Upcoming Gigs

Aside from everything I do at AirMTM, I've long harboured some relatively laid back and unambitious aspirations to music journalism, and have had the chance to write up a few gigs for the Camden New Journal (and seen people like John Scofield and Stanley Clarke up close...for free!). Here's my review of Kaki King's latest appearance at the Jazz Cafe earlier in the month. The piece that appeared in the paper (http://www.thecnj.co.uk/review/2009/041609/class041609_02.html) suffered the wrath of the editor's axe somewhat - it was an awesome set, and 250-odd words don't really do it justice - but this what I originally submitted.

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Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, via the New York jam band and busking scene, Kaki King has been on the underground circuit for many years, releasing several albums of increasingly adventurous instrumental music through Sony, Velour and now Cooking Vinyl records. But it is only recently that she has been brought to the attention of a wider audience, guesting on the Foo Fighters’ latest album, scoring Sean Penn’s film ‘Into The Wild’ and being named as one of Rolling Stone magazine’s 20 Guitar Gods (the only woman to ever make the list), and she has quickly established herself as a true rising star with a loyal following.

Kaki King's fans are a dedicated bunch. Having packed out Camden's Jazz Cafe to bursting point, the guitarist dubbed by Mojo as "the queen of instrumental nu-gaze guitar" received not only a rapturous reception but also a marriage proposal and a set of novelty underpants during the night, and so it seemed only fair that she delivered a set of outstanding musicianship and solid post-rock/left-field indie songwriting in return.

King is well known for her bombastic solo acoustic guitar playing, strumming, hammering, tapping and thumping her instrument to produce a bewildering variety of sounds, but for this gig, the last date on a seven week international tour, she was playing as a trio, with drummer Matt Hankle providing a powerful backing along with Dan Brantigan on EVI (electronic valve instrument), a breath-controlled synth that conjured many of the set's beautifully haunting textures.

Switching between acoustic, electric, baritone and lap steel guitars with ease, Kaki also made use of loop pedals to layer her sound, weaving complex post-rock rhythms into tunes that intrigued the audience while remaining relatively simple in structure. Her soft, at times fragile voice suits her sound but there were times when it was in danger of being swamped by the rest of the band. Her great strength lies in not relying on her awesome technical skills to carry the songs, and while the audience remained unfairly static, the atmosphere was nonetheless one of highly enthusiastic and deserved admiration.