We Played King Krule Five Tracks, This Was His Verdict
We know he’s a music nut, so we decided to sit British poet-punk King Krule down and play him a couple of tunes that we thought he might be into. It was really hard coming up with the right songs for the fact that by listening to the type of dynamic and experimental music he creates, he wants to be challenged. It came as no surprise that King Krule sat there absorbing all the tunes deeply contemplating, not just judging. He was eager to learn the story behind each artist.
From the frenzied novelty sounds of Nervous Norvos to the very new supercharged Kendrick style hip-hop of J.I.D. Check out our full interview and feature with King Krule where he talks about heartbreak, mental health and rejecting Kanye West.
Eden Ahbez – Full Moon [1960]
KK: It’s nice, it feels like it’s for something else like a film or something. Who is it?
This guy lived like a hermit in the 1950s who wrote the classic tune Nature Boy. He came from the naturist movement, homeless living under the Hollywood sign and basically started up the original version of what is now known as Whole Foods. Nat King Cole heard the Nature Boy track and came to see him and the rest is history.
KK: Yeah really interesting.
Nervous Norvus – Transfusion [1956]
KK: I never heard this, this is good. So it’s all about blood?
This song is about getting into multiple car accidents and having blood transfusions. He released a song in 1958 and that was the only one he had success with. He was so ahead of his time as an artist.
KK: That’s interesting. It is insane when you hear lyrics that are still mad. It’s an interesting concept as well because he has the car crashes in between each time and then he comes back in with ‘transfusion’.
I think you’ll definitely know this track.
KK: Sounds like The Stranglers. I like the sound of the vocals.
You know who The Buzzcocks are? Well Howard DeVoto started his own band called Magazine which is this. They were apparently a big early influence on Radiohead as well.
KK: I grew up listening to a lot of punk on singles and 7-inches so I only got this and that. The Buzzcocks are pretty interesting to me. There are a lot of singles I got that are fucking insane. But it’s proper London and England in a sense. You can hear the 1970s in it. It surprises me that it’s 1978 because that’s more post-punk than this, this sounds really punk.
I reckon if you came out in the 1970s or 1980s this is the stuff you would be making.
Yeah well, that’s the thing, what was new then? It’s the way they played. Also, the sound of the vocals is really interesting because it’s almost a chorus. I grew up on these kinds of weird records where the vocals were like a chorus and the guitars were densely distorted, to a point that when you play it, it sounds bigger than what it actually is.
Did you say you like David Lynch? I’m going to play you these guys from Germany and you can tell me what you think.
KK: It’s quite Angelo Badalamenti, that style. It’s interesting when that movement of no-wave and fake jazz came about in New York because there’s still this melody and simplicity to it that isn’t jazz at all. It’s more based on texture and tonality. I guess that’s something that always influenced me, not jazz necessarily but the texture and tonality of it.
You’re into hip-hop right?
KK: To an extent yeah. I really like this track. He sounds a lot like Kendrick, his voice is very similar. I like the lyrics at the start talking about broke family. The only thing I feel about a lot of hip-hop now is that they fall into templates of production. But it’s surprising that you can play something now and it still resonates. A lot of this stuff, whether they like it or not, is a stream of consciousness lyrically.
