Shiner "Making Love E.P." (Anodyne)
By Lucas Salg
Friday. Apr 13, 1:42 PM
Rare EP from my favorite band reissued.

If I start getting into why Shiner are and will probably always be my favorite band, I’m gonna wind up writing a novel, so I’ll try to keep it short here. Suffice to say that despite being primarily remembered as a cerebral “math-rock” band – a fucking injustice if there ever was one – Shiner actually created some of the most emotionally satisfying and deeply affecting rock and roll ever committed to tape. Sure, they could (and often did) play in time signatures that made your head spin, but they also could write amazing melodies, brilliantly structured songs and produced four of the most solid, creative, and flawless albums ever made by dudes with musical instruments. This is not up for debate, okay? Shiner fucking destroy.

The recently reissued Making Love E.P. – while not necessarily the best place to start for the uninitiated – provides five songs and 23 minutes of evidence as to why exactly their particular brand of rock works so well. First off, they absolutely shred live. The EP kicks off with four songs from the band’s earlier era, before the more detailed sonic explorations of their late-career albums. Being quite familiar with the album versions of these songs, I can safely say that I’ve rarely, if ever, heard a band pull off their material live as well as Shiner do on this EP. The band rock so hard it feels like your speakers are going to melt, and they tear through these four songs with equal parts brains, heart, and balls. The blistering version of the classic Lula Divinia closer “Cake” is just absolutely, pants-shittingly amazing. Jason Gerken’s drumming is untouchable and it’s really a shame he hasn’t found another band that utilizes his abundant skills so well.

Then the band show a whole different side of their persona with the title track, a cover of the awesomely bad Bad Company gem “Making Love.” If ever a band could take a song like that and make it a winner, it’s Shiner, and they work their magic all over this thing. Guitarist/vocalist Allen Epley gives the song unsettling but gorgeous Police-like harmonies and turns the whole thrust of the song from a sleazy come-on to a disturbingly desperate plea for human contact: Epley sounds a like a guy who doesn’t just feel like makin’ love, he absolutely has to or his whole lower half will explode. The verses simmer and seethe, dripping with tension, and are perfectly complemented by the explosive chorus. All members of the band turn in amazing performances. It remains one of the highlights of Shiner’s catalog.

Anyway, if you ever were a fan of this sorely underrated band, you need this shit right now. God bless Anodyne for making this available again. If you have yet to fall prey to the cult of Shiner, just go get Lula Divinia and The Egg and I promise you, in a matter of days you’ll be searching this little gem out as well.
www.anodynerecords.com

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Lucas Salg

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