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The Casket Lottery debut new track, 7-inch preorder

Earlier this week, I missed out on seeing The Casket Lottery play their first non-festival KC show since their decision to be an active band once more. I caught the group back in spring as part of the Middle Of The Map Festival (their second year as a performer) which happened to be at the same venue they played on July 8th with Anakin and In the Grove. I forgot how quickly time has passed since then, as the band’s new label No Sleep Records just posted the pre-order for the band’s new 7″ record (with multiple colors for the nerds). The Door EP features the title track on one side, with “My Father’s Son” as a b-side. The EP is a precursor to the upcoming full-length, Real Fear.

Any who were familiar with the band in their former life will note that there has been not much change in their sound since the last release nearly a decade ago. The songs still ride heavily on the bass of Stacy Hilt, drums of Nathan “Junior” Richardson and the miraculously un-aging vocals of Nathan Ellis, but with a revamped lineup the founders are now joined by Brent Windler (Anakin) on second guitar, and Nick Siegel on keyboard. You can stream the a-side and title track from The Door below.

Actors&Actresses remix compilation up for pre-order 09/23

Kansas City’s Actors&Actresses has a sound that far surpasses what one would expect from just three people. The trio have steadily built a national fan base thanks to their label The Mylene Sheath (Gifts From Enola, Junius, Giants) with which they have worked for most of their existence. The label released the band’s latest studio output, 2009’s Arrows (recorded at Eudora’s Black Lodge with David Gaume of The Stella Link), though they most recently re-issued the band’s 2005 debut EP, We Love Our Enemy (recorded at HUM frontman Matt Talbot’s studio with the great Paul Malinowski of Shiner). With the recording details listed above, I think one can surmise that the band is largely influenced by a sonically driven, spaced out rock that has been championed by the likes of Failure, HUM, and Shiner, among others.

While those who are looking forward to brand new A&A tracks will have to wait a bit longer, their take on HUM’s “Aphids” can be found on the recently released tribute compilation to the aforementioned, Songs of Farewell and Departure. Locals Anakin and The Esoteric are featured on the album as well, performing “I’d Like Your Hair Long” and “Iron Clad Lou,” respectively. Author side note, I’m confused as to why no band attempted a re-imagining of “Diffuse,” a top 3 favorite of mine from the band. But perhaps this is for the best, lest it be tainted by a group who should not even be included in the first place (ahem, Funeral For a Friend).

On Friday, September 23rd, The Mylene Sheath will begin accepting pre-orders for ARC: Arrows Remix Compilation, a 14-track (digital) or 8-track (vinyl) remix and reinterpretation album, featuring various artists de- and re-constructing songs from the band’s 2009 album. A few of the artists featured include Philip Jamieson of Caspian (under the guise The Atlas Ladder), Will Benoit of Constants (using the name New Rochelle Rotary Club), Arms & Sleepers, and other artists who may have crossed paths with the label in the past. Only 207 copies of this release will be available on vinyl, and only part of that will be available for pre-order from the label. If you want to get in on this, either get your mouse finger ready or track down one of the members of the band.

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Additional nerd note: in 1993, HUM’s “Diffuse” appeared on a compilation CD released by Lawrence label Lotus Pool, titled Feast of the Sybarites. The compilation was populated primarily by Midwestern bands, including local artists Howard Iceberg and the Titanics, Sufferbus, Kill Creek, Rise, Panel Donor and Zoom. The last two bands on that list had releases through the label around that time as well. The compilation is worth seeking out for fans of local music.

The Dead Girls detail new 7 inch release, create kickstarter

Lawrence power-pop sweet hearts The Dead Girls have created a Kickstarter project through label Rocket Heart Records for the release of their new 2-song 7 inch, “She Laughed a Little” b/w “It’s All Happening.” The record will be available on two different colors (400 black, 100 swirl), the b-side of which was recorded about 18 months ago when Justin Pierre from Motion City Soundtrack was in town to lend himself to the recording, along with Blackpool Lights, Creature Comforts and (the often overlooked fourth member of) Ultimate Fakebook, J.D. Warnock.

The band, or more so label, took a very realist approach to the project, and have some extremely reasonable pledge rewards available to those who are able to participate. These range from mp3s of the EP for only $2, mp3s plus the record on black vinyl for $7, and all of the previously mentioned, plus two bonus mp3s and an autographed poster for only $15. The list tops out at the $50 level, which gets the purchaser the aforementioned, the record on the more limited color, a 12 inch of the band’s debut full length Out of Earshot + accompanying mp3s, and a test pressing of the new EP, limited to 7 copies. This tier sold out quickly.

The project has a $2,000 goal and will run until October 1st. Get further information here.

Return of The Only Children; White Flight kickstarter

September 15th will mark the unexpected return of Lawrence’s The Only Children to Kansas City’s Riot Room. The group quietly went on hiatus shortly after the release of their sophomore release, 2007’s Keeper of Youth, and even frontman and Anniversary co-creator Josh Berwanger has kept mostly low-key in that time, unassumingly working in his career as a high school basketball coach. The band has plans to head in to the studio soon to record their third full-length, likely with another revolving cast of musicians.

Opening for the band will be Casey Prestwood & the Burning Angels, the eponymous leader of which once played drums for Hot Rod Circuit and contributes to The Only Children. Also playing is Major Games, a trio best described as a grown-up mix of Lawrence’s Zoom and Panel Donor, and while it would be a stretch to lump the band in with the resurgence of twinkly riffed or reverb heavy shoegaze present in a variety of sounds these days, the members play a spaced out and prog-heavy sound of rock just begging for a conceptual full-length.

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http://vimeo.com/18422993

On the inverse, and decidedly not staying low-key is Anniversary co-creator Justin Roelofs, a man who has seemingly gone from being a mere mortal human to some kind of sentient, dimension-traversing being traveling the known realms of time and space. At least that is what the man would have you believe. Roelofs’ White Flight project is mid-way through a Kickstarter project for his new album, Pyramid of Light. I know not if he truly has the audacity to believe his project can get the over $12,000 in pledges required to succeed, or he created the entire project as a scheme to get people talking about his upcoming album. If he chose the latter, then he is without a doubt succeeding.

The project still has nearly a month left, but one who pledges can expect to get things such as “a 40 min. long sonic collage MIXTAPE made by White Flight in 2011, via mp3 download” for the lowest tier, or an “Amazing Crystal Quartz Necklace made by my partner Daughter of the Sun” for $111. Hell, for a meager $1,111, you can be so lucky as to receive “a CUSTOM larger scale sacred geometry painting, we can determine the image, color, etc. together via a phone conversation or skype session. Also I will share teaching on the I-Ching oracle in this conversation and teach you how to use it to make positive decisions in your life, if you aren’t already familiar with this system.” Sounds like quite a steal, that. Read the rest of the details from the project here.

Hospital Ships’ Lonely Twin LP/CD pre-order

Lawrence multi-instrumentalist Jordan Geiger’s Hospital Ships project has been steadily growing in popularity over the last few months, thanks in part to their May 5th coverage as NPR’s Song of the Day, complete with a back-handed compliment to the Lawrence music scene in the lede. It was not the first time Geiger’s work had been heard by NPR listeners, however, as they featured the title track from 2008’s Oh, Ramona more than two years prior, and yet another song in its week of release. Geiger’s popularity in local music stems back to the Jagjaguwar-signed Minus Story and his turn in Larry natives (and label mates) The Appleseed Cast as well as Cast frontman Chris Crisci’s side project Old Canes. He also served as one-time trumpet player in the Austin-based Shearwater, who recruited Hospital Ships as an opener on their cross-country tour in spring 2010.

All of the hype not undue, Hospital Ships plan to release their new record, Lonely Twin, on June 7th, serving as the band’s sophomore effort for Graveface Records. Already getting comparisons to Jason Lytle, Ben Gibbard and Conor Oberst (the last two of which are often tossed around carelessly and attached to most any solo musician these days), Lonely Twin will serve as a jumping off point for Geiger and company to tour the country yet again. Geiger posted on the band’s Twitter account that they are booking the entire tour themselves, and are asking for any help possible (email: jordancgeiger@gmail.com), and in another update said if anyone wished to PayPal him $10 (same e-mail address), he would supply the sender with a download of the new album and donate the money to the ongoing Joplin relief effort.

The 12-track release is currently up for pre-order at Graveface and is available on vinyl, CD, and as a digital download. The vinyl features a bonus track, was pressed on two different color combinations (one only available to label club members), comes with an 11×17 poster and is limited to a first run of only 250 copies. Ordering a physical copy of the release on either format will get you an instant download, plus a bonus download of Lonely Twin Lo-Fi. Check out the pre-order and details here.

Casey Burge’s Triumph stream & pre-order

Kansas City musician Casey Burge has been more than a continual blip on my music radar since I was but a teenager. From his work in the late, lamented Lawrence indie rock band Kelpie, who boasted an arsenal of musicians from other area favorites like The Appleseed Cast, Buffalo Saints and Larryville expats Cavaliers, to his collaboration with Jim Button in the Button Band, Burge’s musical craft has matured in the public eye for nearly a decade. I had all but forgotten about the man when he re-emerged recently in Minden, a quartet being billed as some sort of indie rock supergroup, whether by the band’s consent or not. Having gotten a chance to see the band perform their style of multiple decade-spanning indie-pop live at Riot Room as part of the Middle of the Map Fest, I can attest to their larger than life sound and eagerly look forward to their output in the future. But I digress, this post is about the man, not the band.

Unbeknownst to myself, Burge was still recording pop gems in his bedroom throughout the late ‘oughts, and they were not made public until early this year when local cassette label Overland Shark released a limited run, 20-track tape of his work from late 2007-early 2008, titled Universal Fun. Though simply recorded through a computer microphone, the heart of every song is encased in soaring bittersweet pop melodies, most of which last under 90 seconds and either fade out without a real conclusion or end in an odd, almost saddening guitar strum, a scrapped demo track of a fully fleshed song that will probably never exist. And yet, as the bright yellow cover would subtly suggest, the sunny simplicities of those songs gave new and old listeners a view into what Burge was shifting toward, a sound that would soon break out into the aforementioned Minden, and yet another solo release.

Triumph was recorded between February and May of 2011, and shows a decidedly more coherent creation process in the instrumentation and recording, gaining that much more stability from the drum machine Burge employed for the release. Instead of an assorted spread of minimalistic acoustic pop, the nine track release is as robust as a lo-fi album can be, giving nods to the annals of pop anti-heroes from the last four plus decades. Two of the tracks from this release were re-recorded as Minden for their upcoming 7″ on The Record Machine, and plans are for a coinciding release week with the cassette I currently speak of. In the meantime, go check it out for yourself right here, and pre-order the cassette while you’re at it.