Gig Review: Kitchen Motors

Kitchen Motors Collective at Cargo. 27 November 2006.

What the blurb says… “Deliciously hypnotic music from Reykjavik - Kitchen Motors is a Reykjavik-based artists’ collective with a reputation for cross-art chemistry and surreal charm. With members drawn from across the musical spectrum, Kitchen Motors is a creative playground, where exciting new ensembles appear by happy accident and dense and magical films entwine with thrilling new sounds.”

Bet there is a subplot here. Ah yes. The Múm subplot. Múm are, for me, the most influential and important band of the last ten years; pioneers of a new form of music combining electronica, folk, pop and contemporary classical; not just plinky plonking the elements together but fusing them at great temperature to produce a new hybrid music. Traces of the radiation emitted by this fusion can be found all over the poposphere, from Goldfrapp to Tunng to Cibelle :::::

by the way look out in 2007 for its cross fertilisation with the New York freaky folk scene – Cibelle on the bill with CocoRosie at David Byrne’s “Welcome to Dreamland” all star freaky gig – Bjork working with Anthony (without his Johnsons) – CocoRosie currently recording their new album on a boat somewhere near the Arctic – oh yes :::::

But Múm are dead; long live Múm. There was a big clue on their My Space site – “it is difficult to know who we are any more.” I feared the worst when vocalist and founder member Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir (under the name Kría Brekkan (which apparently means “to tern the slope”)) appeared on the bill with dullard psyc-rockers Animal Collective at the Astoria earlier this year. She appeared very fragile and almost not there. See for yourself at http://www.underexposed.org.uk/kriabrekkan/kria1.htm . Hear for yourself at http://www.rosmedia.se/kria.html. Then I found out that she’d only gone and married one of the Animals (Avey “Yoko” Tare) and moved to New York, and the official announcement of her departure from Múm came earlier this week, together with a sad letter which you can find here: http://www.fat-cat.co.uk/mum.pdf.

But Múm are not dead. First there is a vintage Peel Session recorded in 2002 being released in a few weeks. And the founding foundling boys, being Gunnar Örn Tynes and Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason, have formed a new line up and recorded a new album out early 2007. And Múm have always been something of a collective, with, from what I can gather, something of a symbiotic relationship with the Kitchen Motors collective. So anyway the subplot was that this was a chance to check out some of their new members, in particular Hildur Gudnadottir (cello and vocals) and Ólöf Arnalds (violin / viola / guitar / vocals) - actually I remember Ólöf playing with Múm at the infamous “game of two halves” double header with Cat Power at the Barbican last year.

Yeah yeah yeah that’s all very well and good, but isn’t this meant to be a gig review.

So first up was Hildur Gudnadottir with just a cello and laptop for company. After some heavyweight drones she was joined by the rest of the Skuli Sverrisson group including Ólöf Arnalds. Musically this was the post-Reich end of the contemporary classical spectrum; repeated patterns and distortions with a few touches of electronica misting in from the sea, and the ladies on vocals and guess what – both Hildur and Ólöf sing kind of like Kristín Anna: breathy girly swirly lovely.

Next up was Kira Kira and her box of electonix (more later).

Finally the Johann K Johannsson group with dreamy soundtrack stylee contemporary classical with touches of electronica in the beats and sounds.

1. Coolness of crowd: 8/10 – an odd mix of grungy students, North Europeans in layers of wool in different shades of taupe, some Japanese, some punks, some Shoreditch Twats, some classical fans in retro Geography teacher costume.

2. Bob quotient: - 8/10 – high, though tended to be of the fuzzy cut sort rather than the clean lines I prefer.

3. Annoyment factor: - 8/10 – excellent decorum, probably the all time best for a club venue. Anyone talking was poked and shushed from all sides. Get this, I didn’t even have to give anyone a hard stare! I was amongst kindred spirits. The only real sonic interference came from people knocking over beer bottles.

4. Sound quality: - 10/10 – crystal clear; especially impressive in the Kria Kria session.

5. Comfort: 5/10 – many chose to sit on the concrete floor, but it’s dirty and no good for someone with tight glutes. So I stood, and as the gig lasted for some two and a quarter hours without break, I was in some discomfort by the end.

6. Sexytime: 6/10 – maybe affected by my discomforture.

7. Percussion / sound effect function: 30/10. Both the Skuli Sverrisson and Johann Johannsson groups employed sampled beats and effects and mild electronica, but the highlight was the Kira Kira set. Wow. Double Wow. She had a wooden box the size of a cigar case with knobs on and stuff inside, gravel I think, which she tilted about. A tiny music box kind of thing spewing paper spotted with chads and a tiny little handle for winding the paper back in. A long stick covered in glitter with five or so little handles each linked to the most miniscule music box imaginable, and which she would also breathe into. Plus beats and samples triggered as if by thought alone. All were miked up to an unbelievable degree of clarity and power. When she opened up the wooden box and stirred the gravel with her hand, it was like the earth had titled on its axis.

Overall: 75/70 – a good time had by all, but the highlight for me was the Kira Kira set; the others sets were more in the vein of contemporary classical that is very much of the moment but which can tend a little bit towards the sort of thing you find on Classic FM TV.

Merchandise: No T’s, but an agonisingly huge selection of cds, about 15. One of the lovely Icelandic ladies from the collective helped me to buy 5 of them as well as filling me in on the Múm subplot.

Gruff Rhys? He wasn’t there. He should have been.

Visuals: Nice. Lots of grainy black and white footage, and some nice use of a glitter ball effect. Best visuals award go to Kira Kira who performed against a blue sky and clouds backdrop, wearing a nice white frock onto which was projected an image of a colourful flying kite (the kite had polygonic blocks of colour which reminded me of Vanessa da Silva’s blocky work on the latest Tunng album / tour). I found out later that the kite was one of fifty she had miked up and flown around a lighthouse in Iceland, as you do.