Kinski: Down Below It’s Chaos

The members of Seattle’s Kinski found each other during a barroom argument over what recording technique was superior: analog or digital. With analog winning the debate hands down, the four-piece embarked on what has thus far proven to be a prolific — if under recognized — career.

Down Below It’s Chaos is their third full-length album for Sub Pop and seventh overall, which doesn’t count a barrage of EPs that includes a split with Acid Mothers Temple.

Encasing freeform jams behind familiar-sounding guitar chords and the soft vocals of Chris Martin, Kinski is experimental but not threatening. Their relaxed, fuzzy approach is like that of a small-town Sonic Youth.

A little too reliant on convention, songs like “Passwords and Alcohol” too comfortably hearken back to mid-‘90s alterna-rock instead of exploring new territory. There isn’t as much movement as one might expect from a (mostly) instrumental quartet, as though they forgot to record vocals on a couple of tracks, or were simply improvising with friends at an impromptu jam session.

Regardless, it is easy to succumb to the sounds of their wailing guitars and noisy madness on “Silent Biker Types” and “Boy Was I Mad.”

- Jamie Ludwig

Kinski: www.kinski.net
Sub Pop: www.subpop.com