It seems that the number of music stores in KC is dwindling as digital music purchases continue to grow. I am an avid music collector and wanted to create a list of local stores that still sell vinyl (LPs), CDs, etc. I tried to leave chain stores off the list...
Here is a list of music venues in the Kansas City (Missouri / Kansas) and Lawrence, KS area. I've included a brief review. My favorites are listed near the top.
Kansas City
Lawrence
Hope you enjoyed the list. Looking for input on this.
The 25 Formative Albums post started as a thread on the KMNR facebook group. Here are the 25 albums that shaped my music listening ears. The albums I would need on a deserted island. You get the point. This is something like my Top albums of all-time, but not exactly the same thing. In no particular order.
Nirvana - Nevermind (also In Utero)
Thurston Moore - Psychic Hearts
Black Sabbath- Paranoid
Sonic Youth - Experimental Jet Set Star
Tortoise- Millions Now Living Will Never Die
The Prayers & Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers - The Mother Of Love Emulates The Shapes Of Cynthia
David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World
The Notwist - Neon Golden
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Godspeed You Black Emperor!- F#A# Infinity
Mogwai- Come On Die Young
Smashing Pumpkins- Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Guns n Roses - Use Your Illusion 1 & 2
Kraftwerk- Man Machine
The Velvet Underground- The Velvet Underground & Nico
I got back from SXSW in Austin, TX last Sunday night and have had a few days to
recover and gather my thoughts. This was my first time going and I
thought the entire festival was fantastic and extremely well run.
With over 2000 bands and 200 venues this was by far the biggest
festival I've ever attended. Of course you are left choosing which
shows you really want to see, which ones you can miss, and which ones
you can salvage. For the first three days, I travelled all over the
city and the last day was mainly reserved for the Hilton and the KC
showcase at Canvas because of extremely cold weather and rain (still
better than the snow they got in Kansas city). My transportation and
show mates Sherman, Matt, and Kaileen kept an agressive schedule with
the mindset that we'll sleep when we're dead. And this kept us going
and able to see a lot of shows. Much thanks goes to them for the ride
down there, the place to stay, and putting up with my shenanigans and
sometimes one-off show selections.
I just discovered this band JPT Scare Band while researching some heavy psych rock from the early 70s. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they were from Kansas City, MO. They're actually still playing and recording and call themselves "Lost Pioneers of Heavy Metal". Check out this amazing video for their song "Ramona", completed with some amazing animation and old clips of Kansas City. I believe that is the Nelson-Atkins Museum at one point in the video.
This list is a little bit late but at least I made my personal deadline of getting it in before baseball opening day. 2008 was a decent year for music. There weren't too many albums released that absolutely floored me but I still found some albums that I thoroughly enjoyed. Bradford Cox had an impressive year with two releases that made my top dozen with his bands Deerhunter and Atlas Sound. Kansas City locals The Republic Tigers put out one of the most impressive albums the city has ever heard. Mainstream favorites Beck, Santogold, MGMT, Vampire Weekend, and The Raconteurs put out albums good enough that even the biggest music snobs could also enjoy. I heard some interesting new electronic projects such as Starfucker, Crystal Castles, High Places, Empire of the Sun, Tussle, Ladyhawke, and Tobacco. More than anything though, I think I enjoyed hearing some of the releases put out by artists that have been around for a while but had slipped my attention before: Deerhunter, Mount Eerie, The Mae Shi, The Kills, and Thao with the Get Down Stay Down. My three finds of the year (stuff you probably haven't heard) would have to be Finnish collective Paavoharju, Absolutely Kosher weirdos Little Teeth, and San Diego rockers The Muslims - a band so fresh, they had to change their name to The Soft Pack after releasing their first album. Enjoy the list, feel free to comment, and here's to an awesome 2009!
Stealing an idea from my friend Holly and Tripwire.com, I thought it would be good to take a look back at the albums released 10 years ago. This was a pretty pivotal time in my auditory life. It spanned my first and second years of college, a time when I devoured new music and discovered that there was so much other music out there instead of what they play on Top 40 radio. I'd known this for years but had yet to take that plunge. I tried out for my campus' free-format radio station and failed the interview process twice before finally being accepted. Some of the stuff on this list was actually still on the new rack when I started at the radio station, some of it I discovered a few months later, and some I didn't listen to for years. So yeah, 1998 was a pretty good year in music overall I think. My favorites are near the top. Feel free to comment any of your favorites...
Three months late for 2006 but I've finally completed my annual Top Albums list. 2006 was a bit of an off year for music overall but I really enjoyed most of these albums. My finds of the year made number six and seven on the list. In the Pines are a folk / country string band from Kansas City. I attended their CD release party and was pretty well blown away. Ten Kens I found through MySpace and I love their debut CD. Good job guys. Feel free to comment on this list as I always enjoy hearing what others are listening to...
It's a rare occasion that you get to completely blow the mind of a record store worker about something music related. I managed this last night as I picked up a couple new CDs at the last remaining record store in midtown. Stumbling in, I was surprised to hear Lamb's Fear of Four playing, which I happen to own and is at least 5 years old. I mentioned to the clerk that this CD has a hidden track before the first track that you have to rewind to get to. He blinked for a few minutes then proceeded to finish bagging my purchases. A few seconds later, after giving it some time to process, he retorted "Really?", then "I'll have to check that out at home tonight".
