It seems surprising that Kind of Like Spitting, which has been making its own full-length albums for a while, would participate in a split LP with the lesser known Buffalo, NY, punk trio Lemuria (not to be confused with the '70s R&B act of the same name). But Kind of Like Spitting's albums have been made for a succession of small labels (Hush, Redder, Barsuk, Jealous Butcher, etc.), and Art of the Underground, based in Buffalo, is another one supporting a local act. Each band gets about 20 minutes, starting with Lemuria, an energetic punk band boasting thoughtful, ambivalent lyrics mostly written by drummer Alexander Kerns and mostly sung by guitarist Sheena Ozzella. The songs vaguely treat such subjects as fraternal estrangement and closeted homosexuality when they aren't poking around in interpersonal emotional issues. Kerns mixes a vocabulary that includes "altruist" and "stoic" with liberal use of common curse words, aiming for a combination of sophistication and vernacular expression to match the peppy punk playing. He gets self-pitying at times ("Rough Draft" begins, "I crave my own misery"), but he's got nothing on Kind of Like Spitting leader Ben Barnett, a past master at gloomy writing, who confirms his reputation by starting out the band's first song here, "Shallow Doses," with a reflection on suicide that may reference Kurt Cobain: "Who'd have thought you'd turn both barrels to the crown?" From there, Kind of Like Spitting's songs musically echo the whiny, dueling guitars of the '70s punk band Television, while Barnett's seemingly free-associated lyrics plumb the depths of human suffering, much of it apparently his own, presented in a voice that is better described as pitch-free bellowing than singing. (He makes Jonathan Richman sound tuneful.) By the end, amazingly, he seems to have found love in "Afraid of Crushes," which only makes him wonder, "Will I retain any dignity at all?," a question that would have seemed moot by this point in the proceedings.
© William Ruhlmann /TiVo