(Pictured above: Betse Ellis and Jason Beers)

The grit of Americana music is in the story. A person's entire life can be summed up in 3 of 4 minutes. The most joyous of moments, the inexplicably painful experiences, the randomly bizarre episodes, all wrapped up in a neat little structure of verses and choruses. Last Friday at The Brick, an attentive crowd listened as 3 different groups of songwriters took the stage with handfuls of stories to tell.

The night got off to a fast-paced start with a solo set from Betse Ellis, the fiercest fiddle player in Kansas City and likely beyond. With the talent, the material, and the personality to enhance it, a solo set from Ellis can be far more captivating than watching many full bands. As an original member of The Wilders, Ellis has the experience and the chutzpah to command a stage by implementing a mix of her own tunes and classics. Her set included songs from artists like The Doc Watson Family and John Hartford, along with a few originals. These songs ran the gamut of humorous ("Drunkard's Hiccups"), insightful ("It's A Hard Time in This World," a song she played on tenor guitar), yet always entertaining. Ellis closed out her set with a rendition of The Clash's "Straight To Hell" - a fine example of her rock influences tinged with a traditional flare and culminating in an amusing and accessible flavor.

 --Michelle Bacon

(photography by Todd Zimmer)

Overview:

The Latenight Callers' latest EP, Easy Virtues, is a 21-minute exhibit of what you’ve been missing if you haven’t by now heard of them. It is full of noiresque, sinfully sexy music that will have you turning the lights down low in order to fully appreciate. Fill up your hip flask, dust off your fedora… it’s time for The Latenight Callers.

Track 1: "The Mad Season"

Ellen O’Hayer’s guitar intro is as unsettling as it is swank. It’s not until Gavin Mac’s painkilling bass line drops in like a velvet bomb, you know you’re going to be okay … or are you? “It’s over now. You had your mad season with me,” begins the tale of regret and revelation that lyrically hearkens to Nancy Sinatra. The patented Latenight Callers “Noir-a-Go-Go” sound enchants and hypnotizes. It’s like that distant radio, playing softly against your unwinding mind as you drift off to sleep after a couple gins too many. The track then shifts into a driving pop chorus that shows The Latenight Callers have a few more gears in the box than one might have expected. Krysztof Nemeth’s baritone guitar solo abducts your fear and bathes you with that rare sensation of letting yourself fall when you know it’s a dream. His seductive melodies, accompanied by O’Hayer’s sparkling hollow body strumming, could entrance a crazed gorilla. Julie Berndsen and Ellen O’Hayer’s harmonized vocals have the same tantalizing effect as a cobra swaying to his master’s flute. Except, with the femme fatales of the Latenight Callers, it’s no ruse.

Track 2: "Electric Park"  

"Electric Park” begins with a familiar-with-the-80s synthesizer loop that you might hear some Face Value in ...  Suddenly, it slides into a smile inducing, hip swaying carnival rhapsody, showcasing more of Nemeth’s chiming, echoing, double agent guitar pangs—and another Latenight Callers trademark—the crooning of Julie Berndsen into a bullhorn. The trebly crackle of her amplified voice weaves a tapestry of lyricism, from stiletto heels to blushing schoolgirls. Graciously, The Latenight Callers know how to mix bullhorn vocals into their live and recorded sessions, pleasantly. No Al Jourgensen banshee wailings present here.

Track 3: "Calaveras"

Beginning with an old sample of Raymond Chandler reminding you that “anything can happen when the Santa Ana blows in from the desert,” saying “Calaveras” (“Skulls”) has noir soaked into it is like saying David Lynch makes strange movies. This track is the most serious in tone on the EP, though it remains ultra inviting. The hauntingly emotive vocal outro, harmonized between Berndsen and O’Hayer, is angelic; like the fabled capturing of a siren’s swan song. This is the 45 your subconscious spins while you drive down a lost highway during hours of darkness. Berndsen’s lusty vocals; Mac’s relentlessly groove-oriented bass measures; the patient hitman guitar arpeggios of Nemeth and O’Hayer; and the gentle backbeat conjured up by Nick Combs all would perfectly provide the score behind the iconic smoking ashtray scene in a black-and-white new wave film.

Track 4: "Wrecking Ball"

What would this EP be without a prominent organ part? You need not worry - here it is. “Wrecking Ball” downshifts into cerebral oblivion. By this fourth and final cut on Easy Virtues, you’ll blissfully feel like you have been doped by Jackie Treehorn. “It’s not about the way it tastes, it’s all about the way it feels…” This closing number begins to slip below the horizon and out of sight in the midst of a mournfully sustained violin, the distant whale song of a theremin, rich echoing guitars—and at the end of the tunnel—a few gentle finger snaps. Then it’s gone, leaving you all alone, where you’ll probably select track one, and start over.

Summary:

Few bands can convincingly create such ambience. The Latenight Callers pull you from the everyday sphere, and send you packing, into that smoky parallel reality depicted in art-noir; where characters walk among the dark, seedy side of society. The Latenight Callers have worked painstakingly hard in crafting their own contemporary brand. The members have only been playing together as a unit for a couple years but they have earned the respect of Kansas City, in spades. Their shows always lend to a night to remember - I highly recommend catching them. It adds to the appreciation you’ll undoubtedly have for their albums. With that said, Easy Virtues is a must have in the music collection of any lover of the avant-garde.

You can catch The Latenight Caller's sultry noir live show at Nica's 320 this Friday, June 22 at 8 p.m. with The Blackbird Revue and Kentucky Knife Fight.

--Christian Anders Liljequist

This week's edition of On The Beat features multi-faceted drummer Bernie Dugan of The Brannock Device, Cher U.K., and The Quivers. He's a busy guy and a gear head. How does he do it? Catch the beat right here!

On The Beat is a weekly interview brought to you by drummer Sergio Moreno (of Hillary Watts Riot and Alacartoona), and features some of the many talented drummers in the Kansas City area.

“Can you picture the armada of Hello Kitty spaceships?” -Gen. Marsupial Takahashi

Someday, Japan is going to send people to Mars. It’s true. I’m pretty sure Gemini Revolution will provide the soundtrack while the astronauts will kick it during their long journey through space.

The Other Side of Yesterday EP is hacky sack music for Asian hipsters. It reeks of patchouli and mirin equally. This is the weird Asian record the Doors would have made had they lasted long enough. It’s kinda jammy, pretty psychedelic, and superbly spacey.

Gemini Revolution takes the Taj-Mahal Travelers playbook, cut out the boring extreme avant-garde randomness, and pop it up a bit. The slow building, eventually lush arrangements feature a mostly free-form rhythm section that provides enough randomness to contrast the layered cheap keyboards. The reverb-maxed vocals come and go sparingly, adding a textural component to music that is clearly focused on the other instrumentation.

The stand out of this EP is the title track “Other Side of Yesterday."  Reminiscent of Modest Mouse, the song goes through many variations of stripping down and being built back up. It also utilizes the vocals the best of any song in this batch, with a pleasant back and forth during the choruses. Mix in the melodic bass work, the Kenny G-esque saxophone keyboard doodling, and the random percussion introduced throughout, and you’re left with a song that tows the ADHD line, yet ends up accessible and groovy overall.

Some might say this sound is dated, but Gemini Revolution has a very specific thing they are going for. It is refreshing to hear a group of musicians just doing their thing, regardless of what is dictated by the musical trends around them.

 -Zach Hodson

Editor's note: Gemini Revolution released the follow-up EP to Other Side of Yesterday on June 14, entitled Sizuka. We'll have a review of this album to you very soon!