes to this band because like a host of other acts I've enjoyed over the years the radio makes and breaks everything you could possibly love and this song managed to avoid that fate and be an anomaly of a decision I can look at in retrospect and whole heartedly say is still a legitimately great piece of work.

Sam's Top 10 of 2017 #2

2.Wonderful-The Sluts

LFK's Finest fuckers proving my old saying of great music being like bad sex over and done with in 2 and a half minutes or less and what we got here is the most oddly romantic 2 minutes and 17 seconds of music that I remember very drunkenly yelling at them to play the last time I remember seeing them play live and while I'm sure that may have annoyed them I'd like to let them know if they're reading this post that they've most certainly been incredibly wonderful to me by just simply pumping out this utterly exceptional bit of music that is one of the few instances of any true emotion being felt for me over the course of one emotionally draining and utterly unmotivated year of my life.

The Sluts you fucking rule, The Only One is a fucking excellent record, your live show is fucking mind blowing, and this god damn song is the second best fucking thing that ANYONE has released this year and for that I'm a hella chug the fuck out of a miller light in celebration of this exceptional song.

Wonderful is an all out blast of feedback heavy rock and roll that is quintessential to the tone that this band presents with some steady guitar and drum work that gives it a rapid fire pace and makes you want to move in a way that seems kind of counter intuitive to the lyrics of the tune which are simple as fuck but maybe one of the truest expressions of what one could possibly ask from any given blossoming relationship and this song truly has been just, “wonderful to me,” and it damn near was the single best tune of 2017 like this and number 1 are completely interchangeable in all honesty and this position in no way holds back this song because it may be the most appropriately titled thing you'll ever hear and that's for god damn sure.

I reached out to The Sluts in regards to this track and this is what they had to say:

Q: So what are the inspirations behind Wonderful?

A: I honestly don't remember what was going through my head when I wrote the lyrics for that. It's just been a long time since we wrote that one and I'm an avid drinker. I remember thinking that we needed a good up-tempo rock song. The other songs we wrote for that EP were kind of Sludgy or mid-tempo and laid back. Basically it's a song about having someone that is good to you and cares for you no matter how flawed you may be. Dover hates how positive it is. Again, I don't remember writing it but it could be some sort of subconscious ode to a past lover.

Q: How was 2017 for you as a band in terms of the music you wrote, released, and the performances you gave? What are your plans for 2018?

A: 2017 was arguably our best year as a band. It was the first year where we didn't dick around with touring at all. We finally realized that we are way more content to stay in the area, and play the venues that treat us like family when we come around. (i.e. Replay Lounge, Bottleneck, Granada, Riot Room) Dover's married, I had a long term girlfriend at the time, and going on the road just seemed like a chore to us. Dover's mantra has always been, "I don't ever want this to feel like a job," and I'm inclined to agree with him. So we tracked our new EP, 'Only One' with Joel Nanos at Element Recording and Mastering Studios in KC and only booked gigs that seemed like a real good time. In my opinion, it's our best sounding record. Joel is not fucking around. After the EP came out, the sweethearts at 96.5 The Buzz spun our single and even asked us to play Buzz Beach Ball. That is probably our biggest gig to date and we had a blast that day. I never thought in a million years when this band started that we'd be on stages that big. We truly are some luck basterds. We got to meet the Toadies and the Local H guys too. It was a crazy day I will never forget. As of now Dover and I are taking a few weeks off entirely to recharge our batteries a bit. We don't plan to book any shows until March or April. I'll do a few solo shows just to keep me sane though. We have about 4-5 new songs we need to straighten out a bit, but when they are ready, we will track another EP over the winter. It will hopefully be released in spring of 2018.

-Ryan Wise

The KC Showcase: The Sluts, "Only One" EP

(Album May or may not come with complimentary Miller Light that's kind of up to just how things work out for ya but yeah this one instance I actually took the picture myself so...cool)

Being an independent entity with any real lack of journalistic professionalism has it's perks sometimes because I'm not held to a standard that people who actually get paid to do this I can pretty much introduce any piece however I want and excuse me because there's only one way to really start out this piece....

Lawrence FUCKING Kansas' best punk band is back bitches and this brand new batch of tunes is one feedback heavy dose of even more focused and angry rock and roll that's kind of like bad sex over and done with in under 3 minutes and god damn it that's the way I FUCKING LIKE IT!

Form the opening chords of the exceptional, “Spy Hunter,” you can tell that this album has a slightly more musical sound to it compared to their previous self titled 2015 release which was chocked full of very Grungy feedback heavy punk tunes reminiscent of Bleach-Era Nirvana and have instead given us a record that for the majority of it's run time is admittedly a little less heavy than the previous record with, “Spy Hunter,” at points having vocals that kind of remind me of She Wants Revenge in their somber tones and the constant repetition of the line, “What the fuck is real love anyway,” being the perfect fit to it's more down tuned guitar work which is decidedly less punchy than the record before hand and the track, “Wonderful,” has an almost Brit Pop feel to it which I actually kind of really dig because it helps balance out the almost light semi romantic lyrics, “Could you be so wonderful to me,” which is a simple but damn great line and it's barely there run time is something that I'm admittedly a glutton for.

The tracks from this EP really give me a feel that they're trying to expand their sound a bit and it shows because I saw them at the Homegrown Buzz Showcase this year and all the new tracks minus, “On The Radio,” sound completely different from the previous album and in all honesty I can really dig that especially with tracks like, “Spy Hunter,” and, “Wonderful,” being as great as they are this band has put out yet another spectacular release well worth taking note of and chugging a Miller light or 7 to now if you excuse me I think I'm a go grab a few tall boy's and get my drank on to what I shall proclaim as LAWRENCE FUCKING KANSAS' BEST!

(yet another example of my wonderful photography skills at work people)

Also I should probably note that this release is being done one song at a time up until June when all 5 tracks should be available on their Bandcamp Page but if you're impatient and in desperate need of having your mind blown and face melted you can get a physical copy on CD at one of their shows which will most likely be the best decision you'll ever make people.

4/5

Best: Spy Hunter & Wonderful

Worst: Evil Woman

Song of the Day 6/8/16

Linger-The Sluts

As the band would prefer to be referred to as LAWRENCE FUCKING KANSAS' own The Sluts are for lack of a better term TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME!!!

For real if you want some good old fashioned grungy fucking feedback heavy punky goodness that Alterntaive music is desperately lacking at this very moment in time this band is most certainly filling that desire for us all and I recently got to see them live and OH was the wait worth it because they've been on my radar ever since I heard the awesomeness that is Greener and it's constantly repeating chorus of, "She Keeps Me going," which I very much enjoy singing along to but as fucking great as that song and their newest self titled release are today's song of choice is yet another grungy bit of face punching beer drinking goodness in Linger.

This song in a way makes me think of a band like Violent Soho in that it's a very steadfast tune that's best qualities are the fact that it likes to bounce between this kind of calm steadiness before punching you square in the face with a wall of guitars and screams that'll leave you repeating it quite a bit. This song is a special breed of angry enough to make you break shit but not have to constantly refer to everyone around you as Bro after listening to it.

So for lack of a better term it's PUNK AS FUCK!

Sam's Top 20 of 2015 #5

#5 Wolves(You Got Me)-Dreamers

So this for me would be 2015's Demon Dance in that it's an amazingly old school sounding song that's the perfect blend of 90's feedback heavy alternative shoe-gazing rock and roll with some punk rock lyrical poetry that's an awkward series of metaphors for the torturingly crazy experience of falling in love and how it's like being thrown into a den of wolves learning to follow the pact and get use to that crazy feeling and the fucked up things to come.

It's a beautifully simple song that's just everything I love hearing in alternative music that's managed to constantly sound like the best classic song that reminds you of the day's of looking left of the dial and it's only bested by a few truly bad ass tunes that kind of edged it.

Friday's Finest

So I didn't post yesterday for a variety of reasons mostly pertaining to the fact that I wasn't really in too much of a mood to write about a thorwback to a day that's one of the more important events to ever occur in my lifetime and out of the fact that it's difficult at times to come up with the right words to say so I instead decided to not say anything and for today it's still rather gloomy and cold outside so I kind of couldn't come up with too much for today.

Now it's Friday and that of course means it's time for Friday's Finest, but rather then writing about the normal 5 tunes I do instead I decided to only cover 4 because that's all I could come up with and also today I figured I'd write about a batch of songs that my local alternative station decided to post about being put into their rotation and give my two cents so let's quit bullshitting and get to the tunes...

1. Up We Go-Lights

So here we have a very electro-pop cut that in all honesty isn't anything original compared to the fact that a decent amount of these female fronted electronic tunes with large chorus' and sugary beats have been quite a thing recently on all radio mediums and while this Lights chick is pretty fucking hot I don't honestly see too many reasons to give this band much a look  beyond this one decently catchy number that's not a bad song per say it's just kind of generic in comparison to everything else..

2. Rollercoaster-Bleachers

Probably one of the reasons I feel so fondly of this group an excellent kind of swirling indie rock number that has a larger then life Sam's Town-era killers feel to it and I love it and can't wait to hopefully hear this quite a bit.

3. The Righteous One-The Orwells

This song sounds like some seriously old school grungy rocker people with the lowest production, the dirtiest guitars, and of course vocals that are very reminiscent of the early 90's with a slightly groovy kind of psychedelic movement to it that's also reminiscent of the doors at times so overall I can dig it and probably will grow fonder.

4. High-Young Rising Sons

So to round this out we have a very poppy kind of indie number by Young Rising Sons who like the first act covered aren't anything super original compared to what else I'm hearing on alternative radio atm but judging by the amount of comments that were positive I have a feeling this song will do it's thing and be something if not a one hit wonder.

So there's some new music for you guy's to go and listen to and here's the playlist so you can actually listen to them...