Album Reviews

Kino Kimino is the brainchild of Kim Talon, who found reinforcements in the form of Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley. Together they headed for the studio to record what would become “Bait Is For Sissies” with the help of John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr, Kurt Vile, Hop Along).

Lyrics that deal with betrayal, violence and the feeling of being an outside, are wrapped up in noisy yet non-abrasive songs that are rooted in the 90ies and have a quirky indie vibe going on. It works well in tracks like the one-two opening combo that is “Passion” and “Pale Calico”, but then quickly loses steam with cuts like “Caste Out” and “Hide Your Kin”. The off-kilter vocals that come across as quirky for the sake of being quirky and that whole ‘hey, look at us… we’re different’ vibe gets old really quick.