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Calika - Crooked - 02-Oct-09 12:19 AM
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.