There Stands the Glass

3. Hermon Mehari- Asmara

4. Steve Cardenas- Healing Power: The Music of Carla Bley

5. SleazyWorld Go- Where the Shooters Be

6. Adam Larson Trio- With Love, From Chicago

7. Mister Water Wet- Significant Soil

8. Kevin Morby- This Is a Photograph

9. Blackstarkids- Cyberkiss

Concert review.

10. Making Movies- Xopa

11. LeVelle- My Journey Continues

12. Krista Kopper and Evan Verploegh- For the Trees

12. Matt McBane and Sandbox Percussion- Bathymetry

13. Daniel Velasco and Ellen Sommer- Flauta Andina - 20th Century Andean Music for Flute and Piano

15. Huerco S.- Plonk

16. Arnold Young and the Roughtet- Fear Is the Mind Killer

17. Mister Water Wet- Top Natural Drum

18. Rod Fleeman Trio- Saturday Afternoon: Live at Green Lady Lounge

19. Matt Villinger’s All Night Trio- All Faded

20. Dutch Newman- This Too Shall Pass, Pt. 2

21. Poor Bishop Hooper- Psalm 119

22. Katy Guillen & The Drive- Another One Gained

23. Isaac Cates & Ordained- Amazed

24. The Creepy Jingles- Take Me at My Wordplay

25. The Greeting Committee- Dandelion

The Top 10 Kansas City EPs of 2022

1. Adam Larson Trio- With Love, From Kansas City

2. Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton- The Stardust Sessions

3. Jackoffs- Prime Specimen

4. Flora- Emerald City

5. Stik Figa and Conductor Williams- Valley of Dry Bones

6. Eddie Moore- Intuition

7. Atticus vonHolten- A Highway Tore Through Me

8. Blob Castle and Daniel Lima- Contempoétnico

9. Piss Kinks- A Tisket, A Tasket

10. Jake Wesley Rogers- Love

Links to previous annual surveys begin here.

William Brownlee

December 4, 2022

The Top Fifty Performances of 2022

William Brownlee

December 4, 2022

Original image of Blackstarkids by There Stands the Glass.

I’ve gone out to hear live music 123 times in 2022. I’m not done yet- I plan to hit a couple gigs this evening. Even without attending a single festival, I’ve taken in more than 225 performances this year. And yes, wise guys, I’ve been the oldest person in the room at a third of the shows listed below. You can’t blame a person for trying to make up for lost time. Unless indicated otherwise, the events took place in the Kansas City area.

1. Nduduzo Makhathini at the Blue Room

2. Joyce DiDonato at the Folly Theater

3. Little Joe y La Famalia at the Guadalupe Center

4. Logan Richardson + Blues People at the Ship

5. Blackstarkids at recordBar

6. Angela Winbush, Men at Large and Levelle at Juneteenth KC

7. Godspeed You! Black Emperor at the Roseland Theater (Portland)

8. Samantha Ege at the Folly Theater

9. Sparks at the Crystal Ballroom (Portland)

10. Flatland Cavalry at the Truman

11. Daniil Trifonov at the Folly Theater

12. Lucibela at Old Church Concert Hall (Portland)

13. Show Me the Body, Soul Glo, Wifi Gawd, Ebony Tusks and Piss Kinks at recordBar

14. FKJ and Ohma at the Midland theater

15. Livia Nestrovski and Henrique Eisenmann at the 1900 Building

16. Salvation Choir at Theis Park

17. Algara, P.S.Y.W.A.R. and New Obsessions at Farewell

18. Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Isata Kanneh-Mason at the Folly Theater

Instagram photo.

19. Animal Collective and Spirit of the Beehive at the Truman

20. Adam Larson, Clark Sommers and Dana Hall at Westport Coffee House

21. Porridge Radio and Blondshell at Doug Fir Lounge (Portland)

22. Black Crack Revue at Westport Coffee House

23. High Pulp at recordBar

24. Escuela Grind at Farewell

25. Phillip Greenlief, Midwestern and the Extemporaneous Music and Arts Society at Bushranger Records

26. Steve Cardenas, Forest Stewart and Brian Steever at recordBar

27. Terence Blanchard with Turtle Island Quartet at Atkins Auditorium

28. Arnold Young and the RoughTet at the Ship

29. Marin Alsop and Orchestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo at Helzberg Hall

30. John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett at the Uptown Theater

31. Bob Bowman and Peter Schlamb at Second Presbyterian Church

32. Mspaint at Nightjar

33. Babehoven at Farewell KC

34. UMKC’s Conservatory’s “Cosi Fan Tutte” at White Recital Hall

Instagram photo.

35. Live Skull and Still Ill at recordBar

36. Crystal Gayle at Ameristar Casino

37. Evan Verploegh and Ben Baker at World Culture

38. Keefe Jackson, Jakob Heinemann and Adam Shead at Black Dolphin

Instagram photo.

39. Cuong Vu and Ted Poor at Jack London Revue (Portland)

40. Ozomatli at KC Live

41. Gorillaz and EarthGang at the Moda Center (Portland)

42. Escher String Quartet at Polsky Theatre

43. Damien Sneed at the Folly Theater

44. John Waite at Ranch Mart Shopping Center

45. William Baker Singers at Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral

46. Raven Chacon at Agnes Arts

47. Rod Fleeman at Green Lady Lounge

48. Ducks Ltd. at the Green House

49. Billy Cobham at Dolores Winningstad Theatre (Portland)

50. Roger Waters at the T-Mobile Center

William Brownlee

October 1, 2022

September 2022 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

William Brownlee

October 1, 2022

Screenshot of Sondra Radvanovsky in the trailer of the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Cherubini’s “Medea” by There Stands the Glass.

Top Ten Albums of September

1. Sarah Davachi- Two Sisters

Ecumenical drones.

2. Caroline Shaw and Attacca Quartet- Evergreen

A Mozart among us.

3. James Brandon Lewis- Molecular Systematic Music

Live mutations.

4. Julian Lage- View with a Room

With Bill Frisell, Jorge Roeder and Dave King.

5. Charles Lloyd- Trios: Ocean

Celestial trio with Gerald Clayton and Anthony Wilson.

6. Laura Jurd- The Big Friendly Album

Howdy.

7. Ohma- Between All Things

8. Billy Woods- Church

Unanswered prayers.

9. Jeff Parker, Eric Revis and Nasheet Waits- Eastside Romp

No ordinary guitar trio.

10. Björk- Fossora

Ridiculously good or just ridiculous?

Top Ten Songs of September

1. Mister Water Wet- "Caged at Last"

Everything at once, sparingly.

2.. Santigold- "Ushers of the New World"

I prefer to stand, thank you.

3. Channel Tres- "No Limit"

A slick shocker.

4. M.I.A.- "Beep"

Bop.

5. LCD Soundsystem- “New Body Rhumba”

Workout.

6. Stormzy- "Mel Made Me Do It"

An old-school tour de force.

7. Smino featuring J. Cole- "90 Proof"

Strong.

8. Little Big Town- "Three Whiskeys and the Truth"

Fleetwood Mac sounds better than ever.

9. Kany García and Christian Nodal- "La Siguiente"

Romantic duet.

10. Clutch- "Three Golden Horns"

Clutch is my favorite novelty act.

Top Ten Concerts of September

1. Blackstarkids- recordBar

2. Lucibela- Old Church Concert Hall

3. Algara, P.S.Y.W.A.R. and New Obsessions- Farewell

4. Porridge Radio and Blondshell- Doug Fir Lounge

My Instagram video.

5. Live Skull- recordBar

6. Ozomatli- KC Live

My Instagram video.

7. Gorillaz and EarthGang- Moda Center

8. Billy Cobham- Dolores Winningstad Theater

9. Roger Waters- T-Mobile Center

10. The Shins and Joseph- Pioneer Courthouse Square

Temporarily displaced unhoused people were not pleased.

Last month’s survey is here.

William Brownlee

September 27, 2022

Concert Review: Blackstarkids at recordBar

William Brownlee

September 27, 2022

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I’ve been in a funk since returning to Kansas City following a brief residency in Portland. The malaise has been particularly frustrating because I’m not experiencing an immediate crisis. A sweaty encounter with a buoyant pop band may have cured what ails me at recordBar on Monday, September 26.

Bouncing to the giddy ditties of Blackstarkids felt liberating, but an incident directly related to the Kansas City trio is the root cause of a portion of my emotional impairment. I met with Deiondre, Gabe and Ty at a coffee shop in March of 2020 to verify their willingness to participate in a radio feature.

I was elated. The profile about the then-unknown band almost certainly would have been my best work for an NPR affiliate. Yet when I attempted to book studio time, I was informed the nascent pandemic forced the cessation of all such activity. I have yet to recover from the setback.

In spite of my involuntary betrayal, Deiondre told me last night that my enthusiastic confidence in his band’s prospects bolstered it in an uncertain moment. Ostensibly rejected by hometown record labels, Blackstarkids subsequently signed to the hit-making London based Dirty Hit consortium.

Anticipating a sellout, I paid $15 for a ticket when the show was announced last month. Yet the hometown celebration attracted less than 150 people. Blackstarkids displayed a dazzling stage presence developed through steady touring with more prominent acts for the small audience of friends, family and true believers.

Balancing the slaphappy frivolity of K-pop with the unsettling anxiety associated with members of the Odd Future collective, renditions of songs including “Love, Stargirl” soothed my heavy heart. Ty referred to Gabe as “the future of music” near the end of the show. Here’s hoping all three kids change the world.

William Brownlee

August 29, 2022

August 2022 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

William Brownlee

August 29, 2022

Screenshot of the trailer for Detroit Opera’s 2022 production of Faust by There Stands the Glass.

Top Ten Albums of August

1. Megan Thee Stallion- Traumazine

Obscenely fun.

2. Jimetta Rose & The Voices of Creation- How Good It Is

Rock of ages.

3. Julia Wolfe and Sō Percussion- Forbidden Love

The string quartet turned inside-out.

4. Mach-Hommy- Dollar Menu 4

Buffalo wings.

5. Barlast- Musik för scener

6. Larry June- Spaceships on the Blade

7. Danger Mouse and Black Thought- Cheat Codes

Swindled.

8. Second Nature Ensemble- Second Nature

9. Rod Wave- Beautiful Mind

So what if Post Malone fell off?

10. Al Foster- Reflections

A memento of a massive night I enjoyed in 2019.

Top Ten Songs of August

1. Ice Spice- "Munch (Feelin' U)"

Baddie.

2. Doechii with Rico Nasty- “Swamp B*tches”

Muggy.

3. Kevin Gates- "Major League"

All star.

4. DJ Khaled featuring Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, John Legend and Fridayy- “God Did”

All is forgiven.

5. Blackstarkids- "Sex Appeal"

Magnetic.

6. Nicki Minaj- “Super Freaky Girl”

Street song.

7. Four Tet- "Mango Feedback"

Delicious.

8. Kiwi Jr.- "Parasite II"

“Someone down in the laundry room keeps shrinking all my shirts!”

9. Ronald Isley, the Isley Brothers and Beyoncé- “Make Me Say It Again, Girl”

Mr. Biggs and Queen B.

10. Jordan Davis- “Next Thing You Know”

I’m a sap.

Top Ten Concerts of August

1. Escuela Grind- Farewell

2. Flatland Cavalry- The Truman

3. Black Crack Revue- Westport Coffee House

4. Bob Bowman and Peter Schlamb- Second Presbyterian Church

5. Escher String Quartet- Polsky Theatre

6. Evan Verplough and Ben Baker- World Culture KC

7. The Summer Singers of Kansas City & Orchestra’s “Elijah”- Grace & Holy Trinity Cathedral

8. Making Movies- Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art

My Instagram photo.

8. Jenna Bauer, Daniel Dissmore and Desmond Mason- The Market at Meadowbrook

My Instagram photo.

10. Morgan Faw and The Flame- The Blue Room

My Instagram clip.

Last month’s survey is here.

William Brownlee

December 7, 2021

A Tough Pill to Swallow: The Top 50 Songs of 2021

William Brownlee

December 7, 2021

Screenshot of Injury Reserve’s “Knees” video by There Stands the Glass.

My ranking of the fifty new songs I loved most in 2021 bears little resemblance to There Stands the Glass’ Top Albums of 2021 list. The disparity is intentional. A forthcoming accounting of the 50 best live performances I caught in 2021 will contain further deviations. Injury Reserve’s disquieting “Knees” meant the most to me in recent months. The rest of the songs are sequenced by personal preference with a bit of flexibility for optimal playlist appeal. Here’s the Spotify playlist.

1. Injury Reserve- "Knees"

2. Coi Leray- "No More Parties"

3. J Balvin and Skrillex- “"In Da Ghetto"

4. Tokischa and Rosalía- "Linda"

5. Priya Ragu- "Lockdown"

6. Little Simz- "Rollin' Stone"

7. Cake Pop, Pritty, Aaron Carter and Ravenna Golden- "Satin Bedsheets"

8. The Streets- "Who's Got the Bag"

9. Celeste- "Tonight Tonight"

10. Billie Eilish- "Lost Cause"

11. Badbadnotgood- "City of Mirrors"

12. Chlöe- "Have Mercy"

13. Sir the Baptist featuring Anthony Hamilton- "Jesus in the Ghetto"

14. Rod Wave- "Tombstone"

15. Remi Wolf- “Anthony Kiedis”

16. Blackstarkids- "Juno"

17. Shannon & The Clams- "Year of the Spider"

18. Olivia Rodrigo- "Brutal"

19. Amyl and the Sniffers- "Freaks to the Front"

20. Willow featuring Cherry Glazerr- “¡Breakout!”

21. Elle King and Miranda Lambert- “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)”

22. Roman Alexander featuring Ashley Cooke- "Between You & Me"

23. Tinashe- "Bouncin'"

24. Megan Thee Stallion- "Thot Sh*t"

25. IDK with Swae Lee and Rico Nasty- "Keto"

26. Jungle- "No Rules"

27. Jana Rush- "Disturbed"

28. Nightmares on Wax- "Miami 80"

29. Earl Sweatshirt- "2010"

30. Slowthai featuring James Blake and Mount Kimbie- "Feel Away"

31. Pooh Shiesty featuring Gucci Mane- "Ugly"

32. Baby Keem and Kendrick Lamar- "Family Ties"

33. Saweetie featuring Doja Cat- "Best Friend"

34. City Girls- "Scared"

35. Kevin Gates- "Plug Daughter 2"

36. Maxo Kream- “Cripstian”

37. Tony Allen and Danny Brown- "Deer in Headlights"

38. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss- "High and Lonesome"

39. Samantha Fish featuring Tech N9ne- "Loud"

40. Rauw Alejandro and Anitta- “Brazilera”

41. Céu - “Chega Mais”

42. Adele- "All Night Parking"

43. Cécile McLorin Salvant - "Ghost Song"

44. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis- “Albuquerque”

45. Willie Nelson- "Too Sick to Pray"

46. Brittney Spencer- "Sober & Skinny"

47. Lauren Alaina- "It Was Me"

48. Moby, Mark Lanegan and Kris Kristofferson- "The Lonely Night"

49. Loretta Lynn- “I Don’t Feel at Home Anymore”

50. Sarah Brand- "Red Dress"

Links to 16 previous year-end There Stands the Glass surveys begin here.

William Brownlee

October 20, 2021

The Top Kansas City Albums and EPs of 2021

William Brownlee

October 20, 2021

Kansas City is a small town. Even so, my version of Kansas City is vastly different from the place many of my music-minded peers call home. Rankings of 55 of my favorite recordings released by artists from the Kansas City area during the first 42 weeks of 2021 follow. A handful of highly praised albums didn’t make the cut. The omissions aren't personal. I simply prefer the titles listed below. Additionally, several albums by prominent locally based musicians are slated for release in the final weeks of 2021.

The Top 25 Kansas City Albums of 2021

1. Behzod Abduraimov- Debussy Chopin Mussorgsky

2. Pat Metheny- Road to the Sun

3. Steddy P- SOS: Toxic

4. Mac Lethal- Winter Heartbreak II

5. Pat Metheny- Side-Eye NYC (V1.IV)

6. Blackstarkids- Puppies Forever

7. Flooding- Flooding

8. Hermon Mehari and Alessandro Lanzoni- Arc Fiction

9. Verploegh and Baker- Singles

10. Samantha Fish- Faster

11. The Count Basie Orchestra- Live at Birdland

12. Liam Kazer- Due North

13. Hxxs- Channeler

14. Steve Million- What I Meant to Say

15. Tech N9ne- Asin9ne

16. Silicone Prairie- My Life on the Silicone Prairie

17. GI Gizzle and Rich the Factor- Don't Take This Personal 2

18. John Armato- The Drummer Loves Ballads

19. Melissa Etheridge- One Way Out

20. Riley Downing- Start It Over

21. Cheli Davis Smith Trio- Composite

22. Florian Arbenz, Hermon Mehari and Nelson Veras- Conversation #1: Condensed

23. Lucy Wijnands- Sings the David Heckendorn Song Book

24. Sara Morgan- Another Nail

25. Milkdrop- Thirty Eight

The Top 20 Kansas City EPs of 2021

1. Bummer- Dead Horse

2. Blob Castle- Music for Art Show

3. Big Water- ...And I’m All Out of Sh*t to F**k Up

4. The Greeting Committee- Dandelion

5. Baby and the Brain- BrainBaby

6. Rachel Cion - Wanted!

7. Rich the Factor- Mobbligated

8. Alber- Journey

9. Stik Figa- East of MacVicar Ave

10. Quiet Takes- San Fidel

11. Alyssa Murray- Half & Half

12. Sarin Reaper- Demo

13. Maal and Tom Richman- Grass

14. Cuee- Gospel

15. Lauren Anderson- Love on the Rocks

16. Connor Leimer- Like My Mind

17. Andy McKee- Symbol

18. Rory Fresco- Born Hero

19. Edison Lights- Shake This

20. Such Lovely People- Great Distinction

The Top Ten Kansas City Reissues, Reimaginings and Compilations of 2021

1. Kevin Morby- A Night at the Little Los Angeles

2. Mike Dillon- Shoot the Moon

3. Mike Dillon- 1918

4. Merlin- Electric Children: The Final Cut

5. Rich the Factor- Streets vs. Commercial: 100 Song Collection, Part 1

6. The Wild Women of Kansas City- Live at Pilgrim Chapel

7. Kansas- Point of Know Return: Live & Beyond

8. Danny Cox- Young and Hot: Live at Cowtown Ballroom

9. Whiskey Boots- #1

10. Vitreous Humor- Posthumous

Last year’s rankings of Kansas City releases are here.

William Brownlee

August 24, 2021

August 2021 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

William Brownlee

August 24, 2021

(Screenshot of Bye Bye Braverman by There Stands the Glass.)

Top Ten Albums (released in August, not including August 27 titles)

1. Jana Rush- Painful Enlightenment

The art of noise.

2. Abstract Mindstate- Dreams Still Inspire

3. Pink Siifu- Gumbo'!

Hey ya!

4. Shannon and the Clams- Year of the Spider

5. Tinashe- 333

Lucky numbers.

6. Max Richter- Exiles

Luminous.

7. Isaiah Rashad- The House Is Burning

Fire!

8. Bleachers- Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night