Mills Record Company is kicking off April right. April is known as both the home of Record Store Day and National Poetry Month. This month, Mills Record Company is also going to make it the month of the most amazing shows. During the first full weekend, the store will host: Heidi Gluck and The Pony Show, […]

I don’t think there’s a better time for folk music than the early Spring. Something about the combination of fallen leaves and budding branches, the temperature fluctuations, the electricity of it all lends itself to banjos, acoustic guitars, and stunning melodies. And this Saturday, Mills Record Company will turn into a hotbed for folk music. […]

Solange: A Seat at the Table – Fierce and important and somehow dreamy. Nick Cave: Skeleton Tree — A document of time about grief and aging from a brilliant and talented mind. Abra: Princess — The Duchess of Darkwave writes songs on her computer then releases them on Periscope. And I’m okay with that. Physic Heat: […]

It’s that time of year. The Plaza has outlined their buildings with lights, the weather is (finally) changing, people are overeating and over-shopping. 2016 is almost over. And with the closing of the year comes top ten list. To end Local Week, I want to count down my top ten songs from local musicians. There […]

In case you missed it, last week Bob Dylan won The Nobel Prize for literature. Sara Danius, spokesperson of the committee, said Dylan was chosen “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” Undeniably, Bob Dylan’s songs and his book Tarantula (which reads a lot like William Burroughs being pushed over the […]

There’s something electric about the way summer burns itself into autumn. And that electricity adds a warmth to all things stringed. Lucky for us, The Good Hearts and Abandoned Bells will spread that warmth to us all this Saturday at Mills Record Company. The two bands split the difference between the swampy murk of the […]

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. is weird. They make fellow Japanese rockers Peelander Z look like a pair of khakis. Led by the madman guitar genius, Kawabata Makoto, the band blends noise, space rock, psychedelia, and jazz together to create a sound that is truly wild. The band’s latest release is a nonstop […]

This Friday, The Brick will host local soul jazz wanders Royalphonic, St. Louis pop rockers Fire Dog, and Kansas City’s own Latino traditionalists Ayllu. While each band occupies a different aesthetic space, they all find the sweet spot of technical proficiency and sloppy passion. These two elements come together in all three acts to make […]

There are few times that are as exciting musically in Kansas City than late spring. Record Store Day just happened, and we are in the throes of Middle of The Map 2016. The festival is one of the best in the country, hands down. Middle of The Map brings together film, music, and ideas in […]

There’s something earthy to the the melodies and rhythms of both Woods and Ultimate Painting. Woods makes music that jumps between rural ambiance and funk-fused folk, and Ultimate Painting’s sound is folk-centered shrouded by strikingly honest indie pop. The two acts both have a quality to their sounds that is warm and inviting, poppy without […]

Woods is no stranger to the fine world of freak-folk. The band’s ability to spin out folksy guitar riffs manipulated through tape recorders and overlayed with falsetto without losing a sense of conventional hooks gives them one of the most unique sounds I’ve come across. Part Crosby Stills & Nash, part Neutral Milk Hotel, part […]

The Band — The Band Born of Osiris — Soul Sphere Brian Fallon — Painkillers (debut solo album from the frontman of The Gaslight Anthem) Church of Misery — and then there were none… Davie Allen & Joel Grind — Split EP (fuzz guitar legend & Toxic Holocaust mastermind 10″) Death Index — Death Index […]