State Of The Art: EXISTEM [Official Video & Album Stream]

*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state. This month’s state is Kansas.*

Originally forming in May of 2010, Existem have emerged as a progressive force in the Kansas City music scene, combining bursts of technicality, subtle progressions, ambient instrumental passages and jazz phrasing to express their unique sound. Existem was formed by Brad Trinkl on guitar, Chris Gochis on guitar/vocals, Ben Chipman on bass/vocals, and Matthew Chipman behind the drum kit. The band released their self titled debut EP on April 21, 2011 that consisted of 4 tracks. The band went on to release their first full length ‘Years Of Winter’ on September 14, 2012. They would follow that up with another EP in February of 2014 titled ‘Phoenix’ and also a single “Closed Eyes” in November the same year. Continue reading

State Of The Art: Missouri’s BUMMER [Album Stream & Live Video]

*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state. This month’s state is Missouri.*

Bummer hails from Kansas City, Missouri. Their name is quite ironic as their music and style is in no way a “bummer” its quite the opposite. Bummer slips into the genre of noise rock, but they aren’t your run of the mill noise rock band. Their music is honest and a straight forward punch to the face. The band formed in 2012 and is a trio which includes Matt Perrin pulling double duty on guitar and vocals, Mike Gustafson laying down the bottom end on bass, and Sam Hutchinson behind the kit on drums. Bummer is currently signed to Learning Curve Records. The bands first release was a 3 track EP titled ‘Young Ben Franklin’ that was recorded in vocalist Matt Perrin’s parents basement. That EP was released in April of 2013 and quickly the band followed that up with another EP ‘Milk’ in October of 2013. The band would then take some time before they would release ‘Spank’ in 2015. Since then the band has been pretty consistent with their releases pumping out a 12″ Split with Pinko in April 2017 followed by the release of the single “Beautiful People” several months later. Bummer’s most recent release is ‘Holy Terror’ which dropped in August of 2018. It is the band first full studio album which includes 10 thundering tracks. The album was Recorded at Westend Recording Studios, Kansas City, Kansas, produced by Bummer & Justin Mantooth, engineered by Justin Mantooth and was mastered by Mike Nolte at Eureka Mastering, Portland, Oregon.

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