Kinski

Live in Portland January 13, 2018 | Kelly’s Olympian
with Havania Whaal and Galaxy Research
 

Reverberations from a distortion-saturated past scream loudly and with power throughout the anthology that Kinski has released in a nearly twenty year time period. The power grunge style, which spawned their creation in 1998, reveals a rhythmic trail leading back to bands like Sonic Youth and Helmet. There are definitely flowing ambiances involved in the mostly instrumental trajectory that the band comes screaming out with that relate to instrumental bands such as Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky. For someone that is nearly overtaken by the space-rock atmosphere that these bands create deep inside the subjective mind, the addition of Kinski is a welcomed asset.

Kinski’s 2007 release Down Below it’s Chaos rips right into things, nonverbally for the most part, and finds its way into eerie and flowing crevices, weaving a tale that has no intelligible explanation. The songs that do include vocals throughout the extensive list of records come in unexpectedly and appropriately placed. Of course the volatile and explicit energy source of our sister city to the north, Seattle, has something to do with the authentic trenches that Kinski navigates musically. Kinski shapeshifts and manipulates the musical canvas with sounds that remind the listener of a wide array from fast-paced, distorted surf-rock, through head banging power chord gutters and occasionally leaving us to question as we find ourselves in the midst of what feels like a Vincent Price horror flick as we listen to the 2006 release, I Didn’t mean to Interrupt your Beautiful Moment. It’s mpressive ground to cover. There is a certain message that is carried inside the world of mostly instrumental bands like Kinski, and for most it is hard to understand the profound relevance involved in such a creation as it dances on the edge of logic and mysticism. Some things are better left unexplained in order to be understood.

As the band celebrates their 20th anniversary, they will be re-releasing a double LP version of their 2001 release, Be Gentle with the Warm Turtle, followed by an expected brand new release in 2018. This is a big year for these veteran dirt rockers from the NW.