Ektoise

Ektoise is an experimental rock band from Brisbane, Australia. The group is led by multi-instrumentalist Greg Reason, and has featured a shifting line-up since first forming in 2007. Known for combining elements from a multitude of different genres, Ektoise perform with a vast assortment of instruments including guitar, kemanche tarhu, laptop, piano, acoustic and electronic drums, synthesizers, saxophones and electronic devices.
History
Initially forming as Purity Device, the group issued numerous CD-Rs before changing name to Ektoise in 2010 . The group used the name change as an opportunity to start afresh, deleting all prior releases and issuing a substantially reworked version of their debut album shortly afterwards.. The group first attracted international attention with the release of Remix/Reform, a remix album that featured contributions from Bola and The Black Dog, both underground UK Electronica acts that came to prominence via Warp Records.
Coil producer Danny Hyde contributed two remixes to EP Remember Well, which the group dedicated to Peter Christopherson following his unexpected passing in November 2010 . The EP is notable amongst the group's catalog for being their only release with prominent vocals, although Reason stated in a recent interview with 4ZZZ FM that the group's next album would be composed entirely of vocal material .
The group's most recent release is sophomore album Kiyomizu, which is named after Kiyomizu-dera, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan that features in much of the group's album art. The album was described by music critics Ear Milk as an "all-out urban decay soundtrack" , and "one of the most interesting things you'll hear this year" by 4ZZZ FM, despite the same reviewer commenting that the record "does almost struggle to reconcile all that it's got" .
Style
Ektoise are known especially for their innovative blend of different genres. A review of an EP released in 2008 under the Purity Device name noted similarities to Coil, Autechre, Ulver and Nine Inch Nails , while Chris Downton writing for Cyclic Defrost compared the group to such vastly dissimilar artists as Ligeti, Amon Tobin, My Bloody Valentine and Cannibal Corpse . The group themselves have often cited Coil as their primary influence, which was reinforced when Reason paid tribute to Peter Christopherson from Kyoto, where he and Hik were on holiday when they heard the news of his passing.
Despite this, the group is renowned for combining these elements in such a way as to not sound derivative of other artists. "They do not follow any pre-conceived formula", Ear Milk assert, noting the groups' "modulating timbres, cinematic textures, slow volume swells, and feedback galore" . "This is not a band concerned with genre restrictions or labels," states Wasfuersohr, continuing "songs
freely flow from one time signature into another, totally changing musical landscapes along the way" .
Discography
Studio albums
* Ektoise (2010)
* Kiyomizu (2011)
Remix albums
* Remix/Reform (2010)
EPs
* The Thought Police (2010)
* Subsea Mixes (2010)
* Remember Well (2011)

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