Kiss Kiss

The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left

[4/5]

The history of classical music is filled with genius composers who were clearly out of their fecking minds. Robert Schumann jumped off a bridge; Beethoven went deaf and drank himself to death; and if we’re to believe film director Ken Russell, Franz Liszt was more decadent than anybody in rock ’n’ roll history. Josh Benash, the keyboardist, vocalist and chief artistic centrifuge of New York’s Kiss Kiss, may never achieve a place in the musical history books alongside the historical antecedents previously mentioned, which is a great tragedy, because K2’s new album, The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left, is an iridescent piece of work so patently schizophrenic in its attack, fashioning a review to fully describe its multi-directional avant-classical-prog-punk majesty is as pointless as a team of consultants conspiring to make Nickelback credible.



Opener “The Best Mistake” is best described as an iron fist in a velvet glove, acting as a lush overture while maintaining a dense undercurrent of heavy bombast. “Plague #11” follows with an urgency that begins like a steampunk version of Mindless Self Indulgence before ending like a Ritalin-laden floorshow directed by Amanda Palmer. After a 36-second purgatorial drone, the band charge through “All The Draw” with all the aplomb of Slayer, if that band had listened to King Crimson and signed to Warp, the premiere electronica label. And that’s only the first 10 minutes: While Benash’s ambition and musical scope (which at any given moment can include textural electronics, cartoon music, Weimar Republic cabaret or demented carnival music) is truly visionary, credit must go to his bandmates–violinist Rebecca Schlappich, guitarist Michael Pat Abiuso, bassist Patrick Southern and drummer Jared Karns–a world-class team capable of going toe-to-toe with any seasoned New York City or European avant-outfit. By the time you get to the end of the near 16-minute “Virus” (where Benash’s backward vocal sounds positively creepy), you’re left clamoring for more adventures, not realizing 45 minutes have passed. Shapeshifting hasn’t sounded this good in years. (EYEBALL) Jason Pettigrew



GO DOWNLOAD: “Plague #11”