There’s a lot of nice things to say about the new self-titled K-Holes record. The most important thing, though, is that it contains the second best werewolf song written in recent memory (This one being the first). “Werewolf With a Tan” would definitely be the album’s pop radio single. “Have you ever seen a werewolf with a tan now,” is a chorus that’s liable to get stuck in your head.
Luckily, K-Holes have not produced anything close to a pop album, or a surf album, or a lo-fi rock album, or a chillwave album. Of course not, they’re K-Holes. What we’ve got instead is something that is (surprisingly) refreshing- a John Cale experimental Velvet Underground reminiscent set of songs that do a pretty damn decent job of containing the band’s live energy on record. If this album had been made in 1985, it might have been eye-rollingly derivative, but in today’s current landscape, it sounds pretty new and exciting. How many bands did you see at SXSW that utilized free jazz style saxophone?
It’s probably not an album you’re going to put on repeat, nor the kind of album that will be the soundtrack to your summer. Maybe the soundtrack to your Halloween. Or a shitty breakup. But songs like “Werewolf With a Tan” straddle the line really well between a very dark humor and gross darkness. Sort of like their live show – the microphone-blow-jobs and writhings on the ground by the attractive female singer might not be a universal turn-on, but that’s completely counter-acted by the smart female saxophonist. Everything on the record has a double like that – disgusting lyrics/funny lyrics. Saxophone drone/classic guitar licks. Punk choruses/noise dirges. Constantly walking the line works well for K-Holes, on stage as on the record.
