So right now I am listening to a phenomenal release which i’ve been enjoying for a couple weeks now, it’s the latest record from Kansas psych-rock outfit Bad Kids To The Front titled “I Don’t Want To Go Insane”. Now I am no stranger to BKTTF, as you can tell from my previous write-up of their 2013 concept album “Post Teen Drama”, and I do not hesitate to say this is a more mature and even more enjoyable record!
Now I won’t spend my time drawing comparisons to the previous release I’ve reviewed from this outfit, since this one deserves to be looked at and listened to with a virgin mind. I have mulling through this album time and time again and, just like a great film or novel, each time I find more things to enjoy and absorb.
So enuff jabbing the jaw, lets get to the meat. BKTTF is a five-piece weirdo-rock band from Lawrence, Kansas. This self proclaimed “Avant Rock” group offers a well balanced palate of genres to pull from and swirl together in this collage of a release. Taking cues from ambient and shoegaze styles with swirling synths and washed out mixes, at the same time embodying the raw appeal of psychedelic rock and experimental noise.
“I Don’t Want To Go Insane” is an 11-track full length album jam PACKED with interesting collaborations and sonic explorations. I was quite pleased to find some personal favorites on the collab list (Lost Trail, Audens Raign), but if you simply take a look at the albums credit list of players you will see that just about every part of this album was a collaborative process between passionate individuals.
The album opens with two tracks teeming with youthful energy. I got immediate Flaming Lips and Broadcast vibes with this one, truly blissful instrumentation and interesting energy draws you into the project. Almost on a dime, track three “I Missed The Rain” ditches all manner of pop sensibility and we see BKTTF indulge in a 22 minute ambient drone epic. One thing this album does phenomenally is transition between styles. At no point does this record feel like a “compilation” or pieced together; rather it’s a coherent and agreeable style is applied to whichever genre the band decides on!
Some favorite tracks of mine would have to be “Cops (ft. Seventeen Years and April May March)”, for the amazing duality of sublime liquid synths and a racket of drums; “Mechanical Brain (ft. Audens Raign)”, for the intoxicating riff which hasn’t been able to escape my mind in weeks; and “Pellucid Combustion Opus”, for its delicate and intensely interesting emotion.
Now this project is a clean and tasty hour and a half of music, which can be mildly intimidating to casual consumers, however to folks such as myself I simply relish such an opportunity. The cherry on top of everything is the final note we are left with in the track “That Dude Was Alright, Then He Got Hit By A Plane (ft. Car Seat Headrest and Monster Bad)”. What a fantastic song and a perfect exploration of BKTTF’s breadth of style; 16 minutes long, we are lullabied into a hazy relaxation for the first half of this track, then suddenly and flawlessly presented with intense rhythm and washed out melodies. Though the last track on the album, I feel as if this song could have been released as a Single by itself, or perhaps a split with another artist!
Anyway, for fear of being long winded as well as not doing this album journalistic justice, I will conclude this write-up with nothing more than my strongest suggestion to go check out and enjoy this album. It’s the latest record from BAD KIDS TO THE FRONT, called “I Don’t Want To Go Insane”, and it’s available now via bandcamp.
Eternity Tree 