KITBUILDERS Wake Up (World Electric) cd 18.98
After a handful of 12" singles and compilation appearances, "Wake Up" is the much anticipated debut full length from the Cologne-based duo Kitbuilders. Alongside American outfits like Adult. and Fischerspooner, Kitbuilders are at the forefront of the worldwide electro revolution. Equal parts Moroder and Liquid Sky, the duo of Benway and Ripley fluctuate between adrenaline-rush bpm 909 beats, fluttering sci-fi arpeggiations and tense, sinister moodiness. Features three previously released tracks (including one from an Ersatz Audio compilation).
RealAudio clip: "Wake Up"
RealAudio clip: "Disease"

KLANGSTABIL Gioco Bambino (Plate Lunch) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Klangstabil's "Gioco Bambino" finds the duo only using a Nintendo Gameboy with an additional cartridge and a few simple effect boxes. Not at all a whimsical affair, the resulting paranoid electronica is full of increasingly complex post-techno arppegiations, made of those simplistic Nintendo tones and clipped rhythmic stutters. Released on Conrad Schnitzler's Plate Lunch records, but wouldn't be out of place on Raster or 12k.

KLEINE, CHRISTIAN Valis (Morr Music) cd 12.98
About a couple years too late to be fresh, this is an album of downtempo electronica that is strikingly like Boards of Canada -- in that the lush bass beats impart melody while above it the melancholy synths and effects cavort in minor key introspectiveness. Decent, especially if you want more stuff that sounds *like* Boards of Canada.
RealAudio clip: "Accent"

KLIMEK Dedications (Anticipata) cd 15.98
Klimek might just be our favorite practitioner of this stuff known as Pop Ambient. The swirl and shimmer of chill out techno music without the beats. Leaving just gorgeous gaseous whirls of sound that soothe and mesmerize, sprawling expanses of glistening, glimmering gauzy soft focus ambient dreampop.
Most aQ customers are already hip to the whole Pop Ambient thing, we sell tons of the Kompakt Pop Ambient comps, and those collections do tend to work well as albums, just not compilations, the various artists' sonic likemindedness coming through as a series of songs that blend and mesh into each other, offering a woozy late night dreamlike journey through sound.
But there are serious limitations to what a compilation can offer. It's a series of brief glimpses into these sonic worlds the artists create, and more often than not, we want to crawl in and get lost. The recent record from The Field is a great example, maybe the best ambient techno release since the last Gas record, dreamy and bleary and fuzzy sounds wrapped around haunting loops and skipping beats. Not so much heroin house as, as well, maybe ecstasy house. Like laying on dewy grass and watching fluffy white clouds make strange shapes in a cobalt blue sky. But when the sun sets, and the moon comes over the trees, the stars twinkling, that's when Klimek steps in, our own sonic sandman, sprinkling his gritty, granular pixie dust into our ears, sending us drifting into the netherworld between this world and the world of dreams.
While we've loved pretty much every Klimek record, this new one might be the darkest, and best yet. A much bigger focus on the guitar, and consequently the song. Bits of tangled picking, or softly strummed chords, are wreathed in digital buzz, or chopped up and sent skittering like rocks skipping across a pond. The sound is almost more Morr music than Kompakt (which makes sense since this one is NOT on Kompakt). More like one of those pop bands who dip their minor key minimalism in a swirling cauldron of strange hiss and warm thick reverb. But unlike much of that music, the sound here is quite dark, ominous and swirling, tense and intense, moody and cinematic.
The idea behind this disc is pretty unique as well. Each song dedicated to two of Klimek's idols, not always musical, and the two influences don't always seem compatible. But somehow they end up sounding pretty perfect. The source sounds often culled from the works of one or both of the influences. The track dedicated to Mark Hollis and Giacinto Scelsi, takes just the opening chord from one of Hollis's songs, and stretches and smears it into a gauzy midnight drift, soft and sweetly shimmery. The track dedicated to Eugene Chadborne and Henry Kaiser, is the most obtuse, weird little squalls of stuttery guitar and glitchy electronic FX, but they are somehow woven into something warm and beautiful, the edges smoothed, with only brief flashes of the gnarled riffage beneath.
Other tracks are based on / influenced by artists as varied as Kurt Kirkwood, Steven Spielberg, Marvin Gaye and Michael Gira (to name just the ones we've heard of), but those influences are just that, and this isn't any sort of plunderphonic experiment, it's merely Klimek recognizing the artists who have shaped his sonic worldview, and offering up a tribute, as abstract and hazy as that tribute might be. Absolutely stunning.
MPEG Stream: "For Jim Hall & Kurt Kirkwood"
MPEG Stream: "For Eugene Chadborne & Henry Kaiser"
MPEG Stream: "For Mark Hollis & Giacinto Scelsi"

KLIMEK Listen, The Snow Is Falling (Kompakt) 12" 9.98
More absolutely blissy pop ambient lovliness!

KLIMEK Milk & Honey (Kompakt) cd 15.98
None of us here really like "techno" all that much. That's why we were always so attracted to the mutant strains of techno that manage to turn what often to us seems to be vapid, plastic dance music into cool and creepy, murky weirdness. Chain Reaction's brand of so-called "heroin house" for one. And of course Kompakt's beloved minimal thump. That German label's output was however always really close to being just straight up four on the floor house music, but somehow they always found a way to be sonically creative enough to turn their techno into something new and exciting. And then something weird started happening. The folks at Kompakt called it "pop ambient", a new strain of techno that removed the beat from the equation entirely, relying more on thick organic swells and crystalline melodies than beats. Occasionally, those melodies would fragment and shift and loop and form abstract almost-rhythms, but more often than not, notes and chords would just hover, suspended in an ambient ether, humming and vibrating, shimmering and buzzing. Such is the case with this new Klimek record (an artist who had a track on the Pop Ambient 2004 compilation we also made Record Of The Week a little while back). Spare and sparse and elegently gorgeous. The source material sounds like it must be a guitar. But it's as if the notes were extracted one at a time from the guitar. No strumming or fingerpicking. Just the timbre of a steel string vibrating and disturbing the molecules around it. Removed from its natural setting, these notes sound completely alien, althought they remain rich and organic. Klimek takes these notes and drops them delicately into a warm sonic bath, letting them settle next to complimentary notes, some notes dissolving into nothingness, or disturbing the tranquil stillness, sending off gradually decaying sonic ripples. Imagine the abstract glitch-guitar technique of Fennesz, the underwater ambience of Oval, the quiet parts by your favorite post-rock band, all stretched out, melodies pulled apart until, the notes are almost far enough apart that the melody that birthed it is just a shadowy memeory, a sonic trace, leaving a gorgeous and shimmery landscape of sonorous languor.
MPEG Stream: "Milk (edit)"
MPEG Stream: "Honey (edit)"
MPEG Stream: "(Sun)rise (edit)"

KLIMEK Movies Is Magic (Anticipate) cd 16.98
Washed out, hazy, dreamy, shimmery, warm, droney, otherworldly, gauzy, ethereal, all perfectly describe a microgenre we've come to love, called simply Pop Ambient. A techno subgenre, that essentially removed the beats from electronic music, leaving just the shadows, the outlines, the colors, loosed from the stricture of rhythm (for the most part), those colors and moods and textures are free to seep and bleed and drift and vaporize, into whirring soft focus streaks of blurred, almost new age-y ambience. A sound that various other music makers have definitely referenced, Jeck, Tim Hecker, the Fun Years, anyone creating haunting drone music or textured minimalism, will no doubt find themselves drifting into a certain sort of pop ambience. But it seems, that pop ambience has a certain warmth, not quite sunshine-y, but definitely a glow, the imbues the majority of that music with a dreamlike luminescence. While the other folks traffic in something much darker, and while their sound may touch on pop ambience, it remains in the realm of the black, the grey, the sonic underworld.
Weirdly enough, we do find ourselves wondering about a pop ambience that was, well, less glowing, more ominous, something darker and more sinister, that could somehow remain ambient pop, without slipping into something else, into dronemusic, or some sort of minimal noisemusic. Strange that it would come from Klimek, who is responsible for some of the dreamiest prettiest pop ambient music we've heard, but Movies Is Magic, Klimek's 'film music' record, is in fact that rare beast, a gorgeous slab of pop ambience, that seethes with tension and emotion and drama, sure it shimmers and glistens, but it also creeps and hums ominously, drones are layered and pulled taut, melodies are minor key and are wrapped around looped cycling strings, field recordings, voices, organic instruments, all woven into Klimek's constantly mutating noir soundscape.
Gorgeous and haunting, these tracks evoke everyone from Bohren, to Autechre, Philip Jeck to Pole,ÊBarry Adamson to Oval, this record would be a perfect fit for Kompakt if it weren't so dark, or Chain Reaction if there were some beats, instead, it exists in some strange rain soaked constant midnight nether region, the pop dialed way back, as is the ambience, this is anything but placid, or calm, this music is alive, crackling with dark energy, tense, and intense, very evocative and textural and moody. The songs are quite varied, but work perfectly together as a whole. Dark moaning horns surface here and there, Bernard Herrmann strings everywhere, the occasional skittery snare, rubbery bass, everything woven and smeared and layered, woozy and dreamlike, a few of the tracks sound all rural, a bit Morricone-ish and Western, subtly twangy with reverbed harmonica, others drift into flute flecked almost Kitaro sounding new age-y flutter, beneath a murmur of rainfall,Êdisembodied reverbed voices, murky percussion, and hazy looped melodies.
Here and there, the record does get all dubby, with little synth stabs, and careening not-quite beats, all wrapped in whir, and exuding a serious sonic import, sometimes sounding almost sinister, but just as often pulling back into something much more melodic and mysterious, straddling the line between lush drift and blackened beauty.
Movies Is Magic is our new late night chill out drift off soundtrack, and should certainly appeal to folks who like us maybe always fantasized about a little darkness in their ambient drift. And folks into dark drone music, black ambience, and soundtrack music, might find this the perfect gateway to the fuzzy dreamy drifty world of pop ambience.
MPEG Stream: "Abyss of Anxiety (Unfolding the Magic)"
MPEG Stream: "Exposed to Life In It's Brutal Meaninglessness"
MPEG Stream: "Exploding Unbearable Desires"
MPEG Stream: "Tears of Happiness (Dismissed Into Mundanity)"

KLIMEK Movies Is Magic (Extended Version) (Anticipate / Kompakt) lp 17.98
This former Record Of The Week, now available on vinyl, with swank new cover art, and slightly different track list (meaning, not necessarily all the sound samples below are on here, but other things are)...
Washed out, hazy, dreamy, shimmery, warm, droney, otherworldly, gauzy, ethereal, all perfectly describe a microgenre we've come to love, called simply Pop Ambient. A techno subgenre, that essentially removed the beats from electronic music, leaving just the shadows, the outlines, the colors, loosed from the stricture of rhythm (for the most part), those colors and moods and textures are free to seep and bleed and drift and vaporize, into whirring soft focus streaks of blurred, almost new age-y ambience. A sound that various other music makers have definitely referenced, Jeck, Tim Hecker, the Fun Years, anyone creating haunting drone music or textured minimalism, will no doubt find themselves drifting into a certain sort of pop ambience. But it seems, that pop ambience has a certain warmth, not quite sunshine-y, but definitely a glow, the imbues the majority of that music with a dreamlike luminescence. While the other folks traffic in something much darker, and while their sound may touch on pop ambience, it remains in the realm of the black, the grey, the sonic underworld.
Weirdly enough, we do find ourselves wondering about a pop ambience that was, well, less glowing, more ominous, something darker and more sinister, that could somehow remain ambient pop, without slipping into something else, into dronemusic, or some sort of minimal noisemusic. Strange that it would come from Klimek, who is responsible for some of the dreamiest prettiest pop ambient music we've heard, but Movies Is Magic, Klimek's 'film music' record, is in fact that rare beast, a gorgeous slab of pop ambience, that seethes with tension and emotion and drama, sure it shimmers and glistens, but it also creeps and hums ominously, drones are layered and pulled taut, melodies are minor key and are wrapped around looped cycling strings, field recordings, voices, organic instruments, all woven into Klimek's constantly mutating noir soundscape.
Gorgeous and haunting, these tracks evoke everyone from Bohren, to Autechre, Philip Jeck to Pole,ÊBarry Adamson to Oval, this record would be a perfect fit for Kompakt if it weren't so dark, or Chain Reaction if there were some beats, instead, it exists in some strange rain soaked constant midnight nether region, the pop dialed way back, as is the ambience, this is anything but placid, or calm, this music is alive, crackling with dark energy, tense, and intense, very evocative and textural and moody. The songs are quite varied, but work perfectly together as a whole. Dark moaning horns surface here and there, Bernard Herrmann strings everywhere, the occasional skittery snare, rubbery bass, everything woven and smeared and layered, woozy and dreamlike, a few of the tracks sound all rural, a bit Morricone-ish and Western, subtly twangy with reverbed harmonica, others drift into flute flecked almost Kitaro sounding new age-y flutter, beneath a murmur of rainfall,Êdisembodied reverbed voices, murky percussion, and hazy looped melodies.
Here and there, the record does get all dubby, with little synth stabs, and careening not-quite beats, all wrapped in whir, and exuding a serious sonic import, sometimes sounding almost sinister, but just as often pulling back into something much more melodic and mysterious, straddling the line between lush drift and blackened beauty.
Movies Is Magic is our new late night chill out drift off soundtrack, and should certainly appeal to folks who like us maybe always fantasized about a little darkness in their ambient drift. And folks into dark drone music, black ambience, and soundtrack music, might find this the perfect gateway to the fuzzy dreamy drifty world of pop ambience.
MPEG Stream: "Abyss of Anxiety (Unfolding the Magic)"
MPEG Stream: "Exposed to Life In It's Brutal Meaninglessness"
MPEG Stream: "Exploding Unbearable Desires"
MPEG Stream: "Tears of Happiness (Dismissed Into Mundanity)"

KLIMEK Music To Fall Asleep (Kompakt) cd 15.98
There are two facets to the Kompakt sound. The thump thump thump house music side, and the shimmery blissed out 'pop ambient' side. We definitely much favor the the sleepy glistening swoonscapes that define that warm welcoming pop ambient sound (although there are a few Kompakt records where the house beats are just murky and muted enough that the resulting Heroin House sound pushes all those same buttons) and no one does it better than Klimek. Responsible for maybe the defining pop ambient track "Milk And Honey", the perfect blend of electronic drones and subtle simple indie melodies, Music To Fall Asleep continues in a similar direction, exploring post-Eno ambience, and offering up a huge sleepy swirl of sound, that is, duh, perfect to fall asleep to. Warm thick whirls of dense droning synths ebb and flow like a midnight tide, guitars are chopped up and stuttered into smooth sleepy smears, like some sweet slab of indie rock left out in the sun so long it melts into a big puddle, rich chords shimmer into vast expanses of reverb and delay, each melody slowly developing over minutes instead of seconds. What else can we say? This is gorgeous and gentle, delicate and dreamlike, sun dappled and absolutely perfect. Essential for fans of all things pop ambient, and something to hold you over until the next Gas record. And like we even need to say it again, the perfect drifting off to sleep record!
MPEG Stream: "Pathways To Work"
MPEG Stream: "Music To Fall Asleep To"

KLOSOWSKI, A.K. & PYROLATOR Hometaping Is Killing Music (Captain Trip) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"Pre-sampler plunderphonics" from this German duo, first released on LP in '85 by Ata-Tak and now reissued on cd as a Japanese import. Kurt "Pyrolator" Dahlke played in the amazing Der Plan band of new-wave electro weirdness. This is fun stuff in a similar vein, and you won't believe the '80s Buck Rogers recording studio equipment depicted on the inside. With bonus tracks.

KLUSTER Eruption (Marginal Talent) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Long-awaited reissue of the third and last "Kluster with a K" album from 1971, when the "Cluster with C" duo of Moebius and Roedelius was a trio with Conrad Schnitzler, making pioneering, prehistoric ambient/industrial/ electronica. And, unlike the first two Kluster records, there's no German spoken religious narrative included (and it's plenty spooky without it).

KNIFE, THE Deep Cuts (Rabid) cd+dvd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If you dig Miss Kittin or Adult., well here's The Knife! Electro-punky tunes with punchy female vocals seemingly very inspired by Debbie Harry / Blondie. Includes a dvd!

KNIFE, THE Silent Shout (Mute) cd 15.98
The hip kids have been all a-buzz about this album for weeks already, and it's no wonder. Silent Shout is the bestest electro-party record around right now. Super super fun from Sweden that treads the shadowy perimeter of goth industrial (think: WaxTrax Records circa early '90s My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult). The brother and sister duo Olof and Karin Dreijer have really come into their own on this one. We've heard some comparisons to Ladytron, and we can certainly hear some similarities in the softer synth pop tracks, but The Knife are looser, edgier, more gregarious, more... strange! So if you dig Ladytron, but you maybe want something that struts with more attitude and ambition, give The Knife a go! Silent Shout is packed with a variety of juicy jaunty beats, sputtery'n'swooopy synth lines and the vocals... ah, the vocals! In particular, Sister Karin's are a bit like Bjork in their cooing expressiveness but a lot more tweaked, petulant and sauced up. Brother Olof provides a complementary smooth deep croon and downright weird guy delivery. Right around the time your feet get tired from all the dancin' (or other involuntary body movements), The Knife deftly insert a little down time in the form of the sweet lilt of "Na Na Na" and the beautiful euro-cabaret stylings of "Marble House". Then they pick it up again for the delightfully bizarre stomp of "One Hit". Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "We Share Our Mother's Health"
MPEG Stream: "Marble House"
MPEG Stream: "One Hit"

KNIFEHANDCHOP Bling The Noize (Irritant) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Not sure what to say about Knifehandchop that we haven't said before. Big dumb noisy fun. Splattery break core, with throbbing gabber four on the floor thumps, breakbeats chopped beyond recognition, jungle and drum 'n' bass and hardcore thrown in a blender with heaps of funny/catchy top 40 song fragments. From his own twisted take on the mash up (Destiny's Child mixed with Eminem over impossibly damaged and hyper distorted beats) to DJ Scud-ish hardcore dancehall to hyper silly chaotic noise. Good fun stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Sunjammer Is My Favorite Pokemon Trainer"
MPEG Stream: "Tutti Fruity Booty"
MPEG Stream: "Taking The Soul Out Of Music"

KNIFEHANDCHOP Dancemix2000 / Don'tsayaword (Irritant) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Gabber-tech madness invades pop culture for the Playstation generation from Canadian whizkid Billy Pollard, aka Knifehandchop! Pounding beats clash with a hilarious aural juxtaposition of Destiny's Child, Eminem and those Eurodance sensations, Vengaboys. Assertive female independence, aggressive misogyny and purely apathetic bubblegum dance join forces to rock yr ass! Totally ridiculous, but really smart and catchy as fuck. And the smartass is only nineteen! Brilliant!

KNIFEHANDCHOP How I Left You (Tigerbeat6) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "Goin Back To Scarborough"
MPEG Stream: "Tizzy Tixbown Riddim"

KNIFEHANDCHOP Respect To All the Haters (Tigerbeat6) 12" 8.98
Yeow! The highly anticipated US debut (via Kid 606's Tigerbeat6 imprint) from twenty-year-old Canadian bootylicious whizkid Billy Pollard aka Knifehandchop! Seven new dancefloor scorchers - mashing hip hop, hardcore dancehall, gabba techno and straight up rave while incorporating and referencing mass pop culture (Outkast etc). Super catchy and poppy, though still hard and way ahead of the curve. Includes a revamped version of his DMX gabba remix from the Irritant Lo Fi Electronic Pop Music 10" and Tigerbeat6 Inc. comps released a while back. Vinyl only and limited, so don't miss out on this stunner!
RealAudio clip: "Knifehandchop Is My Favorite DMX Master"
RealAudio clip: "IM Sorry Miss Pollard"
RealAudio clip: "Not For Tha Ladies"
RealAudio clip: "2 Sexxxy Booty"

KNIFEHANDCHOP Rockstopper (Tigerbeat6) cd 13.98
Not sure what else to say about this crazy motherfucker. Another, fun and funny and funky splattery mashup of classic hip hop, caustic breakbeats, four-on-the-floor techno, booty bass, cut and paste chaos, goofy synths, and manic drum programming. But as we're all still crazy for dancehall around here, those are the tracks where this record really shines, with a brutal mix of toasting, classic pounding jungle beats buzzing rave-y techno and thick, wall-shaking bass synths. Another party-ruling dancefloor-filling masterpiece from Mr. Chop.
MPEG Stream: "Not For tha Ladies"

KNIFEHANDCHOP Techno-Gaiden (Tigerbeat6) 12" 8.98

KNIFEHANDCHOP TKO From Tokyo (Tigerbeat6) 12" 7.98
It's definitely a good thing that adulthood doesn't follow the bully / wimp social dichotomy of high school; but if it did, everybody on Tigerbeat 6 would have received a number of serious beatings by now, starting with the Kid, then Cex and followed by Canadian laptopper Billy Pollard aka Knifehandchop. "TKO From Tokyo" mashes up vocals from Dancehall toaster Bounty Killer and RZA's Bobby Digital persona on top of big dum-dum Rotterdam techno beats, and also features remixes from Venetian Snares, Kid 606, Noize Creator & DJ Aneurysm, and Joseph Nothing. Very stupid yet very infectuous.
RealAudio clip: "Taking The Soul Out Of Music Vs. Vertical"
RealAudio clip: "I Hate Your Fucking Face"

KNIFEHANDCHOP / DJ ANEURYSM Shotgun Wedding Vol 2 / Evil Doppleganger (Violent Turd) cd 10.98

KODE 9 Black Sun (Hyper Dub) 12" 12.98

KODE 9 & SPACEAPE Konfusion (Hyper Dub) 12" 11.98

KODE 9 & THE SPACEAPE Black Sun (Hyperdub) cd 17.98
It's been YEARS, exactly FIVE in fact, since the last Kode 9 and Spaceape record, Memories Of The Future, which at the time was one of the darkest dubstep records we had heard yet, it was like a more grim, less soulful Burial, with Spaceape's growled slo-mo toasting adding a whole 'nother level of darkness. Slithery and sinister and haunting, it was exactly what we wanted from dubstep.
But much has changed in the last 5 years, so we were curious what this new record would sound like. We wouldn't have been disappointed at all if it was the same thing all over again. But while many of the elements are still present, much has changed here too. Most distinctly, the record is not nearly as dark. Beyond that, the dubsteppiness is not nearly so pronounced, and the sound and sounds are surprisingly varied, slipping from electro to house to dub, but still all wound together by Kode 9's distinctive production and of course Spaceape's vocals, which sound more sung this time around, less growled.
Opening track "Black Smoke" uses some Burial like dubstep as a stepping off point, but then adds all sorts of rhythmic skitter, not to mention swirling synths, and some soaring percolating 'choruses'. It's strange, but definitely cool. "Promises" is all backwards loops, and muted thrum, but then some shimmery synth sneaks in, and the beat, more like a pulse, with a looped vocal carrying the main melody, sounding a bit like How To Dress Well, with Spaceape toasting over the top. "Am I" sounds like it could have been an M.I.A. jam, but here, it's more stripped down and skeletal, but with some ominous synths, and clipped handclappy beats, and here Spaceape actually sings. "Love Is The Drug" is almost house-y, like some weird dark Kompakt jam, and so it goes. From slow motion soul, to clipped RnB skitter, minimal slice and dice dancehall, to hazy dubbed out electro, warped and woozy droned out synthscapes, to jittery reggae flecked techno, washed out electronic dreamdrift, to crackling cinematic synth heavy buzz ballad. Cool stuff for sure. Dubstep purists might be bummed out, but anyone whose been digging How To Dress Well, Dirty Beaches, Hype Williams and other left field electronica will dig this big time.
MPEG Stream: "Black Smoke"
MPEG Stream: "Love Is The Drug"
MPEG Stream: "The Cure"
MPEG Stream: "Bullet Against The Bone"

KODE 9 & THE SPACEAPE Black Sun (Hyperdub) 2lp 29.00
It's been YEARS, exactly FIVE in fact, since the last Kode 9 and Spaceape record, Memories Of The Future, which at the time was one of the darkest dubstep records we had heard yet, it was like a more grim, less soulful Burial, with Spaceape's growled slo-mo toasting adding a whole 'nother level of darkness. Slithery and sinister and haunting, it was exactly what we wanted from dubstep.
But much has changed in the last 5 years, so we were curious what this new record would sound like. We wouldn't have been disappointed at all if it was the same thing all over again. But while many of the elements are still present, much has changed here too. Most distinctly, the record is not nearly as dark. Beyond that, the dubsteppiness is not nearly so pronounced, and the sound and sounds are surprisingly varied, slipping from electro to house to dub, but still all wound together by Kode 9's distinctive production and of course Spaceape's vocals, which sound more sung this time around, less growled.
Opening track "Black Smoke" uses some Burial like dubstep as a stepping off point, but then adds all sorts of rhythmic skitter, not to mention swirling synths, and some soaring percolating 'choruses'. It's strange, but definitely cool. "Promises" is all backwards loops, and muted thrum, but then some shimmery synth sneaks in, and the beat, more like a pulse, with a looped vocal carrying the main melody, sounding a bit like How To Dress Well, with Spaceape toasting over the top. "Am I" sounds like it could have been an M.I.A. jam, but here, it's more stripped down and skeletal, but with some ominous synths, and clipped handclappy beats, and here Spaceape actually sings. "Love Is The Drug" is almost house-y, like some weird dark Kompakt jam, and so it goes. From slow motion soul, to clipped RnB skitter, minimal slice and dice dancehall, to hazy dubbed out electro, warped and woozy droned out synthscapes, to jittery reggae flecked techno, washed out electronic dreamdrift, to crackling cinematic synth heavy buzz ballad. Cool stuff for sure. Dubstep purists might be bummed out, but anyone whose been digging How To Dress Well, Dirty Beaches, Hype Williams and other left field electronica will dig this big time.
MPEG Stream: "Black Smoke"
MPEG Stream: "Love Is The Drug"
MPEG Stream: "The Cure"
MPEG Stream: "Bullet Against The Bone"

KODE 9 & THE SPACEAPE Memories Of The Future (Hyperdub) cd 16.98
A few lists back we made Burial record of the week. An incredibly dense, super spare black hole of blissed out utterly bleak dub. Creepy and queasy, a black rhythmic crawl under a midnight sun. Like Massive Attack or Portishead slowed way down, and with all the skin removed, leaving a gorgeously spare skeletal grimey dub.
Here we have release number two from the Hyperdub label, the first full length from label head Kode9, after a handful of legendary vinyl only eps. In fact, Memories Of The Future is actually more of a singles collection then a proper full length, collecting some of the early long out of print tracks as well as a few newer 12"s.
Kode9's sonic world is a seriously dark and dangerous place. A world of low end subterranean throb. A low slung mutant strain of modern dub. The rhythms slither through a thick haze of murk and grime. Bits of reggae guitar surface here and there, but jangle just once, and are then sent spinning off into oblivion. Basslines are like slow moving rivers of black tar, all wound up into a creeped out druggy droney dubscape, so fucked up and laid back it makes Spectre sound like C+C Music Factory.
Most tracks also feature the lugubrious haunted house flow of Spaceape, a seriously ominous, skin crawling, killer growled ragga toasting, like some dancehall DJ pitchshifted all the way dooooooown. A demonic flow that sounds like Tricky chopped and screwed. Some slow motion sound system rolling slowly through town, broadcasting through a set of 15 foot woofers, sending out seismic basswaves as the townspeople shutter up their houses and cower in terror.
Speaking of Tricky, we still remember the first time we heard Tricky way back in the day. It was still dance music, sort of, but it was so slow, so creeped out and ominous, so sexy and deep and dark. It was hard to imagine that that kind of music could ever get any scarier. This Kode9 disc makes us feel the same way. At some point, grime or dubstep or whatever, when slowed down and blissed out any further would just lose all of its rhythmic cohesion and break into pieces and drift away. Which only adds to the inherent musical tension.
A few tracks skitter into more grime territory, or dancehall, or a more cohesive digital dub, but the majority of Memories Of The Future is spent bathed in darkness, slithering through some pitch black wasteland, sparse rhythms spread out all the way to the horizon, an endless abstract framework, the bass throbs like thunder in the distance, pianos tinkling and glistening like nighttime rain drops, vocals drifting above it all like the ominous refrain of some fallen band of angels, a deliriously disembodied demonic dancehall growl slowed down to a mumbled murmur, the whole thing a blackhole glacier drifting in slow motion across a blackened dancefloor.
MPEG Stream: "Glass "
MPEG Stream: "Victims"
MPEG Stream: "Backwards"

KODE 9 / SPACEAPE Curious (Hyperdub) 10" 11.98

KODE 9 VS. BADAWI Den Of Drums / Crows (ROIR) 12" 7.98

KODE9 DJ Kicks (Studio K7) cd 14.98
By now most folks probably don't need to know much more than the fact that this is a DJ mix from aQ beloved dubstep producer Kode9, and not only features some of his own jams, but tracks by folks like The Bug, Zomby, Ikonika, Digital Mystikz, Terror Danjah, Ramadanman and loads more. And the fact that it rules. But fair warning, this is not at all a straight dubstep mix, there are some serious dubbed out jams, some thick bass warble, and all that jazz, but there's mostly plenty of seriously non dubstep stuff, that's just as cool. The first half of the mix is definitely more danceable and less dubby, the first two tracks are dreamy and housey and melodic, even Kode9's "Blood Orange" ditches dubstep for something more fuzzy and skittery, his "You Don't Wash (Dub)" is also more groovy and late night disco-y than dubby. It's not until the Ikonika track that things get dubby, but even there, it's almost more electro and 8-bit crunchy, Sticky's "Look Pon Me" is a driving, almost grime style groove, with some awesome female toasting, dramatic strings, an irresistible house-pulse, and some cool twisted production, in fact so far, this sounds more like something you'd here on Kompakt, albeit with more bass, and more synth buzz, and less of that 4 by 4 throb.
The second half starts off with a similarly weirdo vibe, Zomby's jam is an awesomely retro slab of video game skitter, swirling electronics, skeletal basslines, tripped out effects, which leads right into a short blast of Kode9 spaced out weirdness, which leads into some serious dubsteppery, Digital Mystikz unleash some super stripped down dubbed out crunch, Terror Danjah, chops up some vocals and adds some fragmented metal guitar, Zomby sprinkles the proceedings with some sparkly electronic fairy dust, before things slip right back into some pulsing grooves, and the mix continues on its curious electronic journey, again only dipping toes into dubstep instead opting for a more free form assemblage of modern electronic music, from house to electro to 2 step to garage, finishing off with a killer dubbed out dancehall jam from The Bug, all low slung bass, streaks of record crackle, spare minimal rhythms, woozy effected ambience and some fierce toasting from Flo Dan. Awesome stuff for sure, although dubsteppers and Kode9 fans should approach with caution, even though you'll probably dig this anyway... and anyone into recent joints from Zomby, Ikonika, Martyn, Ital Tek and other leftfield dubbed out electronic alchemists, grab this NOW!
MPEG Stream: KODE9 "Blood Orange"
MPEG Stream: GRIEVOUS ANGEL "Move Down Low"
MPEG Stream: STICKY "Jumeirah Riddim Sequel"
MPEG Stream: DVA "Natty"
MPEG Stream: TERROR DANJAH "Stiff"
MPEG Stream: THE BUG "Run (Featuring Flo Dan)"

KOHNCKE, JUSTUS Doppelleben (Kompakt) cd 16.98

KOHNCKE, JUSTUS Feuerland (Kompakt) 12" 11.98

KOHNCKE, JUSTUS Safe & Sound (Kompakt) cd 15.98

KOHNCKE, JUSTUS Was Ist Musik (Kompakt) cd 17.98
The Kompakt debut from German dance musik veteran Justus Kohncke. In Kompakt's newfound direction toward releasing records that transcend the dancefloor (through use of vocals and a strong "pop" sensibility), Kohncke attempts just that, but unfortunately falls a bit short of our expectations. While there are many interesting moments throughout, "Was Ist Musik" ultimately falls into dreaded adult contemporary territory. Features odd covers of tracks by Barbara Morgenstern and JŸrgen Paape.
RealAudio clip: "Was Ist Musik"
RealAudio clip: "Ubertragunenf"

KOHNCKE, JUSTUS Was Ist Musik (Kompakt) 2lp 16.98
The Kompakt debut from German dance musik veteran Justus Kohncke. In Kompakt's newfound direction toward releasing records that transcend the dancefloor (through use of vocals and a strong "pop" sensibility), Kohncke attempts just that, but unfortunately falls a bit short of our expectations. While there are many interesting moments throughout, "Was Ist Musik" ultimately falls into dreaded adult contemporary territory. Features odd covers of tracks by Barbara Morgenstern and JŸrgen Paape.

KOHNCKE, JUSTUS Zwei Photonen (Kompakt) 12" 9.98

KOIVIKKO, SAMI Salmiakki (Shitkatapult) cd 16.98

KOMET 20' to 2000 (Noton) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The first in what seems to be a very promising series from the already exceptional Noton label. Packaged in an odd slimline case looking more like something to put birth control pills in rather than a CD, this series will consist of limited edition releases from twelve of minimalists, each composing 20 minutes of music for the end of the millenium. In theory, all of these will be released before this deadline...
Komet's contribution is one of the best examples of 'bleep blip minimalism' we've encountered in a while. While barely audible on one level, it is exquisitely dynamic...

KOMET Gold (Raster-Noton) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The third installment in Raster-Noton's exquisitely designed Raster. Post series features Komet aka Frank Bretschneider, weaving a fuzzy pulsing perfectly pastoral electronic dreamscape. Equal parts Oval's fuzzy glitch, Chain Reaction's subterranean throb, and Boards Of Canada's warm melancholia, this is gorgeous stuff. We've been so burned out on "electronica" lately, tired of hearing the millionth completely sterile chunk of icy minmal techno that could just have well been made without human intervention, but we're also tired of hearing Boards Of Canada ripoffs spewing moody mediocre downtempo pap. But this Komet manages to incorporate both minimal clinical chill and warm fuzzy moodiness into a throbbing, hypnotic wash of late night electronic bliss. The only distraction is the occasional random spoken word sample, similar to the ones that mar some of my favorite BoC songs. But a small complaint, considering how good this sounds. Fans of Oval, Boards Of Canada and of all things Raster-Noton should definitely pick this up.
MPEG Stream: "Wheel"
MPEG Stream: "OMSK"

KOMET Gold (Raster-Noton) lp 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The third installment in Raster-Noton's exquisitely designed Raster.Post series features Komet aka Frank Bretschneider, weaving a fuzzy pulsing perfectly pastoral electronic dreamscape. Equal parts Oval's fuzzy glitch, Chain Reaction's subterranean throb, and Boards Of Canada's warm melancholia, this is gorgeous stuff. We've been so burned out on "electronica" lately, tired of hearing the millionth completely sterile chunk of icy minmal techno that could just have well been made without human intervention, but we're also tired of hearing Boards Of Canada ripoffs spewing moody mediocre downtempo pap. But this Komet manages to incorporate both minimal clinical chill and warm fuzzy moodiness into a throbbing, hypnotic wash of late night electronic bliss. The only distraction is the occasional random spoken word sample, similar to the ones that mar some of my favorite BoC songs. But a small complaint, considering how good this sounds. Fans of Oval, Boards Of Canada and of all things Raster-Noton should definitely pick this up.

KOMET Rausch (12K) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Full length release from Raster-Noton head, and Signal collaborator Frank Bretschneider. Still working from a palette of aseptic beeps and clicks, but composing pieces that are surprizingly catchy in an utterly minimal way. Without stepping into the dubby, and almost (I said "almost") organic ballpark of Stefan Betke (Pole) and steering clear of the borderline housey territory of Thomas Brinkmann, Bretschneider none the less harkens the works of both in his own way. The tracks on this disk even have a slowly evolving quality, starting with very minimal pulse beats and short tones (typical of Raster-Noton) and developing to the point where, by the time you reach the end of the disk, you convince yourself you're hearing pop songs and hooks. Bretschneider has the knack of making the sterile swing.
RealAudio clip: "#11"

KONK The Sound Of Konk (Soul Jazz) cd 21.00

KONK The Sound Of Konk (Soul Jazz) 2lp 24.00

KOPERNIK s/t (Eastern Development) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This record is so goddamn beautiful. Hard to know how to describe it. It reminds me of the sonic equivalent of those time lapse films where you watch the seasons pass in a matter of minutes, sunrise, sunset, plants slowly unfurling and blossoming, before wilting and falling to the ground, snow and then rain and then sun, everything moving at an accelerated pace, but blending and merging into a completely mesmeric and hypnotic fugue. Sort of like that. The tag on the cd mentions Godspeed and the Rachel's, and while those are the easiest comparisons (Godspeed because it's so epic, and the Rachel's because it's sort of chamber music) they don't at all hint at the complexity and depth of this Kopernik record. Thick and throbbing, undulating bass is the foundation, cellos, and upright basses, double basses, bowed and plucked, create a viscous and dense bed of rumbling, pulsing low end over which delicate, glistening melodies are sprinkled. This is ambient music, but so rich with layer after layer of delicate sound, that form an impossibly complex and challenging and beautiful listen. While rooted in this bass heavy, epic classical ambience, these songs do stretch in all sorts of improbable directions. Gorgeously lush chamber music, with digital glitches and hiccups, reminscent of Oval's Diskont, but instead of sounding underwater it sounds like it's floating in midair. A medieval court music, sort of grand and pompous, but also a bit forboding, like a much more GRIM Penguin Cafe Orchestra with burbling bass and loping melodies. Dark and cinematic, suspenseful and harrowing noirscapes with thick walls of lower register thrum with heavily affected backward vocals. Lonely and desolate, but so sincere and emotional. A perfect late night record of soothing dreaminess and nocturnal mesmer, but unlike many similar records, it can stand up to serious listening, offering even more when time is taken to explore its rich mysteries.
MPEG Stream: "Ondoyany Et Divers"
MPEG Stream: "Theme For Grace"
MPEG Stream: "Man, Myth, And Magic"

KOSAKAI, FUMIO & TAKAHASHI IKURO ...Of Dogstarman (Pataphysique) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Squealing drones make by electronics and processed reeds from this Japanese duo (members of psychededic rock group Overhang Party). Quite beautiful. Similar to Keiji Haino's hurdy-gurdy pieces or free saxophonist Evan Parker's recent electronically-enhanced works.

KOSMIK KOMMANDO Universal Indicator 5 (Beta Bodega) 12" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
"Universal Indicator" is loaded with seriously hard acid house tracks from Mike Dred's Kosmik Kommando persona that were recorded back in the day, and may have been slotted for release on Rephlex back in the early '90s. Beta Bodega has been purposefully vague on the true facts about this release, but this is nevertheless a fine reminder of the nastier face of rave culture.

KOSS Ancient Rain (Mule Electronic) cd 16.98
As much as we love so much of the noisier and heavier psychedelic sounds that come out of the Japanese underground, we have to say lately it's been some of the more blissed out and dreamy records from Japan that have been moving us the most. Folks like Fuqugi, Painting Petals On Planet Ghost, and Eddie Marcon have shown us that just as so many Japanese bands have mastered blown out psychedelic madness, others know how to conjure an equally entrancing sound, but replacing the all out assault with a gorgeously tranquil and languid state of sound.
We loved what we heard last from Koss, his 2008 outing Four Worlds Converge As One, but we're even more entranced and deliriously lost at sea with Ancient Rain. Such tender and delicate movements of sound, that maintain an element of melodicism while still capturing an overall mood and ambience. For sure in line with the great Pop Ambient sounds out of the Kompakt camp, like Gas and early Klimek, as well as the more washed out and ethereal sides of Fennesz, Murcof, Jan Jelinek, The Fun Years and Colleen.
Majestic and flowing, evoking deep sleep, dark drifts, set to the sounds of the waves on an ocean. Tapping into a feeling of lightness and ease with subtle undertones of something a bit darker bubbling just below the surface, Koss creates a sound that throughout the entirety of Ancient Rain manages to feel so honest and organic, lush, rich, and otherworldly, a soundtrack to the perfect daydream...
MPEG Stream: "Dream"
MPEG Stream: "Ancient Rain"
MPEG Stream: "Beauty"

KOSS Four Worlds Converge As One (Mule Electronic) cd 16.98
From Japan, the artist/producer known as Koss (real name: Kuniyuki Takahashi) has apparently been around for a while, involved in the electronic scene since back in the '80s, dabbling in everything from electro body music to dub to hardcore noise to chillout techno to deep house. This, however, is the first album of his we've heard. Well better late than never. Four Worlds Converge As One is lovely, lovely, calm, and lovely. It starts with the soothing, beatless ambient drift of "Water", the first of four tracks on the disc and at 29+ minutes the longest. Hissing, humming, with field recordings of obvious watery origin worked in, this track is like the sound of a white mist rising from the shore of a gently lapping lake, with a wind softly blowing. A relaxed, melodic drone piece. That could have been the whole disc right there and we'd be sold. But there's three more parts, each over a quarter of an hour in length, representing the other elements of fire, air, and earth...
Track two, "Fire / M Point (40N42-34N33 Mix)" is immediately more active than "Water", with pleasantly creaking noises, eventually joined by shuffling electronic beats, and glitchy clicks worked into the washes of more feedbacky drone. Following that, "Air / MW Point (137E35 Mix)" is back to the blissful shimmer of the first track, but with the addition of minimalist Reichian (Steve, not Wilhelm) pulsations. Looping, layered sounds from some classical stringed instrument. Utterly hypnotic of course. And then, Koss brings us down to "Earth / S Point", wrapping this disc up with a surprising mix of forest-at-night nature sounds and percolating, processed tribal percussion, with echo and effects. It gets denser and denser, but remains quite soothing, the sort of "exotica" you might expect from, say, one of Eye Yamataka's remixes... though perhaps a little "rainstick-y" for some. But the more "Pop Ambient", droney-synthy explorations that mostly fill this album are enough for us, so good, reminding us of Eno and Budd (Harold, not the Aussie grunge band) and Tangerine Dream and even composer John Luther Adams.
And by the way, the "converge into one" idea of the title has a special meaning - apparently Koss intends that if all four tracks/elements on this disc were to be played simultaneously (you could buy three extra copies of the cd... or make them yourself), a whole new song will emerge. Hmm...haven't tried it, we're happy with the four just by themselves so far. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Water"
MPEG Stream: "Fire / M Point (40N42-34N33 Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "Air / MW Point (137E35 Mix)"

KOTAI s/t (WMFREC) cd 14.98
There's not a lot to Kotai's bleak electronica, as a measured recombination of Chain Reaction's heroin house, Georgio Moroder's cyber-disco synth arpeggiations, and Suicide's relentless monotony; but along with Adult., Fisherspooner, and Miss Kitten, Kotai's Goth-inflected New Wave revivalism is pretty seductive. Amongst all of those aforementioned references, Suicide stands out most prominently due to Klaus Kotai's vocal similitude to Suicide's Alan Vega. Each of Kotai's songs sound like updated versions of "Frankie Teardrop," transposing Suicide's dystopian theatricality with a hollow, but studly swagger indicative of the title "Pretty Men Wear Pretty Clothes." Kotai is Euro-trash at its finest.
RealAudio clip: "Pretty Men Wear Pretty Clothes"
RealAudio clip: "Ba3 Breathing"

KOWALSKY, GREGG Through The Cardial Window (Kranky) cd 14.98
Having earned an MFA under the tutelage of Fred Frith at Mills College, Gregg Kowalsky landed his debut album on Kranky, a perfect home for his polite and pleasant swatches of ambient music. Kowalsky blurs all of his diverse source material (i.e bowed acoustic guitar, sounds he composed for the Mills Ensemble, and even samples from Isis!) into a twinkling mass of harmonically aligned tones. Furniture Music for the 21st Century.
MPEG Stream: "That In Allepo Twice"
MPEG Stream: "Coral Gables"

KRAFTWELT Electric Dimension (Hypnotic) cd 14.98
"Dedicated to Ralf & Florian" it says, and though it seems like this should sound like a Kraftwerk tribute/ripoff, actually what you get is quite fine dancey electronica more in the vein of something like James Bong.