Kobi - "Urstoff"
(End of Hum/Kranium 2011, 2-LP / CD)
Kobi - "Urstoff"
(End of Hum/Kranium 2011, 2-LP / CD)
From Aural Innovations #43 (October 2011)
From Oslo Norway, Kobi started in 1999 as the solo project of Kai Mikalsen. BEHIND THE SUBJECTS WE ARE FOCUSED ON: Cool sonic ambient driving space noise... crazyhead jazz slop... uncategorizable, which is always a good thing. "Kobi explores the musical possibilites of various spaces, timbres, dynamics, frequencies, harmonies and drones via collective improvisation"... can't go wrong with that!! TWO MOMENTS THAT NEGATE EACH OTHER: Cool song titles and cover art!! Doorsy sounding guitar, "this is the end". Some flute, nice, atmospheric... guitar plays same riff... some burbling. At 5 minutes gettin' a bit blase'. Now some other sound effects. OK at 10:37 and it still hasn't changed. Pleasant but ploddy. At 13 minutes it's startin' to pick up the pace a little... 17:57 and it's gettin' pretty wacky with crazed snappy drummin' and electronic drones, gradually volumes down. A SIGNIFIER RELATING TO A SIGNIFIED: More noisy ambience, an ethereal space clatter that never resolves but just is. TO ACHIEVE MATTE AND FRESH EFFECT: Nice, deep spaceness rumble, yes, it's just right!! There's strange squeeky sounds that are exactly like the ones my 8 week old puppy is making with his toy lobster!!?? Now some random banging along with the lovely stream of deep spaceness. At 7:10 startin' to go uptempo, pretty cool, experimental ambience meets noise rock!!! FIVE GREEK WORDS FORMING THE WORD FOR FISH: Industrial quiet growl. I would say that this album is one of the very few albums I've reviewed in quite awhile that is artistically/musically relevant, in that there's something goin' on that's not completely derivative of another band!! In other words, it's freakin' art!!! But does art exist if the spacerockers don't get it??!!? At 9:27 it's still going strong... bring it on Kobi... I didn't know this sorta thing was goin' down in Oslo??! At 13 minutes it's still raging on, an epic!!!!
For more information you can visit the Kobi web site at: http://www.endofhum.no/kobi
Reviewed by Carlton Crutcher