Tim/Kerr / Geffen (1996)
Skiploader is a band whose name I remember being kicked around in the 90s, but they weren't a band I had ever spent any time with. In fact, I'm not even positive I ever heard a single song by them back then. One of my buddies, Jason, had mentioned them to me a little ways back and it reminded me to give them another listen. I did, and then I picked up a sealed cutout of their first full length, From Can Through String. It was cheap and sealed, so that was a bonus.
My original expectations were that this would be the sort of slow twinkly emo that was in vogue in 1996. Sad sack music lamenting all of the things wrong with the world. The fact that it was on Geffen should have clued me in that it would need to be more exciting than that, and it is. Skiploader's album is an energetic blast of catchy songs with big, crunchy guitar chords. Is there an emotional undercurrent to the songs? Absolutely, but it's done in a way that makes everything more dynamic and interesting than your by the numbers pop punk band of the era.
In fact, the band this album makes me think about the most as a comparison is actually Seaweed. Both vocalists have the strained, but powerful delivery and the guitar riffage also has moments of similarity. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that Skiploader is quite as good as Seaweed was. Seaweed had an intensity level that Skiploader can't match. But Skiploader is carrying on a similar tradition and this record is way better than I would have figured based on everything I knew about them before actually listening to it.
Skiploader - From Can Through String:
https://skiploader.bandcamp.com/album/from-can-through-string
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