Nighthawk - Hey boy - The drive - Almost summer
Swimming - Sundaze - Goodbye - Can I trust you?
Everyone must die - My angel
Mucchio Selvaggio (issue 468, 8-14/01/2002)
King Me (from Rotterdam) is named after a Palace Brothers song, a band loved by King Me, even if there's no direct Will Oldham's influence in the music played by the Dutch band in its debut album. King me draws inspiration from and pays tribute to a lot of bands: just think of the syncopated style of Radiohead and of R.E.M.'s most melodic tracks and enjoy the succesfull "The Drive" (the choked voice resembles Thom Yorke) and "Swimming", in which the atmosphere is more rarefied than in "Kid A". The chords in "Almost Summer" and "Nighthawk" shine with a danceable and sparkling joyousness: it is so nice to hear these songs, just like when you listen to some of R.E.M.'S ballads. You may also think of Nick Cave and The Velvet Underground. Is it all just been heard before? No, it isn't and you can really appreciate King Me's violins ("Sundaze", the ghost of Thom Yorke comes back again) and organ in a rollercoaster of melancholy and joy: "Goodbye" is emblematic and the best track of the record: it could become a hit! It's really surprising how the album ends: three convincing tracks of a high intensity. Just fancy everything starting with an unpretentious e.p...
(by Valerio Pescatore)
Damn Music
Soms komt het voor dat een band uit puur plezier besluit een cd op te nemen, maar nog zeldzamer is het als dan blijkt dat de band veel talent herbergt en besluit verder te gaan waar ze gebleven waren. Almost Summer is het vervolg op die eerste in eigen beheer uitgebrachte cd en mag ook het officiële debuutalbum heten van de Nederlandse band King Me. Bij de eerste klanken van Almost Summer denk je nou niet bepaald aan de zomer want Nighthawk is een uiterst mistroostig maar tegelijkertijd ook erg sfeervol nummer. Wat direct opvalt aan het album is de grote mate van variatie in het songmateriaal. Van redelijk 'poppy' (Everyone Must Die) tot donker en melancholiek (The Drive). Zanger en gitarist Michael Milo heeft veel gevoel en afwisseling in zijn stem weten te leggen en dat draagt zeker bij aan de kwaliteit van de muziek die experimenteel en goed gearrangeerd is. Ook het gebruik van viool en cello geeft in sommige nummers juist net dat beetje extra. King Me heeft met Almost Summer een album vol gevarieerde songs weten te maken zonder dat die als los zand aan elkaar hangen, en dat is een knappe prestatie.
KING ME | ALMOST SUMMER (CD, My First Sonny Weissmuller/Konkurrent)
On their stunning album 'Almost Summer', Dutch band King Me, named after a song from the Palace Brothers, show an exceptional skill for creating an adventurous, visionary amalgam of the harsher side of American roots music, living-room lo fidelity, modern guitar soundscapes of the 90s, and dazzling 60s psychedelia, borrowing as much from Radiohead, Sparklehorse, and dEUS, as from Will Oldham, Tindersticks, and Pavement. However, what King Me are doing isn't anything like imitating whatsoever, because it's something fresh and innovative that emerges from all of these influences on 'Almost Summer'. King Me kick off the album with creating a spooky atmosphere on 'Nighthawk', which is dominated by a chugging organ and the richly textured vocals of singer Michael Milo. When the smoke is gone, Milo's haunting falsetto still wails through every song on 'Almost Summer'; the emotional power speaks for itself. Trust me on this one: With an album like this, you could wait all of your life for the summer to come. Viva King Me!
(by Maurice Dielemans)
Alles op tien:
Weird musical bunch of people, these King Me's. This is their debut, after a 1999 authors release CD. Singer Michael Milo reveals his love for expiriment, Ian Curtis and Palace Brothers. Other links are Sparklehorse, the underestimated Gitbox! and Radiohead. Milo whispers, screams and sings nasal, it all fits in the music. The CD reaches its hights with Goodbye, the most poppy song of the record, while the rumbleshaking Everyone must die tops everything as well. The sinister Swimming is a sequal of opener Nighthawk and shows the other face of King Me, dark, pure bats romance. Almost Summer is a CD that makes you long for hearth-fire, red wine and for everything else but Summer.
Independent Mind Magazine:
Apparently the U.S. Customs office doesn't think "CD" when a package from Amsterdam comes across in the mail. I guess Amsterdam isn't exactly known for its musical exports. Some lucky customs agent got to this King Me disc before I. There's something really unnerving about having government officials inspect your mail. I felt a little violated. But the soothing sounds of King Me helped to ease my paranoid worries. King Me is named after a Palace Brothers song. They've been on two Will Oldham tribute compilations. But before you pin them as just another lo-fi, "sad-core," art-country, rip-off act, I'd like to step in and say that they don't sound especially like the Palace Brothers, or any other Will Oldham project. They have a warmer and poppier sound. Several songs on Almost Summer have a Loaded-era Velvet Underground sound to them. Most of the songs on Almost Summer could be classified as countrified mid-tempo rockers, but they also toss in a couple of droning numbers reminiscent of groups like Galaxy 500 or Yo La Tengo.
The songs are built around guitar-bass-drums-vocals, but it is the additions of air organ, piano, and strings that help push King Me above others of their ilk. Songs like "Sundaze" that might otherwise trail off into mediocrity are pushed over the top by a string section that really underscores the sadness in the song. The strings on "Can I Trust You?" add a very dramatic flair that helps make the second half of the song mesmerizing in its power.
With the potential shown on Almost Summer, King Me might just be able to put Amsterdam on the map for something other than marijuana and crazy internet porn.
NCRV Radio 3 FM (CD of the week, April 2001):
With pleasure we present you Almost Summer by King Me. The band charmed us on their 1999 debut with intimate songs. On Almost Summer they stick to their style. Their style maybe can be described best as "Tindersticks meet Nick Cave". No happy la-la-la songs, but fragile pearls that release more from their beauty everytime you play them.
Tilburgse koerier:
Almost Summer is King Me's debut CD on My First Sonny Weissmuller Recordings. Listening to it for the first time calls in mind Belgium bands that lead the alternative pop world lately. King Me can make a breakthrough as well. This CD contains lo-fi, strong compositions, dark guitar pop. As singer-songwriter of this 5 man-woman band Michael Milo does an excellent job. The majority of the 10 songs is harmonic, has original, catchy arrangements (banjo, strings, trumpet). Most beautiful songs are opener Nighthawk, Hey Boy, Sundaze, Goodbye and Can I trust you?. As a surprise there is "ghost track" 11. An instrumental encore with a lovely trumpet. King Me is an enrichment for Dutch pop music.
Oor:
King Me is named after a Palace Brother's song and released their debut CD in 1999. This CD was only meant for friends and family, but got such good reviews that the CD even got distributed in Portugal (Lowfly Records). One and a half year later the 6-piece Dutch lo-fi company releases the sequel Almost Summer. And it can be heard what the reactions before were based on! Not to say that the whole CD is a masterpiece, but Almost Summer shows that the Netherlands in singer/guitarplayer Michael Milo have a new talented songwriter. Especially in the quiet, with fragile guitars performed songs like The Drive, Goodbye or the title track Milo's power is clear to see.
FRET:
There's something going on under the surface of the songs on Almost Summer. It leaves you in an unpleasant mood, which is exactly what the King Me members want to reach. The CD is a good one, full of beautiful, sensitive songs with strong melodies and melancholic string arrangments. The song The Drive is splendid, Sundaze is of a wonderful beauty also.
Konkurrent:
Zal het dan dit jaar dan toch nog gaan gebeuren? Zal dikke Willem zich dan eindelijk in een trouwpak- kie hijsen? Hangt onze man van ijskoude waterzaken z'n schaatsen in de wilgen, want ze mogen in Argentinië dan mooie Buenos Erres koelkasten hebben, de Elfstedentocht zie ik daar niet snel verreden worden. En niet langzaam ook. Hebben ze überhaupt wel elf steden? Maar goed, afijn wordt het wollige winterkoninkje dan eindelijk onze zalige zomervorst? Het kan vriezen en het kan dooien natuur- lijk, maar begeef ik mij dan op glad ijs als ik hier durf te beweren dat ik onlangs, als kroon op m'n werk, uit openbare bron heb mogen vernemen dat Wimpie van O's favoriete bent vernoemd is naar een nummer van de Palace Brothers (de Paal IJs Broeders? Dat kan toch echt geen toeval zijn). Twee jaar geleden maakten ze voor de lol een demo die ze naar wat vrienden en een paar journalisten stuurden. Dat leverde onverwacht laaiende reacties op. Ze kwamen over de vloer bij de KRO en de NCRV en Oor besprak de demo hartstikke positief. Die status van lo-fi belofte plaatst King Me in de hoek van o.a. Velvet Underground, My Morning Jacket, Pavement, Sparklehorse en natuurlijk Palace Brothers, vooral in de nummers met banjo.
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