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Kilo, "Augarten"
Deconstructed techno made by two guitarists.
Onitor
Kilo is deconstructed techno made by two guitarists. This fact makestheir abstraction from and disregard for the rules of technoimmediately understandable, but it doesn't automatically explain howthey can craft such beautiful tracks out of so many fragments. Theguitar is the new laptop, I'm sure of that. For a while, almost everydisc that came across my stereo was obviously and proudly the productof a laptop or desktop computer, created by musicians flying in theface of traditional instruments and methods for composition. Now, asthe obvious and clumsy backlash, every indie electronic record comingout has some sort of guitar playing or sampling or abusing it, and it'sbecome almost a calling card of artists who want to be taken seriouslyas musicians rather than simply known as accomplished button-pushers.That's okay though, as records like this give the trend successes thatare worthy of the bandwagoning. The loops and pieces of guitar areeverywhere on Augarten and yet it sounds very much like anelectronic, synth-driven record. The rhythms are all minimalist technoconstructions, something I would have expected from a label that's tiedinto the Kompakt stable. The melodies, however, are tied to thatfamiliar six-stringed instrument that has grounded the majority of allpopular western music for decades. There are slivers of folk and rockand blues and even country twang woven in amongst the ribbons of deepbass and techno structures so that the record feels grounded intradition while still being completely fresh. Well, maybe completelyfresh is a bit of an exaggeration—Kilo don't stray tremendously farfrom the formula of clicks and pulses and thumps that drives most ofthe Kompakt, ~scape, and Ritornell rosters. Still, there is a warmth inthese songs owed to the guitar that makes them not only accessible topeople who might otherwise shrug off sparse electronics, but gives thema kind of time and place to call home. Other people are making clickyminmal techno, and others still are fracturing guitars throughsoftware, but I've not heard a recent attempt to bring the two togetherthat succeeds as well as this.
Kilo is deconstructed techno made by two guitarists. This fact makestheir abstraction from and disregard for the rules of technoimmediately understandable, but it doesn't automatically explain howthey can craft such beautiful tracks out of so many fragments. Theguitar is the new laptop, I'm sure of that. For a while, almost everydisc that came across my stereo was obviously and proudly the productof a laptop or desktop computer, created by musicians flying in theface of traditional instruments and methods for composition. Now, asthe obvious and clumsy backlash, every indie electronic record comingout has some sort of guitar playing or sampling or abusing it, and it'sbecome almost a calling card of artists who want to be taken seriouslyas musicians rather than simply known as accomplished button-pushers.That's okay though, as records like this give the trend successes thatare worthy of the bandwagoning. The loops and pieces of guitar areeverywhere on Augarten and yet it sounds very much like anelectronic, synth-driven record. The rhythms are all minimalist technoconstructions, something I would have expected from a label that's tiedinto the Kompakt stable. The melodies, however, are tied to thatfamiliar six-stringed instrument that has grounded the majority of allpopular western music for decades. There are slivers of folk and rockand blues and even country twang woven in amongst the ribbons of deepbass and techno structures so that the record feels grounded intradition while still being completely fresh. Well, maybe completelyfresh is a bit of an exaggeration—Kilo don't stray tremendously farfrom the formula of clicks and pulses and thumps that drives most ofthe Kompakt, ~scape, and Ritornell rosters. Still, there is a warmth inthese songs owed to the guitar that makes them not only accessible topeople who might otherwise shrug off sparse electronics, but gives thema kind of time and place to call home. Other people are making clickyminmal techno, and others still are fracturing guitars throughsoftware, but I've not heard a recent attempt to bring the two togetherthat succeeds as well as this. samples:
