The KC Showcase: Faintheart

(Image Courtesy of bands facebook)

Faintheart like many bands I cover here on Sam's Song of the Day are an alternative rock band from Kansas that are crafting some delightfully catchy indie rock tunes that have a very early 2000's emo tone to them who dropped their debut self titled EP not too long ago and recently after deciding to offer it up for free to help promote their upcoming gig at 96.5 The Buzz's Homegrown Buzz Local Music Showcase I figured I'd get around to covering this group I've not so low key been giving quite a few listens to over the past few weeks.

Like I stated Faintheart have a kind of early 00's Emo feel in their music and with their very fast tempo's in tracks like the exceptional, “Two Hearted,” give me memories of those old Victory Music Sampler CD's they use to give out in random magazines back in the day which isn't a bad thing because that sound is still pretty relevant as the teenagers that bought that stuff back then are now adults and if Buzzfeed is any suggestion still love to reminisce over those kinds of sounds.

“Two Hearted,” is a very bouncy little emo tinged kind of pop punk sounding number with a quick tempo and high pitched vocals that perfectly carry lyrics about how two hearts are better than one, which let's be real here who doesn't love when lines are that delightfully cheesy, which give the tune a very Cute is What We aim for feeling but with more heft and a vocalist that seems more in control of how to properly deliver a tune with out it being almost too poppy for it's own good and those same thoughts are also carried over to tracks like, “Common Sense,” with it's heavy use of synthesizers and a chorus that's incredibly in your face and demanding that you remember it.

Overall this EP is a good first impression that is filled with plenty of solid tunes that showcase a good range of sounds from these guy's with the only real gripes I have being that they don't have a complete sense of identity in place to give you this idea that what you're hearing is definitive to this band but even with that said tracks like, “Close Your Eyes,” and the exceptional and addictive, “Two Hearted,” are too good to really hold that against them and I'm sure as they continue to try and grow as a band they'll mature their sound and really start producing a bunch of winners but until then this fast paced 13 minutes of pop punk is a pretty good starting point.

Download for free here: http://noisetrade.com/wearefaintheart

3.5/5

Best: Two Hearted

Worst: You and I

Song of the Day 6/3/16

Cool Heat-Momma's Boy

So I saw these guy's back in April at this local music showcase and remember them having one bad ass fucking live show and after their show they gave away links to download this song so of course with that in mind I'm a leave the link to their bandcamp at the end of this post along with a good reason to download it besides it being free.

Momma's boy are a kind of garage/surf rock band from right here in Kansas City and this song in particular is one groovy little tune that has this awesome kind of old school semi-psychedelic tone to it that helps it's kind of jangly bouncy guitar work really shine before you get into some vocals that sound straight out of the best parts of the indie rock scene.

This song is an addictive and catchy number that kind of crawls into the most awesome part of your brain and decides to go, "you know what I think I like it here," and it'll be stuck on constant repeat along with all your other current rotations but in this instance it leaves the listener just wanting more from this bad ass mother fucking band.

Momma's boy if you're reading this...tour closer to KCMO maybe at the riot room or something preferably on the weekend because I'm a need a good dose of your bad ass selves, and to anyone else download the fuck out of this because this is one of the best song's I've honestly heard this year.

Download the song here

Song of the Day 9/8/15

AHHHH you have to love long lazy weekends people and while I've been enjoying the perks of spending too much money on yourself throughout a weekend while also spending some quality time with my copy of Final Fantasy 7 I'm here kind of listening around and thinking to myself Sam you need to post about a song but then I'm stuck not sure just what song to cover so I sit there running around in fields doing random encounter after random encounter before I realize that I should give some local slightly smaller artist a listen and with that mind I found myself giving this local act a listen and figuring I could give them another mention on here.

New Oasis-Hembree

Hembree are an alternative rock act from Kansas City that I've seen twice before at two different Buzz shows and they kind of pride themselves in doing this kind of dreamy groove heavy brand of alternative rock that really knows how to get bodies moving and the past year or so of constant touring has managed to really solidify their sound and improves show to show so if they're in your neighborhood you should give them a listen because they're groovy and their cover of Gorillaz Dare is a treat in and of itself.

Sam Reviews a Show: The Homegrown Buzz Showcase

So I was at a show the other night and it was a bit of a showcasing of some of Kansa City’s finest local music acts thrown by local alternative station 96.5 the Buzz and it was a pretty good time people and I figured I can take the 30 seconds to inform you guy’s of some acts that you should be on the lookout for if they’re having a show near you.

The Greeting Committee

So here we have a group of some young kids or at the very least I think they looked young as hell that are making music that’s not honestly the most original thing you’ve ever heard but even if it’s not completely breaking the mold it’s done DAMN well and their set was very tight, energetic, and hella fun to see because they just put all their efforts into making all the people there want to listen and the songs were solidly good especially their closer a lovely little love song by the name of Hands Down which in and of itself may be the best Modern Love song to of been made and I can only hope that it breaks them or at the very least ends up being put into some cheesy but lovely little date flick but really this group kicks ass and hopefully the rest of the country picks up on them soon.

  

Hembree

I had the pleasure of talking to some of the members of this band before and after the show and realized that I’ve actually seen them before at one of the other free shows that get thrown on by the Buzz and while the first time I remember they had to deal with Opening band Syndrome they do a really REALLY fun cover of Dare by the Gorillaz which I pointed out and they added to their set because yeah it was bad ass, but covers aside this time around they really seemed to of tightened up their sound since the last time I saw them and I found myself really digging their groovy sound and how there’s a natural feeling to their performance and of course they also looked like they were having a hell of a time.

This band really is composed of some cool dudes and if you get to see them you really should they’re quite fun.

 

Outsides

So these guys were the headliner of the nights festivities and they were yet another unfortunate case of the opening band syndrome when I saw them at The Night the Buzz Stole Christmas but I actually do have their album downloaded onto my computer because when I saw them they gave out free download codes to get the record and in all honesty it’s a pretty solidly 80’s new wavey sounding record with some solid stuff but there’s also a pretty big jump in quality once you see them performing the songs live because kind of like Hembree these guy’s got extra tighter since the last time I saw them and they looked like they were both having the best time ever and really wanted to put on a show that left people wanting more it was a tight collection of New Wave sounding numbers that were energetic and quite fun with a couple of newer songs thrown in to showcase some solid work and of course they did a cover of Toto’s Africa which was FUCKING AWESOME!!!!

These guy’s really have done something good and their song Just Curious is actually quite a bad ass little tune that is kind of a dreamy Depeche Mode meets INXS sounding number that really capped off their set before a solid encore.

 

Kansas City has some fine music coming out of it people and these are just a few acts that decided to go out and really show us what they’re made of and I think every one of them could do something and if you can you totally need to see them.