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Kumiss is an instrumental post-rock band from Southampton. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... In the West, Kumis has been touted for its health benefits, as in this 1877 book also naming it Milk Champagne. Kumis (also spelled kumiss, koumiss, kymys; called airag in Mongolian cuisine) is a fermented milk drink traditionally made from the milk of horses. ... An instrumental is, in contrast to a song, a musical composition or recording without lyrics or any other sort of vocal music; all of the music is produced by musical instruments. ... The term post-rock was coined by Simon Reynolds in issue 123 of The Wire (May 1994) to describe a sort of music using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbres and textures rather than riffs and powerchords. ... For other uses, see Southampton (disambiguation). ...

History

Kumiss are a pretentious, mildy crap band formed in 2003 but it took several years for them to find their sound. After experimenting with a singer they settled on their current five piece line-up.

In 2006 Joe White joined the band, to add more guitars, synthesizer and glockenspiel to the core trio of Chris Blakey, Matt Blakey and Josh Carr. Guitarist Chris Blakey met Joe at college and towards the end of 2005 they started writing music together in Southampton where Joe was studying at Southampton University. After introducing him to Josh Carr the quartet had some very successful jams. Joe brought new influences to the music, most notably more electronica and sounds from synth based bands like Air. For other uses, see Guitar (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Synthesizer (disambiguation). ... Most orchestral glockenspiels are mounted in a case. ... The University of Southampton is a British university, with a reputation for quality research. ... A quartet is a group of four identical or similar objects, or a grouping of four persons for a common purpose. ... A jam session is a musical act where musicians gather and play (or jam) without extensive preparation or predefined arrangements. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Electronic music. ... Air is a French music duo, consisting of Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel. ...

The new instruments also had a diverging effect on the band's sound. During the early parts of 2006 the band started to identify their genre. After several well received gigs in Southampton they recorded 'The missing link was previously absent'. This demo was recorded at an influential time for the band as in June 2006, Chris Blakey and Joe White moved into a house in the centre of Southampton with three other people, including Ben Perry who played a number of instruments, but principally the violin. The summer spent at this house in Milton Road, was very productive for the band as everyone living there was a musician. Much of the material for the 2007 ep 'Seventy-Eight Ways' was written at this point. After Chris and Joe's realization of the excellence and extent of Ben Perry's musical ability he was formally asked to join the band. They spent the latter parts of 2006 playing new material and barely any of 'The missing link was previously absent'. The violin added great depth and diversity to the band, resulting in some support slots for well established bands such as Yndi Halda, Rival Joustas, UpCLeftCDownCRightCABC+Start and Yolk. Look up genre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A classical music concert in the Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne 2005 Kasia Kowalska concert in Warsaw A concert is a live performance, usually of music, before an audience. ... The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. ... // Extended play (EP) is the name typically given to vinyl records or CDs which contain more than one single but are too short to qualify as albums. ... Yndi Halda (pronounced YIN-dee hal-DAR) are an instrumental band from Canterbury, United Kingdom. ...

2007 started very well for the band with some headline gigs in Southampton and their first London gig in February. Back in Southampton, they managed to obtain a support slot for Aereogramme at The Joiners, winning over many new fans. In late February they recorded 'Seventy-Eight Ways', their most accomplished recording to date. This was their first recording featuring Ben Perry on violin, acoustic guitar and glockenspiel and displays a much needed maturity from the band that perhaps their previous material lacked. The music is more diverse and less focused on the build ups and breakouts that have become a stereotype of the post-rock genre. Track 3, 'Don't worry it was only a minor problem', sees the band experiment with funk, jazz and progressive elements, sounds barely heard in previous works. Currently the band are promoting their new ep, 'Seventy-Eight Ways', as well as playing headline gigs in and around Southampton. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Aereogramme are a Scottish alternative/progressive rock four-piece. ... The Joiners Pub Southampton The Joiners is a pub located in Southamptons St Mary Street. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, including related musical genres, see Funk (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ... For the Swedish political music movement, see progg. ...

The future of Kumiss

The relative success of the recently released "seventy-eight ways" has encouraged Kumiss to continue promoting their sound.

Followers of the band will have noticed that they have started playing a number of new tracks and there has been some speculation that a second album could be released. This would be the first time the band has released two albums in the same year since the Forward and Kumiss recordings were released in 2003.

Current line-up

• Chris Blakey
• Matt Blakey
• Joshua Carr
• Joe White
• Ben Perry

List of albums

References

• Official homepage
• the-mag