RDK
Davis White and David Rickert met in the early 1980s through common friends in the Washington, DC hardcore scene. “I was always intrigued by the homemade guitar kit effects that David had lying about ” remembers White, “He would plug them together and make annoying sounds. To my ears this was not music, not even punk music ” (the dogma that true punks eschew effects was felt at the time.) David made cassette tapes of his noise jams to give to friends. Their record collections overlapped only slightly. A Stomu Yamashta album from the late 70s featuring Klaus Schulz was a suprising bond. The album would figure prominently in their eventual collaboration many years later.
Early RDK performances (starting in 2002) at Art-O-Matic, then The Electric Possible and Nutstock, featured their mostly absurdist take on retro bachelor pad music. Nowadays RDK have matured slightly - creating loosely organized patchworks of sound influenced equally by 1970s synth pioneers, spacemusic and modern noise improvisation. Heads turned when they released their irony-free “Undisturbed” ep on Zero Moon in 2006. “I kept waiting for the karaoke part or kazoo solo” commented one listener. A Spanish language reviewer encapsulated the ep as “...nothing really original nor innovating, of course, but incredibly harmonious, deep and evocative, provided with precious melodies and ample and suggestive atmospheres that without a doubt will provide pleasant listening when one approaches without prejudice. ”
Utilizing an assortment of Moog synths, 4MS Triwaves, Reason software, circuit bent original instruments, and pedal effects (as well as David ’s original PAiA kits) RDK will admit that sometimes “the equipment wins the battle.” David is currently building his own modular synth from mail-order kits and Davis is investigating ways to tastefully add light percussion to the RDK sound. Not to be taken too seriously, White reveals “the kazoo is always in my pocket...”