The Stooges – Queen City Sounds and Art

With righteous fury, Red Kate in its song “Home of the Slave” draws a line connecting the genocide of indigenous people, slavery and white supremacy generally and the course of capitalism and its fallout for those that aren’t among the elite. The logic couldn’t be more obvious to anyone paying attention but Red Kate maps it all out in a relatable way without excessive abstraction. Musically the song rings some bells like its resonance with somehow both “T.V. Eye” by Stooges and early D.O.A. – just that kind of politically charged political punk of the latter and its undeniable hooks and the willingness to go off standard lines of rhythm and tone of the former yet propelled by an irresistible momentum that rages with the excitement of being able to utter the critical truths that are the song’s lyrics. Listen to “Home of the Slave” on Spotify and connect with Red Kate from Kansas City at the links below. The new Red Kate album Exit Strategy dropped on November 10, 2023 and now available on digital and vinyl as well as streaming.

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Samuel Locke Ward from Iowa and Mike Watt from Pedro (maybe you know him for his stints in Minutemen, The Stooges, fIREHOSE and other notable bands) delivered another fine collaborative record as SLC cc Watt in Purple Pie Plow out now via Kill Rock Stars on vinyl and digital. The lead single “Help Me” is like a psychedelic folk indiepop campfire glam rock song. It’s the kind of song with a rhythm and pace that would invite some group participating clapping along to the beat. It’s reminiscent of the kind of bands you’d see at DIY spaces around a decade and a half ago but with a sound more borne of recent years. Like an even more charmingly slackery The Flaming Lips. The song seems to be able taking action you think is going to improve your life but you get caught up in doing so with a bunch of people who turn out to be disreputable jerks and you realize maybe you have a bit of that in you but that in coming to the realization of your associations comes the awareness that you have much more to offer as a human than where you might be now and it’ll just take that extra step to get away to a better place. For the album Ward and Watt worked with drummer Dean Clean and tapped friends Joe Jack Talcum of Dead Milkmen fame and Bob Bucko Jr., an Iowa avant-garde music luminary who is a member of free jazz and electro duo Sex Funeral and noise rock jazz Krautrock combo New Standards Men. It’s a sprawling odyssey of poetry and storytelling set to earnest, jazz flavored psychedelic folk and delicately rendered pop rock. Listen to “Help Me” on YouTube and follow the links below to connect with the project, hear more tracks and to order the record.