Concert Review: claire rousay and Gretchen Korsmo at Holocene

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I wondered how even the most enthusiastic fans of ambient music would manage to remain standing for two or three hours at a concert by claire rousay and Gretchen Korsmo at Holocene on Thursday, November 6. Light attendance and exceedingly brief performances made my concerns a mute point.

Folding chairs surrounding the dimly-lit makeshift stage accommodated the approximately 60 people who paid a $25 cover. Korso played 20 minutes. rousay played 45 minutes. The brevity of the sets made the evening seem like a glorified meet-and-greet. Dozens of devotees lined up to interact with rousay after the show.

The little music that was heard was excellent. In addition to fiddling with laptops and pushing buttons, both artists applied live instrumentation to pre-recorded sounds.

I was pleased when Rousay launched into the self-diss track "somehow" from her excellent new album a little death. Yet an explanation of the mysterious track wasn’t offered. I regret not joining the post-show queue to demand rousay dissect the song for me.

Concert Review: Militarie Gun, Liquid Mike and Public Opinion at the Bottleneck

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

Where was everyone? Only about 150 people attended Militarie Gun’s performance at the Bottleneck on Wednesday, October 30. I haven’t been able to stop wondering why one of the best American rock bands to emerge in the last five years isn’t more popular.

Militarie Gun’s sold-out show at recordBar last year was my favorite performance of 2024. Bolstered by an underground hit, Militarie Gun seemed like the next big thing. I initially felt lucky to buy a $25 ticket in advance of the band’s first appearance in Lawrence, Kansas. Shows what I know.

What went wrong? The crossover moves on the new album God Save the Gun may have repelled day-one fans while failing to attract new listeners. It’s also possible the band’s primary themes of addiction, anxiety and isolation are too dark for most people. Furthermore, true punks may refuse to pay a $25 cover.

The most probable interpretation is that there’s simply a miniscule audience for non-nostalgic, punk-rooted rock in 2025. Less than half-capacity at a small club on a Wednesday night in a Midwestern college town is the apparent ceiling for what may be the world’s best rock band.

The discovery has to be incredibly disheartening to the members of Militarie Gun and absolutely devastating to its hand-picked opening acts Liquid Mike and Public Opinion. Divine intervention may be necessary to right this wrong. God save the gun.

October 2025 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer for the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Vincenzo Bellini’s “La Sonnambula” by There Stands the Glass.

The Top Ten Albums of October 2025*
1. Clarice Jensen- In holiday clothing, out of the great darkness
Bach-based drones.

2. Patricia Brennan- Of the Near and Far
Infinite.

3. Laura Jurd- Rites & Revelations
New rituals.

4. Charles Lloyd- Figure in Blue
Rapturous sketches.

5. Jakob Bro, Wadada Leo Smith and Marcus Gilmore- Murasaki
Wadada #1.

6. Sylvie Courvoisier and Wadada Leo Smith- Angel Falls
Wadada #2.

7. Militarie Gun- God Save the Gun
Firepower.

8. Yazmin Lacey- Teal Dreams
Think Jill Scott, not KC Current.

9. Meredith Monk- Cellular Songs
Primordial.

10. The Necks- Disquiet
Unsettling.

*October 31 releases excluded.

The Top Three Reissues, Reimaginings and Compilations of October 2025
1. Bruce Springsteen- Nebraska ‘82: Expanded Edition
Reasons to believe.

2. Peggy Lee- Mirrors: Expanded Edition
Existentialism courtesy of Leiber and Stoller.

3. JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown- Scaring the Hoes: Director's Cut
Refreshed version of the disruptive 2023 classic.

The Top Ten Songs of October 2025
1. Nathy Peluso featuring Rawayana- “Malportada”
Bad behavior.

2. Gabito Ballesteros and Fuerza Regida- “Chrome Hearts”
Shiny.

3. Amadou & Mariam- “Bienvenue à la maison”
A fond farewell.

4. SML- “Chicago Four”
Big shoulders.

5. Say She She- “Shop Boy”
C’est chic.

6. Robert Glasper featuring Norah Jones- “Prototype”
Two of a kind.

7. СОЮЗ featuring Tim Bernardes- “Lingua Do Mundo”
Belarus meets Brazil.

8. Silvana Estrada- “El Alma Mia”
Ooh! My soul.

9. Mobb Deep featuring Clipse- “Look at Me”
Seen.

10. Dave- “My 27th Birthday”
The party’s over.

The Top Ten Performances of October 2025
1. Brad Mehldau and Christian McBride at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
My review.

2. Terence Blanchard at Muriel Kauffman Theatre
My review.

3. Angela Hewitt at the Folly Theater
My Instagram snapshot.

4. Militarie Gun, Liquid Mike and Public Opinion at the Bottleneck
My Instagram clip.

5. Destroyer and Jennifer Castle at Warehouse on Broadway
My review.

6. Matt Villinger, Peter Schlamb, Sebastian Arias and Matt Robertson at the Blue Room
My Instagram clip.

7. Pete Escovedo at the Folly Theater
My notes.

8. Michael Shults, Dan Velicer, Dawson Coleman and Andrew Ouellette at Polsky Theatre
My Instagram snapshot.

9. Angela Hewitt’s masterclass at White Recital Hall
My Instagram snapshot.

10. Susan and William Goldenberg at Asbury United Methodist Church
My Instagram clip.

The previous monthly recap is here.

Jack DeJohnette, 1942-2025

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

Falling inextricably down the jazz rabbit hole is often caused by the realization that an individual musician often appears on dozens, if not hundreds, of sessions. Jack DeJohnette was one such artist for me. DeJohnette died yesterday.

As impressionable kids in the early 1970s, my friend Rob and I were sold on the era’s simultaneous prog-rock and jazz-fusion booms. Bright Size Life, the 1976 debut album of hometown hero Pat Metheny, further blurred the boundary between the forms.

Taking the small step from Kansas’ Song for America and King Crimson’s  Lark’s Tongues in Aspic to investigating records like DeJohnette’s gonzo 1974 release Sorcery and his delectably "fantastic" 1976 album Untitled opened the floodgates. By the time Metheny featured DeJohnette on the live recording 80/81, I was already all-in.

After tracing the drummer’s discography backwards hipped me to releases by giants including Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard and Wayne Shorter. I relished a string of DeJohnette’s strong solo albums as new releases in the early 1980s. (In memory of Rob and Jack, I’m revisiting the 1979 collaboration of DeJohnette with Miroslav Vitous and Terje Rypdal today.)

Just as significantly for me, DeJohnette flaunted jazz convention. His frequent forays into new music, rock, folk, and classical forms- often as a keyboardist- allowed me to understand that the majority of jazz’s prominent gatekeepers are hidebound ninnies.

Buying a ticket to see DeJohnette’s touring band in 1983 made me giddy. I was shocked to discover that my hero looked and acted like a normal guy. DeJohnette may not have walked on water, but he was a superhero to me.

Album Review: RMW- The King of Kansas City

I neglected to sync my phone to my car’s bluetooth before running an errand last week. My misfortune became a godsend when I heard a terrestrial oldies radio station air Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen.” I hadn’t thought about the 2014 hit in years.

RMW, aka Ryan Woltkamp, almost certainly hasn’t forgotten “Trap Queen.” The artist who rose to underground fame with Midwestern lifts many of his best ideas from discarded components of hip-hop culture. He and his production partner alternately repurpose R&B dusties and invoke the unhinged no wave punk sensibility of bands like Black Eyes. The resulting sounds on The King of Kansas City are distressed and caustic.

The hazy sound field is in the tradition of the Kansas City legend Rich That Factor. The title of The King of Kansas City is a cheeky reference to Tech N9ne. RMW doesn’t seem to harbor commercial aspirations. Even so, he’s just an accidental “Hey, what’s up, hello!”-style hook from a left-field hit in the tradition of those locally based heroes.

Concert Review: Destroyer at Warehouse on Broadway

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I chatted up a couple Destroyer superfans prior to the ensemble’s performance at Warehouse on Broadway on Sunday, October 19. My new friends were baffled when I expressed my affinity for Dan Bejar’s lyrical dissipation. The appeal for them is entirely musical. 

Discovering there are apparently two mutually exclusive camps of Destroyer appreciation stunned me. Drawn to songs of dissolution, I’ve long admired Destroyer despite the band’s often unappealing musical sensibility.

The frayed decadence of the 2025 album Dan's Boogie- a woozy variant of Avalon-era Roxy Music- is the first time Destroyer’s sound properly aligns with Bejar’s predilection for themes shared by macabre authors of literary fiction such as Ian McEwan, Iris Murdoch and William Trevor.

My passion for Dan’s Boogie compelled me to buy a $16.50 ticket to the show. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that I was the oldest person amid the audience of approximately 250. Men who embrace the life Bejar chronicles usually don’t make it past sixty.

While his stage antics may be nothing more than sly showmanship, Bejar, 53, seemed to be living dangerously. Impeccably louche, he imbibed from a setup at the lip of the stage and occasionally employed lyric sheets.

The wall of sound from Bejar’s six-piece backing band seemed unreasonably wanton, but excess is Bejar’s raison d'être.  I would have been disappointed with anything less than a reckless display of profligacy.

Concert Review: Terence Blanchard at Muriel Kauffman Theatre

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

If you were among the approximately 300 people at Muriel Kauffman Theatre on Sunday, October 12, you may have wondered why only one person was seated in the first four rows of the opera hall. As the weirdo in question, I too was puzzled by my isolation.

I purchased a $33.50 ticket- the least expensive pricing tier- for a seat in the front row for the Harriman-Jewell Series presentation billed as Terence Blanchard’s “operatic concert production of 'Fire Shut Up in My Bones'.” Why no one else opted to do the same thing is beyond me.

I would have been completely enthralled even if I hadn’t made eye contact with Blanchard, soprano Adrienne Danrich, baritone Justin Austin, guitarist Charles Altura and drummer Oscar Seaton. They simply didn’t have anyone else to look at!

Keyboardist Julian Pollack, bassist Dale Black, and the members of Turtle Island String Quartet were out of my sightline. Video production with live footage overlaid on images allowed everyone to see what was happening and to gain additional insights into Blanchard’s artistic vision.

The first thirty minutes were dedicated to burly material from Blanchard’s 2005 album Flow. The next hour featured a staging of selections from Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.” A concert with elite plugged-in jazz and groundbreaking opera? I’m all about it, even with 300 sets of eyes boring into the back of my head.

Album Review: Hardy- Country! Country!

I’ve previously confessed at this site that I’m a Prius-drivin’, The New York Times-subscribin’ jazz blogger. Yet I’ve also enjoyed shooting quail and pheasant on multiple hunting expeditions in Kansas and Missouri.

Raised on country music, I listen to Morgan Wallen for pleasure. I’m also a fan of Hardy, Wallen’s most prominent associate. Hardy’s Country! Country! is pure MAGA. Even as I roll my eyes at the frequent imbecility expressed on the gun-drunk 82-minute album, I’m inclined to sing along.

Country! Country! is a massive hit that’s secured Hardy’s status as an arena headliner. For better or (probably for) worse, the undeniable Country! Country! is among the year's most culturally significant albums.

Album Review: Sō Percussion- 25x25

I purchased a tattered translation of Murasaki Shikibu’s 11th century novel The Tale of Genji yesterday. Since being made aware of the seminal work in the first volume of Will Durant’s The Story of Civilization series, I’d been hoping to happen upon an affordable edition.

A person would need to muster a considerable amount of determination to read the thousand-page classic. Sō Percussion recently threw down a similarly imposing gauntlet in the form of 25x25. As with the ancient Japanese scribe, the new music collective explores an unfamiliar world at great length.

An eight-disc box set featuring “more than 8 hours of entirely new and previously unreleased recordings, with each piece written for, in collaboration with, and premiered by Sō Percussion” marks the ensemble’s 25th anniversary. Here’s a more thorough explanation of the release’s contents.

Naturally, I hesitated before committing to 25x25. Upon crossing the rubicon, the musical extremity immediately became wildly unpopular with residents and visitors at my Kansas compound. Sō Percussion sounds better on headphones anyway.

Dan Deacon, Angélica Negrón and claire rousay are among the notable composers making wildly inventive new statements. I recommend hesitant listeners begin with Negrón’s amusingly moving "Inward Pieces". As for The Tale of Genji , I sense I’m up to the challenge.

September 2025 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer for Welsh National Opera’s production of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca by There Stands the Glass.

The Top Ten Albums of September 2025

1. Trio of Bloom- Trio of Bloom
Nels Cline, Craig Taborn and Marcus Gilmore.

2. Vox Clamantis- Pärt: And I heard a voice
Spectral spirituality.

3. Olivia Dean- The Art of Loving
Near-perfect pop.

4. Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura- Ki
Spartan piano and trumpet duo.

5. Cécile McLorin Salvant- Oh Snap
My kind of mixtape.

6. Atmosphere- Jestures
My review.

7. Mulatu Astatke- Mulatu Plays Mulatu
Ethiopian twilight.

8. Rochelle Jordan- Through the Wall
Don’t stop ‘til you get enough.

9. Les Arts Florissants- Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice
Oui français.

10. Jeff Tweedy- Twilight Override
One’s too many and thirty ain’t enough.

The Top Three Reissues and Reimaginings of September 2025

1. Joni Mitchell- Joni’s Jazz
One side now.

2. Kassa Overall- CREAM
My review.

3. Gary Bartz- The Eternal Tenure of Sound: Damage Control
Slow jamz.

The Top Ten Songs of September 2025

1. El Michels Affair featuring Norah Jones- "Carry Me Away"
Surf.

2. Kali Uchis featuring Raven Lenae- “Cry About It!”
Rainin’ in my heart.

3. Mariah Carey featuring Anderson Paak- “Play This Song”
Grown-and-sexy.

4. Rauw Alejandro featuring Mon Laferte- "Callejón de los Secretos"
Boulevard of broken dreams.

5. Tortoise- “Layered Presence”
Slow and steady.

6. Danny Brown- “Starburst”
Glitchy and twichy.

7. Black Lips- “Sx Sx Sx Men”
Filthy numerology.

8. Speed- "Peace"
Only one mode.

9. Lorna Kay- “I’m Never Drinking Again (Again)”
Hair of the dog.

10. Mike Reid and Joe Henry- “History”
Lovely lament.

The Top Ten Performances of September 2025

1. Callie Day and Isaac Cates at Grant Recital Hall
My Instagram clip.

2. 10cc at Ranch Mart Shopping Center
My review.

3. Kid Congo Powers and the Pink Monkey Birds and Dan Jones and the Squids at recordBar
My Instagram clips here and here.

4. Isaac Cates’ Affirmations: A Night of Worship with Oleta Adams, Callie Day, Angela Crawford, Alicia Peters-Jordan and Chrystal Rucker at the Church of the Resurrection
My Instagram clip.

5. Devin Gray at The Ship
My Instagram clip.

6. Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda and Antonio Sánchez at Helzberg Hall
My Instagram snapshot.

7. Deftones, Idles and the Barbarians of California at T-Mobile Center
My review.

8. Henry Scamurra, Isaiah Petrie, Spencer Reeve and Jade Harvey at the Prairie Village Jazz Festival
My Instagram clip.

9. Nathaniel Gumbs at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
My Instagram clip.

10. Rex Hobart and the Honky Tonk Standards at SarKoPar Trails Park
My Instagram clip.

The previous monthly recap is here.