new release:
Kobi "Urstoff"
EndofhuM-13 (2010)
2xLP
double vinyl, widespread coverlimited edition of 300 copies
released in co work with Kranium
Recorded 10. October 2009 in Brugata 3A, Oslo
live in studio, no overdubs
the last two tracks with audience.
It was all improviced by:
Kai Mikalsen
Fredrik Ness Sevendal
Martin Powell
Petter Flaten Eilertsen
Mats Monstad
Per Gisle Galåen (LP 2)
Cover artwork by Kai Mikalsen
Recorded and produced by Kai Mikalsen.
Mastered by Helge Sten.
The double-LP can be ordered from:
→ looop ←
"Behind the subject we are focused on" er en av titlene på plata "Urstoff" fra det Oslo-baserte prosjektet Kobi. Kobi er et nytt bekjentskap for meg. Bandet er av og til et soloprosjekt for Kai Mikalsen, av og til et band med mange forskjellige gjester. Denne skiva er i sin helhet spilt inn live i studio i Brugata 3, Oslo. Den består av fem lange gode spor med en slags eksperimentell metalambient. Improvisert musikk og ekstra fet produksjon gjør dette til noe av det beste jeg kan huske innen eksperimentell musikk på lenge. Jeg får enkelte assosiasjoner til for eksempel Sunburned Hand Of The Man. Men Kobi er langt mer strukturert og går av og til i grenselandet til alternativ jazz og andre sjangre. Jeg synes dette er en ekstremt bra skive, den er spennende på alle måter. En flott dobbel vinyl har det blitt. Den gis ut i 300x, så kjøp fra label eller gå på Tiger!
J. Vega - vinylsalvation
The Norwegian take on Kosmische and space-rock is well manifested by Kobi on their Urstoff (ENDOFHUM 13) album, which also exists as a double LP in a gatefold sleeve. We heard from Kobi before in 2009, but the acousticks release was mainly a compilation of droney music collaborations put together by the main man Kai Mikalsen. The band here are a quintet playing with a replete cosmic-rock plateful of instruments, including many guitars, organs, synths and groovular 1970s effects pedals buckling under the pressure of many Norwegian feet; and I’m pleased to note familiar names Petter Flaten Eilertsen and Fredrik Ness Sevendal in the band. Not a man among them but doesn’t also play in a side project, and if you can trip the names of Dip Apple, Ka, Love Hz, Phonoloid and Slowburn off your tongue at a cocktail party in Hampstead, you’ll be esteemed a hipper dude than most. The overall sound of the album is distinctive and spaced-out fer sure, but if you’re seeking more development and dynamics from your quota of avant-rock, you may be baffled by the oblique and meandering nature of these performances. But we should expect no less from a member of the Origami Arktika collective, of course.
Ed Pinsent - The Sound Projector
From Oslo Norway, Kobi started in 1999 as the solo project of Kai Mikalsen.
BEHIND THE SUBJECTS WE ARE FOCUSED ON:
Cool sonic ambient driving space noise... crazyhead jazz slop... uncategorizable, which is always a good thing. "Kobi explores the musical possibilites of various spaces, timbres, dynamics, frequencies, harmonies and drones via collective improvisation"... can't go wrong with that!!
TWO MOMENTS THAT NEGATE EACH OTHER:
Cool song titles and cover art!! Doorsy sounding guitar, "this is the end". Some flute, nice, atmospheric... guitar plays same riff... some burbling. At 5 minutes gettin' a bit blase'. Now some other sound effects. OK at 10:37 and it still hasn't changed. Pleasant but ploddy. At 13 minutes it's startin' to pick up the pace a little... 17:57 and it's gettin' pretty wacky with crazed snappy drummin' and electronic drones, gradually volumes down.
A SIGNIFIER RELATING TO A SIGNIFIED:
More noisy ambience, an ethereal space clatter that never resolves but just is.
TO ACHIEVE MATTE AND FRESH EFFECT:
Nice, deep spaceness rumble, yes, it's just right!! There's strange squeeky sounds that are exactly like the ones my 8 week old puppy is making with his toy lobster!!?? Now some random banging along with the lovely stream of deep spaceness. At 7:10 startin' to go uptempo, pretty cool, experimental ambience meets noise rock!!!
FIVE GREEK WORDS FORMING THE WORD FOR FISH:
Industrial quiet growl. I would say that this album is one of the very few albums I've reviewed in quite awhile that is artistically/musically relevant, in that there's something goin' on that's not completely derivative of another band!! In other words, it's freakin' art!!! But does art exist if the spacerockers don't get it??!!? At 9:27 it's still going strong... bring it on Kobi...
I didn't know this sorta thing was goin' down in Oslo??!
At 13 minutes it's still raging on, an epic!!!!
Aural Innovations #43