I recently accepted a job to teach music at the Belle Fourche High School in Belle Fourche, SD. After a brief hiatus, I am finally, once again, working on the new album, The Age of Roaches. I will be releasing tracks from this album as they are completed, with the first tracks appearing before the end of the year. This album has been a long time in the making. I hope you enjoy it.
It is with unreserved joy that we announce the release of the new album, Denervation, on Graveface records. We will celebrate the release at Icehouse in Minneapolis on February 10th, 2018. Tickets are available here - https://www.icehousempls.com/…/2/10/kid-dakota-album-release. We will be joined by a very special guest that will be announced in late January.
Darren Jackson, aka Kid Dakota, began writing the songs for Denervation, his fifth full-length studio album, and first in over six years, while convalescing in a hospital bed in South Dakota in 2014. What began as a brief summer vacation at his parent’s house in the Black Hills, turned into an extended nine month stay after he fractured his pelvis in a horrific bicycle accident. The blunt force trauma also caused severe nerve damage, which made it questionable whether or not Darren would ever be able to walk again without a brace. Understandably, Darren was in a very dark place. To cope with the crippling depression, Darren started writing the songs that would eventually constitute Denervation.
After making some rough recordings, Darren sent the demos to longtime friend and producer John Kuker, whom he had worked with on previous Kid Dakota recordings at Seedy Underbelly in Minneapolis, MN. John immediately recognized the raw potential in the demos and suggested that Darren come and make the album at Pachyderm, the fabled recording studio in Cannon Falls, MN that John had recently purchased and renovated. John also suggested that Darren enlist Matthew Kazama of Birthday Suits to play drums. Darren agreed and got on a plane for Minneapolis in December, 2014. The guitar and drum duo then spent two weeks woodshedding the new material before heading into Pachyderm in January of 2015. After three days of tracking, they had the basics of Denervation in the bag and planned to finish the album at John’s studio in Los Angeles that spring. Tragically, however, John died from a heart attack on February 2nd, and the record came to standstill.
Born out of Darren’s attempt to come to terms with the trauma of his bicycle accident, the album was now inexorably linked with the death of one of his best friends. It was only after getting married and moving back to Minneapolis in the summer of 2017 (Darren had lived in Minneapolis from 1999-2010 but left to teach music in rural South Dakota and ultimately ended up pursuing a Ph.D. in philosophy and film at Virginia Tech) that Darren began to muster the fortitude to finish what John and he had begun over two years prior. To aid him in this endeavor, Darren called upon both some long standing musical conspirators (Martin Dosh, Andrew Broder, and Alan Sparhawk), as well as some new (Johnny and Molly Solomon, Jeremy Ylvisaker, Jeremy Messersmith, Todd Trainer, and Dave Simonett). The result is a intensely personal record that addresses the subject of loss from diverse perspectives. From the loss of the use of limbs in the title track, “Denervation,” to the loss of the people closest to one in “The Convalescent” and “The Nurse,” to the loss of expectation and optimism in “Hope,” to the lose of one’s ability to deal with reality without the help of medication in “Pills,” Denervation is a visceral picture of the experience of the initial shock of trauma and its lingering effects.
This album is dedicated to the memory of John Kuker.
Photo: Brock Davis
Design by Justin Korhonen
Some albums were meant to be heard on vinyl. So Pretty is one of those albums, and that’s why we’re reissuing it as a 2LP on 180g of black vinyl. Originally released in 2002 on LOW’s record label, this reissue will include two previously unreleased tracks (Down to Get ’Em and Blackout) from the “So Pretty” sessions in the summer of 1999. The track listing will be as follows:
RECORD 1
Side A
Crossin’ Fingers
Smokestack
Bathroom
Side B
So Pretty
Summer Cold
Pairin’ Off
Coalminer
RECORD 2
Side A
The Overcoat
Down’ to Get ’Em (Up to Do ’Em)
Blackout
Side B
So Pretty (4-track)
Smokestack (4-track)
The Lonely Gogoljack (4-track version of The Overcoat)
Included with the double album will be a digital download code, which will include high resolution mp3s of all the songs on the double vinyl as well as 4-track demo versions of Bathroom, Pairin’ Off, Down to Get ‘Em (Up to Do ’Em), and Blackout. If you haven’t been keeping count, that’s sixteen total tracks.
In the store, you will find original, hand-written lyrics, notes from the sessions, original artwork, and promotional material from the release of the album in 2002. There will also be lots of new So Pretty swag and opportunities to have me and my band perform So Pretty for you and your friends!
I chose PledgeMusic for this campaign because it is a fabulous platform for sharing content with fans. Included with every pre-order, whether it be the AccessPass, or any other item (all of which include the AccessPass) are weekly videos of myself and others talking about the songs, the recording process, the artwork, etc. There will also be exclusive videos of me and others in the studio putting the finishing touches on the two unreleased tracks.
If this album has affected you, I hope you will share this campaign with your friends. This project would not be possible without your support, so thank you for making it happen!
This coming Sunday, we will be playing at the 2nd annual Ramen Kazama Ramen at Ramen Kazama in Minneapolis, MN. Ramen Kazama is owned and operated by Matthew Kazama. This show is special for me as Matthew is the drummer featured on my upcoming release, "Denervation." We're fortunate to take the stage with some of Minneapolis finest, so please don't miss it.
Welcome to the work in progress that is my new website. The background images are photos I took of rusting telephone poles in Northeast Minneapolis. I am fascinated with rust, and although I'm not one to whole-heartedly endorse a simple distinction between nature and culture, rusting metal can nevertheless be profitably seen as a beautiful site of contestation between humans and the environment in which they dwell.
I am going to try and update this site frequently as Kid Dakota has a lot of proverbial irons in the proverbial fire. First and foremost, my new album - Denervation - will be released on Graveface Records in the United States and Devilduck Records in Europe on January 19th, 2018! I have been working on this album for quite some time and am very excited for the world to hear it. Not having released an album since 2011, it's time to get back in the musical game. There are many other exciting projects in the mix, so stop by again sometime soon!
Please visit my Bandcamp page to purchase music and merchandise.