Crooked is an apt title for Simon Kealoha's latest Calika release, as bent and twisted beats underpin equally
fractured melodic structures in the EP's five electro-acoustic settings. Once again a distinctive found-sound
sensibility pervades the material, with the ever-resourceful Kealoha obsessively shaping his tracks from equal
helpings of natural (guitars, drums) and sampled sounds. In a typical Calika track, a repeating bass line functions
as a stabilizing center, which in turn allows the drums and the idiosyncratic sound design to swirl less fixedly.
While that's generally the case, there are variations on that theme; in the the ponderous “A Serpentine Tale,” for
example, clip-clops and a ticking clock act as the anchor. In the title track, found-sound percussion crosses
paths with a brooding melodica-styled theme and a see-sawing, two-note bass pulse amidst a nightmarish mass
of creaks and acoustic strums. By contrast, skittering rhythms can't hide the rollicking, light-hearted vibe that
beats at the heart of “I Still Dream of You.” Kealoha might have had On The Corner in mind when he assembled
“Mega Mega,” a hyperative exercise in mutant jazz-funk and broken beats. At twenty-two minutes, Crooked may
be modest in length and ambition, but its mix of trangulated electronic effects and writhing beats is as unusual as
anything else Kealoha has released.
fractured melodic structures in the EP's five electro-acoustic settings. Once again a distinctive found-sound
sensibility pervades the material, with the ever-resourceful Kealoha obsessively shaping his tracks from equal
helpings of natural (guitars, drums) and sampled sounds. In a typical Calika track, a repeating bass line functions
as a stabilizing center, which in turn allows the drums and the idiosyncratic sound design to swirl less fixedly.
While that's generally the case, there are variations on that theme; in the the ponderous “A Serpentine Tale,” for
example, clip-clops and a ticking clock act as the anchor. In the title track, found-sound percussion crosses
paths with a brooding melodica-styled theme and a see-sawing, two-note bass pulse amidst a nightmarish mass
of creaks and acoustic strums. By contrast, skittering rhythms can't hide the rollicking, light-hearted vibe that
beats at the heart of “I Still Dream of You.” Kealoha might have had On The Corner in mind when he assembled
“Mega Mega,” a hyperative exercise in mutant jazz-funk and broken beats. At twenty-two minutes, Crooked may
be modest in length and ambition, but its mix of trangulated electronic effects and writhing beats is as unusual as
anything else Kealoha has released.