xdementiaPost subject: Koff Kirk – A Practical Guide to Personal Serenity CDR
Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 8:00 pmKoff Kirk – A Practical Guide to Personal Serenity CDR: http://www.tibprod.com/koffkirk.htm
Organic Pipeline: http://www.organicpipeline.com
Audio: Untitled
Overall Rating: B
Composition: B
Sounds: B+
Production Quality: B+
Concept: B
Packaging: C-
Koff Kirk is a collaboration featuring Roger Smith of Chefkirk and Jan-m. Iverson of Koff Koff, the latter of which I am unfamiliar with, the former, I am probably overly familiar with. I think it could be said that if you are a general fan of Chefkirk's work you will enjoy this, it's harsh as hell digital-styled noise washed jeans that fit quite comfortably.
Actually this is such a bed of noise that I most enjoy listening to it at a medium-to-low volume. The truth is, it works well as background music which is a loaded compliment of course. Each track is untitled and the first one starts off with a moving wall of harsh noise, it's strange because the sounds here somehow come off to be as colorless as the cover artwork but in a way it also works because it has a sense of cohesiveness that is appealing rather then tiring. The track also evolves smoothly into a chunky rhythm of explosive harmony towards the end.
The second track here takes up the bulk of the disc at 21 minutes and for the first part is a bit more meandering, closer to Chefkirk's older style. The track changes up about 7 ½ minutes in with some interesting very digital drones but they break the tweaked out noise is an effective way before leading into some computerized experimental sounds and eventually degrading back into horrid abrasive chunky noise (I mean this as positively as I can).
If this is all digital it's surprising the thickness of the sound that Koff Kirk has achieved, if not it's surprising how cold and cutting it all sounds. But they keep things interesting with a lot of changes and even throw some sampled loops in from time to time which adds a nice variety of sound but can sometimes come off as being a bit wanky.
The third track begins with a churning wall of razorblades simply assaulting me at all angles, I enjoy the quality of the sounds, they're quite unique and have a tone to them that I find quite appealing, more like an orgy of sounds rather then a bed of distortion, but it can't be denied that distortion is a major player here. The sound generally reminds me of the better digital Merzbow work but with less of a psychedelic style and more of a scatterbrained experimental aesthetic. You'll also find a lot of very harsh resonating bell tones here that Koff Kirk makes effective use of, probably the most significant showing up about 4 minutes into the track.
Overall one of the more successful outings of Roger Smith and a good introduction to the work of Koff Koff as well, I assume. If you're into experimental noise, digital noise, or digital-era Merzbow this is probably right up your alley.
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