A new creative duo has emerged with a fresh contribution to the British electronic music scene – the ‘KINO’ EP is the two-track collaborative brainchild of DJ and producer Anish Kumar, and British-Armenian producer Hagop Tchaparian, released February 14.
The ‘KINO’ EP embodies the ‘Part I’ and ‘Part II’ format, showcasing the versatile musical approaches of Kumar & Tchaparian, as well as the finishing touches from Pearson Sound’s mixing. Both tracks compliment each other – ‘Part I’ opens up on a bouncy, rhythmic flow, incorporating rustic elements (hand drum samples and samba like snares) that slightly juxtapose the typical electronic sound, giving ‘KINO’ its distinctive vibe. Around 1:20, the track descends into a faint sombre breakdown that revives itself with the reintroduction of the hard-hitting beat, entrancing listeners and resetting the mood for what’s to follow in the EP.
‘Part II’ similarly exemplifies cultural influences that create an original sound. Heavily featuring the tulum, an animal-skin bagpipe native to the Black Sea region of Turkey, the track revisits the intriguing sonic patterns heard in ‘Part I’. Reaching a satisfying crescendo at 3:20, ‘Part II’ triumphs in communicating an epiphanic feeling to listeners, stripping back the bassline for the last 30 seconds of the track which results in a fulfilling close to the 8 minute-long EP.
Debuting the studio release of ‘Part I’ on Four Tet’s Lot Radio show February 14, ‘KINO’ has been a standout feature of various warehouse venue and festival sets from the respective artists across the summer, including Tchaparian’s appearance at Poland’s OFF festival August 2. In promoting the EP, both Kumar & Tchaparian took to Instagram to share a 30 second videoclip, demonstrating the duo’s creative relationship, and the many locations that have already heard the live execution of ‘KINO’. This includes footage from 2024 UK performances at Manchester’s WareHouse Project, Glastonbury and Lost Village Festival, as well as internationally.
It should come as no surprise to listeners that Kumar & Tchaparian make such a successful innovative pairing – both the British DJs cite their South Asian and Armenian heritage respectively as having major influences on their creative processes. Initially connecting online, the duo have expressed their first project together ‘KINO’ to be the product of many months of idea swapping. In the past couple of years, Anish Kumar has made waves in the UK electro music scene, appearing in NME’s ‘The 100: essential emerging artists for 2023’. Whilst still a student at Cambridge University, his 2021 debut single ‘Little Miss Dynamite’ earned the DJ airtime on one of Annie Mac’s final BBC Radio 1 shows, a hype that Kumar has so far lived up to with the release of his well-received ‘A Mixtape’ in 2023.
Meanwhile, Hagop Tchaparian, an active musician since his days in the punk rock band Symposium, has experienced a newfound success in the techno sphere, releasing his debut album ‘Bolts’ via Text Records in 2022 to huge acclaim, demonstrating his niche in the market through Armenian and Mediterranean influences.
Whilst Tchaparian’s only announced set of 2025 so far will be an appearance at De Onderzeebootloods, Rotterdam May 3, Kumar will be embarking on a few UK shows this March and April, set to appear in London, Edinburgh and Brighton in the corresponding order: March 22 & 29, and April 5.
The collaborative pair also revealed the upcoming limited edition run of white 12” vinyl of the EP, to be released March 28. This will be available to pre-order from Anish Kumar’s Bandcamp profile, as well as many other record vendor websites.
‘KINO’ is available for streaming and digital purchase now.
