Camden Music: Classical & Jazz | Kaki King | Jazz Café | Nu-Gaze Guitar | Foo Fighters

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

The Review - CLASSICAL & JAZZ
Published: 16 April 2009

Kaki King

King’s the ‘queen of nu-gaze guitar’

REVIEW - KAKI KING
Jazz Café

KAKI King’s fans are a dedicated bunch and got their just rewards at Camden’s Jazz Café which was filled to bursting point.
The guitarist dubbed by Mojo as “the queen of instrumental nu-gaze guitar,” delivered a set of outstanding musicianship and solid post-rock/left-field indie songwriting in return.
Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, via the New York jam band and busking scene, Kaki King has been on the underground circuit for many years.
She’s released several albums of increasingly adventurous instrumental music through Sony, Velour and now Cooking Vinyl records.
But it is only recently that she has been brought to the attention of a wider audience, guesting on the Foo Fighters’ latest album, scoring Sean Penn’s film Into The Wild and being named as one of Rolling Stone magazine’s 20 Guitar Gods, the only woman to join the list.
She’s well known for her bombastic solo acoustic guitar playing, strumming, hammering, tapping and thumping her instrument to produce a bewildering variety of sounds.
But for the Jazz Café gig she played as a trio.
Powerful backing came from drummer Matt Hankle and from Dan Brantigan on EVI (electronic valve instrument), a breath-controlled synth that conjured up many of the set’s beautifully haunting textures.
Kaki switched between acoustic, electric, baritone and lap steel guitars with ease.
She also made use of loop pedals to layer her sound, weaving complex post-rock rhythms into tunes that intrigued the audience while remaining relatively simple in structure.
Her soft, at times fragile voice suits her sound but there were times when it was in danger of being swamped by the rest of the band.
JOHN LYONS

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment:

Check Prices, Availability & Book Online
Receive Online Discounts and Instant Confirmation

» Rock & Pop
» Gig Listings
» Classical & Jazz
» C&J Listings
» Book concerts/gigs
» Buy CDs