Kilo Kish: Downtown pretty
Being female in NYC it’s natural to gravitate toward girl vocals and beats jumping off a city landscape. Being in the crowd at Maluca Mala shows with Das Racist or getting inspired by Santigold’s performance at Bowery Ballroom is a given. Sweating to MIA at Siren Fest in Coney Island or seeing Kudu play her weekly at Nublu. Natasha Diggs’ weekly crate-digging at Mobile Mondays on the Bowery. These are requisite city excursions.
So it’s no surprise a current favorite is Kilo Kish; cute-ing up the boy scene in the LES. Mashing a visual artist’s vision into her music career, Kish is this week’s Sauce.
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Kilo Kish is pronounced key low keesh, like quiche, as in a thousand pounds of buttery egg tart. She hails from Orlando and came to Gotham on an art scholarship to Pratt. More artist than musician (think Karen O and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), she easily connects to a larger audience via fashion and press.
Kish released her new mixtape, K+ this month. She collaborates with local talent Smash Simmons and Flatbush Zombies, and with national names like Childish Gambino and The Internet. K+ is spoken word more than singing. Kish’s bedroom-worthy vocals remind me of Lady T (Tigra from L’Trimm). She is the first to admit she can’t rap but there she is rapping along as the backdrop to runway shows at Milan Fashion Week.
At 22, Kilo Kish is getting nods from Vogue magazine and taking her downtown shine on tour to the UK. Artistic tendencies are showcased on the video K+, documenting an exhibit of the making of her mixtape. She is all subject, in charge of her image and enjoying the ride with her bff Kitty Cash, DJing. Upbeat and sonically smoothed out, these downtown It Girls are easy to get behind.
