Capitol K sails wonky, lo-fi electronica, psychedelia squiggles, and streetified, foot-stomping huayño as expertly as a master kite-flyer keeping his delicate craft aloft and swooping.
[Release page] Kristian Craig Robinson (aka Capitol K) was already a critically-successful, musical world traveller when he hit the road for a 7,000 mile South American journey covering Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, inspired by his fascination with the literature and music of the continent. Picking up friends, instruments and street market CDRs along the way, he left his own imprint on the region in a series of live shows with Brazilian singer Cibelle (and playing a variety of instruments on her burlesque, tropicalismo-futurist album, Las Veñus Resort Palace Hotel), which took on a mixtape life of their own after airing on DJ Rupture’s radio show.
Cibelle is also his sole collaborator on Andean Dub, playing synth and co-writing some of the tracks. No musical carpetbagger, Capitol K went native, enriching not plundering. The cover of Andean Dub sports a ”100% Cumbia!” starburst come-on and while the first track ”Celestial” opens with the familiar rhythm, that’s the last glimpse of familiarity on the album. Capitol K proves an adroit dub master and note-bender, firing a melee of colours into the clear but thin air at those heights, making a gringo’s head spin. He sails wonky, lo-fi electronica, psychedelia squiggles, and streetified, foot-stomping huayño as expertly as a master kite-flyer keeping his delicate craft aloft and swooping. ”White Steal” mimics a heavy rock guitar riff and bangs out a kind of tongue-in-cheek metal cumbia-core. Cheap and wheezy electric organ brings out the Tex-Mex flavour in ”Cumbia Esqueletos” and, like most of the tracks, a smile on the face.
Andean Dub is a sweet virus of an record, infectious and without a care in the world. There’s really only one complaint to register about the album—it’s only thirty-seven minutes long.
Andean Dub is available on Faith & Industry. [Release page]
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