your greedbagCapitol K
releases
Happy Happy by
Capitol K
"Happy Happy, the latest album release from Capitol K, is the most fully realized of Capitol K's recordings to date: a homemade, kaleidoscopic hybrid of precision electronics rendered boldly and beautifully live by an eclectic four-piece band..."
(press release)
profiles
Kristian Craig Robinson's first two albums as Capitol K, 'Sounds of the Empire' (Planet Mu) and 'Island Row' (Planet Mu/XL), secured his reputation as a cutting-edge studio producer melding innovative sampling and electronics with rock dynamics and a pop spirit.Born in Malta and raised in Brunei (S.E Asia), Kristian naively fused these global influences in his early material - together with sound sourced from dictaphone recordings made on his excursions and the guitar discordance he picked up as a teenager playing in backroom punk bands. Nowadays, his acute ear to the ground still searches for trails of audio, and is naturally drawn to playful post-modern manipulation of fashions and genres, drawing on the kind of experimentation he picked up through his progressive education at infamous Dartington Hall. Having set up a studio and his own label Faith and Industry, he now also works as producer on diverse projects and is currently, on a personal mission, developing sound using the oud, the 'arabic lute'.
With a Radio-One-Single-Of-The-Week ('Pillow' was described by The Face as 'the sound of computers in love') and an MTV favourite, and shows at Sonar (Barcelona), the Pompidou Centre (Paris) and the ICA (London), now was the time to push the Capitol K sound further, creating a more immediate and visual live presence.
Joining forces with experimental electronic musician and labelmate Leafcutter John was the first step. John's third album 'The Housebound Spirit' was released on Planet Mu Records in July 2003, and his remix work can be found on Schematic and Tigerbeat6, among others. In Capitol K, John juggles two laptops, a fancy DIY-Sonic-Joy-Stick(TM) and electric guitar, while his self-made software creates shimmering walls of electric noise from live input.
Drummer, flautist, DJ and vinyl collector Adam Stringer was the next to join. After studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Adam has worked with Blade, Cherrystones, SourceDirect, Grantby, DJ Yoda, Earth Leakage Trip and Simon Rattle. Under the name of MyLittleHomie, Adam has DJ'ed across the UK/Europe for Twisted Nerve and Spreadlove, amongst others.
After playing the Auto and PlayLouder festivals, the group was completed when joined by Jo Apps on bass, synth and co-vocals. A self-proclaimed computer obsessive who's been studying and composing electronic music since the age of 16, Jo also trained as an opera singer at Purcell School of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Her acrobatic vocals have been heard on Venetian Snares' 'Dance Like You're Selling Nails', for whom she also opera MCed at All Tomorrow's Parties and Deadbeat in 2003.
2003 saw the now four-piece Capitol K playing shows with Yo La Tengo and Manitoba, recording an XFM session for John Kennedy, and, of course, recording and refining 'Happy Happy'. After an edgy summer heatwave and a reclusive autumn/winter period of editing, Capitol K is now working on various solo and collaborative projects - all continuing experiments in melding live instrumentation with complex electronic explorations.
To contact Capitol K email: circle at capitolk dot com