Sounds Good: Yeasayer@Granada; Mumford & Sons@City Market; Langhorne Slim@Bottleneck

Can’t make the trip down to Wakarusa this weekend? 

Or maybe music festivals just aren’t your thing? 

There’s still some good shows to catch right here in the KC area, starting tonight with a killer show in Lawrence at the Granada.

Granted, there’s no ten story ferris wheel or anything, but it should still be pretty sweet… 

Thursday, June 2nd

Yeasayer at the Granada in Lawrence

First, let me just say that I’m looking forward to this show probably more than usual considering I’ve never seen these guys before.  Yeasayer is a Brooklyn band that is probably best known for being the “most blogged artist of 2010,” according to an online music blog, The Hype Machine.  What this really means, I do not know.  Yeasayer’s music has been described as everything from psychedelic to world music to kraut rock, and they’ve opened for acts such as Beck and MGMT.  Also on the bill is the Smith Westerns, an indie band out of Chicago that has garnered their fair share of buzz lately.  They recently released “Dye It Blonde,” and album that band members have said is influenced by ‘90s acts Oasis, Suede, and Teenage Fan Club.  Should be a good crowd out at the Granada for this much anticipated show.   

Friday, June 3rd

Mumford & Sons, Cake, and Nathaniel Rateliff at City Market in KC

96.5 The Buzz’s annual “Buzz Under the Stars” features the English folk rock band, Mumford & Sons, who exploded onto the scene last year on the strength of their catchy first single “Little Lion Man.”  Since then the band was nominated for two Grammys, and performed at the awards show alongside Bob Dylan.  This appearance reportedly doubled the sale of their breakthrough record, “Sigh No More,” which reached as high as No. 2 on the Billboard charts.  Also performing is Cake, a band that seems to have a radio single about every six months, as well as Nathaniel Rateliff, a singer songwriter from Denver who has made several recent stops in the KC area.  If you do go, make sure to get there early and catch Rateliff’s stripped down songs and unusual vocals. 

Saturday, June 4th

Langhorne Slim at the Bottleneck in Lawrence

Langhorne Slim is an alt country singer-songwriter type who has relentlessly toured the country after breaking through with a performance at Bonnaroo a few years ago.  He’s played alongside a host of bands including Cake, Lucero, the Violent Femmes, and the Old 97s.  Of his musical sensibilities, Slim says, “I’m not sure that there’s any other kind, but the songs I write are love songs.  Some are literal, about specific events, people and relationships in my life; a form of therapy, self-help for the flowers and the shit along the road of life.  Others come from a place far more mysterious.  Either way, I’m in it to capture the feeling, the truth of an emotion, changing only names and events to protect the innocent.”