Boys Life/Christie Front Drive Split 10" Crank! 1995

Boys Life/Christie Front Drive Split 10" Crank! 1995 CAT# CRC005

Another KC Crank! release, this one featuring emo sweethearts, Christie Front Drive, who are from Denver...and great, but makes little or no sense to discuss their tunes here.

The B-Side to this EP features early works by Kansas City's Boys Life.  Both Christie Front Drive and Boys Life went to Omaha for the tracks to be recorded and were produced by AJ and Mike Moogis.  Midwestern emo scene in it's early days as the Moogis brothers would go onto to do things with their hometown label, Saddle Creek, namely, Cursive and Bright Eyes.  Boys Life would set influence, Christie Front Drive's work would go onto to help define the scene (see the song "Valentine" on this EP).

This early stuff by Boys Life is a bit more melodic than the stuff they'd later do on their full length.  Still chaotic, just not as outright DC as the debut became.  "Sight Unseen" is incredible.  The song "Homecoming" shows the band noodling around with out of tune guitars and time shifts, it's not perfected here like it would be later and it loses the listener in the end.  "Two Wheeled Train" is a bit slow and spends too much time figuring out what it should do.  The band's ideas are here, they just needed Mark Trombino to focus them on their best attributes which he was able to do on the debut LP.

Another KC tidbit, the sleeve is screen printed and designed as a fold able jacket.  It was done by Hammer Press in Kansas City, which was a former college roommate of the guys from Giants Chair.

Sight Unseen

Boys Life Departures and Landfalls Cargo/Headhunter 1996

Boys Life Departures and Landfalls Cargo/Headhunter 1996 HED 063

So good.  The first album was aggressive and powerful.  This LP is a bit more restrained, but still employs the same dynamics as the debut.  It was recorded by Bob Weston and done directly to analogue tape.  As such, it is probably the most live sounding studio album the 90's ever heard.  Further, without Trombino producing, you get the sense the band was allowed to be a bit more true to themselves.  There's a definite twang on some of those chords.  It's still very dissonant and start/stop, but more organic sounding.  If post-hardcore can sound roots oriented, it's on this album.

Everything just comes together so well in this album.  By the time you get the 3rd song, 'Twenty Four of Twenty Five,' you feel so involved.  The guitars, despite being loud and out of tune draw you in and feel warm.  The 7 minute reprieve of 'Twenty Four of Twenty Five' is like a smoke break until the album regains course with 'Radio Towers' onto the B-Side which doesn't hold back.

It was the band's best and final work.  The "twang" and space they created in the songs shows up in the later projects.  The Farewell Bend was a toned down version of this album, but didn't really catch on.  The group Canyon, which featured Brandon Butler and Robert Winkle from Boys Life, was a fantastic Lo-Fi take on Americana.

Fire Engine Red
Radio Towers

Boys Life S/T Crank! A Record Company 1995

Boy Life S/T Crank! A Record Company 1995 CAT #CRC004

First, the mid-90's was an amazing time for KC & Lawrence's music scenes and it was an amazing time for indie rock.  However, it was an awful time for vinyl.  If a band was on a "true" indie in the 90's that was other than say, Matador, they were lucky if the album was mastered for vinyl.  Rather, and likely to save money, the CD master was slapped onto vinyl in effort to be cost effective and still give the indie-rockers what they wanted at shows.  Crank! was no exception, this pressing suffers problems and I remember the CD version sounding much more crisp.  Just saying.

Moving onto the album, in highschool, this was as cool as a Fugazi record.  I mean these guys were relentless.  Out of tune guitars blazing, their early days were frenzied attacks on song structure.  And, they were in or near my hometown, that was exciting.

The band was picked up by the Crank! label after founder, Jeff Matlow, put out the first Vitreous Humor 7".  Matlow was familiar with the local scene after signing the Manhattan band, Truck Stop Love, to the Scotti Brothers label as an A&R guy.  When Scotti Brothers refused to sign Vitreous Humor on the account that they already had a band from Kansas, Matlow quit and decided to go it alone.  Along the way, he picked up some other locals.  He signed Boys Life and another Kansas City band, Uncrush.  His label brought a ton of  attention to the area.  And, when Crank! released Mineral's Power of Failing, suddenly, Viterous Humor and Boys Life became associated with the developing emo scene.

The record isn't emo.  It's post-hardcore.  Similar to Jawbreaker, Quicksand, and Fugazi.  It was recorded by Mark Trombino from Drive Like Jehu and it shows.  Trombino didn't let the band hold back, it goes from a restrained whisper to an all out assault.  The LP does suffer a bit of same-ness, in that, after a while, you get it, they're going to whisper, scream, guitar feedback, end.  It's a bit formulaic.  However, the out of tune guitars and occasional out of key yelps keep it interesting.  Second, working with Trombino allowed the band to explore their genre and develop as a band.  The song 'Temporary' which was first recorded for a split 7" with Vitrous Humor (previously discussed) is slowed down here, showing the band was focused on sound and texture and not just old punk rock tricks.  And sure, they borrow from Drive Like Jehu, but this is Kansas City, we had no fucking clue who that band was until we heard this.

Golf Hill Drive
Lister