Kassie Krut

During his over-ten-year run as co-leader of the experimental indie rock group Palm, Kasra Kurt established a solo project, Kassie Krut (a playful mangling of his name), to experiment more with electronics. Some of his increased interest in electronics and noise was evident on what would prove to be Palms final album, 2022s clattering Nicks and Grazes. The group played their farewell show a year later, and Kurt recruited Palm co-singer/guitarist Eve Alpert and Nicks and Grazes producer Matt Anderegg to help flesh out his projects now-collaborative experiments. Seeming to use Nicks and Grazes as a mere launching pad, the Kassie Krut EP is a project of opposites: synthetic and organic, smooth and scratchy, sharp and dull, spacy and earthbound, and so on, usually tied together by pulsating bass and kinetic percussion. Also evident in the mix are the influences of styles like hyperpop, dub, and grime. The EP starts with a statement track in the form of the explosive and thoroughly dance-imploring "Reckless," which announces its arrival with throbbing deep bass, interwoven electronic and trash-can-lid-style drumming, pulsing synths, intermittent squalling feedback, and the deadpan anthem, delivered by Alpert, "If you ask me who I wanna be/Ima spell out so its plain to see/K-A-S-S-I-E K-R-U-T (T-T-T)." They go on to deliver uncategorizable dance-noise jam after jam, with only the mesmerizingly weird "Espresso" offering an instrumental interlude of sorts, if warped spaceship-eliciting lurches, outbursts of machine-gunfire drum triggers, and squiggly half-melodies can be considered a breather (here, it can). Potentially both compelling and exhausting, Kassie Krut has at least announced the projects intentions with an exhilarating six-track set for all the (us) dancers, geeks, and freaks. ~ Marcy Donelson