Album Notes

Kanji School - aka London's Dan Auty - returns with a second album, The Lonely Descent Of Vladimir Komarov. It's a wonderfully chaotic mix of rootsy lo-fi, rowdy power pop and scrappy electronica, recorded in Auty's home studio in North London between February and August 2003. From leonardslair.co.uk, November 2003... "The Lonely Descent Of Vladimir Komarov' is a swift follow-up to Kanji School's self-titled first album released earlier this year. Once again Dan Auty (his real name) has mined another album's worth of leftfield and lo-fi scuzz pop and it's a largely winning formula. 'This Way Leads To Me' and 'Migration Situation' both hit nagging grooves, 'Happy Now' is typically ironic being one of the most downbeat songs on offer and 'Coffee 9am' rattles along in a spirited fashion." From Southofmainstream.com, October 2003... "Kanji School's second record sounds more like a concept record about drugged up British Hipsters and arrested childhood development than it does a chronicling of the first cosmonaut to die in space. Dan Auty, the one man army behind Kanji School, has a good ear for melody. His songs demonstrate an inventive mix of electronically manipulated sound and organic guitars, voice, and drums, a la earlier Sparklehorse records. All the while he keeps the tempo up and the mood light, quirky, and at times cleverly funny. Auty's voice possesses a vague familiarity, as if I had heard it before on a friend's answering machine or at an internet kiosk selling me phone cards. The closest comparison is to imagine a lazier Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs covering old REM tunes; the songs on "Descent" often possess a spoken quality, like you are listening to an old-timer relate stories of his lost youth. While much of the electro-folk of the record is agreeable to the ear, Auty is at his best in his most sensitive moments. His bedroom-style recording is best suited for tracks like "Sherry Pike" and the emotive closer "Down A Hole" - it is these songs that exemplify his smart song writing."