When I arrived in scenic downtown KCK, I really didn’t know what to expect. I’d driven by the FOKL center a million times, but never really knew what it was, or why it was there, or why they misspelled focal. I knew there would be two stages – Id and Ego (so clever), and I knew the lineup, but that was about it. I was familiar with one or two acts, but the vast majority were completely foreign to me, which can easily become a recipe for disaster.

But there was no disaster here. There was a painstakingly constructed stage upstairs, with abstract white shapes and blocks, bathed in complex projection, mapping and visuals. There was a dank, dirty, gross, and perfect basement, the type of space that adds grit and authenticity to any performance. There was a courtyard with looping videos of Ren and Stimpy, Gumby, and other readily available YouTube favorites, in addition to DJ Memo dropping vinyl outside throughout each of the three nights. The organizers pretty much nailed the venue. It had everything an attendee could want. And we haven’t even mentioned the acts yet.

Night one brought a plethora of terrific moments. Thee Devotion opened up the fest with a healthy dose of psychedelic funk wrapped up in matching outfits and seasoned with some wonderful harmonica. The textures and soundscapes of Twofaced primed the basement before groups Restless Breed, The Jorge Arana Trio and Box The Compass brought their special brand of sounds and grooves to the ears of the concertgoers. Monta At Odds put on a different show than I’m used to, the chill bass licks were still there, but there was an added energy and robustness.

The 808’s and claps of Discoverer’s thick beats and smooth surges came and went much too quickly, as was the case with many of the acts. A loaded schedule of quality acts meant that each band was restricted to a 30 min set, a trend that was surely difficult to pull off, simply due to the nature of psychedelic music.

Night 2 brought more of the same. CS Luxem started the show with some well-choreographed looping. Next up was Import/Export, who impressed by crafting complex rhythms and melodies with energetic bursts of chaos and noise.

Downstairs in the basement, Carnal Torpor turned heads with a piece entitled “The Chariot” which involved a whip, a murder, a homemade guitar strumming mechanism and a whole lot of screaming. The Conquerors showered the psychfest in fat 70’s riffs and fun shouted vocals. And then there was Gemini Revolution. Another manifestation of the Moore brothers with a drummer that who quite literally could not be contained. It seemed like her drum solos would go on forever, and nobody wanted her to stop.

The last night was bitter sweet. There was only one stage, the basement and courtyard were closed down, but the quality of the last night made up for the decrease in real estate. Yuo continued in the Psychfest tradition of texture making and mood creating, before Scammers led the audience in a journey through Aladdin. Every song in his set quoted an Aladdin song, and the stage behind him lit up with distorted images of Jasmin, Jafar and Aladdin himself. Surroundher brought a gritty take to dance grooves, with rhythms building out of seemingly nothing to create moods that made it literally impossible to stand still.

KC Psychfest answers a question that I didn’t even know I had. KC clearly has the talent, all it needed was a stage to show it on. Here’s to a wonderful show, put on by wonderful people.

all photos by Chris Mills, Demencha Magazine

THURSDAY

The first night we saw some great shows at Riot Room and the Union. In particular, sets by locals Quiet Corral and Parts of Speech had us scrambling for our dorky note pads and smart phones. Quiet Corral are an indie-folk group from Lawrence who have been generating some local buzz for their earnest, and danceable take on Americana. If you can imagine a more heartfelt and earnest rendition of The Decemberists’ style of music then you have a good starting point for Quiet Corral. Likewise, newcomers Parts of Speech (a late addition to the lineup) had us grooving down to their smooth and funky 80s flavored electronic-pop. We also enjoyed seeing Hospital Ships, a local group that has drawn some praise outside of the region, and de facto headliners of the night Hooray For Earth.

Afterwards, we closed out the night at the Union to hear the dark and macabre gothic-roots sounds of American Catastrophe and Old Canes, a side project of Chris Crisci from the Appleseed Cast. The Union is quickly becoming one of my favorite venues to see bands at what with its dingy basement-meets-dive bar ambiance. I stick closely to that old adage, the more a place stinks the better the bands are you’ll see there. This proved reliable several times over the course of the weekend.

FRIDAY

The second night saw the crowds and the lineup ramp up a little bit, after what was somewhat of a thin Thursday night to open the festival. We began our evening at the Beaumont Club with local favorites Ad Astra Arkestra and Capybara, both of which have releases on The Record Machine. If I see one weakness in the festival, it’s the sound at the Beaumont Club. The venue is one of my least favorite places to see shows in the city, largely because of the poor sound quality in the cavernous confines of the building. Beaumont is too big and wide open to do some of these bands justice; I realize the venue is essential to the festival because it typically hosts the larger national acts that draw in the non-local music fans…but enough with my whining and back to the review.

I was pleased to make my way over to Record Bar for the first time during the festival to see Soft Reeds again. The band played a set of mostly new material that singer/songwriter Ben Grimes promised would see release on a new album in the next few months. Demencha readers and fans might’ve recognized the track “Magic,” albeit in a much faster form, along with a Talking Heads cover in the middle of the roughly 40 minute long set. Thee Water Moccasins played afterwards with one of my favorite local bartenders singing backup (HI LIZ!). The band features several members from other local groups (Olympic Size, Dirt Nap etc.) and could be considered one of a number of local reunions, as some of the band members have since moved on from K.C. and returned solely to play at Middle of the Map.

The highlight of the evening for me was seeing The Life and Times back where they belong in town and inside The Record Bar. Following the theme of the night, The Life and Times are a local group that have recently become less local because of touring duties and the relocation of leader Allen Epley to Chicago. The band’s take on melodic shoe-gaze meets noise rock has been sorely missed around this town in recent years. If watching drummer Eric Metcalfe destroy his drum heads doesn’t make you yearn for a return to the 90s, nothing will.

(Shot of Metcalfe and singer/guitarist Allen Epley from The Life and Time’s opening gig for HUM at the Record Bar last year)

Finally, I closed out the evening with a reformed Mission of Burma which was once again at The Record Bar. Last year’s MOTM fest was highlighted by a rare appearance by renowned hermit Daniel Johnston, a role which Mission of Burma also seemed to fill as they joked on stage that they would return to K.C. “in thirty years.” To answer a few obvious questions with a few obvious answers: yes, the band is looking a little older; yes, they played “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver”; and yes, there were many white men pumping their fists in the air during the set and encore.

SATURDAY

The final and arguably biggest night of the fest was highlighted by the two most popular acts to grace Westport: Neon Indian and fun. (The period and lower case letters are apparently part of their name, which Ink did well to highlight during the week.) I’ll confess. I had no interest in seeing fun. and the throngs of teenagers. lining Pennsylvania Ave. did nothing to convince me otherwise (See what I did there?). I don’t begrudge the festival organizers for booking popular bands to bring in other types of music fans, but the snob in me can’t help but wonder why a music festival focusing on undiscovered local talent has to stoop to the level of short lived hype and BUZZ. Oh well, I’m pushing thirty this year and I suppose some of the acts weren’t intended to appeal to me. HUZZAH!

(Side note: the only thing annoying me more than that stupid fun. song right now is that insipid Pitbull Bud Light commercial…DIE!)

The first act I saw Saturday was The Casket Lottery at Riot Room. Attendees of last year’s festival will remember that the group reformed in part for the original MOTM, but have since stayed together and released a new album. The emo/hardcore heroes tore through a set of both new and classic songs to the delight of the sweaty venue. In the middle of the crowd, I was lucky enough to meet and befriend Sleepy Kitty’s Evan and Paige, who would play that night at McCoy’s (more on them later).

Next up were Reflector and the Appleseed Cast at Riot, the former seeming justifiably rusty and for their first live show in what must’ve been quite a while. I’ll confess (I seem to be in a confessional mood today), I wasn’t much of a fan of Reflector in their initial incarnation and this reunion did nothing to change my mind. The Appleseed Cast, on the other hand, were powerfully melodic and thrilling as always. In the transition from one band to the other we might have seen the warts of the local scene from the 90′s/00′s in one and its continuing relevance in the other. Gone from the Cast was founding member and guitarist Aaron Pillar who apparently is on leave due to the fact that he owns a catering business; this left Chris Crisci as the sole/soul core of the group. The band had yet another new drummer as well, which is standard every couple of years, but this was less jarring as it was once again someone with expert timing…you’ve gotta figure that Crisci is growing these drummers somewhere in a dungeon with a special recipe that includes equal parts of rhythmic DNA from Neal Peart, William Goldsmith and Josh Baruth.

Here’s some live video I shot of a brand new Appleseed Cast song. Pardon my camera work:

With my ears still ringing I wandered to the Union to catch part of Mr. Gnome‘s set (no relation to David the Gnome and fronted by a woman no-less), which was an interesting mix of indie-rock and guitar-driven pop. So many things were scheduled at once that I was forced to miss groups like Cowboy Indian Bear (luckily I’ve seen them several times), Murder By Death and several others; with that in mind I crossed the street and left the gnome people to their own devices even as I knew that in every wish and dream and happy home I would find the kingdom of the gnomes.

At McCoy’s I caught the St. Louis by-way-of Chicago band Sleepy Kitty that I’d met earlier in the night. The band’s sound utilized both modern garage rock a la the White Stripes and vintage girl group pop from the 60s. Singer Paige Brubeck is a sultry singer and a talented axe-(wo)man in the mold of Pavement’s Spiral Stairs, and drummer Evan Sult is a perfect compliment with his steady stick-work. (Look for a Demencha interview with the group in the coming weeks…)

After waiting in line for about half an hour, I was able to get back into the Riot Room for Fucked Up. I only stayed for a few songs though. While I enjoyed some of the collective’s neo-hardcore on record, live they were a different animal reserved solely for devotees and those who still think moshing is still cool.

I closed out the night back at the Union to see a band my friend had mentioned to me based solely on the strangeness of their name. Acid Mothers Temple are a group of older Japanese men who play psychedelic drone-jams influenced by krautrock and the likes of Black Sabbath. Although I’d never heard of them until then, they’ve released something like thirty albums full of free form weirdness over the past decade. If all that sounds off-putting, well it’s because it was a bit. But at 2 a.m. as I stood on a stone wall and craned my neck over a packed basement crowd staring at the group’s wiry beards and long unkempt hair, I couldn’t imagine a more fitting close to the second MOTM fest. Beat that Kanrocksas.

(The Appleseed Cast photos were courtesy of Cobra Robertson)