Tag: kvb

Rewind Review: The KVB – Unity (2021)

Kat Day and Nicholas Wood, otherwise known as The KVB, released their Unity album around Thanksgiving Day in 2021 as the world was undergoing separation from a lot of relatives and friends. People were missing each other, missing connections, conversations, coffee dates, and control over, well, anything in and around their lives.

Unity, with its striking cover image of giant, linked circles at the edge of a cold mountain lake, explores these themes. Even the opening instrumental track, “Sunrise Over Concrete” symbolizes hope in bleak times. “Unité” bounces and bumps with krautrock beats and called for all of us to meet at the club once the pandemic was over. I read that “Unbound” (Becoming free of the shackles of lockdown, one’s ego, or both?) harkened back to classic Slowdive and Ride tracks, and I don’t think I can put it any better than that. The dual vocals are the Slowdive part, and the soaring guitar solo is the Ride part.

Day’s breathy vocals on “Future” are an interesting new touch than I’ve heard from her before as she sings about the uncertain future ahead of her, and I suppose the rest of us. A lot of Unity was written in 2019, so the pandemic wasn’t yet here, but one can’t help thinking that The KVB had a crystal ball and saw it coming when you hear tracks like this.

“Blind” is the longest track on the album (5:35), and I’m happy for it, because Kat Day’s thick synth-bass alone could just play the entire time and I’d be delighted. The whole track is downright sexy and a bit menacing…which makes it sexier. The build-up on “Ideal Living” is outstanding. It takes its time in the first minute to get to the dance beats, which I’m sure fill the floor wherever they play. “World on Fire” was the first single from the album and it was a good choice with its bright synths, anime chase scene beats, and a guitar solo that sounds like it was played in orbit.

The synths on “Structural Index” intertwine like crystal formations and almost seem to be playing in a different song than the guitar chords. Trust me, it works. “Lumens” is, appropriately, bright and sunny. I can’t help but wonder if the closer, “Omni,” is named after the great science magazine published by Kathy Keeton and Bob Guccione. The sound of it fits in with Omni‘s science fiction-meets-paranormal aesthetic, as does all of The KVB’s work.

The album came out at the right time for a lot of people, giving them something to dance to in their living rooms or to spin while sipping tea and looking out their windows at a world that was pretty much losing its mind. It encouraged all of us to hang in there a while longer, as the reunion would be great.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 40 albums of 2016-2020: #’s 35 – 31

As always whenever one makes such a list, there are many albums you want to include but you have to draw the line somewhere. That line was drawn at 40 records, and we’re now at the top 35.

#35: Night Beats – Who Sold My Generation (2016)

No question mark. That’s one of the first things you notice when you look at the cover of Who Sold My Generation. It’s not a question. The album is a statement. It’s a rough, bluesy, psyched-out statement about how the Nights Beats‘ generation was sold out by one-percenters, trickle-down economics, and the tech industry.

#34: Partner – In Search of Lost Time (2017)

Hey, rock is supposed to be fun. Remember that? Well, Partner do. That’s pretty much their motto, and In Search of Lost Time reminds us that rock is often best served with massive riffs, shredding solos, lyrics everyone will remember and love (and sing at live gigs), and themes of sex, drugs, and, well…rock.

#33: Föllakzoid – I (2019)

There’s no way this album should’ve worked. The three members of Föllakzoid each recorded their own parts separately and then gave those parts to their engineer, who hadn’t heard any of them, and then more or less told him, “Make a record.” As my wife asked when I told her this story, “Then whose album is it?” The answer, according to Föllakzoid, is “Everyone’s.” It’s theirs because they made the parts, the engineer’s because he put them together into some kind of krautrock / Blade Runner sequel synthwave soundtrack, and the listener’s because he / she will interpret it however they want.

#32: The Beths – Future Me Hates Me (2018)

These pop-rockers from New Zealand weren’t on my radar until I stumbled across this record while working at WSND. I was floored by their great hooks, sharp lyrics, and the sense of fun that permeated the entire record. They blew up on radio across the globe with songs like the title track (about dreading a relationship as soon as it begins) and “Whatever” – an ode to slacker aesthetic.

#31: The KVB – …Of Desire (2016)

I don’t remember where I first heard …Of Desire, but it grabbed me and would not let go. This sexy shoegaze album never gets old and is suitable for everything from a synthwave / goth DJ set to waiting in your car for a train to pass to having sex to a quiet dinner at home. The duo use all their vintage analog gear to maximum effect, making you feel like you’re floating in some kind of electric warmth.

Come back soon as I crack open the top 30 albums of the last five years.

Keep your mind open.

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Rewind Review: The KVB – Only Now Forever (2018)

Recorded and self-produced in their Berlin apartment, The KVB‘S 2018 album, Only Now Forever, is a neat mixture of contrasts. It is melancholic, yet ebullient. Somber, yet hopeful. Moody, yet joyful. It’s an honest look at modern living and a warning against its trappings. The title of the album itself is a suggestion of presence. We only have now, this moment, forever. The past never existed. The future never will. We can embrace this divine truth or we can stay buried in a past long gone or worry about a future that doesn’t yet exist – and will be completely different from what we expect when it does arrive…in the now.

Opening single, “Above Us,” is a shadowed electro-pop tune with definite Berlin krautrock influences to its beats and bass as Kat Day and Nicholas Wood sing about rising above the drudgery of modern life. “On My Skin” is a beautiful track with haunting synths by Day and playful ghost-like guitar work by Wood as he sings a tale of a relationship that’s come to an end for reasons unknown to him.

The title track opens like a lost early 1980’s film score that backs a race on some sort of futuristic motorcycle. Day’s synth bass and beats are like android heartbeats. “And the past has all been done. The circle comes ’round again. All I fear will go away. It’s only now just begun,” Wood sings. Fear, like all things, is impermanent (if we allow it to be), and The KVB encourage us to step off the treadmill of fear and move forward under our own power. I’m sure “Afterglow” has been remixed and spun in multiple Berlin industrial / dance clubs by now because it evokes images of Replicants seducing humans and vice-versa.

“With everything, there comes a price,” Wood sings at the beginning of “Violet Noon,” which the band describes on their Bandcamp page as “a romantic ode to the apocalypse.” I can’t describe it any better than that. Day’s breathy vocals on “Into Life” will make your pulse quicken and your spine shiver. “Live in Fiction” is another warning from them. “Everything in the world has changed. I cannot find the truth,” Wood sings. People have embraced fiction over truths that upset their comfortable realities, even when those truths would improve their lives and the lives of those around them.

“Tides” is appropriately named because Day’s synth swell and ebb like the tide, almost catching you off-guard now and then with their sudden burst of energy. “No Shelter” slinks into the room like a femme fatale walking into a detective’s office in a 1950’s dime novel. The album ends with the upbeat “Cerulean,” which has Day laying down a wicked synth-bass groove and her backing vocals feeling like a cool mist as Wood’s feel like a warm canyon wall echo.

Only Now Forever encourages us to accept truth and embrace the present. It’s themes resonate even more in 2020 than they did two years ago.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: The KVB – Submersion

Submersion is a great name for this EP from The KVB (Kat Day and Nicholas Wood). Listening to it is like indulging in a night of psychedelic shoegaze music and then sinking into a warm pool, or lying down on a comfortable bed, or finding a comfy couch in the back of a nightclub.

The title track opens the EP with shimmering synths and simple guitar strums as Day and Wood’s vocals almost chant to us from behind a wall of mist. The synth bass builds and Wood’s guitar lights up the room like a mirror ball. “Outlands” has a great synth-bass groove throughout it that gets your toes tapping and torso writhing.

The alternate version of “Into Life” (from their 2018 album Only Now Forever) is a sultry, breathy make-out track you’ll want to permanently keep on a playlist for such activity. The next two tracks, “Above Us” and “On My Skin,” are also from the same album but remixed by The Holydrug Couple and Miniami Deutsch, respectively. The Holydrug Couple’s mix is, at you might expect, full of trippy synths and heavy reverb on the vocals. Minami Deutsch’s, also as you might expect, turns the song into a krautrock dance track that brings to might sun breaking through gray clouds.

Submerse yourself into this EP. You’ll be better off for it.

Keep your mind open.

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Levitation Austin 2019 recap – Day Four

We began our fourth and final day of Levitation Austin 2019 by attending the downtown record show at the Palmer Event Center. The show was a gold mine for vinyl record collectors. I managed to score three CD’s there – a live Goblin bootleg of a show from 1975, a copy of Husker Du‘s Zen Arcade, and a copy of Duran Duran‘s Arena (the cassette of which I wore out years ago).

We had a nice dinner at one of our yearly stops – Daruma Ramen – and then headed back to Barracuda for the Death by Audio showcase. This was one of the first tickets I bought for the festival when I saw one of my favorite bands, A Place to Bury Strangers, was playing along with The KVB, who I’ve wanted to see live for a while now. APTBS were selling earplugs at their merchandise table for $2.00 a pair. I had brought my own, but in case you’ve never seen them before, this is $2.00 well spent. Trust me on this. First up for us at the DBA showcase was Numb.er, who put on a cool set of shoegaze noise.

Up next, and outside were The KVB, who were excited to finally be playing in Austin and to a welcoming crowd. They sounded great and showed how much evocative music two people can make with the right chemistry, guitar pedals, and synth / drum machine set-up.

We went back inside to catch most of the set by Austin’s own Ringo Deathstarr. They played a mix of new (some played for the first time that night) and older material and filled the inside stage area with fuzzy rock.

I then went back outside for APTBS’ set. My wife stayed inside to wait for Christian Bland and the Revelators and to avoid the sonic assault provided by an APTBS show. This isn’t a crack on my wife. Not everyone can handle their shows. I’ve seen metal heads, screamo fanatics, and hardcore goths wither under their power. Sure enough, they unleashed fury on the outdoor stage, with Oliver Ackermann’s guitar and Dion Lunadon’s bass both being hammered onto the stage within two songs (and multiple times thereafter).

APTBS with members of Ringo Deathstarr and Cryogeyser

Every band from the Death By Audio showcase came out to play with them during the set, which included members of Cryogeyser, the KVB, Numb.er, and Ringo Deathstarr. Their was so much fog machine fog rolling off the stage at one point that the band, bathed in strobe lights as well, took on the appearance of ghosts. I was near the front of the stage and facing Dion Lunadon for most of the set and he went through two bass guitars, and all of the strings on the second were broken by the end. In other words, it was another great APTBS show and a great finish to the festival.

Christian Bland and the Revelators, meanwhile, were putting on a cool show of early Pink Floyd-influenced blues-psych inside Barracuda, and it was a nice way to send our latest Levitation Austin Festival out on a groovy note with one of its curators.

Christian Bland (left) and the Revelators

Levitation weekend is one of my favorite weekends of the year. It’s always a good time, the crowds are always cool (I’ve yet to have run-ins with jerks at the festival.), and the music (and food) is always great. Thanks again to the Reverb Appreciation Society for making it happen. See you next year, Austin.

Keep your mind open.

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The KVB announces U.S. tour dates for 2019.

British synthwave duo The KVB have announced several dates for a U.S. spring 2019 tour to promote their upcoming album Only Now Forever.  Don’t miss this tour if you love vintage synths, electronic beats, and having your perception altered.

Keep your mind open.

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