Arkay - catwalk

Arkay

Catwalk
self-released; 2013

3.7 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Arkay is the moniker behind solo artist Randal Kamradt, hailing all the way from Fircrest, WA. This project started out almost randomly: Kamradt states that he simply started to create the songs that constitute this album out of boredom while on vacation, equipped with an MKP midi controller and a laptop. Inspired and challenged by the dubstep music he heard from his kids, he decided that he could do much better than what was around at the time.  A few hours and a few bottles of wine later, and the result was Catwalk, an album of electronic music with an eclectic attitude, not only dubstep, but also elements of ambient, funk and trip-hop are part of the mix, creating a smooth, dynamic flow throughout the release.

The album starts with "Trouble" which is held together by the drums as various types of synths bleep, squiggle, and oscillate in and out of existence. The song builds as more layers of synths manifest themselves. There was a vocal sample which probably could have been left out. "Aria Diabolique"  steps into much more experimental territory that has a haunting almost ominous vocal sample at the centerpiece. The song felt like it might be right at home next to a song from Scott Walker's 2006 masterpiece The Drift. I liked the ambition of the song but I felt like the song didn't fill me up. One of my favorites on the album was "Numb Love" which did a great job of balancing different elements such as the vocals samples, white noise, and  bass line to create a listening experience that was one of the most captivating on the album. Arkay saved the best for last with "Zoombassa" which was the most original sounding song on the album as I could hardly make out any individual instruments but sounded more like a electron passing through a wormhole on its way to an alternate universe.

The album has got a really experimental quality to it:  these songs perfectly capture the spontaneity of the creation process, featuring many different influences and a lot of unique details in the performance, such as improvised deals and pseudo-jams, all recorded with midi controllers and samplers.Arkay is definitely different from your average producer: while many artists rehearse their material constantly and risk to bury their creativity underneath too much thinking, The album while falling short on a couple of tracks more then makes up with it when he gets things right. Arkay is definitely an artist with something unique to offer and not afraid to follow the flow and create music outside of the box.

official website

revebnation