On Tour With: Mount Kimbie

In our regular feature, we ask artists and musicians—whose work entails traveling the world—about some of the favorite places they’ve discovered. This time, we join the textural, electronic-indie duo who play the sold-out EB Festival in Dresden this weekend. Above: Mount Kimbie at EB Festival Podgorica 2013 by Ivana Bozovic.

Mount Kimbie have been around the global block once or twice by now. Since the release of their critically acclaimed debut album Crooks & Lovers in 2010, the London duo—consisting of Dominic Maker and Kai Campos—have played sold out gigs everywhere, ranging from Moscow to Mexico City and Tokyo. Their experiences of a few years on the road are clearly audible in the follow-up album Cold Spring Fault Less, released in May this year, as their trademark ambient and post-dubstep informed sounds have grown more lively and monumental, as if composed more for vast spaces rather than small enclaves. In advance of their performance at our sold-out festival in Dresden, we took the opportunity to ask them about some of their experiences on the road at their performance at our festival in Podgorica, Montenegro this past September.

Favorite restaurant:
Uoshins – Tokyo, Japan

Kai Campos: It’s a sushi place on the edge of a fish market in Tokyo which is pretty famous, I think; we had to queue for three hours to get in. We got there at seven and got in at ten, but it was worth it. That was the only place that we went to the first time and then made an effort to go again. Everything else we tried to do new things. We had quite a bit of time off there, and we had some great people showing us around, and we just all felt really good. Even the dive places, everything’s just so fresh because there isn’t a culture of being able to get everything all the time, they do simple and seasonal things really well. Some of the stuff was moving before we ate it, it was good. Also, the culture of eating over the course of a very long time, eating lots of small dishes, everyone passing stuff around and sharing, having a communal experience, and stopping for a bit, having a drink and talking, eating some more.

Favorite venue:
The Golden Pudel – Hamburg, Germany

Dominic Maker: We played a couple of times and had a really good time. It’s the kind of place that whenever we go back to Hamburg, it doesn’t matter what we’re doing or where we are, we always have a conversation about going there. The people who work there are fantastic. It’s got so much character to it and it’s quite a unique space because you don’t really care if it sounds good or not because it’s all atmosphere in there.

KC: It’s pure. We were doing a festival near Hamburg and it was the least pure thing in the entire world, a really depressing experience. We came off stage and were like, “This is shit,” everything that’s wrong with festivals. And then we were like let’s just go to the Pudel, we had all our gear and said, “Let’s just do a gig!” So then we put on Twitter that we were going to play in an hour and we got far too drunk to, in a normal situation, play. But we just set up a few things on crates and played. It’s like, there’s no bullshit that went along with it, it cost two euros and people had a good time because they weren’t going to see this band, it was good. It can’t be like that all the time and we choose to do these massively corporate events as well because it’s part of the life, but it’s nice to also be reminded of music for the sake of music.

Tourist attraction:
The Golden Gate Bridge – San Francisco, USA

KC: There’s a promoter who we always work with in San Francisco who goes the extra mile every time we’re there. He’s very enthusiastic and took us to see everything in San Francisco and just hanging out at the Golden Gate Bridge with those guys was a good laugh. And it’s a pretty amazing way to see the whole of the city and the surrounding area, Alcatraz.

Favorite shop:
Army & Navy – Outlets throughout Canada

KC: I’m looking forward to going back to Canada to go to Army & Navy which is a budget clothing store, really, really cheap, you just go to buy socks, I guess. They have these white t-shirts—I’ve become a big fan of plain white t shirts, and they have the best. I only bought one and I knew at the time I should’ve stocked up. We were in the US for the rest of the time and thought I could go but it turns out they’re only in Canada. We’ve got one date coming up and I’m going to Army & Navy and buy a suitcase of these white t shirts.

Favorite Hotel:
? – Singapore

DM: We went to a pretty nice hotel in Singapore. It was really, really hot, it must have been about 40 plus and they had a beautiful pool, breakfast buffet, and tennis courts outside, which we could use at any time. We played and it was a bad idea, it was eighty percent humidity, so like playing underwater. That hotel definitely sticks out.

KC: I’ll tell you what are not good hotels. The ones people say are good for musicians. There’s one in Amsterdam where all the furniture are Pelican cases and the light in the ceiling’s a snare drum. I don’t want to see this. There’s that German one too, the Michelberger; it’s alright but I hate being told I’m going to love it because you’re a musician. It’s bullshit. ~

Published November 07, 2013. Words by jannik.