DOWNLOAD: Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground - "World's Entire"

It is hard to put any sort of musical genre label on the band Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground as, the minute you start to formulate such a label, the band changes direction. Their forthcoming disc Introducing (out July 26th on Suburban Home) is actually the band’s second and musically they jump through a smorgasbord of sounds which include orchestral pop, indie-rock and psychedelia, all of which is wrapped together by a Beatles’ (Sgt. Pepper era) style layered production. Regardless of however one wants to describe the band, their music is quirky, compelling and catchy.

Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground was formed by Kirk Huffman (vocals / guitar) and Kyle O'Quin (keys) in 2006 when their previous band, Gatsbys American Dream, went on hiatus. The duo brought in Huffman's friend Phil Peterson (cello / backing vocals) to form the core nucleus of the band but the live show lineup expands to up-to-a-dozen members on stage. While the band’s new disc is due out later this month, they have been playing a few one-off record release shows and Sound on the Sound described one recent performance as a “weird and wonderful show that included bikini clad burlesque dancers wearing gigantic animal heads, hallucinogenic projections, dance sex and its very own hype man.”

After recording a self-released cassette, Kay Kay first hit the national radar in 2007 with the release of the live CD/DVD, Live at the Pretty Parlor, that landed the band an appearance on “Late Night with Carson Daily”. This forthcoming ten-track disc (forty min.) is the follow-up to the band’s 2008 self-titled debut (Vinyl Collective / Suburban Home) and it stays remarkably coherent for all of its stylistic jumps. While the large number of members touring with the band may imply something of a rag-tag, freak-folk collective, the members of Kay Kay execute their musical twists and turns with razor-tight precision. The disc starts with the sweeping orchestral dream-pop number (“Sweet Strange Dream”; later returning to this style on “20th Century Boy”) and jumps from there into the 70’s freak-out stomper “You M*therfuckers”, which features P-Funk style backing falsetto vocals . Other parts of the disc touch on the breezy sounds of AM radio (“World’s Entire”), Paul McCartney inspired 70’s rock (“Diggin’”), alt-country swing (“I Hate You California”) and the slow-burning “My Friends All Passed Out” which sounds like something that could have come out of the Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo’s camp in the late 70’s.



Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground is in the midst of a coast-to-coast tour (which strangely skips NYC) and here are the upcoming tour dates:
JULY 23 -- DEKALB, IL, THE HOUSE CAFÉ
JULY 24 -- CHICAGO, IL, LINCOLN HALL
JULY 26 -- ST. LOUIS, MO, THE FIREBIRD
JULY 27 -- COVINGTON, KY, MAD HATTER CLUB
JULY 28 -- GRAND RAPIDS, MI, THE PYRAMID SCHEME
JULY 29 -- CLEVELAND, OH, GROG SHOP
JULY 30 -- PITTSBURGH, PA, MR. SMALL'S THEATRE
AUG. 02 -- POUGHKEEPSIE, NY, THE LOFT
AUG. 03 -- ROCHESTER, NY, WATER STREET MUSIC HALL
AUG. 04 -- SCRANTON, PA, THE VINTAGE THEATER
AUG. 05 -- ROCKVILLE CENTRE, NY, THE VIBE LOUNGE
AUG. 09 -- MANCHESTER, NH, ROCKO'S
AUG. 10 -- CAMBRIDGE, MA, MIDDLE EAST DOWNSTAIRS
AUG. 11 -- HAMDEN, CT, THE SPACE
AUG. 16 -- ATLANTA, GA, THE DRUNKEN UNICORN
AUG. 17 -- JACKSONVILLE, FL, THE PIT
AUG. 18 -- TAMPA, FL, THE ORPHEUM
AUG. 19 -- LAKE WORTH, FL, PROPAGANDA
AUG. 20 -- ORLANDO, FL, THE SOCIAL
AUG. 22 -- HOUSTON, TX, WAREHOUSE LIVE
AUG. 23 -- DALLAS, TX, THE LOFT
AUG. 24 -- AUSTIN, TX, EMO'S
AUG. 26 -- TEMPE, AZ, SAIL INN
AUG. 27 -- POMONA, CA, GLASS HOUSE

Links:
Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground