GOATHERDER | VINYL RECORD (LP)

Goatherder is the seventh album from underground London producer Kristian Craig Robinson, AKA Capitol K. This ace manipulator of audio and punk warlord of groove has crossed a tapestry of styles and approaches with his own secret compass since 1998. Along with everything from Chinese pop to the marching band music of the United Arab Emirates in his early musical vocabulary, the influence of rave, new wave, grunge, and noise-core would collide to create a bold new sound. The last seven years have seen Capitol K's stature as a producer elevated with his establishment of the renowned Total Refreshment Studio and recording work with musicians such as the Mercury Music prize nominated The Comet Is Coming, global dance act Ibibio Sound Machine, the pan-Arabic Flamingods, Serafina Steer and her BAS JAN project, and contemporary folk artist Rozi Plain, among many more. This latest work was developed and recorded in his native Malta, where he built a studio in a cave (a former goat stable). K gathered bamboo instruments collected around the world, including an ancient Quecha reed-pipe (his new-found lead instrument), and various resonating vessels and percussive objects including dry fennel storks collected from Punic troglodyte sites, and atonal flutes built from fresh cut farmland reed. Ritualistic improvisations took place over a series of seasonal visits, awakening genetic memory and plant communication. Back in London the tracks were interfaced and expanded with post-industrial machine beat and bass guitar lock down. Homage is paid to new age synthscapes, while a spirit jazz overtone arrives from K's recent years as the sonic muscle behind a plethora of luminous albums born in his Total Refreshment Studio. Goatherder follows on from the 2016 collaborative incarnation Loose Meat and sonically abridges 2012's Capitol K album Andean Dub. Outside of studio production and his solo repertoire as Capitol K, Kristian has toured as guest musician with multiple bands over the last 15 years, including Brazil's Cibelle, Archie Bronson Outfit, and Du Blonde. His last project, Loose Meat, was a collaborative album of poetic dance music received lots of radio play in the UK and toured across the country for a year, performing a number of festivals. He established the Faith And Industry record label which handled his subsequent releases. He now releases a number of other artists through this label that he develops and produces.