EXCLUSIVE UNRELEASED TRACKS: THE KANTS

HEY – REMEMBER THE KANTS? Sure you do. Even just a few years ago they were a marquee name in Houston’s indie scene, whose members were at the center of a the welcome nexus of shared band memberships that makes the Montrose scene so vital. They were on the forefront of the BIGLOUD movement (whatever, we can make up our own movements, we’re a frickin blog) that rose to prominence a few years ago, along with bands like Ume and White Whale.

The Kants released the still-available-at-Sound-Exchange-don’t-blow-it This Book is Deadly EP (on red vinyl, no less) back in 2003, and were in the studio recording 5 or 6 follow-ups when they parted ways in 2005 (with no hard feelings, we understand, as guitarist, vocalist, and nice-guyist Ted Conway moved north). Recently, however, Chris Ryan of Dead City Sound was digging around in the vault and mixed these two tracks, the only ones from the session with any vocals (as they were, these were scratch vocal tracks). He and the band (which also included Lee Walker on Bass and Mike McBike on Drums, now both in Basses Loaded) were nice enough to hand these off to present to you for your way-back machine listening pleasure.

The two tracks, both untitled, reveal an evolving Kants that were nevertheless keeping a high level of fidelity to their signature sound. At over six and a half minutes, the first track is their longest ever, one that finds itself starting with the requisite burst of energy and tightness, but eventually dialing things back a bit before crescendoing into a Spiritualizedesque free-freak only to emerge into a slow groove unlike anything they’ve ever done before. We dig it.

Untitled Two, tempo-wise, is also a departure. It’s not hard to imagine this song on This Book is Deadly, but played much much faster. The riff is catchy, and again, we’re tempted to use the word groove. More than anything it makes us miss the heady days of 2003-5. Good Times. Enjoy the flashback.

MP3: The Kants - Untitled One
MP3: The Kants - Untitled Two