Kinski is an American rock band from

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

. They have released eight albums, a number of split albums and EP.

Career

They formed in 1998 in a pub, when bartender and drummer Dave Weeks overheard a conversation between two customers, Chris Martin (guitar) and Lucy Atkinson (bassist) about

analog recording Analog recording is a technique used for the recording of analog signals which, among many possibilities, allows analog audio for later playback. Analog audio recording began with mechanical systems such as the phonautograph and phonograph. L ...

. Weeks joined the discussion, and they found they also shared mutual musical interests, and hence agreed to form a band. They started playing live the same year. Near the end of 1999, guitarist/keyboardist/flautist Matthew Reid Schwartz was added to the line-up. Kinski issued its first record ''Space Launch for Frenchie'' earlier that same year consisting of six tracks running for 45 minutes. The band went on their first US tour with Mainliner from Japan, where they befriended

Kawabata Makoto Kawabata Makoto ( ) is a Japanese musician and founding member of the band Acid Mothers Temple. He was part of one line-up of Gong when Acid Mothers Temple and Gong briefly fused into one group. Band history Kawabata is chiefly famous for his l ...

, also of

Acid Mothers Temple Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., commonly shortened to Acid Mothers Temple or AMT, is a Japanese psychedelic rock band, the core of which formed in 1995. The band is led by guitarist Kawabata Makoto and early in their career feat ...

. Tours throughout the US would follow the next two years with such bands as Hovercraft, Silkworm, and

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. Their second album, ''Be Gentle With the Warm Turtle'', came out on Pacifico in 2001. The band also toured Japan with

in late 2001. In early 2002, after the band finished recording their third album, Weeks left and later went on to join Seattle band Black Panties. That summer, Barrett Wilke took over on drums. The band at this time signed with Sub Pop. The album ''Airs Above Your Station'' was released in 2003. Later in 2003, Sub Pop issued a split album with Kinski and

. Each band contributed their own material for this release, along with two collaborative pieces that were recorded during their earlier tour of Japan. Finally, the three-way "triptych" split, ''Crickets and Fireflies'', was released by the Music Fellowship label with the bands

Paik Paik is a post-rock/space rock band, originally from Toledo, United States, currently living in Detroit, Michigan, United States, that includes Rob Smith and Ryan Pritts. Bassist Ali Clegg left the band in 2005, and has since been replaced by S ...

& Surface of Eceon. Around the time that Weeks left the band, the remaining members began performing as an improvisational threesome under the name Herzog. An album, ''Don't Climb on and Take the Holy Water'', was issued in 2004 by the Strange Attractors Audio House label consisting of live recordings from Herzog performances. The band also contributed a track to the

Franco Battiato Francesco "Franco" Battiato (; 23 March 1945 – 18 May 2021) was an Italian musician, singer, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esotericism, esoteric, philosophy, philosophica ...

tribute album, ''What's Your Function''. A brief west coast tour with

Mission of Burma Mission of Burma was an American post-punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. The group formed in 1979 with Roger Miller on guitar, Clint Conley on bass, Peter Prescott on drums, and Martin Swope contributing audiotape manipulation and acting a ...

rounded out the year. In 2005, the band came back with ''Alpine Static'', their sixth album overall and third on Sub Pop produced by

Randall Dunn Randall Dunn is an American record producer, audio engineer, and musician. As a record producer, he has worked with musical acts such as Sunn O))), Six Organs of Admittance, Marissa Nadler, Wolves in the Throne Room, Boris, Anna Von Haussw ...

. Tours throughout the US, Europe, and Japan followed, stopping in London for a session with

Huw Stephens Huw Meredydd Stephens (born 25 May 1981) is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music. Stephens founded the Sŵn music festival with John Rostron and the yearly s ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

. Kinski was the opening act during the spring 2007 leg of

Tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...

's '' 10,000 Days'' tour. Just before leaving for this tour, they finished their seventh album, ''Down Below It's Chaos'' which was released on August 21, 2007. In August 2012, it was announced that Kinski' had signed with Kill Rock Stars. The album, ''Cosy Moments'' was released April 3, 2013. In February 2015 the band released a split EP with fellow Seattle band Sandrider on Seattle label Good to Die Records. The second album on

Kill Rock Stars Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but was originally know ...

entitled ''7 (or 8)'', was recorded and mixed in San Francisco at El Studio with Phil Manley (of Trans Am) and was released in June 2015. In 2017 Kinski adapted a passage of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction which combines a bod ...

for the

Waywords and Meansigns ''Waywords and Meansigns: Recreating Finnegans Wake n its whole wholume' is an international project setting James Joyce's novel ''Finnegans Wake'' to music. Waywords and Meansigns has released two editions of audio, each offering an unabridged m ...

project. In August 2018, it was announced that for Kinski's 20th anniversary as a band, they would be releasing a vinyl reissue of ''Be Gentle With the Warm Turtle'' as well as releasing a new album titled ''Accustomed To Your Face'', with both albums being released on

on October 12, 2018.

Band members

*Chris Martin (guitar) *Lucy Atkinson (bass) *Barrett Wilke (drums) *Matthew Reid Schwartz (guitar, keyboards, flute)

Discography

*''Space Launch for Frenchie'' - 1999 self-released; reissued 2005 on Strange Attractors Audio House *''Be Gentle With the Warm Turtle'' - 2001 on Pacifico; reissued 2005 on Strange Attractors Audio House * Penthouse Suite 7"

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

- 2001 on Sub Pop *Semaphore EP - 2002 on Sub Pop *''Airs Above Your Station'' - 2003 CD on Sub Pop; LP on Strange Attractors Audio House *

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertai ...

- 2003 on Sub Pop *''Crickets and Fireflies'' split album with

and Surface of Eceon - 2004 on Music Fellowship *"Guess I'm Falling In Love" 7"

- 2004 on The Great Pop Supplement *''Don't Climb on and Take the Holy Water'' - 2004 on Strange Attractors Audio House *''Alpine Static'' - 2005 on Sub Pop Kinskiat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

and the band's website contains a discography. *''I Didn't Mean to Interrupt Your Beautiful Moment'' - 2006 on Three Lobed Recordings *''Down Below It's Chaos'' - 2007 on Sub Pop *''Cosy Moments'' - Released April 2, 2013 on

*Sandrider + Kinski Split EP - Released February 17, 2015 on Good to Die Records *''7 (or 8)'' - Released June 2, 2015 on

*''Accustomed to Your Face'' - Released October 12, 2018 on

References

External links

Kinski's website

Kinski's Sub Pop page

Kinski's Kill Rock Stars page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinski Rock music groups from Washington (state) American post-rock groups Sub Pop artists Kill Rock Stars artists Musical groups from Seattle