Silicone Prairie sound like new wave played at the wrong speedLeor Galilon July 6, 2020 at 11:00 am

I know next to nothing about Silicone Prairie, which for this year’s May Day dropped a couple recklessly nervy songs through underground Kansas City punk label Mutants 4 Nuclear Waste. There’s barely any information on the Bandcamp landing page for their release, simply titled Two Songs, except the cryptic message “Recorded on the Silicone Prairie.”

According to international digital music magazine Record Turnover, Mutants 4 Nuclear Waste is run by Ian Teeple, a prolific Kansas City musician who seems to play in just about every emerging weirdo-punk band in his hometown, including Warm Bodies and several using some version of the name “Natural Man” (Natural Man & the Flamin’ Hot Band, the Natural M*n Band, et cetera). After Mutants 4 Nuclear Waste uploaded Two Songs to Bandcamp, music journalist Aaron Rhodes added Silicone Prairie to the list of bands on Teeple’s Discogs profile. I trust Rhodes, since he’s the editor in chief of Shuttlecock, a music site that covers the Kansas City scene.

Teeple sings with a puckish swagger, and I’m completely charmed by the speedy “Ozone Day,” which rides whimsical, elastic guitars and tinny electronic drums that pop like firecrackers. Teeple’s insistent, frenzied vocals zoom along to keep up with the song, which sounds like an early new-wave single played at the wrong speed. The other cut on Two Songs is a cover of “Padded Cell” by notoriously obnoxious Chicagoland punks the Mentally Ill. v

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