The fret-slapper Kaki King is one of the most intriguing guitar player singer/songwriters that I have come across. She has an out of the box approach to playing a guitar. Most guitar players pluck or strum across the sound hole of a guitar, but Kaki goes back and forth from the neck to the body slapping and picking along the way. She at times reverses the "normal" guitar technique. People tend to pluck with their right hand, while she will use her left hand to hammer on or pull off the fret to play the notes and the right to change frets or play a specific note further up the neck.
On her newest album Dreaming of Revenge (March 11, 2008) about half of the songs are instrumentals. Her instrumentals are just as engaging as her songs with lyrics for she can focus completely on her tricky guitar rhythms. Her opening song and instrumental "Bone Chaos In the Castle" should provide enough credibility for her guitar musicianship. Her catchiest song "Pull Me Out Alive" and my personal favorite "2 O'clock" are all on the album Dreaming of Revenge. About 3 minutes into "2 O'clock" that girl breaks it down. A few little gratifying things about YouTube is the accessibility of video clips that possibly weren't seen otherwise. In these couple of clips you get to see the production process of Kaki and her producer John McEntire (Tortoise, Sea and Cake) in The Making of Dreaming of Revenge #1 and The Making of Dreaming of Revenge #2.
Video: "Bone Chaos In the Castle"
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