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Riding the Kaleidoscope of Sound with Kainalu

Kendra Beltran — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 07:00:00 +0000

Photo Credit: Julianna Photography

Those who’ve been searching high and low for a technicolor, audible adventure – search no more because Kainalu has got you covered with his November release, ‘Ginseng Hourglass.’ We talked about the colorful aspects of the record, how obsessed he can find himself when it comes to listening to records, and more like the lyrical tattoo inspirations.

Kendra: You’ve noted that you use music as a way to heal. With that, can you recall the first time in your life you used a song or album as an audible band-aid of sorts?

Kainalu: I always get completely obsessed with albums and listen to the same ones over and over again for years. One of the first albums that really got me through hard times was Lucius’ ‘Wilde Woman.’ It’s a perfect album from front to back and dives deep into relationships and heartbreak. More recently, Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’ carried me through the pandemic. It’s the perfect isolationist’s album and I think it may be my favorite record of all time. It’s kind of funny but I can remember every album I had obsessions with since I was a teenager. In order they were:

Bon Iver, ‘For Emma’
Haim, ‘Days are Gone’
Lucius, ‘Wilde Woman’
Toro Y Moi, ‘Underneath the Pine’
UMO, ‘Multi-love’
Thundercat, ‘It Is What It Is’
Radiohead, ‘In Rainbows’…and literally every album they have.

Kendra: When did you go from enjoying music as a fan to wanting to pursue it as an artist?

Kainalu: I’ve always been surrounded by music because both of my parents were musicians. My dad sort of introduced the idea of writing music to me at a really young age. He was a songwriter himself, so he always encouraged me not just to learn instruments but use them to create songs.

I think I really began writing music for my middle school punk band when I was around 12? I started taking music more seriously once I went to college to study music composition. Back then the goal was to become a film score composer but over time it shifted into indie music.

Kendra: Now let’s talk about your sophomore release, “Ginseng Hourglass.’ With ginseng being used to boost energy and reduce stress – and an hourglass usually reminding us of the passing of time, was there any significant moment that led you to pair the calmness of ginseng with the daunting ways of an hourglass?

Kainalu: Because ginseng is used as a medicinal herb, to me it symbolizes the idea of life and health. Combining the two concepts gave me the imagery of passing life. The hourglass symbolizes the finiteness of living and the inevitability of time running out.

Kendra: When it comes to ‘Ginseng Hourglass’ you’ve said you wanted to immerse listeners in a kaleidoscope. So listening to this album, what colors and shapes do you feel best represents the pattern in which we’ll envision when listening?

Kainalu: For lack of better words, I really enjoy watching tunnels when I listen to music. It gives me the thrill of riding a roller coaster when listening to music. So I want all the songs to feel as though you’re being taken on a sprawling journey through their duration. Each song has a different palette of colors to me. “Queen of Wands” is pink, “Ginseng Hourglass” is dark green. “Inhibitions / Intuitions” is turquoise, “Revelator” is deep purple, etc.

Kendra: So I feel like “Queen of Wands” is going to inspire a lot of fans to head to their local tattoo shop and get this tarot card. Aside from the visual of that song, what lyric from that track do you think would make the best tattoo?

Kainalu: My favorite line from the song is “A fallen mandala of true heartbreak.” It may be a bit emo for a tattoo though.

Kendra: It’s time for a side note: With it being spooky season, I’d love for you to share your favorite movie to watch around Halloween – could be scary, funny, or a little of both!

Kainalu: ‘The Shining’ 100% for the thrill and the goofiness.

Kendra: Lastly, with ‘Ginseng Hourglass out on November 4th, do you have plans in the works for 2023 as far as touring is concerned?

Kainalu: I’ll be touring both the east and west coast next year and some other surprises. I’ve also got two special album release shows – one in Chicago at Schubas and the other in Madison at the Majestic Theatre.

The post Riding the Kaleidoscope of Sound with Kainalu appeared first on ZO Magazine.

Disq: Lifelong Parallels

Kendra Beltran — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 19:38:12 +0000

Isaac deBroux-Slone and Raina Bock are just a couple of Midwest folks. One from a noticeable city on the map and the other from a town whose population would barely fill 2% of most NFL stadiums. Despite being far from your typical music hot spots, they managed to each find their way to music after finding friendship in one another. Come middle school their minds were set and the groundwork was being laid for Disq. Today they’re on the verge of releasing Communication b/w Parallel at the end of January 2019 and playing on the west coast. They talked about all of the above and representing an underrepresented part of the music scene in a new doc series.

Kendra: When did you two realize that you weren’t just lifelong friends, but could potentially make something of music together?

Raina Bock: We started playing in bands together in 2012. So I was in 7th grade and Isaac was in 8th. I distinctly remember going over to Isaac’s in maybe 4th grade though. I’d been playing bass for a bit, but he’d been playing forever already and he played “Jesus of Suburbia” on this absurd massive drum kit he had in his basement and being totally mind blown.

Isaac deBroux-Slone: I definitely have some memory of this. Although I feel like I most likely played “Tom Sawyer” on the drums. Raina was definitely one of the only friends I had at a younger age that was somewhat serious about playing music. So it became a pretty natural partnership pretty quickly from what I remember.

Kendra: Some musicians have lessons and some are self-taught. You two represent both sides of the coin in that regards. How do you feel your personal journey to learning music has helped shape the overall sound of Disq?

Raina Bock: I had SO many opportunities to go about music in a more formal way. Whether that was personal instruction, school orchestra, or summer jazz programs. I really just never took to it. Music has always been something that’s much more intuitive than intellectual for me, which I’m super grateful for. If I enjoyed juicing my brain all the time I’d have pursued chemistry. Of course, there are trade-offs, but I think not having the lens of theory affecting everything I do with music allows me to conceptualize and think about it in a lot of different weird and creative ways.

Isaac deBroux-Slone: Recently I’ve been a lot more self-taught, I’m grateful to have had guitar and piano lessons for a long time growing up. It definitely gave me a good foundation to be able to carry out whatever musical ideas I have. On the other side, I’m a completely self-taught drummer. It’s nice to be able to let ideas flow organically but use a more technical side of knowledge to analyze what you’re doing and really make it the best.

Kendra: Speaking of two sides, your upcoming release Communication b/w Parallel showcases that. Whose idea was it to have “Communication” represent one idea and “Parallel” rep another? And do you feel like audiences can hear each of you represented more on one side over the other?

Isaac deBroux-Slone: I wrote the two songs around the same time. “Communication” about the everyday struggles of interactions and misunderstandings I experience. Then “Parallel” about a deep personal friendship that I had lost at the time. We took “Communication” and the video to Saddle Creek and needed to choose a song to go on the other side of the single. Eventually, we realized “Parallel” would be perfect. The two themes and sounds of the songs contrast in an interesting way, but also compliment each other really well.

Kendra: This record is also part of an interesting documentary series from Saddle Creek which highlights artistic communities that have been overlooked. How did you get involved in this project and what community are you highlighting?

Disq: We had “Communication” finished along with the music video and had shopped it around a bit to see who would put it out. Saddle Creek offered to put out “Communication” as well as another song which turned out to be “Parallel” on their Documentary Series. It’s a vinyl single series that highlights different overlooked artistic communities, such as our hometowns of Madison and Viroqua, Wisconsin.

Kendra: Right before the record drops you’ll be playing in LA at the Bootleg Theater. Will this be your first time playing in LA?

Raina Bock: First time playing anywhere on the west coast! We’re really excited to be playing the Bootleg. We’ve heard good things.

Kendra: Other than the new album and the LA show, what else does 2019 hold for you?

Raina Bock: Hopefully some east coast touring, hopefully.

Isaac deBroux-Slone: East coast touring, hopefully, SXSW as well! And playing some shows in and around our good old hometowns.

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