Well, fortunately I´m very happy with April´s update after those mediocre CDs I had to review in March. Now it´s time for the Italian trio StereoKimono, a band from Bologne formed by Antonio Severi (guitars, keyboards), Alessandro Vittorio (bass, keyboards) and Cristina Atzori (yes, a woman; drums).

In this first album StereoKimono shows us a deep love for art rock, rock in opposition, Crimson-like formulae's and varied musical Dadaism. A music hard to listen by not initiated (warning, I am NOT saying that this style is better than others). In fact, and talking about experimental progressive rock (some examples would be bands as UTO, Djam Karet, Gestalt, Magma or Isildurs Bane), the music of "Ki" is relatively easy to listen.

The first track "Eh! Ah!" (4:53) begins with a Frippish guitar riff that creates a growing atmosphere with strange percussion, crazy music a la Hoÿry Köne, and a "Red" taste. A mysterious bass brings us into "Apoteotico" (4:52), with percussion and guitar echoes. In the second minute a happy, almost teaser, melody begins, sometimes cut by the sharp guitar of Severi; after that, the end is very hard. Five minutes very, very intense. "Phileas Fogg" (11:11) is the longest track of the CD. A spacey beginning and an atmosphere close to the most esoteric Floyd of "Careful...". This track is, surprisingly, inspired by the work of the novelist Jules Verne (I´ve just finished translating Douwe´s review about Mangala Vallis!... this is a premonition!!). The bass and the percussion are the protagonists. Then the guitar begins to create solos, sometimes esoteric sometimes amusing. It´s very to describe this music, I can only tell you that if you enjoy with variety and you are not friends of cheap excesses, you´ll love this album. Unfortunately "L´altra marea" (8:33) begins in a bizarre way. Bass harmonics, strange background sounds, impossible percussion and grating guitars bore me during more than two minutes - I suppose that snob people will say that "that" is experimental music. Happily the track calms down with some Floyd like sounds and spacey soundscapes. "Istanbul di giorno" (5:58) is, as you have already guessed, a tribute to Arabian music. Although it is a good track and has delicious percussion, this kind of music is played by too many progressive bands (yeah, almost every prog band has an Arab-like track). The following track, "Concerto nº 1 per pianoforte e sgabello" (0:58) is a foolishness with piano and stool. I can´t understand why this kind of bands, magisterially knowing how to experiment with rock music, always include some eccentricity in their albums. "Il nulla respira" (7:24) is another track similar to "Eh! Ah!" with a great instrumentation and excellent jazzy moments. When the CD. has finished and, after some seconds, we can hear a ghostly voice repeating a sentence in German language while an alarm clock is ringing. That´s all.

If you like eccentric and original music you will find it here, and I recommend this CD. to all the fans of (soft) Crimson-like sounds, Djam Karet, Rock In Opposition and things like that. I also recommend this CD. to the rest of our readers, because this CD. is a good bridge between mainstream progressive rock and experimental music.