A number of dance music artists change their style of music often during their career and it’s no different with FC Kahuna. Although the duo has only released their debut album, Machine Says Yes, the pair have been making music since 1995. Dan Ormondroyd and Jon Nowell, today known as Dan and Jon Kahuna started a club back in 1995, Big Kahuna Burger (Pulp Fiction fans one and all, it seems), a label, Kahuna Cuts, and made the breakbeat music fashioned by Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, so commonly called “big beat” in those halcyon days. The duo even toured the States as DJs on a Charlatans UK tour. Nowadays, the Kahuna boys’ recordings are in a much different space: Machine Says Yes ranges from the sparsely beautiful and haunting “Hayling,” featuring vocals from the honey-throated ex-Gus Gus vocalist Hafdis Huld to the nu-skool house of “Nothing Is Wrong” and “Glitterball” to the cyberbreaks of the title track and the electrodisco of “Microcuts.” There’s even a guest appearance from Super Furry Animals’ frontman Gruff Rhys on ultimate album track “Fear Of Guitars,” which, actually is comprised almost solely of a echoed, plucked guitar line. With their many sounds and consistently strong new ideas, the Kahunas just go to show that change CAN be a good thing.
JEREMY P. GOLDSTEIN

FC Kahuna
Nettwerk America/City Rockers

1. Small-Time Machine
2. Rain Machine Album Art, Tracklisting
3. DJ Revolution – “Man Or Machine”
4. Video – Portishead “Machine Gun”
5. Make Music With The Wii Loop Machine