Kayo Dot: Any friends or foes?

[Zappathustra]

^ I had a relisten just this previous weekend, and must say that it's impressive how it's holding up. "Marathon" is just as full-force monumental now as it was back then; such a cathartic release of a Journey in mere 10 minutes. Gorgeous.

I have this on my earphones right now - a beautiful night, 14 degrees, I am sitting on a bench drinking coffee to sustain the nightshift - this is enchanting. What a combination of gentle beauty and sheer violence.

The vinyl will cost more than 60 euros for me. Music isn't supposed to be that expensive. That's a lot of money.

[battema]

Choirs is still my fave KD overall.

[Mister Triscuits]

Kayo Dot have reissued Choirs on vinyl. A bit pricey and that beautiful colored version sold out in preorders.

http://kayodot.bigcartel.com/product...d-weight-black

I think that was about a year ago. I was pissed about the marbled vinyl edition being sold out before I got wind of it. They lost a sale there--I won't pay that price for the "second-best" version.

[Morpheus]

The preorders started in the summer and it was supposed to be released by December, but TD was not happy with the initial test pressing. The colored vinyl was even more expensive and I think it sold out in less than a week, it was certainly gone when I first heard about it a week after it was announced.

[Mister Triscuits]

The preorders started in the summer and it was supposed to be released by December, but TD was not happy with the initial test pressing. The colored vinyl was even more expensive and I think it sold out in less than a week, it was certainly gone when I first heard about it a week after it was announced.

Ah, thanks, I didn't realize it wasn't actually out before now. I just missed the colored edition back at the time of the initial preorder.

[Zappathustra]

So, is there a consensus that their last two records are somewhat inferior to their earlier output? I haven't spent all that much time with Coffins and Plastic, but this is mainly due to their style and the arrangements which are foreign somehow to my musical taste. On the other hand, no clear decline is visible in terms of composition, atmosphere and the overall artistic result. It would feel unfair to suggest that this is a band sliding downhill. Unfair and plain wrong actually.

I have a feeling that some inherent mental block prevents me - and maybe others - to fully appreciate their latest musical direction. Have they lost some friends with these last two, have they made new ones? (I know people who would enjoy this a lot- they are no proggers like me, nor so attached to electric guitars and thundering drums).

Thoughts?

[Zappathustra]

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums...ency-downward/ This is pitchfork at its best. The disadvantages of democracy in western ci-vile-zation. All are entitled to an opinion. I would impale this ignorant little bastardo on a flaming pitchfork, legs upwards.

[battema]

In theory, I'm a fan of both Kayo Dot, some 80's new wave and sci-fi-type electronic music (post rock, prog, whatever). It seemed like the last two albums would've been right up my alley.

But I've never really warmed to either Coffins or PHOBOS, despite a number of attempts.

[spacefreak]

Thoughts?

I liked their couple of early releases. Then on Coyote I lost interest. It was probably the gothic aura plus the added melodrama that was not up to my taste. I agree that artistically they didn't show any considerable sign of decline but their latest releases did nothing to revitalize my interest (Hubardo with its black metal influences being an exception). I tried, but... they're not for me.

[Zappathustra]

I liked their couple of early releases. Then on Coyote I lost interest. It was probably the gothic aura plus the added melodrama that was not up to my taste. I agree that artistically they didn't show any considerable sign of decline but their latest releases did nothing to revitalize my interest. I tried, but... they're not for me.

Coyote is a killer for me, and do you get some Into The Pandemonium vibes there Spyros? But I have to suggest another take on Hubardo. This is a monster of a record, not only in size, but in the sheer power and intense darkness of the music - and this opinion coming from someone who is not into black/death metal at all.

A monster of incomprehensible beauty.

[battema]

Hubardo and Choirs remain my two favorites.

I love the songs on Dowsing but had the (not really that misfortunate) misfortune of seeing the material performed live before I got the CD...and it could never match the pure power the band had onstage in that show.

[Zappathustra]

In theory, I'm a fan of both Kayo Dot, some 80's new wave and sci-fi-type electronic music (post rock, prog, whatever). It seemed like the last two albums would've been right up my alley.

But I've never really warmed to either Coffins or PHOBOS, despite a number of attempts.

This doesn't sound encouraging.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Coyote is a killer for me, and do you get some Into The Pandemonium vibes?

Toby D. got completely engulfed in the whole 'maximal-abstraction' idea of Scott Walker's The Drift and created a work which to me sounds as if Jeff Buckley interpreted HCow's Western Culture while in the grips of delirium tremens. I love it, but it's probably the final KD album I truly loved. Hubardo is a Mammoth, but it kinda sways off its own line. Of the last two releases, I find Plastic House a far more rewarding listen than its predecessor.

I'd like to hear a full-blown acoustic, introspective and/or poetic record from them.

[Zappathustra]

I'd like to hear a full-blown acoustic, introspective and/or poetic record from them.

With a full-blown kazoo ensemble.

[Scrotum Scissor]

With a full-blown kazoo ensemble.

Bagpipebased with enhanced distortion.

[Haruspex Carnage]

Off FB about two-three weeks ago Toby/Kayo Dot posted the 8 track new album has been demoed.

[Scrotum Scissor]

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums...ency-downward/ This is pitchfork at its best.

Erhm. The reviewer doesn't quite seem to get the very idea of Driver's artistic agenda. Obviously, seen as post-structuralist determinism and at the behest of imagined reverence as to textual autonomy, this critic is absolutely "relatively correct", in that his description makes sense.

But Driver's whole point about Kayo Dot was from the very outset to not promote definite direction or given aim, but rather to contemplate impulsive whims into refined "digestion" of intent. This is what Yusuf Lateef had schooled him into, and that's the framework of coming to terms with the music's substance matter; as such there's no message of aesthetics outside of the concept itself. Blue Lambency Downward was seminal in that Driver not only illustrated his momentum but demonstrated it successfully. The fact that it provoked so many listeners who might have expected and craved another metallic charm but now were forced to consider how they may have been tricked into misunderstanding the band to begin with, could hardly be said to diminish the pure craft of the sound itself. Yup, the first two Kayos were indeed impressive - but BLD was actually convincing not as a result of - but in spite of.

Ach, Pitchfork and their attempted view on "prog"; one would wish for those inputs by Dom Leone and Eric Lumbleau to have served as a lecture for the rest of them.

[Zappathustra]

You're putting to words what I am unable to, and I agree with every word of it - we're talking about a different approach to music altogether. It is ok "not to get it" - I also have trouble with the record. What is not ok is "not getting that you don't get it" - especially if you are paid to write for music, or maybe being responsible, or feeling responsible, for disseminating it.

I quote from the review:"Records don't need a sense of catharsis, redemption, or even emotional upheaval to be effective. But certain elements allow bands to lift listeners along into a self-made world. For an album so singular, Lambency offers a disappointing number of those devices." In other words "who needs redemption through music, give us DEVICES we can enjoy". Sounds like a perverted sex maniac trying to understand the mysteries of pure Love.

So I think we should stick to my suggestion and proceed with the slow and agonizing execution of this fellow.

[Baribrotzer]

I quote from the review:"Records don't need a sense of catharsis, redemption, or even emotional upheaval to be effective. But certain elements allow bands to lift listeners along into a self-made world. For an album so singular, Lambency offers a disappointing number of those devices." In other words "who needs redemption through music, give us DEVICES we can enjoy".

In other other words: No hooks.

[Zaragon]

I type this as I listen to Kayo Dot for the very first time...

My initial impression is Heaven Up Here-era Echo & the Bunnymen in spacier mode. The voice resembles Ian McCulloch, as does the echoey guitar that rings halfway through the number.

[Baribrotzer]

I type this as I listen to Kayo Dot for the very first time...

My initial impression is Heaven Up Here-era Echo & the Bunnymen in spacier mode. The voice resembles Ian McCulloch, as does the echoey guitar that rings halfway through the number.

Listen to other music by them, though, and you'll get a whole different impression. That's just what Toby is doing right now, and it isn't like what he did in the past, or what he might do tomorrow. My opinion - not held by all - is that Hubardo is their best work: It gives a good overview of the many styles and stylistic combinations Toby draws from, and most of the material is quite good.

[Scrotum Scissor]

A thing which really intrigues me about them is their ability to reproduce almost all studio faccets in a live setting, even though there are some impeccably detailed timbres and textures to retain for maximum effect. For instance when working with so many layers of microsonics and 'white noise' dimensions, it surprises me how they're still basically able to go at it the way they do, with all nuances and dynamic twists in place. Obviously you as listener can hardly discern those bits in a cheap recording (and certainly not when unfamiliar with the original version), but you can to some extent witness their meticulous attention to sheets and plan, like here when they still had Dave Bodie on drums:

Yeah, babe! Hubardo on rotation here today.

A couple of other great live films of recent, and again what's kind of impressive is how they tend to reproduce every single detail of the original recording:

[Baribrotzer]

......like here when they still had Dave Bodie on drums:

That's Keith Abrams, not Dave Bodie. They're both great drummers, both used to play in Time of Orchids as well as in Kayo Dot, and both have the same build. But Keith looks like a cop - something they played up on one tour by having everybody wear dark glasses and uniform shirts. Dave does not.

[Scrotum Scissor]

That's Keith Abrams, not Dave Bodie. They're both great drummers, both used to play in Time of Orchids as well as in Kayo Dot, and both have the same build.

Precisely why I got them mixed up! But yes, I recognize Abrams from those clips with Ron Anderson's PAK now.