Live Review fromUnderground Electronica #2:
1. The Manaed
2. Falling
3. Almost Finished Now
4. Moving In
5. Underlund
6. Rising
7. Moving Out
An HK group, but with a difference – one of them (wait for it)….DOES NOT USE A MAC!!! OH MY GOD!!!! *(&($%*#($%*#)$%)(@#!
They had a huge variety of drum sounds which, during soundcheck, gave me the feeling that they were much more percussion- (rather than simply beat-) oriented than the others. The huge quantity of sounds they had at their disposal helped them to keep the variety alive while playing the same beat – a clever strategy. The Manaed, despite its Dionysian reference, was quite reserved in its nature, with that winking-at-you mischievousness that jazzy keyboards bring (it kinda reminded me of Prince’s When Doves Cry). It seemed to be an attempt to play jazz with electronic equipment, which I think is a great idea, and a novel way of interpreting the style. Falling was much more eerie, with swirling bass and ethereal vocal samples. Underlund was sort of Kraftwerk’s style reinterpreted in a more contemporary manner, and Rising was like R&B if the drums were done by a drum machine. It also rose at points to where the drums sounded almost like grindcore, along with the melody. They ended on a song that wasn’t quite as satisfying to me, as it seemed they had overused the rich ethereal voice thing by then, and they had fake-out melodies (I’ve always hated when people do that). It didn’t develop the ideas like the other songs did so when they did end, it felt unresolved to me. But, the rest of their set had plenty of character, and was very useful in helping overcome my own stereotype of electronic music, so I’d say it was musically successful.
— Shashwati Kala
TKO是一隊本地的三人電子爵士樂隊組合，這次Underground Electronica #2是他們的第一次演出，而他們第一次演出便有這麼出色的演出，實在令人驚喜。TKO的電子爵士給人一種不覊的感覺，而且音樂很有dynamic，音樂由柔至強的轉變控制得宜，中段有電子琴的深沉，又有不斷地朗誦的人聲，在快要讓人迷失時又出現清翠的音樂，彷彿在黑暗中出現的光明般，形成很大的張力。而且TKO的音樂很有空間感，他們以音樂營造一個迷幻的空間，但從一個空間跳出來後卻墜入另一個超現實的空間，有點像超現實主義畫家雷內·馬格利特 (René Magritte)的作品。
— Eva Leung
