Normally I would expect a CD release party to be in the home town of the band. But in the case of Little Brazil, why have one CD release party when you can have two? The first of these parties instead took place in the hometown of their record label Anodyne Records, a.k.a. Kansas City. Since KC is my place of residence as well, I decided to spend a few hours with the Omaha natives... and I’m not just talking about the band.

Naturally with living in the Midwest you’re not always going to have the best weather. No matter how much you try to predict it, Mother Nature seems to have too much spare time and spends it on the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. That said, the night of Little Brazil’s CD release party #1 was less than desirable. But through the cold and rain and, at times, sleet, a rather nice size crowd (that consisted of a few Nebraskans) made their presence knownfor wholesome rock show. And this crowd definitely had fun.

With any CD release party, the CD in question is typically played most of the way, if not all the way through. Little Brazil followed suit nicely; the fact that this album is genius gives you a good idea as to the quality of this night. Highlights for me included: “Brighton Beach” - particularly because part way through there’s an extremely infectious guitar, and as it progressed, it had the entire crowd bursting with a kind of rock energy. “What’s The Problem?” came up at one point as well. Now on the album this song has a great sound, but that doesn’t compare to the oomph that the guys put into performing it live. It’s still mellow through the beginning, but once the meat of the song comes out, out comes the jumping, dancing and all out craziness. It was great.

If you listen to the album, there are two songs that stick out amongst the rest. Those two being “Wedding Glass,” the token hard rock contribution, and “Separated,” the obvious-but-not-so-obvious country song. With the first song performed, we saw a slightly angry version of the previously happy band we’d been watching. And if that wasn’t confusing enough, next you’re transported to a simpler time and a completely different version of said band that follows more of the twanging country style. With this song the band embraces the change and simply plays it in progression with the rest of the show. Now if you look at these two examples from a musician’s point of view, they simply prove that LittleBrazil is more well-rounded than perhaps earlier thought.

Other notable mentions of the night include: “Wasting Time” and, of course, the title track “Son.”