K-Holes- s/t LP

Recently I've been seeing the HoZac label popping up in a lot of places, so I decided to check out a few of their releases.  I was specifically interested in the K-Holes after reading a review (don't remember where) of their LP which likened their sound to the Birthday Party, a comparison that tends to get my attention; their fantastic band name and cover art just sweetened the deal.  At the time I ordered the record (which I thoroughly enjoyed and will talk more about in a moment), Hozac was offering this Spring batch bargain deal that included the LP and three 7"s of bands I'd never heard of called X-Ray Eyeballs, Women in Prison, and Spider Fever, so I decided to opt for that in hopes of hearing some neat bands...

Unfortunately there were a few things I didn't realize, primary among them being the fact that Hozac is basically just a garage punk label...not that there is anything wrong with that if it's your bag, but I've gotta say, it takes a pretty damn interesting garage punk band to get me up in the morning these days, and none of these three were cutting it...the bands weren't bad or anything like that, they were just kind of average sounding rock bands; and while sloppy playing and lo-fi recording both might seem pretty cliche at this point, I certainly feel like they would've lent some personality to these records...I dunno, I mean I'm not saying I want anyone to feign that they don't know how to play or record, but I suppose maybe the fact that I listened to enough adequately recorded three-chord punk songs when I was teenager has just led me to consider efforts that continue to write in that particular style as rather pointless...          

What's especially ironic about this is that I'm about to tell you how good the K-Holes record is because of how much it sounds like the Birthday Party, a band that hasn't existed for nearly thirty years; of course it's not totally the same, and I could go on about how compared to the number of bands that have tried to sound like the Ramones or the Stooges, there have been a mere handful of bands that show direct influence from the Birthday Party, or about how much more 'out there' sounding bluesy swamp rock is than pogo punk, but the truth is, the level of idol worship being displayed by the K-Holes here is a little bit extreme...I mean they really, really sound like the Birthday Party, so much so that one day when I was listening to the record a friend actually thought it was the Birthday Party.

I of course enjoyed the record because, you guessed it, I enjoy the Birthday Party.  There are some songs on the B-side of the record that are in a very different, punkier, almost jangly style, and they help to break up the monotony of the doom and gloom just fine, but I'm not sure how well I would've responded to them had they stood alone on a 7" rather than in the context of the album...anyway, if I've got my facts straight, the K-Holes are comprised of members of some other bands that sound different, though I couldn't tell you who any of them are or what they sound like.  I wouldn't mind hearing more from the K-Holes, but would like to hear them add a few more discernible influences to their pallet on future recordings...meanwhile, if you're really into bands that sound like the Birthday Party, then I highly recommend buying this record here.