Konrad

Humans need water, they need food, and they need shelter if they want to survive. In Konrad’s case, he apparently needs some “Girls Gone Wild” to get along, if you believe his quirky, chant-a-long, electronic ditty. Almost minimalistic in his approach, Konrad’s slim, peculiar arrangements are surprisingly endearing, mixing all sorts of jocular synth notes and fluttering bleeps across a beat which sometimes feels like it’s performed off cookware. The curiously gauche feel makes his come-as-you-are vocals the perfect coagulator to deliver this offbeat, repeat-worthy track.

http://www.alimerickox.com/2008/08/08/this-hand-has-three-fingers-the-dark-romantics-vivian-girls-konrad/
- A Limerick Ox

Konrad has done everything from 8bit to emo to indie to his current electropop project Konrad. His debut 'Loose Canyons' (which comes out August 19th), is really really sweet. its just the mix of electro blips and bloops with lyricism from someone whos sung for all kindsa bands and a little bit of psychadelia a la BMSR. - Aural Satisfaction

Listening to Konrad is akin to strolling through the World's coolest Music store, engaging in a supermarket sweep in which Dauphin Classical Guitars, Moog synthesizers, modified effects pedals, Koto, Fender Rhodes, electric kazoo, various German and Chinese Microphones, tube and solid state pre-amps, and Theremins are deftly tossed into the giant basket and soothed with multi-dimensional, broad spectrum limiter.

http://beatsandblood.blogspot.com/2008/08/konrad-in-canyons-radical-and-loose-on.html - Beats and Blood

Enjoying electronic music has always been an uphill battle for me. For better or for worse, I can’t appreciate on a very deep level anything that sounds like it was pieced with a pirated copy of Reason and a few choice samples. Now that’s a rash over generalization, but sometimes even when I hear the acts that are the reputed pinnacle of electronic music, all I feel is a cold inorganic computer-generated nothingness.
Then of course, there are acts that take electronic music and inject it with a human element. Bands like The Octopus Project and Black Moth Super Rainbow (who we posted about the other day) have been captivating me in such a way for years, and the other day I came across an album that’s been having the same effect: the debut solo album by Jeffery Konrad (under the name Konrad) titled Loose Cannons.
You might know Jeffery Konrad from his previous work as Robot USA, Eggspout, or Nigel Jeffrey, and quite frankly the new material culls elements from all his previous work, mixing and matching them into a compelling blend of infinite musical styles. The album (and this song especially) is backed by 8-bit synth sounds, atmospheric “soundscapes” and even more traditional piano lines. Then of course there’s Konrad’s witty lyrics, which are reminiscent of DFA bands like Hot Chip or LCD Soundsystem.
For as much of a role computers had in the making of this album, each second clearly shows the mark of a human hand. I’d highly recommend it to any fan of electronic music, or any of the infinite other genres that Konrad skillfully draws from.

http://bigdiction.net/2008/08/05/music/konrad-osh-kosh/
- Big Diction

At first I wasn’t sure what to make of Konrad, but the more I listened the more I became hooked. With a strange bio and hailing from a mysterious city in Illinois called Rock Island, which I’d never even heard of (and thought was a joke until I googled it), Konrad’s roots are as unique as his sound.
Utilizing instruments and effects as varied as trombone, a 1974 Yamaha, banjo, military chanting and a circuit-bended turtle toy, Konrad makes music that is completely experimental, but still melodic—and totally addictive. These Nights off Konrad’s album Loose Canyons (released yesterday) reminds me of why I loved the early music of The Faint so much. Girls Gone Wild gets a lot more experimental with a military cadence and a great little turntable scratch loop, but Konrad’s bedroom-eyed vocals aren’t lost and still manage to have me chanting along.

http://creamteam.tv/?p=275 - CreamTeam.TV

Jeffrey Konrad lives and writes music in Illinois, along with several of his personalities. His Alts have spunky names like “Nigel Jeffrey”, “eggspout” and “Robot USA”. And they all produce indie-pop-electronica that sounds familiar and unsettling, in the same way that Grimm’s fairy tales are familiar and unsettling to children everywhere.

Let’s run through a case study:
“Osh Kosh” plays like Beck riding the ferris wheel at Coney Island, after a handful of ‘ludes. Who knew that Beck could sound so fantastically freakish? But this isn’t Devil’s Haircut or Sergeant Pepper or Scarborough Fair.
This is Konrad, and the more you listen to the tracks on his piping-hot fresh new release, “Loose Canyons”, the more distinctly Konrad they become. I swear I’ve heard that sideshow synth a gazillion times before, but add his particular brand of chipper lyrics and glitchy bleepy punctuation and you get something. Else.
Let’s face it … Grimm wrote some scary shit. And there is something indefinably disturbing about Konrad’s whimsical cacophony. Maybe it was a bad night at the circus, or maybe it’s just the odd echos of dreams you can’t remember when you wake up.

http://girlsonic.com/?p=76
- Girl Sonic

Midwestern musician Jeffrey Konrad has gone by many names for his numerous projects, including the fanciful "Nigel Jeffrey" and the straightforward "Konrad." On his electronic-leaning "Konrad" debut, Loose Canyons—released on his own Radical Turk imprint—he showcases many sides of his eclectic personality. The record is wholly unique. He draws from an amalgamation of influences that run the gamut from funk to folk to hip-hop.
On the bouncy "Girls Gone Wild," he deftly marries Hot Chip's thumping electronic beats to Man Man's manic vaudevillian vocals. Konrad's voice is pleasantly reminiscent of Stephin Merritt's uncomplicated baritone. The track "Twinkle Toes" could even be mistaken as a missing track from Magnetic Fields' classic, 69 Love Songs. His unperfected and raw vocals layer well over expertly crafted beats and blips that cruise along at a variety of speeds and moods, making this the soundtrack to a dance party and a lazy afternoon all at the same moment.
- CMJ