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Album Details

• Artist: Kings of Convenience
• Album: Riot on an Empty Street
• Label: Astralwerks
• Year of Release: 2004
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2004-11-09

I have always thought that Astralwerks was a strange label for Kings of Convenience. Sitting next to the likes of Chemical Brothers and other beat heavy groups, this folk/rock group just seems out of place. They have more in common with Belle and Sebastian than Fatboy Slim. Riot On An Empty Street is the Norwegian group's follow-up to the fairly successful Quiet Is The New Loud and the first to follow band member Erlend Oye's electronica debut. The band seems to have found a pattern here. The band easily integrates a slight feel of a bossa-nova beat to a lot of their songs. Take the sunny feel of "Live Long" as a perfect example. The guitar playing is so well executed and the lyrics are gentle but laid on thick. Canada's Leslie Feist catches up with the group for a couple guest vocal slots ("Know How"). These really stand out. On tracks like "Surprise Ice" I might even stand out on a limb and say that Erlend and Eirik could be considered a modern day Simon and Garfunkel. Seriously. Their voices harmonize like they were always meant to. As with Quiet Is The New Loud, Riot On An Empty Street is not an album that you can listen to at any time. I found it went down best on headphones, later in the evening, while trying to get some long overdue work done. Some people may have other preferences for this but Kings Of Convenience seems to fit perfectly at this moment in time.

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