Indy In-Tune

Show #163: Kilgore Trout

It turns out in the local music scene, we do have a few legends -- those personalities that everyone knows, and around whom stories are built that seem to surpass and transcend reality. This week's guest, Brad Odom, is one of those. Heck, it was years of hearing stories about Brad, Kilgore Trout, Odomfest, etc. before I ever even saw the guy -- almost to the point where I was going to classify him under the "myth" category instead. Once I did meet him, I found him to be an incredibly humble, witty, everyman who acted like just about every stranger who came up and introduced themselves to him was a long lost friend, and everyone was welcome in his circle. At the time I didn't realize it, but if you study anything about self-marketing in the music field, you'll know he's doing it right. That's how fans are made.

We've been playing Kilgore Trout since the earliest days of Indy In-Tune Radio, and to date there have been plenty of show recordings and bootlegs going around of various shows. It's hard to believe that until this week, however, there hasn't been a high-quality studio recording of Trout music released. Again, it's sort of that "legend" mistyque that follows these guys around. Comprised of members of No Pit Cherries, Midwest Contraband, 19Clark25, and slew of other one-off projects, Kilgore Trout can easily be classified as a supergroup with Brad Odom as the binding force that brings everyone together. The album is a tightly knit tour-de-force of power, talent, and ideas that it bears careful study, with enough looseness in it that still feels like a live Kilgore Trout performance that you just want to kick back sway to. The songs, some old and some newer, are all built loosely around a central concept -- or so Brad tells us -- but it's not so overpowering that you need to be a Vonnegut scholar to appreciate the music. After just a couple of listens, I would easily put it down as one of the years' best releases and wholeheartedly recommend it for just about any musical audience as a splendid representation of what our local scene is capable of.

Links referenced in the show:

• Kilgore Trout can be found here: Facebook | ReverbNation.
• Co-hosting this week's show are Mad Noonan, Benjamin/Brandon Cannon, and the ubiquitous Irish.
• Brad and his family host an annual outdoor music festvial calle "Odom Fest" which this year has been dubbed "Arockalypse Now" by RFI and DoItIndy Radio Hour host MP Cavalier.
• The Band was named by Cootie Crabtree, last seen on Show #121, Show #094, and Show #064.
• The name, of course, is a hreference to Indiana author Kurt Vonnegut's recurring character.
• Kilgore Trout once contributed to an episode of the the Encyclopedia Show
• Some of the tracks heard today previously appeared on Brad Odom's Solo Album.
• Yes, the Heinz Spotted Dick reference has been going on for far too long, particularly if you listen to the live broadcasts. If you really want to know, you can buy your can here.

Darrin Snider is the OCD music nerd responsible for creating Indy In-Tune. By day he's a cloud engineer and business analyst, but he still hopes to someday be an overnight freeform disc jockey married to the local weathergirl who happens to be a former eastern-European supermodel.