Kinski
Down Below It's Chaos

It's late evening. I'm listening to this album for the (oh well!!) the fortieth time and I truly believe it's a gem. Nothing more, nothing less. The Kinski have changed their face. No more the almost cacophonic and post-rock experimentalism of the first four works, no more the organic cauldron (there's really a bit of everything: from stoner, to kraut, to noise) of "Alpine Static". A tribute instead to the '60s/'70s sounds. As I repeat, it results in a gem. A remarkable and hallucinatory revolution of their sound. A concrete demonstration of the versatility of this Seattle quartet (this is the third album for Sub Pop).

 A magmatic and magnetic sound, vehement and outrageous, that cannot but move, an album from another time in short. I read somewhere that the Kinski of "Down Below It's Chaos" are today's Blue Cheer subjected to a shoegaze treatment. Yes, I know, these two words don't sound too well together indeed.... but what comes out is astonishing. Certainly, it gives more of an idea than the NME's definition: "the Sabbath spin-dried in a washing machine"!! The album is produced by Randall Dunn (Earth, Sunn O))), Boris) and when I found this out, I immediately imagined an uncompromising psychedelic "wall" also remembering the old sounds of the group. Here instead, the psychedelia is clearly at the service of melody that bursts forth from each track whether it is a three-minute guitar blast (Crybaby Blowout, Punching Goodbye Out Front) or a long fluorescent and expanded progression (Boy, Was I Mad!, Silent Byker Type). It's obvious yet perfect to define it as a journey; it also represents a noble attempt to bring the psychedelic flow of the '60s/'70s up to date. Slow and gigantic grooves that explode into fuzz orgies while the sparse vocal insertions (also a novelty) are affected and filtered, coming from a dimension that's not exactly ours, a dimension intrinsically embedded with a space-time dislocation of extraordinary bucolic/psychedelic effect. In short, not easily classifiable, or almost impossible to place them in a movement. Just to give you an idea, these are the groups they've toured with: Mission of Burma, Comets on Fire, Oneida, Mono, Acid Mother Temple (with whom they've also recorded a split), Black Mountain, and lately Tool. Within these 45 minutes you'll find a bit of everything: stoner outbursts, guitar riffs, ambient progressions, shamelessly post-rock openings, pure rock delirium, and whatever else you can think of. But the little revolution is that all of this sounds compact and powerful and surprise surprise, almost catchy.

 The inclusion of the organ is practically painless. A seemingly difficult marriage but in practice works more than excellently, playing on the alternation of sonic fullness and emptiness, as well as on the contrast with the guitar's fuzz riffing which at times emerges in all its power, at times fades into a warm and seductive arpeggio, nonetheless radiating vibrations saturated with cosmic electricity and hallucinogenic power.

The music of Kinski is in perpetual motion thus instantly revealing its visionary and hypnotic nature. Restless and courageous experimenters Chris Martin and companions manage once again to amaze. In this case, approaching decidedly more concrete and rock shores with eclecticism, stylistic variety, and originality. Highlighting musical galaxies in many ways already seen before but let's admit it, in new combinations. Rock craftsmanship of superb quality by Kinski though perhaps not always well focused, however, it holds such and so many surprises that it’s worth the listen. You'll find yourself facing a layered, thunderous, multifaceted sonic universe but at the same time unstable and continually expanding.