A lot of electronic musicians get in to a slave/master dynamic with their equipment but Kami-O is on the right side of dominance over the instruments with this EP.
Straight away you get the feeling you are listening to a producer who is adept at making tactile machine music.
Working with the faceless, non-organic digital audio workstation and not being beaten by its inhuman emptiness, Kami-O makes good electronic music, and good because the machines sound like they are actually talking to themselves.
‘Trip’ is straight up glitchy, happily looping around its soft palette with a bit of Fly-Lo swagger.
As it tinkles along you might notice it is pleasant and ear-wormy enough to get picked up for something like an M&S Finest advert; nice.
Second track ‘Metro’ is basically a cut-up and rearranged piano sample with some delicately treated “oh”’s that fluctuate around a chilled breakbeat-like drum arrangement.
There’s a hint of jazz throughout.
By now you’ll know that Kami-O really knows how to make beats and pretty ones at that.
On ‘Delusional’ the tone darkens, feeling a bit like some of the tracks on Boards of Canada’s more recent releases.
It progresses into some heavier, spacey hip-hop territory and ends with a touch of trap.
It might remind you of a more beat focused Burial.
‘Over U’ is the best track on the EP: fun, playful and catchy.
Sitting like a more MPC’d version of Bonobo or even Lemon Jelly.
‘Chase’ goes into some sitar sounding trancey drum and bass; a wide range of styles on the short EP.
Pretty pleasant and somewhat like the possible soundtrack to a forgotten 90’s sci-fi flick, Kami-O feels totally comfortable, letting the track jam with itself.
Final track, ‘Nobody’, begins with an epic drum and bass workout with drums that are completely Game of Thrones.
Then, unexpectedly, it flips into speech sampled from the movie Collateral about someone who has died on a train who no one notices for six hours.
There is one of those super-famous classical pieces underneath it, which, unfortunately, I can’t name, it then goes back into a bit of a slow-jam trap tune.
All in all, neatly done and wide-ranging slice of electronic beats and beat making.
Words: Tom Wilson
