The Roseline, The Royal Chief, Tech N9ne, and more of KC’s best music videos

Illustrated by Katelyn Betz

Summer music season will soon be upon us, and given the sheer width and breadth of musical options that are available to music fans, we’d like to remind you to save a few bucks to catch local and regional musicians, in between shelling out for stadium and amphitheater shows. Whether you’re into country, rock, hip-hop, soul, or otherwise, Kansas City and Lawrence have a panoply of options available to you. After checking out the latest Cine Local roundup of the best and brightest music videos, maybe hit up these acts’ lists of upcoming shows and take a night to see them live.

The Roseline, “Hot Dice” (live) 

Shot live in the basement of the Eighth Street Taproom in Lawrence, this track from the Roseline’s Keystone of the Heart takes on new resonance. The band’s sound has always been sort of timeless, but shooting a video on an ancient VHS camcorder makes this feel as though the song was unearthed from a lost videocassette you found in your parents’ basement. Props to director Shawn Brackbill, along with the Get Up Kids’ Ryan and Rob Pope for shooting this so well in the dim light of the Taproom basement, and making the venue’s red lighting work to their advantage. Rob Pope also engineered the audio and it sounds so good, now we want a Roseline live bootleg.

You can snag the Roseline’s Keystone of the Heart at Bandcamp.

Tech N9ne with Rittz, “Roll Call” feat. King Iso, Joey Cool, JL, Lex Bratcher, and X-Raided

Those lucky enough to visit the Raytown headquarters of Strange Music know that it’s kind of a magical place, but it’s not exactly open to the public. Thanks to this Wyshmaster-produced video in Tech N9ne’s Collabos series, you not only get a tour of the massive complex, but there’s a series of banging verses and performances with which to keep up. Also, that final shot of everyone around a boardroom table is baller as hell.

Waxahatchee, “365” 

There has been a slew of videos released in conjunction with the new Waxahatchee album Tigers Blood, and it’s tough to decide just which one is worth showcasing. The short answer is “all of them,” but there’s something about the intimacy that comes through in directors Corbett Jones and Nick Simonite’s video for “365” that makes us return to it again and again. The lyrics really shine through and it feels as though you’re just walking alongside Crutchfield as she pours her heart out in a decaying Mineral Springs building.

The Royal Chief, “Fawkes Freestyle” 

It’s always wild when you get a video for a track that released years back, but the opening cut from the Royal Chief’s Groundwork EP has always been a highlight, and this story of rising from the ashes gets a gorgeous visual take from director Taye Taye. The story of the song is almost as powerful as the track itself: The rapper put together a beat one night and took video with his phone as he created it. That night, his home burned to the ground, and he lost everything—except the beat he’d saved. He recreated it, turned it into this story of rebirth, and a phoenix rose from the ashes.

You can stream Groundwork on Spotify.

The Freedom Affair & KG and the Drive, “Love Me Like a Man / Mannish Boy” (live)

Two of Kansas City’s finest team up to cover Bonnie Raitt’s “Love Me Like a Man” and a reworked version of Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy” to great effect for Women’s History Month. The Freedom Affair vocal trio of Paula Saunders, Shon Ruffin, and Seyko Groves, combined with Stephanie Williams, Katy Guillen, and Michelle Bacon, is such a powerhouse of a supergroup. We’d pay crazy-pants amounts of money to see them do this onstage. Six amazing women covering classic blues tunes all night—Who doesn’t want that?

Seyko, “Anybody High” 

Speaking of Seyko Groves, here’s her debut single, with the video and song produced by Black Light Animals’ Cole Bales. Both video and song are minimalist, and it works to highlight Groves’ stunning voice. It’s easy to get lost inside the whole thing, and the sparseness makes for a perfect late night gem of a package.

They Watch Us from the Moon, “Space Angel” 

Continuing the story that began in They Watch Us from the Moon’s first video, “On The Fields Of The Moon,” the Lawrence doom act’s interstellar metal drops us in a spacecraft and sends us further off into the galaxy. The track off Cosmic Chronicles: Act I, The Ascension is chockablock with riffs, and the mix of CGI and vintage cartoon imagery feels out of this world.

You can snag Cosmic Chronicles: Act I, The Ascension at Bandcamp.

Are you a local musician with a new video to share? Email nicholas.spacek@gmail.com.