If you thought Jandek too commercial, you might want to delve into the surreal world of Keijo. The wisdom of decades of experimental blues noodling (the guy is, apparently, of many moon) comes through clear as day on What is Going in the Country, as do the idiosyncratic impulses of a guy that has probably never played a song the same way twice; a band mate’s worst nightmare but a closet collector’s dream. He was into drone and throat-singing earlier in his decades-and-counting career (weren’t we all?), so it comes as a surprise to hear this restrained acoustic-electric performance. Then again, there IS a drone-like quality to these eccentric little music boxes, a sense that the continuity of the spiritual raga will conquer all notions of ‘should we move on?’ I’m not sure it always does, and to be honest I’m listening to, and becoming annoyed by, Keijo even as I write this, circa “Lonesome Whistle,” which seems to go on two forevers too long. And that’s sort of what What is Going in the Country is about, maybe. It’s not pretty, it’s not tactful, it’s not prone to changes in mood or pitch, and it doesn’t owe the listener any of that, either. And if you give them half a chance, tracks like “Come and Gone” and “Maybe Someday” will woo you cunningly, the former with a Tonstartssbandt-in-live-jam-mode strut and the latter with a post-Pearls Before Swine folk feel. That’s all beside the point, though: Accept Keijo on his own artistic terms or walk out and go to another gallery or plop down cash for another great-sounding, limited-to-80 lathe-cut from the sweet shores of New Zealand; do what you want, because Keijo will still be doing his thing, just like he always has, echoing into the underground void.
More about: Keijo
