Entry #87: Kaki King - Until We Felt Red

2007 was the year that introduced me to the virtuoso that is Kaki King.  I'd just moved into a new flat, walking distance from where I worked and walking distance from everything else I might have needed.  Life was good.  :)

I was doing lots of DJ'ing as well as gigs performing my own music, and on weekdays after work, I'd get home, roll a spliff and either play video games, make tunes or spend the evening on the internet, checking out new music.  Of course, being 2007, MySpace was all the rage, and to this day, I still look back on that site (quaint as it may seem now) with a measure of fondness.  It wasn't perfect, but for people like me who made music or wished to seek out new sounds, it was something of a godsend.

When I wasn't uploading my own stuff to my page, I'd click through other pages of bands and artists that caught my eye.  Typically, an intriguing thumbnail was enough to pique my interest, and I'd visit the page and listen to the tunes on offer.  I found lots and lots of really cool stuff that way, made lots of connections with other artists (including a few remixes and by-proxy collaborations), and discovered a wealth of new music.

So yes, you already know where this is going: Kaki King was one of the artists I discovered through the platform back in its day.  I still recall that evening now, sitting in the dark of my bedroom, bathed in the glow of my laptop, headphones over my ears and nicely buzzed.  I can't remember the page I was on, but amongst the list of friends for that particular artist was a thumbnail of a woman's face covered in tendrils of red thread.  It caught my eye, so I clicked.  The first song I played on her page was the song you see below and it totally moved me.  I was already in a state that made me more receptive to music, but I was genuinely impressed and listened to every track on the page.  'Red' was her most recent album at the time so most of the songs were taken from that, and based on what I'd heard, I knew I just had to get a copy, and that's exactly what I did.

I played that album a lot that year and beyond; she blended her obvious virtuosity with actual songwriting in a way that really hit home with me.  Of course, I soon followed this with her previous albums and enjoyed those too, but this is the album that has stayed with me because as a first discovery, and, when combined with the nostalgia from the time I first heard it, makes the music even more special for me.

Since then, I've seen King live twice and have picked up everything she's gone on to release.  I even met her briefly after a show in 2015 but forgot to mention how much of an impact this particular record had on me.  It's probably just as well, to be honest, I might've sounded all gushy, and that's never a good look.

                                               Kaki King : You Don't Have to Be Afraid

Entry #86: Burial - Untrue

The Burial zeitgeist initially passed me by.  I remember lots of hype around his first album in particular, but the bits I heard left me cold and I failed to see what all the fuss was about.  However, fellow last.fm user encouraged me to give Burial's music another chance as he was confident that, given my tastes, it would be something I'd like.  So, I gave Burial another go.

Around the same time, I was frequenting a friend's flat where a group of us would gather, listen to music, play video games, drink beer and get high etc.  Typical guy stuff, basically.  Said friend and his then flatmate were both big into Burial, so his music would inevitably figure its way into our sessions, and it was there and then that I finally got it.

Even so, the album I have the most affinity towards is this, the second.  Whilst the first record is also good, I just like this one more.  Its the skilful fusing of two-step Garage beats with his characteristically ghostly, abstract electronic glitter that appeals, and the perpetually nocturnal atmosphere Burial's music generally evokes.

I love listening to this late at night, walking the empty streets with it on my earphones.  I feel like a ghost haunting the sleeping streets of the city; alive in the moment of pure solitude and indestructible tranquillity.  It's almost Zen-like.

Oh, and I absolutely LOVE the song below.  Again, late at night on the streets with not a soul around, it's the best thing ever.

                                                             Burial : Etched Headplate

Enrty #85: Bohren and der Club of Gore - Dolores

Sometime in 2009, I heard Bohren for the first time.  I don't remember how they crossed my path, but I suspect it may have been via last.fm.  My first album was 'Sunset Mission' whose smooth, film-noir Jazz was just the sort of thing I'd always wanted to listen to more of, but I never knew where to look.  The album served as a great introduction and whet my appetite for more.  'Dolores' (which was the previous album), was my second foray into that black and white detective movie world Bohren's music conjured, only this time the music was slower, thicker and even more portentous.  Something about the feel of this record immediately grabbed me.

One of the things I love about 'Dolores' the most is the sound of its drums: they are sparse and infrequent but hit with an almost primal, gut-wrenching intensity.  The kicks thud like a very slow heartbeat and the spaces between the snares feel like yawning chasms.  Another thing I love is the sheer heaviness of the record, which is delivered through the thick as molasses pacing and the almost suffocating, doom-like atmosphere.  Make no mistake, this is not the heaviness of metal (there's not a single note of guitar on the entire album); Bohren's density is subtle, deceptive, but no less powerful.

                                              Bohren and der Club of Gore : Black Maija

Entry #84: Antipop Consortium - Arrhythmia

I have to admit, when I first heard Antipop Consortium, I wasn't impressed.

Fortuitously, I found 'Tragic Epilogue' going cheap in a charity shop.  I bought it, and whilst I appreciated their experimental approach, it didn't grab me as much as I had hoped, so I quickly sold it on.  I never really gave APC any further thought after that until I heard 'Human Shield' on a late night radio show, but it was enough to rejuvenate my interest, and soon after, I made a point of picking up 'Arrhythmia'.

On first listen, I was blown away by the sheer freshness of the record.  I loved their combination of experimental electronica techniques and hip-hop and wondered why there wasn't more of this.  The rhymes were also unlike anything traditionally being served up by a lot of rap music at the time, and whilst APC weren't the only emcees veering off the beaten track, they did what they did with style, flair and precision.  To me, it was like verbal ninjitsu.  Beans I could take or leave, but both M Sayid and High Priest blew me away with their bars.

Sometime after the release of APC's 3rd album 'Fluorescent Black', I  revisited 'Tragic Epilogue' and found myself enjoying it a lot more the second time around, but 'Arrhythmia' has stayed with me largely because I consider it to be their most consistent and rounded album.  Whilst the rhyming across all three albums is of comparable quality, 'Arrhythmia' benefits from being leaner (the other two could really do with some editing...) and having better beats overall.

All in all, I consider 'Arrhythmia' to be an exceptional record, one that treats hip-hop as an artform rather than a pantomime, and it will always stay with me for that reason.

                                                 Antipop Consortium : Dead in Motion

Entry #83: Oval - Systemisch

I first became aware of Oval (Markus Popp) sometime around the turn of the millennium.  However, it was not until I played the fantastic Rez in 2001 and unlocked the bonus 'Trance Mission' stage, that I actually heard any of his music.  As I played, abstract soundscapes spilled out of my speakers to accompany the bleeding colours and wireframe visuals.  I didn't really know what to make of it all at first if I'm being honest.  As part of an unlockable bonus stage in a video game, it worked, but I wasn't sure if it was something I wanted to listen to.  A bit later on, I had a chance to listen to some Oval properly, starting with '94 Diskont', which I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would, but it was this album that really made me a fan.

If you don't already know, Popp's creations are the result of him scratching CDs and then playing back and sampling the results, which are then arranged and reinterpreted into his compositions.  For me, the way he tempers and tames the chaos of dissonance and bends it to his will is very similar to what Sonic Youth do; the only real difference being the toolset:  Sonic Youth manipulate guitars whilst Popp manipulates the digital glitches of damaged optical media.

So yes, 'Systemisch' was an immediately compelling listen: ostensibly, the coldly digital clicks and glitches generated from skipped CDs are the very definition of inorganic, but the humanity is apparent in the arrangements, and therein lies both the fascination and beauty.

In short, I love this record because of the unique manner in which Popp crafts digital noise and the way it subverts what music can be, electronic or otherwise.  And for precisely that reason, it has left a lasting impression on me.

                                                                      Oval : Mediaton

Entry #82: Tool - Lateralus

I was about 16 when I first heard of Tool.  It was around the time their first album 'Undertow' had dropped.  A friend from school had the album on cassette, and I was fascinated by the cover, which resembled a red-hued, holographic rib cage; intuitively, I knew this was no ordinary "metal" band.  I persuaded him to let me borrow the tape so I could copy it, and my knowings were readily confirmed.

The band Tool would later become was still in formation, but this was a different type of metal.  The atmosphere their music invoked was somewhere between playfully unsettling and "arty" (though not pretentious), the usual metal cliches almost entirely absent (no aggressive posturing, or cartoonish appeals to gore or the diabolical).  One of the things that stood out the most was vocalist Maynard James Keenan's voice.  Pretty much every fan of Tool (and Maynard's other bands) talks about his voice so I won't go into it too much, but there is a reason why it is so celebrated.  The range is staggering: a smooth, serpentine croon at one moment, suddenly exploding into a spiteful, caustic yell, Keenan's tones never fail to burrow emotional contours.  His voice, not so much something you hear as feel.

Around '96 I heard 'Aenima' for the first time and loved it straight away.  By this point, their sound had developed even further, as had the songwriting.  Keenan was on top form as always, but it was here that I really started to notice drummer Danny Carey as well.  To this day, he remains one of my favourite drummers owing to his work with the band.

Fast forward about 9 years, I found myself on an internet forum (remember those?) for games, films and music.  In the music folder, we would create "mixtapes", upload them to a file transfer site and post them on the forum.  Other denizens would then download and critique.  It was a good way of sharing and discovering new music.  And it was through this that I first encountered the song 'Lateralus' by Tool from the album of the same name.

By this point, I hadn't listened to any Tool in earnest for some time, but hearing 'Lateralus' immediately reawakened my interest in the band.  The song was a 9-minute epic journey that in many ways put expression to how I felt as I stood at my own spiritual crossroad.  So, after playing the song a lot for many weeks, I wanted to hear the rest of the album, so I picked it up.  This was around 2005, a good 4 years after the initial release.

'Lateralus' didn't grab me the way the previous two albums did on first listen.  It took a few plays before the songs really galvanised, but once they did, the record opened itself up to me in a big way.  Without a doubt, I consider this album to be their most complete and accomplished work.  To my mind, it is a spiritual album, a work with many layers and hidden depths that I still find myself uncovering now.  It came to me during a personal low point (as touched upon briefly in other entries) but was somewhat instrumental in lifting me out.  That process of transformation and rebirth was long and it was painful, but it was entirely necessary, and 'Lateralus' was my companion through it all.  The song 'Reflection' particularly spoke to me at that 11th hour as lyrically, it seemed to both represent where I was offered a way out of that darkness, but every song on this record has spoken to me in some way or another on this journey.

So yes, this is why I consider 'Lateralus' an all-time favourite.  To me, it's more than just an album; it is a device, it is a Tool.

                                                                   Tool : Lateralus