Russ Hockenbury
09/04/06, 05:04 PM
Lemuria/Kind Of Like Spitting – Your Living Room’s All Over Me
Release Date: July 4, 2006
Label: Art of the Underground
Lemuria
You can’t help but smile listening to Lemuria. The Buffalo three-piece are just a lot of fun. It doesn’t hurt that Sheena Ozzella closely resembles every bespectacled cutie I’ve ever fallen in love with on the other side of the coffeeshop counter or in the vinyl section of the local record store either.
Heavily influenced by the work of 90s punk-rockers Discount, Ozzella’s delivery is decidedly less snotty, though otherwise identical, to that of frontwoman Alison Mosshart. It’s less abrasive because it has to be. At first glance, one might even call Lemuria’s brand of punkless (not punchless) pop “sterile”. That is, up until you hear Ozzella drop the f-bomb amidst the rollercoaster pacing of the split’s opener, “Hours”. Not since Jenny Lewis asked her emphatic question on “Glendora” has a female vocalist cursed with such panache. The stuffy-nosed warble of Alex Kerns makes him a more than capable second vocalist. Coupled with Ozzella’s very feminine tone, they deliver a fanciful duet on “Sophomore”.
Is that a Nick Drake album in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?: “Hours”, “Sophomore”, “Bristles and Whiskers”
Girls! Girls! Girls! And guys!: Rilo Kiley, Discount, The Headlights
Rating: 9/10
Kind of Like Spitting
Ben Barnett is the Dean Martin of indie songwriters. Dean recorded more than 100 albums. Comparatively, Ben has about a dozen under his belt with Kind Of Like Spitting. Ok, there’s a huge disparity. However, in a scene where your average band spends two to three years between albums it’s still damned prolific and Kind of Like Spitting is extremely talented. That being said, the band’s work here isn’t their best.
The lovelorn plodding of “Afraid of Crushes” nearly recaptures the mood of one of my all-time favorite KOLS tracks, “Valentine’s Day Is Over”. Unfortunately, it doesn’t show the same spikes in life. Instead, “Afraid of Crushes” keeps the emotional pulse too steady and faint to create any lasting value. The fuzzy disaccord of “Shallow Doses”, with its pounding, train-like guitars is a keeper. The rest of the lot are what you might expect to find in a catalog of b-sides.
For medicinal purposes only: “Why I Smoke Mad Weed”
Peter Lawford was a no-talent hack: Death Cab For Cutie, Desaparecidos, Pedro the Lion
Rating: 5/10
Release Date: July 4, 2006
Label: Art of the Underground
Lemuria
You can’t help but smile listening to Lemuria. The Buffalo three-piece are just a lot of fun. It doesn’t hurt that Sheena Ozzella closely resembles every bespectacled cutie I’ve ever fallen in love with on the other side of the coffeeshop counter or in the vinyl section of the local record store either.
Heavily influenced by the work of 90s punk-rockers Discount, Ozzella’s delivery is decidedly less snotty, though otherwise identical, to that of frontwoman Alison Mosshart. It’s less abrasive because it has to be. At first glance, one might even call Lemuria’s brand of punkless (not punchless) pop “sterile”. That is, up until you hear Ozzella drop the f-bomb amidst the rollercoaster pacing of the split’s opener, “Hours”. Not since Jenny Lewis asked her emphatic question on “Glendora” has a female vocalist cursed with such panache. The stuffy-nosed warble of Alex Kerns makes him a more than capable second vocalist. Coupled with Ozzella’s very feminine tone, they deliver a fanciful duet on “Sophomore”.
Is that a Nick Drake album in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?: “Hours”, “Sophomore”, “Bristles and Whiskers”
Girls! Girls! Girls! And guys!: Rilo Kiley, Discount, The Headlights
Rating: 9/10
Kind of Like Spitting
Ben Barnett is the Dean Martin of indie songwriters. Dean recorded more than 100 albums. Comparatively, Ben has about a dozen under his belt with Kind Of Like Spitting. Ok, there’s a huge disparity. However, in a scene where your average band spends two to three years between albums it’s still damned prolific and Kind of Like Spitting is extremely talented. That being said, the band’s work here isn’t their best.
The lovelorn plodding of “Afraid of Crushes” nearly recaptures the mood of one of my all-time favorite KOLS tracks, “Valentine’s Day Is Over”. Unfortunately, it doesn’t show the same spikes in life. Instead, “Afraid of Crushes” keeps the emotional pulse too steady and faint to create any lasting value. The fuzzy disaccord of “Shallow Doses”, with its pounding, train-like guitars is a keeper. The rest of the lot are what you might expect to find in a catalog of b-sides.
For medicinal purposes only: “Why I Smoke Mad Weed”
Peter Lawford was a no-talent hack: Death Cab For Cutie, Desaparecidos, Pedro the Lion
Rating: 5/10