Single Sentence Singles: The best KC/LFK original tracks for December ’24
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.
Simple enough? Here we go.
Low Forest, “Retroburn”
We caught the second-ever show from Kansas City post-rockers Low Forest last summer when they opened for Pallbearer, and in the interim, they’ve released a ton of singles, with their latest described better than we ever could by the band’s Alex Dunn as a “’70s prog influenced track […] as if Failure covered the song ‘One More Red Nightmare’ by King Crimson.”
Chase the Horseman, “Silver Liner”
You can never guess what a Chase the Horseman single is going to sound like, and reading the musician’s current bio, with its claims that Art is now Content, Content is Art, and how “music isn’t worth anything, but it means everything,” you get the feeling that they’re really going through some shit right now and channeling it into this song which starts off sounding like the Roseline’s Americana before turning into a glam-adjacent pop gem with gorgeous backing vocals and a ripping guitar solo.
[SPACE] Jockey, “Treading Glass”
The first single from [SPACE] Jockey’s debut full-length, Modern Comfort, answers the question, “What if Billy Corgan left the Smashing Pumpkins to front Deftones?” and the end result is that the mix of croon and scream, along with those punchy riffs, feels as though you’ve ventured into an alternate reality where this band toured alongside Audioslave as musical adventurers.
The Musical, “Sunshine Lover”
The Musical is Mikal Shapiro, Chad Brothers, Johnny Hamil, and Matt Richey, and “Sunshine Lover” features vocal arrangements by Beth Watts Nelson, with Nelson and Erika Noguera doing background vocals, all of which means that this song — “inspired by ’60s/’70s anti-war musicals like Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar” — is a big ol’ sing-along ably suited to take away your winter blues with its jangly, Liz Phair meets Juliana Hatfield doing an Andrew Lloyd Webber sound.
The Eradicats, “Serious Medical Condition”
Rx Ghost’s Josh Thomas has a partner, Kristi Who, and she suggested that he start a new project because all of his regular music was getting really dark, with the end result being the Eradicats, a band which has played exactly two shows, the first of which I caught and immediately loved, thanks to the fact that they really do answer the question, “What if Pixies were funny?” with songs like the Best in Show opener and a live set with They Might Be Giants weirdness and Superchunk energy.
Daniel Gum, “Glory of Love”
It’s worth noting off the bat this is not a cover of the Peter Cetera theme to The Karate Kid Part II, but Gum’s single follows in the wake of “Ain’t Much Time Now Left For Summer” and is one of several singles leading up to an album release in February 2025, of which it’s been the highlight, thanks to the way “Glory of Love” encapsualtes the struggle of trying to be a good person to the person you love when you’re dealing with intrusive thoughts.
Lorna Kay, “What Ever Happened”
Former Grisly Hand vocalist and current frontwoman of Lorna Kay’s One Night Stand, to say nothing of her DJ work as Lorna Kay’s Country Club, Lauren Krum’s country bonafides have never been in question. This track definitely evokes the ’90s country ladies she had in heavy rotation when she began to write it, while also kicking it back to the likes of early Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn singles.
Jessica Paige, “Move Along”
As per usual, a new single from Jessica Paige is a chance to marvel at her voice and how powerful it is, but on “Move Along,” the country singer is backed by chicken scratch guitar and piano for a roadhouse rave-up with a big, soaring chorus that’s either gonna turn into the song with which she kicks off every show or ends them, as this energy either sets the tone or leaves nothing else able to follow it.
Black Light Animals, “nobody left to blame”
Not for nothing did I watch Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary on Max earlier this week, and the assertion by the filmmakers that you can hear the influence of that music everywhere nowadays and this certainly bears that out, as if the Porcano brothers got hold of a Macy Gray song and smoothed it way out, with just enough reverb and echo added to keep things a little rough around the edges.
Lee Walter Redding, “Twist the Knobs”
The first song on Redding’s new EP, Logos and Targets, “Twist the Knobs” is a woozy four minutes of sleepy, swaying music which is equally influenced by ’60s Britpop and late ’70s Lou Reed, as though the Velvet Underground just kept letting Jackson Browne write everything while still engaging in a suitable amount of drug use.
Paris Williams, “Alien Luv”
The first single from Williams’ new full-length, A Paris Williams Joint, sees the formerly-Muskegon, now-Kansas City rapper backed by psych rockers Saving Miles Lemon, with the end result sounding like he’s been listening to a lot of MGMT and Tame Impala, and with the poppier track falling smack-dab in the middle of his album, feels as though he’s making a play to see just how far afield he can go.
SHAH, “Action”
Backed with an insistent, throbbing low end, Lawrence R&B artist SHAH’s first new music in a couple years is in partnership with GLAAD as a member of their artist development program, EMEI, and feels like a late-night grind session somewhere between Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody” and Ginuwine’s “Pony.”
Drifter, “The Flood”
With this nine-minute mini epic, Lawrence doom trio Drifter offer the first peek at what you might expect when their next album, Grigori, drops in the spring, and even if you can handle the wait until this achingly devastating song explodes around the five-minute mark (and seven and a half minute mark, as it contains multitudes), you will still likely be foaming at the mouth for that release.
Are you a local musician with a new single to share? Email nicholas.spacek@gmail.com.
