Many times I'd seen the garish cover of Vermont rocker King Tuff's 2012 eponymous Sub Pop debut, but I never took the plunge to find out what it sounded like. A friend working at my neighborhood record store had it on one day and I was taken by its catchy, scrappy pop tunes. King Tuff (Kyle Thomas) is now on his third "official" album, not counting his debut CD-R and a live disc on Third Man Records, and I'm just now catching up. This is the most fun I've had with a newer artist in quite some time; it reminds me of my excitement with the first Supergrass record way back in 1995. This has been in my racks waiting to be played for over a year; just last night I bought the live album, and it won't be long before I have the rest of Tuff's stuff.
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Bo12: In this performance, King Tuff's vocal is but a pale, pale representation of the studio cut, where the power of the vocal drives the entire song. But even though, this band still rocks the room. Stick with it. After the first verse, it starts to build and then becomes a great pleasure.