Kon B

Czech music pioneers Gurun Gurun follow up their 2010 critically lauded selftitled debut with Kon B. Their work combines guitars, analog synthesizers, turntables, acoustic instruments, and digital effects to span musical spaces ranging from hypno-minimalist atmospheres to warm tones of slow-moving, repetitive melodic stanzas. The quirky nature and melodic structure of their debut was regarded as innately Japanese, which perhaps isn't surprising given that the album featured the unique vocal talents of Moskitoo, Sawako, and Aki Tomita. The quartet of Tomas Knoflicek, Jara Tarnovski, Tomas Prochazka, and Federsel present another supremely collaborative effort with special guests Alexandr Vatagin on cello, Irena and Vojtech Havlovi on alto and tenor viola da gamba, Mikel Etxegarai on drums and percussion, and, last but not least, the wonderful vocal talents of Japanese artists Cuushe, Cokiyu, and Miko. An amazingly weird and wonderful album with stunning artwork by one of the most talented and highly-sought artists around, Angela Deane. Deane's continuing series of mysterious Ghost Photographs plays on questions of human memory and meaning. This idea of the unknown but connected plays beautifully with the fragile lines drawn throughout Kon B, as they play with peculiar experimentalism and gorgeous, child-like, magical melodies.