Music Library: Kepler, Kid Koala, Kool Keith, Akira Kosemura, Leo Kottke, Kris Kristofferson, Kronos Quartet, Fela Kuti

As with the last few entries, these are catching up with the current stage of the Slow Music Project (just finished the Ss). So many of these artists were covered in more detail elsewhere.

Kepler - Fuck Fight Fail (2000). Sleepy, very mildly psych-folk indie band from Canada with my old pal Mike Sheridan on restrained drums.

Kid Koala - Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (2000). Turntablist with the mostest.



Kool Keith - Sex Style (1997) and Black Elvis/Lost In Space (1999). Dude lays down some amazing rhymes while shifting through personas easily and quickly. The former is a (and possible "the only") classic pornocore (in Kool Keith's own terminology) hip-hop concept album, while the latter has Keith adopting his Black Elvis persona, who is actually quite a bit Sun Ra.

Akira Kosemura - Polaroid Piano (2009). Pleasant and beautiful ambient album that reminds me a lot of John Cage's prepared piano compositions.

Leo Kottke - Guitar Music (1981) and My Father's Face (1989). The former is one of the last albums that Kottke recorded before his tendonitis caused him to change from his hyper-aggressive early style of fingerpicking to his softer and occasionally picked later style. My Father's Face is an excellent example of the later style and the song "Jack Gets Up," which gives the album its title, is a lovely expressionistic meditation on incipient middle age.



Kris Kristofferson - Border Lord (1972). Such a great Kristofferson album that I regret not picking this up back when I first got into the man's music some 20 years ago. The title song may be my favorite of the man's, and that's saying something.



Kronos Quartet - Plays Sigur Ros (2007). As you might imagine, the elevation of Sigur Ros's post-rock symphonies to the level of composition that Kronos usually plays ends up diminishing both the songs and the players. Not to say that this is terrible, but it's not really, really good, and that's the bar that Kronos has set for themselves.

Fela Kuti - Expensive Shit/He Miss Road (1975) and Shuffering And Schmiling/No Agreement (1977). These are four albums from Fela in the mid-70s. They are freaking amazing. Pretty much as great as Gentlemen or Confusion. Expensive Shit is the best one here, but that's only by a hair.