Sounds Good: Dumptruck Butterlips@Granada, Antennas Up@RecordBar, Murder by Death@Granada, Mountain Sprout@Bottleneck

I’m back people!  Finally emerging from my holiday nog funk.  If anyone wants to know how much nog is too much, get in touch and I’ll give you the breakdown...

Well, another year has come and gone, and so as usual, I’m taking stock of my 10 favorite shows from 2012.  If you didn’t make it out to at least ten burners over the past 365, shame on you!  There was certainly no shortage of killer local, national, and international performers swinging through our quiet little cowtowns, so step yo game up, get out of your sweats, and stop being lame yo.

Here’s my list, in no particular order:

Radiohead at Sprint Center (so obvious), the ACB’s at the Jackpot, Phish at Starlight, Dr. Dog at the Granada, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at Wakarusa, My Morning Jacket and Band of Horses at Starlight, Dirty Projectors at the Granada, Taj Mahal at Knuckleheads, Fourth of July at the Replay, Split Lip Rayfield at Wakarusa, and Lemonheads at the Granada.

There’s 11 for ya.  What are yours?

Friday, December 28^th

Dumptruck Butterlips at the Granada in Lawrence

I’ve written about this neo-gypsy-folk-grass outfit a few times before, from their early Lawrence dive days to playing big festivals around the country.  Well, they’re back in town this Friday for a show that is being promoted heavily, and is sponsored by Free State Brewery.  And if you look around a bit on the interwebs, I think you can find a way to get in free – I was sent an email from the Granada that included a voucher.

Saturday, December 29th

Antennas Up, Not a Planet at the RecordBar in KC

If you haven’t caught up with KC pop-rockers Antennas Up yet, do it now before they flee the scene for larger, more commercial markets, because their catchy as hell songs are being snapped up left and right by the likes of MTV and other networks to back their programs.  Their recent, May 2012 release, The Awkward Phase, has gotten plenty of run recently on 96.5 The Buzz, and you can check it out here for free.

Monday, New Year’s Eve

Murder by Death and Cowboy Indian Bear at the Granada in Lawrence

Indiana indie-folk favorites MBD are frequent visitors to the KC-Lawrence area, and this is their second NYE show in the past few years.  They recently released an album called Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon, enlisting the production smarts of John Congleton, who has worked previously with acts like Modest Mouse, St. Vincent, R. Kelly (seriously), The Roots, Explosions in the Sky, and many, many others.  The result was a more stripped down feeling record that debuted at No. 76 on the Billboard charts.

Along for the ride is longtime Lawrence indie-dancers CIB, fronted by Marty Hillard aka Ebony Tusks, as well as Katlyn Conroy aka La Guerre.  Also on the bill is newcomer solo act Y(our) Fri(end), who uses loops and effects-heavy vocals to create swirling sounds and echoes.  Kinda cool, though.  Should be a packed house if my calculations are correct.

Mountain Sprout, Ashes to Immortality, and Tyler Gregory at the Bottleneck in Lawrence

If you want something a little more traditional, this is the spot for you.  And by traditional, I mean dudes with beards.  This will be a hoedown of epic proportions, featuring local favorites Ashes to Immortality and busker-deluxe Tyler Gregory along with Arkansas’ leading dirtgrass merchants, Mountain Sprout, headlining the hootenanny.