As the man with the best myspace background in history, Kavinsky has a lot to be smug about. But not that much. He’s tried to build up a tongue-in-cheek myth about himself, but his ramblings about zombies, Ferrari’s and the 1980’s make him sound like a delusional fool. But none of this is important.

What is, is how he sounds. He more often gigs with SebastiAn, who’s more muscular take on French dance seems to off set Kavinsky’s more cartoonish approach. As with many others from the ED Banger Records stable, Kavinsky sticks to the mould of sample repeat, add beat, repeat original sample louder, middle bit with only beat then first half of song looped. Make any sense? Basically he sticks rigidly to the model that has proved so successful for Daft Punk and Mr Ozio.

Live, and on his own, Kavinsky is fun, without any of the transience that better dj’s can provide. His sound is intentionally retro- often seeming like the intro to a bad 80’s film with one of the Sheen’s and a Douglas. This is both a good thing, in the short term, and a bad thing in the longer- it gets old fast.

Still if you’re horsing down drugs, I’m sure he’ll sound great.

Andrew Booth is an intercontinental dandy. He is co-writing his first novel Jackdaw Fool.
Email this author | All posts by Andrew Booth

Similar Posts