I was beyond excited to have snagged a red carpet spot for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Fan Event for Dallas, Texas.  I have always been a devout Twihard since I read the books.  Kansas City did not have many opportunities to do anything interview-wise for any of the Twilight Saga films.  I think I bothered the PR rep here enough that she kindly let me have a spot for this event.  It was like some kind dream come true (for me). We were able to interview Jackson Rathbone (Jasper), Nikki Reed (Rosalie), Ashley...

SXSW 2012 is 113 days away. We’ve already shared the first wave of bands announced for the 2012 edition of the festival and just this week the second wave of bands have been announced. This second round doesn’t contain any name’s I’ve noticed before, though this shouldn’t be a surprise for music fans as SXSW is where music fans go to discover the next big thing. Case in point? Foster the People, the band behind that song about the “pumped up kicks” played SXSW 2011. Perhaps one of the...

In a way, going to see The Airborne Toxic Event on Friday night was more like going to see old friends. The band had been many things to me, but most of all they represented the first time we had seriously decided to cover music at Lost in Reviews. Not only were they the first band we had covered from a non-fan perspective, front man Mikel Jollett was my first interview. Because of all these things I’ve always seen the band in a different perspective, they have always been a band I enjoyed and I really liked their first...

Much has been made about dubstep going “mainstream” in recent months depending upon which online music outlets you read. I think the fact that in Europe (South London, England) is often credited with giving birth to the genre. There is even a dubstep cereal advertisement with kids and what looks like Snuggle bears dancing to some dubstep-style beats. Based on my experience at a sold out Liberty Hall far, far away (sorry for the lame Wizard of Oz pun) from the genre’s birth place in Lawrence, KS on Wednesday November...

Yellow Ostrich, Delicate Steve, and Ra Ra Riot at the Granada in Dallas, Texas on November 3, 2011. This was my first time at the Granada in Dallas.  I quite liked it.  It is a small venue but there are several levels that allow everyone a good view of the stage.  There is no barrier in front of the stage, so people who wish to be right up next to the bands can do so.  It is a much better venue than the Palladium, although the Granada could not accommodate the numbers that the Palladium could. All three of the bands that...

An evening of recalling heydays that perhaps never went away…strangely enough I found myself in the very city that introduced me to the concept of college radio. It was Lawrence, KS and a chili Halloween eve. I’d say that the introduction took place somewhere along the way in 1996. It was in that year that I first stumbled upon 105.9 The Lazer and at that time the station was nothing like its conglomerate owned Top 40 format of today. It was still independent, not yet swallowed up by the ever growing monster of...

Out of the gate SXSW 2012 is lining up to be just as big if not bigger than last years and those that have come before. Of course you can count on Lost in Reviews to be on the ground in Austin March 9-18 covering the Interactive, Film and Music parts that form the whole of SXSW. Have any bands that catch your attention in the list? Let us know in the comments below… On with the full press release from SXSW: November 1, 2011 – Austin, TX -The South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival is pleased to announce the...

Sound Induced Visions, Vistas and Landscapes on a Psychedelic Night in Lawrence The Black Angels are on a roll, and Lawrence and Kansas City music fans are enjoying the benefit. The band played The Bottleneck for the second time in just six months on Saturday October 15. A bold move for any band, bolder considering The Black Angels just played Kanrocksas two months ago under the sweltering sun on day two of the festival’s inaugural outing. No matter. In both instances The Bottleneck was near if not at capacity in what...

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart made a lot of noise when they debuted with their first album at the beginning of 2009. Despite having only been a band for a couple of years, the Pains found themselves suddenly being talked up by seemingly every music blog. On a local level, at least, it gave them an uphill battle – their inexplicable explosion of population was frustrating to the point of being alienating, and I put off every listening to their first release. And though I hadn’t seen the band before Thursday night,...

Tuesday night, Kansas City came out in droves to support MIDI boards and future pop. Opening the night to a packed house was the humble duo Purity Ring from Canada. With Corin and Megan setting up the stage to their liking, it left very little light to see the duo, which only added to their mystery. It’s not necessarily a band that needs to be seen to be enjoyed, but they do put on a show that really sets the mood for the crowd. Corin worked the music on a single MIDI board and a set of pipes that he designed to light up...

When I first arrived at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, I was completely unaware of who “Portugal. The Man” was, or so I thought.  I had heard friends and colleagues raving about their performances at SxSW, but I was never given the opportunity to see them. Since then they have been stuck on my “bands to listen to” list, waiting for the chance to impress. To me Portugal. The Man just became one of those bands that I didn’t know I knew. I was familiar with the songs, but the band had yet to grab my full attention. And yes,...

Wednesday night was filled with buzz as the Portland-based band Wild Flag was set to play Kansas City for the first time and the hipster crowd was making sure not to miss it. I had never been to the Record Bar when there was a line to get in. I thought it might have been sold out from the outside, but they were in fact just taking a while to file into the bar. Opening for Wild Flag was a duo calling themselves YellowFever from Austin, no relation to the virus that can kill you. I’m sure they only named themselves as such...

Death Cab for Cutie has had a peculiar career. Starting out with a repertoire of humble indie rock songs, the band made a left turn around the time it signed to Capitol Records into a huge, highly produced sound that is reminiscent of U2. At that same point, they saw huge growth in record sales and concert attendance. At this point, with this amount of success, they’re one of the few Indie Bands that can hardly defend the title “Indie” that they are generally assigned. All this would typically point to a band...

Hip Hop is something I got deeply into back around my senior year of high school. Back around the early aughts I was into Jurassic 5, The Dilated Peoples, and even the headliner of the show Monday night at a full, though not quite sold out Liberty Hall in Lawrence, KS Atmosphere. I first became aware of Atmosphere with the release of 2002′s God Loves Ugly. I even caught him at the Granada with Rhymesayers label mate Brother Ali around that time. Fast forward to an early and warm Monday fall night for a stop on the “Family...

I have been waiting to see Born Gold (formerly Gobble Gobble) again since March when the band took me by surprise. When I arrived in Lawrence I expected a different feeling and was shocked when it happened again. Though I knew what to expect when it came to the live talents of Born Gold on Thursday night it was the local opener that would grab my attention. Motorboater is a band that I was shocked to find out resided in Kansas City, their sound is as far as you can get from the guitar rock we all take pride in. The electronic...