Kick Bong-Flower Power (Cosmicleaf records)

Dj Mikadho
http://www.myspace.com/mikadho
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"...Honestly i´m not able to name a favorite track – cause i like them all!
10 beautiful chill out and downbeat tracks and a very nice cover artwork on top.
again another high quality release on cosmicleaf, thanx for it!..."
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Munich Radio
http://www.munich-radio.de/
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"amazing…amazing colorful tunes…intelligent placed samples
…and nice female voices.
This is real good music !

Fluid Radio
http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk
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"We have been lucky enough to listen to the new album
and have been completely blown away by it's beauty.
Without giving to much away we will say that
"Flower Power" is going to be one of
our favourite albums of 2008 and beyond."

this album is quite remarkable, been looking forward for a new Kick Bong Album!! the latest offering from Cosmic Leaf Records, a super nice chill label from Greece!!
Kick Bong \ comes from Paris france, his music to me is so great, nice guitars psy ambience, vocal harmonies over somewhat dub/downtempo/hip hop style beats! also features a couple remixes on here by some labelmates like the up and coming Cydelix remixing the track Landscape in which was originally on the Nova Natura 2 Compilation. Also another track gets another remix treatment from Sideliner, who just recently dropped his latest album in May. this is definately a nice treat for anyone and of all ages too!! perfect for a nice sunny day chilling at the park, or driving through the epic landscapes that we call home!! my personal favorite track already is track 4, which the album is named after!! this track has nice flute harmonies and vocals almost celtic stylings or that of enigma with the transforming style technique applied to the vocals!! and guitar woven throughout the song, i would imagine fans of pink floyd will have no trouble listening to this album!!
"we will say that 'Flower Power' is going to be one of our favourite albums of 2008 and beyond." Dan Crossley on Fluid Radio (http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/)

def cant sell this album at a smoke shop, they would have to rename it as kick aqua pipe!!

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Review by Dj Chlorophil
http://www.myspace.com/chlorodjinnscoloringbook

thanks for feedback and supporting the release,
cosmicleaf greetings,
www.cosmicleaf.com

Mitchell
CRN, 3D World, InTheMix, M:L:R
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"...With Flower Power, Kick Bong has once again woven a swirling tapestry of sounds that find the listener swimming through
a land of aural delights. Peppered amongst the satisfyingly tight melodies are a sea of dubby synths, yearning chants
and soaring, melliflous pipes that are just waiting to be discovered by a curious ear.

Voyaging between reflective whimsy and childlike wonderment, Flower Power manages to become more than the sum of its parts.
It's everything a chill out album should be. Layer upon musical layer has been lovingly crafted by Mr Kick Bong to ensure
maximum listening pleasure. It's a heady blend, and one that that begs to be savoured again and again.
After slaving through a hard week, treat yourself by slipping on Flower Power and feeling the aches and ills slowly melt away..."

Dj ZawHeR
http://radio.powernet.bg
http://www.myspace.com/zawher
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"...It's a collaboration between the typical Cosmicleaf sound and
uniqueness of Kick Bong. It's a gentle magic that you want to be
endless
Both remixes of Side Liner and Cydelix are very sweet and deep.
They'll be played on many festivals and parties.
The album is a masterpiece, this is for sure..."

pur album!!bravo frankee!!

c clair  

yesss ... good luck pour l'album mister

Hello!
c'est cool, merci à vous!
à+

Exellent! Vraiment...

De loin le meilleur album du genre de l'année.
Stylisé,super bien arrangé!..la classe!

Tout le meilleur à toi  Franck!
KEEPS INSPIRED ...

A +  

Virginie

Interview by Minnie


Feature: Kick Bong

..

Kick Bong seems to have now reached a point of subtle distillation which is very apparent in his latest musical delivery. The Album, 'Flower Power' is quite different from Kick Bong's previous album: 'A cup of tea?' which seemed to me to be more psychedelic in nature. This is a fine work of art playing with a continuous melody throughout the entire album's length which in its own cadence flows from a gentle relaxing starting point in the the first five tracks to a darker deeper and more mystical feel in the last four tracks.

He experiments now with more natural instrumentation and moves away in moments throughout the album from the electronic music genre to a more Acid Jazz and Downtempo style.The fact that he was able to maintain a similar melody throughout all the pieces is remarkable. He plays his own natural instruments which distracts us from the synthetic electro sounds we are used to in psybient, and he uses the drums, showing us yet more of his versatile nature.

The first four songs build us up to a deeper and darker revelation of the universe and his own interpretations of life and what we should put into our existence. He weaves a very deep ethnic drumbeat into many of the songs. Each song alternates with the next song being slightly faster or slower in rhythm then the previous one, with one track taking it up a notch to about 120 BPM. There is a very jazzy feel to the much of the album.The introduction to the flute brings us back to nature and makes me feel the very contented person he is. There are positive and affirmative vocals which pervade the album. The guitar-like synth also lends itself slightly to an occidental feeling reminding us tobe mindful of of the present beauty in our lives. Though later on, in the second half of the album a storm arrives which signals to us the change in Franck's viewpoint, the beat starts ebbing back again back to its more traditional psybient feeling.


Franck has a new fantastic new track out now called 'Voodoo Beach' out right now that goes into a slightly faster spin, and begins to direct us again onto a slightly faster downtempo avenue with the drums being used being as if it were Kick Bong's signature seal, and their intensity are still markedly palpable.

Franck wanted to meet at the Bastille in Paris, France. This is a the place of such rich remarkable history and such heartbreaking past I found this to be a curious place for a meeting. With the name of his latest CD 'Flower Power', this seemed like a relevant place to meet up. The Bastille was the old Paris prison that had survived the revolution of the French monarchy in by the people in 1784 and thus we met on the Anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, on July 14, in celebration of the freedom of the French people from the regime. Many famous people including the Man in the Iron mask, the Marquis De Sade, and Voltaire had been isolated within it's walls. Today Kick Bong had arranged to meet me here with a message of peace being engendered through his music.

I must say, this album is full of surprises. Just as you feel you have the continuity of the programming, it switches on you yet again, showing its subtle humor.Upon speaking with Franck, I noticed the awe he has for the cosmos  and for physics in his philosophy.

MinnieM: Do you play your own natural instruments such as the flute,acoustic guitar and drums? Which drums did you use?

Kick Bong:Yes I play the drums (sonor),percussion like the conga and the bongos, bass and keyboard,. I playthe synth and I also sing. A friend of mine is playing the flute.


MinnieM:Who are your musical influences right now?

KickBong: Electro, Trip hop, Groove, New wave, Rock, Acid Jazz etc…

When I was teenager, my favourite bands were the Cure and many more like P.I.L, Killing Joke, and The Police, Prince, Pink Floyd. Also,Trentemoller put out a very good album, and the last Radiohead was also very good! Now I listen to a different style and sometimes I will even turn the radio on and listen to it!
MinnieM: Was it difficult maintaining a similar melody throughout the album through each song? If so, how did you manage to vary the beat, was this by accident ( by chance ) or by design?

Kick Bong:I don’t know if I took a similar melody throughout all of the album, maybe I used the same colour but I hope the style changed (héhé)for the beat I used a loop, programmed it myself and I played real drums. There were no accidents but sometimes they occurred!

MinnieM: I am quoting the voice sampling from one of your songs:

'Yes there is a world is out there, and even if you decide you don't want to meet it, it still going to hit you right in the right in the face.Best you start thinking about the world right now, and what the world means to you. What does the world mean to you?

What does this mean to you Franck? What happened to you for this quote to emerge in your song? You have such a peaceful feeling in your album,and this comes up almost like a warning!

Kick Bong: When I composed and sang I wanted something better to come out of this album for this world, as I simply wanted to spread the word of love. Afterwards I saw a film with Kevin Spacey (Un Monde Meilleur, in French!) and I listened the words, I sampled these words and when I put them on the track, I thought Yes! It’s not bad ! Héhé!

YesI think it’s a bit of a warning but at the same time it’s a good message of love! No?! Hoo!

MinnieM: Which effects did you use to create the breaks you got up till track 4?

Kick Bong: There are several FX like reverb, delay+lfo, filter, but I tend to use moreplug-ins with Cubase SX for the sequencer.

MinnieM:Did you try and get the asian effect on your guitar through the playing of the guitar or after you processed it through software?

Kick Bong: Sorry! It’s not a guitar with asian fx and it's a synth,and after I heard the sound with real synth I then adapted it to my melody, after which I used a bass guitar for the melody.

MinnieM: Oh really? It's a synth? Cool...The words...Love, dust, stars,logical, life.

What was the inspiration for this? By any chance, were you inspired by physics?

Kick Bong: It’s Dark, dust, stars and logical life. I read a book,written by an astrophysicist Hubert Reeves and the name of the book is 'La plus belle Histoire du Monde'. The most beautiful story of the world?

He tells of a story mixed with physical explanations about the world since the beginning of time, and I found it very interesting! He writes about how out of chaos there is order! And in the beginningit was dark, there was dust, there were stars so I think it was logical for there to be life! Héhé!


I sang about that, just because I was inspired by this book about life,space, union and simply how well the book was written.
It goes onto explain how that all things are linked, and just for that I think it's a beauty! We are all stardust.
If you find this book, you must be read it!

MinnieM: Ooh, I usually hear what I want to into lyrics, sorry for getting them wrong, though maybe in the beginning there was love too. I shall keep an eye out for the book, thanks for the recommendation! Would you say that this is a very balanced point in your life, because this seems to come out in through your work?

Kick Bong: Yes, maybe!

With his enigmatic smile, we left our point of discussion where it was at,as it was perfect. Logical, yes, dust....not this album. Thank you Mr Kick Bong!

Interview by Minnie http://www.myspace.com/musicanon  

www.myspace.com/kickbong

BCa fait déjà un bout de temps que l'album est sorti, mais je relance le post, car cet album en vaut vraiment le coup!  
Petite chronique ici : http://www.theclubbing.com/be-fr/modules/reviewreader/review.php?review_id=410

Ou pour les feignasses, juste ci dessous :

Après avoir dégusté la tasse de thé offerte par Franck, aka Kick Bong, avec son premier opus A Cup Of Tea?, l'artiste monte la barre très haute avec Flower Power qui une fois de plus surprend. Le titre Flower Power rappelle le mouvement Hippie réputé pour son pacifisme et la propagation de l'amour, il n'en est pas moins pour son album qui génère également ces valeurs. Avec cet album, Kick Bong a vraiment su garder son style tout en changeant de thème. Flower Power contient des sonorités plus calmes, illuminées et sentimentales en comparaison au précedent CD plus axé sur des jeux de rythmes ainsi que des sonorités plus psychédéliques; "A garden of sound, filled with sonic flowers"...

On retrouve directement dans Something Better, les synthés/guitares et rythmes Kickbongistes, rendant ses morceaux si personnels et particuliers. Il en est de même pour les voix qui arrivent plus tard dans le morceau; Kick Bong a en effet bien choisi ses samples, les a placés aux bons moments et offre donc à l'auditeur de très bonnes sensations. Comme dans A Cup Of Tea?, on arrive progressivement à des morceaux plus rapides et énergiques. Logical Life accélère le tempo et l'intensité pour enchainer logiquement avec In Doo utilisant une rythmique drum'n'bass telle que l'on avait fortement apprécié sur l'ancien A Fresh Air In My Head. Pas le temps de se rallonger, Outside The Mountain préserve bien le tempo breaks pour passer à de l'electro-chill et de la trance progressive avec Duby Cure ainsi que Blissful. On tâchera de ne pas oublier le remix de Side Liner et celui Cydelix qui ajoute, avec plaisir, le track Landscape originalement paru sur la compilation Nova Natura 2.

Flower Power est donc un album qui, lors d'une série de releases chill-out/downtempo peu novatrices, sort du lot en intégrant des influences, samples et rythmes atypiques, puissants et très entrainants.


Une interview (en français ) suivra sous peu.

très bon skeud, il a beaucoup tourné chez moi cet été!

suoer sympa...
par contre 'ai trouvé hasardeuse la phase avec le sample d'electric universe ( the prayer )

keep the good job !