Kayo Dot is an avant-rock group originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Unit… Read Full Bio ↴Kayo Dot is an avant-rock group originally from Boston, Massachusetts, United States (now based in Brooklyn, New York) that was formed in 2003 by Toby Driver after the disband of maudlin of the Well. They released their debut album Choirs of the Eye on John Zorn's Tzadik label that year.
Its lineup is constantly changing, but has consisted of Toby Driver, Ron Varod, Mia Matsumiya, Keith Abrams, Tim Byrnes, David Bodie, Dan Means and Terran Olson.
The music of Kayo Dot can not be accurately described by the limiting contemporary genre nomenclatures. Their songs involve complex instrumentation (composed by singer and frontman Driver), generally without refrain. They are substantially longer than typical rock songs, often ranging from 8 to 15 minutes in length.
Kayo Dot's second album Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue was released in January of 2006.
On May 6 2008, they released their third full-length, Blue Lambency Downward, on Hydra Head Records.
Their fourth album, recorded in June 2009, named Coyote, was released on 20 April 2010 on Hydra Head Records. It was later brought out on vinyl by Taiga Records in November 2010.
Their first EP, Stained Glass, was released in January 2011 by Hydra Head, with very little fanfare. It was later issued on vinyl by Antithetic Records in August 2011, with a "de-mix" of the song on the second side.
Their second EP, Gamma Knife, was self-released digitally via http://kayodot.bandcamp.com in January 2012. Antithetic Records produced a vinyl release in June 2012.
Their fifth album, Hubardo, was released digitally on August 2013, with a vinyl release to follow.
Their sixth album, Coffins on Io, was released on October 15, 2014 through experimental metal label The Flenser. It is a concept album, and the first full-length album from Kayo Dot not to be self-released since 2010's Coyote.
Side projects include Tartar Lamb, Tartar Lamb II, and maudlin of the Well (to which Kayo Dot can be considered a spiritual successor, though the two projects now co-exist). Toby Driver's solo album In the L..L..Library Loft is also a Kayo Dot album in all but name, mainly being released under his name due to the record label's preference.
Its lineup is constantly changing, but has consisted of Toby Driver, Ron Varod, Mia Matsumiya, Keith Abrams, Tim Byrnes, David Bodie, Dan Means and Terran Olson.
The music of Kayo Dot can not be accurately described by the limiting contemporary genre nomenclatures. Their songs involve complex instrumentation (composed by singer and frontman Driver), generally without refrain. They are substantially longer than typical rock songs, often ranging from 8 to 15 minutes in length.
Kayo Dot's second album Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue was released in January of 2006.
On May 6 2008, they released their third full-length, Blue Lambency Downward, on Hydra Head Records.
Their fourth album, recorded in June 2009, named Coyote, was released on 20 April 2010 on Hydra Head Records. It was later brought out on vinyl by Taiga Records in November 2010.
Their first EP, Stained Glass, was released in January 2011 by Hydra Head, with very little fanfare. It was later issued on vinyl by Antithetic Records in August 2011, with a "de-mix" of the song on the second side.
Their second EP, Gamma Knife, was self-released digitally via http://kayodot.bandcamp.com in January 2012. Antithetic Records produced a vinyl release in June 2012.
Their fifth album, Hubardo, was released digitally on August 2013, with a vinyl release to follow.
Their sixth album, Coffins on Io, was released on October 15, 2014 through experimental metal label The Flenser. It is a concept album, and the first full-length album from Kayo Dot not to be self-released since 2010's Coyote.
Side projects include Tartar Lamb, Tartar Lamb II, and maudlin of the Well (to which Kayo Dot can be considered a spiritual successor, though the two projects now co-exist). Toby Driver's solo album In the L..L..Library Loft is also a Kayo Dot album in all but name, mainly being released under his name due to the record label's preference.
Void in Virgo
Kayo Dot Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Kayo Dot:
2 A Pitcher of Summer One morning, before the leaves began changing I caught a pie…
3 The Manifold Curiosity It never hurt this much before, And I feel I'm courting…
A Pitcher of Summer One morning, before the leaves began changing I caught a pie…
A Pitcher ofSummer One morning, before the leaves began changing I caught a pi…
Abyss Hinge 2: The Shrinking Armature Meet me - I feel (?) terrified My feeling (?) In to…
All the Pain in All the Wide World Dim light in the bar Makes one look younger Neon lies We si…
Amalia's Theme Delphi it drew us Over the touchscreen Delphi it threw us Up…
Amaranth the Peddler "A thunderbolt in the northern sky... ...and the roaring of…
And He Built Him a Boat Out of the west the evening-colored air Made a music box…
Aura on an Asylum Wall Almost condescending it looks on from inside I feel strong, …
Blue Lambency Downward Beneath the arc of the rounded rainbow ley Whistled the lar…
Brittle Urchin Darkness in the cradle of my heart will never wane Sandstone…
Calonyction Girl Help me, I'm disappearing The doors are breathing Floorboa…
Cartogram Out of Phase On top of the roof I realized that there was no…
Clelia Walking The cathedral buried beneath another cathedral is where the …
Crown-In-The-Muck Nearby the moldering and the stream that gushes from a…
Gamma Knife I cut my pain with the ghost of a knife In…
Gemini Becoming the Tripod The portraiture within me rose up To meet a constellation Bo…
Immortelle and Paper Caravelle Write down your dream of a powder-hill on a foggy…
Lethe He sat with them, but not (in vain)* He sat among…
Magnetism Steal through passageways Like water through fountain pipes …
Manifold Curiosity It never hurt this much before, And I feel I'm courting…
Marathon And so ten centuries solemnly collide Love failed and I have…
Ocellated God "You're all the fucking enemy, Another sign of the plague w…
On Limpid Form In a host of unbarred waterways A man baring scrolls These…
Passing The River Nameless, a boy upon a rough boat He makes his way…
Pitcher of Summer One morning, before the leaves began changing I caught a pi…
Right Hand Is the One I Want Laughter is ceasing, All the coroners of New Orleans Are c…
Rings of Earth Satellites with empty eyes Stalk along The starry countrysid…
Rite of Goetic Evocation The world lies thousands of leagues beneath the Sea In the…
Symmetrical Arizona The Ribbon of the Bell Slipped her stockings straight And …
The Antique Dust fills my Mouth with a Timeless Poltergeist Rapping Ligh…
The Awkward Wind Wheel The wooden lookout seven stories high The steeple at the to…
The Black Stone The eye of Leviathan was swept from the sea The crooked…
The Manifold Curiosity It never hurt this much before, And I feel I'm courting…
The Manifold Of Curiosity It never hurt this much before, And I feel I'm courting…
The Sow Submits Slowly relieve the sow From her revolving white out Releasin…
The Useless Ladder The shamelessly desirous broken heart inside the otherwise e…
Wayfarer Sing to me a romance, sire That splendid trod the starry…
Whisper Ineffable My heart was like a crumpled piece of paper It's been…
Zlida Caosgi The hammer and the chisel from out in the shed Pulled…
__On Limpid Form In a host of unbarred waterways A man baring scrolls These…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
Toby Driver
It is not possible to talk linearly about the different dimensions that are expressed when world becomes sound. Words don’t mean anything. Sounds do. In their incomprehension of ‘mean’, they show the way through, for all that is needed is to be immersed. You go down the path following a smell, something burns in the distance, the earth glows in the dark. Listening is one of the purest acts of surrender, as is the acceptance of struggle, as is death. Making music is complete surrender —a devotion— to the rise and fall, to the scream of what seems to be the end, but reveals itself as the cosmos, a new one. There is a path, but no destination.
Follow sound to break into the fabric of the world. A path without promises keeps you awake, aware, in fear or astonishment. You see what is. In a place where every step is unknown, true mastery is being transparent to show what exists, what is possible. And we are shown there is as much decay as there is evolution, as much pain as there is memory, as much going forward as constantly looking at the past.
Kayo Dot is a creature of many faces. Words and sounds, people, ideas. All looking for something, leading somewhere unknown. An ecosystem, perhaps, responsive to thermal shifts, air currents, migrations. Unique and diverse with struggling forces, drives and cycles, created and fertilized by movement. Aerobic organisms never remain the same. When we talk about Kayo Dot it is pointless to talk about genre. Through listening we are gifted a revelation: there is no concept that can shelter us from chaos. Instead, we’re invited to inhabit a place, multiple places even, that coexist through time and space, to enter the tunnel, to encounter the completeness of an experience.
Toby Driver is our guide, the creative mind committed to the finding and charting of worlds. Around him we have seen artists from many backgrounds, storytellers, performers of every kind. They dwell in the liminal space of the band, a creative circle formed to bring forth a particular vision. Kayo Dot as a universe is enriched by every new hand that comes in to be a part of it. Throughout the years, not only have they shown excellent musicianship, but an expertise in transformation. We especially have to mention Jason Byron, whose words are a primary force of the creation of this universe. Growing from the lineage of maudlin of the Well, Kayo Dot has evolved into the complex organism that it is now. The undeniable presence of history (of the world, of the band, of the individual) makes Kayo Dot’s path full and rich: all the people that were, that are, that will be. All the sounds created, a sacrifce to the art of becoming.
2019’s Blasphemy showed us the ripe fruit from the seed that maudlin of The Well planted: an album can be anything. A novel, a map of the land, the sound of searching for glory, the inevitable loss of innocence. All at the service of sound and emotion —a new story.
20 years have passed since the creation of Bath and Leaving Your Body Map. Signaling the completion of a cycle, Toby Driver pays homage to the band’s beginnings by coming up with a novel take on 90’s goth-doom metal music, the very roots of Kayo Dot’s tree. With Greg Massi doing guitar solos, Jason Byron on the lyrics once again, and even recorded in the same location as the frst maudlin of the Well material, history repeats itself. But this is a very different season, threatened by illness and decay. As Kayo Dot is a project that takes humus from the margins of existence, challenging matter was turned into yet another sound world. Moss Grew on the Swords and Plowshares Alike brings us to the edge of living in a moment of crisis for the sole purpose of looking at the void. An epic in the making, but deranged, without a hero to make sense of suffering. The album, materialized in isolation, takes us into the sphere of archetype, where we see the beginning and the end of everything, the exhaustion of karmic repetition, the stone and the ash, the only reminiscence of a golden past that could not escape the rot. Death fertilizes, life kills. Time isn’t linear. Kayo Dot is a serpent that eats its own tail. This is over so that the story begins again.
–Ana Cristina Pérez Ochoa, March 2021
dblvision
"Bath/Leaving Your Body Map" saw me through a difficult time in my life. To know this new KD album is something of a spiritual successor to MotW fills me with joy. Thank you.
TangoWithTheCobra
Been listening since Maudlin of the Well and preordered every Kayo Dot release since then. Thanks for making music that is always uncompromising Toby.
Eru Ilúvatar
Another masterpiece offering by the eternal Driver.
Emre Karacaoglu
The vocals are especially interesting on this one. The bits towards the end are so cool. Overall the song has a more modern (even reminiscent of post rock) sound to it. Just love it.
H.P. Dominocus
Always loved the bass tone.
Stentron
Favorite from Kayo in a while I think. Excited for the release!
k.Sirin
Невероятно красивая работа. Захватывающая песня.
Germineye Fuhbrick
Toby's music continues to take me to new realms of wonder and dread simultaneous, so stoked for the album!!!
Gian
Getting Wood of Ypres vibes, but also unmistakably KD. Well done, and the video screams Brakhage
The Eyesight Dim
Yes, I was thinking the same thing! The delivery of the chorus definitely evokes that feeling. But yeah, still Kayo through and through.