Blain's Kids

"The Legend of" CDR

Self-released

Genres: indie rock, lo-fi, college rock

Sep 22 - 28 2003

Lo-fi college rock is the name of the game with Blain's Kids, who create short, poorly recorded (yet endearingly so) tunes about the old Nintendo game, The Legend of Zelda.  As can be predicted, The Legend of Blain's Kids ranges in quality track by track, although they prove that they can create some pretty good melody when they want to.

Opener "Leever" is one of the highlights of this disc; it's a catchy, memorable tune with an irresistible minor-key chorus.  "Lynel" is also a strong tune, with a low-key melody and another very pleasant chorus.

That isn't to say everything about this album is great.  Some of the songs aren't nearly as catchy as those examples (tunes like "Pols-voice/Wall Master" and "Bubble, Fairy, Zol and Zel" shouldn't even be songs) and often the DIY recording renders the songs lifeless and ugly-sounding.  And that's ugly in the bad way.  This isn't a full album of songs, but rather a collection of tracks, some good and some not, that could have been pared down to an EP with no loss of quality.

There is talent here, but it isn't as concentrated as it should be.

70%

Matt Shimmer

[Vitals: 12 tracks, distributed by the band]