KMRU
Joseph Kamaru, aka KMRU, is a Nairobi-born, Berlin-based sound artist whose work is grounded on thediscourse offield recording, noise, and sound art. His work posits expanded listening cultures of sonicthoughts and sound practices, a proposition to consider and reflect on auditory cultures beyond the norms.An awareness of surroundings through creative compositions, installations, and performances.
Joseph Kamaru, aka KMRU, is a Nairobi-born, Berlin-based sound artist whose work is grounded on thediscourse offield recording, noise, and sound art. His work posits expanded listening cultures of sonicthoughts and sound practices, a proposition to consider and reflect on auditory cultures beyond the norms.An awareness of surroundings through creative compositions, installations, and performances.
forge
*200 copies limited edition* On his new album ‚forge’, ambient artist KMRU explores the blend of melody and noise, rhythm and drone. ‚forge’ marks the third release on Seil Records for the Nairobi born and Berlin based producer. Made up of 10 tracks, the album effortlessly wanders from intimate compositions over field recordings to deep and rich soundscapes. The result feels like a living, breathing organism. Music you can immerse yourself in. Like few others, the 27 year old producer carved a n…
Disconnect
Twin heavyweights Kevin Richard Martin (The Bug) and Joseph Kamaru (KMRU) unite for Disconnect, a powerful study of dread, hope, and profound sonics that marries depth-trawling dub with Kamaru’s voice, ambient sensibilities, and negative space. Kevin Martin first became aware of Kenyan ambient musician KMRU “watching the short 2020 documentary Under The Bridge,” he tells us. “Which, aside from immediately finding Joseph's approach to sound and music so instantly impressive, I also found his spok…
Temporary Stored II
"When KMRU accessed the sound archive of the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium, it catalysed an auditory response in the form of the album Temporary Stored. The album listened back to listen forward – to reckon with the collective inheritance of colonial (sound) archives. Temporary Stored II serves as an artistic and curatorial extension of the original album, inviting other artists to lend their critical ear to museum archives holding recordings of African songs, traditions an…
Peel
*2024 much needed repres!!* KMRU is the moniker of Joseph Kamaru, a sound artist and producer based in Nairobi. One of the leading exponents of the burgeoning experimental music scene in Nairobi and beyond, he was listed by Resident Advisor as one of "15 East African Artists You Need To Hear" in 2018 and is a regular performer at the fabled Nyege Nyege Festival having also presented live performances at CTM festival and Gamma Festival. Peel is KMRU's first release for Editions Mego.
An exquisite…
Stupor
Nairobi-born Berlin-based sound artist Joseph Kamaru, aka KMRU, shares his new work Stupor on the new Helsinki-based label Other Power. Commissioned by the Helsinki curatorial and commissioning agency Publics, Stupor is comprised of three original long form tracks. The tracks on the album are speculative notes to social architectures and environments the artist has traversed.“A musical alchemist, KMRU places his listeners’ ear into a sonic-spatial matrix in which he transmutes his trans-local ex…
Drawing Water
In November 2020, KMRU self-released »Drawing Water«. The release contained 3 supple works of porous resonance and intimate motion, giving way to a very heartfelt body of work that peers directly into the fabric of the everyday; gestures, movement, conversation, rendered graciously into waveform. Now, Vaagner is proud to present a special edition vinyl and cassette reissue of »Drawing Water« via its A Sunken Mall imprint, with the original material spanning the first side of the record in remast…
Dissolution Grip
The inaugural release on KMRU's own fledgling OFNOT imprint, 'Dissolution Grip' is an ambitious project that emerged from his studies at Berlin's prestigious UDK. The Kenyan composer and sound artist is best known for his field recording work, and as he traveled across Europe and the wider world for regular live performances, he made a point to snapshot each city. But the more he studied and the more he examined his practice, the more KMRU began to wonder what the purpose of these recordings wer…
Limen
*2023 reissue* Last year, Kenyan sound artist Joseph Kamaru (aka KMRU) and French digital alchemist Niamké Désiré (aka Aho Ssan) were invited by Berlin Atonal to collaborate on a project for the festival's Metabolic Rift edition. The duo had already been working together, but the offer provided the momentum to shift the conversation into another gear. Initially, they looked for thematic connections within their individual practices that might match Kamaru's meditative soundscapes with Désiré's c…
Random and emblematic: The sound of space
"It’s a pleasure to bring together, on this album, musicians with whom we feel a very special connection, namely Felicia Atkinson, Büşra Kayıkçı, Carmen Villain, Kuniyuki Takahashi, Pavel Milyakov, KMRU, Ana Quiroga, Abul Mogard and Pedro Vian. All of them have been very generous in their willingness to participate in an artistic experiment: to build bridges between architecture and music.
Each of these artists chose a space and translated it into a piece of music, and the result is a sonic kale…