Kyle & The 8-Minute Miles – Kyle & The 8-Minute Miles
Kyle & The 8-Minute Miles (K&T8MM) is an Orlando, FL-based garage rock act who mix gritty and raw production with fun, and smartly melodic compositions. Falling somewhere on the spectrum between nerdy-but-articulate emo rockers like Modern Baseball or Mom Jeans and the fuzzed-out cacophony of bands like WAVVES or FIDLAR, their latest album, a self-titled affair, is a 10-song exploration of chunky, guitar-driven songs that are full of cuss words, self-hatred, and more than a few sugary melodies that find themselves worming their way into your brain.
The album kicks off with a four-on-the-floor drumbeat that explodes into a wall of guitar feedback. Right away, Kyle & co. put their best feet forward (which may explain their respectable eight minute mile time) with “Despair,” pairing fun and extra-rhythmic vocals with tasty melodies. The guitars here are grungy as all get out – sounding almost atonal at times, but never losing that wonderful Weezerish quality that makes songs from this genre so palatable. The lead guitar work here is an important hallmark of their sound too – it’s as carefully crafted as the vocal melodies (particularly the wild shredding around the two minute mark) and serves as the much-needed foil to the onslaught of words jam-packed into each of these songs. The crew keeps things consistent on song two, “That’s My Story (And I’m Sticking To It),” which feels a bit more punky in nature, but never sacrifices earworm quality for overt punk cred.
That’s not to say K&T8MM aren’t here to have a good time – “Drug Song!” is an… “exploration” of sound and what could truly be considered a “song.” “I like doing drugs, they give me the giggles!” is as honest of a declaration as I’ve ever heard – before the band devolves into a collage of glockenspiel, assorted pots and pans, and someone’s cheek being rattled against their teeth in an aptly vulgar display. They sardonically follow “Drug Song!” with “***ANTI-WEED PSA***” where they pledge allegiance to the bong of the United Stoners of America and blaze sticky nugs. Hell yeah.
Beyond the IDGAF attitude, there’s actually a lot of great songwriting to be found on Kyle & The 8-Minute Miles. Album highlight “In My Dreams” pairs pop progressions and big melodies with their trademark self-hating lyrics – stanzas like “I’d rather gut my stomach clean that see your name flash on my screen” ring true as the song fades out into a pretty piano outro. Similarly, the super tight riffing and ear-catching chord choices of follow-up song “Nobody Hates Me (Like I Do)” lend themselves perfectly to K&T8MM’s self-deprecating lyrical content. “Complicated” laments that “you can see the neighbors watching porn on their TV” and having bad dreams about a significant other kissing someone they hate – done perfectly, of course, over crunchy power chord goodness. Lastly, don’t miss the nimble bassline on “Head On Straight” either – one of the standout instrumental moments across these 10 garage-y nuggets.
Kyle & The 8-Minute Miles is out as of January 18th, 2025. Check it out below via bandcamp, or, add it to your favorite Spotify or Apple Music playlists. Check out all the other cool Kyle-related stuff going on via their Linktree as well.
Categorised in: Album Reviews
This post was written by Nick Sessanna