Kokomo: Futura (digital outlets)

 |   |  <1 min read

Something Funny Going On (Red Mix)
Kokomo: Futura (digital outlets)

If you haven't heard of Kokomo – and they have appeared at Elsewhere a few times – that is hardly their fault.

Formed in 1991when Tauranga singer/guitarist Derek Jacombs hooked up with harmonica player Grant Bullot to play blues, they added members, played every festival possible from Sweetwaters 1999 to folk and jazz events, and along the way recorded more than a dozen albums.

The original Kokomo Blues became simply Kokomo and naturally the music changed with more originals, electric guitar arriving in the line-up and now a move into new territory with a dip into electronica alongside their standard instrumentation.

So here is the ambitious 11 minute-plus groove of Futura Motel (a pitstop on Kraftwerk's autobahn about seven minutes in for a guitar solo), mind-bending Arizona rock-blues on Turn the Light Down Low and uneasy electropop on the minimalist Sundog.

Bob Dylan's Dignity is overhauled into synth-pop for (In)dignity, Highway 29 Blues is a slightly menacing atmospheric piece and there are two mixes of Something Funny Going On, one edgy and the other more polished and poppy, with a furious keyboard solo taking it out.

Not everything here is successful – in places you wish for more punch – but you have to admire Kokomo, after all these decades they are up for the challenge of something new to add to their armory.

.

Futura is available on CD and digital links are here. Contact Kokomo through their website www.kokomo.co.nz


Share It

Your Comments

Peggy in America - Sep 25, 2024

My goodness, what a watertap fall of refreshment! Nope, don't know, or of, them, but -- we've spoken about this; gettin' through the gates of the Big Five categories here in Amurican Airwaves. Urg.

Always, SO nice to tap into the other half of the Hemisphere. There would be no "Otherwise," if not for you. Heh.. heh ..

//

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Goldsmith Baynes: E Rere Rā (digital outlets)

Goldsmith Baynes: E Rere Rā (digital outlets)

If we consider the past 40 years a renaissance of Maori culture in the popular arts – approximately from the time bone-carver Brian Flintoff and taonga puoro practitioners Richard Nunns and... > Read more

Various: Manipulado (Love Monk/Border)

Various: Manipulado (Love Monk/Border)

The Spanish producer/composer Gecko Turner's album Guapapasea! got a good notice at Elsewhere some while back, so this remix album of his stuff hit the player pretty quick-smart . .... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Sio Andrews

THE FAMOUS ELSEWHERE SONGWRITER QUESTIONNAIRE: Sio Andrews

Each year the University of Auckland's School of Music holds a songwriter competition with contestants drawn from their Popular Music courses, this year ther are five contestants and Elsewhere... > Read more

Tokaanu, New Zealand 2007: Small towns on a slow up-spin

Tokaanu, New Zealand 2007: Small towns on a slow up-spin

About 10 or so years ago I spent a few days in Turangi on the southern shore of Lake Taupo in New Zealand's North Island. I was on an assignment for the Herald. I wish I could say the story... > Read more