Kinski
Airs Above Your Station
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Kinski
Airs Above Your Station
Sub Pop, 2003
RiYL: Slint, Mogwai, Isis, Sonic Youth |
Kinski, for instance, would probably scare away aspiring crooners with its lengthy dirges that often take five minutes just to sputter into gear. But the freedom afforded by such an arrangement lends an air of spontaneity to the compositions. Unhampered by a traditional verse-chorus mindset, Kinki ventures into deep, murky territory on Airs Above Your Station, investigating areas often left unexplored by most groups.
The band doesn't achieve this substantial task without borrowing, however. Most indie-somethings will scoff defiantly upon hearing the note-for-note schlepping of excerpts from Mogwai's Young Team or the Sonic Youth-isms dripping from some of the guitar build-ups. Still, the members of Kinski, like a stubborn weed in a thicket of thorns, grow past their numerous predecessors at times, unearthing moments of pure psychotropic bliss.
A kosher example is "Your Lights Are (Out Or) Burning Badly," a mid-tempo ditty packing the traditional Mogweird bass distortion and Slint-ified drum beat. The package is a bit contrived, but as the track folds over itself, new and exciting possibilities arise with every waking measure. On this epic and a few others, Kinski impress by refusing to rescind the pleasures of a tasty, driving riff (rather than dragging out ideas at the speed of a migrating glacier).
Above-average despite some architecture problems, Airs Above Your Station is a worthwhile recording. Just don't listen to this stuff if you have priorities in your life -- "Schedule For Using Pillow & Beanbag" alone is enough to wither away a lengthy chunk of your day (not to mention how long it takes to read the name of the song itself).
GRANT PURDUM | Among the newest wave of NATN contributors, Grant Purdum bides his time at Washington State University.