Review:  Kinlaw & Skyler

28 Oct 2014 — Richard Greenan

London's Joane Skyler and Bristol's Hamish Trevis, aka Kinlaw, join forces on another fine record from Reckno (and the UK label's first vinyl release). Skyler & Kinlaw finds the producers gleefully one-upping each other in a sort of affectionate sonic tussle. Skyler's fragmented rave sketches are present, as are Kinlaw's more murky, pummeling driftscapes. But the real magic of Skyler & Kinlaw emerges when we lose track of who's doing what. This happens during the majestic, sickly wooz of "くコ:彡", or the triumphant Bollywood daydream "RIPE". There's quite a lot of tape manipulation going on here, and maybe it's Skyler's hand on the speed dial that causes snares and breaks to ebb and flow like a spluttering two-stroke engine. And perhaps the fistfuls of trappy hi-hats, clustering weirdly over snippets of distorted conversation, are hallmarks of Kinlaw. But, as the project sets out, this is less a split, more a combining of powers. Droll as ever, Reckno kingpin Chris Catlin sums it up:

Apparently at one point during a difficult bit of drum programming Joane's skull turned to smoke, Kinlaw inhaled it and blew it back into the mixing desk then poured black syrup over the keyboards while Joane's hands hooked up the perpetual sunset plugin and turned the rainbow filter up to infinity. But I digress...

You can get hold of Skyler & Kinlaw digitally or in the form of a 12" vinyl LP via Reckno.