Kind of Like Spitting

As someone who lived through the sixties, I was intrigued when my 20 year old son listed this CD on his holiday wish list. I found the songs and performances as enjoyable as I did when I first heard them 40 years ago and I'm sure Mr. Ochs would be thrilled that his songs were still being played and honored. Kind of Like Spitting brings a freshness & relevancy to this body of work.

I wholeheartedly disagree with the review below.
I think Phil Ochs would be proud and honered to know that a guy like Ben Barnett has covered his songs. He stands for the same political and moral ideals that Ochs did and looks up to him as a huge inspiration. This album is excellent. I'd give this ten stars if I could.

Phil Ochs was a moral & artistic genius. And to see his efforts brought this low, is a travesty beyond recall. I highly recommend Mr Ochs and many of the other fine artists covering his songs. But try to stay away from these guys.

Hitting the space somewhere between 2000's You Secretly Want Me Dead and 2005's In the Red, The Thrill of the Hunt is the quintessential Kind of Like Spitting record. It is lush, quiet, honest, and notably humble. Songwriter Ben Barnett maintains an unmatched level of genuine authenticity and artistic vision here. Conor Oberst can't touch this, how could he? A musician only matches this honesty by making the ultimate sacrifice, commercial viability for artistic vision.

I agree with the previous reviewer who recommended starting with this album; if you like this you will love his more divergent and raw tracks. If you like what you hear and Barnett's style of music clicks with you, you WILL be overcome by his vast and expansive discography. 100 Dollar Room, Old Moon in the Arms of the New, In the Red, they are all something special.

Ben Barnett - you have that thing.. . well, those things. That voice, that talent and that barrier that protects you from letting any outside influences of the current taint your style. Normally just a guy and a guitar (electric or acoustic) - on these 13 tracks (including fantastic covers of material by Big Star & others).

If you are just getting started with KoLS - go ahead and start here (a companion album, 'In The Red', was released on HUSH) - but find '$100 Room' as soon as you can.

theres not much i can say about this great album. every song has a different mood, different instruments, and different (greatness?). nice job on this one ben. this is clearly some of your best work.

This is by far the most consistently enjoyable KOLS record. The fact that it is ostensibly a collection of demos belies the strength of these songs and their cohesiveness as a collection. Here we find Ben's voice more controlled, the melodies stronger, the lyrics more resonant. The acoustic tracks, 23C in particular, are Ben's most mature works to date; the more anthemic, electric tunes rise to emotional heights not seen before, either. If you go for heart-on-your-sleeve singer-songwriter indie-folk/rawk confessionals, you really cannot beat this.

every song on here is a paragon of indie rock songwriting. clever songs about mid-20's love (complicated, long distance, open-ended), christmas misery, and post-college pre-adulthood confusion. beautifully orchestrated, sometimes with acoustic guitar, wild distortion, farfisa, keyboards ... and sometimes it's just him. get this album and you'll fall in love with it. and if you don't, odds are you'll know somebody who will and you can just pass it on to them to make their life complete.

One of the few albums that I can truely say is flirting with perfection. Ben's words cover everything that I have felt but have'nt had the courage or the passion to write down. The music is beautiful and it will change the way you look at all other albums you own.

One of those bands I discovered on my own just surfing the net looking for a new sound. My girlfriend had just left me and this was just the type
of music I needed to hear. The words are so whiney at times, I LOVE IT!! I wish more artists would be as open and emotional as Ben is, but then again, no I don't. This album is "the catch of a lifetime."

ben barnett is the man, and the song sex ruins everything is enough to make you never want to be in love again. also the cover of "little time bomb" is really upsetting, in a good way.

Kind of Like Spitting is one of the most intense life shows I've been to. Ben radiates more emotion on stage than most musicians could dream of. This is one of their most rocking albums. A masterpiece.

really the only way to describe this album is brilliance. i admit, when i first heard this album i was only used to the old acoustic simple stuff, which i loved (i somehow missed that this album had been released until 2 years after its release), i had those common "sell-out" thoughts, but after listening to it over and over again, i realized how brilliant and amazing this album is. the music itself is great, and the lyrics, as always are brilliant, honest and of course really brilliant. all of KOLS's lyrics are honest, which is really a refreshing change from really almost any music.

Having first heard Kind of Like Spitting 6 months ago, I am still blown away by the musical genius that is the man behind KOSP; Ben Barnett. Bridges Worth Burning is an amazing album and obviously kosp's most solidly structured full length to date. First heard this album at a party, where as it seemed to be, the clever thing to simply name drop unique and interesting bands. After dropping my few and (pinback, related) I confidently subsided any attempts of actually indulging myself in any of my peers choices. That is until a friend maniacally forced me to listen. Thankfully his taste easily transcends mine, and as they say the rest is history. Kind of Like Spitting is an amazing band that deserves all the recognition in the world. Thankfully that will not happen. My advice to you is check it out, and feel wonderful knowing that you are one of the few who's ears have come across such musical mastery. Ben Barnett is a musical genius. For fans of Death Cab For Cutie, Bright Eyes, Modest Mouse, and Ugly Casanova. Fans of Elliott Smith and Tom Waits might want to try his older stuff. Recommend 'Nothing Makes Sense Without It'.

i bought this album after it was recommended to me by a record store owner. i had never heard of them before. the cd is excellent, kind of a Cursive meets Harvey Danger type sound. the only fault is that it gets a little slow towards the last few tracks. i recommend it to anyone and everyone.

I'm not going to lie, this is one good album. In fact, I would wager that this is Kind of Like Spitting's best, it's a good medium between the overly busy "Bridges Worth Burning" and the sparsely populated "You Secretly Want Me Dead." Again, the lyrical content of this CD is quite similiar to the rest of Kind of Like Spitting's body of work: brooding, cynical, depressed, and whiny. Altogether it's music to bum you out (If thats what you're into, you are in luck). I must give their leading man (Ben Barnett) some credit though, he is quite apt at spanning the entire spectrum of sadness, from playfully jaded in "1330 Oak 1995" to painfully on the brink of tears in "Blue Period". With clever lyrics such as "so cute you give me a headache" and wonderful violin accompaniment as in "Birds of a Feather" this CD is not to be missed, its melancholy is addictive.

i'm not usually a person that can listen to mellow music for more than a few minutes at a time, but this cd has me captured through the entire thing. it's addictive for me, and it has it's own ambiance to it. give it a try, you won't be able to stop listening to it.

This will make you cry and you're not ready to stop... Great emotional material. This band rocks in a smooth sexual way...

Ever since I bought this CD it has never left my cd player in my car. I am not going to lie to you and say that they got me through any problems or anything , but it is just really good music played by really good musicians. There is nothing bad about this cd, everyone needs to own this. These guys(and gals) really know what music is and what its all about.

Lance emailed me and said, "hey 5k, can we put on a show at your house?" My answer, "sure". Three weeks and a heck of alot of flyering later, Kind Of Like Spitting played in my parent's garage apartment. Now, I had never heard them before and when I asked I was always told something involving "accoustic" and "Braid". Little did I expect to be swept away as much as I did by the raw emotion, the involving story telling, and the absolute empathetic heartache you get each time Ben Barnett opens his mouth. And little did I expect to be absolutely chamred by Mr. Barnett himself. This album is perfect when you are happy, when you are sad, when you are tired, when you are wide awake, when you're all alone, or if you've got someone by your side. It's coming from the same place you are, you're not really that punk anymore and no one really understands the difference like Ben Barnett does.

Ben of Kind of Like Spitting paints the picture of rainy afternoons, heartache and empty apartments with this release. This bare bones, often overlooked, classic is worth owning simply for the track 'Your Favorite Actor.' There are a number of great acoustic and clean tone songs along with a handful of emotional outbrust. Tear your heart out and lay it all out, what are you waiting for?

I felt the need to review this because no one else has, and this cd has been around for quite awhile. Kind Of Like Spitting, on this cd basically just Ben Barnett, is the most wonderfully prolific band i can think of. On this, one of the first albums, the songs absolutely strike a nerve, I sometimes resist telling people about this band because they seem like my own little secret, and I have a feeling all of their fans feel the same way. I recommend finding the newer cds "old moon in the arms of the new" and the amazing "100 dollar room" If you are into indie rock, you cant do any better than KOLS.