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Kinski Music Player
Avg 3.06 / 5
Total of 20 votes
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Last update: 10 Jul 2008 01:32 AM
Account: AltPremium
Location: Seattle, Washington
Signed up: 11/03/04 05:45:25
Members: Lucy Atkinson - bass : Chris Martin - guitar, vocals : Matthew Reid Schwartz - guitar : Barrett Wilke - drums : Dave Weeks - drums on recordings to date
Genre: A (mostly...) instrumental rock quartet from Seattle
Influences:
AltSounds URL:http://www.altsounds.com/Kinski
Website: http://www.kinski.net/
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Biography
The first song on Kinski's new full-length record, Airs Above Your Station, opens with undulating waves of controlled organ feedback blending, harmonizing, rising and falling back onto itself. First one and then another layer of flute is introduced, creating a serene sense of drifting, buoyant in a benevolent, enveloping sea of sound. A gentle bed of guitars follows. Then, at about five minutes in, some buzzing distortion surfaces, cresting and passing through, making a direct line between the ears. Maybe a bit worrisome? And that's when the kick drum and crash cymbal gang up with a distortion pedal and split your head open. Steve's Basement, it's called. Consider it an introduction and a statement of purpose.
Kinski is a (mostly...) instrumental rock quartet from Seattle. By turns melodic, swelling, roaring, propulsive, spare, and delicate, Kinski walks the margins of avant-rock with nods to Krautrock and a penchant for noisy psychedelia. And, they're certainly of a musical tradition, synthesizing influences from Neu! and Can, to Spacemen 3 and My Bloody Valentine, to Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo, to High Rise and Fushitsusha. The band self-released their first album, SpaceLaunch for Frenchie, in 1999 as a three-piece: guitar, bass and drums (courtesy of Chris Martin, Lucy Atkinson and Dave Weeks, respectively). In early 2000, the band added Matthew Reid-Schwartz on guitar and 2001's Be Gentle with the Warm Turtle (released via Pacifico Recordings) shows the four hitting a new stride. Seattles The Stranger commented, Highly emotive and aggressive, the aural rushes Kinski generates are unlike those of any other band currently playing in Seattle. Kinski routinely stupefies audience members with its passion and overarching force. And, Alternative Press weighed in with, The disc makes one of the few strong arguments against the claim that rock is dead. AP later dubbed Kinski one of their 100 Bands to Watch for 2002. The website fakejazz.com put it a bit more succinctly: "Kinski is fucking massive."
And they've spent their fair share of time in the van too. Kinski has toured with Hovercraft, Silkworm, Acid Mother's Temple (both in the US and in Japan), played packed rooms at the CMJ New Music Festival, Terrastock IV and V, and South by Southwest. They headline sold-out shows regularly at home in Seattle, and share bills with like-minded bands, such as Bardo Pond, Mouse on Mars, Black Dice and Mono (Japan). All of which is lucky for us, because Kinski is electrifying live: a lockgroove, hypnotic rhythm section surrounded, intertwined and metamorphosed by guitar dynamics. Theirs is an exercise in sonic tension and release; variations and explorations on themes more typically attributed to jazz artists; guitar texture and wash more easily described in visual terms. But, they're indisputably a rock band and their appeal is at least as visceral as cerebral. We're here to get our ya-yas (and/or yo-yos...) out, not our slide-rules.
In Spring 2002 Kinski recorded their third album, working again with producer Kip Beelman. Shortly after recording the new record, drummer Barrett Wilke took over the drum stool and proved his mettle with a festival highlight set at Terrastock V, and subsequent tour home with Acid Mothers Temple. Long a big staff favorite, Sub Pop jumped at the opportunity to work with Kinski. And, the new record bears out this enthusiasm, speaking volumes almost entirely without words, and providing a highly evocative soundtrack for whatever your mode of transportation or transcendence.
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