Kjjjjjjjjj – Kjjjjjjjjj [2016]

For a band whose name appears to have come about as the result of an accident with a keyboard and an ill-placed banana peel, the first 10 seconds of Kjjjjjjjjj’s self-titled album is surprisingly electrifying – a swirling cacophony of chromatic riffing waltzes its’ chaotic way across the aural mindscape like an elephant on stilts, leaving a baffled listener to try to piece the world together again through the gentle vistas and soundscapes of the album’s more subdued tracks.

Flipping often between gentle, reverb-laden passages and buzz-saw distortion, Kjjjjjjjjj balance the introspection of post-rock with urgent, mathy intensity. While they’re certainly not the first band about whom those words could be written, the Argentinians have some particularly bright highlights on this album that make them stand out from the crowd. Mariano’s guitar playing explores the instrument, producing howling leads, percussive muting and, well, really weird noises on the track ‘Nicolino’. Combine this with a super-tight rhythm section and you get a band who could challenge the best of the ‘explosive riffs’ school of experimental rock. Plus their album cover is reet good.