ow did Kippi Kaninus get to release his second album for the Icelandic Kitchen Motors label? “Kitchen motors met kippi kaninus on an experimental balloon ride out in Búðardalur, Iceland’s equivalent of Twin Peaks. There he was, just like the kitchen kids, going for a picknic inside the balloon. He had a basket full of red green and yellow jellybeans and that’s when we knew we’d become good friends. He said: “Wouldn’t it be good if we could just ride this balloon all over the world and throw jellybeans to earth where they’d transform into songs when all kinds of people would pick them up as they were going about their everyday lives. Maybe the songs could even add something to their day. They’d be cleaning leaves from their roof gutters when they’d find a yello, red or a green song that would play itself for them and then become their friend.””

Ah, if scoring a record deal were only that easy in the United States. Whether or not you believe the story behind the record deal, the story reflects more than just Gudmundur Vignir Karlsson’s, aka Kippi Kaninus, penchant for balloon rides. In fact, it’s almsot the perfect metaphor for his music. Light, airy, and fun. Last year, Karlsson released one of the most overlooked melodically driven IDM album, Huggun. Karlsson’s mode of operation is one reliant on surprise. Huggun rarely finishes a track where it began and frequently takes a sharp left turn in its melodic structure throughout the course of the track. These are no real things to be counted on here- but that’s part of the charm.

Aside from his recent US tour as a headlining act for Mum and the fact that he uses interesting recording techniques to get the skittering beats found all over Huggun (micing an apple from the inside and then eating his way towards the core), not much is known about Karlsson in the United States. What is known, however, is that Karlsson has crafted a masterpiece of twee electronica that hints at an ability for acoustic sounding instrumentation and an innate sense of classical composition.

Quick Facts:

Current members: Gudmundur Vignir Karlsson

Location: Reykjavík, Iceland

Style: Melodic IDM

Labels Appeared On: Kitchen Motors

Major Releases:

Huggun (2002, Huggun)