I don’t think of myself as a weirdo. Yet when my friend Chris Haghirian repeatedly insisted my cultural predilections are extremely unusual during a taping of his Eight One Sixty program did I begin to suspect that maybe I am abnormal. Attempting to justify my listening habits, I recall blurting out something like “all music is for all people.” My appearance on Chris’ show will air at 6 p.m. CST Tuesday, December 19, on 90.9 The Bridge and will stream in perpetuity at the station’s site.

William Brownlee

November 12, 2023

The Top Kansas City Albums, EPs and Reissues of 2023

William Brownlee

November 12, 2023

The Top 25 Kansas City Albums of 2023

1. Matt Otto- Umbra*

Plastic Sax review.

2. Mike Dillon and Punkadelick- Inflorescence

Plastic Sax review.

3. Adam Larson- With Love, From New York City*

Plastic Sax review.

4. Ampichino and Rich the Factor- Midwest Tygoons*

Real orcas.

5. Stik Figa and The Expert- Ritual*

“It’s Stik Figa, mayne!”

6. Enzo Carniel, Hermon Mehari, Stéphane Adsuar and Damien Varaillon- No(w) Beauty

Plastic Sax review.

7. Pat Metheny- Dream Box

Plastic Sax review.

8. Janelle Monaé- The Age of Pleasure

Decadent.

9. Torches Mauve- Volume Two*

Plastic Sax review.

10. Flooding- Silhouette Machine

Dark shadows.

11. Mireya Ramos & the Poor Choices- Sin Fronteras

Cantinas and honky tonks.

12. Sweeping Promises- Good Living Is Coming For You

Look out below.

13. Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton- Death Wish Blues

A blaze of glory.

14. The Floozies- Porty Hord

Gort dorn.

15. Kansas Virtuosi- Luis Humberto Salgado

Ecuadorian expedition.

16. Tech N9ne- Bliss*

Bliss-ish.

17. The Whiffs- Scratch n' Sniff

Pub rock.

18. Krista Kopper- Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

There Stands the Glass review.

19. The Count Basie Orchestra- Swings the Blues*

Plastic Sax review.

20. LaVelle- Promise to Love

Between the sheets.

21. Danny Embrey- Orion Room

Plastic Sax review.

22. Bach Aria Soloists- Le dolce sirene

Siren songs.

23. Nick Schnebelen- What Key Is Trouble In?

There Stands the Glass review.

24. Heidi Lynne Gluck- Migrate or Die

Rumours.

25. Kelly Hunt- Ozark Symphony

Polished folk.

The Top 10 Kansas City EPs of 2023

1. Midwestern- Cartoon Network

There Stands the Glass review.

2. Missouri Executive Order 44- Seventeen Dead in Caldwell County

Savage.

3. SleazyWorld Baghdad- Debo Baghdad*

Shooter.

4. Weaponize Chomsky- Time Destroys Everything

Dialectical materialism.

5. Conductor Williams- Conductor We Have a Problem

The preferred sound of 2023.

6. Kevin Morby- Music From Montana Story

Big skies.

7. Spine- Raîces

Furia.

8. Alyssa Murray- Scrollin'

Plastic Sax review.

9. The Bitter Lake Association- My Life Inside a Movie Scene

A one-person greeting committee.

10. Eggs on Mars- Warm Breakfast

Tasty.

The Top 5 Kansas City Reissues of 2023

1. SleazyWorld Go- Where the Shooters Be 2

Star light, star bright.

2. Charlie Parker- Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall Recordings

Refreshed sound for the storied 1953 date.

3. Fred Davis- Cleveland Blues

Buried treasure.

4. Basie All Stars- Live at Fabrik Hamburg 1981, Vol. 1

Shiny stockings.

5. The Noise FM- Deleted Scenes: Unreleased Hits 2013-2023

Appropriately titled.

*One or more of the musician’s additional 2023 recordings were excluded from these listings to make room for titles by other artists.

Last year’s rankings are here.

William Brownlee

July 9, 2023

Sleazy Season

William Brownlee

July 9, 2023

I resumed my work at KCUR several months ago with the primary intention of showcasing worthy artists deserving of wider recognition among the audience of the NPR affiliate. My new audio feature about the rap star SleazyWorld Go is precisely what I had in mind.

I’m proud of the piece, but I get the impression it’s been shunned by many of my associates in Kansas City’s music community. SleazyWorld Go’s success doesn’t fit the narrative embraced by many locally based scenemakers. The reasons are threefold.

First, his music is violent and subversive in a town that prefers comfort and comformity. Secondly, SleazyWorld Go bypassed the local circuit of clubs and promoters on his way to stardom. Ironically, the lack of fealty diminishes his appeal to the established powerbrokers.

And perhaps most significantly, his success proves that undeniable talent applied to a popular genre wins out. SleazyWorld Go’s example directly conflicts with the general consensus that only Kansas City’s geographic isolation prevents the world from discovering a scene that’s a musical Shangri-La.

As I’ve said countless times, just because something originates in Kansas City doesn’t mean it’s good. Of course, plenty of exceptional sounds are made by locally based musicians. Look no further than my recent KCUR features about Willi Carlisle and Mike Dillon. And I continue to document the town’s most important music at Plastic Sax. But until further notice, it’s Sleazy season.

William Brownlee

May 28, 2023

May 2023 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

William Brownlee

May 28, 2023

Screenshot of the trailer of Glyndbourne’s production of Don Giovanni by There Stands the Glass.

Top Ten Albums of May

1. Rudy Royston’s Flatbed Buggy- Day

Bumpy ride.

2. Billy Woods and Kenny Segal- Maps

The right direction.

3. Shirley Collins- Archangel Hill

Time out of mind.

4. Joe Lovano, Marilyn Crispell and Carmen Castaldi- Our Daily Bread

Holy communion.

5. Roomful of Teeth- Rough Magic