overland shark

Music Download Round-Up #2

Hello, and welcome to the second in a weekly bi-monthly probably monthly let’s shoot for bi-annual series of posts chronicling area bands and artists offering direct music downloads either for free or for a small fee (no more than $5). Releases included will typically be those that have been available for more than a few months, or albums from artists that are buzz-worthy but aren’t yet ready for their own dedicated post. Whereas the last time I had a working theme for the post, this entry will be more free-form in my recommendations.

Wrong Hands – Electric (2011) – Wrong Hands is the chosen moniker of Reid Bottorff, solo musician and native resident of Saint Joseph, MO. Like many under the radar acts in the area, Bottorff has used a bandcamp account to his advantage in getting his self-released music heard. Electric is an 11-track softly droning, subtly distorted piece of bedroom lo-fi that ranges in comparisons from a late ’90s Grandaddy, to a slightly more upbeat but nowhere near as quirky Daniel Johnston, and often touches on the kind of psychedelic pop currently experiencing a resurgence. The album is free and should not be passed over.

Parts of Speech – Floyd Biz (2011) – Parts of Speech is the sum of a collaboration between Kansas City’s Brandon Knocke and Alexander Thomas. On the side, the two have their own projects (Discoverer and Janet the Planet, respectively) but when Knocke and Thomas combine their skills, what emerges is a somewhat sleazy but no less groove-heavy ’70s/’80s mash-up of delayed keys, electronic drums, smooth vocals and additional programming. The music keeps a steady, relaxed pace through all of the eight tracks and provides a good backdrop for a lazy afternoon. A download or cassette can be had for only $5.

18 Carat Affair – 60/40 (2011) – Piggy-backing on the last recommendation of sleazy funk, I now bring you Kansas City native Denys Parker’s self-described “woozy funk.” Parker has been a word-of-mouth and Internet up-and-comer for a short while, and has received accolades from various online sources of things for which to keep an eye out (I avoided using the word “hipster blog,” but… who am I kidding?). Parker has self-released almost the entirety of his material, which he says is all recorded in a wooden shed on the south side. More can be found from this artist to watch at the link above, and 60/40 can be had for $5.

The Tambourine Club – Lo-Fi Feeling (2011) – While not entirely inaccurate, it’s always kind of a throwaway comment to compare a band to The Flaming Lips. The Lips have gone through so many evolutions, virtually anyone can be compared to them. And though I stick by my belief that “Intro,” and the track that follows are inherently Coyne-inspired in the use of a broken falsetto, the EP quickly moves beyond being tied to any particular sound. “Throw Me a Line,” for instance, leans heavily toward the scene nurtured by the influential Creation Records in the late ’80s-early ’90s. Lo-Fi Feeling is available at no charge for a limited time.

Fine Hoods – New Sensations (2011) – Fine Hoods is a newer art punk band from greater KC, who have only been peeking out every once in a while to play a show, most recently with the bizarrely undervalued Nature Boys . The band is two parts Lazy (Brock Potucek, Michael Boles) and one part The Fairer Sex (Brenton Wheeler). FH keeps the same ’70s art scene vibe as Lazy, culling what they can from Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground’s more lo-fi and heroin influenced offerings of that era. Add to that Potucek’s monotone vocals which conjure an image of Peter Murphy moving to NYC in the ’70s. This EP is $5.

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.