Led by guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Joshua Allen, Various Blonde is one of Kansas City’s most daring indie-rock bands, incorporating funk and electronic dance music elements into the startling new sound showcased on its new record.
3 reasons we're listening to Various Blonde this week:
1. The band's new All Bases Covered was released last month by the The Record Machine, a Kansas City label.
2. It represents a sonic departure for Various Blonde. The bass-heavy title track riffs on the common electronic dance music theme of bacchanalian decadence. This artistic shift mirrors a larger trend in popular music, toward sounds made for the dance floor.
3. The band performs this weekend at a benefit concert for Harvesters food bank. Fed Up Fest features seven bands on two stages, with the North Carolina-based indie-pop duo Sylvan Esso headlining. Various Blonde goes on at 5 p.m.
Fed Up Fest is Saturday, October 15, at Crossroads KC, 417 East 18th Street, Kansas City, Missouri, 64108.
Bill Brownlee’s writing appears weekly in The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine. He blogs about Kansas City’s jazz scene at Plastic Sax.
