Ki-Oku

DJ Krush, Toshinori Kondo

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 23, 1999)
• Original Release Date: March 23, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Instinct Records
• ASIN: B00000I9DE
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #65,008 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #18 in	Music > Indie Music > Dance & DJ > Trip-Hop
  #22 in	Music > Indie Music > Rap & Hip-Hop > Experimental

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Pairing DJ Krush, known throughout the beat underground for his subdued, trippy soundscapes, with Japanese avant trumpeter Toshinori Kondo may seem an odd pairing. This record, however, is instantly knowable and intuitively easy to grasp. Krush's beats, while certainly up-front, don't come at the price of the composition, nor do they blast Kondo's trumpet out of the tune. DJ Krush is not only able to drive the direction and tempo, but he's also quite adept at creating mood--often mixing up somber, downtempo collages that glide with an underwater grace. His uptempo work is direct, solidly propelled by someone who knows how to handle bass and breaks. Thankfully, the canvasses Krush mixes up are large enough to include Kondo's color work. The trumpeter (who's worked with the likes of Herbie Hancock and John Zorn) takes full advantage of the opportunity. Kondo is a breathy, richly toned player, and his meshings add to the dreamy, psychedelic feel of the recording. He's effective whether he's drifting beside Krush's swirling dub coiled in a haze of effects or punctuating beats with pure blasts of horn fire. A hip-bop classic. --S. Duda

From Jazziz
Willfully dry and barely funky, this album runs the risk of embracing the double-edged racist stereotype that haunts Japanese musicians working in heavily African American-based styles: polite Asians too intellectual for gritty black music. Thankfully, enough contrary evidence exists on Kondo and Krush's other recordings to dispel this myth elsewhere (and anyone dim enough to think black music isn't cerebral needs a lot more help than a CD review can give). Krush often gets labeled jazzy by critics out of laziness as much as for his easy tempos and willingness to float the occasional horn sample through his atmospheric mixes. Really, he specializes in manipulating thick swashes of sculpted ambient sound over loping, deliberate beats. On his well-conceived hip-hop albums, instrumentals alternate with appearances by guest rappers and vocalists to excellent and varied effect. Kondo, a veteran of collaborations with Peter Brötzmann, Derek Bailey, and Herbie Hancock, deploys none of the expected avant-garde pyrotechnics here, beyond an occasional slight sharpness in tone. Clichéd, smooth-jazz trumpet musings, smothered in echo, are the disappointing fare instead - when someone says an unimaginative trumpet player has a Miles-like sense of phrasing, this is the sort of effort to which they're referring. Still, it's hardly an unpleasant album. A few bright points are the use of Middle Eastern melody and Krush's innovative, spare turntable work. Because it seems interested in little beyond simple mood-setting, ultimately it remains ineffectual and inconsequential.

--- Patrick Hughes, JAZZIZ Magazine Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully dark down-tempo trip-hop, June 12, 2000

By	form.over.function (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This album has been in my CD circuit for about a year now and I still love it. This is probably the jazziest of Krush's works and in my opinion, the best. The CD is a very dark, very moody, minimalist (and I stress minimalist) masterwork. Here he gets it all right, appropriately down-beat drum beats, excellent trumpet (by Toshinori Kondo), and sparsely used bass. I think the real stand out tracks are Mu-Getsu and Ha-Doh (which is a bit of a let down because they come at the beginning) but the whole CD is excellent. This CD would appeal to any fan of jazz, hip-hop, or trip-hop. However, you must listen to it with an open mind, rather than having a fixed vision of what the CD should be. NOTE: In Sparky's review he seems to have one, great, misunderstanding (which is what I believe led him to the lower rating he gave the CD). This is not jazz fusion, it is trip-hop and as such there is going to be repitition and as for that "probably for dancing" comment, ever hear of Philip Glass? The CD you mentioned (Underground) is an entirely different genre and is attempting to convey an eniterly different mood i.e. happy, upbeat, complex, which further leads me to believe that you're looking for the wrong thing in this CD. Additionally your comments on Kondo's trumpet playing are most unwarranted, I've heard him live and he is a truly excellent Trumpetist but, unlike Courtney, on this CD his playing is not overly complex in his delivery and to fit the minimalist, dark mood of the CD.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jazz for blade runners, June 17, 2005

By	Stephen Silberman "writer, Wired Magazine" (SF, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm forever in search of the perfect jazz/electronica hybrid, but 99.99% of the albums that are classified that way are just jive dance music with badly-played trumpets or tablas or some damn thing thrown into the mix. Some of Nils Petter Molvaer's music, particularly an obscure remix CD called "Recoloured," comes close; Erik Truffaz's "The Mask" tried to come close, but was too simple and pallid; but Ki-Oku is THE stuff -- the music that Miles Davis would be playing now if he was still alive and awake. Using trumpets and turntables only, two Japanese guys invent vast, brooding sonic landscapes that sound like what Deckerd of "Blade Runner" would be listening to if he had really good taste in jazz. The first track, "Toh Sui," was obviously at attempt to make a "dance-friendly" opener, but after that, the album dives deep into echoey, lonely spaces that are perfect for 3am stoned listening. I gave a copy to one of the guys who helped create "The Matrix" and he said, "This album makes me hallucinate."

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Directions in Groove, March 14, 2003

By	Shawn Jackson (Philly) - See all my reviews

I've always been a fan of jazz and hip-hop music. My introduction to John Coltrane and Kurtis Blow happened when I was 11 years old. I thought then, as I know now, the two genres blend perfectly. The 1999 release Ki-Oku by DJ Krush and Toshinori Kondu ranks high on my list of jazz fusion albums, right next to Miles Davis' Tutu. It also is a `must have' for any hip-hop collection as well, because it marks a special place in the evolution of `rap-fusion', if you will. The overall composition is not a boring attempt to bridge the gap between rap and jazz, like many poorly executed acid jazz albums from the mid to late 1990's. It stands in a unique place from the like of Guru's Jazzamatazz series, or Branford Marsalis' Buckshot Lefonque series (most notably, the self-titled debut of this series). This is a new direction in groove, and they blaze a trail very few could follow, let alone produce a result so enriching. The men play together as you would expect brothers to, and the album moves from track to track without a single flaw. DJ Krush has long proven himself a master of down-tempo grooves, and Kondu's horn rides over the beats like a warm, steady breeze. His playing is like Miles, especially reminiscent of his fusion concepts. Overall, if you want an album that you can play for a wide variety of people in nearly any setting, or a good album to sit back and chill out to, this is a great buy for the cause.