[9/4] Sounds Like presents Kiki (bpitch control)

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  • j_love01
    Addiction started
    • Jun 2006
    • 465

    [9/4] Sounds Like presents Kiki (bpitch control)



    Sounds Like presents…Kiki

    Berlin based bpitch control's one and only Kiki, in 1 of only 4 US tour stops. Alongside Dallas' own Opencloud & Sounds Like Residents DragonLazer.

    Kiki - bpitch control, moodmusic, Crosstown Rebels (Berlin)

    Kiki's profile including the latest music, albums, songs, music videos and more updates.

    http://www.bpitchcontrol.de/


    Opencloud - Proton Limited

    SupportPRO is industry leader in providing transparent web hosting support and technical support to web hosting companies, data centers and ISPs. We have been offering 24/7 Tech support to hosting industry since 2004.

    Opencloud's profile including the latest music, albums, songs, music videos and more updates.


    DragonLazer - Sounds Like


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Sound By: Dallas Sound Lab & Sounds Like
    Visuals By: VJ BigSnax
    Lights/Laser By: Sounds Like
    Photography By: Jason Acton
    We'll be adding some new elements for this one. Expect some surprises and usual craziness!
    Facebook Event
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    The Cavern (Upstairs)
    1914 Greenville Ave
    Dallas, TX
    $10 @ Door
    21+ w/ Valid ID
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Official after party for:
    Loaded to the Gunwalls - A Pirate Affair
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Kiki
    Joakim Ijäs was born in Helsinki, but has now found his home in Berlin.

    Initial forays into making sounds with violins and pianos soon gave hway to the mechanical beats of hip-hop, mixed together with more popular sounds whilst playing at school discos before he was even a teenager. With such an early start it was no surprise that before he was old enough to enter a club, Kiki was holding down a weekly residency at Helsinki’s Tempo club, which was swiftly followed by another at the Smile club.

    A move to Berlin in 1994 to study Architecture was the catalyst for Kiki to step in to the realms of a serious DJ. Impressing the legendary Masters At Work at a Marlboro DJ competition led to him securing gigs at Berlin’s three cathedrals of techno -Tresor, Pfefferbank and WMF. Gigs in Berlin and Germany were soon followed by a string of international bookings and the release of an infamous three deck mix for Sonnenhaus which led to DE:BUG worrying about the health of his fingers.

    With his profile as a DJ growing it was two short steps to releasing his first record on Ellen Allien’s BPitch Control label in 2001, who through a happy coincidence he had met when the pair were double booked to play the same DJ slot. Since then Kiki has become an integral part of the BPitch family growing into a truly international artist, sharing his love of energetic and hypnotic music across the globe from Mexico, to Tokyo and making a little bit of history along the way.

    With an output that has been nothing short of prolific, Kiki has released a number of genre defining records both as himself and later with partner in crime Silversurfer. Kiki was the first artist asked to put together a mix for the now legendary Boogy Bytes series, and has been asked to provide remixes and productions for labels as diverse as Bugged Out, Playhouse and Crosstown Rebels where he had the honour of being the first artist releasing on the label. His debut album Run With Me, released on Bpitch Control, was an international success, and led to the video for “Shake Off” (a collaboration with Silversurfer and Captain Comatose) being playlisted by MTV. More recently a collaboration with Sasse and his Moodmusic imprint led to the release of the excellent Grand Cru – a modern club classic already. However, as he has grown and matured, a yearning to explore
    deeper and more personal forms of expression in music, has led to Kiki working on his follow up to his debut album. Without forgetting his roots in the club, Kiki has reigned back the short sharp thrill of 12” releases to concentrate on his second album.

    And so the next chapter begins. Kiki is set to release Kaiku (which means echo in Finnish) in late spring of 2009. Like a musical calling card it combines all of the elements that can only be learned through a life dedicated to music and musical expression. Where the space between house and techno and electronic music becomes blurred to the point of irrelevance and the feeling and emotions created by the music give you all the labels you will ever need. As the song on Kaiku says – “No Words Necessary”

    Kiki - Galaktika Podcast (June 2010)



    Tracklisting
    Rodriguez Jr vs Marc Romboy: Lac de Nivelles (Systematic)
    Soul Clap: Break 4 life (Crosstown Rebels)
    And ID: Isalos (Mobilee)
    Pablo Bolivar: Dynamo - Kiki´s summer dub (Galaktika)
    Richard Davis: What you are (Safer)
    Catz N Dogz: Warsaw by night (Mothership)
    Caribou: Sun - Kiki edit (Domino)
    Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts: Helicopter (Circus Company)
    Late Nite Tuff Guy: I get deeper
    Shonky: Cluborama (Freak N Chic)
    Guy Gerber: Hate Love (Supplement Facts)
    Dj Koze: Blume der Nacht (Pampa)
    Patrick Di Stefano: Where is? - Kiki remix (This Order)
    Lauer: Delta NRG (Permanent Vacation)
    Azari & III: Hungry for the power (Im a Cliche)

    07.08.2010 / FR / Paris / Rex
    14.08.2010 / CH / Club Ark / Shangai
    21.08.2010 / DE / Berlin / Panorama Bar
    02.09.2010 / US / Boston / Make it New (Basstown) @ Middlesex
    04.09.2010 / US / Dallas / The Cavern
    10.09.2010 / US / Los Angeles / King King
    11.09.2010 / US / San Francisco / 222 Hyde
    15.09.2010 / DE / Berlin / Watergate
    17.09.2010 / ES / Barcelona / Raum
    19.09.2010 / ES / Ibiza / Pacha
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  • j_love01
    Addiction started
    • Jun 2006
    • 465

    #2
    Re: [9/4] Sounds Like presents Kiki (bpitch control)

    Very limited $5 pre-sales are available @ http://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?182923
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    Comment

    • j_love01
      Addiction started
      • Jun 2006
      • 465

      #3
      Re: [9/4] Sounds Like presents Kiki (bpitch control)

      $5 tickets almost gone...

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      • j_love01
        Addiction started
        • Jun 2006
        • 465

        #4
        Re: [9/4] Sounds Like presents Kiki (bpitch control)

        Bass reinforcements are being brought in for this one. :-)
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        • j_love01
          Addiction started
          • Jun 2006
          • 465

          #5
          Re: [9/4] Sounds Like presents Kiki (bpitch control)

          This event makes top news on http://www.residentadvisor.net
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          • j_love01
            Addiction started
            • Jun 2006
            • 465

            #6
            Re: [9/4] Sounds Like presents Kiki (bpitch control)



            The deceptive darkness of blue-eyed Kiki

            Joakim Ijäs is a liar. His soft voice, nervous laugh, mild manners, fair complexion, and clean style is just a trick. Don’t believe the polite nice boy from Finland act. If you go and see him play in a club you will only find a techno doom monger. Kiki [a] might sound like a cute hamster, but there is nothing except dark skies in his blue eyes.

            Ijäs has a good excuse for the blackness that surrounds him (and his MySpace). “Finland is such a dark and depressing place. The Finnish are known for being depressed. It’s one of the only countries in the world where tracks in a minor chord top the charts,” he says, in his punctuated English.

            Kiki moved to Berlin from Helsinki in 1994 to study architecture and design. “I probably moved from Finland to escape the darkness,” he jokes. “But it is true that dark music tends to come from dark places. There are only three countries in the world where minor tracks top the charts - Argentina, Japan and Finland - and all of them have a huge tango scene. Tango is usually in a minor chord. Also Japan and Finland have some of the highest suicide rates in the world.”

            Kiki’s new album ‘Kaiku’ plays like a tale of sorrow in monochrome. Contrastingly, his debut album ‘Run With Me’ released five years ago is like a vivid rainbow in technicolor.

            Ijäs explains, “I’ve grown up as a musician. When ‘Run With Me’ was made, I was perhaps a little more focused on making fun dance music. With this album, I wanted to create something timeless. ‘Run With Me’ probably sounds a little dated. Like if you listen to ‘The End of the World’ now [a hit track from his debut LP] it probably sounds a bit cheesy.”

            Part of Ijäs’ transformation comes from his fascination for film. Since being involved in a friend’s film project two years ago, he “started to think about music visually. I was asked to write a track to accompany a very dramatic scene, and it was a completely new way of working. I started to see music, to think of how it might represent a particular mood or action.

            “I didn’t produce the whole of ‘Kaiku’ with visuals in mind, but I did want the album to flow like a film so it begins with the dramatic ‘Autumn Leaves’ which is my representation of a stormy night. The track that follows is like the calm after the storm. The album continues in this manner and it really has to be heard in its entirety to fully understand my vision.”
            Live is better

            Kiki’s studio has changed a huge amount since his debut ‘Run With Me’, which was created solely on a computer. ‘Kaiku’ was written mainly using analogue gear, live instruments, and vocalists. “Electronic dance music has always been a body experience for me, so I’ve always recorded music by jamming out in the studio. Most of ‘Kaiku’ was recorded as very long studio sessions. I always prefer to work this way. I like to just start jamming and hit record. I leave the mistakes in. I played all the keyboards on my album, and had a few guest musicians and vocalists contribute.”


            Kiki’s live approach to making music translates perfectly as a live show in clubs. Armed with keyboards and drum machines, his live sets have a wild, improvisational feel. “I approach my live sets like a jazz musician. I begin my sets with absolutely no plan. I just begin playing and see where it takes me,” says Ijäs.

            “I’ve been getting better and better at it during the tour for this album. I try to recreate the feelings that I had at the time of the recordings. I don’t want to be a robot DJ who just uses a laptop to perform live. I hope because I play keyboards and do things truly live I stand out.”

            Sometimes Kiki’s impromptu live performances turn out so good that he ends up re-recording them in the studio. “Like for my remix of ‘Good Vodoo’ - I actually did that live in a club one night and thought it sounded so good it should be the official remix.”
            Coincidence or the Berlin factor?

            When I go back to Finland to play I actually feel like a tourist now. All my friends are talking about these new restaurants and bars and I don’t know what they’re talking about.

            Kiki’s LP is a curious tale of fortunate coincidences. Some might call it fate. Ijäs called it ‘echo’, which is what ‘Kaiku’ means in Finnish. “Every time I wished for something, like a vocalist or a cello player, within a couple of days something happened that gave me exactly what I wanted. I thought of something, and the echo appeared a few days later,” he says.

            For instance, Kiki longed for a cellist. A day later, he bumped into an old friend in the street whose wife happened to be a professional cellist. When he yearned for a male vocalist, an acquaintance by the name of Jake The Rapper called him with a vocal idea. In Italy at a festival, he saw a band called Pirica perform and was blown away by the female singer. He meant to talk to them, but never had the time. A few days later on Myspace, there was a message from Pirica awaiting him.

            It could all just be the Berlin factor, of course. Chela Simone, who sang on ‘Good Vodoo’, happened to pop into Jay Haze’s Berlin studio as Kiki was mixing down the track. “She asked if she could sing over the song because she liked the sound of it, and we said, ‘err...sure.’ It turned out perfect.”

            Seth Troxler’s remix came about after Kiki bumped into the Detroit-born producer in a Berlin street. The chance meeting with the husband of the cellist happened in Berlin too. Jake The Rapper? Berlin. “That’s the way Berlin is. You always bump into people in the street,” says Ijäs, who now has a German passport as well as a Finnish one. “When I go back to Finland to play I actually feel like a tourist now. All my friends are talking about these new restaurants and bars and I don’t know what they’re talking about.”


            Club bangers
            One of the most club friendly cuts on ‘Kaiku’ is the menacing ‘Mogadishu’ that drives forwards with radioactive bass, warped vocals, and threatening FX.

            Kiki recorded the track after reading about a plane hijack that occurred over 20 years ago. “These terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked a Lufthansa flight and flew it all over the world before eventually landing in Mogadishu. They demanded that several terrorists from the RAF [Red Army Faction] group be released. Eventually the plane was stormed by anti-terrorist police in Mogadishu and the hostages were freed. I thought it was a pretty amazing story and it inspired me to make a track that sounded like a plane hijack."

            The album’s happiest record ‘Good Vodoo’ is also the first single. With Chela Simone’s soulful vocals and old skool-sounding lead line the track is a jovial trip, albeit, a rather muted one.

            The surreal video, directed by a graduate called Kama from Milan’s University of Arts, mirrors the tracks bizarre yet darkly enticing motion. Kiki says, “I trusted him with it and gave him free rein. I really like what he came back with. It’s quite arty. Because the track has these weird horns in it, he had these people in a field playing with wheels. And the man and the woman in it represent the vocals, which talk about ‘longing for somebody’ and ‘I want you here with me’.”

            Ellen Allien & Bpitch Control
            ‘Kaiku’ is on Ellen Allien’s Bpitch Control, which Kiki admits is the perfect home for his artistry. He’s been with the label for eight years and their relationship is so rock solid that his MySpace address is ‘/kikibpitchcontrol’. “When we started working on the LP I said, ‘Uh oh, we’ve been together for seven years’. The seventh year of marriage is apparently the hardest, but it all worked out,” he jokes.

            Kiki first met Allien in a club in Berlin where to two of them were spinning in opposite rooms. “The promoter decided to put the party into the one room and he had us play back to back. We loved the experience and became friends,” he says.

            One of the key components behind ‘Kaiku’ was the freedom that Allien granted to Ijäs. “She gives the artists on Bpitch complete freedom and that’s very important to her.”

            The darkness then, is all Kiki. He continues to hoodwink, trick and deceive us all with his charming good looks and gentleman’s touch, but don’t be fooled. His eyes might be blue, but he prefers the shadows.

            Source: http://www.beatportal.com/feed/item/...blue-eyed-kiki
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            • kiki_b
              Fresh Peossy
              • Apr 2010
              • 8

              #7
              Re: [9/4] Sounds Like presents Kiki (bpitch control)

              TOMORROW! Kiki has been on fire lately...Dallas better get ready!

              Comment

              • j_love01
                Addiction started
                • Jun 2006
                • 465

                #8
                Re: [9/4] Sounds Like presents Kiki (bpitch control)

                Tonight folks! Pre-sales are no longer available but you can still pay $10 at the door.

                We start things off at 7:30pm tonight.

                Looking forward to seeing everyone on the dance floor!
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