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KUDU
Kudu (Velour)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
Kudu's Sylvia Gordon is the kind of talent that only comes along once in a blue moon, a singer with the unique ability to deliver a dreamy passage with equal parts smoke and bite. While playing bass and playing it extremely well. She must have had some jazz training, because her delivery sometimes comes from a corner haunted by the ghosts of Sarah Vaughan and Lady Day, and there are definitely plenty of jazz flavors here, but Kudu brews its own brand of music from jazz, electronica, trip-hop, R&B. If that reads as delicious as it sounds, read on.
Right now a lot of you are thinking Portishead, and I can understand that, but where Portishead rarely rises above, say, 8 beats per minute, Kudu can and will soar, and the instrumentation of Kudu makes it a moot comparison: Vocals, bass, drums and two keyboards. And not a scratchin' turntable in sight. Any scratching would be obliterated by the astounding and ever-creative drumming of Deantoni Parks, a talent as great as Gordon. (And here I thought they only got one of those per band.) Peter Stoltzman creates beautiful textures that are the foundations of the songs, synthesized atmospherics and all-encompassing orchestras, while Nick Kasper does the dirty work on the other keyboard. He'll double Gordon's bass lines with a sharp-toothed tone, he'll mimic a wah-wah'd guitar or a nasty-toned trumpet, he'll throw in off-kilter sounds that can't be described... Come to think of it, Nick Kasper might have one of the best jobs in New York, or at least one of the most fun.
And so Kudu's coming to a CD bin near you. Should you buy it? By all means. This is one of those rarities that got reviewed the first time it hit the player in the plush Cosmik Towers. It had to. It was instant addiction. Or fatal attraction. Call it what you will. As Sylvia Gordon sings in "Cannibal," 'round about track four, "I've acquired a taste for you - Any other flavor just will not do - Tough or tender, sweet or sour - You deserve to be devoured - Oh I could feast on you for hours and hours." I'll be feasting on this one for a long time. Tough or tender, sweet or sour. Kudu's debut is all that and more.
© 2001 - DJ Johnson