Karl Denson's Tiny Universe - light, yet groovy "prog jazz"? They're notable to me because of their combination of a fairly typical jazz ensemble with copious DJ scratch action and a lead... flute! I don't know if you can "shred" on such an instrument, but if not, this is as close as it gets. Anyway, this is really fun, happy (meaning lots of major thirds), maybe even danceable stuff. Extra credit for "touring" alongside Les Claypool on part of the Jam Cruise series.
KGC - that's Sascha Konietsko (KMFDM and anything related), Dean Garcia (Curve), and Lucia Cifarelli (KMFDM, Drill). They made a very industrial album in 2006. As with anything so closely associated with my brother, I hope you dislike it so I don't have to share.
Kiss - yeah, you know 'em. Well, aside from "Rock and Roll All Night", most of their songs aren't immediately recognizable. However, their face paint, crazy hair, and Gene Simmons' tongue are instantly familiar. There aren't too many groups out there with that backwards identity of ubiquitous members and thoroughly non-ubiquitous tunes. Nice work, rock stars.
Kling Klang - "experimental rock", they claim to be? Whatever that is. The band consists of a bunch of guys on synthesizer, as well as - of all instruments to be not synthesized - a drummer. You might correctly guess from the name that their music is heavy on noise, but when they're being musical, it sounds like a distorted classical organ quartet (plus drums, of course). They're not the easiest listening out there, though I think normal people could tolerate. Mad props for opening for Portishead in 2008.
KMFDM - the father(s) of industrial rock. Also my brother's favorite band/obsession (if you remember your analogy notation, that's "John:Les Claypool::Tim:KMFDM"), so feel free not to like, such that a select few of us can keep them to ourselves.
They recognized Tim on sight, and even figured out who I was when we saw them in Cleveland, November 2004. Speaking of, here is a happy brother:
The Knack - o-o-of "My Sharona" fame. I could not care less about anything else they produced; I would buy a CD with 14 repeats of that song (16 if it's an 80-min disc). It's dumb, it's repetitive, a flock of kindergarteners could've written and played it, and I love it.
Yes, I'm that pathetic.
Kool & The Gang - also most well-known for a dumb, catchy song, "Jungle Boogie". eek. To their credit, they started out as a very pure, deft jazz group before being sucked into the funk/disco black hole of 70's pop. Hunt down "Summer Madness", among others. Thanks to Nate for exposure to their early jazz style.
Korn - ok, so I'm not a true Korn fan, but I am a huge fan of "Freak on a Leash", which starts out like a normal metalish Korn ditty, but about halfway through devolves into massive bass and frightening, completely nonsensical noises yelled by their main vocalist. Noise and bass seem to be keys to my musical heart, so this is a two-for-one deal!
If I recall correctly, the song also had a pretty cool "bullet time" video - ha ha, remember when MTV actually played music?
Krev Kor - another one of jl's musical friends. We clocked some hours noodling around in Bill's basement back in the day. He didn't even bother tuning his guitar. It was delicious.
That's it from me - your K submissions, please?
I just dropped in to mention Kenny Rogers and The First Edition.
ReplyDeleteDeVotchKa, yes. I was introduced to them through the "Little Miss Sunshine" soundtrack. As a sucker for a sweet melody (especially involving piano), "How it Ends" won me over, hands down. Plus, I like weird, and well...they're weird.
ReplyDeleteI am loving your music blogs, sir. And I must admit to shamefully liking early Korn myself.