Two Cincinnati bands prove The Afghan Whigs and The National are not maybe where this Ohio/Kentucky border city’s recent musical footnote ends in a quirky new split seven-inch out now via vinyl and digital formats on Sofaburn Records.
The real winner on the outing is Ampline, whose “It Will Evaporate” feels like a pumped-up, no-frills cross-pollination of two other Ohio acts familiar with scrappy lo-fi noise and guitar feedback: Guided by Voices and Brainiac. The drums hit hard, the guitars fuzz out their power chords, and I can hardly make out what the vocalist is saying. Two minutes? Perfect. Sounds like a winner to me. You had me at “evaporate!”
Buffalo Killers ham it up a little more for the slightly overcooked “Turkey Pete Montana Prison Man,” a carefully cut blues-rock march about a man who goes to prison, it seems, for a pair of 1918 murders, or tends to a prison. Or purchases a Montana prison. For all the production — there’s a lot of studio goo on those vocals – you’d think they’d clear that one up. Oh well. Song’s good and all, especially some of the Bizarro lyrics about pink alligators and Brazil’s coffee crop and Castro. Yep, Castro.
All in all, a nifty little regional release worthy of some further interest beyond the crest of the Ohio River. Check it out! – Popdose, June 3, 2015
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