Kilo Kish
American Gurl


4.0
excellent

Review

by fog CONTRIBUTOR (64 Reviews)
March 31st, 2022 | 64 replies


Release Date: 2022 | Tracklist

Review Summary: 10... 9... 8... continue?

As a kid, my favourite place to be was the arcade. I'd walk for 10 minutes to the local mall, energised by digital addiction and obsessively avoiding cooldrink cans (a leftover paranoia from when we were told in school that terroists hide explosives in discarded cans waiting for an innocent kick). The arcade was like a cave, and the games were like strange electronic stalagmites, their screens glowing like luminescent fungus. They also bleeped, vomited bitty music, and exclaimed snatches of inane dialogue between explosions. It's this world that Kilo Kish (real name Lakisha Robinson) has partly used as a conceit for her new album American Gurl, a loose exploration of an observer introvert in the music industry (and indeed, the world at large). The songs utilise maximalist aesthetics to mimic the assault on the senses of an arcade (or a social media scrolling session), but Kish also tries to find that feeling of hiding in the umbra of an indoor world. I'm going to induce some groans here but... the album is definitely a high score.

Kish has progressed steadily towards a pop release after her mixed bag debut (she is also a visual artist and multiple disciplines probably contribute to slow release cycles), and while she runs through many textures and styles in American Gurl, the game plan can be summed up as: make everything tight and up the energy. Her comparatively ramshackle and relaxed debut seems removed from the pulsing bass assault and prickly rapping of "New Tricks: Art, Aesthetics and Money". She confidently assumes center stage with her flow while guest Vince Staples runs around the ring gleefully playing hype man to her snarky influencer discontent.

Kish maintains her playful nature though, shifting from the traditional electro pop of the title track to the effortless uneasy drum and bass of "Choice Cowboy", complete with dreamy string interludes. "Attention Politician" runs with a warped keyboard line over big drums, Kilo singing her descending melody lines then switching up to a hip-swinging sung rap that begs you to point to the ceiling. On the chorus hook it almost sounds like she's bottled the ghostly echo of Gwen Stefani and she lets a little of it escape briefly before screwing back the lid tight. The song finishes with a fiery shoutout and deep in the connective tissue of the sonics you can hear a nod to the video game theme without allowing it to overtake the song. The dense palette continues in musical divider "TV Baby V.2 (Latch Key March)", which sounds like a funeral march for a toy. Kish's childlike vocal has a mournful edge, blankly eulogising an identity which has been eroded by media parenting.

The themes of the album comes to life in the vivid "Death fantasy", with Miguel's floating guest vocal mimicking the freedom from requiring external validation that Kish's menacing voice craves. Her virtually spoken delivery sounds low slung, hiding in the weeds of the deliberate midnight drums and oil slick synth. As Kish has alluded to in press for album, seeing the traps of an ambitious lifestyle doesn't mean you don't still willingly succumb to the snare.

When Kish isn't exploring the creative wilds, she still backs up her statement of intent with adept songwriting on the crowd pleasers. Her recent comments suggested this was supposed to be a very different album but nothing from the initial approach synchronised with her current spikier outlook. A brave recasting of the material and assimilating contemporary cutting edge sounds and older pop trends has yielded a sleek, smart and accessible work that still has massive bite. The venom, humour and self-awareness cut through in the brief 39 minutes that feel like a complete sonic world, just like those beckoning screens at the arcade each housed a mysterious path you could potentially get lost on. American Gurl has that addictive replay value to lure you for repeat excursions. Unlike some of her peers, Kish doesn't necessarily need your attention, but she does demand it.



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user ratings (48)
3.6
great

Comments:Add a Comment 
fogza
Contributing Reviewer
March 31st 2022


10077 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Big thanks to AmericanFlagAsh for helping me with album recs, since I'm not well versed in this world. I'm not sure they're the right albums that I finally selected, but I'm open to corrections (any mess ups are not AFA's fault). Hard artist to find similar records for, slightly more grounded presence.

parksungjoon
March 31st 2022


47231 Comments


drum and bass ;o

parksungjoon
March 31st 2022


47231 Comments


huh choice cowboy is kinda neat yea

parksungjoon
March 31st 2022


47231 Comments


t/t and bloody future sound like synthwave

JohnnyoftheWell
Staff Reviewer
March 31st 2022


62343 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

but is it good

parksungjoon
March 31st 2022


47231 Comments


idk i like that kinda shit

somehow ive heard almost half of it and its all had retro sound to the synths and bass and shit

parksungjoon
March 31st 2022


47231 Comments


maybe synthwave wouldnt have fallen off so hard as a genre if it wasnt purely instrumental 99% of the time

fogza
Contributing Reviewer
March 31st 2022


10077 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I like watching park's thought process unfold

JohnnyoftheWell
Staff Reviewer
March 31st 2022


62343 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

ah yeah, the retro sound is definitely there



am not feeling these hooks or her performance at all tbh and these arrangements are pretty plain, not feeling much attraction outside of the retro aesthetic mmmeh



maybe it will get better. Choice Cowboy is kinda annoying but also more exciting well played

parksungjoon
March 31st 2022


47231 Comments


idk how to appraise pop music so

JohnnyoftheWell
Staff Reviewer
March 31st 2022


62343 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

pop code:

if the music is good then make it about everything other than the music

if the music is bad then go to extreme measures to enjoy it at the expense of something else

if the music is boring then it's game fuckin over

parksungjoon
March 31st 2022


47231 Comments


most things seem boring to me idk

JohnnyoftheWell
Staff Reviewer
March 31st 2022


62343 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

check mr bungle

parksungjoon
March 31st 2022


47231 Comments


that one aint bad, about the same as thought industry's two metal albums

Calc
March 31st 2022


17459 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

I like this woman, and I like her and Vince are still besties too

JeetJeet
March 31st 2022


12430 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Great review for a great album.

Digging: Doechii - Alligator Bites Never Heal

fogza
Contributing Reviewer
March 31st 2022


10077 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

thanks jeet, i appreciate that!

AmericanFlagAsh
March 31st 2022


13612 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

You're such an excellent writer Fog

This album really blew me away, was not expecting it from her

AmericanFlagAsh
March 31st 2022


13612 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Oh and as for the album recs, yeah very hard finding something with the same vibe as this, since this has so many damn genres mixed in, but I think you picked well enough



Like at times it sounds like an Arca song, other times a Grimes one, other times FKA Twigs, M.I.A., ect

fogza
Contributing Reviewer
March 31st 2022


10077 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

thanks for the sounding board flag 🙏, also totally a pleasant surprise for me, might bump the score at some stage.



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