Kiki, "Boogybytes Vol.01"

Almost in reaction to Modeselektor’s recent foray into poprealms with Hello Mom!, Bpitchinaugurates a new series of DJ mix CDs with a disc from the prolific Kiki, aFinnish producer with several singles and a full length on the label and many,many compilation appearances elsewhere.

Bpitch Control

The brilliant cover—a still of the artist mid-headbang,shirtless and zombified against a slate gray background—sets the mood of thisset rather well.  Kiki’s music has alwaysbeen some of the more recklessly flamboyant on the label, though never withouta stylized distance, his disco-fried tracks always taking the reference to itsbreaking point before pulling back into dark, almost gothic remove in bizarreemphasis and homage to the plasticity of its creation.  Tracks like “Hott!,” and “Luv Sikk,” speak apessimistic cheekiness in titles alone, and the stiff pan-ethnic borrowing ofthe tracks in turn accentuates both the irresistibility of their rhythmic coilsand the desperate, regenerate puppet-dance inspired.  A Kiki mix is similarly disco-derived withthe dark gurglings of electro and gothic crooning along the bottom.  

The mix begins with one its best tracks, from ex-Wax Trax-er/PTV-iteFred Giannelli. “Distant Gratification” could be a mood-piece for the wholedisc: cold; comfortable electro sputtering flat; with synthetic arpeggiosflattened and reduced to a depressive wallpaper.  Although distant, the personality of the trackcomes through in subtle filter and is made more powerful for it.  Boogybytesnever reaches above this strangely addictive reanimation, even during Kiki’sfrequent blending of newer Bpitch tracks like his own “End of the World” orEllen Allien’s electric “Your Body Is My Body.” 

The mood is sublime automatism, bolstered by a few brillianttracks like Troy Pierce’s nearly industrial “Smack The Black Off of Ya” andDonal Tierney’s “Verse 2 The Chorus,” effectively mixed with Andre Kraml’s“Safari,” a track that Kiki and Silversurfer have remixed in the past.  One of the most appealing things about the discis that, despite the track listing, Kiki is often mixing in at least one otherunlisted item, making for new avenues of comparison or discovery within the relativehomogeneity of atmosphere. 

A few missteps occur toward the end of the hour+ length whenseveral weak vocal tracks are worked in. Microhouse artist Turner’s “When Will We Leave (Robert Hood mix)” was nodoubt included for the drowning, swallowed urgency of the vocal, though thepulse of the track is all wrong and ends up mixing poorly.  Likewise, tracks by better-known artists Slamand Infusion color the end of the mix with cheap imagery, altering any subtletyor tact in Kiki’s complexifying of the sound’s plasticity.  While not the mindblowing mix I’d expect tohear from such a great producer, Boogybytesis nonetheless entertaining throughout, and it will certainly be nice to hearwhat comes of this series in the future.

samples:

• Donal Tierney - Verse 2 The Chorus
• Fred Giannelli - Distant Gratification
• Troy Pierce - Smack the Black Off Ya