Artist - Kinski
Album - Alpine Static
Label - Sub Pop
Reviewer - Chris Pacifico
Who says you need sing in order to rock?!! The Seattle instrumental quartet Kinski have come blazing back on what is quite possibly their most innovative release to date as their sounds of hard-rockin avant-garde experimentalism have no doubt evolved tremendously since their last effort, 2003’s Airs Above Your Station.
The buzzing hot-rod breeze in “Hot Stenographer” throttles all the way into some doom-laden Black Sabbath type riffs as totally snide surf-rock shimmy ensues on “The Wives of Artie Shaw”. Kinski demonstrate remarkable abilities that will jar and sooth your nerves in tracks with long and catchy titles like “Hiding Drugs in the Temple, Pt. 2”. They even show their love for the avant-garde Krautrock experimentalism with “The Party Which You Know Will Be Heavy’ as the psychedelic penumbras in “Passed Out on Your Lawn” come pouring down amidst a wall of fuzz for a full nine minutes. Kinski even spin into the ocean floor droning similar to that of Brian Eno on “All Your Kids Have Turned to Static”. Alpine Static gets truly hectic and heavy with “The Snowy Parts of Scandinavia” that begins on an erringly chilly note (no pun intended, it really does) with intermittent avalanches of uncut noise.
Alpine Static is truly a maze of surreal textures that fill the void between shoegazer and prog/art rock with a pinch of stoner metal gusto. As far as ass-kicking instrumental albums for 2005 are concerned, Alpine Static is the yin to the yang of Pelican’s The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw. Kinski needs no singing in their music due to the fact that they can fully express themselves with a rapid stride that collides with complete sonic fury.
