Kaki King - It is high time I return to clubland in DC and I was welcomed back by this most fascinating guitarist. She employs a unique overhand style that is becoming a little more popular, but still wildly difficult to employ to this level of dexterity. She alternates that with classic fingerstyle technique on her acoustic guitar. Not only does she employ direct rhythm with the tapping of the guitar body, but she has a pulsating style with lightning bursts of fingerwork employed with enough feeling to be far more than a display of virtuosity. She has a quick right hand and creates involved instrumental songs that display a nice array of emotions. The guitar tones are exquisite and she holds the growing audience's attention for an opening 70 minute set. And then just to spice it up more, she comes back with an array of guitars, ukuleles, along with a drummer and a trumpeter who plays a bit of synth, but spends most of his time on an Electronic Valve Instrument. I am glad she gave us the instrument's name, as I had not seen one before. I did recognize that he was playing it like a trumpet, but connected through a synthesizer it produced keyboard sounds, basslines, and all kinds of odds and ends in the way of accompanying the drums and guitar. The trio's hour long set had a lot of hit/misses with the songs (now with some vocals), but the hits included some extraordinarily inventive progressive music as well as some great heavy and intriguing riffing. This was a real ear opening show of a fascinating and supremely odd artist. She mentioned that you never quite know what you'll get from her, which is the danger of experimental music, but when it is this inviting, it is a pretty easy recommendation to make with even straight forward mainstream fans.
Quote of the Night: Kaki King... "Thank God I didn't get that gig." after yet another story about people in the 'biz' who have tin ears.
1 comment:
Post a Comment