Kraus – A Journey…7″ EP

PF-001

Palto Flats vinyl 4 song 7″

Press

Foxy Digitalis
“Kraus’ EP is the first release from the Palto Flats label, and it adds an appealing layer to the stew with an ethnic tint. Recorded (one assumes) directly to tape in the vintage manner, Kraus’ tinny speed-picked guitar solos and blown-out hypnotic grooves are similar to the vintage 45s that wind up on compilations of vintage African and Asian rock. If those frequently delicious tracks are considered rock, then Kraus is presenting a warped version of post-rock: instrumental tunes using the basic building blocks of the original songs, oblique references, toying with time and structure. In this case, the quartet of tunes offers a beguiling alternate-universe portrayal of vintage ethnic pop.”

New Zealand Listener
“Auckland’s Pat Kraus is one of the most quietly important and interesting people making music in New Zealand. With Flying Nun’s recent 30th anniversary, much fuss has been made of New Zealand music lately. But surely the last thing anyone wants is yet another sluggish and bloated reunion from the Verlaines. A little digging beneath the surface will reward you with cheerfully subterranean and thrilling artists who are actually national treasures.”

Blastitude
“Kraus has been kicking around the underground for a bit now… we first wrote about him a couple years ago, and apparently he’s also the drummer in The Futurians, whose Spock Ritual album was so good I’m going to have to pull it back out right now. I think I even heard that Kraus and the 90s-00s New Zealand noise/tapes/Bananafish stalwart known as Witcyst might be one and the same person. I don’t think it’s true, but both are certainly one-man projects, although Kraus is a lot more song-based and rock’n’roll than the outer limit noise of Witcyst. Still very strange stuff, all instrumental (as far as I’ve heard), oddly uplifiting, oddly cinematic, but with grungy weird distorto tones. In addition to a bunch of tapes and CDRs, he released an LP about a year ago which I have not seen nor heard. However, this new 7-inch single landed in my lap the other day, and it picks up right off where the earlier material I did hear left off, if anything in a still more direct and accomplished manner, a fine introduction to the man’s work, cheaper than the LP.”