K-X-P is an electronic rock band from

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. The band consists of Timo Kaukolampi (vocals, electronics and guitar), Tomi Leppänen (drums), Anssi Nykänen (drums), and Tuomo Puranen (bass). For their second album ''II'' the band are signed to Melodic Records in the UK.https://www.facebook.com/kxp.official/info

History

Both Kaukolampi and Puranen were part of Op:l Bastards, before forming K-X-P in 2006. The band existed only in studio live jam sessions until their demos reached the

Smalltown Supersound Smalltown Supersound is an independent record label, founded in Flekkefjord in 1993 and now based in Oslo, Norway. It is dedicated to new forms of jazz, rock and electronic music. Their catalog features albums by Kelly Lee Owens, Deathprod, Ne ...

label (Norway). K-X-P was first called K-N-P, from Kaukolampi, Nykänen, Puranen. Anssi Nykänen (the N) was always playing other shows with various bands and artists, so the N became X marking mystery revolving spot for drummer. K-X-P records nowadays with both drummers Anssi Nykänen and Tomi Leppänen in the studio. There have been rare live concerts with both of them onstage. Tomi Leppänen, who also plays with

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...

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and Pharaoh Overlord has been the regular for most live shows.

Lauri Porra Lauri Porra (born 13 December 1977) is a Finnish bass guitarist and a composer who has written scores for films and other media, as well as commissions from orchestras such as the Lahti Symphony and the Finnish Radio Symphony. He is also known fo ...

, Finnish bassist of

Stratovarius Stratovarius is a Finnish power metal band that formed in 1985. Since their formation, they have released sixteen studio albums, five DVDs and six live albums. In its history, the band has gone through many chaotic lineup changes, and after fo ...

is also often playing with the band both on stage and on their records. In 2017 band members Tuomo Puranen and Timo Kaukolampi composed a

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

for a feature film Euthanizer. Their work won in the best film soundtrack category in

Jussi Awards The Jussi Awards are Finland's premier film industry prizes, awarded annually to recognize the achievements of directors, actors, and writers. History The first Jussi Awards ceremony was held on 16 November 1944 at the Restaurant Adlon in Hels ...

2018.

Releases

In 2010 the band released their first record, the self-titled K-X-P, earning favourable reviews from Q, Future Music,

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and

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. They describe their sound as "Original - Electronic - Motorhead - Space - Trance - Spiritual - Rock - Meditation - Freejazz". Reviews from the likes of

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...

and

Clash Magazine ''Clash'' is a music and fashion magazine and website based in the United Kingdom. It is published four times a year by Music Republic Ltd, whose predecessor Clash Music Ltd went into liquidation. The magazine won the Best New Magazine award in ...

also define the sound as having a strong krautrock element. Publications like UNCUT have reviewed their music as "Fertile experiments, broad and flexible enough to incorporate

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...

, glam-rock and goth-metal elements" and Pitchfork stated "their music is incredibly rhythmic, their grooves—paranoid dark disco and motorik—deep.' The band released a second album in February 2013 entitled ''II'' and rated 7/10 on Pitchfork. They toured in support of the album from March 2013 onwards. Third K-X-P album was released by Svart Records in two parts, ''III Part 1'' in 2015 and ''III Part 2'' in 2016. Both got good reviews on

Q Magazine ''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series '' The Old Grey Whistle Test''. ...

and

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2 ...

. In summer 2018 the band released a self published limited edition "

white label A white label record is a vinyl record with white labels attached. There are several variations each with a different purpose. Variations include test pressings, white label promos, and plain white labels. Test pressings Test pressings, usua ...

" vinyl LP of previously unreleased music, that was only available for sale at their live gigs. The fourth K-X-P album titled ''IV'' was released by Svart Records in May 2019.

Live

The band are noted for their intense live performance featuring costumes, audience interaction, and experimentation with different instruments. They have supported and toured with James Blake,

Zombie Zombie ''Zombie Zombie'' is a ZX Spectrum computer game developed by Spaceman Ltd (Sandy White and Angela Sutherland), published in 1984 by Quicksilva. It is a development of Spaceman's previous '' Ant Attack'', and uses an updated "Softsolid 3D" isom ...

and Moon Duo, amongst others.

References

{{Authority control Finnish rock music groups Smalltown Supersound artists