Tag: Rock Music

Khn and Klek

Angine de Poitrine went viral last month and are currently taking up lots of space in my brain, so let me broadcast my thoughts about it for a bit.

Cover art for their soon-to-be-released second album, Vol. 2

You can find pretty much all of the information available about this band via Mr. Google. I don’t feel much of an obligation to repeat what you can read elsewhere. I recommend looking into this band — they’re doing fabulously creative music and creating adventure and fun at the same time. You can find their music on bandcamp and in various videos posted on Youtube, including the ~30 minute live performance video that brought them to everyone’s attention a month ago. As of this writing, that video has 4.4 muh muh muh million views.

That’s Khn on the microtonal guitar and bass loops, and on the right is Klek the drummer. I don’t see much about the two guys as individuals yet, and that may be because of the sort-of anonymity their costumes allow for. For now, it’s probably sufficient to most new fans that they exist, that they’re on some wavelength frequency vibe thingie that they have deepened thoughtfully and organically and that it’s a wavelength frequency vibe thingie that is insular and unique.

Mostly what I see talked about in the various articles and reaction videos and what-have-yous is the costumes and the microtonal guitars. Which is fine, those are two techniques that are quite worthy of attention. The band’s visuals are deceptively bold and simple, but like so much about this band, clearly result from a great deal of thought. Note how Klek’s headgear brings his physicality up near to level with Khn’s, as an example.

But more centrally, here’s Music Theory Youtuber David Bennett discussing the strategies the band uses to keep their microtonal music from being atonal chaos, and instead actually pleasing to western ears:

Music like this comes from years of work and intense thought about what will work, and Khn and Klek have definitely found a winning formula. Propulsive, melodic, adventurous, quirky… these performances are decidedly winsome.

The musicianship level is quite high; incorporating odd time signatures into looping requires a deft touch. It’s also of note that Khn will get to four or even five consonant voicings, or carefully constructed dissonant voicings, as noted in the Bennett video. I also have a great appreciation for Klek’s drumming. Every rock band is only as good as their drummer, and as you might be able to tell, my opinion is that this is a truly great rock band.

There are layers to this project, and I won’t go into them more than I have, because one of the great joys of this experience for me is what I hope to leave for you — the joy of discovery.

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Steve Hackett – Beyond the Shrouded Horizon

Surprisingly gorgeous, atmospheric rock album

Beyond the Shrouded Horizon was released in 2011 on Inside Out music. It’s Steve Hackett’s twenty-first album.

I love all of the ways this record is its own thing, and yet harkens back to Hackett’s history. It’s very “boomer,” sometimes astoundingly old-fashioned but somehow beautiful even in its most cornball moments.

“Waking to Life” has a harmonic minor motif that’s very nice. I love that he has Eastern European connections in this music.

There are other essays into varied musical styles – The bluesy rock of Prairie Angel and Catwalk, the dense harmonies of Looking for Fantasy – but the central feeling here is mystical, in the same way that blue-hour motif reflected in both the title and the cover photo is.

insert from my copy

One reason this CD appeals is that Karen, my wife, also likes it. She asks me what I’m playing when I put it on, which she doesn’t do for a lot of the music I’m listening to these days. I think she would like Renaissance, which I’m about to start a deep dive into, although she’s aware of Annie Haslam. I think Annie is folk-adjacent enough to appear on her radar.

I love folk too, but I have really felt pulled towards prog and high-energy rock music for the last little while. I think that may have to do with the state of the world. I think i’m hungry for warrior energy, and metal and prog seem to have that energy more than most music.

I do understand “warrrior” energy as “boy music” which I resist on a personal level. I wrestle with that idea a bit, since I prefer to signify on the female side generally, but I feel like this is a time when fighting is the most necessary thing for a world citizen to be ready for.

But a warrior has to be fighting for something, and beauty seems like one of the best things one can fight for. Beyond the shrouded horizon, there may be more beauty to come. I hope there is. But we have to get there.

In the meantime, find beauty where you can.

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