When lords of fuzz, Kinski, release something new, you’d be wise to take notice. The band’s latest 7”, released on These Are Not Records, kicks like a revved-up mutant amalgamation of The Wipers, Hüsker Dü and Ty Segall.
Released originally as digital-only bonus tracks on the Seattle group’s recent (and excellent) 7 (or 8) album, Old Gold/Loved By You finds Kinski exploring a more boiled down, drive-by sonic attack approach. On each side, the band packs a crazy amount of energy and mood into a tight, 2-3 minute chunk.
“Old Gold,” originally by Love as Laughter, cracks like thunder and slays with a thick, snarling noise-punk sound. The track pummels you with monstrously dense fuzz guitars, machine gun-drumming and reckless, disaffected vocals. While remaining fairly faithful to the original song, Kinski cranks the volume and speed up several notches while bringing a few new things to the table, like a production style that leaves the listener feeling completely surrounded, as well as a tight, near-supernaturally precise musicianship. For fans of Tad, The Stooges and anything on SST Records, this can easily be one of the most addictive sides of 2018.
On the flipside, Kinski takes “Loved By You,” by Stephen, (a vastly underrated Flying Nun band that featured The Clean’s David Kilgour) and reinterprets it as a feedback-drenched acid-punk anthem. While the band adds a set of fangs to this track, there’s still a sunny cheekiness to it that it can win over a vastly wide audience. Through the snappy rhythm, overdriven guitars and their carefree-yet-harmonic singing, it really sounds like Kinski had as much fun recording this track as it is to listen to. This brings to mind the only downside to this song: it’s runtime is only 2:17. A song this catchy would leave any listener wishing for it to be at least 2-3 times longer.
There’s a real art to putting together a great single, and Kinski and These Are Not Records certainly attained that art here. Both sides are balanced with equally strong tracks, which each have as much energy and imagination as an entire album-side. Fast, punchy and leaving the listener wanting repeat spins after each play, this is one damn fine record.
You can order this 7” record on black vinyl, through thesearenotrecords.com, and you should do so fast, because it’s a very limited release (only 500 copies!)
-KH
Record Crates United 