Sam's Top 20 of 2016: #1

1.Cool Heat-Momma's Boy

You know my fascination with this song was a very slow burning kind of deal because I remember seeing these guys at The Homegrown Buzz Showcase and being told how dope they were by my favorite local DJ and all I remember about their set was that it was one of the most awesome fucking shows I'd seen but oddly enough I couldn't remember any of the details about it and all I had was this awesome little sheet of paper with a download code and whenever I redeemed that download code it seemed to have opened a crazy little world for me.

From some of the nicest outdoor spaces, to slick city bars, to this bands god damn basement Momma's Boy are a hell of a captivating act that craft some ingeniously simple tunes that just take your attention and make you think to yourself, “GOD DAMNIT THIS IS THE BEST FUCKING BAND EVER!” and all I've gotten to just cling on is this one fucking song and OH GOD DAMN is it just too fucking good for it's own right.

You know basic songwriting 101 verse chorus verse the idea that you give a verse and then follow it up by the hook to you know give everyone something to remember and cling onto since it's what we all remember you know things like, “Sweet dreams are made of the years, who am I to disagree,” “Don't Stop Believing, hold on to that feeling, Streetlights people oh-a-oh,” “I fucked 17 girls in a grocery store and I didn't lose my erection,” you know stuff like that.

This song on the other hand is a bit different because in a way it reminds me of a song I adore called, “Standing in the Rain,” by Husker Du in that it instead of going verse chorus verse it instead uses the first half of it's run time to bust out a couple of verses in succession before reaching around the 2 minute mark when you finally get a proper chorus that's just one god damn phenomenal if not ingeniously simple piece of songwriting and performance that at that very second hooks you and GOD DAMNIT did this song hook me.

This song starts out very unassumingly with some simple strumming of a very surf rock tuned guitar that then bust out in an awesome little swirling burst of everyone jumping into the pool at once with the whole band just then making things very dreamy and awesome before the vocals then start and just mesh so perfectly well with things in such a natural way that you can't help but not realize that you're almost 2 minutes in before it bust out one simple but so perfectly executed line, “cause you're coming closer, closer,”and GOD DAMNIT that fucking line it's just so fucking simple but so good because it's simple to sing along to and it'll make you fucking move I know because I just love jumping around singing it over and over either in the privacy of my own humble abode or whenever I'm seeing them perform it live this oh to awesome bit of musical nirvana just kind of reminds me of why under 4 minutes is so good because out of nowhere and most immediately it just ends...done...bam that's it the song is in a whirling haze of totally fucking awesome just done leaving you standing there cold, a little bit scared, and feeling like you just had the best god damn 3 minutes and 55 seconds of your god damn life.....but then you hit that repeat button.

There's a reason this song is Number 1 and I said it back when I first talked about it earlier this year this song will just kind of crawl into that special little part of your brain that tells you, “Hey this is totally fucking awesome,” and it'll just make a cozy little spot there maybe pour itself a nice cold one and it'll just fucking take residence there and never leave and to be honest I don't think I'd let it leave either because the unexplained out of nowhere quality of fascination this song brought me this year is something I definitely wouldn't want to have just leave.

Also in all honesty this song kind of is a bit symbolic for my year in a nutshell because between April to October of this year I probably attended more shows than I could have even possibly thought I'd ever of been able to and it's because of this Homegrown Showcase that I attended and the vast amount of immensely talented and incredible acts that this city is filled with from Rachel Mallin and the Wild Type, Yes You Are, Kangaroo Knife Fight, Vigils and Thieves, The Uk's, Brave the Spirit, and of course Momma's Boy I've meet some bad ass and talented fucking people that have made my life quite a bit more eventful and given me a load of new friends and some of the best god damn performances I could have ever thought of seeing and fuck I even had a god damn concert in my house which is fucking mind blowing to say the least.

It's this band and the fact that I decided to give them a view at the showcase that eventually lead me to drive out to a house in some random part of Kansas to see them again which lead to me meeting a variety of people that I'm not sure that I'd ever of really gotten to know and managed to make things a little bit better even if I'm still kind of all over the place in my emotions at least I got to rock the fuck out to some great god damn songs and this one in all honesty is more definitively than any other year of top 20's the truest number 1 song of the year Momma's Boy are the fucking best god damn band in Kansas City and every song is a god damn winner that they do and I'll keep supporting them as long as possible and keep treasuring every set list even if I could literally have enough to wallpaper and an entire wall in my house.

Well there you go Kansas City proved that it has the best songs of the year let's see if next year everyone else can catch up thanks for all the support to every band who shared and everyone who enjoyed what I write you're the best here's to what I plan to be a drastic change in style here in 2017 so stay tune for that change to be announced come January but until then happy holiday's to all and here's to one crazy year.

Sam's Top 20 of 2016: #2

2.(Mr.)Love Drunk-Kangaroo Knife Fight

What's kind of funny to think about is the fact that I only got to see ONE full show from this band this year and all it took was one show and a phenomenal EP to have these guy's at the number 2 spot on my list which is fucking crazy to think about because the majority of songs that were on this years list I saw get played multiple times in a variety of places and really got to know a wide variety of the bands in question and saw so much growth but with these guy's all I got was a small taste at a showcase and a few conversations at said showcase and one hour long EP release show that was 9 different kinds of spectacular, and it's the first track from that EP that left an impact that was larger than I could have possibly imagined.

In all of 3 words to describe this band I'd have to say THEY FUCKING ROCK for real with one of the best god damn vocalist Kansas City has to offer  in the form of one Anthony Avis along with the tightest most solid musicians around this band showcases pretty much everything that makes a band great and when faced with a phenomenal set of 4 songs this song in particular stood out right from the get go as something spectacular.

From Avis' delivery of the line, “Mr. Mr. Love drunk, She's out of my league now, was a fool to believe knock me to my knees, knock me to my knees,” you feel like a drunk Kangaroo getting rejected by every gorgeous woman around,which minus the whole being a Kangaroo is a pretty accurate way to describe most of my dating life this year, but that little awkward bit of mental imagery is irrelevant because this song not only has some of the most powerhouse vocals but it also has the musicianship to back it up with some solidly tight and steady paced tones that evoke all the best thoughts of past Kings of Leon tunes you get a track that has an addictive in way's that only a select number of other tracks could really match for me.

In it's simplest forms this song is maybe the best example of just how great this band works as a unit because it's everything you could want in a rock song with it's larger than life chorus that just begs to be sang along to and a sound that has commercial appeal but isn't stiff or generic you're left with a song that leaves you with this dangerously addictive urge to just listen to it on repeat for months on end with only small breaks here and there before you eventually find yourself crawling right back to it time and time again and after 8 fucking months I still fucking just adore this god damn song.

Sam's Top 20 of 2016: #3

3.Dropout-Rachel Mallin and the Wild Type

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.

Again I fucking love this band.

Sam's Top 20 of 2016: #4

4.Your Tide-MOBS

Let us all take one second to give a moment of silence for all that could have been because unfortunate for us all what I can only assume is dispute among the members ended what was the beginning of a great thing a moment please.

….

OK now that we've gotten that out of the way MOBS was for all intensive purposes a group that came in like a fucking fire, a collective of musicians including two in particular that manage to time and time again bring out the best in any band they're a part of weather it's through their own creation or as backing musicians and are the reason I went to one of the best EP release shows I've been to this whole year.

This song fucking rocks plain and simple it's a slow start to one spectacular fucking chorus that I very much get so into whenever I listen to it and it just doesn't fucking let up Micheal Schley delivers a vocal performance that is just damn near perfect in it's delivery and the overall band arrangement and steady but purposeful guitar work is on point to a degree that you just kind of find yourself down right addicted to this song. For real you'll get to a point where even after it's done you can't reach that replay button fast enough.

It's a god damn shame things don't work out because this had all the potential in the world but fuck it I guess one of the best shows and songs of the year is good enough for somebody out there and at the very least as sad as it is that I won't get to see MOBS again I can rest in knowing that the two core members of this group who were responsible for everything great about this band have managed to carve out maybe the next best new band in the form of the awesomely bad ass Westside Royal which isn't MOBS but I'm pretty sure they'll be something even better.

Sam's Top 20 of 2016: #5

5.Wasted On You-Bleached

Of all the acts that were probably my favorite just kind of out of the blue discovery from radio I'd have to say this little group of punk rockers is my favorite and Welcome to the Worms is a bad ass fucking album just chock full of bad ass songs, and while I should be most likely be putting tracks like, “Keep On Keepin' On,” or “Wednesday Night Melody,” for being some pretty spectacular radio singles that do a good job of getting one interested in buying the album it's actually this deep cut that just completely sold me on this band.

“Getting Glassed what's a girl to do? I'm a mess it's nothing really new, Hoping you can see how hard I'm tripping, ditching friends just to go to your shows, and watch you sing about another girl, oh I might start dying,”

With that line I was just hooked right the fuck there at the time my heart was broken and I had just heard this band on the radio and decided to give their album a listen and that line right the fuck there just kind of hit me right in the feels.

I remember I actually got to talk to Jennifer Clavin about that  and she thought it was pretty sad that I was heartbroken which was kind of sweet to see she seemed to care about some random strangers feels.

I also remember telling her about how this song reminds me in a lot of ways of the song Superstar by the Carpenters in it's longing for a rock star imagery in the lyrics at points and the fact that it's an incredibly heartbroken number that reeks of longing for that which you don't have which are amplified when you're not entirely over heartbreak and can helped in it's own way in giving you something to grab onto when you're looking to get over those feelings.

So after my first time seeing them at Beach Ball they came back around town on Halloween and I saw them again but a few hours before their show they did an acoustic version of this on the radio and to say that it was a fucking mind blowing experience is an understatement of a century and the fact that they've yet to put up an audio recording of that interview is fucking painful because I just wish the world could just hear it over and over again because it was the final reminder of just why I put it so high on my list this year.

This song is the most wonderfully heartbreaking and simple song this band has done and it's simple premise along with it's fairly short run time of just over 3 minutes and a very old school alternative sound make a tune that caught me on it's first rotation and never let go and getting to tell this group in person just how important this song is to me is quite great........even if they forgot to play it when they promised me they would but hey I'm not mad because of that radio performance and the fact that they even made this song in the first place.

So yeah this band is FUCKING AWESOME! And they've managed to make one of the few albums that I really could consider something great this year.

Merry Christmas People

What is up readers of this fine little blog of mine as you know it's Christmas and Monday marks the top 5 tracks of the year which I am mondo excited about but today I'm spending some quality time with the family up here in the arctic tundra that is Montana but even with that I figured that I'd take the time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas from all of us.....you know I say that but it's really just me that does all the writing for this blog...whatever it's Christmas and I can't lie I kind of miss Kansas City a bit today so I figured I'd have a bit of that Kansas City love up here by posting what's the second best Christmas track of all time a little local act known as Shadow Rabbits wonderfully catchy rendition of the awkward holiday classic that is your mom being a cheating who....I MEAN.....it's I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause people and this bands wonderful kind of surf rock tone that they put on it is utterly infectious once that bass line kicks in and helps perfectly balance some excellent vocals and really seems to of finally convinced me to enjoy a Christmas song for the first time since...I don't entirely remember when but it's great and this band has some quality releases you can download FOR FREE! also there's a pretty dope video of it on Youtube.

SO yeah happy holiday's I can't wait to show some special thanks to the 5 bands that made my favorite songs of the year and give reason as to just why this town has been the best thing to me this year but you'll have to wait to read that dose of kindness but until then get fucked up and don't try to get too annoyed with your family and why not download this track with maybe a little donation if you want to be nice.

Happy holiday's to all you lovely people I think I'm a go eat some Chinese food and get my drank on...

Sam's Top 20 of 2016: #6

6.Brave the Spirit-Lucy

I remember writing in my first KC Showcase about this band and their EP The Beautiful Fight which is a bit strange to look back because I remember kind of liking the second half more than the first when I first covered it but after seeing these guy's preform these tracks a few times since then I kind of flipped what tracks I can honestly say are my favorites from it and looking at the songs they've made and seeing them play them in a live environment I have to say that hands down this is the best thing this band has probably done as of now.

Lucy sounds like you're going down the California coast line with some super dreamy guitar work, the flock of seagulls sound at the beginning, and the general aesthetic it presents in it's lyrics and delivery have a song that feels very bright and summery and gives the listener this feeling of simultaneously floating on air and wanting to just jump around and play some fucking air guitar. 

It's admittedly not the most complicated piece of work but it's something that when you see them play it live you realize something just clicks about this song because from all the times I've seen them play no matter what they have presented or any technical difficulties that may plague their set at any given moment for some reason every single time just stands out and no matter what the situation is they seem to always just give 110% of all their efforts and it shows because they nail it EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME.

For real these guys are like a hurricane of energy just erupting all over the place and this song just seems to cut through any technical difficulties that happen just fucking vanish and you're left with something that's special and maybe it's the fact that their lead singer Austyn Ryan dedicates it to his sister every performance because it's her favorite song but you can tell just listening to it and seeing them play it that you're in for something special every time because this song is something REALLY special it's hard to quite put your finger on just what it is but it's undeniably high level of quality is something that will hit you at some point and it's at that point that you then realize that this band is worth giving a damn about.