As Kinski mark their 20th anniversary, it’s safe to say they’ve become a Seattle musical institution.
In addition to celebrating two decades of spacious and hard-driving rock for cerebral hedonists, Kinski last month reissued—via Kill Rock Stars—their first proper studio LP, 2001’s Be Gentle with the Warm Turtle (it’s a double-LP version with two bonus tracks). Be Gentle put these mainstays on the international map and established them as a potent force of heavy psychedelia (check “One Ear in the Sun” and “Newport” for definitive proof) and krautrock, as well as instigators of punky instrumentals that tear through heads in a brutal blur. They’ve also done mean covers of the Velvet Underground’s “Foggy Notion” and the Clean’s “Point That Thing Somewhere Else.”
Kinski guitarist Chris Martin says the band were “pretty green” when they entered the reputedly haunted Robert Lang Studios with producer Kip Beelman to cut Be Gentle. He recalls technical glitches while recording LP opener “Spacelaunch for Frenchie” after midnight.
