Kam Kama - The Tiled House EP (Sister Cylinder)

I listed this Bloomington, Indiana post-punk band’s most recent EP (which is available for streaming here) on my Top 10 list a few weeks ago, but wanted to mention it again because their singer/bassist Scott Ferguson was nice enough to send me a vinyl copy. Again, this is great U.S. post-punk very much in the vein of For Against and it sounds (and looks) great on vinyl with a blackdust jacket, beautiful black and white cover and white vinyl! Of the bands listed in their bio, I only recognize the aforementioned For Against (an acknowledged and audible influence), The Chameleons,Psi Com and more recent Midwestern contemporaries The Prids, but I also hear the influence of The Sound (and in particular their later period) on the sound of Ferguson and company.

Of the six songs, only two (“Shaky Convalescent” and “San Miguel”) are repeated from their 2010 demo (which you can listen to and download here). Still, that’s half of the four song demo and it as well as the four newer songs sound MUCH better than said demo thanks in part to being mastered by Paul Mahern of Zero Boys fame. Even with the provided lyric sheet (as a .pdf in the digital version and a physical sheet inserted in the vinyl version; don’t miss it if you order it!), it’s hard to discern what these songs are about, but the provided press sheet lists “oversleep, Heaven’s Gate and poltergeist”. Still, this is no impediment to enjoyment of this fine EP as after a few spins it’s almost guaranteed that listeners will be singing along with the cryptic and spooky (but super catchy) opening line of “Shaky Convalescent” (namely “the devil drops my icon”).

All in all, I think that it’s a good bet that fans of any of the above mentioned bands will enjoy this.