“Who is that anyway?” Answer: Kim Ki O! Hailing from Istanbul, Turkey, electronic musical duo Kim Ki O (which, if you haven’t guessed from my incredibly witty opening sentence, means “Who is that, anyway?” in Turkish) is made up of Ekin Sanaç on synths, keys, vocals, beats and Berna Göl on bass, vocals, beats. The two friends have known each other for over fifteen years, and have been hard at work making music as Kim Ki O since 2006.
Their music is characterized by the use of a hip-hop style drum machine and hazy vocals in the style of Stereolab. In addition to their trusty beat machine, they also use pre-recorded cassettes providing sampling. After touring extensively in support of the likes of Jens Lekman and The Radio Dept., Kim Ki O released their latest album “Dans” in August of 2010 via the Dutch label Enfant Terrible. Also in 2010, they supplied the soundtrack to the short film project, “Elope”, by Merve Kayan and Zeynep Dadak. Most recently, in April and May of 2011, they did a three week stint in support of San Francisco’s Moon Duo. They are currently recording their next album which will be released in 2012.
Growing up together on a steady diet of lo-fi greats such as Beat Happening, not to mention punk, grunge, and riot grrrl staples Huggy Bear, Bikini Kill, and Sleater-Kinney, Berna and Ekin also site post-punk, New Wave, and synth pop to their wide repertoire of auditory influences. This could be why the emphasis on playing all instruments live (without the use of laptops or sequencers, for example) is a top priority for this DIY duo. Despite the electronic sensibilities, everything is highly organic at its core. Until being signed to their label, they regularly did CD mail-outs of their music.
Their approach to song-writing is as important as the instrumentation in building up sense of mood. The same way that Stereolab is able to convey sense of mood and establish ambience, no matter what linguistic barriers may exist, Kim Ki O is able to achieve with admirable ease. This is apparent by their wide fan base that can be found everywhere from the UK to the Netherlands and France, and as far-reaching as Taiwan and South Africa. Fancifully speaking, perhaps this sense of universality comes from living in a city split in between two continents by an ancient river. So much of this music stirs feelings of daily commutes from Asia to Europe while crossing the Bosphorus. Please permit me these hyperboles! Highly understated and timeless, this is music to easily get swept away by. It’s music for dreaming and nurturing flights of fancy.
Below are two tracks available to stream. You can download their full music catalogue via their website.
The video for “Herkes Evine” is an extract from the film/video project “Elope” by Merve and Zeynep.
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