Universe

by KUF

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Macro M55 – 2xLP/CD

macrorec.bandcamp.com/album/universe

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsvXlZN3dPQ

KUF create emotion-laden dialogues across layers of time and dimensions of sound. Voices recorded in private and in the past are chopped up and brought out center-stage to sing with beats hammered out right here and now. Glowing synths push forward. Basslines rise to grab the melodic role of a track while a vowel is truncated and locked into a grid to drive the rhythm. Voices move within the time frame of a sample, performed by hands pushing keys, guided by the ear, immersed in a trio session’s deep flow… A vortex of quirky hands, responsive ears and glowing circuits.

Since Thomas A. Edison first recorded the human voice in 1877, the recording arts have changed music forever. Musicians have explored the endless possibilities of bouncing their input onto layers of tape, off the walls of an echo chamber or the circuitry of electronic helpers that modulate, spatialize, shift, divide or multiply the work of human hands and mouths. An era of sampling offered a cubistic analysis of the recorded past and DJs took dancers onto intricately fractured time travels. This is the historic foundation that KUF keep probing. Just like the sampler and the DJ before them, they found new ways to re-allocate where machine and man stand when making music together. Most importantly, they get sparkling bursts of energy from the resulting friction.

‘Universe’ digs deeper into the android vocal chords, offers different beats and persistent bass. Immerse in the intimacy of the voices, probably recorded in trains, backstage areas and late night private parties during Berlin Lichtenberg warehouse rehearsals. By striking the keys, KUF squeeze out and serve up all the soul accumulated in those savory phonetic shreds. Wood striking metal, thick bass strings moving air, oscillators humming eagerly. Physical and electrical, alive and stunningly beautiful – after a year well spent in smoky clubs, on festival stages and in extensive nocturnal sessions, KUF deliver chapter two of their unfolding saga.

credits

released January 24, 2018

Tom Schneider: sampler & keyboards
Valentin Link: bass synthesizer & double bass
Hendrik Havekost: drums & percussion

Vocal samples performed by Madeleine Rauch, Franziska Plückhan & Lydia Schulz.

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KUF Berlin, Germany

Three-piece outfit KUF, featuring keys, bass and drums, cooks up a sound that is as warm, cozy and exciting as it is utterly alien. The rhythm section hints at the great history of dirty funk and bouncing R&B, but the grooves are firmly today's: dance-centered, thrillingly interactive and broken up at the best possible joints. ... more

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