Owls

Let's turn the clock back all the way to 2001 and revisit a band that I liked at the time, forgot about, and recently rediscovered: Owls. This is a band that features the Kinsella brothers from Illinois. Tim is best known as the singer of Joan of Arc and Mike records under the moniker Owen (and before that, American Football.) They also played together in Cap'n Jazz, a short-lived band that indie critics absolutely love to namedrop.

Anyway, Tim is notoriously erratic and inconsistent in his output. He performed one of the worst shows I've ever seen in my life at the Empty Bottle in the spring of Senior Year. TexPlush knows this-- he was there. Kinsella arrived drunk and spent most of his time playing with a volume pedal and cussing out fans who started heckling him after he'd gone 10 minutes without playing an actual song. Ringing endorsement, right?

But that side of Tim doesn't get out on the Owls record because everything his kid bro Mike touches turns to gold. So this album, which features Tim on vocals and Mike on drums, is really solid and brings out my favorite aspects of the brothers' music. Also recommended is anything Mike records as Owen or American Football.