The Top Kansas City Albums and EPs of 2024 (so far)

The Top Twenty Kansas City Albums of 2024 (so far)

1. Willi Carlisle- Critterland
Feral folk.

2. Betty Bryant- Lotta Livin'
Plastic Sax review.

3. Behzod Abduraimov- Shadows of My Ancestors
Prokofiev, Ravel and Saidaminova.

4. Charles McPherson- Reverence
Plastic Sax review.

5. Waxahatchee- Tigers Blood
KC.

6. Ben Allison, Steve Cardenas and Ted Nash- Tell the Birds I Said Hello: The Music of Herbie Nichols
Plastic Sax review.

7. Logan Richardson- Sacred Garden
Plastic Sax review.

8. Danielle Nicole- The Love You Bleed
KCUR's audio feature.

9. Karrin Allyson- A Kiss for Brazil
Plastic Sax review.

10. The Kansas City Symphony- Brahms: Reimagined Orchestrations
Virgil Thomson’s arrangements.

11. WireTown- Kansas City
Plastic Sax review.

12. Scott Dean Taylor and Seth Andrew Davis- Infidels
Plastic Sax review.

13. Jennifer Knapp- Kansas 25
Reworking of 1998 milestone.

14. Alber- Lento
Electro-jazz.

15. The Hearers- elevators come undone
Grandaddy-esque.

16. Brian Scarborough- We Need the Wind
Plastic Sax review.

17. Jeff Shirley- Contigo
Plastic Sax review.

18. Michael Davidson and Ellen Sommer- Skybreak
Trombone and piano.

19. Christopher Burnett- Originals
Plastic Sax review.

20. Doubledrag- Alone With Everyone
Shoegaze.

The Top Ten Kansas City EPs of 2024 (so far)

1. Midwestern- Reflections
There Stands the Glass review.

2. Burning Bush Demo 2024
Exodus.

3. Drew Williams- Wobble
Plastic Sax review.

4. Rich the Factor- Souped Up Sofa
KC’s the town.

5. Eddie Moore- Aperture: Solo Piano Works
Plastic Sax review.

6. Nate Hofer- Decommissioned
Ambient steel guitar.

7. Rich the Factor- Souped Up Sofa 2
Midwest tygoon.

7. Little Miss Dynamite- Grow Up
Firecracker folk.

9. Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits- Other Cats, Other Bags: Vol. 2
Louche troubadour.

10. The Fun Guy- From the Attic to the Underground 
Garage rock.

Album Review: The Wonderful World of Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits

I was taken aback by the multitude of performers with languishing careers while attending the Folk Alliance International Conference in 2017 and 2018.  Dozens of musicians forecast as can’t-miss stars in previous decades played poorly-attended showcases for handfuls of distracted DJs and music journalists.

The Kansas City musician Scott Hrabko knows the score.  He doesn’t pretend to be a fresh-faced greenhorn.  Sounding precisely like what he is- a well-read, middle-aged Midwesterner- Hrabko displays relaxed maturity on his new album The Wonderful World of Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits.

Hrabko and his cohorts compare favorably to heavy hitters on the unassuming recording.  “RSVP” evokes the outsider sounds of Captain Beefheart and Tom Waits.  “Los Estados Destrozados” recalls the hard-knock songs of Mark Eitzel.  “The Bells” is in the harrowing tradition of Townes Van Zandt.  

The playful “UFOhio,” the lovely instrumental “North Star,” the solid punchlines of “Punch Drunk Mosquito,” the funk goof “Are They Friendly Spirits” and the demented yacht rock of “Dog in the Backyard” forestall folk fatigue.  Even so, consuming all 22 songs on The Wonderful World of Scott Hrabko & The Rabbits in one sitting is taxing.

Performances are a different matter.  Should I find myself at another folk conference, I’ll avoid sets by delusional singer-songwriters who dream about joining the likes of Ray LaMontagne on the theater circuit.  Instead, I’ll turn my attention to hardscrabble realists like Hrabko.