The 39 Steps is the latest project from producer, musician and DJ Kato.
Now, while I have to say I hadn’t heard his music before, not knowingly, anyway, I am really blown away by the debut album Coming Clean. Released on May 4 on Bad Sneakers Records (also home to Mr. Beasley, The Lodger and the Rosie Taylor Project) this album manages to mix hip hop, electronica, jazz and film scores in a way that genuinely reminds me of Portishead, Moloko’s first LP and David Holmes at their best (and Lord knows, we’ve been waiting a decade to be able to say that). This is not to say this is backward looking, on the contrary, this feels and sounds fresh to these ears. And as someone who’s always rated bands who aren’t concerned with fitting in, that’s a very good thing. A few people have compared this to Tricky and Massive Attack, but I can’t say I hear it, much as I love those artists. And the 39 Steps is an excellent Hitchcock film…
To hell with people who always assume ‘coffee table’ whenever people put electronica and hiphop in a sentence together (I don’t own a coffee table, it would be covered in aesthetic debris), this is music that has to be heard.
This track is the album’s title track and it’s very, very good:
The 39 Steps -‘Coming Clean.’
Meanwhile, the track has been made available for free download:
The 39 Steps -‘Road to Where? (click on the link!)
Click here to hear tracks from the album. I will post a
And please, I DO want to know what you think!