K. Larkin

Sometimes the work of an international agent can be specially rewarding, not only when he (or she) has the chance to settle the tour of a high-quality producer, but also when this artist in question has a strong musical background and a natural sense of humour to face even life's unexpected obstacles.

Those are only some of the attributes of the genius Kenny Larkin, whose tour in Brazil I had the privilege to settle early 2007 - in Confraria Das Artes at Florianopolis (Santa Catarina State, on the South of Brazil), then Sao Paulo, on Lov.e Express.

As a Detroit 'Hi-Tech-Soul' artist, Kenny had very strong Jazz, Blues, Soul & Funk influences, as well as the inclination for the so-called Sci-Fi edge of things, both naturally present on his music, which can explain what is considered one of the most impressive aspects of his career as a producer - the talent and the capacity the Dark Comedy man always had to re-invent himself and bring on new quality-music.

The fact is that Kenny, through his several outstanding releases ("Serena X", "Vanguard", "Northern Lights" and "War Of The Worlds" in 1992, "Tedra" in 1993, "Q" in 1994, “Seven Days” (1997) to his more recent albums "The Narcissist" in 2004 and "Funkfaker: Music Saves My Soul" in 2005) stood the test of time as one of the essential producers of quality electronic music of the last fifteen years.

In Universal Techno, a french documentary which features many Detroit artists (Mike Banks, Juan Atkins, Derrick May...), Kenny Larkin expresses his opinion regarding Techno as being or not a Black Music. His vision on this subject is very clear and in his mind the issue is not a controversial one: "The influences that we had were both black and white" (i.e. Parliament/Funkadelic on the black side, and Kraftwerk on the white side), and no one could pretend to own the style... Although I consider Kenny Larkin to be a great musician, I do not share his opinion on this matter as I also do not think he is the most militant member of the Detroit Techno league. His red hot car - which registration plate reads 'Azimuth', named after his own album - symbolizes how American he can be, but after being shot and lucky to be alive, you probably have the right to make the most out of life! His 2004 album "Funkfaker: Music Saves My Soul", released under his Dark Comedy moniker deeply stirs me, also because it is almost in contradiction with everything he said in this 1996 interview: I do not remember having heard any electronic music more black than this album. Blues is the predominant feeling here, and the power of the past is actually reinforced by the always present self-mockery - listen to Chicken Blues to apprehend it.
The question remains to know where from comes this need of a tribute to the Techno Soul Kenny Larkin finally always had, and never lost. Kenny Larkin is also blessed with a remarkable sense of humour and a truly impressive musical genius: to be able to draw from the past in order to make the future spring from it is the hallmark of an exceptionnal artist.

kenny larkin was shot sometime in '94 so its lucky we still have him. He says it gave him a new outlook on life. His war of the worlds release under the dark comedy moniker gave us ALL a new outlook on life.

Kenny Larkin is rare- he's got a great sense of humor, his DJ sets are always fun, and he's not a prima donna. But what keeps it all together is his incredible musical talent-any of his R&S releases are classics and his stuff on Buzz is worth its weight in gold...

With the deluge of techno artists from all over the world making headlines, it's easy (although very wrong) to forget that techno was created in Detroit, Michigan by African-American visionaries like Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins and Derrick May. From that influential tradition stems one of the freshest new techno faces in America: KENNY LARKIN.

Kenny Larkin began his music career in 1989 after serving two years in the U.S. Air Force repairing computers. Hanging out at local Detroit clubs like The Shelter and The Music Institute, he soon hooked up with Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva and started to record for their Plus 8 label.

In 1992, Kenny founded his own imprint Art Of Dance and released his most critically acclaimed projects Dark Comedy, Yennek, and his more eccentric Pod project. In 1994, Kenny released his first album, entitled "Azimuth", on Warp Records, based in England, and on TVT here in the states. The album was haild by European and U.S. press as one of the most original techno albums to date.

1995 was a very productive and busy year for Kenny. He was voted by 'Metro Times' as Best Techno Artist, he just completed building a state of the art 24 track digital recording studio/office to run his record label, he released his 2nd album, entitled 'Metaphor', which received critical acclaimed from the press and music magazines from all over the world, and he toured extensively dee jaying and playing live at the biggest Festivals in Europe, some which had him doing his electronic performance in front of as many as 25,000 fans.