Kiva, A lush, long-lost queer vision
For Mixmag ANZ, I share the liner notes from the Australian duo's forthcoming self-titled re-release.
Selected Works is a weekly (usually) newsletter by the Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) based freelance music journalist, broadcaster, copywriter and sometimes DJ Martyn Pepperell, aka Yours Truly. Most weeks, Selected Works consists of a recap of what I’ve been doing lately and some of what I’ve been listening to and reading, paired with film photographs I’ve taken + some bonuses. All of that said, sometimes, it takes completely different forms.
Kiva, the first and only album from Royce Doherty and Paul Mac’s duo project of the same name, is a sparkling gem hiding in plain sight within the Australian musical canon. Originally released in 1997 by id/Mercury, it offers up a collection of timeless queer pop songs draped in dreamy ambient, downbeat and dub sensibilities.
From the unhurried dub trance grooves that run through ‘Eternity Born’ to the antipodean balearic beat of ‘Sleep To Dream’, the music is the product of a serendipitous meeting of minds between two young music obsessives who crossed paths in Melbourne in the mid ‘90s. Kiva is also a perfect evocation of the futuristic techno-utopian impulses that supercharged the global electronica counterculture during the race towards the 21st century. “I never had these big diva plans or anything like that,” Royce reflects. “It just sort of evolved that way.”
Twenty-eight years later, searching for Kiva online is a frustrating experience. At best, Google will lead you to their Discogs page, YouTube uploads and the odd NTS mention. Although the album is available on streaming services, it has felt precariously close to slipping out of the collective psyche until recently. Now, however, all of that is in the process of changing thanks to Kiva’s first-ever vinyl LP reissue, lovingly remastered by Mikey Young for the Naarm/London-based record label and dance party, Gazebo.
You can read the full liner notes here.
You can also pre-order the vinyl LP reissue of Kiva here.
WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:
Tim Reapers most personal record to date.
A call to listeners who seek refuge in quiet realms.
90s New York dancehall ragga deep cuts for those who know, and those who don’t as well.
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING:
These classic acid house and rave flyers are a UK dance music time capsule: With 15,000 flyers from the golden age of UK rave and acid house in his possession, and countless others from around the world stored on the Phatmedia website he’s run since 1998, collector Dave Nicholson has built an essential archive of dance music’s visual history. His new book on Velocity Press, UK Rave Flyers 1988–1989, is the first part of a new trilogy illuminating this vast library alongside anecdotes and interviews with those who were there. Daniel Dylan Wray dialled him up for DJ Mag to find out more. Read here.
From the archive: At the height of her mystique, Björk cancelled all interviews — except one: With her ‘Debut’ solo album, Björk obliterated the norms of pop, becoming the most intriguing and in-demand star in music. All the attention for someone used to the solitary surrounds of Iceland got too much. But for Mixmag’s November 1993 cover, she spoke exclusively to Dom Phillips… Read here.
FIN.