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Greg Kantowicz writesIn Rotation: Ghastly Menace
Fresh off their performance at Kansas City's Middle of the Map Fest, local band Ghastly Menace are currently in rotation on CHIRP Radio. Their debut album, Songs of Ghastly Menace, was recently released by Kansas City label The Record Machine. Despite their fearsome moniker, it is easy on the ears and full of hooks and power pop harmony.
Ghastly Menace began as Andy Schroeder and Chris Geick and has since blossomed into a six person operation with their first release. According to Schroeder, the process of making the album helped to define everyone's role in the band. Check them out for yourself at ghastlymenace.com and on CHIRP Radio.
SKaiser writesThe Week That Was and Will Be: What’s Happening at CHIRP Radio (4/27/15)
NEW MEDIA:
- Story Week Festival: Young Adult Fiction
- Shawna Kaiser interviews J Fernandez
- The Variable Why is In Rotation
TOP OF THE CHIRP CHARTS:
1. Beat the Champ by The Mountain Goats (Merge)
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesIn Rotation: The Variable Why
Lean back and close your eyes. But don't fall asleep, because you're going to miss something quite extraordinary. Nick Sherman, the Chicago artist who operates under the moniker The Variable Why, weaves together sounds that some might file under Ambient but would not entirely or properly describe what he's doing. Like his contemporaries Juliana Barwick and Ken Camden, there's not really a name to summarize the effect of music that's felt just as much as listened to. Hypnotic? Transcendental? An oasis of grace and beauty in a world saturated by harsh reality? The truth is somewhere in there.
Sherman's new record Looking at the Triangles is now in rotation and available by request on CHIRP Radio.
Clarence Ewing: The Million Year Trip writesThe Week That Was and Will Be: What’s Happening at CHIRP Radio (4/20/15)
New Media:
- The CHIRP 2015 Battle of the Bands Final round is all tied up! We’re going into overtime, with voting extended until Tuesday April 21st at 6:00pm
- Dylan Peterson interviews Shura
- Shawna Kaiser interviews Andrew Pelletier of Minor Characters
- Katie Owens interviews Yoko and the Oh-No’s
- Story Week Festival: From Writing to Publishing
SKaiser writesAndrew Pelletier of Minor Characters
Two really great things happened since we met up with Minor Character’s Andrew Pelletier. You’re in for a treat. The videos below were released yesterday and feature Pelletier, accompanied only by piano, performing the band’s own "Weatherman" and Big Star’s "Holocaust".
The idea to cover "Holocaust" came one night on the road while the group was traveling back to Chicago from a show. The song came over the radio. "There's a track off Voir Dire, "To Young America", that is solo piano and voice and has the same mood and sentiment as "Holocaust". It reminds us a lot of it, and a lot of ourselves. We all love sad songs. I think Alex Chilton is the weirdest songwriter ever and expresses a lot of what we're trying to accomplish. It seemed like the right song for us to share with you,” Pelletier said.
The group released Voir Dire last October and since then recognize they’re in a place of transition. The album gave them a chance to redirect their creativity and work together on what’s next. Thus “Weatherman” seemed fitting.
“Its message of redemption is clear, for the most part, and I thought it'd be fitting to work in a song about that after the winter we had,” Pelletier said. “We're in a transitional phase - things change, people move, new projects are created - but I see myself always with Minor Characters. We work best when we're creating. Being creative together again is the next transition. We’re all very excited to start writing and push ourselves in different ways,”
Photo by: Shelby Pollard