While Boston’s Kitner has been a band since 2015, we haven’t gotten a proper full-length from them until this year. Sometimes, that’s how life goes, especially when some members of the band are doing double duty in another band, and members change. Like the old saying goes, “good things come for those who wait.” That’s because Shake the Spins is on the horizon.
Releasing in October on Relief Map Records, Shake the Spins harkens back to the glory days of Vagrant Records and Saddle Creek Records. This isn’t just a paint by numbers ’90s emo album though. There’s so much more going on like samples, string arrangements, harmonica. It’s honestly one of the more polished debuts you’ll hear this year. I guess that’s what happens when it takes six years to release your first full-length, eh?
In all seriousness though, expect songs about imbibing, regret, and hanging with friends (and lovers). You’ll catch some major Jets to Brazil, The Get Up Kids, Bright Eyes, and Desaparecidos throughout. To put it bluntly, it’s a damn powerful record.
Ahead of the release of their debut full-length, Shake the Spins, Kitner’s James Christopher shares his favorite, overrated, and underrated albums.
Favorite Album
“The Get Up Kids, Something To Write Home About. I was in middle school when I first heard this record. I would use all the money I would earn from mowing the lawn to build up my precious CD collection. One day, our parents took my sister and I to Best Buy and I bought Lagwagon’s Let’s Talk About Feelings. Meanwhile, my older sister bought Something To Write Home About by this band called The Get Up Kids. I was already pretty heavily interested in punk music, but this was the first time I heard something like this. It was kind of punk, but it really wasn’t. I ended up stealing this CD from my sister on many occasions and it eventually became my all time favorite record. Here’s to having older siblings to help guide your musical journey!
Overrated Album
“Have Heart, Songs to Scream at the Sun. I was a huge fan of their record before this, The Things We Carry, as well as pretty much any melodic hardcore that was released at the time. I remember something about this recording being hard to listen to. It just didn’t have the same energy that I felt with the earlier records.”
Underrated Album
“Tyler Daniel Bean, On Days Soon to Pass. I would not say this is necessarily underrated because everyone who has heard this record knows it is amazing. I’m putting this as underrated because I’m trying to figure out why this record didn’t blow up. It is the saddest, but at the same time, one of the most interesting records of the last ten years. I heard the hype train for this a lot because Choke Up was recording Stormy Blue right at the same time, and engineer Ryan Stack, would not stop gushing about it. He wasn’t wrong.
