M
E S S A G E :
Kailip is a new word on the tongues of young people everywhere. The name, which
has its roots in Native American culture, was reintroduced by four musicians
from the Midwest just over a year ago. Like the imagery the pre-colonial idiom
evokes, Kailip's brand of music blends like the elements of nature, never completely
shading the realism of either the summits of life or the valleys of death.
The band, which features Louis Larson on guitars, Johnny Hodge as singer, and
the rhythms of Joe Burns and Andy Perkins, has just completed their 1st studio
album, Paramount Schemes, at Commonwealth Studio.
Kailip, who are based out of Northern Kentucky, just a stones throw from the
banks of the Ohio River, were able to benefit from months of rehearsals at Commonwealth
Studios. Since my first visit to the sessions over a year ago, I have observed
the group's sound grow and the songs come together through and through. Each
live performance has been unique and fulfilling. Kailip is now a well-oiled
machine reaching elevated heights and delivering vivid imagery to listeners'
minds.
From the often sporadic - constantly soulful rhythms of Joe Burns, to the arresting,
cognitive to confrontational words and tones of Kentucky courtier Johnny Hodge,
and from the ill, all-important bass lines of Andy Perkins, to one of a kind,
guitarist Louis Larson's corrupting sounds and contorted transmissions, the
quartet combines to deliver a brand of music unlike anything I've heard, and
many fans share in my view.
Their performances deliver everything that Paramount Schemes suggests as well
as revealing all that only a live band of this caliber can deliver. You will
not hear a rhythm section like this every day. And while Andy and Joe conspire,
Johnny and Louis comfort and lull the fans into a false sense of security, only
to swing around and leave the listeners alone, astonished - as if each member
of the crowd has just received a cryptic telegram from God. Before anyone can
absorb the message, Kailip has liberated all anxiety, compounded the elements,
and left you to reflect. The lights come on and the show is over.
Whether in my car listening to an advance copy of P. Schemes or attending a
show, I never walk away from the trip unswayed. Just when you think you've heard
it all, something unfamiliar and inviting turns up. There is the natural human
uneasiness of being unable to categorize Kailip's new sound. But by the first
refrain that uneasy feeling becomes the sublime as your brain burns a path and
ushers Kailip inside.
As the oracle professes, "some people make history, others write it. Some people
read history, while others ignore it." Yet without fail, history occurs. And
as the tide flows and the winter snows will come, Kailip, without travail, is
making history.
It's a state of mind.
- Paul Moran, Cincinnati - 12-8-01
content © 2001-2004 Kailip. Design and Images by Aaron Butler.
"Just
when you think you've heard it all,
something unfamiliar and inviting turns up..."
- The News Record
"It's
an intriguingly uncliched sound"
- The Cincinnati Enquirer
"Kailip's
intertwining musical telepathy warmly yanks the listener into their impenetrable
mind-lock" -City Beat
