Kayo Dot
Encyclopedia
Kayo Dot is an American avant-rock/experimental music
group that was formed in 2003 by Toby Driver
. They released their debut album Choirs of the Eye
on John Zorn
's Tzadik Records
label that year. Tzadik's descriptive label on that album reads: "Kayo Dot powerfully integrates elements of modern classical composition with the layers of guitars and vocals more common to rock
and metal. With a compositional map that is strict in form yet malleable in execution, Kayo Dot uses a vast array of instrumentation to create an exciting convergence of violence and serenity."
Since then, Kayo Dot's music has undergone several identity shifts, largely influenced by the band's constantly-changing lineup and instrumentation. One predominant element of Driver's compositional voice which remains consistent throughout all of Kayo Dot's output, however, is the band's use of abstract timing and performance cues. This lends to the music the element of "malleability" mentioned in Tzadik's description above.
The music of Kayo Dot is commonly categorized as post-metal, post-rock, progressive rock, or avant-garde. Their songs involve complex instrumentation
(composed by singer and frontman Driver) and are substantially longer than typical rock songs, usually ranging from 8 to 18 minutes in length.
, a progressive heavy metal band which formed in 1996 and dissolved in 2003. Many past members of maudlin of the Well – Josh Seipp-Williams, Sam Gutterman, Terran Olson, Andrew Dickson, and Toby Driver – studied at Hampshire College
in Amherst, Massachusetts
from 1996–2000, where My Fruit PsychoBells...A Seed Combustible was recorded. At Hampshire, Driver, Olson, and Dickson were students of jazz musician Yusef Lateef
, whose theories of autophysiopsychic music may have influenced the bands' output.
Driver has gone on to say on their website:
"Some members of this project worked in the progressive-metal project-band maudlin of the Well
from 1996 - 2003, at which time motW dismembered. Kayo Dot isn't much different from maudlin of the Well musically - rather it's more like a continuation in the direction maudlin of the Well had been progressing."
and has also said:
"People are too preoccupied with whatever connection there may be between maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot."
In May 2005, Tom Malone joined the band as their new drummer after longtime collaborator Sam Gutterman left the band in March 2005. Kayo Dot then signed to Robotic Empire Records and released its second album, Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue, in January 2006.
In 2006, near the end of the fall tour, four members – playing guitar, bass, drums, and trumpet – left the band for personal reasons. On the tenth of December, Greg Massi also left Kayo Dot on good terms stating he was going "to try and figure out other aspects of my musical life and take some time to figure out where I want to be going." (Massi has since completed his solo album, "A Time for Rust" under the moniker Baliset
. Massi also temporarily rejoined Kayo Dot in January 2010 as a guest for the purpose of one performance of Choirs of the Eye at The Stone (music space) in New York City on February 6, 2010).
After Massi's departure, Kayo Dot, consisting of only two members, Driver and Matsumiya, began working on their third album, Blue Lambency Downward
, which was released in May 2008 by Hydra Head Records
. Kayo Dot used several session musicians on this recording (Skerik
on tenor and baritone saxophone and vibraphone, Hans Teuber on clarinet, Charlie Zeleny
on drumset), and enlisted Randall Dunn as their producer and recording engineer. This album marked the first time one of Driver's recordings was not produced by Driver himself. After Blue Lambency Downwards release, Driver relocated from Boston to New York City, and for the purpose of touring the woodwind-abundant album, put a new lineup together whose new members were: Patrick Wolff on woodwinds, Daniel Means on woodwinds and guitar, David Bodie on drums, and original (and former maudlin of the Well) member Terran Olson on woodwinds and keyboards. Patrick Wolff has since left the band, and Daniel Means has added bass guitar to his duties.
In April 2008, Driver began working on a new long-form composition with his partner, Yuko Sueta, a NYC-based writer, filmmaker, and video artist (with Driver as the composer and Sueta as the author, intending to create a film to be projected along with performances of the music). A first draft of this piece was premiered at The Stone in September 2008 by The Kayo Dot Auxiliary Unit (Bodie and Means of Kayo Dot, Yuko Sueta, and Tim Byrnes
on trumpet). Shortly thereafter, Sueta, who had been fighting breast cancer
, became incapacitated by the disease. Driver re-drafted and adapted the piece for Kayo Dot (along with Byrnes), toured it in May 2009 on the road with Secret Chiefs 3
, and recorded it with Randall Dunn in Seattle during June–July 2009. Sueta died while the record was in post-production, and the band has dedicated it to her. Coyote is Kayo Dot's fourth studio album and was released on April 20, 2010 by Hydra Head Records, once again featuring a surprising re-configuration of the band's instrumentation and sound.
Kayo Dot also released an EP entitled Stained Glass in November, 2010. In addition, a fifth studio album, entitled Gamma Knife, has been announced on their official website. Recording took place at Littlefield in Brooklyn, New York on October 5, 2011, and the album is scheduled for digital-only release in December.
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
group that was formed in 2003 by Toby Driver
Toby Driver
Toby Driver is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and artist, best known for his work as the frontman of the experimental bands maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot....
. They released their debut album Choirs of the Eye
Choirs of the Eye
Choirs of the Eye is the debut album by Kayo Dot, released on John Zorn's Tzadik Records in 2003.-Overview and musical approach:In maudlin of the Well the compositions were often "brought to life" using astral projection, a relatively New age phantasmagorical practice which involves lucid dreaming,...
on John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
's Tzadik Records
Tzadik Records
Tzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...
label that year. Tzadik's descriptive label on that album reads: "Kayo Dot powerfully integrates elements of modern classical composition with the layers of guitars and vocals more common to rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
and metal. With a compositional map that is strict in form yet malleable in execution, Kayo Dot uses a vast array of instrumentation to create an exciting convergence of violence and serenity."
Since then, Kayo Dot's music has undergone several identity shifts, largely influenced by the band's constantly-changing lineup and instrumentation. One predominant element of Driver's compositional voice which remains consistent throughout all of Kayo Dot's output, however, is the band's use of abstract timing and performance cues. This lends to the music the element of "malleability" mentioned in Tzadik's description above.
The music of Kayo Dot is commonly categorized as post-metal, post-rock, progressive rock, or avant-garde. Their songs involve complex instrumentation
Instrumentation (music)
In music, instrumentation refers to the particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition, and to the properties of those instruments individually...
(composed by singer and frontman Driver) and are substantially longer than typical rock songs, usually ranging from 8 to 18 minutes in length.
History
Kayo Dot was formed after the disbanding of maudlin of the WellMaudlin of the Well
maudlin of the Well is an avant-garde metal band from Boston, Massachusetts. Their music contains elements from many different genres including doom metal, indie rock, jazz, progressive rock, post rock, progressive metal, death metal, gothic metal, as well as chamber music, ambient music and New...
, a progressive heavy metal band which formed in 1996 and dissolved in 2003. Many past members of maudlin of the Well – Josh Seipp-Williams, Sam Gutterman, Terran Olson, Andrew Dickson, and Toby Driver – studied at Hampshire College
Hampshire College
Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1965 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts...
in Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,819, making it the largest community in Hampshire County . The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts...
from 1996–2000, where My Fruit PsychoBells...A Seed Combustible was recorded. At Hampshire, Driver, Olson, and Dickson were students of jazz musician Yusef Lateef
Yusef Lateef
Dr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...
, whose theories of autophysiopsychic music may have influenced the bands' output.
Driver has gone on to say on their website:
"Some members of this project worked in the progressive-metal project-band maudlin of the Well
Maudlin of the Well
maudlin of the Well is an avant-garde metal band from Boston, Massachusetts. Their music contains elements from many different genres including doom metal, indie rock, jazz, progressive rock, post rock, progressive metal, death metal, gothic metal, as well as chamber music, ambient music and New...
from 1996 - 2003, at which time motW dismembered. Kayo Dot isn't much different from maudlin of the Well musically - rather it's more like a continuation in the direction maudlin of the Well had been progressing."
and has also said:
"People are too preoccupied with whatever connection there may be between maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot."
In May 2005, Tom Malone joined the band as their new drummer after longtime collaborator Sam Gutterman left the band in March 2005. Kayo Dot then signed to Robotic Empire Records and released its second album, Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue, in January 2006.
In 2006, near the end of the fall tour, four members – playing guitar, bass, drums, and trumpet – left the band for personal reasons. On the tenth of December, Greg Massi also left Kayo Dot on good terms stating he was going "to try and figure out other aspects of my musical life and take some time to figure out where I want to be going." (Massi has since completed his solo album, "A Time for Rust" under the moniker Baliset
Baliset (band)
Baliset is an American hard rock / heavy metal band based in Boston, Massachusetts, and is the project of Greg Massi, known for his work with the avant-garde bands maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot.- Background :...
. Massi also temporarily rejoined Kayo Dot in January 2010 as a guest for the purpose of one performance of Choirs of the Eye at The Stone (music space) in New York City on February 6, 2010).
After Massi's departure, Kayo Dot, consisting of only two members, Driver and Matsumiya, began working on their third album, Blue Lambency Downward
Blue Lambency Downward
Blue Lambency Downward is the third album by Kayo Dot.-Track listing:All tracks by Toby Driver#"Blue Lambency Downward" – 10:00#"Clelia Walking" – 5:29#"Right Hand Is The One I Want" – 6:54#"The Sow Submits" – 4:02#"The Awkward Wind Wheel" – 3:30...
, which was released in May 2008 by Hydra Head Records
Hydra Head Records
Hydra Head Records is an independent record label which specializes in heavy metal music, founded in New Mexico by Aaron Turner in 1993...
. Kayo Dot used several session musicians on this recording (Skerik
Skerik
Skerik is an American saxophonist from Seattle, Washington. Performing on the tenor and baritone saxophone, often with electronics and loops, Skerik is a pioneer in a playing style that has been dubbed saxophonics. He is a founding member of Critters Buggin, Garage a Trois and Skerik's Syncopated...
on tenor and baritone saxophone and vibraphone, Hans Teuber on clarinet, Charlie Zeleny
Charlie Zeleny
Charlie Zeleny is a New York City session drummer, music director, producer, and band leader most popular for his work playing duo with Jordan Rudess from Dream Theater and his drum duet work with Terry Bozzio for The Drum Channel and playing a nonstop 8 minute Drum Solo called "Drumageddon" up an...
on drumset), and enlisted Randall Dunn as their producer and recording engineer. This album marked the first time one of Driver's recordings was not produced by Driver himself. After Blue Lambency Downwards release, Driver relocated from Boston to New York City, and for the purpose of touring the woodwind-abundant album, put a new lineup together whose new members were: Patrick Wolff on woodwinds, Daniel Means on woodwinds and guitar, David Bodie on drums, and original (and former maudlin of the Well) member Terran Olson on woodwinds and keyboards. Patrick Wolff has since left the band, and Daniel Means has added bass guitar to his duties.
In April 2008, Driver began working on a new long-form composition with his partner, Yuko Sueta, a NYC-based writer, filmmaker, and video artist (with Driver as the composer and Sueta as the author, intending to create a film to be projected along with performances of the music). A first draft of this piece was premiered at The Stone in September 2008 by The Kayo Dot Auxiliary Unit (Bodie and Means of Kayo Dot, Yuko Sueta, and Tim Byrnes
Tim Byrnes
Tim Byrnes is a New York City trumpeter and composer. More recently, he has added synthesizer to his repertoire. He recently started a music project called Hazel-Rah . Byrnes is also a graduate of New York University...
on trumpet). Shortly thereafter, Sueta, who had been fighting breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
, became incapacitated by the disease. Driver re-drafted and adapted the piece for Kayo Dot (along with Byrnes), toured it in May 2009 on the road with Secret Chiefs 3
Secret Chiefs 3
Secret Chiefs 3 is an instrumental rock group led by guitarist/composer Trey Spruance . Their studio recordings and tours have featured different line-ups, as the group performs a wide range of musical styles including surf rock, Persian, Arab, Indian, death metal, film music, electronic music,...
, and recorded it with Randall Dunn in Seattle during June–July 2009. Sueta died while the record was in post-production, and the band has dedicated it to her. Coyote is Kayo Dot's fourth studio album and was released on April 20, 2010 by Hydra Head Records, once again featuring a surprising re-configuration of the band's instrumentation and sound.
Kayo Dot also released an EP entitled Stained Glass in November, 2010. In addition, a fifth studio album, entitled Gamma Knife, has been announced on their official website. Recording took place at Littlefield in Brooklyn, New York on October 5, 2011, and the album is scheduled for digital-only release in December.
Current members
- Toby DriverToby DriverToby Driver is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and artist, best known for his work as the frontman of the experimental bands maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot....
- vocals, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, bass guitar, baritone guitar, keyboards, clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed... - Mia Matsumiya - violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, vocals, guitar, synth bass, mellotron - David Bodie - drums (Time of OrchidsTime Of OrchidsTime of Orchids was a NYC-based avant rock band founded in 1999.Two of the band's albums feature renowned female vocalists. Kate Pierson performs on "Much Too Much Fun" while Julee Cruise of Twin Peaks fame sings on "Sarcast While"....
, MATHMATH (band)MATH is an American Improv/experimental band formed in Woodstock, New York in the mid 90s. The band's shifting personnel has included members of various other bands, most notably Billy Riker and Joey Eppard of 3 and Dave Bodie of Time of Orchids and Kayo Dot....
) - Terran Olson - keys, clarinet, saxophone
- Daniel Means - saxophone, clarinet, guitar
Studio albums
| Release date | Title |
|---|---|
| 2003 | Choirs of the Eye Choirs of the Eye Choirs of the Eye is the debut album by Kayo Dot, released on John Zorn's Tzadik Records in 2003.-Overview and musical approach:In maudlin of the Well the compositions were often "brought to life" using astral projection, a relatively New age phantasmagorical practice which involves lucid dreaming,... |
| 2006 | Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue is the second album by Kayo Dot.-Track listing:#"Gemini Becoming the Tripod" – 10:43#"Immortelle and Paper Caravelle" – 9:42#"Aura on an Asylum Wall" – 7:44#"___ On Limpid Form" – 18:00... |
| 2008 | Blue Lambency Downward Blue Lambency Downward Blue Lambency Downward is the third album by Kayo Dot.-Track listing:All tracks by Toby Driver#"Blue Lambency Downward" – 10:00#"Clelia Walking" – 5:29#"Right Hand Is The One I Want" – 6:54#"The Sow Submits" – 4:02#"The Awkward Wind Wheel" – 3:30... |
| 2010 | Coyote |
| 2011 | Gamma Knife |
Splits, EPs & live albums
- Split with Bloody PandaBloody Panda-History:The band was formed in 2003 by Yoshiko Ohara, an established visual artist based in Osaka, Japan, who "decided to spend her savings on a trip to New York City, brand new recording equipment in tow, with the idea that she’d move to America to make music, this despite the unfortunate fact...
, 2006, Holy Roar Records - "Twins Eating Fer De Lance," Champions of Sound 2008 compilation, 2009, Hydra Head Records
- Live In Bonn, Germany: October 7, 2009
- "Pages" remix on Candiria'sCandiriaCandiria are an American band from Brooklyn, New York. They blend various styles of music, including heavy metal, hardcore, jazz, hip hop and ambient. Candiria have often dubbed their sound "urban fusion".- History :...
Toying With The Insanities, vol. 1 - Stained Glass, 2010, Hydra Head Records