New millennial song konstructionist who creates astral pop from the strains of folk, IDM, indie and hip hop

11 MP3 Songs in this album (30:07) !
Related styles: ROCK: Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, ELECTRONIC: Folktronic

People who are interested in Beck Eels should consider this download.


Details:
Rock Island, Illinois is a bit of a strange place. Nestled on the Mississippi River across from the slightly larger metropolis of Davenport, Iowa, this isle of rock is a classic Midwestern industrial city that when faced with the question of whether to burn out or rust, clearly choose the latter. However, amidst the decaying brick and declining home values, a very small but dedicated music community has started to slowly emerge through the cracks.

A couple years back, a few dedicated local scenesters from the area joined forces to create daytrotter.com, the John Peel meets Pitchfork music site thatâs become a nationwide phenomenon. Around this same time, their chief recording engineer Patrick Stolley was working with a reclusive local figure known as âNigel Jeffreyâ on an acoustic indie-folk project called "Struggle In the Hive". The collaboration soon blossomed into a full-length album which was co-released by Stolleyâs record label Future Appletree and Jeffreyâs micro imprint Radical Turf in 2005. The album was a critical success and garnered the project some buzz locally and on them Internets, but no tour or further recording followed. For a while it seemed that Jeffrey Konrad had merely disappeared into the ether. Rumors would start to spread about him being accosted by federal officials in the name of the Patriot Act for his frequent late-night drunk dial government conspiracy rants, but inevitably someone would later spot him at the corner gas station buying a Modelo tall-boy and a lottery ticket. Another brief sign of life came last year, when Radical Turf released a compilation of mostly electronic artists called Hello Future? However, now itâs become clear why Jeffrey seemed to have dropped off the radar for the past three years, this whole time heâs been cooking up an entirely new project from an entirely new persona known simply as KONRAD.

It turns out that the mild-mannered âNigel Jeffreyâ (aka Jeffrey Konrad) is just one of many different musical personas employed by this studio savant. In the past heâs also recorded as the 8-bit obsessed ROBOT USA, the emo-indie eggspout and as one half of a glitchy, drum ân bass-meets classical jazz collaborative effort called Light Body Vehicle. For this latest endeavor, the folksy Nigel has been replaced by the electronic indie-pop singer/songwriter Gobot known as Konrad. While musically there are certainly reminiscent elements of Brian Eno, Devo, Apples in Stereo, Hot Chip, Mountain Goats and maybe even a little Dan Deacon, itâs hard to pin down the exact sound of Konrad.

Thereâs the insanely infectious yet brutally sarcastic âGirls Gone Wild,â the lo-fi emo-indie of âKites,â the moody electro of âThese Nights,â the breezy and slightly prog-esque âOsh Koshâ and the epic funk soul cowboy adventure âCanyon Blue.â Much like the man himself, Konradâs Loose Canyons is a unique amalgamation of many different personalities. Itâs also a testament to his crazed versatility as a musician. Just a sampling of instruments credited to Konrad on the album include: theramin, classical guitar, 1970's pawn shop drums, Juno 06, bass guitar, Moog synthesizer, electric kazoo, Fender Rhodes piano, Korg sampler, software, and Technics SL-1200MK2 turntable.

A rare genius adept at both songwriting and studio mastery, Konrad is the real deal. With an album as strong as Loose Canyons, the buzz around this sonic superfreak is sure to blow up far beyond the shores of the Mississippi.