Daniel Rosen , of Texas hardcore band Bitter End , has put together a show that looks to be the first legitimate hardcore show in Lawrence in quite some time. Billed as "Gig #1," and announcing "HARDCORE IN LAWRENCE IS BACK," the show features Rosen's band, as well as California's Take Offense and Downpresser, along with locals Iron Guts Kelly and Backstabber . Rosen chatted with us about the upcoming show, how it came to be, and upcoming plans for Bitter End. Once upon a time, [...]
Kansas City's High Diving Ponies haven't played a show since last November, when they played FOKL with Dry Bonnet. They're not likely to be playing around here any time soon, either. According to the band's Josh Thomas High Diving Ponies are "probably not playing Lawrence or KC again until fall." So, that makes tonight's show at the Replay in Lawrence an imperative thing to attend, especially if you're a fan of the intense psychedelic shoegaze the band proffers. Thomas promises that the band will be "playing mostly new songs," giving you a chance to [...]
Kansas City trio Not A Planet have the potential to be that next band to step to the next level. Much like the ACBs or Cowboy Indian Bear, the group has mastered the art of taking familiar sounds and recontexualizing them into something fresh and exciting. Unfortunately, Not A Planet has yet to direct their sound into something consistent. While, yes, a band needs to diversify and do more than perform the same song repeatedly over the course of 10-12 tracks, some sort of thematic or tonal through-line helps. While the gentleman of Not A Planet [...]
All of Hollowtown , the debut release from Lawrence's Pale Hearts , sounds prettily depressing. This is a good thing, in that it's the rare release these days that manages to convey longing, want, need, or sadness without screaming and yelling. Pale Hearts express their emotions through plaintive songs which still manage to jangle and swing. It's spaghetti western via new wave - not unlike Wall of Voodoo covering Ennio Morricone . The first track has some weird vocal issues, like they're way high in the mix, but the rest of the album sounds [...]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art 's new book, PUNK: Chaos to Couture , is an LP-sized tome, so I suppose it makes sense I'm listening to The Roxy London WC2 , an LP that compiles many of the early punk bands performing live in their native environment. The LP's a deluxe reissue on Earmark , with 180-gram vinyl, a PVC protective sleeve, and all manner of accoutrements. It's dressing up something that was most likely originally kicked around, beaten up, scratched, and treated poorly in all manner of extras befitting proper art, rather than [...]
We went to Chicago last weekend for C2E2, and as I do in every city we visit, I hit up a bunch of record stores. And as I do every time I visit a record store in a different city, I asked for the hook-up on the best band I've probably not heard of back home. The dude at Reckless in Wicker Park suggested Disappears , saying that they were "probably the best live band in Chicago right now." I'm currently spinning their first LP, Lux (out on [...]
If you've heard the streaming version of Night Birds ' newest single, "Maimed for the Masses," do yourself a favor and go buy the 7-inch. You'd think that surf-punk wouldn't be harmed by audio compression for online play, but the physical version of the track just sounds so much more clean. The song, an ode to "Mrs. Foley's baby boy" (aka Cactus Jack, aka Dude Love, aka Mankind, aka New York Times bestselling author Mick Foley) is a surprisingly touching first-person perspective story of Foley's hardcore history in the squared circle. [...]
We've been big backers of Big Eyes for a good long while, going back to their debut 7-inch on Evil Weevil. Since they first released that collection of demos, the garage-pop trio has toured the country, released a slew of amazing split releases, and are now getting ready to release their second full-length LP on Grave Mistake Records , entitled Almost Famous . Frontwoman and guitarist Kate Eldridge spoke with us via e-mail about the new LP, touring, and more. [...]
The long-running acoustic punk Revival Tour made its first-ever stop in Lawrence (or Kansas City) on Friday night. The Granada Theater in Lawrence was filled with folks in the mood for a sing-along. Surprisingly, though, the place wasn't packed. Whether it was the fact that Bad Religion took everyone's money on Monday, or that people weren't aware that the frontmen for the Get Up Kids, Rise Against, and Hot Water Music were playing solo acoustic, the crowd was far smaller than I was planning on. That being [...]
The new memoir by Rhoney Gissen Stanley about her years with Owsley "Bear" Stanley, entitled Owsley and Me: MY LSD Family , is currently out via Monkfish Publishing . The publishing house is best known for some really heavily spiritual reads, so it should come as no surprise that Owsley and Me is super-new age / hippie-dippy. The book (co-written / tweaked / helped with by Tom Davis ) is a series of stories that are, plot-wise, intensely interesting, but told about a series of people toward whom you have no [...]
So, where were these Middle of the Map pictures and videos last week? Thanks to some fine Internet mischief-makers, I couldn't access the site for the better part of two days. Thanks, guys. That was dandy. I understand some of you folks out there have a problem with our hosts at GoDaddy, but some of us don't have the time, energy, and money to swap service providers and DNS hosts every time somebody does something stupid. Anyhow, video above from Oils and below from y(our) fri(end) , both Lawrence artists performing at the [...]
Kansas City's third annual Middle of the Map festival took place last weekend in Westport. In addition to photographs, we shot video of quite a few bands. We'll be rolling out some local acts tomorrow, but in the meantime, check out video of Danish punks Iceage doing "Ecstasy," from their new album, You're Nothing , above and Nashville garage rockers Pujol below, performing "Mission From God," from United States of Being .
Thoughts from Friday night at Middle of the Map : - Many more small-scale shows, fewer of the blow-out parties of last year. Even Iceage and Jeff the Brotherhood back-to-back at the Riot Room wasn't nearly as crazy as Fucked Up / Coalesce the year before. - Speaking of Iceage: holy shit. A total clusterfuck mess. Far more entertaining than their show at the Jackpot, though. Honestly, they could've played "Ecstacy" over and over for the half hour they were on stage, and I would've been happy. - Not A [...]
This year's Planet Comicon was absurdly huge. Having moved from its longtime home at the Overland Park International Trade Center to Kansas City's Bartle Hall allowed for huge halls in which to fit even bigger guests than before. Wil Wheaton, George Takei, Adam Badlwin, and Nicholas Brendon were just a few of the names that have taken Kansas City's convention from something which you went to because, "well, it's in KC" to an actual event to which pop culture obsessives could freak over the course of the year. Lines moved quickly, people were friendly, and I [...]
Buffalo trio Lemuria have been purveying a strain of rocking indie pop for almost a decade now. With a slew of singles behind them, it's surprising that they've only recently finished recording their third full-length. As yet untitled, the LP will be released later this year on Bridge 9 Records , following their second, Pebbles (also on Bridge 9) and their debut, Get Better , on Asian Man. We harrassed the hell out of drummer and vocalist Alex Kerns via Twitter and e-mail, and he was surprisingly willing to answer some questions [...]
Writer Jai Nitz 's biography describes his work thusly: "Jai Nitz is an American comic book writer who has written for Marvel, DC, Image, Disney, Dynamite, and other publishers. He won the prestigious Xeric Foundation grant in 2003 for his self-published anthology, Paper Museum . He won the Bram Stoker Award in 2004 for excellence in illustrated narrative for Heaven's Devils from Image Comics. He is currently writing Green Hornet at Dynamite Entertainment." We here became aware of Nitz because he's a regular at Astrokitty Comics, as well as a lecturer at [...]
Artist and writer Ben Templesmith is perhaps best known for his work on the vampire comic 30 Days of Night with Steve Niles, but his work on such creator-owned projects as Choker and Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse have also generated their fair share of (justifiable) acclaim. As of late, Templesmith has been concentrating on his work with 44FLOOD , a group of like-minded artists and creators. Being as how he's appearing at this weekend's Planet Comicon at Kansas City's Bartle Hall, we figured it was the perfect opportunity to e-mail [...]
When you hear that Eric Davidson from the New Bomb Turks has a new band, along with a slew of singles you get excited. Such was the news regarding Livids and one of their first releases, the (Some of Us Have) Adrenalized Hearts EP for Oops Baby Records . The press release describes it as a recording which was "banged out." Sadly, it seems like that's less hyperbole, and more a statement meant to keep you from getting your hopes up. The songs are good, if a bit rough, but the [...]
Small Plastic Songs is the first release from a new boutique vinyl label called Record Collective Limited and features one song each from the forthcoming debut albums of four of Sydney's "most promising up and comers," according to the press release. What we know is that we've listened to the four-way split, and it sounds just dandy. The shoegaze-tinged, college radio flavored "Wind Shear" from Skullsquadron will instantly grab your attention, as will the additional tracks from Ya Aha , The Aerotrope Guild , and Restless Leg . "The Record [...]
Grave Mistake Records recently reissued Big Eyes ' demo 7-inch from 2010 as part of a co-release with Evil Weevil , who originally put it out. When Alex at Grave Mistake told me that it'd been recut and repressed at a different plant, I figured this was a good time to sit down and compare the two releases. Demo 2010 (as I suppose the record is now known) has new art, new labels, and it's also cut at 45 versus 33. Everything's different, at least in terms of the physical appearance, but [...]
Rock Star Journalist
Noteworthy (Stream): Kanye West – Black Skinhead (SNL Performance)
Watch Fred Armisen’s SNL farewell with Carrie Brownstein, Kim Gordon, J Mascis, Aimee Mann
Kanye West Performs “Black Skinhead” & “New Slaves” On ‘SNL’ Season Finale: Watch
Watch Kanye West on Saturday Night Live, performing “Black Skinhead” and “New Slaves”
