Shiner The Egg DeSoto/Son Of Man 2012 (Repress)

Shiner The Egg DeSoto/Son Of Man 2012 (Repress) CAT #SOM-002

People love this album and swear by it.  However, when it came out in 2001, I could have gave a shit less.  1996, I thought Splay was one of the greatest things I had ever heard.  High school age boys love angry rock music and that fit the bill.  I remember being excited to get my hands on their follow-up, Lula Divinia which was released in 1997.  However, the glow of Splay started to wear off quickly.  The songs become incredibly long and pretentious, shoegazer moments mixed in with odd time signatures and even stranger song structures.  There was nothing immediate on Lula Divinia so you couldn't get sucked into all it.  By 2000 when Starless came out, I really didn't care anymore.  I believe I picked up Starless cheap in a used bin and was even more turned off by it than I was by Lula.

I had completely moved on and forgot about Shiner when The Egg came out in 2001.  I never even picked up.  Then, several years ago I became obsessed with collecting all the locals I once listened to in the 90's on vinyl.  Since then, I've been searching feverishly for a copy of Splay.  I still haven't found it, but last year while searching the internet for it, I discovered that Son of Man did a limited vinyl pressing of  The Egg for the band's reunion tour.  At this point in my local vinyl obsession, I wasn't just trying to collect favorites, I was just obsessed with finding any local artist on vinyl, so I needed this.

Not knowing too much about The Egg, I read up on it pre-purchase.  Damn, if it isn't widely considered the band's masterpiece.  Anxious and worried that the hype was going to ruin this LP for me, I was pleased upon the first listen.  Everything is so crisp and perfect on the album, there are moments that are immediate on it, namely the song "Top of the World," which could easily be mistaken for a Sunny Day Real Estate tune or a Radiohead tune, depending on which aspect you focus on.  But, even at first listen, you sense the band's direction on the LP, there's a definite groove and feel surrounding all the songs.

For the last year or so, I've spun this more than most albums I own.  Every time you put it on, you pick up something new, a nifty guitar riff buried in the background, a reprise to a previous song, a shift you didn't fully grasp the previous spin.  The band had clearly figured it out on this album.  Inevitably, it's still very pretentious with all it's shifts in song structure, but they found a way to make it more accessible.  They focused their efforts on creating a whole LP and experimenting throughout its entirety rather than trying to cram every good idea they had into a single song.  It's an amazing album, complex, and more rewarding after every listen.  If more people would have been listening to it when it was released, it would have reinvented and reinvigorated the then played out angular post-hardcore scene.

Truth About Cows
Top Of the World
Pills

The Get Up Kids Eudora Vagrant/Heroes & Villains 2001

The Get Up Kids Eudora Vagrant/Heroes & Villains 2001 CAT #VR357/HV010

For those not local, the album's namesake is an actual Kansas town that lies between Kansas City and Lawrence, Kansas.  It's where Red House Recording studios is located.  During the peak of the Get Up Kids popularity, the band purchased the local studio and turned it into one of the finest studios in the Midwest.  They saved it, proving once again to all naysayers, they always supported their local community and scene.

Personally, I love the compilation, can't say the same for Eudora the town as it's boring and nothing spectacular.  There is the old tale about how a Shawnee Indian named Pelathe attempted to warn Lawrence, Kansas about the infamous 1863 attack on Lawrence by Quantrill and his Raiders.  The legend goes that Pelathe overheard of the attack in Kansas City, Missouri the day before.  Quantrill was in route to Lawrence, so Pelathe would need to arrive in Lawrence before dawn.  He mounted the fastest horse he could find and began the ride.  Nearing Lawrence, the horse had run hard and by most estimates near 40 miles, the horse was staggering.  Pelathe allowed the horse to catch his breath, but knowing he could save innocent lives, he cut the horse in the leg and emptied gunpowder into the wound in attempts to spur the horse further.  The horse was able to make it a few more miles, but collapsed shortly after.  People from Eudora will tell you that Pelathe's horse died in their town.  Of course, every neighboring town to Lawrence lays the same claim.

So yeah, good story, but back to the comp.  I love these types of rarities collections, all the hard to find 7"s and one off comp appearances are presented and while not a retrospective of a band, you hear what the band actually sounded like.  The band's not so shining moments, the cover songs, and the moments of brilliance.  The proper albums by bands are generally a focused effort to impress you, these types of releases are just a collection of songs detailing a career.

I remember when the original stuff came out.  When Ryan Pope told me they were covering "Beer for Breakfast" by the Replacements I literally yelled at him and asked, "What the hell is wrong with you guys?  That song was a Replacements throw away that just showed up on stupid Best Of comps to make you giggle, why didn't you cover something good?"  The Pixies cover of  "Alec Eiffel" they did and played for days straight.  When they said they were covering a shitty Motley Crue song, I rolled my eyes, but still enjoyed the cover.  Then there's the stuff I missed; the amazingly good Cure cover and the horrible rendition of "Suffragette City" by Bowie.

The band has always been just some guys from the Kansas City area.  They weren't elitists, they were literally just some kids that discovered Fugazi, Superchunk, and Pavement in high school and made a band of it.  This collection showcases that aspect of their career and sound.

Alec Eiffel
Newfound Mass (2000)
Close to Me

The Anniversary Your Majesty Vagrant/Heroes & Villains 2001

 

 The Anniversary Your Majesty Vagrant/Heroes & Villains 2001 CAT # VR359/HV011

I'm torn with this LP.  It's the last Anniversary LP and it was a complete departure from the band's previous output.  Virtually everything leading up to Your Majesty was centered around Adrianne Verhoeven's  (listed on this album as Adrianne Pope because, she was briefly married to Rob Pope of the Get Up Kids) quirky keyboards and vocals.  The songs written by Josh Josh Berwanger and Justin Roelofs were good, but made better by Adrianne's contributions to them.  Maybe they got sick of it, maybe their egos didn't like Adrianne getting all the attention, but after doing a split EP with the band Superdrag that would hint to this, they redefined their sound.

The quirky bubblegum indie rock is gone on Your Majest.  Instead Berwanger and Roelofs became obsessed with groove and classic rock sounds.  Big guitar, funky breaks and sweeping arrangements.  Verhoeven still plays a role, but it's mostly vocal, she adds keyboards but it is building tool rather than a featured instrument.

Admittedly, they show they got the hooks to undertake the new sound.  The first three songs on Your Majesty are huge.  In fact, they are so good, I think they fooled most people into believing this was a great album.  They did the LP in Los Angeles to show they meant business and definitely got a big boy sound out of the sessions.  However, after the first three songs, I tend to find this LP boring.  Songs like 'Husam Husam' and 'Devil on my Side' typify what you find throughout the album.  Grand sweeping ideas that lead to nowhere.  The slick production and over-dubbing make things sound important, but it's just empty and never seems to live up to its ambitions.

I really hate to be Debbie Downer, because again, the first three tracks are incredible.  They lead into each other effortlessly.  The groove on those tunes feel so good and hit you in the face like a Buddy Miles drum break.  It may be that those three songs are impossible to live up.  Maybe, I'm missing the genius behind a song like "The Death of a King" with it's wind sound effects (yeah, sound effects, who the fuck are these guys?) in the background and prog-rock keyboards, but it takes six minutes to get to the absolutely pointless 'Follow the Sun'.  I'd rather just listen to the first three tracks again.

Sweet Marie-1st Song-So good.
Crooked Crown-2nd Song-Feel that groove
Peace, Pain & Regret-3rd Song-Different feel, but solid and great bottom

Kill Creek Colors of Home Second Nature 2001

Kill Creek Colors of Home Second Nature 2001 CAT# SN026

I love Kill Creek, probably more so than any other local band.  I was in high school when they started releasing on the Mammoth label and in terms of local bands, these guys were the top dog.  This was the 90's local band that was "going to make it."

The 'Stretch' EP was a solid outing, a bit grunge-a-fied, but a solid 5 song set.  'St. Valentine's Garage' was a perfect high school album.  It was angry at times, sappy at times, and had hooks.  Second, local producer extraordinaire Ed Rose and Kill Creek singer Scott Born wrote possibly the best liner notes in the history of rock n' roll on that album.  Then, my junior year, they put out 'Proving Winter Cruel.'  At that time, it was a total buzz kill.  Why did this band get so damn sad about things?  That CD sat on the shelf for some time.  I still played the crap out of Stretch and St. Valentine's and put the band on mix tapes galore (if you want to impress a girl, hit her up with 'Million' off St. Valentine's, total panty dropper).

Later, say two years, I got to college and things got complicated.  Work, school, and relationships became tough to balance.  I was at JCCC, a lot of friends and my girlfriend were at KU.  Queue 'Proving Winter Cruel' for long drives back and forth.  Holy shit!  Why hadn't I paid more attention to this album?  It was incredible.

At this time, Kill Creek wasn't doing much.  I believe Mammoth had dropped them shortly after 'Proving'.  I began sending the band emails through their website.  I began listening on-line to stuff they put up for the 'Whimsy' album that never came out.  Scott Born started emailing me back, so did other members of the band.  Emails were exchanged which made 'Proving Winter Cruel' that much better for me.

I started championing the band; really spreading the word on 'Proving Winter Cruel' to friends and people in bands.  Surprisingly, so were a lot of other people in the local scene.  It was like we all spontaneously re-discovered this band's greatness.

And that is one of the great things about local music.  On the 'St. Valentine's Garage' tour, Kill Creek played an all ages show at Gee Coffee in Shawnee, KS.  There was well over 300 kids there, kids under the age of 18 like myself.  Well, they didn't all leave the music scene.  Many of those kids formed their own bands, wrote for zines, worked for KJHK, and even started labels.  None of us forgot about Kill Creek and like I said, it's like we all revisited 'Proving Winter Cruel' at an age when it spoke to us.

So, despite being out of it for nearly 5 years, Kill Creek was sucked right back in.  They started playing shows and we all went again.  This time as young adults (well, adult may be a stretch).  Dan Askew, who started up Second Nature was one of those people.  Second Nature had been putting out local hardcore and metal, but, I think the guy who really got Dan interested in the band was Nathan Ellis of Coalesce and Casket Lottery.  I have no proof for that other than Nathan is a featured player on this LP and featured in bands on Dan's label.  Dan got the rights to the catalog and somehow released a compilation entitled 'The Will to Strike', which is a virtual anthology of the band.  He also released this album.

I was honestly scared to listen to the LP when it came out.  Here is a band 5 years out of the loop trying to give it another go.  The idea has train wreck written all over it.  Surprisingly, it's solid effort.  The train-wreck part happened because like other Kansas bands, no one outside Kansas was paying attention.  And, for Kill Creek if they weren't paying attention before, they sure as hell weren't in 2001.

The reviews that surrounded the LP in the indie-circles weren't too favorable either.  Most of them group the band in with the likes of the Get Up Kids and Anniversary calling them a Midwest emo band.  Which is absurd, the band was contemporaries to early Midwest KC bands like Shiner and Giants Chair, but sounded nothing like them.  Outside of the obvious influence the band imparted on bands like the Get Up Kids and the Anniversary, they don't have much to do with that scene.  Kill Creek is far more routed in 80's punk-ish power pop.  If there's an angular "emo" sound, it comes from 80's groups like Mission of Burma and Big Dipper, not Sunny Day Real Estate.

The other comforting part of this LP for me was the familiarity I had with the songs.  A lot of these songs came from the never finished 'Whimsy' project.  It also features a local rock all star cast, the previously mentioned Nathan Ellis, Twani Freeland, the members of the band obviously, and Ed Rose at the helm producing.  The song "Gett Up" is among the best things the band ever did and sets the tone for a great album.  The band actually found a groove in their old age.  Not just heartbroken pop tunes that you scream or cry to, now you could also dance.  It's a blends the crunchy guitars and hooks of 'St. Valentine's' with the roots rock of 'Proving Winter Cruel'.  Shame it came out about 6 years too late, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't mattered, the band was cursed.

Gett Up
Grandfather's Left Side