Kiki Kaiku
Kaiku (the Finnish word for “echo”) moves past the usual club space and into Finland-born […]
Kaiku (the Finnish word for “echo”) moves past the usual club space and into Finland-born DJ Kiki’s private, hedonistic backroom. On his second album, Kiki (Joakim Ijäs) explores his dark side with a virtual toy box of accents—rain-stick synths, sampled telephones, alternately mawkish and menacing vocals, and clear references to the iconic A Clockwork Orange soundtrack. With driving percussion, noisy textures beneath squirrelly synths, and breathy, distorted vocals that grow increasingly sinister, “Twins” might be disturbing enough to make any dancer feel like a pervert. “Mogadishu” maintains the evil vocals, but targets the dancefloor more directly with a straightforward 4/4 beat and retro house synths. Ethereal closer “Helios” is like morning after a long, dark night chasing demons.