Kinski - Airs Above Your Station
(Subpop)
Approximately ninety percent of the people at an art museum don't really want to be there. They'll watch the video installment or shop for a poster at the gift shop for an hour to prove to their friends that they were at an actual art museum and are therefore thoroughly cultured. On the other hand, only about five percent of the people at the art museum are really into art. They probably live in some hip place like Soho or Brooklyn and spend lots of time thinking about and participating in art. Then there's the other five percent.
The other five percent really enjoy being at an art museum every once in a while but, if pressed, will admit they don't know a lot about it. They look at most of the paintings and installations and enjoy a good number of them. They let the art appeal to them viscerally with little or no analysis needed; they are just there to enjoy the art. If you're one of these five percent of art museum attendees and think of music along the same lines, Kinski may very well be your new favorite band.
Kinski are a rock and roll band. They rock as much as any garage band with the added bonus that they actually get all of the notes right. Their songs are large. Their songs have many colors. A Kinski song just sounds great. However, Kinski are also an artistic band. They care just as much about complex rhythms, tone creation, unique song structures, and everything else the more cerebral guitar band cares about. However this cerebral side never gets in the way of the visceral side; it is only there to make the visceral side even more visceral.
Kinski officially become my new favorite band with their second near-perfect album in a row, this one entitled Airs Above Your Station, which finds the band moving away from the obvious reference points and starting to define their own sound. Can-like Kraut rock rhythm, Spacemen 3-like space rock sound exploration, Sonic Youth-like art rock guitar heroics, Mogwai-like post rock dynamics,... all these things were easily referenced before, but now have been blended so thoroughly together that a name-check hardly does the sound justice. These songs truly are Kinski's now—no argument about it.
The album has two songs which are more pop in nature than their previous album, Be Gentle With the Warm Turtle, and both bring big surprises to those already familiar with the band. "Semaphore," which also appears on the band's recent EP, turns a Kraut-ian study on staccato rhythms into unexpected heavy metal-style riffing: power rock as only Kinski could do it. "Rhode Island Freakout" is a fast and loose song, surprising for the fact that it features the vocal debut of bassist Lucy Atkinson (also the only use of vocals on the album). Atkinson's Kim Deal-like spoken delivery sounds mildly disinterested, her nonchalant attitude perfectly opposed by the fast and hard guitar noise that surrounds her.
The album also has several quiet, droning moments. "I Think I Blew It" shows up midway through the album and then is revisited at the very end. There are no drums in this song, just a wall of the warmest guitar and keyboard tones, providing a soft cloud for a short daydream.
The album starts off with a seance in "Steve's Basement," that begins the album quietly. Angelic tones echo about a cathedral-like space, dwarfing a quiet guitar solo. The second guitar joins in, playing pure feedback, which ripples against the background tones, filling the room with fuzz. The guitar solo triumpantly re-emerges though, reaching through the increasingly belligerent fuzz.
The longer songs are the highlights of the album, as with the band's masterful use of dynamics, each song flows through its several movements and is its own unique voyage. "Your Lights Are (Out or) Burning Badly" starts off sounding like a quiet folk song, the guitar sounding more like a sitar or some Asian guitar-cousin, with didgeridoo-like moans filling the background. The song shifts to an equally low-key, aching electric guitar melody. The second guitar is anything but low-key, though, and when it is finally added to the song, the sound gets very loud. "Schedule for Using Pillows and Beanbags" starts not with a whisper, but rather with the pristine crystalline sounds of a post-rock band. With a press of a guitar pedal, the song develops into a shoegazing chug, powering forward. As the chug loses steam, the song doesn't fall off but rather blossoms into an unholy noise.
Airs Above Your Station is full of the big sound and the hot rock. But it is also full of interesting sounds, detailed textures, and unexpected twists. Like Sonic Youth and Godspeed You Black Emperor before them, Kinski is able to take cerebral sounds and turn them into something with broad appeal. Even those who get bored by free form music the band is inspired by will thoroughly enjoy Kinksi's music.
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