Kinski - Semaphore EP
(Sub Pop)
Kinski's outstanding sophomore LP, Be Gentle With the Warm Turtle, revealed two sides to the band: the loud side and the soft side. Despite the irrefutable greatness of the album, the planar sound coordinates presented on ...Turtle allowed the simple-minded (me included) to simply trace back the sound to its possible sources. With the band's new EP, the band expands into three-dimensional space, showing four sides in four songs when many figured they didn't have that many sides to begin with.
EP opener "Semaphore" is an amalgamation, taking heavy riffing of original kraut rock along with post-Sabbath/pre-glam metal and rolling it up into a power rock song. Staccato pulses somehow develop into power chord fist pumping. Imagine Michael Anthony doing a stiff-leg dwarf strut while Eddie grins for the camera, but that isn't Diamond Dave filling the space but instead clashing textures from equally nimble guitarlines.
Next up is "Point That Thing Somewhere Else" in which Kinski turn their space/kraut rock into chiming early 90s indie rock without breaking a sweat. Chris Martin sings like his heart isn't really into it—i.e., in true slacker fashion. The song is a cover by Kiwi greats The Clean and is good tribute, not trying to emulate the Kilgours' guitar sound and mood but doing a pretty good job of it nonetheless.
"The Bunnies Are Tough" is an improvised piece that sounds either like trying to start a diesel car in the middle of winter or like an alien abduction. An eerie soundscape that showcases the band's ability at creating large, odd sounds from their guitars and is the least structure recording Kinski has released to date.
EP closer "I Wouldn't Hurt a Fly" perhaps gives more fodder to the simplistic Mogwai comparisons. Take "My Father My King" but make the melody that's repeated over and over last about 4 bars instead of about 1. Then cut it's length quite a bit. It works, and it rocks, and I guess that's enough.
You'll get "Semaphore" again when the band's new album, Airs Above Your Station, comes out in January. The EP is still worth getting, though, as it gives the listener a view of the band in a couple new angles; ones you won't get anywhere else, including the new album.
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