Fingerprints Music

Reviews:

Within a mere three-album span, Seattle's Kinski has concocted a Krautrockspace brew earning them the lofty praise of comparisons to giants in the genrelike Mogwai and Hovercraft. That would be accomplishment enough, if not forthe fact that Kinski has actually succeeded in raising the bar and carving outa unique niche for themselves as well.

On Airs Above Your Station, their third album overall and debut for SubPop, Kinski magnifies the extremes that define the ambient space rock genre,quelling the lows to a dramatic hush and inflating the highs to a brain-boilingmaelstrom. On the near 10-minute opener, "Steve's Basement,"Kinski takes a page from Brian Eno's book of ambience but beefs it up withplenty of raging guitars and drums as well, creating a palpable tension betweenthe opposing ends of the sonic spectrum. On "Semaphore," the quartetblurts out a jazzy psychedelia that rocks like Red-era King Crimson, while "RhodeIsland Freakout" sees them steer a course toward the dense atmosphere ofMy Bloody Valentine, and the 11-and-a-half-minute "Schedule for Using Pillows& Beanbags" utilizes all of the above in a scorching blend of indierock simplicity and prog rock complexity.

Kinski relies on both repetition and swirling chaos as the canvas for theirultimate creations, and the energy that is generated by that counterpoint isthe band's sonic fuel. The beauty of Kinski's presentation is thesubtlety with which they mix their influences and the passion with which theytranslate them.