AT LAST! The Second KUMO album is released. Entitled "1+1=1" (SPOON CD 46) it is the breakbeat master's 1st major release since the critically acclaimed "Kaminari" album, and the first release on Spoon records "Can Connection Edition".
So why the long wait between albums? Well Kumo, our hero, has been VERY busy! Not only on his own material, remixes, international gigs and film scores, but also with Irmin Schmidt of CAN. Principally on the ground-breaking hit opera "Gormenghast" (SPOON CD 44), but also on a live project, with gigs all over Europe as part of the successful "Can Solo Projects", and work has started on a head-to-head album to be released next year. And if that wasn't enough, he's also been hard at work in the studio - in Ibiza with Jose "Cafe del Mar" Padilla - in London with Tim Simenon on a new "Bomb the Bass" album - and in K_ln with Jaki Liebezeit's band "Club off Chaos".
Captain Kumo has been on the road, too.....further missions to Japan, Bulgaria, the U.S.A., and Mediterranean and Northern Europe. All this experience has even further extended the palette of what was already dance music's broadest mind.
Take for example track 3 from the album,"Rescue Tai".....THE drum n' bass track of year 2000, inspired by and recorded within earshot of the Pacific Ocean (and the creatures that lurk in its depths) in southern Japan. Or track 7, "Uguisu"......a dreamlike vision of the south of France where a nightingale raps as the trumpet of Ian Dixon flaps its wings...... Or track 9, "A.E.A".....the ancient sound of the 15 string Bulgarian Gadulka melting effortlessly in a complex modern pluralist world...... ...and that's just 3 of the 12 tracks on offer!

Yahoo! Musik Donnerstag 31. August 2000, 14:49 Uhr / Can DJ bringt zweites Solo Album raus
DJ Kumo alias Jonathan Podmore wird Anfang September sein zweites Album "1 1=2" ver_ffentlichen. Eigenen Aussagen nach, versucht Kumo mit seinem neuen Werk, die Bereiche zwischen Trip Hop, D_n_B und Ambient miteinander zu verschmelzen. Das Material wurde im eigenen Studio in London und im Studio des Can-Keyboarders Irmin Schmidt in S_dfrankreich aufgenommen. DJ Kumo und Schmidt lernten sich bei der Produktion zu Schmidts Elektro-Oper "Ghormenghast" kennen, die letztes Jahr uraufgef_hrt wurde. Seitdem ist DJ Kumo in zahlreiche Projekte aus dem Can-Umfeld integriert. Er produzierte zwei St_cke von Jaki Liebezeits Club Off Chaos. Mit Schmidt bestreitet er ein Live-Duo, bei dem ein klassischer Fl_gel und elektronische Klangerzeuger die Hauptrolle spielen.
Kumo kann auf zahlreiche Kolloborationen mit K_nstlern wie The Shamen, Jamiroquai, Tim Simenon, Jhelisa, Ian McCulloch, Robert Owens, D*Note, Republica, Sunship und Kid Loops zur_ckblicken, bei denen er f_r das Programming und die Arrangements verantwortlich war. (DocRock)

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH / Saturday, Febr. 26 , 2000, Irmin Schmidt - Gormenghast
To undertake an opera based on Mervyn Peake_s novel following the perceived failings of BBC2_s screen adaptation might seem like folly. The result sounds like an imaginary collaboration between Frank Zappa, Andrew Llyod Webber and Irmin Schmidts_s old group CAN - that is, like on overblown epic that courts disaster. That it works so well is a tribute to Schmidt_s ability to mix his styles from _Debussy to Kraut Rock, with a deft irony that deflates criticism. There are also some damn good tunes, especially Rainbow Party with ist beautiful harmony and Oxygen, which lets loose a ferocious mechanical onslaught. Unlike most enterprises of this type, the classically trained voices of the singers do not grate, and with the help of sound engineer Jono Podmore, Schmidt has produced a hard-hitting virtual orchestra by recording and then reprocessing orchestral sounds. Whether the opera manages to emulate Peake_s vision is not clear, but this is an intriguing fusion of contemporary classical compositons, popular musical and avant-garde rock. Richard Wolfson

Q- MAGAZINE - April 2000 Irmin Schmidt / Gormenghast Scary Can keyboardist_s opera , with libretto by collaborator Duncan Fallowell.
Even high art can have a business sense and there_s no doubt that this release is timed to coincide with the BBC_s costly adaptation of Mervyn Peake_s gothic fantasy. In many ways, Schmidt has taken the same unorthodox approach to realising the books as the Beeb: sumptuous and exotic, madly opulent and beautiful rather than the more predictable gloomy and cadaverous. But even more than this, Schmidt_s conception of opera is not a purists one. Steerpike sings rock songs. Fuchsia doomed romantic ballads. But all of the music is a grotesque but accessible melding of electronic avant-garde and dance with more traditional lieder. It_s not as difficult as one might think, but it_s still completely hat stand. Stuart Maconie

N.M.E.30 October 1999"...Like sheets of metal reverberating in mid-air, Kumo delivers skilfully non-cacophonous shock waves of theremin, quantum-leap sampling, jet-engine drones and grand piano flourishes...."

Stadtanzeiger (Koln) 29/3/99 "...Clear structyres, short flighttime, fearless pilots: the duo Irmin Schmidt (piano) and Kumo (electronics) produced a pounding inferno with analog and digital soundsources. One could almost say a continuation of Can. Schmidt also showed real Can teamspirit as he refused to play a (loudly acclaimed) encore, saying "Jaki is going to play now"

Suddeutsche Zeitung "...Schmidt, who used to be the sound architect of Can, co-operates with Jono Podmore, an electronic-kid, DJ and magician at the theremin. Schmidt succeeds to combine Mazurkas, abstract basslines and Podmore"s electronic beats..."

Tagesspeigel (Berlin) 21/3/99 "...Irmin Schmidt and Kumo demonstate that you can trip perfectly without drugs. Of course even the Can keyboard player is a bit older and bigger, but in this youthful Jungle style he still cuts a fine figure...(they) give justification to Can_s entry in the techno lexicon..."

The Wire May 99 "...[Schmidt] was joined by Liverpool-born DJ Kumo, who is apparently the boyfriend of his daughter (they all live in the same house). Their understanding extended to the stage, where Kumo created precise rhythmic backdrops for Schmidt to inteface with. ...One piece built to a crescendo of quite staggering intensity, with Schmidt hammering out a dervish melody, while Kumo grinned like a crocodile as he signalled yet another raise in tempo."

Dazed and Confused Feb. 1997 "... listen to the new KUMO album Kaminari , a tripped out sonic tapestry that sews highbrow classicism, electro and jazz into a frame work of crystal breaks and splintered grooves. Tracks like "7 buckets", or the wilfully inspired "(I hear) Daruma" accelerate swiftly out into the ether, loaded with arrangements that suddenly collapse in on themselves and shower your speakers with a hail of sweetly dissonant textures. "

N.M.E. March 1997 "...Kaminari is a work of the hardest breakbeat science, sharp enough to rip up the fiercest dancefloors but laced with frenzied kaleidoscopic sampladelia..."

Mix Mag March 1997 "...It's the big junglist problem. What to put between the beats?... KUMO simply goes for everything he can lay his hands on to accompany his precision-edged, plutonium-propelled smart bomb brand of beats... ...That doesn't mean Kaminari is a mess. Mr. Podmore, you see, also understands the value of subtlety and understatement and using his considerable studio skills makes sure he gets it.... ...This is technicolour tech-step for the psychedelic drum'n bass set, and its ace." 8/10

Muzik March 1997 "... Ever wondered what 70's prog rocksters Can or Pink Floyd would sound like in this climate of sonic pile-ups? Look no further than scouse groove cadet Jono Podmore, aka KUMO, whose enlightened east-west breakbeat experiments on Kaminari truly merit the tag "progressive"... ... Like Can, confusion in KUMO's books is something to be indulged, not dumped... ... As the mesh of ideas and sounds all converge, Kaminari unravels with acute technical precision... ... The shape of things to come." 8/10

DJ March 1997 "... Unlike the techstep sound, KUMO's take on drum'n bass uses softer, more subtle bass with a generaly more fluid analogue sound, helped along by use of a theremin...This gives many of the tracks an organic sound thats rich in flavour and variety... ... To say it's a new style of drum'n bass is taking it a bit far, but if you long for some more depth and atmosphere in your jungle, KUMO could be just the ticket." 9/10

Single and gig reviews

Mix Mag Feb. 1997 Armed Response "Verily, 'tis Jono Podmore, studio boffin par excellence , with his KUMO project. And lo, blow me if Armed Response isn't a pleasing, clattering drum'n bass choon, with all manner of twittering FX and loony bits popping up all over the shop...This record is cool!"

N.M.E. Feb. 1997 Armed Response "Drum'n bass with rather more sounds to the bassline pound than your averege boomin' basement fare...KUMO deploys a kaleidoscope of frenzied samples over razor-sharp beats for the devastating candy-coated paranoia of Armed Response."

Update (Holland) Feb. 1997 Armed Response "... Dub influences from an unknown planet with floating chords in the background leave the listener totally excited, curious for what's to come...

Music Week March 1997 Armed Response "... The Psychomat release features the long frenetic doodlings of Armed Response , the slower Hubble Eyes and the very dubby breakbeats of Luna . A talent to watch out for." 4/5

Sleaze Nation Feb. 1997 Gig Review "... KUMO's music reflects both his love of beats and his fasination, as sn engineer, for the sound-shaping techniques you'd associate more with techno. And he deftly pulls it all off live too despite the intrusion of our photographers mega-flash which according to Jono actually "gave it an edge". Not that it wasn't razor sharp in the first place."