The Top 25 Kansas City Albums of the Past 25 Years (excluding jazz)

Geographically isolated and persistently ostracized by coastal tastemakers, Kansas City’s various music communities have developed unhealthy underdog postures since 2000. The wrong artists, consequently, are often embraced for erroneous reasons. The following ranking of one observer’s favorite albums by Kansas City artists released in the first 25 years of the new millennium is intended as a benevolent corrective. It’s also a celebration of excellence. Artists are limited to single selections. A corresponding list of jazz albums is here. 

1. Fat Tone- Only in Killa City (2002)

2. Tech N9ne- Everready (2006)

3. Joyce DiDonato- Diva, Divo (2011)

4. Blackstarkids- Surf (2020)

5. Making Movies- A La Deriva (2014)

6. Mac Lethal- 11:11 (2007)

7. Ron Ron- Mr. No It All (2007)

8. Janelle Monaé- The ArchAndroid (2010)

9. Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys- The Spectacular Sadness of… (2000)

10. SleazyWorld Go- Where the Shooters Be (2022)

11. Huerco S.- Plonk (2022)

12. The Grisly Hand- Country Singles (2013)

13. Little Hatch- Rock With Me Baby (2003)

14. Rich the Factor- Rose Out the Concrete (2016)

15. Kelly Hunt- Even the Sparrow (2019)

16. Sandbox Percussion- Seven Pillars (2021)

17. Stik Figa- The City Under the City (2013)

18. Samantha Fish- Chills & Fever (2017)

19. Coalesce- Ox (2009)

20. Waxahatchee- Tigers Blood (2024)

21. Ces Cru- Capture Enemy Soldiers (2004)

22. The Get Up Kids- There Are Rules (2011)

23. Ebony Tusks- Heal Thyself (2020)

24. Krystle Warren- Circles (2009)

25. Reggie and the Full Effect- Songs Not to Get Married To (2005)

The Top Kansas City Albums, EPs and Reissues of 2023

The Top 25 Kansas City Albums of 2023

1. Matt Otto- Umbra*

Plastic Sax review.

2. Mike Dillon and Punkadelick- Inflorescence

Plastic Sax review.

3. Adam Larson- With Love, From New York City*

Plastic Sax review.

4. Ampichino and Rich the Factor- Midwest Tygoons*

Real orcas.

5. Stik Figa and The Expert- Ritual*

“It’s Stik Figa, mayne!”

6. Enzo Carniel, Hermon Mehari, Stéphane Adsuar and Damien Varaillon- No(w) Beauty

Plastic Sax review.

7. Pat Metheny- Dream Box

Plastic Sax review.

8. Janelle Monaé- The Age of Pleasure

Decadent.

9. Torches Mauve- Volume Two*

Plastic Sax review.

10. Flooding- Silhouette Machine

Dark shadows.

11. Mireya Ramos & the Poor Choices- Sin Fronteras

Cantinas and honky tonks.

12. Sweeping Promises- Good Living Is Coming For You

Look out below.

13. Samantha Fish and Jesse Dayton- Death Wish Blues

A blaze of glory.

14. The Floozies- Porty Hord

Gort dorn.

15. Kansas Virtuosi- Luis Humberto Salgado

Ecuadorian expedition.

16. Tech N9ne- Bliss*

Bliss-ish.

17. The Whiffs- Scratch n' Sniff

Pub rock.

18. Krista Kopper- Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

There Stands the Glass review.

19. The Count Basie Orchestra- Swings the Blues*

Plastic Sax review.

20. LaVelle- Promise to Love

Between the sheets.

21. Danny Embrey- Orion Room

Plastic Sax review.

22. Bach Aria Soloists- Le dolce sirene

Siren songs.

23. Nick Schnebelen- What Key Is Trouble In?

There Stands the Glass review.

24. Heidi Lynne Gluck- Migrate or Die

Rumours.

25. Kelly Hunt- Ozark Symphony

Polished folk.

The Top 10 Kansas City EPs of 2023

1. Midwestern- Cartoon Network

There Stands the Glass review.

2. Missouri Executive Order 44- Seventeen Dead in Caldwell County

Savage.

3. SleazyWorld Baghdad- Debo Baghdad*

Shooter.

4. Weaponize Chomsky- Time Destroys Everything

Dialectical materialism.

5. Conductor Williams- Conductor We Have a Problem

The preferred sound of 2023.

6. Kevin Morby- Music From Montana Story

Big skies.

7. Spine- Raîces

Furia.

8. Alyssa Murray- Scrollin'

Plastic Sax review.

9. The Bitter Lake Association- My Life Inside a Movie Scene

A one-person greeting committee.

10. Eggs on Mars- Warm Breakfast

Tasty.

The Top 5 Kansas City Reissues of 2023

1. SleazyWorld Go- Where the Shooters Be 2

Star light, star bright.

2. Charlie Parker- Hot House: The Complete Jazz at Massey Hall Recordings

Refreshed sound for the storied 1953 date.

3. Fred Davis- Cleveland Blues

Buried treasure.

4. Basie All Stars-  Live at Fabrik Hamburg 1981, Vol. 1

Shiny stockings.

5. The Noise FM- Deleted Scenes: Unreleased Hits 2013-2023

Appropriately titled.

*One or more of the musician’s additional 2023 recordings were excluded from these listings to make room for titles by other artists.

Last year’s rankings are here.

Krizzmas Time Is Here

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

Krizz Kaliko summarizes his unusual career in a few bars on "S.O.B.", a dyspeptic song on his new release Legend: Fans don't give a damn if I put fifty on my wrist/All I gotta do is chop/But I don't make the hottest list.../My aesthetics pathetic/I look like I'm pregnant.

The man born Samuel William Christopher Watson IV in 1974 plays second fiddle to Tech N9ne in the Strange Music camp.  Yet as I’ve asserted for years, Kaliko is the secret sauce at the Lee’s Summit, Missouri, based empire.  In addition to singing, rapping and dancing at a high level, Kaliko is a human hook machine.  

As implied by “S.O.B.,” Kaliko’s stockiness doesn’t impede fans’ appreciation of his formidable talent.  Legend, Kaliko’s seventh solo album, is engaging partly because he repeatedly references his creative frustration.  His grievances are justified. Legend isn’t nearly as good as it could be.

Kaliko is poorly served by the stale production that’s plagued Strange Music for years.  He deserves better.  Provided the opportunity to rap and sing on the fashionable throwback beats associated with Buffalo’s Griselda crew, the murky flow coming out of Earl Sweatshirt’s collective or the cutting-edge lo-fi soundscapes crafted by Slauson Malone, Kaliko’s name would almost certainly appear on the best-of lists he so clearly covets.

Million Dollar Bash

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

I’ve reluctantly recommitted to the onerous task of organizing The Museum of Dead People and Obsolete Technology, the cluttered realm also known as my unfinished basement.  Consolidating old ticket stubs into a single box is one of the more enjoyable components of my job as chief curator.  As I sifted through thousands of bits of paper, it occurred to me that I’ve spent more money on Bob Dylan than any other musician.  Between concert tickets, physical recordings and books, I’ve almost certainly laid out more than a grand on the man.

Blood on the Tracks is one of several Dylan albums I’ve owned on cassette, vinyl and compact disc.  The relentless flood of must-have sets of rarities and live recordings plays a further role in emptying my wallet, as does mandatory attendance at area appearances of Dylan’s enigmatic Never Ending Tour.  I’ve even dragged my full brood to a couple shows.  And while I own six or seven Dylan-related books, I’m relieved I’ve never been tempted to buy a t-shirt.

Dylan isn’t my only substantial investment.  Here are nine additional artists who’ve separated me from inordinate amounts of money: 

• Mary J. Blige- Old-school R&B concert tickets are crazy expensive.

• Bill Frisell- I accumulate dozens of Frisell albums the way other people collect baseball cards.

• Thelonious Monk- I bought a Monk album at cost every Friday for nine months when I worked in a music distribution warehouse.

• Charlie Parker- So many books!  So many bootlegs!

• Prince- He was omnipresent in the pre-streaming era.

• Bruce Springsteen- Dylan redux.

• George Strait- All hail King George.

• Tech N9ne- I’ve seen more performances by the Kansas City rapper than all but a few dozen Technicians.

• Bobby Watson- Two or three $20 door charges every year for more than 25 years add up.