Ten Years to Hubardo

Marking the 10 year anniversary of the avant-garde band Kayo Dot, is the release of their seventh studio album Hubardo. If you haven't purchased it yet, do that right now through their bandcamp, which also has three of the songs from the album up to stream. That being said, this album is a massive 100-minute work which words can hardly describe.

I was originally planning on waiting until my deluxe edition arrives, but I figure why wait, and maybe I may encourage someone to go out and order a copy before the physical release of it. The digital download of the album came with high quality images of the artwork which will be featured on the vinyl, as a PDF of the lyrics. If you got this and wanted to burn the loss-less audio files of the album onto CDs, the split would be between tracks 6 and 7 (x).

I should start off by saying that Kayo Dot is on of my favorite bands, so needless to say this album was one of the more anticipated and hyped albums of the year for me. That being said, it did not disappoint my expectations in the slightest.

The album begins with "The Black Stone", which starts off with menacing growled lyrics reminiscent of maudlin of the Well, and minimal accompaniment that gradually builds up. This leads up to the following song, "Crown-In-The-Muck".

"Thief" presents almost a mix of what Kayo Dot has done throughout their discography in a way that blends very nicely together. "Vision Adjustment to Another Wavelength" follows that, continuing with the same intensity. One of my favorite aspects of this song is the descending saxophone line at the beginning, as well as the transition to the slower tempo flute solo over the more minimal percussion.

"Zlida Caosgi (To Water the Earth)" is the following song, continuing more on the intense path. "The First Matter (Saturn in the Guise of Sadness)" starts off a lot more relaxed, and with clean vocals over the synthesizers and guitar/bass line. This is followed by what would be the start of the second half of the album "The Second Operation (Lunar Water)" which continues in the same style. I just completely love the blend of the instruments in this song, especially between the french horn, trumpet, and violin in the introduction. This blending continues into the addition of the vocal parts, which sound fantastic all together. "Floodgate" follows and goes back to focusing more on the intense aspects of their sound.



"And He Built Him a Boat" remains one of my favorite tracks on the album since they first released the stream of it before the actual release date. The combination of the vocal line Toby Driver sings, timbre of the guitar in this song particularity, choir in the background, and the nature of the drumming, it's really captivating. "Passing the River" is a song whose title is true to it's tone, as having a sound you can associate with a river with more calming aspects as well as intense. "The Wait of the World" closes the album with a more jazz-like groove. On a side note, I wish they had released a score for this album to follow along with (or for any of their albums really due to the nature of the band's music).

Hubardo has so much to take in, that still after several listens I know there is still so much more to hear. I think easily this is going to remain one of the top releases of the year, through the overall flow of the album to it's production value and musicianship. With that, I can not wait until the vinyls of this are printed/shipped to hear which I am sure will bring a whole new level to the experience of listening to this album.

Death By Audio, 4/28/12

I had gotten to see them live once last April at Death By Audio in Brooklyn, where they played with Vaura and Dysrhythmia. One thing I have to say about the venue is that inside it's a work of art. Every wall is covered with psychedelic murals, really trippy and I would love to visit there again if they have some band I might recognize.

When I saw them I believe they mostly played songs off of Gamma Knife, since at the time I hadn't heard that album and a lot of the material they played I did not recognize off hand. Unfortunately I have yet to find a set list posted somewhere online to list what they did play.. However as you would expect from Kayo Dot, it sounded fantastic. I really hope to see them live again next time they have a concert in the area that I can make.

If anything can be taken away from this review/writeup, let it be just that it is difficult to describe this album in words. This is a work that can really just be experienced through multiple listening(s), anything else would not do it justice.