The KC Showcase: Drugs & Attics

(Image courtesy of Bandcamp)

Drugs and Attics are a local punk rock act that make music that can be described as brash punk rock with a nice blend of doo-wop and minor tints of surf rock thrown in to keep things a little bit more musical at points and I've been following them around since about last year and they recently just released their debut EP after getting signed to independent label Creep it Real and I recently acquired a copy and figure I'd let you guy's know just what you're getting into when listening to this little group of punks.

So this album is short....like real short all in all it's 4 songs and about 8 minutes of your day to listen to this record back to front and somehow in all of 4 songs they managed to express a wide variety of sounds from the decidedly punkish, “I Got a Bong,” the kind of 50's rock and roll of, “The Parties Over,” to the Indie jangle rock of, “Don't You See,” and of course the distortion heavy slow churner of a track, “The High Life,” you get a surprisingly large amount of variety in something so short which is actually kind of cool because it seems like these guy's are very actively trying to be something more than just a sloppy group of punks making loud music.

Mr. Billy Williams has a voice that's equal parts rough and gravely as it is surprisingly soulful and his delivery all throughout this little EP fleshes each of these songs and shows the largest amount of passion in, “High Life,” which just carries along quite wonderfully while also making up about half of the whole EP's run time and is this hugely full sounding track that really stands out in every great way.

This really is a cleanly produced selection of tracks that use a variety of interesting instrumentals from the horns in, “The Parties Over,” and even a bong in, “I got a Bong,” there's a variety of well put together tunes that leave you with the feeling that this record is fucking great.

This EP is an all out assault of killer cuts that really just kind of leave you wanting to hear more and trust me this band is well worth hearing more from and if you get the chance their live show is just spectacular and full of all sorts of other awesomely bad ass tunes that will leave you wondering why they didn't put them out but that said this collection of tunes is just the right blend of tracks they could have put out with each song being the best examples of the sounds they're looking to achieve and performances given that are just flawless and will only continue to feel so listen after listen if you find it at your local record shop FUCKING BUY IT NOW!

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5/5

Best: Hight Life

Worst: I Got a Bong   

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

The KC Showcase: Run With It, "How To Start a Fire," ep

(Image courtesy of bands website)

Run with it are an alternative rock band from right here in Kansas City that I actually discovered after scanning a random Snapchat code they left on the side of a light pole and after a couple of months of seeing constant updates about this upcoming release and the amount of hype that this record was generating for them I decided to actually finally give them a listen because this release actually debuted on iTunes top alternative albums chart at number 66 and got these guy's a record deal which is pretty cool so here's my thoughts on what could possibly be Kansas City's Imagine Dragons.

Actually if I were to give these guy's some credit it'd be that they managed to make a product that has some really good production with each song sounding quite full and at times kind of didn't feel like an independent act with tracks like, “I Need a Light,” feeling like it could be sent to the radio there's a level of quality control that's very admirable and worth giving these guy's credit for, but it's oddly the high level of quality control that's honestly my biggest issue with this EP it's an incredibly safe sounding effort that produces songs that kind of make me feel like they need to be played on the kind of radio station for Midwestern soccer mom's who wore out their Matchbox Twenty CD's and that earlier comparison to Imagine Dragons is a bit more than a comparison because when I was initially trying to outline a review of this piece pretty much every song on here was noted as reminding me of Imagine Dragons to some capacity.

That's not really the worst thing in the world considering that their stylistic similarities to more mainstream modern alternative rock acts gives them an appeal that can reach a bigger audience than some of the other bands I've covered in this showcase segment and some of the tracks on here like, “Don't Waste My Time,” are still some solid tracks in their own right and the track, “One More Fight,” has a pretty bad ass guitar solo to close it out along with this bands vocalist Miguel Carballo actually has a very robust voice that showcases a good amount of inflection and really seems to properly give these songs a kind of faith inspired feel that I'm sure a good amount of people will really grab on to the only issue is I'm not one of those people.

This band is solid as hell but they're also probably the safest most well organized thing I've covered in a very long time and the week plus it's taken me to properly frame that thought just leaves me with a record that I can only really say that if you like Imagine Dragons, X-Ambassadors, or Matchbox Twenty you'll probably dig this band but if you're looking for something unique from this city I'd say look elsewhere for something a little less formulaic.

Here's a link to the bands website for anyone interested in purchasing this ep:

http://www.runwithitband.com/

3/5

Best: Don't Waste My Time and the outro guitar solo on One More Fight

Worst:Time