Sam KDC - Synesthesia (and an interview with Sam KDC himself)

Sam KDC - Synesthesia EP (Veil)

This time I am doing a record review of a twelve inch single called Synesthesia by Sam KDC. I was sent this record by Sam himself after he read a review of another of his records that I did and liked it - I am very happy that I got this record and also with the very nice letter that I got with it and would like to thank Sam very much for sending them to me.  
          When we did the last record by Sam KDC we tried to find out some things about him but we couldn't so this time because he got in touch we decided to ask him some questions about himself and his music, here are the questions that we asked and the answers we got, I am very pleased that he answered my questions and I would like to thank him for doing this too: 

How old are you Sam? I'm 25

And are you married? Not yet. I'm not keen for that to change anytime soon either!

Where do you live and do you like it there? At the moment, I'm living in Cambridge. I've been here for about a year now. I've lived all over in the UK really. I was born and raised in Cambridge, but for the last 10 years, I've moved about on my own quite a lot. Whilst I was living in London, I met my girlfriend, who ended up going to Cambridge University and moving there, so I moved back up too. It was strange at first to be back there, but I really like it there again now. There's a lot of strange people in Cambridge, so I kind of blend in nicely and get away with being un-noticed most of the time. 

How long have you been making music and do you have another job?

I've made music for as long as I can remember really, in one form or another. I had a guitar as a child that I was always playing and writing little songs. I started making music electronically when I was 15, but never really took it seriously until a couple of years ago, it was more like therapy to start with. I've had to have jobs in the past to make sure rent was paid, but luckily that's not the case anymore and music is pretty much my full time occupation, which is really a dream come true. I still have to do some work on the sidelines, a couple of days here and there, but still stuff I can do from home, data entry and admin / IT stuff, just to top up the funds if they get low. With the money from music, it's so unpredictable, some months I can have more than enough to be comfortable with and even afford some new clothes and stuff. Other months I can barely afford to eat, and having a vinyl addiction really doesn't help matters! Just to have a warm place to sleep and work from, enough food in my belly to keep me alive and a few new records here and there is all I really want for, so I'm very thankful to be able to have that from doing something I truly love.

what type of music do you like listening to?

All sorts really. I have favourite pieces of music that lie in nearly every genre. I mostly listen to bands and singer / songwriters. I've got really into girls with guitars lately, I used to be so picky about female singers, but I've just found a string of amazing ones recently. I love psychedelia music, artists like Steve Hillage (which my Synesthesia track is sort of an unwritten tribute too), Gong and Ozric Tentacles. I'm a massive Frank Zappa fan. I also love Shoegaze, Grunge, Punk, Folk and even a little country & western. Electronic music wise, my favourite genres are ambient & experimental techno / IDM stuff. But really, I'm open to anything, if it resonates with me, then so be it.

          I hope everybody who reads this will find these answers as interesting as I did. I was especially interested about the types of music that Sam listens to because I thought he might just listen to electronic music because that is what he makes but I think that it is good to listen to all types of music. We listened to some of the music that was talked about in the answers in our music group and I think my favourite was Gong because they are a bit funny, here is a video of Gong from 1973 when I was 29 that I liked a lot:

         One thing I thought when I read these answers is that it is a shame that he doesn't get more money and I think he should get enough to live on properly and buy a lot of things because he is a very good musician and I think it is probably expensive to live in Cambridge because there is a lot of posh people there - I have never been to Cambridge though but I would like to and maybe I could go round to Sam's house and listen to psychedelic music with him. I asked a couple more questions but they were about the songs on the record I am now going to write about now so I will put them in a bit later. 

          As for the record I will begin with the first side which is a song called Synesthesia and it is an electronic music song because as I've said before that is the type of music that Sam KDC likes to make but to me it sounds a bit like classical music too because it is kind of slow and relaxing like the music of a small orchestra or something. I was interested in the word Synesthesia because I have never heard it before and I like learning what new words I've never heard mean so I looked it up and found out that it means something about seeing colours when you hear sounds and other strange things like that - I think this would be a very good thing to bit able to do but that it might get a bit confusing. I think if this song were a colour it would be a light blue or maybe light green and I asked in my questions what colour Sam thought it would be: 

Very good question! I'm really not sure. I'd like to think it was like a kaleidoscope. I think maybe greys and blues, but I'm not sure if I just think that now because of the colours of the vinyl it was released on!
   

The grey and blue record on
The Gate's new record player.

I think Synesthesia is a very nice mellow song and that it would be a good on to put your feet up to after your dinner. At the end of this song is a short bit which doesn't sound like Synesthesia so I think it might be another secret song, this started off to me sounding a bit like the gongs at the beginning of J. Arthur Rank films but then it went on and it reminded me of someone on breathing apparatus in a hospital. I liked this one too and because it doesn't have a name I think I'm going to call it the J. Arthur Rank Song.
       The next song which is on the other side of the record is called All Roads Lead Somewhere and I think it is called that because it is the sort of music you would listen to in a car or a lorry or a van or a coach going down a long road. In the questions that I asked Sam I asked if this song was music to listen to in the car and he said:

I think it's definitely music for travel. I don't drive so I'm always on a bus or a train, but music is a must for a journey.

This one is another mellow one and I can imagine people dancing to this one in an old dancehall like they used to have when I was young except they never had electronic music then that I know of. I used to go to these dancehalls with my friends so it is nice to be reminded of them.
         After this song is a song called Captured which is another mellow song which reminded me of a ship sailing because it sounds a bit like the sea, there are even voice sounds like radio messages being sent from the ship. It is a very atmospheric song and I liked it very much.
           Overall I would say that this was a very nice relaxing record that like I've said before I think would be good to listen to after work once you've had your dinner and want to relax. To buy this record you can click on the link at the top of the review and you can also get some more of Sam KDC's music by clicking here. I would give this record 10 out of 10 and would like to thank Sam again for sending it to me.

Sam KDC - Symbol 8

Sam KDC - Symbol 8 (Auxiliary)
This time I am reviewing a twelve inch single by Sam KDC called Symbol 8. It is an interesting record because it is not black like ordinary records because it is silver instead and I think it is very nice to see a silver coloured record because I've never seen one before. There are three songs on Symbol 8 and they are just called Symbol 8.1, Symbol 8.2 and Symbol 8.3 which is a bit weird because it's not like how other people name their songs but that's okay. I don't know much about Sam KDC to tell you and when we tried to look up about him we couldn't find much information except that he makes electronic music which I knew already from listening to it - we did find a picture of him though and I thought he looked a nice lad but a bit like a hippie.

Sam KDC standing by a coal mine (I think)

           When Symbol 8.1 starts there are noises like people singing but they sound like they singing in a tunnel and it's all echoing and then some nice, soft piano starts playing. Then, after the piano, the electric drums start and they sound a bit like african bongos and there are also others noises which sound a bit like your tummy rumbling, after a bit the people singing come back but they sound like they are in the back of the music, I liked how all this sounded. In the middle of the song it all goes a bit quiet and then the music all come back and then it all ends up with a sound like water leaking. I liked this tune a lot, I thought it was nice and calm and I think it would be nice to listen to at night when I've had my tea and am relaxing.
            The next tune, Symbol 8.2 is even more relaxing than the first and sounds a bit like the music in a old film from 1956 about aliens called Invasion of The Body Snatchers, I liked this one too because I like science fiction films. My Aunt Betty used to like science fiction films too and we used talk about them together all the time, I think my Auntie Betty would probably like this music but I haven't heard from her in ages so I wouldn't be able to let her hear it. Here is Invasion of The Body Snatchers so you can see what I mean once you have heard the record, the music I am talking about is the music at the beginning.

           Symbol 8.3 is on the other side of the record and this another quiet, soft tune with more lovely piano and quiet drums like finger-snapping and noises like birds singing or the sound of monkeys far away in the jungle. There are more of the echoing voices on this and I thought this went very well with the music because the music is echoey too. About halfway through the song it all seems to stop and then come back with more drums which sounded a bit faster but it was still all very soft and relaxing. I thought this song was very nice indeed and I enjoyed listening to it with a coffee whilst I did this review.

            Overall I would say that this was a very relaxing and very nice to listen. I think other people who want some music to relax to would like this as well. I would give this record 10 out of 10.