The KC Showcase: The Styles

(Image Courtesy of bands Facebook Page)

There's quite a few local acts doing their rounds and generating some buzz all around getting spots in various local music events and a band that I've seen come up quite a few times in the various promotions and radio shows around the area that I've seen would be this little act The Styles who just recently put out their self titled debut Ep for free over on their website and since I keep seeing their name keep popping all around I decided to give them a listen and here's what I think.

This band for all intense purposes can best be described as a bit of a throwback to a more 90's post grunge kind of sound that's reminiscent of a Gin Blossoms, early Bush, or Screaming Trees with a vocalist that's reminiscent of Brenton Dean of Holy White Hounds fame and that's not too bad because in songs like, “Teleport,” and, “Get What I want,” this older more grungy but radio appropriate guitar sound they maintain along with a vocalist that kind of eludes a mildly arrogant rock star tone in his singing you get a band that showcases some solid guitar work who know how to craft a catchy tune with the vocals being the only real inconsistency on this EP.

I can't lie these guy's are really solid musicians but their vocalist while being pretty good at points also has moments where he sounds like 2005 called and wanted it's post grungy teenage angst back, and that's ever so evident in the track, “Away From Me,” which is a solid rocker of a tune but the delivery of the line, “Get away from me love,” just had me laughing up a storm and singing along incredibly mockingly and the last track, “Alive,” just kind of limps along with some really good guitar work but not much else.

For a first effort this Ep isn't bad I'd definitely recommend it for people who are more into a more radio rock sound that's very similar to that 90's Grunge scene and in all honesty, “Teleport,” structurally is a fucking bad ass tune and, “Get What I Want,” another serious highlights that showcase the best qualities of each member of this band.

Download EP for Free here: http://www.thestyleskc.com/

3/5

Best: Get What I want

Worst: Away From Me

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

The KC Showcase: The Greeting Committee, "Meeting People is Easy"

(Image Courtesy of band's Facebook Page)

After 2 years of toiling and relentless touring Kansas City Breakthrough act The Greeting Committee are back with their newest 6 song collection in the form of Meeting People Is Easy a matured more focused set of killer tracks that really showcase a collective of individuals who are really doing their best to live up to the hype built around It's not all that bad and it's monstrous radio single, “Hands Down,” which I'd honestly hate to say as good as that song is I'm pretty sure if the jaded expressions on their faces when I saw them play it live on black Friday are any indication even they're sick of hearing that song over and over again, and in all honesty you kind of get the feeling of that tiredness of such a breakthrough single in this collection of songs because the only thing that could possibly come close to being yet another, “Hands Down,” didn't even make the record.

Instead what we have is a collection of tunes starting out with a very cool little instrumental piece that kind of is a very piano lead piece that's a little bit of a whirlwind of unusual voice samples, and a small orchestra tuned piano along with a host of what I'd almost assume are wind chimes or something I can't quite put my finger on but this feels like they really wanted to make a bad ass instrumental track like a lot of bands they listened to growing up and it does a good job of framing this work as an already more focused and well put together piece of work and that's before it even hits it's first real song.

After that interesting little introduction we're then greeted by the exceptional, “Naive,” which uses it's first 30 seconds to kind of have this almost 90's indie rock intro before then blasting into that signature dream pop guitar line that this band has really made a thing of and vocalist Addie Sartino busting in with a new found level of confidence and fullness that show's a huge improvement to the muted and lower end production that It's Not all that Bad had and you end up with a track that has a booming chorus and frenetic energy that's for lack of a better term REALLY FUCKING AWESOME and Brandon Yangmi really pulling a spectacular guitar performance. Overall this song is actually the fullest blend of every body really stepping up and showcasing that these kids are really trying to be something.

So with your head a banging they follow that track up with their signature closer in the form of, “She's A Gun,” which in all honesty it's about god damn time they recorded this because they've been refining and performing this song since I saw them at the Homegrown showcase back in 2015 and this recording is really showing that because it just oozes this feeling of being refined and perfected and of course Sartino's delivery of the line, “My Baby's Got a Gun,” is just so god damn infectiously catchy that you'll be singing it out of context all the time I swear this song feels like a mission statement of sorts to show everybody that these kids are more than cheesy teen romance tunes and that they are worth taking seriously as a real band.

The next two tracks, “Someone Else,” and, “Dancing to Nothing at All,” are what I'd say are the experimental cuts that look to practice a more slower paced and in the case of, “Dancing,” an almost jazzy like experiment of using things like Saxophone to really expand this band's sound to something more than a bunch of early 2000s inspired modern indie rock and then it all wraps up very nicely with, “BBC,” which isn't the most stand out cut you'll ever hear but it's a nice down paced rocker of a track that serves as a great closer by being kind of to the point and just kind of ending at a pretty good but abrupt point to help cap off  an EP that's done everything and anything it can to distance these guy's from the label of those kids that did that cute teenybopper tune about being young and in love by not including a single ballad on here which I'm all for because while I'll give, “Elise,” the credit of being a very personal song that really does give off some really special vibes it's also for me at least plagued with the vibe that I'm about to have this song pounded into my fucking head.

Yeah I'll say it these guy's have really proven to me personally with this EP that they're worth all the success they've accomplished in such a short time and I whole heatedly feel that they've put out a collection of songs that are 100% good if not excellent and for only being 3 months in to 2017 it almost feels like nothing can really top it so yeah go out and buy a copy if you can because these guy's really have proved themselves here and for the first time I kind of feel this album is really worth starting an actual scoring system for so as the first official EP/Album review of 2017 things are off to a pretty high start.

5/5

Best: Naive and She's A Gun

Worst: I'd be hard pressed to say anything is of any low quality but if I had to....BBC

Sam Reviews an Album: Goodbye Gravity, "Sunday Matinee"

(image courtesy of Bands Bandcamp Page)

I was recently approached by a local band called Goodbye Gravity to write up a short review on their new EP Sunday Matinee and after giving it a listen here's a few thoughts I had with this release.

Goodbye Gravity are an alternative rock act formed in 2014 with a sound that I can best describe as a combination between a Pink Royal meets a Westside Royal with some vocals that are incredibly solid and give a vibe of some early 2000's kind of emo/indie rock tones with a lot of light guitar work that never get's too complicated for it's own good and a penchant for writing very kind of dreamy sounding easy to sing along tunes.

Sunday Matinee as a collection of 5 songs is a decently presented package of tunes that showcase a good range of nice kind of indie rock guitar tones that remind me of a host of one off bands that came and went with Rain Cloud having a nice Two Door Cinema club vibe to it with it's nice backing synthesizers adding a kind of danceable vibe to what's already a solidly good rock number with plenty of doo's in the chorus to give the listener something to sing along with.

Listening to this I'm not really noticing any real flaws here besides maybe the fact that Nightmares and Daydreams is a bit out of place with it's kind of circus music tones and the vocals while very solidly good are a bit reserved and could maybe use a bit more inflection at points here and there and when I'm listening to these songs I kind of find myself thinking it sounds very close to some other bands in Kansas City but even so that's not taking away from the fact that when you give this repeat listens you find a lot to really enjoy especially Dustbowl, Strings, and Blurry which I can genuinely say are some pretty bad ass songs.

So if you like bands like Two Door Cinema Club, Pink Royal, Westside Royal, or MOBS I'd say you should give these guy's a listen Sunday Matinee is a solid little collection of fun danceable alternative rock cuts that'll make you feel all sorts of early 2000's feels that we all can't help but love every once in a blue moon and if you like what you hear in the link provided below you can go see these guy's live at The Tank Room Friday February 10th.

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Sam Reviews an Album: Chris Crabtree, "Songs From the Edge of the Sky"

So occasionally I get reached out by some artist to cover their music and sometimes I actually manage to take the time to give their work a listen and that's the case with this release from local Singer song writer Christ Crabtree with his latest EP a follow up to his 2015 releases Counterfit Heart and Zen the Art of Killing Your Self a quaint little EP called Edge of the Sky.

From the opening title track you're greeted with a very dark and kind of ominous track that is ever so reminiscent of a Ryan Adams that's very focused on trying to express a series of complex emotions over some very simple and stark instrumentals that are often very heavy in acoustic guitar work and reverb heavy electrics in the background that are there to add atmosphere that's very strongly prevalent in the EP's first single the dream pop Easy.

With the opening and Title track you have a tune that's actually quite solidly good in a lot of way's really with it's steady pace and Crabtree most complimentary showcasing of his vocal range this song just moves along at a good pace and has just enough lightness to give things a bit of a groove to help not keep things from feeling too dark or broody once you give the lyrics a listen.

Since a lot of the tracks present on this EP are mostly acoustic lead folkish rockers with the occasional duet featuring a singer called Julie Sternman I'm given a feeling that the music here could work on a more Adult Alternative radio format marketed towards older individuals that are looking for music that is more introspective without being too in your face or overly rocking.

If you're a fan of later day Tom Petty or want a softer Ryan Adams this is a good collection of songs to be listening to especially in the fall because they're some very laid back and introspective tunes that are very approachable for a good variety of listeners and I'm sure upon repeated listens you'll find a tune or two to do the thing for you and for me Edge of the Sky and GFM are my own personal highlights.

If you're interested he'll be performing all of these tracks at his EP release show on November 29th at The Uptwon Arts Bar where you can see him perform all of these songs and a few other he's been working on and of course you can purchase them online that same day and at the show so if you have the time on a Monday night give it a shot the records solid and well worth the listen.


Easy:



GFM




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Sam Reiews an album: Cry Baby-Melanie Martinez

You know going on a hiatus is a terrible idea and I'd highly advise never doing it because even though I've been to a shit load of shows over the past 2 months I've been very much dead in terms of actual creative writing and it's been extra difficult to REALLY be motivated to tell you guy's just how awesome it is to see so many different bands and what not but today seems kind of interesting because not only is Straight Out of Compton out but one Melanie Martinez has released her full length studio debut album Cry Baby and to my excitement I've been giving it a proper listen and well i have a few things to say in a fairly compact matter so let's quit fucking around and do yet another Sam Reviews an album....

So Cry Baby it's a 13 song story of a little girl who's parents are alcoholics who cheat on each other and fuck up her life by distorting her moral compass and making her proceed to both murder and act in a mischievous manor and beyond that story there's not much else in this album besides a shit load of clever word play and some interestingly twisted things over what's very childish instrumentals that add to Martinez's twisted nature and give the album a kind of disturbingly wholesome feel.

In all honesty this album has about 6 killer tracks and the rest just kind of feel more in place to sound catchy and carry along a certain feel to it's aesthetic and story which isn't bad at all especially when some of them are performed live and kind of take a life of their own like the opening track Cry Baby which on here is a kind of tame number with one of the best uses of the word fuck in the whole album which completely changes around and becomes a viciously awesome number in a live environment which was my biggest disappointment when it came to this album but that disappointment is quickly set aside when you reach tracks like Dollhouse and Pity Party which just kind of have a really manic vibe that leads you to just kind of want to freak out along with her and really help hype the story being told.

There's also instances of slower songs really working like Soap which is a kind of dreamy number that musically does a good job of being kind of calming but with a really moveable beat and a chorus that kind of sticks along even if the rest of it is fairly typical stuff, and beyond that the rest of the album tracks don't have any super stand out tracks that are that good or bad for that matter so what I'm stuck with is more a solidly good album that leaves me wanting to listen to it more and seeing just how it develops over time.

Score: 6.5/10

Hits: Pity Party, Soap, Dollhouse

Misses: Cry Baby, Alphabet Boy

Perfect 10's: A Fever You Can't Sweat Out-Panic! at the Disco

So I'll have all sorts of irrelevant thoughts come to mind through out the day's but I seem to have a hard time really wording them which is why I almost never post on here anymore it's hard to really justify putting out sub optimal articles even if I do that fairly often but that's besides the point because I was talking to my Girlfriend a couple of nights ago and we were talking about some of her favorite bands and it occured to me that a decent amount of acts from about 10 years ago are a little too similar in terms of just how their careers laid out and I found myself comparing the year 2005 to 1991 in that there was about 3 BIG artist that kind of broke into the mainstream and defined a genre as a whole and if you're curious obviously the big 3 for 1991 the year of my birth BY THE WAY!!! ALSO MAYBE ONE OF IF NOT THE GREATEST YEARS IN MUSICAL HISTORY!!!!! were of course Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and The Red Hot Chilie Peppers who all had their biggest records and produced some of the most essential and successful alternative records of all time and it's kind of odd because that year was an impressively eclipsing debut album and two semi established acts having their commercial break and that happened again but rather then it being Grunge we had Emo have it's phase.

If you're not aware arguably the BIG 3 for the Emo boom in 2005 were Fallout Boy, Panic! At the Disco, and My Chemical Romance with of course two of them breaking through with their second album and the other having a stellar debut album which is actually the topic of today's article but for future reference if you're interested in hearing more into this I'll make those connections in a later article but for now let's discuss this perfect 10 of an album.

So if you were to ask me I'd have to say that the band that Panic! most remind me of in terms of how their career has turned out I'd have to say they're a lot like Weezer and I say this because their Debut Album is pretty much a pitch perfect collection of songs that in all honesty have no flaw's to be found and even at their worst or overplayed are perfect power pop numbers that are full of energy, clever song writting, and of course are catchy as fuck and while their second album is the better in both cases both of their second records were kind of critically under appreciated upon release and in time have been more then snubbed out by the band in question even if they're honestly the strongest records of those bands career and also in both cases both bands first album still remains their most treasured and highest sellers which is for a pretty good reason.

Now let's go back and note the things that I said were this albums strong points starting with the most important probably the fact that from beginning to end you are blasted with this kind of combination of synth heavy danceable and ever so electronic tracks that balance just enough fake instruments with the real deal to help highlight a series of songs that oddly enough was probably the strongest Brendon Urie was able to do in the course of this bands history because it's the perfect balance of kind of cheeky and dirty tunes that are meant as nothing more then fun sing alongs(I write sins not Tragedies, There's a reason these tables are numbered honey..., Lying is the Most Fun a girl can have...) and even a few songs here and there that are actually pretty serious in tone like Camsicado which is about his alcoholic father. The songs on this album are fairly natural really and listening to them through and through you can't help but want to learn all the words and sing along because even 10 years later they're still as amusingly refreshing as they were when these guy's were the biggest band on the planet.

Another thing this album has going for it is the fact that the first half of it is an electronic affair while the second half takes more a rock-ish at times almost cabaret approach which helps to break up the monotony that keyboard heavy records have and also it showcases that this band did actually have a lot more variety in them then you'd expect from their genre.

Now of course I will have to make note that the whole thing of your song titles being paragraphs of unnecessarily that they straight copied from the likes of Fallout Boy is annoying as fuck but in all honesty when that's the only bad thing you can come up with for this album you realize just why it broke them through and why we all have yet to be able to lose our nostalgia goggles when we listen to it because we all still remember just how awesomely big I Write Sins was and to this day you know if it comes on you'll still know every god damn word.

Re-Listening to this album is quite a trip still and what annoys me is that this band made a real leap forward in terms of musical direction with Pretty. Odd. even if it's songwritting wasn't on par but then because it didn't quite measure up they've spent the last couple of albums regressing and making more pop minded attempts at recreating this album which is a shame because it's the complete lack of them trying to be anything more then a bunch of young hungry kids making a record that really give this some character and strength they had nothing to prove and made a classic of their genre because of it too bad they had to follow it up but hey that's life and that's been another edition of Perfect 10's.

Quality Cuts: Camsicado, The Only Difference..., Time to dance, There's a reason these tables are numbered honey..., I Write Sins not tragedies

Perfect 10's: Mezmerized-System of a Down

So a couple of weeks ago I was watching a recording of System of a Down's free show up in Armenia and after being blown away by the sheer awesomeness of them blasting through a catalog of awesome album cuts and singles I was motivated to grab my copy of Mezmerize/Hyptotize and give that a listen and that's where today's post comes to mind.


We all have a small list of albums that we've heard that in all honesty from beginning to end there isn't a single tune that is bad in all honesty the whole album from beginning to end is all killer with pretty much no filler and after kind of reliving my middle/high school nostalgia fueled excitement I thought to myself that I should highlight such records and with that in mind I'm a do a little segment called Perfect 10's which in all honesty is just a term I'm  using to describe an album that from beginning to end is all great with no dips in quality at all.....in my humble opinion and since this album was the first one to come to mind I figured fuck it why not.

Mezmerize was System of a Downs 4th studio album released on May 17, 2005 and was the first half of a double album with the second half Hypnotize released about 6 months later and while they should be observed as a whole album in all honesty I find Mezmerize to be such a superior product in it's own right that I often just kind of keep forgetting about Hypnotize even though it is a solid album in it's own right but that's not the thing we're talking about here.

From beginning to end this album is an all our assault on your senses just brimming with fast paced rockers and amazing guitar work through and through with the right blend of super obscured and awkward lyrics like Cigarago and Violent Pornography that are merely there to kind of make you listen so you can come to realize like every album this band has done it's an incredibly politically charged work that shines very heavily in it's biggest cut B.Y.O.B. and Sad Statue the latter of which has some of the most impressive guitar work I've heard from this band probably ever and actually wiht that in mind the middle eastern influence in guitar tones is more overt in this album especially in a track like Revenga.

Overall this album really shines for me because it just doesn't let up at any points it's a hard hitting effort of amazingly well done songs that for whatever reason or another haven't aged like their contemporaries and when i come to realize it's been 10 years since it came out and it still pounds as amazingly great now as it did then I'm only more impressed.

Really if you haven't given this a listen and you want some Heavy Metal that's more then just breakdowns and screamed vocals then you should own this album 10/10 highly recommended.

Quality Cuts: Sad Statue, Old School Hollywood, Violent Pornography, and Questions?

5 Years 5 Albums: Day 5

The Bones of What You Believe-CHVRCHES (2013)

In all honesty in the 5 years since I started writing song of the day I’d honestly have to say this is probably the most solidly strong debut album I’ve heard since starting this and it’s really quite interesting to think about because it’s the pure solid New Wave sound with plenty of polished strongly sang tunes and Lauren Mayberry’s kind of pixy tones that kind of lead me to just get utterly absorbed into an album that’s really a lot like Depeche Mode but more modernized and with even less organic instrumentation.

I really do love this album quite a bit people and the fact that the songs kind of range from slightly dark dance tracks to just complete bangers gives you a good variety pack to kind of enjoy no matter what your mindset is and it really is an album that you find yourself coming back to again and again to only remind yourself just how fucking good it really is and even now trying my best to put into words just what’s so good about it I’m just reminded of the times and places I’ve gone and had been with each song good and bad it’s all something that really gets me thinking.

Also on a lesser note these guy’s put on an amazing show and Lauren Mayberry is a Pixy voiced goddess amongst women.

This may be last choice in my 5 years and 5 albums but stay tuned Sunday for a special post regarding the 5^th year anniversary but until then it’s been a pretty bad ass 5 years and this album is just another example of what it’s resulted in.

Quality Cuts: By the Throat, Gun, Night Sky

5 Years 5 Albums: Day 4

Kimbra-Vows (2011)

Man did I fucking crush HARD for not only this album but the beautiful little song bird herself one Kimbra Jones and for good reason she made an amazing little eclectic pop album that while admittedly was kind of safe in points was still and amusing and different take on pop music that I’m not entirely sure just why it took my attention so much but Oh buddy did it.

One of the best first albums I’ve heard probably ever this album had plenty of the kind of throwback organic nature that I’d developed a fondness for thanks to one Cee-Lo Green but with a bit of a non pretentious indie vibe that kept it kind of fresh and out of the ordinary and it’s those qualities that kind of made it’s very cheery sound draw me in so hard.

In all honesty I find it a shame that while she’s managed to grow more as an artist since this album the world isn’t taking notice like they really should because this album really does cover the widest range of emotions that we all can go through and it’s those growing pains and charms that are the most amusing because I can’t help but while listening to this album think about the sheer amount of times I’ve written about it on here and in all honesty I have no shame about it because it’s still that fucking good an album.

Quality Cuts: Cameo Lover, Call Me, Sally I can See You