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  Kiln - DuskerBy Daniel JohnsonNovember 7, 2007 If new age piano god George Winston were locked in a room for a year with nothing but a milk crate of Berlin techno vinyl and a record player that only works at 33 rpm, his daydreams would sound a lot like Kiln. The Michigan trio's records sustain their pastoral tone and lackadaisical energy while still being chock full of programming finesse. And on Dusker, those light-hearted, glitch-baked ambient beatscapes have plenty of sculpted detail for seekers of headphone pleasure. If that sounds sweet and beautifully unengaging in an intentional, Eno-theory kind of way, it is. The problem with Dusker, if there is one at all, is that it also comes faintly stamped with the emotional watermark of a television commercial. This wouldn't be Kiln's fault and, as a gripe, it's already a huge cliche. But a mild confusion has plagued music lovers ever since the initial thrill and shock of hearing the jazzed-out bump of Amon Tobin's "Sordid" lending its energy to a BMW ad. As fringe music continues to soundtrack advertisements, it sets up a classic chicken vs. egg: does a group like Kiln score their grooves with a chirpy half-bliss in order to win the favor of the licensing gods or the other way around? And that enigma is never more tricky than in a track like "Airplaneshadow" where, in between refreshing gusts of crispy synths and airy crackles, you can practically hear the low-throated announcer listing the side-effects of some new prescription drug.
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