I first heard KKB when Flamingo came on my local NPR station about a year ago. It’s a British girl of Japanese heritage and two British electronic music producers. They’ve created a poppy string of nostalgic #nerdlife tunes with bilingual Japanese/English vocals.

KKB feels like the kind of project idea you’d come up with while drinking with your friends. Except they executed it. They also seem to have shot a ton of music videos, which proves that their dedication is not just to the music but to the aesthetic.

In order, I would recommend listening to:

Bonito Intro

This song features japanese overdubs and an obvious classic JRPG intro themesong ripoff, showcasing just how truly nerdy they are (I got chills.)

Sick Beat

Off “intro bonito,” their first album. Pretty classic Bonito. It uses a sample from Super Mario 64, once again landing this album in “nostalgia” territory. They’re probably pretty inspired by vaporwave. This album was released in 2014. Favorite line:

It’s often said I should get some girly hobbies instead. But that thought fills me with dread. I’m not in to sewing, baking, dress-making Not eating, bitching, submitting

Flamingo

This is the real banger. Off their second album (2016). At this point they shifted focus from a niche gamer-nerd reference band to writing positive songs that appeal to a general audience (sell outs!) Key points:

The instrumental part with the flute is the epitome of quirky.

The chorus lyrics appeal to a mass audience.

Black, white, green or blue, show off your natural hue. flamingo, oh oh owoah if you’r multicouloured thats cool too. You, dont, need to change its boring being the same flamingo, oh oh oh Your pretty either way.

Trampoline

The instrumentals have settled down significantly in this song, it appears to be mostly about the vocals at this point.

“First you fall down, then you jump back up again. Find your rhythm, momentum is the key.” “Don’t forget to bounce.”

Conclusion

I like to compare this band to Linkin Park. They started out dedicated to an aesthetic, created an innovative combination of two genres, came out swinging, and produced two epic albums with a ton of music videos. They were really edgy when they started, and slowly changed their aesthetic / lost their edge. It’s their choice if they want to keep going, but I’m not optimistic on future albums. They have done a good job with this project, and it will go down in history as a string of two amazing albums produced by a talented group.