Is this the soundtrack to music collapsing under the weight of its own accumulated past? Or an energetic, anything goes maximalism , offering a much-needed jolt to tired synapses? Kayaka’s Sonic Kitchen could be both, or neither. But it’s fun, kind of, and its twists and turns are a groovy path down which open-eared explorers should wander. Imagine all those 90’s sampledelic turntablist albums with the annoying bits weeded out and their often rather limited source inputs widened to include cod-classical piano, crunchy noise and enigmatic drone, as well as all the usual jazz-electronica-soundtrack suspects. Then chuck it all in the back of a van and blow the bloody doors off.
Sonic Kitchen is only the latest step in an eccentric, evolving discography for Kayaka that takes in rough-cut electronics, bass clarinet improvisations, mashups of children’s songs and field recordings from the Amazon basin. Born in Tokyo and…
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