KMRU
{{Short description|Kenyan ambient musician}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
File:KMRU Interview Aug 2021.jpg
Joseph Kamaru, better known as KMRU, is an ambient musician. He was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and later relocated to Berlin, Germany.
Musical career
As a child, Kamaru played the guitar and sang in a choir.{{r|pfint}} He first discovered electronic music in high school, after finding a copy of FL Studio on the school's computers.{{r|pfint}}
Kamaru is known for being prolific;{{Cite web |date=2021-03-10 |title=Explore the Intimate Discography of Ambient Producer KMRU |url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/kmru-discography-list |access-date=2024-08-03 |website=Bandcamp Daily|last1=Wray|first1=Daniel Dylan}} he published almost twenty releases on Bandcamp between 2017 and 2021.
Kamaru was part of an Ableton Live ad in 2019, in which he recorded field recordings from a broken piano.{{Cite web |last=Nguyen |first=Kevin |date=2020-12-20 |title=This was a good year to listen to ambient music, whatever that is |url=https://www.theverge.com/22175193/ambient-music-2020-pandemic-quarantine-at-home |access-date=2024-08-03 |website=The Verge |language=en}} His 2019 extended play Erased used piano, field recordings, and synthesized drums. In 2020, Kamaru released the albums Saal, Peel, Opaquer and Jar. Released on Editions Mego, Peel was created in 48 hours and blended organic and synthetic textures. In 2022, Kamaru toured with Big Thief.{{Cite web |last=Merucci |first=Mike |date=December 16, 2022 |title=The Art of Listening {{!}} An Interview With KMRU |url=https://impact89fm.org/115364/music/the-art-of-listening-an-interview-with-kmru/ |access-date=2024-08-03 |website=Impact 89FM}} The same year, he released a collaborative album, Limen, with Aho Ssan. In 2023, Pitchfork described Kamaru as a "widely referenced figure in contemporary electronic music".{{Cite web |last=Weidenbaum |first=Marc |date=October 4, 2023 |title=KMRU: Dissolution Grip |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/kmru-dissolution-grip/ |access-date=2024-07-29 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}
In 2023, he released Dissolution Grip, which represented a sonic shift away from field recordings.{{Cite web |last=Crossland |first=Jake |date=September 25, 2023 |title=KMRU - Dissolution Grip - Album Review |url=https://www.loudandquiet.com/reviews/kmru-dissolution-grip/ |access-date=2024-07-27 |website=Loud And Quiet |language=en-US}} The album received critical acclaim from the publications Loud and Quiet and Pitchfork.
Personal life
His grandfather, also named Joseph Kamaru, was a well-known benga musician.{{Cite web |last=Schoop |first=Eli |date=2023-09-29 |title=KMRU, Dissolution Grip |url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/album-of-the-day/kmru-dissolution-grip-review |access-date=2024-07-27 |website=Bandcamp Daily}} After his death in 2018, the younger Kamaru reissued some of his albums, attempting to introduce a new audience to his music.{{r|pfint}}{{r|:0}}
Kamaru was born in Nairobi, Kenya.{{r|:0}} He later moved to Berlin, Germany, in October 2020. He moved to begin attending Universität der Künste for a Master's program of Sound Studies and Sonic Arts.{{Cite web |last=Sherburne |first=Philip |date=2021-04-27 |title=Meet KMRU, the Ambient Musician With His Ear to the World |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/rising/meet-kmru-the-ambient-musician-with-his-ear-to-the-world/ |access-date=2024-08-03 |website=Pitchfork |language=en-US}}
Discography
= Albums =
- Euphoria (2017)
- Variations [Installation] (2019)
- Saal (2020)
- Variations [Radiophonic] (2020)
- Peel (2020)
- Jar (2020)
- Logue (2021)
- Temporary Stored (2022)
- Don't Linger They Might See You (2022)
- Epoch (2022)
- Glim (2023)
- Dissolution Grip (2023)
- Stupor (2023)
- Natur (2024)
= Collaboration albums =
- Peripheral with Echium (2021)
- Limen with Aho Ssan (2022)
- Disconnect with Kevin Richard Martin (stylized as KRM:KMRU; 2024)
= EPs =
- Noize (2017)
- Erased (2019)
- OT (2019)
- Luft (2020)
- Continual (2020)
- Odra (2020)
- Drawing Water (2020)
- Ftpim (2020)
- Inter Alia (2021)
- As It Still Is (2021)
- There Was Nothing in Between (2022)
- Imperceptible Perceptible (2022)
- Windbags/Lune (2024)