Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
10 songs, 13 minutes. That is what The Kitsches give with their self-titled full-length album, and it’s perfect because of that. One major improvement is the recording, which can separate the different instruments. Even though it’s still hard to decipher where the bass is, The Kitsches captures everything you need to know and love about the band.
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Korean punk lives and thrives below the surface of the music scene with a lot of bands, but there’s a difficulty in finding them. The Kitsches stand out with a more recognizable hardcore punk presentation. Songs are sung, can sometimes be understood, and are usually very short. The shortest song is 35 seconds and the longest is 2:21, which is surprising. When I listen to The Kitsches, I don’t listen to the lyrics and simply get caught up in the whole experience of listening to the band.
If I remember, previous releases bled all the instruments together, but the self titled is able to give everyone their own space. Obviously it funnels from the vocals to the guitar to the drums with the bass shouting in when it can. Like most punk, if the genre doesn’t catch your ear, it can sound like noise or just repetitive. The Kitsches get around that on their album for sure, but you need to give it a chance.
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I love The Kitsches. They’re amazing musicians and the full length shows that they’re still growing. It would be amazing to hear the album on vinyl or see the band live. I’m sure that the experience is amazing.
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