March’s Single Sentence Singles: In like a lion, out like a lamb

Photo by Travis Young

In an effort to keep you all abreast of the latest local music that’s not album or music video related, we present the latest installment of our irregular feature, Single Sentence Singles. We take a listen to the latest local singles to hit Soundcloud, Spotify, Bandcamp, et al, and sum them up in one sentence.

Jon Henri, “Gravity”

Originally from Michigan and currently based in Olathe, Jon Henri has a new single called “Gravity,” produced by Daniel Hickman, and sounding as though the entire crew went back in time to the mid-’80s in order to craft this very basic funk number which uses its minimalism to its advantage and drills itself a pathway straight through your ears to lodge in your brain.

David George & Pat Tomeck, “Hi Hi Hi”

KC musicians Pat Tomek and David George have been working on a musical inspired by the music of Paul McCartney & Wings called Rock Show, described by George as “a labor of love” and featuring Nathan Corsi, Benjamin Hart, Gumbo Hanks, Matt McCann as part of a “rock & roll musical set in the mid 70’s when rock and roll was still innocent and the corporations hadn’t yet gobbled it up”–which is to say that this is arena-worthy even in demo form.

Flying Fucks, “Shadowmen”

This is one of like, three possible projects I could’ve shared from Kyle Gowdy with other things like more music from Willie Hearteyes or an unnamed thing with Brad Shanks of Blood on the Wall, but this garage-meets-post-punk track from Flying Fucks–a collab with his former Mouthbreathers bandmate and erstwhile Whiff Zach Campbell–looks like it might actually get a 7-inch release at some point, so why not get hip to this blown-out darkness before everyone else?

Kye Colors, “In the Darkness”

It feels like every song I’m liking these days is really just pared down as slim as it can go, so that it’s like a Hemingway short story with a backing track, but this most recent Kye Colors track sees the KC rapper work around a really roomy R&B-tinged beat in a way which is as open as “Phil Collins” was claustrophobic.

Dragon Inn 3, “I Can’t Stop”

Let’s be honest: for every person protesting that they find ’80s production as stifling and sterile, there are ten Philip Dickeys who aren’t afraid to craft “a pleasing amalgam of foxy Italo disco, sidelong experimentalism and commercial ’80s pop” with a surprise helping of saxophone, and that’s a good thing.

“I Can’t Stop” is the first single from the forthcoming full-length, Trade Secrets. Due out April 28, you can pre-order the album on vinyl, compact disc, or digital here.

Eggs on Mars, “Wrong Way”

From their just-released Warm Breakfast album, “Wrong Way” shows off the fact that Eggs on Mars are very willing to lean into their love of “1960’s pop greats like the Lovin’ Spoonful, the Monkees, Buffalo Springfield, and the Turtles,” while also pulling just as hard from the ’90s indie underground in order to write a song which feels like a dreamy late-night revelation.

Shilow, “Where You At” feat. VCMN

The two most successful tracks off Shilow’s new album, Aquarius Season Is Never Over, pair the musician’s emo pop lyrical delivery with some legit local R&B/hip hop duos, with “Where You At” featuring VCMN only beating out Amira Wang and the Epitome’s spot on “Trash Man” by virtue of a slinky guitar line laid on top of another, more sinuous one, because both of them are absolute stunners.

Nightosphere, “Thrasher”

From a Manor Records three-way split of trios with Abandoncy and Flooding, Nightosphere kicks off the proceedings with a soaring and Gothic start, demonstrating in just under five minutes the ability to wind their way through late-night college radio obscurities to create a sound all their own that’s languid enough for sunny summertime but with enough dark menace in the corners to suitably soundtrack a frostbitten winter.

Sarin Reaper, “Noxious Black Vomit”

The first full-length offering by Kansas City metalpunks Sarin Reaper asks, “Can you smell the sulphur?” emanating off the devilish riffs and insistently-pummeling rhythms of Noxious Black Vomit‘s title track, and is the perfect balm for anyone who though Devil Master was too cleanly-produced on their last album.

Are you a local musician with a new track to share? Email nicholas.spacek@gmail.com