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kusikia, minerva, & banners @ mississippi pizza
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Over the past two years, Tacoma duo Kusikia has further explored the areas of suspense and relief th...Over the past two years, Tacoma duo Kusikia has further explored the areas of suspense and relief through shattering drum/guitar breakdowns. Once a whispering crooner, Nsayi Matingou has transformed into a malignant viper spitting out emotive confidence while bandmate Peter Ryan's effortless drums trip under fervent guitar work. Tonight, Kusikia will play songs off their upcoming sophomore album, Turtle Wars, which they will self-release in October. Compared to their self-titled debut, these songs are untamed experiments with free noise dabbling in unconventional song structure. While Kusikia often relies on melodic thrashing, they occasionally calm it down for moody ballads strung along with realist lyric work that could have been the result of an imaginary sonic team-up of Myra Lee-era Chan Marshall with the wall of sound instrumentation of Sonic Youth. EM BROWNLOWE
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message in an e-mail
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In homage:
It's noon30 saturday, Nov. 3. Still full of Aaron Dixon and all the rhythms in my head...In homage:
It's noon30 saturday, Nov. 3. Still full of Aaron Dixon and all the rhythms in my head, I'm having coffee and listening to you on disc.
Your music is tearing through me in this coffee shop almost as entirely and neatly as it did when you were right in front of me.
For what I received last night, I couldn't have been anywhere more nourishing to my being than in that hall.
It feels like forever since music by anyone else has traveled into and exorcised the convolutions and twisting angulations trapped in my blood bound sinews...
I am ferociously lost and found in these tracks right now, as I was by feeling you live last night...needing nothing else...this is food...
Thank you, blessings, may the music keep you as it fills and cleanses me...
I will keep my ears/eyes out for you, and pass your name all around, play your music to everyone I know, and anytime I am involved with anything to do with live music being played somewhere you will be first on my list ~
Peace,
Victoria Larkin,
formerly NY, currently Olympia.
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Kusikia to Play Rotunda this Sunday
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By Nick Martens
nmartens@ups.edu
A&E Editor
My first contact with Kusikia was being insulte...By Nick Martens
nmartens@ups.edu
A&E Editor
My first contact with Kusikia was being insulted by them. In an e-mail asking me to feature their upcoming concert, drummer Peter Ryan included this little jab: "we've never been covered in the Trail." Tacit in this assertion is the accusation that I, the Arts & Entertainment editor, should have known about this band and written about them by now. In effect, Ryan was challenging me. At once impressed and chagrined by their bravado, I set up an interview. I wanted to see if Kusikia had the musical chops to justify their confidence.
First, some basics. Kusikia is a UPS band comprising sophomore Nsayi Matingou on guitars and vocals, and senior Peter Ryan on drums. They are playing in the rotunda this Sunday, Nov. 11 at 7p.m. They will be accompanied by two Portland groups, The Evolutionary Jass Band and Cex Fux (you decide how to pronounce that one). Mind you, this information was not easy to come by. Our interview was a perfect storm of amateurism. I came prepared with no quiet space where we could record the conversation, and they met each of my questions with laughter and vague ruminations.
Early on, I managed to extract some information about the band's genesis. Matingou and Ryan met during Passages 2006, where Ryan lead Matingou's group. After talking music, the two began playing together in Ryan's basement. When they had practiced only once or twice, Ryan said, "my friend was having a house party and wanted us to play." The band agreed despite only knowing a couple of songs. In fact, Matingou had written a new song days earlier that she wanted to play, but Ryan had yet to learn the part. They played it anyway, and "[Peter] was improvising the whole time, and that was really impressive," Matingou said. They continued to play together throughout the year, gradually building up a repertoire of Mantingou-penned songs.
Their songwriting process is intentionally organic. Matingou will write a song to varying degrees of completion, and then the two work together to flesh it out.
"We tend to indulge in how our music feels more than we focus on what it's sounding like," Ryan says.
When I ask them to describe their music, the floodgates open. The closest I get to a genre description is this quote from Ryan: "unconventional, aggressive, dreamy, sometimes bluesy indie world music, with a little bit of rock influence, but not necessarily." Feeling stymied, I inquire about Kusikia's influences. After a bout of giggling, I get further waffling from a band that clearly wishes to resist categorization. However, when Ryan said, "When I first heard Nsayi I thought of the Black Keys and Kaki King," Matingou's eyes lit up, saying "Yeah, Kaki King!"
King plays a sweet, spare kind of shoegazer-influenced indie rock, so at least now I have a touchstone off of which to base my expectations. However, those expectations, at this point, are admittedly jumbled. All of these adjectives seem to be bombarding me with little or no coherence. I have no idea what I will hear when I play the CD they gave me, simply titled Kusikia, but I am bracing myself for some serious weirdness.
My astonishment, then, at the first track from their album, "Inconnu," was profound. It is probably, in all honesty, the slickest, most interesting and overall best piece of amateur indie rock I have ever heard. The bouncing guitar line coupled with crisp drums and Matingou's confidently whispering vocals combine to make a powerful and memorable track that feels no less professional than something from SubPop or Matador.
I was frankly relieved that Kusikia demonstrated none of the abstract strangeness for which the band's description of their own music had prepared me. Instead, I was reminded of some of the quieter tracks from Built to Spill's Perfect from Now on, which I mean only as a compliment considering that album's stature in the indie canon.
While their first CD is great, the band seems more enthusiastic about their new material, which has yet to be compiled. "Structure's been something I feel that we've been getting less close to," Mantigou said about the new songs. She said their performances now feature more improvisation, as well as increased energy. "Our songs have gotten a little more aggressive, too. That's sort of how I've been feeling when I play," Ryan said. This enthusiasm, mixed with the band's obvious talent, should make for an exciting show.
The two bands joining Kusikia on stage also warrant anticipation. The Evolutionary Jass Band hails from Portland, featuring key members that formerly played with the notorious experimental group Jackie-O-Motherf***er. Mantingou tells me that Evolutionary Jass employs no fewer than three drummers for their live performances, which is surely a sight to behold. The web provides no useful information about the band Cex Fux, and Kusikia had not listened to them either, so I am still basically in the dark about them. However, they have an extraordinary name, which is good enough for me.
Going into this article, I feared that I might have to recommend Kusikia's concert only out of a sense of allegiance to the UPS music community. That is not the case. Even if you have no interest in supporting your fellow students' creative endeavors, you will want to see this show.
Kusikia's music speaks for itself, and if their act is anywhere close to as good as their album, it is not to be ignored. Also, since I accepted Kusikia's earlier challenge, I must admit culpability. They are a genuinely notable UPS band, and we should have featured them long ago. As a measure of penance, I surrender my last word to a plug for the concert from Matingou: "It's going to be an intimate, experimental, really fun show."
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Kusikia in the Weekly Volcano!
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...On Friday, Dec. 7, KUPS will be sponsoring a show at Hell's Kitchen with Trip the Light Fantastic......On Friday, Dec. 7, KUPS will be sponsoring a show at Hell's Kitchen with Trip the Light Fantastic, The Elephants, and Kusikia...
...KUPS couldn't have chosen a better lineup to show off Tacoma's surplus of indie talent perfectly suited for the college ear...
...Kusikia, from what I've heard through the Grapevine, is (if nothing else) a sight to behold. Built on the off-the-wall skills of Nsayi Matingou on guitar, and Peter Ryan's equally impassioned drumming, Kusikia is building a name based on house party performances alone. Bringing blues licks to the forefront of indie experimentation, Kusikia is a band to watch...
see the entire article at: http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/2007-12-06/rock-rhetoric/1490/
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Kusikia pictured in the Stranger!
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Underage
Sound Off!
by Megan Seling
This week, EMP officially announced the 2008 Sound Off! s...Underage
Sound Off!
by Megan Seling
This week, EMP officially announced the 2008 Sound Off! semifinalists, the 12 underage bands strategically selected (via a number of listening sessions) from the nearly 100 who entered. The dozen will compete through the month of February for an avalanche of prizes that will no doubt help their young careers. More importantly, the finalists will have the honor of being included among previous Sound Off! stars, including Dyme Def, the Lonely Forest, Schoolyard Heroes, Idiot Pilot, Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, and Mon Frere.
Here's who made the first cut: the Batteries, the Dead Are Judged, New Faces, Southgate, KnowMads, the Nextdoor Neighbors, Pat Goodwin, Scribes, Deer City, Kusikia, Man Down Medic, Shotty.
Having sat on one of the listening panels, I can say without conjecture that the pared-down list not only runs a vast gamut of genres (hiphop, metal, indie, singer/songwriter, punk), but it also includes bands who are talented enough to do well in the local music scene despite their inexperience, whether or not they win the competition (though it couldn't hurt).
I'm not picking any favorites yet—I still haven't seen any of them live—but there were a few standouts at first listen: The Dead Are Judged play a wicked, guitar-heavy metal/hardcore hybrid; Deer City is one weirdly charming dude, with a slew of toys that he uses to craft electro-pop lullabies; Scribes is a local rapper with a familiar, confident delivery who names Karl Marx, Marvin Gaye, and Bob Dylan as influences.
That's only the beginning. There are nine more.
Four bands will play against one another on February 9, 16, and 23, at Level 3 at EMP, and a panel of judges will score them on categories ranging from audience response to creativity and technical ability. The winners from each night will move on to the finals to be held at the Sky Church on March 1.
Tickets go on sale Thursday, January 17, and shows have sold out in the past (kids got crews, ya know?). Plan ahead. recommended
megan@thestranger.com
Log on to Line Out—lineout.thestranger.com— for photos and MP3s from the finalists.
See the entire article (including the picture!) at: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=484237
