From Brainwashed web Magazine

Kippi Kaninus, "huggun"
Kitchen Motors

Some of the lucky few reading this might remember Gudmundur Vignir Karlsson as the polite Icelandic guy who opened up for Múm on their North American tour earlier this year. His debut album is the first full-length by a single artist to be released by Kitchen Motors. It might seem somewhat odd for a label whose prior releases have consisted of live and often improvised multi-act collaborations to choose a one-man studio nerd for release, but, for an electronic record, it has an almost undescribably improvisational feel. While the album opens with beat-friendly glitched up numbers, it's not long before piano, looped and manipulated spoken word, and light environmental sounds (like cows) find their way to the mix. Karlsson isn't satisfied enough with the proverbial beats which line nearly every other laptop musician's albums, so a variety of other tempo-keeping devices—including a metronome and what sounds like metal cans and pans—are introduced and take over when the electronic beats run their course. The melodies are pleasant and unobtrusive, with very little surprises, making this a very safe album to have playing on the walkman while enjoying a hot beverage and watching all the crazy holiday shoppers rush in and out of hectic downtown shops. It's peculiar enough to keep the mind active, making up original stories about where people are from, what they do for a living and how couples met. Kippi Kaninus (latin for the muscle that controls the smile) never feels like it's trapped by the rules of chin-scratching glitch or snooty modern compositional piano, and Karlsson isn't afraid to bring sounds in and out as he feels. He's got an amazing ear for the balance of sounds and when progressions need to change and evolve, his only obstacle now is to break free from 3-5 minute passing thoughts and fully develop his melodies into wonderful, full-bodied, buxom songs. - Jon Whitney

From: http: //www.people.virginia.edu/~tas2b/reviews/120202r.html

Kippi Kaninus
Huggun
Kitchen Motors
If you only skim the first few seconds of each track, you might be misled into thinking this is some serious, eggheaded minimal click-and-cut party. But Kippi seems to delight in pulling the rug out from under the listener, as the songs unfold and expand to hint at the artist's fundamental playfulness. The fuzz around a fussy, later-Autechre-sounding beat (track 4) gradually gradually dissolves, revealing itself to be a sampled sitar, which proceeds to dive and resurface repeatedly. Similar transformations occur throughout the album, which is built entirely around the musical bending of bizarre samples that only Kippi (and maybe Einstürzende Neubauten) could have thought of, such as an apple, miked on the inside, being eaten. Only rarely do the tracks hold onto a musical phrase for long; everything is in constant flux, and the music goes where it will, though Kippi's tasteful restraint and careful composition ensure that it never descends into jokiness or airy noodling. Organic, warm, and tuneful.

From Stylus Magazine where is was artist of the week, the last week of feb, 2003

How did Kippi Kaninus get to release his second album for the Icelandic Kitchen Motors label? “Kitchen motors met kippi kaninus on an experimental balloon ride out in Búðardalur, Iceland’s equivalent of Twin Peaks. There he was, just like the kitchen kids, going for a picknic inside the balloon. He had a basket full of red green and yellow jellybeans and that’s when we knew we’d become good friends. He said: “Wouldn’t it be good if we could just ride this balloon all over the world and throw jellybeans to earth where they’d transform into songs when all kinds of people would pick them up as they were going about their everyday lives. Maybe the songs could even add something to their day. They’d be cleaning leaves from their roof gutters when they’d find a yello, red or a green song that would play itself for them and then become their friend.

”” Ah, if scoring a record deal were only that easy in the United States. Whether or not you believe the story behind the record deal, the story reflects more than just Gudmundur Vignir Karlsson’s, aka Kippi Kaninus, penchant for balloon rides. In fact, it’s almsot the perfect metaphor for his music. Light, airy, and fun. Last year, Karlsson released one of the most overlooked melodically driven IDM album, Huggun. Karlsson’s mode of operation is one reliant on surprise. Huggun rarely finishes a track where it began and frequently takes a sharp left turn in its melodic structure throughout the course of the track. These are no real things to be counted on here- but that’s part of the charm. Aside from his recent US tour as a headlining act for Mum and the fact that he uses interesting recording techniques to get the skittering beats found all over Huggun (micing an apple from the inside and then eating his way towards the core), not much is known about Karlsson in the United States. What is known, however, is that Karlsson has crafted a masterpiece of twee electronica that hints at an ability for acoustic sounding instrumentation and an innate sense of classical composition.

A happy concert attendee

mùm
w/ Kippi Kaninus
Wexner Arts Center
Columbus, Ohio
July 19, 2002

We arrived in pouring rain to the Wexner Center for the Arts, but parking was free. The room where the concert was held was a tiny performance space with no seating except the floor. There was somewhat of a balcony at the top of the room but it was awfully dark so I couldn’t really tell if there were chairs or what was happening.

At 10pm, Kippi Kaninus was the opening performer. He played seamless electronic noise music for a good half hour to 45 minutes. It was hard to describe. It reminded me very much of Matmos without the camerawork and balloons. There were a great deal of samples (one was about Mormonism) and lots of interesting sounds. All of the digital and electronic melee were the music. He adeptly manned all of the sounds in all of the right places. He never spoke. Like mùm, I believe Kippi was from Iceland. Everyone sat on the floor for his performance. One person got up and danced in the back corner of the room because he just couldn’t keep still. No one took pictures during his set and I was wary of breaking out my humongous digital camera in case we weren’t allowed to film or photograph the event. So the camera remained tucked in my purse so I have no footage of Kippi. He is now a fond memory and some text right here from my perspective.