Air + Kilometers – Read the Code (EP)

Alright, folks, it’s time for some energetic madness. The good kind of madness though. Think about drive, passion, restless wandering thoughts in a trippy environment that feels both oddworldish and mysterious, dreamy and razor sharp. This is ‘Read the Code’, the new EP of music multitalent maestro Anthony Rodriguez, better known as Air + Kilometers.

The EP starts adventurous with ‘Amundson’, using slow rhythmic patterns garnered with one-shots, and wind-like textures which feel a bit like what we can listen to when analyzing the winds on Mars. You gotta love the changes between silent sharp passages and the ever-in-motion atmospheric events happening here, the only constant being the steady calm rhythm to keep things moving.
‘Back to the Moon’ contains a bit more drive and excitement. With several elements that keep the atmosphere buzzing with mosquito-esque elements, pulsating wobbly bass synths and quirky synth arpeggios, the track paves its way like a giant space frog. (I don’t know why my brauin chose that picture, but it totally works for me.)

The third track steps on the brakes a bit. In ‘Lost at Sea’ the listener will find warm textures which are enriched with handmade elements like guitars and strings. While this track is probably the most calm I ever heard from Air + Kilometers, you can easily read the signature style out of the tune anyway. I’d recognize this jumpy bass synth along the crystalline stabs anywhere in the music industry out there. Building a dense environment with twisty elements, the track paints a dimmed chill scenario which does the trick in regards to floating textures and slow motion-ized thoughts passing by.

At the peak we’re trying to ‘Read the Code’. Leftfield par excellence, ladies and gentlemen. In an ever changing environment, the track is as atmospheric as it is driving. Seemingly minimalistic at parts, the ingredients are thrown in like a master chef does with the spices in the kitchen. For me, the sound feels like riding a rollercoaster in slow motion – whenever you get used to a certain motion, the tune will change form and pattern. You gotta love the versatility in which the track does it’s thing.

All of the tunes are done with what I would like to call ‘structured chaotic pattern’. (Yet most intensely this can be felt within the last track of the EP.) It’s a controlled form of experimenting, these tracks were designed in Rodriguez’ lab, and once hatched, they just do their own thing. THIS is how music works.

Find out more about Air + Kilometers here:

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Florian Maier

Owner of kms reviews. Drummer. Sound explorer. Music enthusiast. Critic. Writer. Husband. Father. All stacked up in 1.88 m, 84 kg.
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