Kid Dakota / West Is the Future, the
Album: West Is the Future, the   Collection:General
Artist:Kid Dakota   Added:Nov 2004
Label:Chairkicker's Music  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2005-02-06 Pull Date: 2005-04-10
Week Ending: Feb 13
Airplays: 2

Recent Airplay
1. Feb 09, 2005: The Panoply
Pilgrim
2. Feb 08, 2005: The Devil's Collective
Winterkill

Album Review
Margot Seeto
Reviewed 2005-02-06
Mid-western, low-key indie rock. Recorded mostly live! Band from Minneapolis. This album will often turn from rock to lonely ballads within the same song. Rich and clear male vocals from Darren Jackson (aka Kid Dakota). Rest of the band is from the likes of Low, John Vanderslice, Vicious Vicious. Yes, the album and each song is a sad story. Follow up to 2002’s So Pretty. All songs very listenable. NO FCCs.
1) *“Pilgrim.”(3:44). Mid-tempo, oscillating between minimal instrumentation and full. Gentle rolling drums. 0:14 guitar and bass in. 0:37 clear and rich male vox in, instrumentation drops down. 2:33 yell to slower tempo (to pick back up soon thereafter) and instruments only. Ends with loud vox and band. End at 3:41.
2) “Homesteader.” (7:30). A bit folkier, lonely. Slow tempo - gentle, rolling high hat to start? Slow bass and guitar. 0:25 rest of band and fuzzed out vox in. 1:15 clear vox, no percussion. 2:21 band and emotive chorus. End about 7:20.
3) “Pine Ridge.” (4:24). Sad-sounding song about South Dakota’s while residents against South Dakota’s Native Americans? Not sure if song is politically offensive or not. Simple guitar. Subtle, gentle bass. Lots of “Pow wows.” 3:14 some cool layered vox. End about 4:10.
4) “Ivan.” (3:36). Escalates into rollicking song in middle. Drum sticks intro. 0:04 abrupt vox and rest of band in. 0:20 abruptly stops and starts with different time signature, etc. Tempo increases about 0:50. 1:40 nice harmonizing. 2:15 slows down again. Around 3:00 song will start to fade until end at about 3:29.
5) *“Ten Thousand Lakes.” (5:06) Slow-midtempo. Pretty, clear acoustic intro. About Minnesota. Vox at 0:31. High piano joins band at 1:13. 2:18 fuzzed out female backups. 3:40 peeps of a cello. 3:46 just piano. Vox in at 4:01. 4:21 fuzzy female vox back. Gets quiet right before band back at 4:40. End at 4:55.
6)* “Starlight Motel.” (8:02). Resolute, lonely, darker. Low guitar and bass slow tempo intro. 0:17 vox in. Weird string manipulation at 0:25. 1:15 more, higher guitar chords join in. 1:54 guitar gone, some sound manipulation of guitar, people’s voices talking and singing. Guitar back at 2:49. 3:54 noisier instrumentation. 5:00 slower, and gets progressively slower. End about 7:50.
7) **“Winterkill.” (6:05) A bit more upbeat. More on poppy side rather than folk-rock. Percussion intro, switch to strings only at 0:17. 0:52 vox in. 1:04 backups and percussion. Poppy “da da das” 2:09. 4:03 just guitar and bass, building up. 4:30 vox and percussion back. 5:15 everything back - rich, raucous. Fades out. End at 5:57.
8) “2001.” (9:48) Very slow. High, spacey, echo-y intro. 1:49-1:53 silent. 1:56 vox in, lower register. Echo-y organ(?) in background. 2:30 slight indications of percussion (gong-like). 4:36 (after some silence), vox back with guitar. 6:33 pounds of guitar with slight electronic accompaniment. End at 9:24.
9) “Atomic Pilgrim.” (3:23) Lone electric guitar intro. Wraps up story of album. 0:30 vox in. 1:28 guitar comes back stronger. Quieter guitar back at 2:01. End at 3:05.

Track Listing
1. Pilgrim   5. Ten Thousand Lakes
2. Homesteader   6. Stralight Motel
3. Pine Ridge   7. Winterkill
4. Ivan   8. 2001
  9. Atomic Pilgrim