KTU (pronounced K2) is a Finnish-American

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

musical

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

. In 2004,

Trey Gunn Trey Gunn (born December 13, 1960) is an American musician, known for his membership in the progressive rock band King Crimson from 1994 to 2003, playing Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick. Biography A native Texan who now resides in Seattle, Washi ...

and

Pat Mastelotto Lee Patrick Mastelotto (born September 10, 1955) is an American rock drummer and record producer. He has been a member of King Crimson, Stick Men, Mr. Mister and O.R.k., as well as working as a session drummer with XTC, The Pointer Sisters an ...

started collaborating with

Kimmo Pohjonen Kimmo Pohjonen (born August 16, 1964) is a Finnish accordionist who is known for his avant-garde and experimental work with his custom-made electrified and modified instrument. He has released nine albums of his work and has toured Europe extens ...

and

Samuli Kosminen Edea is a Finnish musical group. The Edea's song lyrics are written in an older form of the Finnish language and speak of old traditions as well. The mysterious runic symbols inscribed on the bows of Viking boats, door posts, drinking vessels, and ...

, forming KTU out of their respective duos TU and Kluster.

History

Kimmo and Samuli formed Kluster in 2001. Both award-winning musicians are known as adventurers in their respective fields and their partnership takes accordion music to new and unexplored territory. On stage, Kosminen reproduces samples of Pohjonen's accordion and voice percussively by way of electronic drum pads. Samuli also drums with Icelandic band

Múm Múm (stylized in lowercase) () is an Icelandic indietronica band whose music is characterized by soft vocals, electronic glitch beats and effects, and a variety of traditional and unconventional instruments. History The band was formed in 1 ...

, and other recent Kluster collaborations include the project ''

Uniko ''Uniko'' is a studio album by the Kronos Quartet, Kimmo Pohjonen and Samuli Kosminen.The entire work was composed by Finnish artists / composers Kimmo Pohjonen and Samuli Kosminen ''Uniko'', which was commissioned by the quartet in 2003, premi ...

'', together with

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...

. Percussionist Pat Mastelotto and

touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch (haptic perception), as well as temperature (thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It is ...

guitarist Trey Gunn have enjoyed successful careers with the band

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

. The two met at

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

's Real World Studios before touring with

David Sylvian David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt, 23 February 1958) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan. The band's androgynous look and increasingly ...

Robert Fripp Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is a British musician, songwriter, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session ...

. As the duo TU, they have released one studio album. Seeds for KTU took root at

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

in Austin, Texas in March 1999, when Pohjonen shared a billing with Mastelotto/Gunn/Robert Fripp's

ProjeKcts The ProjeKcts are a succession of spin-off projects associated with the band King Crimson. The ProjeKcts were most active from 1997 to 1999, but have performed intermittently since. These earlier ProjeKcts, up to ProjeKct Six in 2006, were devo ...

Three at the Electric Lounge. Plans for the quartet took shape over the next five years. KTU rehearsals and the World Premiere concert took place in Helsinki at the

Nosturi Nosturi (Finnish language, Finnish for "crane (machine), crane") was a culture and music hall and a nightclub in the Punavuori district of Helsinki, Finland. It was owned by the Association of Live Music (''Elävän musiikin yhdistys'', ELMU). ...

club in April 2004, followed by four concerts in Tokyo; recordings from these shows comprise the debut record ''8 Armed Monkey'', released in 2005. Live concerts continued in 2005 with headlining festival appearances in Germany at the

Moers Festival The Moers Festival is an annual international music festival in Moers, Germany. The festival has changed from concentrating on free jazz to including world and pop music, though it still invites many avant-garde jazz musicians. Performers at Moers ...

, Kulturzelt, Kulturarena, as well as FMM Sines in Portugal. In 2007, KTU debuted their live show in the US and Mexico as a trio (minus Kosminen, who continues to contribute to the band on occasion). The group's second album, ''Quiver'', was released in March 2009.

Band members

Current members *

(

Warr guitar The Warr Guitar is an American-made touch guitar, a type of instrument that combines both bass and melodic strings on a single fretboard. It is related to the Chapman Stick, another two-handed tapping instrument. The Warr guitar is designed for ...

) *

(rhythmic devices, beats, noises, percussion) *

(

Chromatic button accordion A chromatic button accordion is a type of button accordion where the melody-side keyboard consists of rows of buttons arranged chromatically. The bass-side keyboard is usually the Stradella system or one of the various free-bass systems. Incl ...

, voice) Former members *

( samples)

Discography

* ''

8 Armed Monkey ''8 Armed Monkey'' is the debut album by KTU. It was drawn from the group's first few live performances in Japan and Finland, and released in 2005. Track listing Personnel *Kimmo Pohjonen - accordion, voice *Samuli Kosminen - accordion sam ...

'' (2005) * ''

Quiver A quiver is a container for holding arrows, bolts, ammo, projectiles, darts, or javelins. It can be carried on an archer's body, the bow, or the ground, depending on the type of shooting and the archer's personal preference. Quivers were trad ...

'' (2009)

References

External links

KTU on Kimmo Pohjonen official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ktu (Band) Musical groups established in 2004 American progressive rock groups