<b>kidkanevil</b> is back. Riding into town like a hi-tec hunter-gatherer, spearing, chopping and mixing beats for his new album <b>"Basho Basho"</b>.
Obscure Japanese film clips collide with dark video game atmospherics to create a listening experience that deserves serious attention. This isn't background music, nor is it instantly gratifying club fodder. Rather it's an intelligent journey into the creative mind of a truly innovative and experimental producer.
The dubstep influence is evident across the album, drawing on the twisted beats and bass favoured by the likes of Kode9, Burial and Joker, and perhaps best evidenced on the menacing "Lantern 1" and the drum driven "Megajoy / J-POP". A RZA-esque fondness for understated, obscure classical samples is another common thread running from track to track, a result perhaps of KK's original stimulus for the album:
"I was watching a lot of Japanese cinema, listening to a lot of out-there, classical music, going a bit loopy really," kidkanevil explains. "That was the starting point."
Unlike his previous albums, "Basho Basho" eschews guest vocalists in favour of aquatic atmospherics on "Tintinnabuli" and skittering drums and bleeps on "The Floating World". Meanwhile the chopped up ATCQ samples of "Minjo" and the playful Jeru Tha Damaja flip of "When Doves Bounce" pay homage to the more traditional hip hop roots kidkanevil may be best known for. Finally "Yokai" provides the perfect finish for the LP, a closing track that amalgamates the sounds of its predecessors to encapsulate the feel of the album.
With a place on next year's <b>Red Bull Music Academy</b> in the bag as well as remixes for <b>Foreign Beggars, Souleance, Alice Russell</b> and <b>Homecut</b>, 2010 is going to be a big year for kidk - also look out for his incredible DJ / MPC set in a club near you soon!
"Fantastic, straight up awesome" <b>Daedelus, Ninja Tune</b>
"8bit madness packed full of e-numbers... gimmie some mo!" <b>Alex Nut, Rinse FM / Eglo</b>
"F*** Me this is incredible! Like the best moments of RJD2 and Timbaland combined!" <b>Bonobo, Ninja Tune</b>