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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Music Reviews »

Permalink Corridor X – the CD Review by Noel

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Corridor X – the CD Review by Noel

Corridor X is the title of the highly anticipated first full-length release by Kill, Baby… Kill! from Anniston, Alabama. Founded originally in 2005 and led by Noah Holt, the band’s current lineup are Erek Smith on Bass, Josh Jackson on Drums, Noah Holt on Guitar and Chris Eagle on Organ and sound samples. They’ve been included on a number of important comps since the 2011 release of their debut EP, Sometimes They Come Back. When Kill, Baby… Kill! played the songs from Sometimes They Come Back and more at the 2012 Instro Summit in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, they left everyone stunned by their power, precision and musicianship. KBK are a band to be reckoned with. What could they do to top that?

For anyone wondering if lightning strikes twice in the same place, it has this time and with a lot more force. This record will wreck your calm disposition and fill you with the need to play everything at full volume over and over, jumping around and playing your air guitar or drums. This is clear the floor of large objects before you play it music. The record infects the listener with its’ relentless driving beat, menacing melodies and powerful performances, and the occasional touch of macabre humor.

The songs:

Corridor X
Corridor X begins with one of the best 1:18 seconds of this kind of music I can remember. Screaming high-pitched feedback from Hell, like the grid just exploded while you are listening. Then drums pounding with a compelling beat full of menace, and then the music starts, fast and furious, distorted like it’s trying to melt your sound system. Corridor X. X means unknown. Going down a corridor to the unknown; who will dare to do it? In sci-fi and horror films, everyone does, to their doom and the entertainment of the audience. So we, the listeners, will also go down Corridor X, unable to resist the pull of the music. A low rumble, as if to indicate nothing is left outside the corridor you’ve been traveling that you want to meet, then a click like switching channels, and …

Occupation of the Body Snatchers
… just what you were afraid of. Something very bad has happened to the world while you were in Corridor X, and you can’t go back and you can’t stay where you are. You have to go on. What’s out there is the next piece of terrific music. Overlaying everything are the haunting strains of what sounds like the irresistible sirens of ancient sailing lore calling to you and a whispered voice warning of certain danger. Do not heed the warnings! Follow the siren call. You’ll be glad you did. This time. It’s only a record. Right?

Meltdown in Sector 9
Be warned! The previous 2 songs come in quietly compared to the nuclear blast of sound waiting for you at the start of this panic attack. This is run-for-your-lives music. It sounds like surf music of, by, and for the apocalypse. And while it incorporates traditional elements of surf music like growling de glissandos and diving chords, the overall effect doesn’t recall a pleasant day surfing. If it recalls anything about surfing it brings to mind being pounded after a bad wipeout off a giant wave and being held down under the roiling water overhead by a grinning zombie. Yeah, that happens a lot. It does in this musical vision of the future.

Hunting for the Dead
This really ought to be the music played on The Walking Dead during zombie chase scenes. The first song taken from the EP, Sometimes They Come back, it’s recreated here for the new record better played and better sounding. Was it a good idea to reimagine the songs from the EP on Corridor X? It is to me. I really enjoyed the raw energy and edginess of Sometimes They Comeback. Fun stuff! Now, after a lot of experience performing the material, KBK have taken what they’ve learned and recorded better versions. Kill, Baby… Kill! have your back. Apparently you can also kill zombies with very loud music.

Suppose the Doomsday Cults Were Right?
Also from Sometimes They Come Back, this song is the soundtrack to trying to escape the end of the world while you can. The song is played with a driving sense of urgency that infects, infuses, takes over and finally consumes everything played by Kill, Baby… Kill! Are you on the last escape vessel? Better be! Because when the end comes, it’s over. You’ll see.

Something on the Wing
Who’s Julia? That’s right. She’s my wife. What’s out there? No one can see it except me. Am I insane? I was then, but I’m not now! Must … stop it … … or we’ll all … … … die! Bob Wilson would understand. So does Rod Serling. Do you? It’s not psychotic paranoia if it’s real.

Love Theme for a Twisted Mind
Is your mind twisted? Don’t answer that. (They’re listening.) Well, okay, you’re listening to a fantastic musical journey through fear, loathing and terror. This is a furious two minutes 26 second roller-coaster ride of a song. You’re launched at full speed until you absolutely must have a break. Then, after being given a brief sonic respite to calm your nerves and ears, you’re launched through the gateway to Hell. Unfortunately there’s someone waiting for you when the ride is over. I get the feeling, though she may be incredibly beautiful, she isn’t a welcome sight. And she’s not alone. But you are.

Turn Your Insides Out
There’s something uneasily familiar about the opening piano introduction to Turn Your Insides Out. It immediately recalled to mind Tubular Bells from The Exorcist. It isn’t, but it triggered the memory of it, and of seeing the film. I remember sitting in a movie theater when The Exorcist was first released. The girls with us were huddling together for safety and hiding their eyes. At a particular moment of sustained perfect silence, I reached around and suddenly grabbed an arm. She screamed as loud as she could, and then every girl in the entire theater screamed as loud as they could. I love it when music does this; triggers a flood of memories, emotions or ideas. The rest of the song screams by under the influence of that memory. Oh, if you’re reading this, I SAID I was sorry. But I had a smile on my face when I said it then, and she didn’t believe me. I’m smiling right now too, remembering the experience again. May Turn Your Insides Out provoke a wonderful strange memory from your own youth.

Ant Invasion
I love the sci-fi classic film, Them! to this day. And so begins Ant Invasion. Much fun is had by the ants as they go on a feeding frenzy on … us! Musically-speaking of course. I recommend running around the room in pretend panic while listening to Ant Invasion, just to get in the spirit of the song. Just watch out for the giant stingers!

Trixion Twist
… is terrific! Pounding drums. Electrifying guitar playing. Sudden stops. Then a short respite from the frenzy of relentless music. Then, it’s back to the jump around in circles and try not to hurt anyone smashing into them music. And then it just stops. Suddenly. If you do too, you’ll probably fall down dizzy. Then you’ll know you got the full measure of enjoyment possible from this wild Trixion Twist.

Psycho Beach Party
“They shall all drown in lakes of blood. Now they will know why they are afraid of the dark. Now they will learn why they fear the night.” So says Thulsa Doom in Conan the Barbarian. So begins Psycho Beach Party. I confess I’ve never seen the film, Psycho Beach Party, which, by the way, I learned has a great surf music soundtrack. Some serious guitar shredding is included for added excitement in this diabolical surf psycho beach party music. Play this at a beach party and don’t be surprised if everyone goes all psycho on each other. Okay, they won’t, but don’t be surprised if everyone has a great time listening to it. This is terrific. Now … Run!

Duck & Cover
If you’re as old as I am, you remember the public service announcements that were shown in motion picture theaters, and broadcast on radio and television, about how to survive a nuclear attack. If you’re still running like I told you, you might be far enough away to survive the blast. If not, you have to duck and cover. Or you could just have a great time listening to this song. Nothing’s really going to happen after all. It’s only just a song, all in your imagination. Really. After listening to the musical version of the end of everything (You didn’t really think duck & cover would actually work, did you?) the sound of the blast wave dissipates and we’re left listening to an eerie melody from a child’s music box as it winds down. If Panic in Year Zero is one of your favorite movies, you’ll understand this song.

Conclusion:

I’m having a wonderful time going along for the musical ride through my mind full of memories and images of many wonderful visual moments from my life. Hey, when you grow up watching Chiller Theater every Saturday night for two decades and then build a collection of hundreds of sci-fi and horror films from the fifties and sixties, there’s no way this music is just music. It’s a journey from the inner mind to the outer limits of the twilight zone of the imagination. With a sound-track.

This record is highly anticipated by anyone who’s heard of Kill, Baby… Kill! It exceeds my considerably high expectations. From the amazing opening of Corridor X to the evocative lonely sound of the music box at the end of Duck & Cover, this record is a musical horror sci-fi zombie apocalypse journey through places we can usually only go in movies, or nightmares. The playing is superb, the production is excellent. The music is compelling and exciting. It’s fun, energetic, fast and furious, and imaginative. It sounds wonderful. It touches all the right nerves and provides quite a ride. It far-away transcends the limits of any one sound of surf music by not being limited to or by them.

If I were to be launched by rocket into space, I’d want this playing! If I were fighting hordes of zombies, pod people or triffids, I’d want this playing! And, even if all I just wanted was something that is an awful lot of fun to listen to, I’d want this playing. It isn’t just music for the end of everything as we know it. … or is it?

This is what Kill, Baby… Kill!’s Noah Holt had to say:

Lots of people contributed to the success of Corridor X.

Chad Chivers was very integral to this record. While we had a producer credited on our previous EP, he really only offered moral support and name recognition. Chad came in with a good amount of notes and ideas, all of which were great ideas we wouldn't have thought of on our own. Even more, Chad is a VERY accomplished musician. There is no way I was going to leave that studio without utilizing his abilities on guitar to some extent. It was an honor and a privilege to have him involved.

Chad played any acoustic guitar you hear, including on Hunting for the Dead and Trioxin Twist. He laid down some guitar harmonies, but I cannot remember which tracks specifically. The mellotron was on Meltdown in Sector 9. Lastly, he did part of the piano track on Turn Your Insides Out. However, the intro piano part was our own Chris Eagle.

Sharron Von Hoene did the thereminish vocals on Occupation of the Body Snatchers.

Dan Dixon doubled the thereminish vocal part on Occupation of the Body Snatchers with a synth in order to thicken it up a bit.

Jamie Galatas provided the shredder guitar solo on Psycho Beach Party, and an amazing performance he provides, too!

I say, very, very well done, everyone! I hope you all enjoy Corridor X as much as I do. I think you will.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Last edited: Apr 18, 2013 07:46:00

Hahaha! We never discussed it, but Panic in Year Zero was totally the inspiration for that song.

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

www.thekbk.com
http://www.deepeddy.net/artists/thekbk/
www.reverbnation.com/thekbk
www.facebook.com/thekbkal

I was in a vintage amp store today and played the samples of Corridor X that Noah posted. The guys there (long-time guitarists all) were VERY, VERY impressed!

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

looking forward to seeing KBK at the instro summit in a few weeks......

www.surfintheeye.com

Only listened to it once so far but I'll definitely be listening plenty.

Oddly enough, the opener might have been a weakpoint to me but the next two tracks were total knockouts. The newer versions of older tracks range from having a bit more definition to them to, in the case of Love Theme being faster and with more ridiculous noise piled on top (I mean that in a good way).

My headphones while listening weren't the best so I can't really weigh in on the production too much. However, I do think the mixing was pretty good, particularly with tasteful decisions on when the keyboard was allowed to be loud and when it was more of a subtle hidden layer.

Unfortunately I listened to this while running and the last few songs were on a very painful third mile, so I started paying less attention to the music. I'm going to weigh in more thoroughly when I've listened to it a few more times.

Storm Surge of Reverb: Surf & Instro Radio

'Corridor X' is now available for order at www.deepeddy.net. It should be available through digital distributors by Tuesday. But the physical copy has something extra at the VERY end!

We hope those of you that purchase it really enjoy the fruits of our labor. And we promise that it will not be two more years before we have new recorded material to unleash upon the public.

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

www.thekbk.com
http://www.deepeddy.net/artists/thekbk/
www.reverbnation.com/thekbk
www.facebook.com/thekbkal

And... ordered!

I really liked the EP, so looking forward to this full release!

Officially releases today! I don't believe the digital distributors managed to go live yet, unfortunatly. But the album is available in physical format through Deep Eddy Records. We are very proud of this and hope those of you that take the time to purchase it will enjoy it.

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

www.thekbk.com
http://www.deepeddy.net/artists/thekbk/
www.reverbnation.com/thekbk
www.facebook.com/thekbkal

Which digital distributors are you using?

To Boldly go where no Tiki has gone before...

It should be up on Itunes, CDBaby, Amazon and a handful of others for Digital Download any day now.

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

www.thekbk.com
http://www.deepeddy.net/artists/thekbk/
www.reverbnation.com/thekbk
www.facebook.com/thekbkal

Woot. I'll be keeping a look out for it!

To Boldly go where no Tiki has gone before...

I will post here as soon as anything shows up. I am a little disappointed, as Deep Eddy was working very hard to coordinate everything to go live today.

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

www.thekbk.com
http://www.deepeddy.net/artists/thekbk/
www.reverbnation.com/thekbk
www.facebook.com/thekbkal

Sometimes CD Baby takes longer that I would like. I'm confident they'll have it ready soon.

Ted James
Deep Eddy Records http://www.deepeddy.net
The Nematoads http://www.nematoads.com

so...........i'm not much of a reviewer because i know everyone has different tastes and i don't like hurting anyone's feeling so i keep it all to myself. that being said, the first time i saw KBK was at the instro summit two years ago and to be truthful i did not care for them. it was at the end of a long night of bands and for me it was too loud and too frantic. and then......i bought the EP and really liked it. i was fortunate enough to go to the clarkston surf fest (near atlanta, ga) two falls ago and once again KBK was on the menu, and i really liked them. fast forward to my purchase of the new CD and i can honestly say i really like it. it sounds really good playing in my surf shop and if i listen to it once i always listen to it once more. nice job noah.

www.surfintheeye.com

Thank you, Mom. If there is one thing that we understand, it is that we aren't everyone's taste that follows this genre. But to those that give us a chance, we really appreciate it.

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

www.thekbk.com
http://www.deepeddy.net/artists/thekbk/
www.reverbnation.com/thekbk
www.facebook.com/thekbkal

Just got my copy in the mail. I am going to give it a listen tonight. I am super excited for this release.

Hey killbabykill34, is there any chance that you could do a recording corner post for the album? I am big fan of seeing gear and studio pics! Plus, I am curious what you are using to get those crunchy tones! Big Grin

To Boldly go where no Tiki has gone before...

We did a little thread on the recording, but we really took very few photos in the studio, nor video. There just wasn't time to worry about such things. But I will list below what the majority of my setup was.

Hallmark 59 Custom
Fender Vibrolux Reissue (set to about 6 or 7)
Custom built Fender Reverb Clone.

There was some rhythm done using a Blues Jr., but only in very few parts. We abandoned it early due to a rattling.

Spaghetti Solo on Trioxin Twist was recorded with a Tele through the same setup.

Solo on Psycho Beach Party was done on a Strat through the Vibrolux(cranked) by Jamie from The Mystery Men?

Ashbass Fuzz used at the begining of Corridor X with the Vibrolux Trem.

Yeah...the crunch was pretty much those hot pickups on the Hallmark working in conjunction with the Vibrolux(one hell of an amp)

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

www.thekbk.com
http://www.deepeddy.net/artists/thekbk/
www.reverbnation.com/thekbk
www.facebook.com/thekbkal

Oh yeah...the delay used on my end was the Repeat Offender pedal by Stiff Amplification. That pedal is a beast, and the best sounding I have found. It has the same (NOS) circuit on the front end as an old Echoplex and it really shines through.

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

www.thekbk.com
http://www.deepeddy.net/artists/thekbk/
www.reverbnation.com/thekbk
www.facebook.com/thekbkal

Most of the Bass was a P-Bass through an old Bassman head and an 8x10 cab. We used some Big Muff for bass on it, as well as a RAT pedal in a few places. The bass was mic'd, as well as doubled using a direct out. These were blended in mix.

Organ Keys were mostly recorded through an old Deluxe Reverb. Synth tones were direct.

Drums were an old early 80's Ludwig kit with a 24" Kick. BIG sounding.

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

www.thekbk.com
http://www.deepeddy.net/artists/thekbk/
www.reverbnation.com/thekbk
www.facebook.com/thekbkal

Noah... This album is so bloody good! Wow! Wow! Wow! I must have listened to it three times already. So killer. It works as a total experience from beginning to end. The music flows into the samples into the music. Its like the Cramps and the Misfits hooked up with Dick Dale! You all did a splendid job on this one and should be proud! And I love that little shred solo "cameo" dropped into Psycho Beach Party. Big Grin

To Boldly go where no Tiki has gone before...

Last edited: May 21, 2013 08:30:58

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