K.U.K.L. Albums (2)
'Holidays in Europe (The Naughty Nought)'
Release Date 1/1/1986
Tracks 8
Label Crass
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
So named after a European tour inspired the band to record an album based on its travel experiences, Holidays in Europe is anything if not an emotionally draining record. Working with an even wider palette of colors at the band's disposal (with samples, exotic synths, and various delays added to the bag of tricks), Kukl has somehow crafted a record that makes its dense debut seem like a picture book by comparison. Indeed, if The Eye was a record that flirted with lunacy, then Holidays in Europe is gunning to chew right through the wrist restraints. Although the intensity and ambition are hard to deny, it's obvious that these songs are the product of a band at odds with itself. With internal sabotage evident at every turn, Kukl would not last much longer; some of the group's core members would go on to form the buoyant Sugarcubes as a reaction. ~ Mark Pytlik, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
With its scattered guitar squalls, blood-boiling squeals, and scattershot rhythms, this record may strike casual Sugarcubes/Björk purveyors as practically impenetrable. Indeed, although assembled as a sort of Icelandic indie supergroup, Kukl never made music that could be deemed in any way accessible; on first listen, The Eye is a patently draining affair seemingly devoid of any coherent structure. Repeated spins, however, unearth a highly sophisticated aesthetic that borrows evenly from punk, noisecore, avant garde, and good old-fashioned indie. Although highly discordant and often atonal, it's a curiously engaging record, aided in part by Björk's darkly emotive vocals and the presiding, almost mythical, sense of impending lunacy. It may not be for everyone, but this is gutsy, non-conformist music as authored by one of the most passionate, intense bands in Iceland's esteemed history. ~ Mark Pytlik, All Music Guide
