Haymaker Records is once again a sponsor of the Outer Reaches music festival in Kansas City, Missouri. This year’s festival will be celebrated Saturday October 19 at recordBar (1520 Grand Blvd). The eighth annual lineup spans across two stages and features two touring acts including space rock band Lumerians (Oakland, CA) and pop duo Thunder Jackson (Oklahoma / Wales). Kansas City bands featured at the festival this year include cosmic jazz legends BCR (Black Crack Revue), experimental hip hop duo FACEFACE, experimental music / performance artist Unicorns in the Snow, as well as Haymaker Records’ synthesizer-based psychedelic rock band Monta at Odds, and art-rock duo Shiny Jetsspace rock band Be/Non [We regret that Be/Non have had to cancel due to an emergency]. Accompanying live video projections will be provided by XO Blackwater.
Freight Train Rabbit Killer want YOU to be a part of the next album!! Enjoy a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience the recording of a full length album. Hammer of Judgment will be released in vinyl LP and other formats on Haymaker Records in October 2019. This album will be created from the music captured at four different live recording sessions with the best tracks pressed to vinyl.
There are four different recording session dates that will happen at the new downtown Blue Springs recording studio GFM Modern Recording (1118 W. Main St. Blue Springs, Missouri) the fourth weekend of April [NOTE: This is a venue change from what was stated previously]. This will be an intimate performance with tickets for each show capped at 25 seats and available through this website. Each night’s music will be different with three of the performances featuring the backing band The Hammer of Judgment.
Check out the online shop items below for advance pre-sale ticket options and the four different bundles (featuring limited items and pre-orders unique to this special set of performances).
The music festival Outer Reaches, in its seventh year, emphasizes musical acts experimenting and pushing boundaries. The fest aims to showcase the ‘out there,’ left-of-center, under-the-radar musical acts performing captivating live music. The shows are 18+ and feature acts from a variety of musical genres with accompanying video projection.
The night’s entertainment takes place in the comfy confines of the private arts venue The Greenwood Social Hall. Converted from a 1920s Baptist church, the space offers an intimate setting and amazing natural acoustics suitable for the performances on vibraphone, harp, piano, guitar, keys, percussion, and vocals. The Greenwood Social Hall was featured in a recent spread by the The New York Times. Mike Dillon has been praised as a “punk rock provateur”, a “jazz vibraphone visionary”, and a “percussion virtuoso”, having worked with such artists as Les Claypool, Rickie Lee Jones, and Ani Difranco and performing in groups such as The Dead Kenny G’s, Critters Buggin, Hairy Apes BMX, and Billy Goat. Dillon joins the stage after multiple May appearances at New Orleans Jazz Fest. Recent Bullseye Records signing Calvin Arsenia, accompanied by a percussionist, will highlight his skills on harp, piano, and classically trained voice. A mix of bizarre and experimental musings with swooping, hearty melodies, and raw acoustic emotion form the gentle, heartfelt style that defines his music. Berlin multidisciplinary artist Mary Ocher’s work is as enchanting as it is polarizing, guiding itself through genres as diverse as traditional folk, raw 60s garage, synth-driven ambient, and experimental pop. She’s back in North America with her new album “The West Against the People” and its companion release “Faust Studio Sessions”, following a European release tour of 20 countries. “The West Against The People” was released on the German label Klangbad in spring 2017 and recorded with Hans Joachim Irmler of Krautrock pioneers Faust.
Freight Train Rabbit Killer is a duo made up of Kris Bruders (Freight Train) and Mark Smeltzer (Rabbit Killer). Described as a heavy doom blues American Roots opera – a shaman of the hills and a vigilante bent on justice, they have been performing out of their hometown of Kansas City, Missouri and on the road for three years. It’s storytelling through music, doom blues with screaming electric guitars, all accompanied by suits and masks. The 7-Inch series is a collaborative effort of Kansas City’s Haymaker Records and the groups’ own imprint Rural Grit Records and will be represented with four separate 7-Inch releases over the next year. The four 7-Inch records are a part of a greater puzzle, assembled by the band and complete with riddles, codes, and maps. The goal of this interactive game is to eventually lead the listener to a trove of artifacts revealed with the final release in the series. The hand screen-printed artwork for each volume will combine to create one larger piece of art. Through a special crowd-funding campaign, the entire four 7-Inch bundle can be pre-ordered and delivered separately at the time of release. An option will also be present for donating money to the trove of artifacts awarded to the winner of the interactive game. “Old Man of the Mountain” / “Maybe It’s You” is the first 7-Inch in the series and will be released on a limited run of 100 blood red hand-numbered copies with a limited number on black vinyl thereafter.
Freight Train Rabbit Killer Vinyl Release Party 2017
Freight Train Rabbit Killer will be joined by Kansas City punk rock group GASCAN for the Stockyards Brewing Co. release show on October 28th. The release party is a FREE event and will be celebrated with a special Halloween costume party beginning at 8PM. In addition to the release show, Freight Train Rabbit Killer are one of the featured performers the following night, Sunday October 29th at recordBar for SocialHeart’s Rockin’ Halloween benefit for Midwest Music Foundation. Copies of the new 7-Inch vinyl record of “Old Man on the Mountain” / “Maybe It’s Me” will be made available to the public for the first time at these events. Check out the Facebook event page for complete details on the event.
The music festival Outer Reaches presents its sixth annual live music festival. Outer Reaches, (formerly KC Psych Fest), emphasizes musical acts experimenting and pushing boundaries within a variety of musical genres. The fest aims to showcase the ‘out there,’ left-of-center, under-the-radar musical acts performing captivating live music.
On Friday, September 29 and Saturday, September 30, 2017, the festival Outer Reaches will take over recordBar (1520 Grand Avenue) in Kansas City, Missouri. The show is 18+ and there are ten musical acts performing over two days. More acts to be added later.
Kansas City record label Haymaker Records and Lawrence, Kansas cassette tape collective Whatever Forever will collaboratively release the album Panic on the Noon Meridian by psychedelic rock group Mysterious Clouds on cassette, CD, and digital media on Friday May 26, 2017. Panic on the Noon Meridian is the third album and first full length release for Mysterious Clouds and will be celebrated with release parties in Kansas City, MO and Lawrence, KS. The first album release concert will be held at The recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd, Kansas City, on Sunday May 28th at 8PM. Friday June 9th, Lawrence will play host with a release party at Replay Lounge, 946 Massachusetts Street.
Mysterious Clouds is the musical work of Kansas City, Kansas brothers Dedric and Delaney Moore. The group was formed in 2015 and includes several of the members from the brothers’ other band Monta at Odds. Mysterious Clouds was created to explore various forms of psychedelic music and the darker elements of nature with inspirations from 60’s Italian cinema, 70’s British TV action music, San Francisco hippie psychedelic rock, garage rock, and post-punk. The group’s latest offering, Panic on the Noon Meridian, explores the swirls of shoegaze rock, the space exploration of psychedelia, and the drone of ambient music while searching for inner truth in the cultural chaos. Like previous EPs Vibrations Shake the Path and Clear Reflection, the group continues to build on the fuzzed-out guitars, booming bass, and synthesizer-driven leads that define psychedelic rock. The difference, however, lies in the mood of the album – Panic on the Noon Meridian is a dark body of work, reflecting the changing times and turmoil in hearts, mind, and country.
Panic on the Noon Meridian was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Dedric Moore at the band’s home studio Monta HQ throughout 2016 and early 2017. Being produced in-house allowed time for the album to marinate and develop organically over the course of a rough election cycle, no doubt lending to the cast of the shadow on the often bubblegum world of psychedelic rock. Panic on the Noon Meridian will be made available May 26digitally from the group’s bandcamp as well as on cassette and CD-R from Haymaker Records and Whatever Forever. The album marks the 13th release for Haymaker Records and the 37th for Whatever Forever.
For the recordBar release show on May 28th, Mysterious Clouds will be joined by fellow Kansas City psych-rock outfit The Philistines as well as Memphis psych-pop group Spaceface, which features guitar / keys player Jake Ingalls from The Flaming Lips. Advanced tickets may be purchased online through the The recordBar. For the June 9th Lawrence Replay Lounge show, the group will be paired with Lawrence psych-pop band Karma Vision and another band TBA. Copies of the new album will be available to the public for the first time at these events.
Kansas City-based Haymaker Records releases the album Mammoth by instrumental art rock group the Jorge Arana Trio on digital media on Friday September 23, 2016 and on vinyl LP on Friday October 14, 2016. Mammoth is the third album and second full length release for the Jorge Arana Trio and will be celebrated with release parties in Kansas City, Missouri and Lawrence, Kansas. The first album release concert will be held at The recordBar, 1520 Grand Blvd, Kansas City, MO, on Friday September 2nd at 9PM. A week later, on Friday September 9th at 9PM, the group plays at Jackpot Music Hall & Saloon in Lawrence, KS.
The Jorge Arana Trio is Jorge Arana, Josh Enyart, and Jason Nash. They were formed in 2011 from the sparks of several progressive outfits colliding in an avant-garde geometry of rock, jazz, classical, punk, electronic, experimental, and incidental music. Jorge Arana Trio’s latest offering, Mammoth, is a sophisticated blend of sounds and structures that challenges expectations, pushing the art rock genre into the world of progressive music with jazz fusion and math rock elements. Building on previous albums Mapache and Oso‘s use of playful genuine interaction in the patterned riffs and rhythms, Mammoth ups the ante by incorporating a tense and dark mood across the entire album.
“Speak, Beast” sets the tone, casting a menacing shadow of distorted lead guitar over brooding keyboard pads and drums that sound more tribal than belonging in a rock band. With Mammoth, the listener gets the feeling that they are in an epoch not their own – they are in a world of gnashing tusks, embattlement, and ultimately survival. Recorded in early 2016 by Justin Wilson at Sound 81 Productions, the album marks a new place and time in the Jorge Arana Trio‘s musical endeavors. The vinyl is pressed in limited edition silver vinyl with digital download included. It is the sixth vinyl release for Haymaker Records.
The Trio will be joined by heavy rock group 34 and Haymaker Records labelmates Riala for The recordBar release show on September 2nd. Advanced tickets may be purchased online through recordBar. For the Lawrence, Kansas Jackpot Saloon show on September 9th the Trio will be joined with Boston art rock group Bent Knee and Lawrence doom funk group Hyperbor. In addition to the two release shows, the Jorge Arana Trio are also one of the featured performers at the two-day annual ICT Festival in Wichita, Kansas on Saturday September 3rd. Copies of the new vinyl record will be available to the public for the first time at these events. A 3-week U.S. tour of the midwest, east coast, and south will follow in late September with dates to be announced later.
Our friends at The Record Machine have been kind enough to invite Haymaker Records to be a part of the Middle of the Map Fest 2016 by providing us with a special label showcase. The Haymaker Records showcase will be on Wednesday, May 4th and will start at 6PM sharp at Mills Record Company (314 Westport Road, KCMO 64111) and features performances by Haymaker artists Be/Non, Jorge Arana Trio, and Monta at Odds. All three acts have brand new music to showcase with new albums out or on the way in 2016. This showcase is not to missed and this is the first time that all three acts have played together under one roof. Check out the Facebook event page for more details.