Friday, March 21, 2008

Kaki King-Dreaming of Revenge





I was blown away by Kaki King when she joined Dave Grohl on stage at the Troubadour during the Foo Fighters breakfast. I made it a point to keep close tabs on her work and was happy to pick up her latest album "Dreaming Of Revenge". Unlike the whole Maxim record review debacle, I have listened to this album numerous times to generate another lab report for my chemical analysis series.

Elements of:
Juliana Hatfield, Album Leaf, Sigur Ros, Iron and Wine, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Radiohead

Chemical components:
Angelic vocals, Textured Guitars (Acoustic/Electric), Lap Steel guitars, Soothing Synth pads

Lab Report:

Kaki's previous albums have been primarily instrumental affairs. Kaki steps out and shows us that she should sing more often as her voice is as beautiful as her guitar playing. This album can easily propel Kaki higher into the mainstream. The number of tracks that could be placed in commercials, movies and television is overwhelming. The slight infusion of helium in Kaki's vocals on "Pull Me Out Alive" makes you head spin with intoxication. "Montreal" evokes the split second of waking up in the midst of a dream as you try to clear the cobwebs out of your head with its weaving guitar lines. The percussive guitar tapping during "Bone Chaos In The Castle" fully redeems the coolness of the effect ever since it was severely damaged by Extreme for "More Than Words". The rapid fire guitar fingerpicking of "Sad American" convinces me that I will need to see it repeated in a live setting as I am sure Kaki's fingers would cause a motion trail. "Life Being What It Is" is a call to the angels as Kaki's vocals are front and center with a mini lap steel clinic for a solo. Kaki will be playing the Roxy Theatre on Wednesday March 26th and you can get tickets here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Love your album reviews. Thanks.