http://media.www.dailyiowan.com/med...mental.Band.Plays.Picador.Today-3457833.shtml
The first time through a Kayo Dot album, the listener will hear frontman Toby Driver's distorted guitar and occasionally harsh vocals and may think of the band in terms of the metal genre. But the New York-based six piece's experimental sound and classically influenced arrangements are more at home alongside the works of contemporary avant-garde composers.
Kayo Dot will perform at the Picador, 330 E. Washington St., today at 9 p.m. The band is touring through November in support of its latest album, Blue Lambency Downward.
Driver, 30, said he used to write songs in terms of the guitar part, a method commonly used by traditional rock bands, but he has moved away from that style in recent years.
"Usually when I write something, I choose the instrumentation I want to use before I write it," he said. "Then I write the song around the instrumentation I've chosen to work with."
In order to write music around woodwind, string, and brass instruments, instead of the traditional guitar/bass/drums style, Driver has surrounded himself with musicians who can adapt to play whatever musical tools he may choose. All of the band members take on numerous sonic duties throughout Blue Lambency Downward, including saxophone, clarinet, and violin.
Above all, Driver strives to create music that is continually fresh and unique by "always trying something that I haven't tried before," even if it means moving away from a sound his fans enjoy to explore new territory.
"We did a record called Choirs of the Eye that people really liked," Driver said. "It would have been really easy to do a record in that kind of style, and people probably would have liked it also, but then I probably wouldn't have been interested in [that style] anymore."
Driver maintains that the most important question to ask of Kayo Dot is whether his goal is to "keep making the same record people like or keep myself interested as a musician." In fact, it seems a near impossibility for him to create the same kind of music twice, because he is continually assimilating other music in his own compositions.
"You automatically take a little bit from everything you've ever heard," Driver said. "Just challenge yourself mentally and physically, then something new just happens by itself. I kind of feel that people who go 20 to 30 years writing shit that always sounds the same must not be listening to new stuff."
Aside from keeping himself interested in musical forms, Driver is also concerned with the financial aspects that can sometimes restrict the sounds he wants to create and even keep him out of the studio. Fortunately for him, he has devoted fans to count on. Recently, he received enough private donations from his fans to pay for the recording of a new album under the name "Maudlin of the Well," his band's moniker prior to Kayo Dot.
And he seems to relish working around the demands imposed by any monetary restrictions.
"I don't think any idea I've ever done has been able to be fully realized the way we want," Driver said. "Part of the challenge of life is trying to figure out how to make what you have work for you.
"Sometimes - a lot of times - it doesn't work, but that's the nature of experimental music."
The first time through a Kayo Dot album, the listener will hear frontman Toby Driver's distorted guitar and occasionally harsh vocals and may think of the band in terms of the metal genre. But the New York-based six piece's experimental sound and classically influenced arrangements are more at home alongside the works of contemporary avant-garde composers.
Kayo Dot will perform at the Picador, 330 E. Washington St., today at 9 p.m. The band is touring through November in support of its latest album, Blue Lambency Downward.
Driver, 30, said he used to write songs in terms of the guitar part, a method commonly used by traditional rock bands, but he has moved away from that style in recent years.
"Usually when I write something, I choose the instrumentation I want to use before I write it," he said. "Then I write the song around the instrumentation I've chosen to work with."
In order to write music around woodwind, string, and brass instruments, instead of the traditional guitar/bass/drums style, Driver has surrounded himself with musicians who can adapt to play whatever musical tools he may choose. All of the band members take on numerous sonic duties throughout Blue Lambency Downward, including saxophone, clarinet, and violin.
Above all, Driver strives to create music that is continually fresh and unique by "always trying something that I haven't tried before," even if it means moving away from a sound his fans enjoy to explore new territory.
"We did a record called Choirs of the Eye that people really liked," Driver said. "It would have been really easy to do a record in that kind of style, and people probably would have liked it also, but then I probably wouldn't have been interested in [that style] anymore."
Driver maintains that the most important question to ask of Kayo Dot is whether his goal is to "keep making the same record people like or keep myself interested as a musician." In fact, it seems a near impossibility for him to create the same kind of music twice, because he is continually assimilating other music in his own compositions.
"You automatically take a little bit from everything you've ever heard," Driver said. "Just challenge yourself mentally and physically, then something new just happens by itself. I kind of feel that people who go 20 to 30 years writing shit that always sounds the same must not be listening to new stuff."
Aside from keeping himself interested in musical forms, Driver is also concerned with the financial aspects that can sometimes restrict the sounds he wants to create and even keep him out of the studio. Fortunately for him, he has devoted fans to count on. Recently, he received enough private donations from his fans to pay for the recording of a new album under the name "Maudlin of the Well," his band's moniker prior to Kayo Dot.
And he seems to relish working around the demands imposed by any monetary restrictions.
"I don't think any idea I've ever done has been able to be fully realized the way we want," Driver said. "Part of the challenge of life is trying to figure out how to make what you have work for you.
"Sometimes - a lot of times - it doesn't work, but that's the nature of experimental music."
