The fact that I'm writing a post about Brisbane band Kitchens Floor says a hell of a lot for their latest LP, Look Forward To Nothing, out on local label Bedroom Suck and US juggernauts Siltbreeze. My first connection with the trio was last year at the Zoo when they supported Eddy Current Suppression Ring. Now, ECSR played probably the best show Ive seen them play, and one of the best shows Ive seen at the Zoo. But Kitchens Floor - Jesus Christ. What a fucking train wreck. Matt Kennedy may be the epitome of self-loathing, but shit is still shit, and boy, it sounded like the biggest nugget laid on mankind. It was amateur hour. It was lapped up by hipsters who actually did look like they would eat human poo because Pitchfork told them to.
Seriously, I hated that show.
However, I did listen to their first LP Loneliness Is A Dirty Mattress a couple weeks later. There was something in there amidst the grime and overt slacker ennui. Actual killer rock with pop aesthetics without the pretensions - it just was what it was. So when the newie Look Forward To Nothing hit, I listened with a little less apprehension.
This is a massive leap forward. Sure, Kennedy still fucking hates himself. He's got enough depression/self-loathing/displeasure to wrap five hundred Bieber tragics up and suffocate them in before dropping them into a shallow creek. But this really ups the ante in songwriting, ably abetted by the boisterous drumming of the ever-busy Joe Alexander (Bedroom Suck founder, playing in Per Purpose and a plethora of other ill-fitting garbs, almost all of which are infinitely better for his inclusion) and Liam Kenny's bass lines. Hell, rather than sounding like an affected art project, they sound like a goddamn band. With proper hooks. Let's hope Kennedy keeps the double chambers coming, the Valium at hand, and the guitar firmly gripped in his fist. We might have a grungey icon in the making here.
Kitchens Floor - 116
No comments:
Post a Comment