https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

Big Kizz Premiere Video for “Long Distance Call”; Music is Magic out May 18

Posted in Bootleg Theater on May 9th, 2018 by JJ Koczan

big kizz

A lot of Big Kizz‘s Tee Pee Records debut LP, Music is Magic, is kind of a party. From the goofy recitations of the album’s name that serve as the 19-second intro/title-track to the hooked-laced surf-garage vibes of “I Want My Girl,” to the post-punk fuzz r-a-w-ness of “Lose My Love” and the ultra-Stooges incantations of “Gave up Tears Ago” and “High” (the latter more in the vein of the self-titled, so right on) and the noisy Bikini Kill cover “Rebel Girl,” there’s an underlying current of energy running through the material. Hell, even “I Hate R’n’R” — the lyrics for which are jaded brilliance — is uptempo. And while I won’t say it’s void of energy, because it’s not, there’s one exception to the rule; one standout cut that defies how the rest of its surroundings work on the 11-song/31-minute full-length. It’s the centerpiece and it’s called “Long Distance Call.”

Think of Music is Magic as a night of drinking in a crowded bar. It’s loud with music playing and the volume of conversations rising to match, and you’ve been downing whatever for however long. Then there’s that moment where everything seems to slow down around you. I’m not talking about the room-spinnies — that’s a whole different kind of night — but maybe you see someone or you hear somebody say even just a word thatbig kizz music is magic puts you in a different place from where you were 30 seconds ago. You stay there for a little bit, dwell on it for, again, however long, and then snap to consciousness, jump back into whatever your friends are talking about, and the night resumes the boozy course on which it was originally set. That’s what “Long Distance Call” is to Music is Magic. It’s that moment of clarity, realization, or maybe just quiet. Whatever it is, it’s there, then gone. There goes your heart again.

The bluesy vocal performance from guitarist Pontus Westman has to be specifically pointed out. If he couldn’t carry it, the song would fall completely flat, and it absolutely doesn’t. As much as the word around Big Kizz‘s 2017 debut EP, Eye on You (review here), had to do with the participation in Big Kizz of former Graveyard drummer Axel Sjöberg and John Hoyles of Spiders and formerly of Witchcraft — the latter of whom might be out of the band at this point and replaced by Johannes Conquist? it’s not exactly clear — it’s Westman who pulls “Long Distance Call” together, and over the course of the ultra-catchy “I Want My Girl,” the Örebro-meets-Detroit “Baby Boy” and the German-language closer “Legalt,” he proves to be a significant forward presence alongside his bandmates in the power trio.

I tend to say this when I think it applies, but if “Long Distance Call” is the first you’re hearing of Music is Magic be aware that its wistful melancholy and romantic hopelessness don’t speak for the album as a whole. In fact, if the point hasn’t been made yet, the song is basically one of a kind from Big Kizz thus far. All the more reason to dig it.

Music is Magic is out May 18 on Tee Pee Records and available now to preorder. The band has an awesome quote under the video below, so make sure you check that out and then hit up the links and so on.

Please enjoy:

Big Kizz, “Long Distance Call” official video premiere

Big Kizz on “Long Distance Call”:

For your sake, dear listener, we really hope you’ve been in love? At least once. That way, it’s much easier for you to relate this this heartbreaking ballad. The feeling we’re trying to evoke here is one which most of you are all to familiar with. Your beliefs about true love have become kind of jaded, even though you know yourself enough to know that you’re gonna fall helplessly in love again, when you get the right glare from across the room. You’re a sucker for love and you know it. And you also know that there’s a chance that one of the parties involved might fuck it up even though it seems promising. And you were just getting comfortable in your new apartment, you got buddies and have an easy life that you don’t really wanna fuck with too much. But it’s love that’s at stake here. And there’s also the issue of trusting someone else with something as fragile as your heart (for poetic reasons we assume that this is the location of your clusterfuck of emotions). But it’s love. Love has got a hold of you. You poor sucker. Enjoy the ride!

Big Kizz is:
drummer Axel Sjöberg (ex-Graveyard)
bassist John Hoyles (Spiders, ex-Witchcraft)
vocalist/guitarist Pontus Westman (Lady Banana)
bassist Johannes Cronquist

Big Kizz on Thee Facebooks

Big Kizz on Instagram

Big Kizz preorder at Tee Pee Records

Tee Pee Records on Thee Facebooks

Tags: , , , , ,