x
the_deli_magazine

This is a preview of the new Deli charts - we are working on finalizing them by the end of 2013.


Go to the old Top 300 charts

Cancel

Kansas City music

 

 

classifieds

On The Beat with Solomon Radke
 

Solomon Radke seems fairly shy and soft-spoken when you first meet him. He looks like any other 15-year-old kid, maybe with a bit more style. But then he takes the stage with his brothers Darrion and Isaiah of Radkey, and this is where his personality shines. He beats the skins mercilessly, boldly, and precisely while his brothers hammer the audience with rock n’ roll in the same spirit as The Ramones and the punk attitude of Bad Brains. We got to talk to Solomon and find a little bit more about his background.
 
The Deli: How did the drums find you?
 
Solomon Radke: I started playing two and a half years ago. Isaiah had the idea of starting a band so I just decided to play the drums.

The Deli: That’s pretty amazing, considering you’re already a very solid drummer. What has been your biggest musical accomplishment so far?
 
Solomon: Playing the Afro-Punk Festival (in Brooklyn) and making a music video.

The Deli: Who are your biggest influences as a drummer? 
 
Solomon: Neil Peart, Ringo Starr, Pat Wilson, Keith Moon, Tre Cool, Taylor Hawkins, and John Bonham.

The Deli: Do you still see yourself playing drums in 10 years?
 
Solomon: Yes. I want to do a national tour, and spend the rest of my life playing music.

The Deli: What have you been listening to lately?
 
Solomon: Weezer, Green Day and The Foo Fighters. 

The Deli: As the youngest musician I've interviewed, do you have any advice for other young musicians who want to begin a musical career?
 
Solomon: Practice for at least 15 minutes every single day and play the kind of music that you want to play. Don't try to please anyone but yourself when writing music. 

The Deli: What's next for Radkey? What are you most looking forward to?
 
Solomon: Hopefully a full-length album and a national tour. 
 
You can catch Solomon with his brothers tomorrow night, October 6, at The Brick. They’ll be performing alongside heavy hitters The Dead Girls and Sons of Great Dane. Also, see him in action below in Radkey’s first music video. This is “Cat and Mouse,” and it was recorded at Adrian Grenier’s Wreckroom in New York.

--Michelle Bacon

Michelle is editor-in-chief of The Deli - Kansas City. She also has a weekly column with The Kansas City Star and reviews music for Ink. She plays with Deco Auto, Drew Black and Dirty Electric, and Dolls on Fire. Her first CD was either Green Day's Dookie or Boyz II Men's II. She is sorry. 

Share this story on Facebook

  
Solomon Radke

Radkey
Photo by Nathan Reynolds
 

 
  
 





New video: "Hangover Blues" by Making Movies

The Record Machine has released the new video from Making Movies, "Hangover Blues." The video gives us a snippet of the band's exhilirating, sexy, costumed live shows and highlights some of the best features of Kansas City. Watch it for cameos from KC musicians Mark Lowrey and Hermon Mehari, and appearances from venues like CrossroadsKC at Grinder's, Czar, The Union, The Cigar Box, Gusto, Mutual Musician's Foundation, and YJ's.

For a short time, you can also download Making Movies' EP Aguardiente for free at the link below.

Check out the band's upcoming tour dates:
10/4 Columbia, MO - The Bridge
10/11 Chicago, IL - Subterranean
10/12 North Liberty, IA - The Palms
10/13 St. Louis, MO - Plush w/Los Lobos
10/14 Dayton, OH - Blind Bob’s
10/16 Brooklyn, NY - The Rockshop / Mecca Lecca & The Record Machine CMJ Party
10/20 Burtonsville, MD - Blue Beetle Rock Bar

If you don't happen to be in any of these locations, be sure to head to recordBar on Saturday, October 26, where the band will be playing and celebrating Dia de los Muertos. DJ Brent Tactic will also be spinning tunes. Facebook event page.

--Michelle Bacon

Share this story on Facebook

Published: October 04, 2012 |
Comments |




Album review: White Girl - EP Two
The intro track, “We Will Never Die” kicks off White Girl’s EP Two with an explosion of feel-good dance rock. This track would make Passion Pit and Temper Trap shake their heads for not writing it first. What sets “We Will Never Die” apart from the rest of the songs on the album is the complexity in its rhythm, which bounces seamlessly between 6/8, 4/4 and 2/4. While it’s easy to dance to, I do not suggest air drumming to this song unless you are a professional. Frontman Martin Bush introduced me to this song last weekend. When the vocals kicked in, I asked if he was a fan of Animal Collective. He grinned and gave me a big nod. My personal opinion is that “We Will Never Die” is the best track on this finely crafted record.
 
Shifting the feel of the record, “Captain to Copilot” shows a glimpse of the dynamic songwriting abilities that White Girl has to offer. The reverb-filled opening guitar riff that remains somewhat constant throughout the song gives a sense of longing. Vocally there is a hint of Beach Boys influence that floats smoothly over this synth/bass-heavy track. The gigantic-sounding drums that appear midway through drive this song home.
 
If you aren’t dancing yet, “Setting Fire” will change that instantly. This song will grab you with its beautifully clear synthesizers and crisp guitar tones. The four on the floor, kick/snare/high-hat combo, and grooving bass hold a solid foundation for Martin’s ambient voice. The poppy progression of this song is reminiscent of Hall and Oates and Talking Heads. Extremely catchy, “Setting Fire” is a dance anthem that any DJ would be lucky to remix.
 
After its beautiful multilayered synth-intro ,“Last Men Standing” erupts into ambient glory. The tone of every instrument on this song is exquisite. Its hopeful chant/sing-along chorus is extremely uplifting and dreamy. This is a song that would be great to listen to first thing in the morning, on the roof of a tall building while the sun is just on the horizon.
 
The electronic side of White Girl makes its largest appearance on the EP’s final track “Lament.” Most of this final tune is Bush singing into a vocoder, and is a heart-touching ballad that is based off the epic poem “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Coleridge. As his story builds, bit-crushed drums and atmospheric synthesizers build with him until they both reach a climax and drift away. This intimate song is the perfect track to end a well-rounded EP.
 
For fans of: M83, Hall and Oates, The Appleseed Cast, MGMT, Animal Collective, U2, Talking Heads, Passion Pit, Temper Trap, Empire of The Sun, and The Beach Boys.
 

White Girl is:
Martin Bush: Vocals/guitars/keys
Skylar Mcclun: Keys/guitars/vocals
Matt Epstein: Guitars/vocals
Nick Organ: Drums

EP Two will be released tomorrow, October 5. You can catch White Girl at the album release party on Friday, October 25 at The Union with special guests The Atlantic and Sphynx. The band will be touring the East coast this fall, and you can find their tour dates at http://www.whitegirl.org.

--Eric Fain

Eric plays a mean bass for The Atlantic.

Share this story on Facebook

Published: October 04, 2012 |
Comments |




Album review: Sons of Great Dane - You Can't Lose It All, All At Once (EP)

“To A City I Have Known” opens Sons Of Great Dane’s newest release You Can’t Lose It All, All At Once. It begins with an up-tempo drum beat and throbbing guitars that almost instantly drag out my favorite pastime: nostalgia. I’m eighteen again, I’m on a road trip, and all I want to do is drive and let my mind wander. I know already that this album is a soundtrack to those moments.

Brent Windler’s voice enters, “She gave her heart away, Down highways that leave you up north, to a city that dreams with you,” and I start listening closely. He’s describing moments. If they are memories, or maybe drunken and broken flashes, I don’t know, but my thoughts follow him through a wandering narrative.
 
The heartache he is describing and the charming and tragic picture he is painting are defeated, though not entirely, by the exultant explosion of a very catchy and harmony-laden chorus.  I am now singing along. Flattering melodies between Windler and EvanJohn Macintosh’s guitars build and wane, filling the whole room, but never losing pace. The song ends with a chord made to sound like the lasting ring of a bell underwater. There are still three songs I haven’t even listened to yet.
 
“Love, Desire, Failure” lilts and bobs, with the predominant instrument played being everyone’s heartstrings. With a refined bass line from Nolle Bond and a shrug, it works its way into a pretty anthem for a short time and leaves you feeling peaceful and triumphant.
 
“Approximately 18th St” brings back the momentum with panning guitars, always driving but never angry. Eventually it turns on you, into a three feel with daunting melodies and haunting vocals, and then picks back up where it left off, pacing to the finish with some excellent drumming from Brendan Culp.
 
The last song on this album, “For You And Me,” is like an after-dinner mint; relaxing and simple, with a few lovely lyrical moments.
 
Recorded by Paul Malinowski at Massive Sound and released by Sharp County Records, this recording is well-balanced, subtle, and memorable for it.
 
Sons of Great Dane will be performing on a local all-star bill this Saturday at The Brick with The Dead Girls and Radkey. Be sure to check them out.

--Megan Zander

Megan fronts ProgPop band Dream Wolf. Loves her cat, scootering, and dancing. Hates horses.

Share this story on Facebook

Published: October 02, 2012 |
Comments |




Album review: (the)medicine theory - What the Fuck Are You Lookin' At

If you haven’t seen (the)medicine theory recently, or at all, here’s a quick primer: for quite some time, this experimental noise-rock band played upon a well-earned reputation for scaring the bejeezus out of unsuspecting audiences with their hyper-aggressive and antagonistic approach to music, daring those in attendance to endure their onslaught (a challenge this reviewer is proud to say he completed on more than one occasion). With the release of their new EP, What The Fuck Are You Lookin At, Jeff Irvine and Tyson Schroeder are still trying to take control of your soul, but their approach has taken a 180-degree turn: they now do so with subtlety rather than sledgehammer blows… vocal distortion rather than primal screams… assimilation rather than terrorization.

WTFAYLA offers music that is industrial, futuristic, and robotic—all of which are highlighted in the opening track, “The Fall": 87 seconds of the sounds of war being waged in the listener's mind by battle machines of great menace. The next song, “I Killed Amanda,” is the most up-tempo of the EP; this and a brief section toward the end of "Summer" are the only hints at the previous intensity and fury of (the)medicine theory. WTFAYLA contains seven tracks and clocks in at a bit more than twenty minutes, seven-and-a-half of which comprise “Wash," which is a brilliant demonstration of the sinister slow-burn. Area haunted house mainstay The Edge of Hell would be well-advised to license this track and play it on an unending loop.

The album closes with another sub-two-minute experience, “Stair Chase." After lighting a cigarette, Schroeder walks into a stream-of-consciousness monologue which one would picture Professor Stephen Hawking delivering after being fed a steady diet of Bauhaus and Kerouac. The oration of the lyrics and the sound of a piano being played in every non-traditional way you can imagine battle for the attention of the listener until the very end, concluding with the words “and then he tore apart my throat” …

… and (the) silence is deafening.

(the)medicine theory is currently working on Versificator, its new album, and will be taking a short hiatus from playing shows for a bit. For now, check out the current album on Bandcamp.

--Michael Byars

Michael is the host of The Mailbox, a weekly podcast that offers new music, concert info and news about the Kansas City area and more. In his spare time you might find him looking for some good live music, particularly at a certain bar that has lots of records. 

Share this story on Facebook

Published: October 02, 2012 |
Comments |
Published: December 31, 1969 |
|
- news for musician and music pros -

Loading...