K'MONO

Apollon Records sent me this promo copy towards the end of 2023 or early 2024 and I just assumed it was some kooky Norwegian band as this is where that record label resides, so I was very surprised to read this trio are from Minneapolis. I mean check out the cover art and the back cover, both are hilarious. I honestly thought this was a parody of our music at first, it's humerous and extremely well played with many bands coming to mind over the 41 1/2 minutes. So many different styles with the 80's coming to mind a lot early on. A lot of my feeling have to do with the fact that they channel many vocals styles as well over this album.

Without question one of the most exciting and bizarre records I've heard in a while. I don't have their debut but the band was placed here under Neo Prog based on it, this one sounds more like a Crossover record to me. The art work inside is so well done as this is apparently a recording about a deposed king. Unique artwork even on the physical cd itself. The band lists CAMEL, KING CRIMSON and YES as big influences and of those I did think of YES the most.

That opening title track at almost 10 minutes really had my attention the first time I heard it. Sounds like Jonas Renske from KATATONIA singing in his mono-toned way but the music is far from his band. Synths, beats and mellotron lead early then it turns more powerful.I'm thinking KING GZZARD during the calm with vocals then PT-like around 7 minutes this is an incredible start. The bass pops throughout this recording and I like the keyboards a lot as well. Drumming top notch while guitar is mostly not in the style I like.

"Good Looking" is so 80's sounding I mean come on! Catchy and kind of cool I suppose. I did think of THE CHURCH here with the twangy guitar and vocals. "In The Lost & Found" has more of that guitar I was just talking about and this is a long one at over 8 minutes. Piano here for a change. Hit and miss overall but I like the synths here. "Tell Me The Lore" is the closest to being a Neo track but I would also suggest this has YES written all over it. I like the chorus a lot. "Millipede Man" is intricate and punchy early and is another track drawing on the 80's. THE BOX especially with those deeper vocals. The closer "Answers In The Glass" opens with electronics as drums and bass join in. High pitched distant vocals too and they will become the focus. There's some treated spoken words in a powerful instrumental section that is repeated that I really like on this one.

So refreshing this recording even if it sounds familiar from the beginning to the end. This is one of those rare records that stands out from the pack. A lot of fun and a solid 4 stars..

A relatively new and exciting band, this Minneapolis-based Progressive rock trio takes their inspiration from the classic 70's prog masters, such as Yes and Pink Floyd, but add a whole lot more into their sound. Featuring elements of space-rock, psychedelia, and funk sprinkled throughout, as well as some more modern touches in addition to their classic prog approach, which gives the band a fresh and lively style and sound. This is their 2nd album, following Return to the 'E' (2021). There is much diversity throughout the album, as they can create something right out of the Yes style songbook, such as Tell Me the Lore, but other tracks take very different approaches. On songs like In the Lost and Found and Answers in the Glass, they start by laying down a funky groove, then build on it and see just where they can take it, and they take them to some amazing places. Good-Looking seems to be their play for a more mainstream pop-oriented single, but still with their own unique spin. Overall, just a unique and wonderful album that is both somewhat familiar but also unlike anything you've heard before. A truly great find and certainly a band to watch going forward. Best Tracks: In The Lost and Found, Tell Me The Lore, Answers in the Glass, Mind Out of Mind. Rating: 4.5 stars

When I posted my Best of 2022 list, I noted that the central US had an especially strong showing on it, with five of the top 25 hailing from either St. Louis or Minneapolis. One doesn't normally think of the Midwest as one of the major hotbeds of prog, alongside southern England, Northern Italy, and (more recently) Scandinavia. But the band Kansas (from Topeka) was a major success in the mid-to-late '70s, and smaller bands like Zerfas (Indianapolis) and Yezda Urfa (Portage, IN) have since received cult acclaim. Even in the two years I lived in Kansas I found a couple of great local prog bands: Flight/Dirigible Squared and The Last Glacier (both long defunct or disbanded, sadly). So it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that a group from Minneapolis has put out another great progressive rock record.

Coming two years after Return to the 'E', Mind Out of Mind is this trio's second full-length album. The eerie, Sergeant Pepper's-meets-They Live album art is an excellent complement to the music here. It's flashy and attention-grabbing, but there is a lot of subtle weirdness that gradually unveils itself, too.

The album opens on its longest song, the almost-10-minute title track. A diverse array of keyboard tones bounce, glide, and skitter to create a rich textural backdrop for the subdued vocals. There's a strong sense of urgency and anxiety to this track, and it's driven along with a halting, nervous guitar line. Around the four-minute mark, the song moves into a slow, quiet passage. The folk elements add a bit of warmth, and I'm especially fond of the vocal arrangement. The third part of this song draws from more modern prog sounds, such as Porcupine Tree and The Pineapple Thief. There's a restrained but menacing atmosphere about it, and it builds to a fantastic climax that revisits themes from the song's opening.

"Good-Looking" follows, and it's a much more straightforward piece. There's a relaxed, funky backbone to this song. The chorus is a bit awkward, but it's still got charm.

Those funky, lightly jazzy vibes continue with "In the Lost & Found". Synthesizers and electric pianos build an outer-space atmosphere, and the brief piano solo sounds like it was played by Billy Preston. As much as I like this band's use of low-mixed vocals, there are points on this song where they're mixed a bit too low. The midsection has a bouncy, propulsive feel fueled by an energetic guitar riff and more interstellar synths.

"Time Will Tell?" is a gentle interlude primarily focused around multilayered vocals. This piece leads into "Tell Me the Lore", the opening of which channels some of Yes's folkier moments. The organ and synth on this cut are buoyant, lending this whole piece a sunny, optimistic feel.

Wah-wahed keyboards and rubbery bass thump under languid guitar tones in "Millipede Man". The arrangement is more minimal than elsewhere on the album, but it works out well. I also appreciate how prominently the bass is mixed. The lyrics mention a "return to the 'E';" I haven't scrutinized the lyrics for conceptual throughlines, but there might be something there to interpret more closely.

Mind Out of Mind closes on "Answers in the Glass". Speedy, sequenced synths and a buzzy, Chris Squire-sounding bass-and-synth line propel this song. The vocals are unusually dramatic and expressive here, and it works wonderfully with this piece's amped-up feel. The final few minutes are ascendant, and some great psychedelic effects are applied to vocal and instrumental parts alike.

This new album from K'mono is exactly the sort of retro-prog album I love, though I do hesitate to use that label with this band. They unashamedly draw from key players of the 1970s, but they also have their own twists, and more modern sensibilities are evident too, especially in the mixing and arrangements. It's recognizably "prog" with an engaging musical throughline, and there are lots of lovely little twists and surprises. I really liked the band's increased inclusion of funk influences in this album. Definitely give this a listen if you're a fan of the classic prog sound.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2023/05/15/album-review-kmono-mind-out-of-mind/

K'mono is a Minneapolis-based trio that are not shy about fully embracing the sounds of the early 1970s. Doing a wholehearted embrace of retro-prog can be a risky move. Most of the acts I've run across who take this route end up releasing records which are middling retreads of ideas done better half a century ago. There are certainly strong examples of unashamed retro-prog, though: Ring Van Möbius's most recent album is fantastic; Chromatic Aberration's debut (which I covered earlier this year) is a strong reimagining of Rush's classic sound; and even my favorite punching bag Glass Hammer has a couple good records under their belt.

Return to the 'E' is K'mono's debut record, and even without seeing this album's tags or reading its description, it's clear that they're trying to evoke the imagery of famed album cover artist Roger Dean. A fantastical landscape of mushroom forests is the backdrop to some dark lord facing off against a trio of warriors, with the band's logo written in a flowing, flourished style.

RttE begins with a short intro, "Highlighter". Moody organ suddenly explodes into bombast fueled by Mellotron and Steve Hackett-inspired guitar lines. The rhythm section doesn't do anything too flashy here, but they do a good job of keeping the adrenaline up.

The segue into the first full-length song, "All for the King", is a bit jarring, though. I feel like there could have been a stronger sense of continuity, as "Highlighter" suddenly stops just before this song begins on a quiet note. Yes is the most obvious influence on this song, with lanky, wiry clean guitar lines and big, flashy synth accents. The restrained atmosphere is complemented by some prominent bass, which occasionally plays as the lead instrument.

"Which Warlock?" opens with rapid, watery electric piano as guitar and bass harmonize a deliberately jazzy riff. The verses on this song are as strong as on the preceding one and the various instrumental passages are engaging. However, the piece overall lacks strong structure or momentum. By the time this song enters its second half, it's built itself up to an explosive energy. The guitar parts in particular remind me of more modern prog acts, like RX Bandits or The Mars Volta. The overall aesthetic, though, remains rooted in Yes and Uriah Heep.

The kinda-gross-sounding-ly-titled "Feel You Pulsing" opens with lush Mellotron strings and jangly guitar arpeggios, but that doesn't last. The verses have a modern feel to them, utilizing some mildly electronic influences before the Mellotron is eventually reincorporated. 

RttE closes on its longest song, the absurdly-titled "The Judicious Shall Be Particoated & The Unpregnant O'er Wrought (Movements I-III)". The opening notes are rich, spacey synth tones, soon joined by the rest of the band to build a potently cosmic atmosphere. As this first movement builds, it's the most grandiose the band has sounded yet. As the second movement begins, the minimalistic instrumentation and unaffected baritone vocal delivery conjures up post-punk imagery, though there's soon a return to '70s-style prog.

There's a sudden (but welcome) left turn into a light-hearted, folk-and-jazz-tinged passage rooted around wordless vocals. This brief bit of warmth leads into the darker third movement, which prominently features saxophone. Some of that previously-mentioned post-punk aesthetic comes back in this movement, where it's juxtaposed against strongly-Yes-inspired instrumentation.

K'mono wound up being a happy discovery. As much as I love Roger Dean's artwork, I've learned to be a bit wary of bands that lean into that style so hard. (It feels like I write passages like this a lot, but that's because I don't write about all the crap I wind up listening to.) If you're looking for a creative, engaging album heavily inspired by--but not derivative of--the early '70s prog scene, Return to the 'E' would make a strong addition to your library.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2021/06/28/album-review-kmono-return-to-the-e/

K'Mono hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota and is made up of a trio of Jeffrey Carlson (guitars, vocals, synths, organs), Chad Fjerstad (bass, vocals, synths, organs), and Timothy Java (drums). The band claims their major influence is 1970s progressive rock and this is not only represented in their musical/lyrical style, but the album cover art looks like something that could have existed back in the early 1970s; not to mention that their debut has also been released on a limited edition cassette harkening back to that old school format (of course, vinyl would have been more appropriate barring the expenses needed to release in this format).

On the band's Bandcamp page, they have tagged their music with classic bands Camel, Goblin, King Crimson, and Yes. To be fair, they've accurately assigned these tags as I hear a little bit of all these bands. Of these, Yes seems like the biggest influence. Though far from being a clone, they exhibit many of the qualities of Yes including good vocal harmonies, a driving bass, a mix of organ and old-style synths with a dash of Mellotron, and the occasional Howe-like lick or riff. Though the tendency here is towards retro-prog, the production makes it sound fresh and modern.

Lyrically, the band seem to have been influenced by both early Yes and Genesis. It would take the effort of a learned professor of English to pull these things apart to understand what is going on here. For instance, the longest track is given the title "The Judicious Shall Be Particoated & The Unpregnant O'er Wrought" which sounds like a witty outtake from Foxtrot. Being a fan of bizarre lyrics, I was delighted with this treatment.

Overall, an enjoyable listen with nary a weak a track.

9/10 stars: All for the King; Feel You Pulsing; The Judicious Shall Be Particoated...; 8.5/10 stars: Which Warlock?; 8/10 stars: Highlighter

Overall rating: 8.85/10 (4.42 PA)

Who makes the warlock here? Hailing from Minneapolis K'MONO is a totally new prog entity, a trio comprised of Jeffrey Carlson (guitars, keys), Chad Fjerstad (bass, keys), plus drummer Timothy Java. The project would not exist like that without the COVID-19 pandemic, they are claiming. Hell, this again proves that Good and Bad are inseperable twins, or what? And some other things are unusual ... or are they not? For example the album is also available in vintage Cassette format. But then again this perfectly complements the retrospective 1970s references within the music. And the Roger Dean adapted cover picture makes a modest contribution too. Anyhow, this album has landed on the prog stage with sovereign self-evidence, just under 40 minutes playing time, divided in five parts, perfectly adjusted for a possible vinyl release.

As a matter of course, also prog typical, especially Hammond and Mellotron, there is some prominent keyboard work in place. The extended closing epic - (no, I do not repeat the strange song title here!) - evokes some Supertramp feel due to guest saxophone player Alexander Kish. Strictly speaking there's no need to emphasize any song on this occasion, the album is a rounded contribution to the prog realm. Neo prog enriched with psychedelic imprints - they are showing a rather unique musical approach in its entirety. However, for those who want to have handed out some references anyhow, if you like currently active bands akin to Windom End or Lighthouse Sparrows you're definitely on the right track here. Another great discovery.