Kayo Dot
Kayo Dot is an avant-rock group that was formed in 2003 by Toby Driver. They released their debut album Choirs of the Eye on John Zorn's Tzadik label that year.
The music of Kayo Dot bridges several genres, from heavy metal to classical music. Their songs involve complex instrumentation (composed by singer and frontman Driver), generally without refrain. They are substantially longer than typical rock songs, often ranging from 8 to 15 minutes in length.
Tzadik's descriptive label on that album read: "Kayo Dot powerfully integrates elements of modern classical composition with the layers of guitars and vocals more common to rock and metal. With a compositional map that is strict in form yet malleable in execution, Kayo Dot uses a vast array of instrumentation to create an exciting convergence of violence and serenity."
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Current members
- Toby Driver – voice, guitar, clarinet
- Greg Massi – guitar
- John Carchia – guitar
- Mia Matsumiya – violin, viola, bells
- Ryan McGuire- bass, double-bass, keyboard
- Forbes Graham – trumpet, euphonium, guitar, voice
- D. Thomas Murray – live sound engineering and samples
History
Kayo Dot sprang from the ashes of the band Maudlin of the Well (often spelt with a lowercase 'M' as "maudlin of the Well"). Maudlin of the Well was a progressive metal band who formed in 1996 and disbanded in 2003. Their music contained elements from many different genres including sludge/doom metal, indie rock, and new age. They released three full-length and now out-of-print albums before disbanding: 1999's My Fruit PsychoBells...A Seed Combustible and 2001's Bath and Leaving Your Body Map. These last two albums were considered companion albums.
Many past members of Maudlin of the Well--Josh Seipp-Williams, Sam Gutterman, Terran Olson, Andrew Dickson, and Toby Driver--studied at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA from 1996–2000, where My Fruit PsychoBells...A Seed Combustible was recorded. At Hampshire, Driver became a student of jazz musician Yusef Lateef, whose theories of autophysiopsychic music influenced MOTW's (and to a greater extent Kayo Dot's) albums.
Driver has gone on to say on their website:
Some members of this project worked in the progressive-metal project-band Maudlin of the Well from 1996 – 2003, at which time MotW dismembered. Kayo Dot isn't much different from Maudlin of the Well musically – rather it's more like a continuation in the direction MotW had been progressing.
and has also said:
"People are too preoccupied with whatever connection there may be between [motW] and Kayo Dot."
In March 2005, drummer Sam Gutterman (who also played in MOTW) left the band for reasons unknown. The band is currently looking for a replacement. Kayo Dot has now signed to Robotic Empire Records and will begin recording their next album shortly.
Discography
Maudlin of the Well Demos/Singles:
Through Languid Veins – 1996 (Demo) Begat of the Haunted Oak: An Acorn – 1997 (Demo) For My Wife – 1998 (Demo) untitled secret song – 2001 (Single)
Maudlin of the Well Full-length Albums:
My Fruit Psychobells...A Seed Combustible (1999)* Bath (2001)* Leaving Your Body Map (2001)*
*all of these featured either remixed or re-recorded versions of most of the songs from the demos.
Kayo Dot Full-length Albums:
Choirs of the Eye (2003)