La Guerre
The Record Machine brings a formidable lineup to Crossroads Music Fest next Saturday
This week, we’ll be highlighting some of the events and artists at the 10th annual Crossroads Music Fest on Saturday, September 6. Please visit cmfkc.com for more information.
This is the first year that The Record Machine will be curating its own stage at CMF. The record label, based in Kansas City, was launched in 2003, has released more than 50 albums, and has powered breakout area [and national] acts such as Cowboy Indian Bear, Minden, Soft Reeds, and Making Movies. The Record Machine also curated and has helped organize Ink’s Middle of the Map Festival each year since its 2011 inception.
Today, Nathan Reusch (who co-founded TRM with Mike Russo and Richard Robinett) owns the label and works with more than a dozen indie acts, many of whom are based in Kansas City. By booking them on widely attended showcases, helping them with touring, putting out records, among other invaluable services, The Record Machine has been a viable resource for the KC/Lawrence music community. We ask Reusch a few questions about what we can expect at the fest and in the future.
The Deli: Do you have any surprises in store for the CMF showcase?
Reusch: We will be unveiling some new branding for the label and we are excited about it. We will be launching a new website and video series from footage that we’re going to be making that weekend. We will likely have a pinata or two to smash in between bands.
The Deli: The showcase includes five artists on The Record Machine label. Why did you choose these acts?
Reusch: We are excited to have Max Justus, La Guerre, The Noise FM (pictured above), Chambers, and Ghastly Menace all on one show. They all have new records that either just came out or about to come out next year. So it’s really an accurate picture of where the label is at.
The Deli: What are some of the label’s greatest accomplishments?
Reusch: We are lucky to have released great records over the last few years from some of our favorites like Capybara, Cowboy Indian Bear, Soft Reeds, Spirit Is The Spirit, and a lot more. Between the work we do with The Record Machine and curating Ink's Middle of the Map Fest, I feel like the label has hit a really great stride.
The Deli: Why did you decide to curate a stage at CMF? What value does it have for the KC music community?
Reusch: We were super honored to be asked to curate our own stage by CMF founder Bill Sundahl. I think it’s a great fest that shows a broad swath of what is going on in KC. It’s nice for us who have bands from around the region to join in the fest. A lot of our bands call KC a second home with The Record Machine being here.
The Deli: What else does The Record Machine have coming up that you’re looking forward to?
Reusch: We have an EP coming out this fall from Stolen Nations. It’s KC native Jon Terrey (The Chariot, The James Dean Trio). It’s really cool and fun to have Jon back on the label; he was in The James Dean Trio back in 2003 when we first started the label and was part of our first release. We also have new records coming out from Ghastly Menace, La Guerre, and Max Justus that we hope to have release dates for soon.
We’re currently starting work on 2015’s Middle of the Map Fest, which is always an exciting and fun event to plan but takes a lot of time for everything to come together. We also always try to throw a pretty sweet free Christmas party/winter showcase and looking at doing that in early December.
Be sure to make The Record Machine’s showcase one of your CMF stops on Saturday night. It takes place at Czar, with Ghastly Menace (6:00), La Guerre (8:00), Chambers (10:00), The Noise FM (12:00), and Max Justus (1:00). Facebook event page.
--Michelle Bacon
Golden Sound Records presents 3rd annual Crossroads Summer Block Party
Golden Sound Records will be hosting its third annual Crossroads Summer Block Party on June 6, at 19th and Wyandotte in the Crossroads Art District for First Friday. This year promises to be its biggest yet, with eight bands, as well as food trucks, live art, craft beer makers, and much more.
If you haven’t heard of Golden Sound Records, it’s a Kansas City-based record label with a roster of talented local and regional bands—among them, The Empty Spaces, The Caves, and Baby Teardrops. But co-founder Jerad Tomasino doesn’t think of Golden Sound as a traditional record label.
“Golden Sound started as more of a collective,” he remarks. Tomasino, who co-fronted Everyday/Everynight (which, at the time included Mat Shoare and Evan Ashby), said that the idea for the label materialized around 2009. “As E/E was getting its engine running, we started to play around with how we would collectively release our music. We wanted to create an entity that could withstand more than a single person or band.”
Tomasino started the label along with Shoare and Ross Brown in 2010. Since its inception, Golden Sound has not only helped bands release albums—it has helped showcase many musicians to audiences that might not otherwise be exposed to them.
One of the best culminations of this exposure is with Golden Sound’s annual Block Party. In addition to eight of Kansas City’s best bands, the Block Party will include food trucks from Indios Carbonsitos, Wilma’s Real Good Food, Jazzy B’s, and Nani’s Kitchen, as well as offerings from several other sponsors. Brown mentions that this allows the collective to involve more of the community. “We can’t give you all the support of a regular record label and we aren’t experts at every aspect, but we can help in some way.”
“Our process is creation-oriented, and we bring in super creative people in to flesh it out with their offerings,” says Tomasino.
But without argument, music is the forefront of the annual Block Party. The lineup starts off with a swift kick in the teeth by Jorge Arana Trio at 6:30, followed by the sweet pop stylings of Rev Gusto and Mat Shoare. Katelyn Conroy’s solo indie project La Guerre follows, and power trio Loose Park and The ACBs will bring the rock ‘n roll. The night will be rounded out by the otherworldly sounds of Metatone and the atmospheric instrumental mutiny of Forrester.
For Tomasino, one of the highlights of the Block Party is being able to put the performers on a large, professional stage in the middle of the Crossroads during First Friday. “You know your band’s music is good quality and worth putting on a big stage,” he says.
Golden Sound begins its push for the Block Party this Sunday, June 1, when it will celebrate the release of See Through Dresses’ self-titled LP at Mills Record Company. This is the second stop on the Omaha band’s tour. Matthew Carroll and Sara Bertuldo, of See Through Dresses, were two of the first artists that the label approached outside of its core group. Golden Sound released an EP from their previous project Honey & Darling in 2010, and Bertuldo’s punk project Millions of Boys is also a label artist. “We just want to get behind a really special album and band on its way to whatever is next,” says Tomasino, who feels that Mills will be a great place to expose See Through Dresses to a KC audience. “Mills plays a vital role in the musical makeup around here. We’re doing the in-store there so that people—specifically those actively engaged with KC music—can step into an easy environment to meet these guys, hear their music, and that’s it.”
“We want to take away the barriers and create a relaxed, fun environment for people to experience some amazing music,” Tomasino concludes. And Golden Sound is a collective, a label, whatever you want to call it, that does just that—facilitating contact between artist and audience, and at once helping increase the reach of Kansas City’s musical landscape.
If you’re milling about First Friday next weekend, be sure to hit up the Block Party. It’s free! Facebook event page. For more info on the Block Party, check out crossroadsblockparty.com. And be sure to check out the See Through Dresses’ release party at Mills. Show starts at 6:00 pm. The Author and the Illustrator will also play. Facebook event page.
--Michelle Bacon
Michelle is editor of The Deli KC and is also a member of The Philistines, Drew Black & Dirty Electric, Dolls on Fire, and Lucky Graves. She’s a staff member of Midwest Music Foundation. She is getting tired of inserting all of these hyperlinks.
Spotlight: Ryan Beye Foundation's C4 Fest - Tonight!
If you want to support a great cause that’s also fun, check out the first annual C4 Fest from the Ryan Beye Foundation in the Crossroads Arts District for tonight’s First Friday. The foundation was formed for Ryan Beye after he passed away in late 2012. Beye founded Bandwagon Merchandise, was a musician, and believed strongly in a sense of community. C4 stands for Communicate, Collaborate, Commemorate, Celebrate for the Kansas City Community.
The block party will run at Locust St from 18th to 19th St and 19th Street from Oak to Locust. It will feature several artists, musicians, charities, and local businesses.
Here’s a schedule of events:
6:00 p.m: Four murals will be unveiled on the corner of 19th and Locust: Eeks Art, Deuce Sharbonda, David Gant, and muralist Alexander Austin.
Grants to supported charities will be made promptly at CrossroadsKC.
5:00–11:00 p.m: Artists, nonprofits, organizations, and businesses that support the local community will have booths throughout Locust Street between 18th and 19th St.
5:00–11:00 p.m: Artists, nonprofits, organizations, and businesses that support the local community will have booths throughout Locust Street between 18th and 19th St.
A commemoration wall for all to write/draw tributes to loved ones that have passed away.
5:15–12:15 a.m: Bands playing at CrossroadsKC behind Grinder’s: St. Andrews Pipe and Drums, Ruddy Swain, La Guerre, The Pedaljets, The Calamity Cubes!, AY-MusiK.
5:15–12:15 a.m: Bands playing at CrossroadsKC behind Grinder’s: St. Andrews Pipe and Drums, Ruddy Swain, La Guerre, The Pedaljets, The Calamity Cubes!, AY-MusiK.
Poets/writers from Kansas City Voices/Whispering Prairie Press reading between set changes: Jason Preu, Timothy Christopher Ryan Volpert, Melissa Sewell, & Amy Kierzek Ash.
All day: Free Wi-Fi provided by Connecting for Good and Bandwagon Merchandise.
The Filling Station and Soho Bakery will be selling coffee and treats. Boulevard Brewing Company will provide Zon, Pale Ale, and Unfiltered Wheat at CrossroadsKC.
Check out the Facebook event page for more information.
All day: Free Wi-Fi provided by Connecting for Good and Bandwagon Merchandise.
The Filling Station and Soho Bakery will be selling coffee and treats. Boulevard Brewing Company will provide Zon, Pale Ale, and Unfiltered Wheat at CrossroadsKC.
Check out the Facebook event page for more information.
--Michelle Bacon
Latest News from The Record Machine
Two bands from Kansas City record label The Record Machine have released a couple impressive singles.
Making Movies has released its newest single, "Hangover Blues," off the 7"/digital EP Aguardiente. The Afro-Cuban/rock group, one of the most successful bands in Kansas City, has been on tour for the EP since the end of May. They come back through KC on June 25 at Jerry's Bait Shop in Lee's Summit and end the tour in Chicago on June 29. Stream the new single below.
La Guerre will soon be releasing a 3-song single, which includes the song "23" off the 12" collaborative effort between The Record Machine and Golden Sound Records, Secret Handshakes. La Guerre is the solo effort of singer-songwriter Katlyn Conroy, also of Cowboy Indian Bear. Conroy kicked off her Southern Projections tour last week, heading through Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.