Live Review: Kalacoma's 'Less Is More' mixtape

KALACOMA are exactly what you want in an electronic project; many minds coming together to create music with a unique touch. Although they're music has so much depth, there is a simplicity there underpinning all the wild elements - and that's special.

We went a bit gushy on their last single, saying that 'Kaleidoscoper' "challenges several standard pop song elements such as structure; rhythmic and melodic. The fusion of acoustic and electronic components blended with obscure rhythmic layering and killer falsetto vocals from lead singer, Nick Herrera is almost overwhelming to the listener’s already contemporary based programmed ears."

The guys have taken a similar view towards this SoundCloud Wrap, focussing on the 'less is more' approach, and have showcased some brilliantly intricate and subtle touches of songwriting, that somehow still create complex soundscapes. Listen to some haunting cuts below:

Ripple - Destroy the Perfect Silence

"Daniel is actually a buddy of ours and a pretty rad drummer. The first time I saw him play was at a little festival I was all like “oh cool, it’ll be rad to see him live” having no idea what to expect. And then he just pulled out these mad Aphex-like beats outta nowhere, I was pretty blown away. It’s just rad to see local dudes making tracks with such great vibe and complexity."

James Holden - Gone Feral

"This was the first track of Holden’s that I heard, it was actually on a little list of music Radiohead was currently listening to (this was a few years ago now) so I kinda had to check it out. I just love how this track is just a giant crescendo and evolves so well. I’m really into these kind of tracks that take you on a linear journey from start to finish and set such a strange mood."

Clever Austin - Hide-away Headshell

Ok so this is a mixtape and not a single track, but it’s so cohesive as a single piece that you could almost class it as such. It’s just a wicked tonal explosion and the dynamics and sense of a real world space that it gives you is pretty spectacular."

YUME - Shampoogod

"This track is just strikingly simple. I’m a big fan of this less is more approach to music, and setting a vibe by doing relatively very little. Turns out I’m a bit of a trap fan."

Captain Murphy - Between Friends

"This is Flying Lotus’ MC alter ego, and in my opinion contains some of his sickest tracks. Again, he just manages to establish such an awesome cinematic atmosphere with rad tones and old VHS style samples. Just such a simple beat but has so much swagger and rhymes are dope as."

TSURDA - TFW u stand on the dj table

"In a bit of a similar class to the YUME track above, but way darker. Electronic music is typically pretty upbeat and happy so I’m real into stuff that is quite dark and creepy. It’s pretty cool to have such minimal melodic content and use the beats to build the majority of any harmony within the track."

The Sticks - Live Excperts

"These dudes are a wicked trio from Sydney doing some really innovative stuff both musically and visually. I’ve never had the privilege of seeing them live, but basically they invented these things called AirSticks which are basically “air drums” that play samples in a variety of crazy ways and also command the visuals for their live shows. I just dig that their music is also really intricate and interesting and they’re not just riding the AirSticks as a gimmick"

Karli White - The Darkest

"We only discovered Karli recently but I’m real into what she does. She’ll be playing at our single launch and I’m excited to see her perform the tracks live. This track was written for a film, which I haven’t seen, but the music already conveys so much that it stands really well on it’s own."

Kllo - False Calls

"Thes guys are doing some great stuff at the moment. It’s a great take on pop, proving that it can be super interesting and still be accessible. This subscribes to the less is more approach too, and has such a rad bounce all the way through."

Words by Tom Hutchins

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