Until We Felt Red - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
It would be reaching to equate Kaki King's new direction with Dylan's electric debut at Newport. Yet there's no doubt the New York-by-way-of-Georgia musician has taken a sharp left turn with her third full-length. After two discs composed primarily of acoustic guitar, Everybody Loves You and Legs To Make Us Longer, King has added vocals to her arsenal (something she first experimented with on her last album). It could have been a disastrous move. Fortunately, King, who actually started out as a drummer, hasn't morphed into a standard issue singer/songwriter--just as Dylan didn't abandon his folk roots when he plugged in. Rather, her minimalist musings add texture to the atmospheric, post-rock proceedings. And just as her fret work has been described as "singing," her fragile voice is but one ingredient in the mix, which includes bass, bells, and brushes. On the eight-minute "You Don't Have to be Afraid," for instance, she only sings near the beginning and the end of the track. Most vocalists would surely do the opposite. While previous recordings garnered comparisons to axe-slingers Michael Hedges and Preston Reed, the John McEntire-produced Until We Felt Red more closely resembles the sweetly melodic sounds of Lush or Asobi Seksu. McEntire (The Sea and Cake, Tortoise) also provides drums and "things" (synth, vibes, programming, etc.). Once described by National Public Radio as "The Queen of Acoustic Guitar," Kaki King could use a new slogan. How about "The Queen of Lap-Steel Shoegaze Pop"? --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Album Description
Kaki King has never been one for convention. Her third album (following 2003's "Everybody Loves You" on Velour and 2004's "Legs To Make Us Longer" on Epic) is certainly no exception. Over the last few years, she's enjoyed well-earned status as the zeit-girl of instrumental acoustic guitar. Here she bests herself and defies expectation again, ditching her acoustic for an electric, lap steel, and perhaps the most unexpected instrument of all: her own voice; disarmingly winsome and sweet for a woman with so much attitude. The haunting melodies are sadder, the lush orchestrations are fuller, and the sharp edges can cut.

Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...

2 out of 5 stars

Crappy Kaki August 23, 2006
21 out of 33 found this review helpful

The Reviewer who equates this with Dylan going electric has lost it. Dylan was always a brilliant lyricist and a mediocre guitar player - neither of which were greatly effected when he picked up the electric.

Kaki, on the other hand, comes up with some of the most cliche, trite lyrics I have heard since I was in high-school poetry class with cheerleaders. So if you are a cheerleader, by all means grab this one! Otherwise, if you cringe at phrases like "the pain inside" -- run.

Unlike some reviewers, I have no problem with her voice. It is weak and whispery but if she had something unique to say, or was capable of saying it in an original way I could care less about the sonic qualities of her singing.

What is even more frustrating for those who are fans of Kaki's acoustic work, is that her electric guitar playing is lame as well. This is a common occurrence when musicians make the acoustic/electric switch in either direction. Not as comfortable expressing themselves in this new sonic medium, the artist ends up playing run-of-the-mill licks and popular chord progressions.

Ultimately, I would pass on this album (had I not already bought it - 30 second clips do not capture the true mediocrity). Either this was pressure from the label to record something more marketable or Kaki is reaching that lamentable stage in her career in which those close to her become yes-men instead of telling her that her lyrics suck. No matter the cause, the effect is pure mediocrity. If this had been her sound when she first started, it is unlikely she would have ever gotten a record deal.

1 out of 5 stars

Kaki should stick to her roots August 12, 2006
20 out of 32 found this review helpful

For those of you who love Kaki's acoustic guitar from her first CDs will not find much to like here. Perhaps you will literally see red. The eclectic and original melodies of her first CDs are missing here. This one is way over produced with too much garbage drowning out the one thing I loved Kaki for - the amazing guitar playin. Kaki, please stop singing. Just play your guitar and keep the experimentation out of the public's eye. Tracks 9-13 are about the only good tracks on this CD. The singing is childish and annoying. This is such a dramatic change from anything Kaki has done before. I hope she doesn't do it again.

1 out of 5 stars

Kaki goes pop August 15, 2006
19 out of 28 found this review helpful

Yet another inchoate effort from one of the most overblown musicians of her generation.

Don't fall for the smokescreen of hype - it's always a red flag for a recording that doesn't stand up on its own merits.

I'm sorry, but Kaki is just not a singer. She just doesn't have any pipes. Her voice is thin, weak, and waify. I wouldn't be surprised if the recording engineer used pitch-correcting software to make it sound like she's singing the right notes. Kaki is definitely not a songwriter either. Her lyrics are pretentious. The production is characterized by studio gimmicks, none of which adds anything of substance to the songs.

For this style of music, I much prefer Bjork. And for fans of acoustic solo guitar, I definitely can't recommended this CD.

Nothing innovative here. Just a weak attempt to go pop.

1 out of 5 stars

The Nude Empress drinks the Kook-Aid January 23, 2007
17 out of 44 found this review helpful

One headline I read a couple years ago said: Kaki King, the future of acoustic guitar, get used to it.

What a short future that was. For a time I scoffed because everything I'd heard was gimmicky and weird on purpose, with no real music going on. No real cohesive song structure, just a lot of right-hand hammer-ons and banging on the guitar body with her hands, I never really got a sense King was doing anything more than playing around. Her defenders insisted she had a musical vision. A lone woman with a guitar, using her imagination to wring from it her angst, joy, and spirit. A fierce innovator with a pure musical vision. So I thought maybe I should give her a chance to blossom in to a fully realized artist. Although I had my suspicions about whether she was doing anything more than exercises in purposeful weirdness for weirdness's sake, I decided to stay open minded.

And then she made this record. She subjected us to her cliched, trite, and wholly unoriginal "look how thoughtful and sensitive I am" lyrics, her laughable and disengenous singing (no wonder she started as an instrumentalist) and the height of F U to her defenders, she plays electric guitar with a band, and strangely with none of the fervor of her acoustic recordings. In her own words she said "I had nothing left to say with acoustic guitar." That means she really has nothing musical to say at all, because this record is a complete artistic surrender to the exact format she claimed to be rebelling against when she started.

How her die hard fans could defend this is beyond me. If you are truly a fan of her earlier efforts, this music should repulse you coming from the same artist. It should confound and dismay those who saw Kaki King as the future of solo acoustic guitar. For those who thought she was more than a cute young girl with some tricks and a lucky streak, this should have been a stunning betrayal. Yet her fans defend her change of style as a valid new musical choice, as if it remains as fresh and valid as her earlier recordings, remaining blind to the fact that if this were her first record, she would have none of the fans she has, and it would probably be her last record.

I urge those people to listen to this again without the cranial-rectal inversion of blind loyalty, with the ears that heard her as the acoustic maverick. If you continue to defend this record, you are admitting that it was her looks (or something else?) and not her sound that was important to you. For those looking for the rebellious queen of solo acoustic, able to mesmerize audiences alone on a stage, she has been replaced by an empress who never had clothes, and choosing lucre over creativity, she has given up hope of being a radical and drunk the Kook-Aid of mundanity. All hail the empress of the ordinary.

4 out of 5 stars

8.5/10 November 21, 2006
14 out of 16 found this review helpful

Volume I, issue XIX

The multi-talented guitarist Kaki King is back with a new album that is completely different from anything she has ever done in the past. If you know Kaki, you probably know her best for her fret-tapping guitar styles, and unique style of acoustic-based song writing. But this album is really a complete change of sound and style for her. Edgy, diverse and dynamic, Until We Felt Red could very well be her best endeavor to date. In fact, as her previous albums were mainly solo instrumental projects, she now seemingly has a full band, and has moved beyond songs that are entirely guitar-centric. There are vocals--and lots of them; very good I might add--and many other instruments that make for a splendid show of Kaki's compositional skill and innovation. This album ranges in style from loungy jazz to haphazard (in a good way) post-rock.

"Yellowcake" starts the album out beautifully: Kaki, as it turns out, has a very pleasant, ethereal voice, and she harmonizes so elegantly it's a wonder that she never sang (much) on her previous albums. The title track brings back instrumentation, but it is at this point where you realize that things are a bit different: slide guitar accompanied by slow, heavy, fuzzy, electric guitars. When first listening to this album, and this track in particular, it became apparent that King was making an attempted reach into the realm of post-rock, whether she knew it or not. And it turns out, her attempt is rather successful. "You Don't Have To Be Afraid" features more pristine vocals, and a full array of amazing instrumentalization from organs to chimes all overlain over an acoustic guitar passage in an amazingly delicate sunshower of musical beauty. Later in the song (which clocks in over eight minutes, as opposed to the other songs on the album most of which are under five), the rest of the band starts in with drums, fuzz bass, and even a flugelhorn! Things just keep getting more and more interesting. "Goby" has a more jazz vibe to it, as does "I Never Said I Love You." "Jessica" is another vocal triumph for Kaki, with a background of multi-layered music. "First Brain" is a very organic instrumental piece featuring a trio of guitar, flute and flugelhorn blended to make a wonderful mystical soundscape. "Ahuvati" starts as a trademark King guitar work, but then is invaded by a string section--a welcome intruder that starts off as an abrasive hum and progresses to an ambient companion melody. The album just continues to progress. You almost forget that the songs are so short (relatively), because each one is truly a unique entity that paints a different picture when you hear it, and though each one is summed up perfectly in the time allotted, you can't help but wish it would go on longer. One thing becomes clear throughout the album though: Kaki's voice is an instrument, and she plays it well. Truly a colorful orchestra is displayed on this album.

Barring some edits, I wrote this review upon my first listen of the album, because I just had to describe the virginal experience, so I apologize if it is a bit helter skelter...and long. But this album came as a total surprise to me, and is really a pleasant and welcome change for Kaki King. Not that I don't like her previous material (I do), but this is such an interesting alteration of style, and an indication that King has no intention of stagnating herself by sticking to just one style of music. There really is no all-encompassing "label" for the style of music on this album, but more than anything, I get a experimental/post-rock vibe from it, at times almost reminiscent of Explosions in the Sky with vocals. It is a triumphant success to say the least, and I hope she continues on in this wise now that we know of what she is truly capable. I highly recommend this album.

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