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Kiterunner & Friends
This triple-bill of up-and-coming indie-rock leans more toward aching than pissed. Locals Kiterunner have hovered for a while on the edges of our original music scene, playing mostly low-key, DIY-oriented venues. The melodramatic, anti-folk influenced group blends acoustic and electric instrumentation and cites Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens as influences.
Austin’s Neva Geoffrey is signed to Alias Records (home to unconventional luminaries Yo La Tengo and American Music Club). She describes her music as “Healing”. It’s soothing, pastoral acoustic guitar and piano-based low-fi with layered harmony vocals (courtesy of Neva herself) reminiscent of the fleeting, dreamy moments on Big Star’s debut as well as the late-night paeans of Elliot Smith. Valdosta, Ga.’s Night Driving In Small Towns was recently named one of The Best 25 Bands on MySpace (!) by Rolling Stone. The female-fronted quintet’s instrumentation includes banjo, bass, drums, guitar, mandolin and keys. They veer from twee and breathy country-rock constructions similar to Basement Tapes-era Band and minimal, atmospheric, post-modern laments. This show is a wonderful primer for semi-acoustic DIY folk-rock of the day. Free with a suggested donation. Listen & Learn: myspace.com/kiterunnerband, myspace.com/nevageoffrey, nightdrivinginsmalltowns.com. Fri., 8 pm, The Sentient Bean -ALL-AGES. - Jim Reed, The Connect
Beyond Genre: Local band Kiterunner plays at the Sentient Bean
By Joel Weickgenant
Created 2008-05-06 23:30
Kiterunning, the competitive art popular in Central Asia and made famous in the Western world by a recent movie, requires a mastery of air and ground - which Ryan Peoples sees as a metaphor for the music he wants to create.
"I saw 'Kiterunner' as kind of a dichotomy. Like kites and running, flying and running," said Peoples, frontman of local psychedelic folk band Kiterunner. "And that's kind of how our music goes, a combination of electronic music and acoustic, lush, organic music coming together. That was my idea for the band, and we're getting closer to that all the time."
Kiterunner plays at The Sentient Bean on Friday, headlining a show with Neva Geoffrey and Nightdriving In Small Towns.
Kiterunner started in February 2007 when Peoples, who studies sound design at the Savannah College of Art and Design, placed his first songs on a MySpace page. Response was positive, and soon other musicians joined the group. Jeremy Hilbert - known to many around town as Pink Kodiak - plays bass, co-anchoring the low end with cellist Matt Jarrard, and Ryan's wife, Rebekah Goode-Peoples, adds electronic beats.
The dichotomy Peoples describes was readily apparent during a recent Kiterunner rehearsal. On the ground, electric bass and cello fused with electronic beats, while overhead flew startling, almost Baroque harmonies by Hilbert and Peoples. The tunes were moody and atmospheric - of the influences Kiterunner lists, Sufjan Stevens and The Beatles were the most apparent to this listener.
The band had been cutting tracks in a studio at SCAD, but Peoples and Goode-Peoples are working to convert a room in their southside home into a studio, so the group operates from there. Although the group is in no hurry, new tracks could be forthcoming this summer.
"We've done a lot of demo recordings at Ryan's house. Now we're slowly but surely redoing those in a kind of formal setting," Jarrard said.
Source URL:
http://savannahnow.com//node/493508 - Joel Weickgenant, The Savannah Morning News
Kiterunner, Pink Kodiak
Double-bill of up-and-coming local indie-rockers. Kiterunner offers up emotional--as opposed to emo--guitar and keys-based Saddle Creek-esque ballads (with bass, cello and drums). PK is the stage name of Kiterunner's bassist, who records his own faux-naive po-mo pop, performing live to backing tracks as a one-man-band. - Jim Reed, Connect Savannah
[The Winter Sounds is] appearing with Kiterunner, an act that plays what they've described as "face-melting folk songs." I'd call it occasionally discordant, meandering, lo-fi, retro-'70s folk-rock--reminiscent of a slightly more acoustic and vocal-driven version of the Vampyros Lesbos soundtrack. - Tadd Trueb, Murmur Magazine
OCTOBER 31, 2007
Catching the wind
Savannah rock band Kiterunner looks to the future
BY JIM REED
These days, it seems one can hardly turn around without seeing the words “Kite Runner� staring back at them.
Whether emblazoned on oversized paperback copies of the celebrated 2003 best-seller of the same name by Afghani-American author Khaled Hosseini, or in online news reports about the delayed release of the hotly-anticipated and controversial film adaptation (screening Saturday night at the Savannah Film Festival), this unusual phrase has certainly found its place in today’s popular consciousness.
However, those who have spent time in Savannah over the past year have likely been bombarded with that term much more than those in other cities. That’s because Kiterunner (note the spelling variation) is also the name of one of our town’s more ambitious and dedicated underground rock bands.
Founder Ryan Peoples says that for now, the band will keep it’s name, despite the fact that, “a lot of people assume it’s because I fell in love with the book.�
“It sounds silly looking back on it now, but I wasn’t quite aware of how popular the book was, or that they were gonna make it into a movie,� he chuckles. “I did read it, and was kinda disappointed. The first half was great and then it turned into pop crap.�
“However,� the SCAD Graduate Student (he’s getting a Master’s in Sound Design) and former Special-Ed teacher adds, “the reason I initially liked the sound of it was that it’s so dichotomous, and that’s how I envision the group. We’re not quite there yet, but I’m interested in mixing electronic music, organic rock and vocal harmony.�
To date, the septet, led by this singing guitarist and keyboardist has played mostly at two of the rare venues in town which are open to ALL-AGES.
The Sentient Bean on Forsyth Park and The Metro Coffee House on MLK, Jr. Blvd. are essentially the only places in town which regularly book fledgling (or flat-out unknown) local original talent. And, while neither one is known for offering big money, they do provide an opportunity for nascent bands to hone their skills in front of the public, gain a local following and —hopefully— develop their image and show enough to be able to take it on the road.
Kiterunner has also played quite a bit at another low-key venue a few doors from The Metro. Guitar Bar, a 21+ club with a small, second-story performance space has become the entry-level room of choice for most left-of-center rock, metal and punk bands who lack either the draw, experience or simply the right look or sound to score a coveted slot at The Jinx or Hang Fire.
The band has spent many, many nights on that dimly-lit stage, playing for friends and strangers and slowly earning a core group of followers who appreciate getting the opportunity to watch a promising band evolve over time. Peoples says he’s pleased overall with the reception the band has received so far, and that he tries very hard not to place any preconceived notions of success or failure onto the project.
“Honestly, I’ve been in and around bands for so long now that I went into this one with no expectations. I knew that even if we were very good it could take a couple of years just to get known. But, I have been surprised a bit in a positive way. Our third show, we packed out The Sentient Bean. I was shocked by that. I still don’t know where all those people came from.�
The group, which cites such disparate (and iconic) groups as The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Shins and Arcade Fire as key musical influences, writes and records spry, loping folk-into-rock tunes that meld instruments both acoustic (cello, drums, guitar) and electric (synthesizer, guitar, bass), and layers them with abundant (and odd) background vocal harmonies.
They’ve received tons of interest in their MySpace page, which offers free online streams of several ornate demos multi-instrumentalist Peoples cut some time ago with drummer Clay Schmidt. The frontman says that his Thesis in Sound Design (due in about two years) will be a full-length Kiterunner album made in SCAD’s recording new recording studio.
“I think I have much better songs in me,� he muses, “and the more this band plays together the better it becomes. Hopefully we’ll create something a bit unique.�
“How generic is that, huh? That’s probably what everybody says.�
Kiterunner and Pink Kodiak open for critically-acclaimed Indianapolis “jungle folk� act Grampall Jookabox at Guitar Bar Wednesday, November 7 at 10 pm. For more info: www.myspace.com/kiterunnerband, www.myspace.com/grampalljookabox. - Jim Reed, Connect Savannah
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
The foundation of kiterunner is the imagination and drive of Ryan Peoples. One-time special-ed school teacher and psychology student, Ryan is now focused on his music full-time both as a musician and as a sound design grad student at the Savannah College of Art and Design. He plays and writes music constantly and goes in the studio frequently to lay down new tracks, which he produces and mixes himself. Being a sound design student opens doors to experimentation with instrumentation and in the studio.
The music itself has both lush acoustic textures and driving electrics. Besnard Lakes meet The Shins. The Beach Boys meet The Kinks. Arcade Fire meet Joanna Newsom.
Ryan has assemled a band comprised of five members who have different musical backgrounds and influences. Jeremy, from Iowa, plays the bass and is the self-proclaimed king of "death-pop" in his project Pink Kodiak. Matt, who used to play with Hey Hey Melodica! and is from Indiana, rocks the cello. Rebekah co-writes the songs and plays the drum machines and rhythm accessories.
Bringing together all these sounds to create a strong and inventive sonic whole is where kiterunner makes magic.
kiterunner has played with The Winter Sounds, Elevado, Moresight, Coquette, Honey, Emily Easterly, Coby C., Night Moves, Pink Kodiak, Port City Music, King of Prussia, The Silent Years, Night Driving in Small Town, Grandpall Jookabox and Neva Geoffrey.
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