***If it wasn't evident enough on 1999's trashy and glamorous Goodbye Private Life, THE KISS OFFS don't just love rock and roll, they have a destructive, co-dependent relationship with the genre and feel compelled to sing about it whenever possible. Rock Bottom is about, for, and because of rock. It directly addresses what it has done to their otherwise mundane middle class lives—they're poor, they're unemployed, they're dirty, they're continuously intoxicated, they're willfully destructive and they often sleep on floors, despite the fact that each is somewhat educated and comes from a good, loving family. "Prolonged Adolescence" captures the drunken nights roaming Austin on old bikes with friends to cheer on local bands. "Love You Hardcore" is about missing those bands when they inevitably break up and missing those friends when they leave. "The Freedom of Rock" and "Pleather Pantz" expound on the redemptive, disfiguring, and humbling power of rock and roll. "Broken Fingers for Talented Singers" is a meta-rock doctrine, a shout-out to rock fans everywhere with lines like, "So you can't sing, then scream and shout," and "Three chords are great, but one will do." Another verse grants license to rip off influences—then blatantly cops a few lines from The Fall's "Copped It," a song about plagiarism no less, after declaring such robberies "the building 'Brix' of a 'Mark E.' (marquee) career." Other songs revert to the tried-and-true Kiss Offs' topics such as love, sex and, of course, kissing. As usual, the guitars skronk and spurt, the bass...
CD $9.50
03/06/2001
MP3 $7.92
03/06/2001
***If any band wanted to be the nation's alarm clock more than the Kiss Offs, it's only because they're sick of playing weddings and Holiday Inn lounges. These Texans have what our country needs, wants and deserves, not the least of which is to be told "Wake up America! Throw out those sleepytime records and get ready for a resurgence of Rock Power." Slinging the '60s into the '80s like a swordfish steak onto a hot grill, they've been refining their unusual no-wave Casio post-punk since June 1997 to get to this. Fourteen songs about trashy dates, peeping toms, kissing techniques, and desperation, with an innocent sincerity masked by distortion and feedback. As a mirror image of this great land of ours, it's loud, it's fun, it rocks.
LP $8.25
03/02/1999
CD $9.50
03/02/1999
MP3 $0.00
03/02/1999