CASSETTE OF THE MONTH
Kiss Concert – Look Bad/Feel Bad (Worcester, MA)
“If Neutral Milk Hotel had a baby with a young Modest Mouse and it was good at math.”
Look bad, feel bad — sound good. This late-2018 release from Worcester, MA trio Kiss Concert, Look Bad/Feel Bad serves neatly-woven rock arrangements at mid-fi production suitable to the music style. Equally giving in technicality and oddity, with dark lyrical wit to boot, the album is tightly wound, balancing the bizarre with the recognizable. Peckham’s guitar chording is in turns jangly and razored, while leads tend toward either ’70s fuzz, or clearly articulated arpeggios. Satisfyingly complex, but restrained, drumming from Coviello bolts everything down asymmetrically, with effective use of negative space (yes, please).
Pink Floyd-like guitar melodies honk into uneasy rests and crushing guitar chords in “Party Tonight,” and “M’Peach M’Peach” is raw, with a metalcore tone and clip. “Ballad of Kiss Concert” is They Might be Giants on arrival, old Blink-182 forward, and finishes early Modest Mouse. While each band member contributes to vocals, the style remains cohesive. Intentional. Punk rock and at times, the band members proudly represent their influences, but never derive. With more than a few tricks all their own, Kiss Concert continues to bring the weirdest of ear-tasties — but not a single empty calorie — with Look Bad/Feel Bad. (Midnight Werewolf Records)
Guitar – Zach Peckham
Bass – Anthony Richards
Drums – Gio Coviello
Vocals – All
All songs by Kiss Concert
Instruments recorded by Jesse Weiss & Jack Pombriant at Studio 52 Allston, MA
Vocals recorded by Alex Molini in Domino’s App, NY
Lyrics & vocals on “shit in my hand” written & performed by Jordan Holtz
Mixing & keys & formidable guidance by Alex Molini
Mastering by Michael John Thomas III
Cassette via Midnight Werewolf Records
LISTEN NOW at kissconcert.bandcamp.com