Kill.Pop - Kill.Pop.1

Album review by Mark Cuthbertson

Kill.Pop describes themselves as a combination of “Big Black, Portishead and Barkmarket. The raw, the sublime, and the textured.” The Barkmarket influence is apparent on virtually every track and the overall sound of the band. Big Black appears to be more of an attitudinal influence (only the bassline of “Blank” has anything close to the Albini zing) and the sublime moments reminiscent of Portishead are few and far between, but present (especially on “I Change”).

“Breathe” is the single track that best defines Kill.Pop’s essence. It draws the listener near with (sublime) whispers and a catchy, crunchy (textured) groove before exploding with an in-your-face (raw) anguish complete with a bent melody as diminished as the character: “What is this you breathe? / Live and love and hate / You fill me / I can't wait to breathe.”

“Bow” is the all-out rocker of the album. All ninety-seven seconds of it seethe with disdain, so much that this sentiment carries over into the pauses for reflection and a breath. The song concludes with Brent Kinder musing, “everybody's talking to god, the problem's when he starts to talk back” before letting out some more steam: “let's all pretend that we're actually in charge and boss everyone around.”

The album closes with “Blank,” an expose of the disagreements initially explored in “Bow.” No holds are barred this time. The music is noisier, the tones of all instruments are far edgier and brash, and the lyrics are far more glaring and to the point: “…are you going to touch my soul? / Give me a golden glow? / Telling me that your lord is true and my heaven is false? / Isn't the basic truth love all people? /Then love your brother that likes to suck dick / And love your sister who claims nature as goddess / And love your neighbor whose skin is a shade different than yours.” Finally, a parting shot to his holier-than-thou critics: “ …unleash your ignorance / Call me nigger, faggot, chink, spic, retard, heathen, sinner / Ignorance has burned before and will burn again / I will piss on those embers and invite you to stick your finger in YOUR ass.”

Kill.Pop.1 is indeed raw and textured, even sublime in places. More than anything else, though, this album is bold. In their pursuit of drawing on three seemingly incongruent musical elements, Brent Kinder, Mason Fann, and Tyson Schroeder have added a fourth element and created something distinctly different from their said influences.

--Mark Cuthbertson
mark@thezone.org