Engine Kid - Heater Sweats Nails b/w Husk

It is safe to say that Engine Kid are one of my favorite bands and this is arguably my favorite of their releases.  They are the most interesting of Greg Anderson's bands.  I've had a long relationship with Engine Kid that unfortunately started right after they broke up.  I picked up the split album with Iceburn.  Being a huge Iceburn fan and never having heard of Engine Kid I wasn't too sure what to expect but their half totally blew me away.  I then proceeded to track down everything I could find.  Their earlier releases show quite a bit of Slint worship but they quickly morphed into a much heavier and varied band using the "loud-quiet-loud" template to push the loud louder and the quiet quieter while incorporating other textures and sounds to great effect.  It reached its pinnacle with their last album Angel Wings.  If you are looking for a place to start with Engine Kid, that album is it.  If you are looking for a guide to how that record sounds, this 7" here is like Angel Wings condensed into two tracks.

The Heater Sweats Nails/Husk 7" is the final Engine Kid release.  It was put out by Troubleman in '95.  The a side is probably their heaviest track and shows how far they had come from their first release just a couple of years prior.  The opening riff is as heavy as a really heavy thing.  The rest of the track is just an aural pummeling.  The b side is exactly the opposite.  It is a beautiful, relaxed instrumental propelled by quiet yet driving drums.  Engine Kid does both heavy and soft so well, usually in the same song.  I quite like the juxtaposition of these tracks and feel it is a little microcosm of their total output.

Added as a bonus is the song "A Quinn Martin Production" that is on the Angel Wings LP but not the CD.  It's a quick, heavy little instrumental just over a minute long.  It's a good, if not totally necessary track but if you check out Angel Wings on CD, it would be good to have on there. 

Engine Kid - Heater Sweats Nails b/w Husk

Now if only someone could get Engine Kid to reform so I can see them...