Dreaming of Revenge | 
| Artist: Kaki King
Label: Velour Recordings
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $8.05
You Save: $5.93 (42%)
New (39) Used (8) from $8.05
Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 3235
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 804
UPC: 687480080427
EAN: 0687480080427
ASIN: B0013K6WOO
Release Date: March 11, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Sealed. Ships first class.
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| Tracks:
| • | Bone Chaos In The Castle | | • | Life Being What It Is | | • | Sad American | | • | Pull Me Out Alive | | • | Montreal | | • | Open Mouth | | • | So Much For So Little | | • | Saving Days In A Frozen Head | | • | Air And Kilometers | | • | Can Anyone Who Has Heard This Music Really Be A Bad Person? | | • | 2 O'Clock |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
The diminutive guitarist Kaki King acts her three roles--player, composer, and singer-songwriter--to the hilt on her fourth album. Dreaming of Revenge ricochets between instrumentals and hushed vocal numbers united by King's unerring sense of melodicism and her prodigious, two-handed tapping guitar technique augmented by electronic delays, loops, and other effects. "Pull Me Out Alive" sounds like a pop hit from an alternate universe, with King's softly purring voice flitting between chanted verse and a siren-call chorus. Several numbers evoke gothic forest or moonlit city dreamscapes. In particular, "Montreal," a guitar duet with producer Malcolm Burn featuring ornate layers of acoustic, electric, and steel guitars. King's most affecting recordings are the stark ones like "Life Being What It Is," a ballad about heartbreak and sugarcoated anger featuring King's fragile vocalizing backed only by acoustic six-string guitar. Diverse and exceptional, this disc will win acceptance beyond her core audience of guitar fans. --Ted Drozdowski
Album Description
When Kaki King went into the studioto record the tracks for her fourth album, Dreaming Of Revenge, her producer, Malcolm Burn (Dylan, Chris Whitley, Emmylou Harris), had one condition: "He said, `If someone can't be sawing a log in half and whistling along to the song, I don't want it on the record,'" King recalls with a laugh. And so the bar was set. Burn's mandate was just the push King needed to make her most accessible CD yet. "Even though half the tracks are instrumentals, I feel like I'm writing pop songs," she says. "We really concentrated on the melodies. Everything I write tends to be dense and chordal, but this time the idea was to layer the challenging guitar work under very simple, beautiful melodies. I really wanted them to be memorable." That strict attention to song craft is a logical step for King, whose previous album, 2006's ...Until We Felt Red propelled this dazzling young guitar player and composer, known to instrumental music fans for her finger-picking, fret-slapping, and percussive thumping style, into previously uncharted indie-rock territory. Red found King branching out with songs that featured electric and pedal-steel guitar, horns, and, for the first time, vocals. Dreaming Of Revenge picks up that thread, continuing her evolution from acoustic instrumentalist to full-fledged, multi-faceted songwriter. Previously, her whispery, ethereal voice was used as mainly another element in her sonic arsenal. This time around, King put more effort into both her vocals and the lyrics she wrote for such deeply felt tracks as "Pull Me Out Alive," "Saving Days In A Frozen Head," "Life Being What It Is," and "2 O'Clock," the latter two of which she describes as break-up songs. "The words mean something now," she says. "They're actually telling stories."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 The pop album March 15, 2008
Bartley Hagerman
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
I became a huge Kaki King fan after seeing her perform on The Late Show many years ago. I immediately fell in love with "Everybody Loves You" and "Legs to Make Us Longer." I was not as thrilled by her last album "Until We Felt Red" and most of that was due to the radio-friendly push and the addition of lyrics. "Dreaming of Revenge" is in a similar vein as her former album, except that she sounds more comfortable with her newly discovered pop sound.
That being said, long gone are the days where it was just Kaki and her guitar, working complex miracles with ease. Almost every song on this album has drums and percussion behind her, as well as many other instruments going on. It sounds like she has become "Kaki King's Band" and no longer just a solo artist. She does not have a bad voice, but oftentimes the lyrics simply detract from the music. The beauty of an instrumental song is its ability to evoke feeling and emotion without explicitly telling you what's going on in the song. Lyrics, of course, change that and Kaki is now singing on 1/3 of the tracks. The fact of the matter is that the lyrics do not add anything. Making an incredible guitar song into a poppy radio jam via upbeat, peppy percussion and lyrics about "breaking up" is not what she was originally about, and the new sound does not suit her nearly as well as the sound on her first two albums. One of the things I loved about her music was that, odds were, I would never see people listening to her song on the radio, bobbing their heads to the drumbeat and singing along to her lyrics. The new album isn't bad (I've given it 3 stars because it still dwarfs much of the musical competition out there) and songs such as "Open Mouth", "Montreal" and "So Much for So Little" are incredible and complex. However, to hear her singing along to "Pull Me Out Alive" and "2 O'Clock" simply dulls the experience.
 Guitar Genius Reaching A New Phase March 11, 2008
L. Joe Sullivan (Kansas City, Mo)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Kaki King is a young and very gifted guitarist reaching out....and with "Dreaming Of Revenge" has reached a new plateau...
All the music on this new recording is full of hope and promise reaching out to explore new sounds and new emotions. It fulfills it's promise in spades.
"Can Anyone Who Has Heard This Music Really Be A Bad Person?" Just listen and be your own judge. This is new sounds and styles opening up the listener to a whole new world of music and emotion.
True talent and imagination wins out in this wonderful release. But be your own judge and allow the magik to surround you with the beauty Kaki King longs to infuse your senses with. Enjoy as intended!!!!!
Kaki is King April 30, 2008
H. Adorno (Collinsville, CT)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I'm not a huge instrumental music fan. Yes, I appreciate fantastic musicians, but still I can rarely sit through an entire album of instrumental music (I need a chorus a bridge, etc.). That is precisely why I am so appreciative of this album. I've always known Kaki to be an incredible guitarist, but this album brings her up volumes in my book. Why she didn't sing all the time, I'll never know, because I LOVE her lyrics and her voice. I love this album, front to back... and have NO problem with the instrumental tracks...in fact I love them. Standout "singing" tracks are Life Being What It Is, Pull Me Out Alive and Saving Days in a Frozen Head. Standout instrumental tracks are Sad American, Montreal, Open Mouth and I Need a Girl Who Knows a Map... I just about named almost all of the tracks (and I can't say there is a bad apple in the bunch), which means you might as well buy the album. I can't say enough good about Miss Kaki King.
Worth the Wait March 12, 2008
Thomas Lhamon (Flat Rock, MI United States)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I fell in love with Kaki when "Until We Felt Red" came out. I have been very anxious for this new CD and hoped it would meet my expectations. Thankfully it has. She has continued her track into songwriting (as opposed to her earlier albums which are great, but likely only to appeal to musicians). There is some singing (her little girl whisper is a welcome change from the American Idol wailing everyone else does) that is done very well and fits the songs. Her instrumentals have become more dense and emotional and stand on their own without words. She really has become a force in MUSIC, not just instrumentation.
Wonderful,and it gets better everytime I hear it March 18, 2008
Jason C. Smolesky
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ok, It's easy to not delve deep enough into the latest release by Kaki and dismiss it as a POP album....not true....And these few tracks that could be considered POPPY have way more depth and detail than any generic POP song. All of her music is riddled with these little gems and details that cannot be fully appreciated in a once over.
This latest release feels like she has found a greater comfort with voice and by voice I mean not just her singing voice. But her voice as an artist.
It seems like the last album was really a build up to this one, like she was still testing the water and now..Shes doing the breast stroke in vast Ocean of audio bliss. There is something absolutely amazing about her melodies and rhythms that really speaks volumes and is UNIQUELY Kaki.As far the POPPY tracks go let me say this..These 4 or 5 tracks are actually really great and still have the signature Kaki depth that will easily be missed or dismissed on the first play through."Life Being What It Is" is a beautiful song and has an amazing guitar melody ....POPPY or Not this is a an amazing song...and I hope that these songs will bring people to the album so they can hear the stuff that really showcases her brilliance like "Can Anyone Who Has Heard This Music Really Be A Bad Person"
The music on that particular track really tells a story I close my eyes and I cannot describe to you where it takes me... it is an absolute masterpiece. If you even remotely like the last album, this is a no-brainer_____>Its much much better light years beyond...and even if you are new to Kaki King this certainly a wonderful place to start.
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