KTU (pronounced "K2") is:
Trey Gunn - Warr guitar
Kimmo Pohjonen - accordion, voice
Pat Mastelotto - beats, noises, rhythmic devices
The second KTU album, a studio recording entitled Quiver, was released in Europe by Rockadillo Records Finland and Westpark Music Germany in spring 2009.
Disk Union released Quiver in Japan in March, 2009. Note: the Japanese release features two bonus tracks "Frankenstein" and "Saffron Tears", both pieces constructed and mixed by Pat Mastelotto.
The American release of Quiver was on May 1, 2009 by 7dMedia.
Quiver was recorded at The Zone studios, Dripping Springs, Texas in 2007 and 2008, production by KTU, engineered by Pat Manske. Additional recordings were made in Seattle and Helsinki. The album was mixed by KTU and Petri Majuri at Seawolf Studios, Helsinki in autumn 2008 with additional mixes of three pieces by Steven Wilson at No Man's Land Studios, UK. All music was composed by the various band members and arranged by KTU. Samuli Kosminen provided additional percussives and sounds.
News flash: Quiver was picked in the Best of 2009 list by Total Music Magazine. Also on the list are CDs by Animal Collective, Van Morrison, Prefab Sprout, Mars Volta and Ian Hunter. Quiver was also picked in Finland's national daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat in the Critics' Choice favourite albums selection of 2009.
The original KTU band formed in 2001 was a quartet with Kimmo Pohjonen and Samuli Kosminen (Kluster) and Pat Mastelotto and Trey Gunn (from King Crimson and duo TU).
Accordion dynamo Kimmo Pohjonen and sampling guru Samuli Kosminen formed Kluster in 2001. Both Both award-winning musicians are known as adventurers in their respective fields and their partnership takes accordion music to new and unexplored territory. On stage, Kosminen reproduces samples of Pohjonen's accordion and voice percussively by way of electronic drum pads. Samuli also drums with Icelandic band MuM, and other recent Kluster collaborations include Uniko with Kronos Quartet and Proton String Quartet. Kosminen departed KTU in 2007 but continues with Kluster.
Percussionist Pat Mastelotto and touch guitarist Trey Gunn have enjoyed successful careers with the band King Crimson, one of the worlds most dynamic, skillful and innovative bands. The two met at Peter Gabriel's Real World Stduios before touring with David Sylvian & Robert Fripp and seperatly they have worked with John Paul Jones, XTC, Toni Childs, The Rembrandts, Cock Robin, Robyn Hitchcock, Trail of the Dead, Julia Fordham, Vernon Ried, Hall & Oats, The Sugercubes, Mathew Sweet, Jude Cole, Steve Hackett and countless others. Their new duo known as TU explores an highlights the well-known Gunn and Mastelotto edge, energy, humor, imagination, phenomenal playing skills and dynamism in an improvisational setting. The first TU album was released in early 2004 followed by April appearances in Moscow.
Seeds for KTU took root at SXSW in Austin Texas in March 1999 when Kimmo Pohjonen shared a billing with Mastelotto/Gunn/Robert Fripp's Project Three at the Electric Lounge. Plans for the band took shape over the next five years. KTU's aim is to combine the creative energies, edge, imagination and other elements of the players to make something new, different and musically explosive. Surround sound design and effects by Heikki Iso-Ahola and Jukka Kaven.
KTU rehearsals and the World Premiere concert took place in Helsinki at the venue Nosturi in April 2004, followed by four concerts in Tokyo at Eggman, recordings of these shows are featured on the debut record Eight Armed Monkey released in 2005. Live concerts continued in 2005 with headlining festival appearances in Germany at the Moers festival, Kulturzelt an der Drahtbracke Kassel, Kulturarena in Jena, as well as FMM festival in Sines, Portugal. Subsequent shows in 2005 and 2006 included Moscow, Tallinn, Tampere Jazz Happening festival in Finland, Spain, Portugal, Norway and Denmark In January 2007, the KTU trio (Gunn, Pohjonen, Mastelotto), did a short tour of Finland and in March they debuted its live show in America including NYC, L.A., Toronto, Austin, Chicago and Mexico City. Further KTU concerts in 2007 and 2008 included Slovakia, Spain, Kazan (Tatarstan, Russia), Moscow and Helsinki.
KTUBE video: "Jacaranda" live in Kazan, August 2008
KTUBE video: KTU live at FMM, Sines, Portugal, 2005
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