K-OS - Atlantis: Hymns For Disco
www.k-osmusic.com - $$$$
Miscegenation Station
Review by - Angelica LeMinh
Yeah. So, I wonder what the hip hop purists might have to say about this one. For all intents and purposes, K-OS should be in that “Gnarls Barkley” category, but because he’s Canadian, I think the label has been trumped. He sings on damn near every track, there are reprieves on at least three (he leaves then comes back), and he’s playing with genres and instruments/vox like there’s no tomorrow. While I must argue against the statement that he’s Canada’s answer to Kanye West, his use of violins on “The Rain” (as well as chords and sustain in general on what is one of the album’s strongest tracks), his cross-over appeal (though he’s more Roots than Ye on this tip), and penchant for self-reflexive reflection (my only enemy’s inside me) could argue that case.
He differs though, as he doesn’t use a single sample, and for the most part, his tracks are audio adventures into space (broadcast from the Universe) and time (“Flypaper”-he’s loving that upright bass, though he’s really riding the motif of “Crabbukkit” on this one). He succeeds where Electric Circus and Phrenology confused folks, they just weren’t ready for it yet. That psychedelic, he musta been listening to some Beatles Revolver shit, a perfect example; “
But the masses might be ready to accept the blurring of the lines just yet, and K-OS describes his influences in “The Ballad of Noah/Chocolate Chewing Gum” as I played sex pistols and listened to heavy metal. He gets almost country on a couple of tracks, and on “Equalizer”, his western vibe with cuts channels that scene from High School High (starring the Lyrical Lounge favourite Mekhi Pheffir), the “Rhinestone Cowboy”. He gets contemplative on “Black Ice-Hymn for Disco” and questions what’s the definition of this thing called black? And comes back from the reprieve slanging over a beatbox I live in the moment like a why to a how…I proceeded to show him the pro to a noun. He sings a bittersweet homage to the 416 (Toronto) as he warns that we best respect Canada (in the) musical famine, but at the same time, now I’m grown up but feeling stuck.
Sonically, the album is a well conducted circus. The double claps, the vox (“Cat Diesel”) and harmonies, reggae keys (“Mirror in the Sky”), and ‘70s throwback sentiments are eclectically Kevin (and his angst of riding “Highway 7” are believable). Thematically, there’s no question that this is a spiritual mister, as he muses it’s true that you lose your mind when you gain control/it’s true that you gain your soul when you lose control. On life in general, we paint the picture that we want to see, hello heaven, the world is a ghetto, sometimes the way we look at life is too serious, you can try to hate, I’ma elevate and hurry up, wait.
I was a little bit wary, not only because the last live performance I saw (at Osheaga in Montreal last summer) was more than a bit sloppy, what with the man drunk on stage, obnoxiously yelling “Sonic Youth”, not able to sustain a freestyle or build on his band’s sick concepts and seemingly forgetting his setlist, but of the fact that there is an American only bonus track (“Funky Country”) that he might be quitting us permanently, but I after I listened to it, I had to just shake my head, because at least he has a sense of humour. It’s one thing to offer an American only bonus track, and a whole other altogether to give one that will just leave them confused as fuck!
Verdict, K-OS is all the way mixed up, and all the way on point with this one, it’s a good look.
