Kilo Kish - A Quick Chat

Kilo Kish first came to our attention when she featured on The Internet’s brilliant song ‘Ode to a Dream’. Since that point it’s fair to say that we’ve been hooked on the New York based singer’s offerings and we were quite rightly thrilled when the chance came up to ask her a few questions. Here’s what she had to say.

1) Firstly, you're based in Brooklyn, to what degree do you think this influences your music?

Not too much, I don't spend to much time in bk besides being in my apartment. I like living in brooklyn for the trees and the peace and quiet. I identify more with downtown manhattan.
How would you describe your sound to our readers who haven't listened to you?

This is always a hard question for me and generally don't know what to say. I call it experimental, which is mostly just me rambling on or half singing about abstract ideas over spacey beats. I wouldn't say I'm in any particular genre box.

3) What are your biggest influences both within music and outside of it?

I'm not sure if I have any direct influences in music, I think with the internet era we're all indirectly influenced by a lot of things our brains just soak up. I'm kind of like being in my own bubble when I comes to making music so ensure that I'm not being overly influenced by what's new and cool. I don't really watch television, besides the Olympics and The Price Is Right, or listen to the radio so for the most part I'm safe. Outside of music, I'm really influenced by going to see new art it's always inspiring for me. Right now I'm a big fan of Tom Sachs.

4) You worked with both Syd Tha Kyd and Matt Martian of Odd Future (The Internet) on their excellent album Purple Naked Ladies, how would you describe that experience?

It was really amazing working with two friends on their first album, we have such a great, natural relationship. I think their music is really special and refreshing compared to other things I've heard recently. Working on ode to a dream was super fun and I definitely enjoyed touring and performing it live with them.

5) Finally, what are your plans for the future?

My plans are to keep making progressive music and to design cool stuff and work on as many art projects as I can juggle at once. 

We'd like to thank Duncan Will and of course Kilo Kish for their contribution and help with this interview.

New Balance 574.

One half of the team here recently purchased a pair of New Balance 574 in the colour shown below. New Balance need no introduction from us as I'm sure you're all too aware of their excellent trainers but these deserved a post based on their refreshing colour.

The long awaited issue three will hopefully be ready to send out sometime this week. It has now been sent to print so it's just a case of receiving them and sending them out now. As with all the issues so far, it will be available from Distant Echo and Trickett. We're also working with a few more stockists for this issue and next issue but those are to be confirmed. Also, the Aficionado tee is available to purchase from the eighties website. It's available in bottle green, navy and yellow.

Vans Carrilo

The Vans California range is normally something we would describe as a mixed bag. Sure, most of it is the same old stuff you expect when it comes to Vans, and we can’t complain about that, Vans have been producing brilliant, understated footwear for years and it will never get old. Now and again though, the designers at the world famous skating brand throw something special into the mix that makes the rest of the California range suddenly seem outdated, and the Carrilo is definitely special.

Coming in grey, sand or black the Carrilo looks like a skate shoe doing its best impression of a Clarks Desert Trek and would look great in the upcoming Autumn months. We know we’ll be picking up a pair.

What we've been listening to recently.

As you may have noticed, there has been quite a delay in the publication of Issue 3. This is due to an issue at the printers but we think it will definitely be worth the wait. Anyway, whilst we’ve been busy working on the fanzine we’ve neglected the blog a bit. So we might as well tell you what we’ve been listening to recently.

First up is the 1998 album ‘Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star’. The album is a perfect example of hip-hop done right and is definitely one of our favourites. The track that stands out most has to be the insanely catchy ‘Brown Skin Lady’.

A more recently released album that we’ve been spinning is ‘An Awesome Wave’ by the Leeds based band Alt-J. After hearing the brilliant ‘Breezeblocks’ it has to be said that the rest of the album did disappoint to a degree, but it is still worth a listen.

Third and finally, we have been going through a bit of a J Dilla phase at the moment. The infamous producer who died in 2006 left behind one of the best legacies in Hip-Hop. His last album Donuts consists of a series of instrumentals and is our clear favourite of his. We recommend that you listen to ‘Last Donut of The Night’.

Issue three - Out soon...