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Street Dogs - State of Grace

The Kinison

What Are You Listening To?
2004
La Salle/Atlantic

The Kinison - What Are You Listening To? (Cover Artwork)


Review by: Scott
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Warner Music Group (Logo)

Published on June 4th 2004

I just can't take the Kinison seriously. And frankly, I wonder how the band members other than the singer can take the Kinison seriously, as well.

This record is actually pretty solid musically, mixing a number of styles together. Equal parts At The Drive-In [see "Every Genius Has Their Hang Ups"], Blood Brothers [see "Xoxoxo"], and ______ [insert your favorite dance-post-punk band here {perhaps The Rapture, or Radio 4?}] [see "Lake Calmern Is Full Now" or "No Talk"], The Kinison do some serious plagiarizing here, but it's not to the point of complete being complete copycats. The band has a knack for writing some seriously catchy, ultimately hummable hooks and most of the songs here are evident of that.

The problem comes in as soon as the singer opens his mouth, however. The lyrics on this album are some of the most contrived, sophomoric, just plain bad words put to paper in quite some time. To quote "You Kissed Lilly:

"Just kissed Lilly
Just kissed Lilly
Just kissed a whore
Just kissed Lilly
Just kissed Lilly
You don't love me anymore"
That's just the beginning of all the terribly trite and embarassingly bad poetry contained on this disc. How on earth the other 4/5ths of this band let this kind of crap represent them is beyond my comprehension. It's almost fitting that the album's best track, "I've Got Something To Say" - a hardcore freakout clocking in at under two minutes - is the one with the least amount of words. All that is sung [or yelled, rather] is "I've / Got / Something / To Say!". Sadly, no he doesn't.

Oh Boy That Girl Can Move [clip]



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    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, April 16, 2006 at 11:00 PM (EDT)

    thank you....someone who has sense (below me)

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, April 13, 2006 at 10:19 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I think this is one of the best bands that I have heard of lately. If you don't like this band then you should quit listening to punk music bro..

    Posted by Cdude608 on 2006-02-27 14:06:34

    If all of you people say they fucking suck so much then why dont you go blame Travis Barker for giving them a label to produce their record. They are a good band, maybe the reson why you think they suck (and this goes to the dick-wad who gave the review on the album) is because they made the record in approximently less then 1 month. They arent assholes in anyway and belive me ive seen them enough times live to know.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 at 2:27 PM (EST)

    ha ha ha ha ha ha the best thing to ever read on the kinison...let me tell you about the band...they didnt really care for their fans...how do i know this...lets just say i know more then i need...or want to know at this point! they are fucking lame! the only cool one in the band is AJ. i feel bad for AJ to be in a band that fucking sucks! i knew before anyone the kinison broke up. am i happy, yes very! KARAMS A BITCH! they are fucking lame and I HATE CHRIS...WRITING A CD ABOUT YOU CHEATING ON YOUR GIRLFRIEND!!! WOW!!! you sooo fucking cool dude! well see you in hell

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, March 26, 2005 at 12:25 PM (EST)

    i saw the Kinison supportin blink 182, amongst the booing and the throwing of bottles, i think that reflected the whole reaction and opinion of the crowd, that the kinison is a big load of wank. I dont care who says they are talented, they simply are not. i rate them with no score cuz they dnt deserve one. May i also add, that i think the lead singer, whoever this gay icon may be, is reli the most homosexual singer i have ever witnessed sing. he pranced around the stage like a cock and made the crowd even more pissed, when he said and i quote..." what does this mean ( the wanker hand signal ), then he said " hey guys i think this means they like us". It was pretty clear 'we' did not!, which is again why i think they suk even more, as they are under some impression they are good.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 5, 2004 at 1:59 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I grew up with the Kinison..well atlest all the guys from Oblong...and Im proud to say it, they have the heart to make it, but its their first full track linup....which I think sounds awesome...so if u dont like it....fuck u!!!

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, September 9, 2004 at 6:43 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I just saw these guys last night. Their singer was such a dick explaining how he hated opening bands and how much they sucked compared to his shitty band, then he went off to go chase some groupie slutz...this band is wack

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, July 13, 2004 at 2:02 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    i know these guys, and they've been playing since they were young kids. i think they're really talented. they really put on a good live show.

    Posted by OhBoYtHaTgIrLcAnMoVe on 2004-06-24 13:10:04
    My Score:

    That last comment was mine

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, June 24, 2004 at 1:02 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Fuck all of you guys who say they suck! they are awesome! GREAT live, good cd, great people! try a little harder just not to be jealous :-)

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, June 14, 2004 at 5:27 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    come-on .. dont be such hard asses .. these guys are all really young . they are still learning and the point is they love music ,
    so it might not be all the great of a c.d .. but give them a E for effort
    never seen them LIVE but heard thats where its at .

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 at 8:48 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    this cd rocks .. I did havet to lisen to it a few times to get used to it .. american collectables gets stuck in your head .
    I like the singer CK .. met him once and he is a super cool guy .
    the band is awesome LIVE ..

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, June 7, 2004 at 4:55 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    LOVE IT!!!!

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, June 7, 2004 at 4:50 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    stupid stupid stupid band name. and ya know what? i dont give a fuck if its got some deep artful meaning to them personally. still stupid.

    Posted by Anonymous on Monday, June 7, 2004 at 3:48 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I caught them a year ago with Lagwagon and thought they were pretty good. About a month later, they got signed to a major. I saw them two months ago with The Bled, and now they're absolutely terrible. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with bands signing to majors, but you can tell that their signing actually did effect something.

    -Danny X

    Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, June 6, 2004 at 1:56 AM (EDT)
    My Score:

    worst live band ever

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, June 5, 2004 at 11:04 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Everyone knows this band is awful....I dont need to listen to their newest CD to further realize.

    Now, did anyone go to the Grind Tour. And if they did, what was bigwig's lineup?

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, June 5, 2004 at 4:13 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    liars sounds like gang of four like the dixie chicks sound like johnny cash.

    Posted by soulbleed on 2004-06-05 14:46:38
    My Score:

    this full length sucks. but their ep was god.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, June 5, 2004 at 12:55 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    So the Blood Brothers are emo too... Next it will be the Locust.

    Posted by Jesse on 2004-06-05 12:36:52
    My Score:

    Need I remind you the new Liars sounds nothing like Gang of Four? I said fucking emo in relation to anything this day labeled "emo" by mainstream, of which this would be. And since this shitty band got picked up by a major label, I feel that my comment is duly applicable.

    Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, June 5, 2004 at 12:25 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    Wow, now I KNOW you haven't heard it. This is spazz rock or something like that, and it may be trendy, but doesn't sound emo at all.

    By the way, how do a bunch of fucking Gang of Four rip offs offer anything new? Or have you just not heard enough Go4?

    -BSD

    Posted by Jesse on 2004-06-05 03:47:37
    My Score:

    I've heard it. It's terrible. Liars offer something new. Creative. Talented songwriting. These guys are lame cut-outs of the new wave of "dark, emotional" music. Fucking emo.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 4, 2004 at 11:58 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    the difference between this band and the liars, is that it used to be "hip" to like the liars. never so for the kinison.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 4, 2004 at 10:09 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    I've got something to say? cough...misfits rip off...cough.

    Posted by BSD on 2004-06-04 21:28:21
    My Score:

    I really doubt half the people ripping on this album have heard it. And the Liars are just as shitty as this, Jesse.

    Posted by Jesse on 2004-06-04 19:05:43
    My Score:

    I think the correct answer to their album title is: "Not this."

    Posted by sickboi on 2004-06-04 17:56:41
    My Score:

    They remind me of a poor-man's version of the AKA's.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 4, 2004 at 5:35 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    faggot shit.

    Posted by Allular on 2004-06-04 17:30:46
    My Score:

    The singer looks like a fetus to me.

    Posted by BSD on 2004-06-04 16:57:21
    My Score:

    Really this band makes the worst records ever, period, but their live show is fantastic.

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 4, 2004 at 4:42 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    These guys are one of the most laughably bad bands I have ever had the misfortune of seeing live. I could done a lot of productive things with that 30 minutes they have stolen from me. Audio diarrhea.

    Blech!!!!

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 4, 2004 at 4:20 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    i dont know why everyone is so hard on these guys....theyre not that bad

    Posted by Anonymous on Friday, June 4, 2004 at 4:13 PM (EDT)
    My Score:

    these guys are good/disgusting live.

    Posted by irish_joo on 2004-06-04 16:13:07
    My Score:

    prick ass rock stars